Computer Science & Information Technology

This paper presents a model for guiding undergraduates to success in computational science. A set of integrated, interdisciplinary training and research activities is outlined for use as a vehicle to increase and produce graduates with research experiences in computational and mathematical sciences. The model is responsive to the development of new interdisciplinary curricula in computational biology, chemistry, mathematics and physics.

Student academic motivation and student evaluation of overall faculty effectiveriess and instructional techniques at Barber-Scotia College were studied to identify the academically underprepared and unmotivated students. Students provided assessments concerning the iMpact of thecollege's course offerings, the effectivenessmf their instructors, and the difficulty or imount of effort instructors required from students. Overall student attitudes toward course materials, assignments, quizzes, instructors, and student responsibility were used as a measure of the degree of student academid motivation. Of the 200 students surveyed, 32.5 percent werefoUnd,to be academically unmotivated. It was found that the more highly academically mOtivated the student, the greater the impact a course had, and the less complainte the student had about learning course materials. Additional findings include:.students from rural areas seemed to be more academically inclined than students from suburban and urban areas; and students who studied an average of 4 or more hours per day were more academically inclined. It recommended that the Office for Total Student Development and the Counseling Office become more concerned about academic problems. Potential dropouts tend to complain about a number of areas, including classwork, instructors, and college services. Most academically unmotivated students at Barber-Sco0a College reject assignments and are deficient in study skills. A questionnaire is appended. (SW)

The need to continue or renew the Teacher Certificate Program at Barber-Scotia College was examined. Data are presented on student enrollments in the education programs during 1977-1980 by subject area and sophomore, junior, and senior classification. Although student enrollment declines were found in education programs at the college, an evaluation of 1977, 1979, and 1981 graduates appeared to indicate that the education program provided more career opportunities than other major courses at the college. According to the Education Division Head, the only major reason affecting student attrition was a requirement that a grade point average of 2.50 be maintained. Other possible reasons for poor performance of education majors may include undertaking too many credit hours in a semester and not enough flexibility in the required core courses. Based on the findings, it is recommended that education programs at the college be continued and a support program for education majors be established, including tutoring and remedial classes. It is noted that some southern colleges and universities are attempting to limit the enrollments in teacher education programs in response to a reported national surplus of teachers. It is proposed that such a limitation at a predominantly black college like Barber-Scotia may be unwise, and that the 1980 enrollment of 31 education students needs to be increased to the 1977 level of 74 students. In the attempt to increase student enrollments, the college's standards should be preserve.'

A seven-year master plan for Barber-Scotia College, which was needed to substantiate requests for federal grants for Strengthening Developing Institutions (SDIP) under the Title III program, is described. An outline for developing a long-range plan is also presented that features: college role, admission policies, enrollment, student recruitment, retention policies, degree and nondegree programs, summer school, student development center, student activities, research, public service, federal funds, physical facilities, computer system, academic advising, administrative organization, faculty development, student financial aid, expenditures, and evaluation activities. The following offices within Barber-Scotia provided reports to the Title III program coordinator: academic affairs, management information system/institutional research (MIS/IR), Center for Development and Resources, administrative improvements, placement and counseling, and student affairs. For each activity, attention was directed to the problem area and the rationale for requesting support, objectives, implementation strategies and activities, required resources, cooperative arrangements, and performance evaluation measures. Portions of a proposal to improve the functions of the MIS/IR Office are presented that consider the proposed functions of the office (e.g., policy formation and planning support), the human resources needed, and costs involved. Specific types of statistics to be collected are identified, along with proposed annual activities and performance evaluation measures for each activity. (SW) MIS/TIS/IR SEVEN-YEAR, LONG-RANGE PLAN:

Incorrect access to Web site addresses and spam e-mails are continuing to make pornography rampant on the Internet at schools, homes and libraries. Collectively, parents, teachers and members of communities must become more aware of the risks and consequences of open access to the Internet, and the distinction between censorship and Internet access filtering. Parental involvement is crucial for raising children with healthy Internet access habits to social and educational materials. Although generations have coped with different times and trials, technology is ushering in new trials. Parents and communities cannot ignore the present and future technology ingrained into the lives of children. This paper contends that, parents armed with legislation and technological security devices for access to the Internet, ought to strengthen the character of online Internet safety. The discussion is focused on the roles parents, communities, technology and laws should play in protecting children from cyberspace obscene and pornographic threats. It is argued that the roles of education and technology should outweigh the legislative interventions of governments. A critique of significant litigations and laws on obscene and pornography is presented. The paper offers a variety of security tools and techniques for protecting children from Internet access to obscene and pornographic materials.

