PISA 2003—Mathematical Literacy and Learning in the Americas

Abstract

The article provides an overview of the mathematics assessment program of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Developments’ (OECD) Program for Student Assessment (PISA). As such, it provides a comparative view of the PISA results for Canada, Mexico, and the United States. It outlines the program, its frameworks, and competencies PISA uses to describe the achievement of 15-year-olds in over 40 countries participating in the PISA assessments. Particular attention is given to the PISA conception of mathematical literacy and cross-disciplinary problem-solving. These two areas were a focus of the 2003 assessment. In addition to a discussion of general results, two sample problems are presented, one from the mathematical literacy and one from cross-disciplinary problem-solving, along with detailed information about student performances in the items. The article concludes with a consideration of the lessons to be learned from the PISA study relative to the teaching and learning of mathematics.     

GRID COMPUTING AND DISCLOSURE CONTROL

A grid is a distributed network of computers that can be used as a single information and computational resource for multiple datasets and sources. One of the key challenges of grid computing is that information in different datasets and different types of data such as text and image are likely to have different levels of sensitivity, disclosure risk and terms of use. This paper provides an overview of the development of grid computing and an examination of the disclosure risks poses. The research, funded under the Economic and Social Research Council's (ESRC) e-Social Science Programme, specifically examined the development of grid computing in social science and the work of the e-Social Science grid pilot projects. The paper concludes that while a number of innovative grid enablement projects are in development there has only been a limited assessment of the additional disclosure risks grid computing may pose. The incorporation of effective confidentiality and disclosure control systems will be central in encouraging data holders to share their data and computational resources.     

Parameterisation and evaluation of a Bayesian network for use in an ecological risk assessment

Catchment managers face considerable challenges in managing ecological assets. This task is made difficult by the variable and complex nature of ecological assets, and the considerable uncertainty involved in quantifying how various threats and hazards impact upon them. Bayesian approaches have the potential to address the modelling needs of environmental management. However, to date many Bayesian networks (Bn) developed for environmental management have been parameterised using knowledge elicitation only. Not only are these models highly qualitative, but the time and effort involved in elicitation of a complex Bn can often be overwhelming. Unfortunately in environmental applications, data alone are often too limited for parameterising a Bn. Consequently, there is growing interest in how to parameterise Bns using both data and elicited information. At present, there is little formal guidance on how to combine what can be learned from the data with what can be elicited. In a previous publication we proposed a detailed methodology for this process, focussing on parameterising and evaluating a Bn. In this paper, we further develop this methodology using a risk assessment case study, with the focus being on native fish communities in the Goulburn Catchment (Victoria, Australia).     

隐马尔可夫模型在环保档案信息抽取中的应用

面对突出的环境问题,亟需有效的方法从环境保护档案中抽取有用的信息用于支持环境保护等宏观决策。以建设项目环境影响报告书为例,研究如何利用隐马尔可夫模型来抽取建设项目的环境影响评价信息。阐明隐马尔可夫模型的原理与应用情况,分析报告书特点并明确应用模型进行报告书文本信息抽取的基本思想,并给出模型建立和应用的方法及具体步骤。通过实例验证得出,利用隐马尔可夫模型抽取环境保护信息能够获得较高的召回率和精确度,整体效果较好。     

基于博弈论的综合赋权法的信息安全风险评估

为了合理确定风险评估中风险因素的权重,对信息安全风险进行科学的评价,在确定风险因素权重时,本文应用基于博弈论的综合赋权法将主、客观权重集成为风险因素的综合权重。并利用该方法对信息系统进行了实例分析,说明了该方法所得的评估结果科学合理,为信息系统风险评估提供了一个新的思路。     

