Numbers Game Research Articles

A numbers game

Jeremy Hunt announced a 25% increase in student numbers last week (Don’t use rise in nursing student places to plug rota gaps, news online).

Our Hidden Figures {Point of View

“Your mom made five palacinke (crepe in Serbian), your brother ate two; how many are left for you?” For some reason, this “sweet” math got etched in my mind as one of my earliest memories. It was my dad, playing number games with me. And many others: card games, puzzles, word riddles, brainteasers, anything where you had to figure out things, he loved. Then of course, so did I.

Implementation of Pollution Control Targets in China: Has a Centralized Enforcement Approach Worked?

AbstractThe scholarly work on China's environmental regulations in the context of “central–local” relations is dominated by the preference for a centralized approach. This article examines a centrally imposed and executed verification programme of locally reported pollution data, a rare and sustained central effort to enforce an environmental policy, namely the national pollution reduction target system. The programme was established in 2007 to curtail perceived widespread data falsification and to enhance the quality of emission data, the basis for assessing local compliance with targets. Based on an analysis of official documents and interviews with environmental officials and industry representatives, this article found that the verification programme appears to have reduced the overreporting problem with emission data, enhanced local monitoring and enforcement capacity, and to a certain degree deterred violations due to the increased frequency of national and local inspections. Nevertheless, significant challenges remain. Verification is highly resource intensive, it has involved little external oversight and public participation, the central authority has exerted significant yet unchecked discretionary powers, and poor data quality has remained an issue. Over time, the verification programme appears to have turned into essentially a “numbers game.” All those challenges indicate that a centralized enforcement approach is arguably ineffective in addressing China's long-standing problem of weak environmental policy implementation. This study also sheds lights on the classical “principal-agent” theory in the study of public bureaucracy. Not only does the principal distrust the agent, which is the main concern of the theory, but the agent also distrusts the principal.

ILCs and T Cells Competing for Space: More Than a Numbers Game

T cell homeostasis critically depends on interleukin-7 (IL-7). In this issue of Immunity, Martin etal. (2017)provide evidence that IL-7 availability is regulated through a "cytokine sink" involving innate lymphoid cells thatcompete for and consume IL-7 and thereby restrict Tcell homeostasis in lymphoid organs.

Socialisation, learning and the OECD’s Reviews of National Policies for Education: the case of Sweden

ABSTRACTThis paper suggests that the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) education policy work of the last 20 years has achieved a paradigmatic shift in the thinking and framing of education; however, this process was not exclusively based and dependent upon the cold rationality of numbers. Crucially, as the article will show, it has also involved processes of socialisation and learning. The paper argues that a constructivist-institutionalist perspective based on the notion of socialisation provides adequate tools to explain the dominance of the OECD in the education policymaking world. The paper makes use of policy learning theory to show how and why it is the coming together of various actors in social terms that sustains and reinforces the numbers game, rather than simply the validity or strength of the numbers themselves. It uses the case of the publication of the OECD Review of Swedish education in 2015 to empirically flesh out the argument. Although the influence of the OECD has been great to a number of countries, Sweden is perhaps one of the few that displays such unanimity of public opinion and the academic and policymaking worlds in regard to the indispensability of the OECD as an education policy expert and actor.

Peningkatan Kecerdasaan Logika Matematika Anak melalui Bermain Kartu Angka Kelompok B di TK Pembina Bangkinang Kota

This research is in background not yet developed ability of logic mathematics intelligence of child of group B TK Pembina Bangkinang Kota. Based on the background of the problems that have been exposed, it can be formulated problem of this research, How to improve the ability of logic mathematics intelligence of group B through the game of card number in TK Pembina Bangkinang Kota? The purpose of this study is to determine the enhancement of the ability of logic mathematical intelligence through the game of number cards in group B in TK Pembina Bangkinang Kota. As the subjects in this study are the children of group B and teachers kindergarten coach 2015/2016 school year with the number of children as many as 20 people. While the object is the ability of logic mathematical intelligence of group B through the game of a number card. The steps taken in classroom action research are: 1) Planning / Preparing for action, 2) Implementation of Action, 3) Observation, and 4) Reflection. The data sources of this research are children of group B TK Pembina Bangkinang Kota, teachers and documents. Data collection uses observation, tests and documentation. Data analysis using descriptive technique percentage. The results showed that through the card number can improve the ability of logic mathematical intelligence in group B TK Pembina Bangkinang Kota.

