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- Title
- A STUDY OF SPECIFIC VARIABLES ASSOCIATED WITH ATTRITION AT A POLITECHNICAL INSTITUTION OF HIGHER LEARNING IN VENEZUELA.
- Creator
- OSORIO DE PARRA, NELLY., Florida Atlantic University
- Abstract/Description
-
The purposes of this study were: (1) To determine each variable's individual relationship with students' persistence during the first semester of the freshman year at the Colegio Universitario de Cabimas, and (2) To generate a model to classify accurately persisters and non-persisters. The subjects were 187 students randomly selected from the population of students enrolled during the first semester of the academic year 1986-1987. A questionnaire was given to the students in the sample at the...
Show moreThe purposes of this study were: (1) To determine each variable's individual relationship with students' persistence during the first semester of the freshman year at the Colegio Universitario de Cabimas, and (2) To generate a model to classify accurately persisters and non-persisters. The subjects were 187 students randomly selected from the population of students enrolled during the first semester of the academic year 1986-1987. A questionnaire was given to the students in the sample at the beginning of the second semester. A chi-square test was performed to examine each variable's individual relationship with persistence. Subsequently, a predictive discriminant analysis was conducted to consider models useful for predicting persistence and to examine the accuracy of such models. The results indicated that: (1) The variables related individually to persistence were age, marital status, distance from the student's residence to school, high school and freshman academic performance, educational goals, satisfaction with college services, satisfaction with social integration, the number of hours devoted to study, and employment status; (2) The only variable not found to relate individually to persistence was gender; and (3) The model that manifested the greatest accuracy correctly classified 78% of the non-persisters, 83% of the persisters and 81% of the total group. The six variables that constituted that model were: distance from the student's residence to school, financial assistance, high school performance, the number of hours devoted to study, frequency with which college services were used, and satisfaction with those services. All these separate-group and total-group classification accuracies were clearly statistically significant (p <.0001). Based on the results of this study, the following recommendations are suggested: (1) Replication of this study in other three-year institutions and five-year universities in Venezuela is advisable. (2) The development of a dropout prevention plan that takes into account the discriminant variables identified in this study. (3) The application of the model generated to classify persisters and non-persisters in an initial screening to help students who are "at risk" for nonpersistence providing them with the services of a dropout prevention plan. (4) The testing of the other alternative accurate equations derived from this study. (5) Conduct future similar studies that would encompass other variables not included in this study.
Show less - Date Issued
- 1987
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/11911
- Subject Headings
- College students--Venezuela, Persistence
- Format
- Document (PDF)
- Title
- ON THE IMAGE COUNTING PROBLEM FROM GRAVITATIONAL LENSING.
- Creator
- Perry, Sean, Lundberg, Erik, Florida Atlantic University, Department of Mathematical Sciences, Charles E. Schmidt College of Science
- Abstract/Description
-
Due to the phenomenon of gravitational lensing, light from distant sources may appear as several images. The “image counting problem from gravitational lensing" refers to the question of how many images might occur, given a particular distribution of lensing masses. A common model treats the lensing masses as a finite collection of points situated in a finite collection of planes. The position of the apparent images correspond to the critical points of a real-valued function and also as...
Show moreDue to the phenomenon of gravitational lensing, light from distant sources may appear as several images. The “image counting problem from gravitational lensing" refers to the question of how many images might occur, given a particular distribution of lensing masses. A common model treats the lensing masses as a finite collection of points situated in a finite collection of planes. The position of the apparent images correspond to the critical points of a real-valued function and also as solutions to a system of complex rational equations. Herein, we give upper bounds for the number of images in a point mass multiplane ensemble with an arbitrary number of masses in an arbitrary number of planes. We give lower bounds on the number of solutions in a closely related problem concerning gravitational equilibria. We use persistence homology to investigate two different stochastic ensembles. Finally we produce a multiplane ensemble, related to the maximal one plane ensemble, that produces a large number of images.
Show less - Date Issued
- 2022
- PURL
- http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00013889
- Subject Headings
- Gravitational lense, Gravitational lenses--Mathematics, Persistent homology
- Format
- Document (PDF)