Assessment methodology for software process improvement in small organizations

ContextDiagnosing processes in a small company requires process assessment practices which give qualitative and quantitative results; these should offer an overall view of the process capability. The purpose is to obtain relevant information about the running of processes, for use in their control and improvement. However, small organizations have some problems in running process assessment, due to their specific characteristics and limitations.ObjectiveThis paper presents a methodology for assessing software processes which assist the activity of software process diagnosis in small organizations. There is an attempt to address issues such as the fact that: (i) process assessment is expensive and typically requires major company resources and (ii) many light assessment methods do not provide information that is detailed enough for diagnosing and improving processes.MethodTo achieve all this, the METvalCOMPETISOFT assessment methodology was developed. This methodology: (i) incorporates the strategy of internal assessments known as rapid assessment, meaning that these assessments do not take up too much time or use an excessive quantity of resources, nor are they too rigorous and (ii) meets all the requirements described in the literature for an assessment proposal which is customized to the typical features of small companies.ResultsThis paper also describes the experience of the application of this methodology in eight small software organizations that took part in the COMPETISOFT project. The results obtained show that this approach allows us to obtain reliable information about the strengths and weaknesses of software processes, along with information to companies on opportunities for improvement.ConclusionThe assessment methodology proposed sets out the elements needed to assist with diagnosing the process in small organizations step-by-step while seeking to make its application economically feasible in terms of resources and time. From the initial application it may be seen that this assessment methodology can be useful, practical and suitable for diagnosing processes in this type of organizations.     

机载系统安保风险评估方法

针对影响民用飞机机载系统安全的信息安保威胁问题,通过研究ISO27005和航空工业标准,提出了一种适用于机载系统的安保风险评估方法。该方法基于威胁条件和威胁场景进行系统脆弱性分析,并结合传统的飞机安全性分析方法与安保风险评估方法,提出一套可量化的风险值计算方法。通过关系矩阵在安全性与安保等级间建立了相关性,为系统需求和架构设计提供了依据。实例验证结果表明,该方法能提供正确与可信的机载系统安保风险评估数据。     

Protecting research and technology from espionage

In recent years, governmental and industrial espionage becomes an increased problem for governments and corporations. Especially information about current technology development and research activities are interesting targets for espionage. Thus, we introduce a new and automated methodology that investigates the information leakage risk of projects in research and technology (R&T) processed by an organization concerning governmental or industrial espionage. Latent semantic indexing is applied together with machine based learning and prediction modeling. This identifies semantic textual patterns representing technologies and their corresponding application fields that are of high relevance for the organization’s strategy. These patterns are used to estimate organization’s costs of an information leakage for each project. Further, a web mining approach is processed to identify worldwide knowledge distribution within the relevant technologies and corresponding application fields. This information is used to estimate the probability that an information leakage occur. A risk assessment methodology calculates the information leakage risk for each project. In a case study, the information leakage risk of defense based R&T projects is investigated. This is because defense based R&T is of particularly interest by espionage agents. Overall, it can be shown that the proposed methodology is successful in calculation the espionage information leakage risk of projects. This supports an organization by processing espionage risk management.     

JavaAHP: a web-based decision analysis tool for natural resource and environmental management

Natural resource and environmental management invariably involves multiple issues, multiple criteria and multiple stakeholders. A large amount of social, economic and environmental information needs to be linked to government policies, stakeholder values, public opinions and management goals. A systematic approach to decision analysis involved in natural resource and environmental management is required to improve the quality of the decision and justify the actions to be taken. The Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) provides a methodology for multi-criteria analysis and decision making. It allows critical examination of the underlying assumptions, consistency of the judgements, and facilitates the incorporation of qualitative and subjective considerations into quantitative factors for decision making. JavaAHP is a software tool, which implements the AHP. It uses the AHP methodology to model an environmental problem, evaluate relative desirability of alternatives, and organise the information and judgements used in decision making. JavaAHP is deployed on the World Wide Web (WWW) and can be accessed globally. It takes advantages of the WWW with wide availability, Web resource integration and cross-platform capabilities. This paper introduces the major features of JavaAHP and its potential applications in natural resource and environmental management.     

Text input for motor-impaired people

This paper provides an overview of 150 publications regarding text input for motor-impaired people and describes current state of the art. It focuses on common techniques of text entry including selection of keys, approaches to character layouts, use of language models, and interaction modalities. These aspects of text entry methods are further analyzed, and examples are given. The paper also focuses on an overview of reported evaluations by describing experiments, which can be conducted, to assess the performance of a text entry method. Following this overview, a summary of 61 text entry methods for motor-impaired people found in the related literature is presented, classifying those methods according to the aforementioned aspects and reported evaluation. This overview was assembled with the aim to provide a starting point to the new researchers in the field of accessible text entry. The text entry methods are also categorized according to the suitability for various conditions of the users.     