Mathematics at Your Fingertips: Testing a Finger Training Intervention to Improve Quantitative Skills

Previous research indicates that the use of fingers as representations of ordinal and cardinal number is an important part of young children's mathematics learning. Further to this, some studies have shown that a finger training intervention can improve young children's quantitative skills. In this article, we argue that fingers represent a means for children to bridge between different external representations of number (including verbal, symbolic and non-symbolic representations). Therefore we predicted that an intervention that combined finger training with experience playing games involving multiple representations would lead to greater increases in quantitative skills than either aspect of the intervention alone. One hundred and thirty-seven children aged between six and seven years old took part in an intervention study over the course of four weeks. The study tested the impact of five different conditions on participants' quantitative skills, their finger gnosis, and their ability to compare magnitudes of two non-symbolic representations of number. Relative to a control group, those children receiving a finger training intervention saw gains in finger gnosis skills (the ability to differentiate fingers when touched, without visual cues). Those children who played number games saw an increase in their non-symbolic magnitude comparison skills. However, only those children who experienced both aspects of the intervention saw increases in quantitative skills, which were assessed using an instrument informed by Gelman and Gallistel's (1978) five principles of counting. The findings show that a finger training intervention, when combined with intensive exposure to multiple representations of number, can support young children's development of quantitative skills. This adds to evidence in the literature regarding the role of fingers in children's mathematics learning, and may have implications for pedagogical approaches.

RESTORE AMERICA'S WIRE ACT: CLOUD KILLER?

RESTORE AMERICA'S WIRE ACT: CLOUD KILLER?

Impact of Child Friendly Play-Way Method of Intervention Programme on Enhancement of Attention among Tribal Children

Aim: The aim was to study the impact of child friendly play-way method of intervention programme on enhancement of attention among tribal children. Sample: The research was conducted in Ashrama Schools (schools run for tribal children). The sample consisted of tribal children studying in 4th, 5th and 6th standard, aged between 9 to 12 years. Methodology: A before – after, experimental control group design with post assessment after three and half months of intervention programme was adapted for the study. The intervention programme consisted of art and craft wok; games and play; word games; number games and cultural activities. Procedure: Initially both the experimental and control groups were screened on Children’s Behaviour Questionnaire and then were assessed (pre-assessment) on Number Cancellation Test/ Speed and Accuracy Test. The intervention programme consisting of art and craft wok; games and play; word games; number games and cultural activities were conducted for a period of three and half months on experimental group. Again the experimental and control groups were assessed on Number Cancellation Test/ Speed and Accuracy Test. Analysis of results: Independent and Paired‘t’ analysis along with effect size analysis was adopted to find the difference between pre and post intervention programme and the impact of child friendly play-way method of intervention programme on enhancement of attention among tribal children. Results and conclusions: The experimental group has improved more than control group on attention after intervention programme, indicating effectiveness of the intervention programme on enhancing of attention.

Playing the Numbers: The spurious promise of global trafficking statistics

‘Playing the numbers,’ ‘the numbers game,’ ‘the policy racket’: for those unfamiliar with American illegal lotteries and some of the legendary gangsters like Bumpy Johnson and Dutch Schultz that turned them into a major revenue stream for organised crime that still flourishes today, the concept was simple. The odds were disproportionately long, but poor people could bet very small amounts. It was, as they used to say, ‘a mugs game’; the organisers did well, while the poor lived on hope.