A student attrition research methodology and results of attrition research at Barber-Scotia College are examined. Questionnaire responses from 137 students indicated the degree of student satisfaction with academic and social service's provided by the college. Data are presented on student enrollments by class during 1970-1980, and on student attrition rates from freshmen to senior year. Questionnaire responses included the following: (1) library and work/study supervision--well-satisfying; (2) teaching methods, advising, and course scheduling--satisfying (good); (3) course materials, classroom environment, dormitory living conditions, and financial aid information--partially satisfying; and (4) recreational activities, college regulations, sports equipmerit, and food services--partially satisfying or dissatisfying. A condensed version of students' suggested changes, comments on services, and educational experiences is appended. Reasons for student attrition (fall 1979-1981) are indicated, along with data on student age groups and sources of student funds. Since about 18 percent of the recorded explanations on student attrition were attributable to poor performance and academic suspension, it is recommended that student educational support programs be provided. It is suggested that Barber-Scotia enrollments could be increased by: introducing additional occupational and fechnical programs; sending a college recruiter to the public schools to provide information on programs and job opportunities; and improving food, health, and recreational services. A questionnaire is appended. (SW)

Powerful aggregations functions are indispensable in the design and implementation of tree-based algorithms for use in making complex decisions. Boolean operators only support the complete presence or absence types of decisions and are insufficient for modelling complicated decisions. For instance, how will an engineer-hiring officer specify that a candidate who has earned the required critical engineering skill is the most preferred, next is the candidate with a related engineering skill, and last on list is the candidate who qualifies for skill training in engineering? Ideally, candidates with earned critical skills or related skills or require skill training should be assigned different scores. The personnel hiring officers require additional powerful operators for making effective intricate decisions with data from differently scaled categorical and continuous variables. The engineering officers should able to indicate strong conjunction, medium conjunction and conjunction, medium disjunction, and strong disjunction preferences; attach weights of importance to the decision criteria; and evaluate the qualifications of all candidates in order to compute the global cost-benefit ratings for each candidate. This paper presents cost and preference aggregation functions such as weighted arithmetic and geometric means, minimum and maximum functions. The endpoints of the series of aggregation functions, defined by a weighted power mean, are the logical conjunction and disjunction. A logic equation is usually derived by combining two or more elementary criteria using Boolean operators. Boolean interpretation is similarly provided to the aggregation functions in ways that Boolean interpretations are attributed to logic equations derived from elementary criteria scores. The paper presents the sensitivity analysis and the use of a logic scoring of preference and cost model to evaluate and select job applicants. The paper illustrates how the model is useful for making decisions with mixtures of categorical and continuous big data sets.

Algebraic problems are full of boring routine algorithms. This paper discusses elegant methods for exploring symmetrical patterns as alternative. The tactics this paper illustrates to solve algebraic problems are factoring, the creation of perfect squares, simplifying by using symmetry, introducing telescoping by massaging, and confidence in the existence of elegant solutions. The paper presents the effective use of these tactics in solving a variety of nontrivial problems.