基于GIS的环境经济决策支持信息系统研究

基于环境经济大系统这一理念,把计算机技术和环境科学与经济发展问题结合起来;基于地理信息系统（Geographic Information System,简称GIS）的信息获取、处理、管理和分析系统地理空间数据,提出了环境经济决策支持信息系统的框架,解决了区域经济发展与环境保护的矛盾,实现了环境保护和经济活动决策的信息化。     

Greenness assessment of supply chains via intuitionistic fuzzy based approaches

The increase in the consumption level of products with various materials has resulted in many problems. A worrisome result of this situation is environmental problems. Thus, environmental considerations during the planning, designing, implementation, and controlling of business activities in the entire supply chain have taken more attention in recent years. Therefore, many studies have been performed considering the greenness of different activities within supply chains. Greenness assessment of supply chains is one of the most critical and essential subjects of the related literature. The companies can learn their weak sides and provide the required amendments to improve their supply chains' greenness as a result of the assessment. Hence, in this study, a greenness assessment methodology is proposed for four logistics stages including in-bound, in-plant, out-bound, and reverse logistics. By investigating the greenness of different logistics stages separately, their characteristics can be analyzed in a more systematic way. Also, a detailed KPI determination process is realized, and a comprehensive KPI set is proposed for all the logistics stages for the first time in the literature. Moreover, as another novelty, a methodology based on intuitionistic fuzzy-based techniques, an integrated IF-DEMATEL and IF-ANP approach, is utilized for the greenness assessment. The related steps of the developed methodology are explicitly provided within the study, an application is realized for a company, and results are analyzed in a detailed way.     

Economic and technical assessment of rooftop solar photovoltaic potential in Brownsville,Texas, U.S.A

Localized assessment of solar energy economic feasibility will benefit the structuring of residential solar energy deployment globally. In the U.S. growing interest in rooftop residential solar among city managers has spurred the development of photovoltaic (PV) feasibility maps of the technical and economic solar potential within cities. The City of Brownsville, Texas was interested in evaluating solar feasibility for their city but lacked information to make informed policy decisions on PV development. This paper presents novel and systems approaches for determining the technical and economic feasibility of solar development for homes in the Brownsville using LiDAR and local information. Residential technical and economic potential was assessed by optimizing the internal rate of return (IRR) and an average residential building demand profile to determine ideal size and placement of solar arrays. Results showed that residential structures in Brownsville have the technical potential to generate approximately 11% of the total energy provided by the local utility; however, average IRR was only 2.9% with a payback period of over 15 years. Five neighborhoods in the City of Brownsville were identified with spatially clustered homes that had relatively higher IRRs compared with other areas in the city. Despite the high technical potential, modeled results indicate that perspective home owners interested in solar development may require additional incentives to improve the economic feasibility of PV in Brownsville. This study provides a demonstration of an interdisciplinary systems approach and methodology that can be adopted internationally to evaluate the feasibility of solar development in other areas.     

片上网络

半导体技术的飞速发展推动SoCs设计进入到片上网络时代.针对片上网络设计所面临的挑战性难题,提出了一种新的基于组件的分层设计方法.该方法遵循垂直的设计流程,为组件复用以及可靠的网内互连提供了良好的支持.其中详细讨论了片上网络从下到上各个层次设计所面临的问题,并提出了相应的解决策略.最后,简单阐述了片上网络有待研究和解决的问题.     

How hypertext fosters children’s knowledge acquisition: The roles of text structure and graphical overview

Children in primary and secondary school are asked to go on the Internet for school purposes while research on hypertext has scarcely investigated how children process and learn from hypertext. We therefore examined how hypertext influences children’s knowledge acquisition from expository text. A group of 71 Dutch children (13 years old) from one secondary school for pre-university education participated in the study. In a within-subjects design with four conditions, we compared: regular linear text, regular text with overview, hypertext, and hypertext with overview. Children’s (a) navigation (i.e., reading time and navigation pattern) and (b) learning (i.e., multiple choice knowledge questions and mind maps) was measured. Although reading times did not differ, the children navigated less linearly in both hypertext conditions than in the regular text with overview condition. The four types of text led to the same deep understanding as measured on the text base level. Analyses of the mind maps, however, showed the children to construct richer situation models after reading hypertext or hypertext with an overview relative to regular linear text and regular text with overview. We therefore conclude that hypertext fosters a deeper level of information processing when appropriately designed relative to regular linear text.     