Theoretical background of human based psychiatry

Every medical intervention is embedded in the prevailing spirit of its particular time. The world of modern medicine that is still shaped by positivism is often revered as a world of rational calculation and reason, a world in which mathematical calculation and so-called objectivity are prized above all else. Indeed, today's modern medicine in general and its battlewagon evidence-based medicine is a world of sober number games, reduction and fragmentation, of demystification and de-subjectification. As important and indispensable the achievements of EbM are, it nevertheless needs to be expanded by a medicine, which focuses not just on illness and its treatment but which places the concrete individual with all his or her sufferings and potentials. Such a human-based medicine (HbM) is no longer indebted to modern positivism, but seeks its foundations in the maxims of post-modernism. Moving away from classical “indication-based medicine” toward a medicine based on human sufferings and potentials necessarily requires a fundamental change in diagnostics and treatment.Disclosure of interestThe author has not supplied his declaration of competing interest.

PERMAINAN KARTU BILANGAN SEBAGAI ALAT PERAGA UNTUK MENINGKATKAN MOTIVASI BELAJAR MATEMATIKA SISWA KELAS V SDN 010 UJUNG BATU

This research is motivated by the lack of motivation to learn mathematics student class VSDN 010 Ujung Batu. Goals to be achieved in this research is to improve student learningmotivation math class V SDN 010 Ujung Batu through the game card numbers as propscarried out for 1 month. This research was conducted in SDN 010 Ujung Batu. Classes thatthorough research is a class V with the number of students as many as 30 people. Thisclassroom action research was started in August 2014. This form of research is classroomaction research. The research instrument consists of instruments teacher and student activitysheets and achievement test. Based on the results of research and discussion can beconcluded that the application of the card game of numbers as props can increase studentmotivation to learn mathematics in the subject matter of integers class V SDN 010 UjungBatu, as it is seen in the first cycle of students' motivation by category reached 59.9% prettygood, and increased in the second cycle in which student learning mnotivasi be 71.3% withgood category, dnegan this shows the card game as props able to increase students'motivation in learning mathematics

The contribution of parent-child numeracy activities to young Chinese children's mathematical ability.

A growing body of recent research has shown that parent-child mathematical activities have a strong effect on children's mathematical learning. However, this research was conducted predominantly in Western societies and focused mainly on mothers' involvement in such activities. This study aimed to examine both mother-child and father-child numeracy activities in Hong Kong Chinese families and both parents' unique roles in predicting young Chinese children's mathematics ability. A sample of 104 Hong Kong Chinese children aged approximately 5years and their mothers and fathers participated in this study. Mothers and fathers independently reported the frequency of their own numeracy activities with their children. Children were assessed individually using two measures of mathematical ability. Hierarchical regression models were used to investigate the contribution of parent-child numeracy activities to children's mathematical ability. Mothers' participation in number skill activities and fathers' participation in number game and application activities significantly predicted their children's mathematical performance even after controlling for background variables and children's language ability. This study extends previous research with a sample of Chinese kindergarten children and shows that parent-child numeracy activities are related to young children's mathematical ability. The findings highlight the important roles that mothers and fathers play in their young children's mathematical learning.

A Numbers Game: Ribosome Densities, Bacterial Growth, and Antibiotic-Mediated Stasis and Death.

ABSTRACTWe postulate that the inhibition of growth and low rates of mortality of bacteria exposed to ribosome-binding antibiotics deemed bacteriostatic can be attributed almost uniquely to these drugs reducing the number of ribosomes contributing to protein synthesis, i.e., the number of effective ribosomes. We tested this hypothesis with Escherichia coli K-12 MG1655 and constructs that had been deleted for 1 to 6 of the 7 rRNA (rrn) operons. In the absence of antibiotics, constructs with fewer rrn operons have lower maximum growth rates and longer lag phases than those with more ribosomal operons. In the presence of the ribosome-binding “bacteriostatic” antibiotics tetracycline, chloramphenicol, and azithromycin, E. coli strains with 1 and 2 rrn operons are killed at a substantially higher rate than those with more rrn operons. This increase in the susceptibility of E. coli with fewer rrn operons to killing by ribosome-targeting bacteriostatic antibiotics is not reflected in their greater sensitivity to killing by the bactericidal antibiotic ciprofloxacin, which does not target ribosomes, but also to killing by gentamicin, which does. Finally, when such strains are exposed to these ribosome-targeting bacteriostatic antibiotics, the time before these bacteria start to grow again when the drugs are removed, referred to as the post-antibiotic effect (PAE), is markedly greater for constructs with fewer rrn operons than for those with more rrn operons. We interpret the results of these other experiments reported here as support for the hypothesis that the reduction in the effective number of ribosomes due to binding to these structures provides a sufficient explanation for the action of bacteriostatic antibiotics that target these structures.