An interval 2-Tuple linguistic Fine-Kinney model for risk analysis based on extended ORESTE method with cumulative prospect theory

The risk assessment is one of the most significant procedures for identifying, preventing, and controlling Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) risks. One of many kinds of techniques for OHS risk assessment is based on the Fine-Kinney model. Most of the Fine-Kinney-based risk assessment approaches can consider the relative importance degree of risk parameters. Nevertheless, the current Fine-Kinney-based risk assessment approaches do not have abilities to capture the reference dependence effects and detailed relationships among hazards. In addition, these approaches overlook the influence of the deviation of risk evaluation information. To overcome these limitations, in this paper, an improved Fine-Kinney model is proposed for OHS risk assessment by integrating the weighted power average (WPA) operator, ORESTE (Organísation, rangement et Synthèse de données relarionnelles (in French)) method, and cumulative prospect theory. First, the interval 2-Tuple linguistic variables are adopted to transform linguistic risk information into quantitative risk rating information. Then, an extended WPA operator is proposed to fuse the risk evaluation information from decision-makers, in which an optimization model is constructed to determine the weights of decision-makers. Next, an extended ORESTE method based on cumulative prospect theory and interval 2-Tuple linguistic variables is incorporated into the Fine-Kinney model to prioritize OHS risk. After that, the OHS risk assessment of the automobile components manufacturing process is presented to test the applicability and rationality of the improved Fine-Kinney model. After that, a sensitivity analysis is conducted to further illustrate the proposed model. Finally, the comparative analyses between the proposed risk assessment approach and other Fine-Kinney models are led to illustrating its effectiveness and advantages.     

Heart period variability as mental effort monitor in Human Computer Interaction

Elementary steps of H uman Computer Interaction (HCI), like users' mental actions followed by a series of keystrokes and mouse-clicks, are the basic components of using information technological systems. This is why examination methods capable of assessing users' actual mental effort corresponding to these elementary steps during HCI in a scientifically sound way have great importance. It is known that under certain circumstances, Heart Period Variability (HPV) could be a measure of actual mental effort. This paper gives a short overview of applications of HPV in ergonomics in general and, based on empirical evidence intends to prove that this methodology, after a careful adaptation, could be powerful technique for monitoring mental effort in HCI. The paper outlines the main components of the INTERFACE testing workstation and the related methodology for investigatingamong others-users mental effort. A detailed application example is also provided.     

Toxicoproteomics and its application to human health risk assessment

Toxicoproteomics is the use of proteomic technologies to better understand environmental and genetic factors, toxic mechanisms, and modes of action in response to acute exposure to toxicants and in the long-term development of diseases caused or influenced by these exposures. Use of toxicoproteomic technologies to identify key biochemical pathways, mechanisms, and biomarkers of exposure and toxicity will decrease the uncertainties that are associated with human health risk assessments. This review provides an overview of toxicoproteomics from human health risk assessment perspectives. Key toxicoproteomic technologies such as 2-D gel-based proteomic methods and toxicoproteomic approaches are described, and examples of applications of these technologies and methodologies in the risk assessment context are presented. The discussion includes a focus on challenges and future directions.     

A multi-agent legal recommender system

Infonorma is a multi-agent system that provides its users with recommendations of legal normative instruments they might be interested in. The Filter agent of Infonorma classifies normative instruments represented as Semantic Web documents into legal branches and performs content-based similarity analysis. This agent, as well as the entire Infonorma system, was modeled under the guidelines of MAAEM, a software development methodology for multi-agent application engineering. This article describes the Infonorma requirements specification, the architectural design solution for those requirements, the detailed design of the Filter agent and the implementation model of Infonorma, according to the guidelines of the MAAEM methodology.