Safe staffing is more than a numbers game.

Nothing gives a worse impression to the public than a nurse sitting at a desk, tapping away, when he or she should be at the bedside with patients.

Perverse market rewards for meeting or beating earnings expectations

Approximately 47 (43) percent of the observations in our sample receive negative (positive) market rewards when they meet (miss) earnings expectations. We define these phenomena as perverse market rewards (PMR). We find that the likelihood of PMR is increased when (i) firms use earnings and/or expectations management; (ii) earnings growth is negative (positive) when earnings expectations are met (missed); and (iii) ownership by transient (dedicated) institutional investors is high when earnings expectations are met (missed). In addition, we find that, when earnings expectations are met (missed), PMR appears to be an indicator of bad (good) future stock performance. Our study demonstrates that gratuitous participation in the ‘numbers game’ does not always result in the desired market rewards.

Cognitive Analysis of Educational Games: The Number Game.

We analyze the cognitive strategies underlying performance in the Number task, a Math game that requires both arithmetic fluency and mathematical creativity. In this game all elements in a set of numbers (for instance, 2, 5, 9) have to be used precisely once to create a target number (for instance, 27) with basic arithmetic operations (solution: [5-2]×9). We argue that some instances of this game are NP complete, by showing its relation to the well-known Partition problem. We propose heuristics based on the distinction in forward and backward reasoning. The Number Game is part of Math Garden, a popular online educational platform for practicing and monitoring math skills using innovations in computerized adaptive testing. These educational games generate enormous amounts of rich data on children's cognitive development. We found converging evidence for the use of forward proximity heuristics in the data of Math Garden, consisting of more than 20 million answers to 1,700 items. Item difficulties and the structure of correct answers were analyzed.

Mean-Field-Game Model for Botnet Defense in Cyber-Security

We initiate the analysis of the response of computer owners to various offers of defence systems against a cyber-hacker (for instance, a botnet attack), as a stochastic game of a large number of interacting agents. We introduce a simple mean-field game that models their behavior. It takes into account both the random process of the propagation of the infection (controlled by the botner herder) and the decision making process of customers. Its stationary version turns out to be exactly solvable (but not at all trivial) under an additional natural assumption that the execution time of the decisions of the customers (say, switch on or out the defence system) is much faster that the infection rates.

A user experience case study: two embodied cognition user interface solutions for a math learning game

Game-based learning solutions provide possibilities to teach conceptual number knowledge in engaging ways. The evaluation of user experience and error-proneness of the user interface are crucial in the educational game development process and game-based assessment. In the present study, we investigated how two different user interfaces of the rational number game, Semideus, influenced the game character controlling accuracy and user experience. Two user interfaces varying in the intensity of physical activities needed for controlling the game character were compared. Thirty-six university students played both Semideus game versions for 20 minutes in randomized order. In order to compare the tilting (low physical intensity) and walking (high physical intensity) user interfaces we used stealth assessment as an objective measure of controlling accuracy as well as flow experience and playability questionnaires as subjective measures of user experience. The results revealed that there was no significant difference in game controlling accuracy between the user interface solutions, suggesting that the intensity of the physical activities did not influence the error-proneness. However, the subjective measures indicated that students appreciated the tilting user interface significantly more than the walking user interface. Implications of the findings for future research and further development of the Semideus game are discussed.

A numbers game

When national data are released and the figures appear alarming, is the ensuing media panic justified? Steve Ainsworth explains why some statistics are more significant than others