A student attrition research methodology and results of attrition research at Barber-Scotia College are examined. Questionnaire responses from 137 students indicated the degree of student satisfaction with academic and social service's provided by the college. Data are presented on student enrollments by class during 1970-1980, and on student attrition rates from freshmen to senior year. Questionnaire responses included the following: (1) library and work/study supervision-well-satisfying; (2) teaching methods, advising, and course scheduling-satisfying (good); (3) course materials, classroom environment, dormitory living conditions, and financial aid information-partially satisfying; and (4) recreational activities, college regulations, sports equipmerit, and food services-partially satisfying or dissatisfying. A condensed version of students' suggested changes, comments on services, and educational experiences is appended. Reasons for student attrition (fall 1979-1981) are indicated, along with data on student age groups and sources of student funds. Since about 18 percent of the recorded explanations on student attrition were attributable to poor performance and academic suspension, it is recommended that student educational support programs be provided. It is suggested that Barber-Scotia enrollments could be increased by: introducing additional occupational and fechnical programs; sending a college recruiter to the public schools to provide information on programs and job opportunities; and improving food, health, and recreational services. A questionnaire is appended. (SW)

Ask the graduates and the employers of graduates of computing information sciences and engineering (CISE) one area in which more formal training would have been beneficial while still in college. It is not surprising that both the employers and the graduates often agree that students require more training in discipline-specific soft skills (DSSS) in CISE. Yet, the requirements for undergraduate DSSS in CISE remain an open subject for debate. Should all undergraduate core courses be revised to incorporate DSSS requirements? Should DSSS be designed for infusion into the technical core courses for undergraduates in CISE? How should student learning outcomes (SLOs) for DSSS be defined and assessed? This paper discusses these and further questions.

This research investigated the problems and solutions to cyberspace identity theft. Collections of literature were reviewed to identify the issues and solutions to cyberspace identity theft. A survey was administered to a focus group of students who participated in an advanced summer scientific project, to ascertain the awareness of cyberspace identity theft by high school students.

This paper presents research results on the relevance and need for information technology certification, with a particular focus on CompTIA A+ certification. The study focused on the opinions of employers on certification, a critical review of certification provider literature, and an opinion survey of two-year institutions. The study investigated the training two-year institutions should be providing for CompTIA A+ certification to meet the needs of employers. The paper presents the historical overview, types of programs, development details and outcomes for the future information technology certification.

Several encryption algorithms exist today for securing data in storage and transmission over network systems. The choice of encryption algorithms must weigh performance requirements against the call for protection of sensitive data. This research investigated the processing times of alternative encryption algorithms under specific conditions. The paper presents the architecture of a model multiplatform tool for the evaluation of candidate encryption algorithms based on different data and key sizes. The model software was used to appraise the real-time performance of DES, AES, 3DES, MD5, SHA1, and SHA2 encryption algorithms.

This study investigated the potential effectiveness of the Electronic Performance Support System (EPSS) in supporting the clinical activities of physicians. A research questionnaire was used to tap information about the perceptions of physicians at selected hospitals on the effectiveness of EPSS as an essential technology for clinical activities. The physicians perceived the concepts of EPSS as very important, both for clinical activities and for the improvement of individual physicians and the entire organizational performance. This paper reports on the components and functions of the major types of EPSS, and the impacts of technological changes in the medical settings. The characteristics and benefits of the EPSS in the clinical workplace are discussed. Change management phases in the medical settings to help physicians overcome the barriers of resistance associated with introducing new technology are presented.

Several encryption algorithms exist today for securing data in storage and transmission over network systems. The choice of encryption algorithms must weigh performance requirements against the call for protection of sensitive data. This research investigated the processing times of alternative encryption algorithms under specific conditions. The paper presents the architecture of a model multiplatform tool for the evaluation of candidate encryption algorithms based on different data and key sizes. The model software was used to appraise the real-time performance of DES, AES, 3DES, MD5, SHA1, and SHA2 encryption algorithms.

Recommendations for the quantification of serum monoclonal components (MC). The quantification of MC provides a surrogate for monitoring the size of the population of malignant cells in patients affected by plasma cell disease (PCD). Consequently, clinical and laboratory guidelines on diagnosis, risk stratification and monitoring of PCD recommend MC quantification as a key information for patient management. To do that, liquid phase immunochemical determination of IgG, IgA and IgM in serum should not be used, because of the inability of the technique to distinguish between monoclonal and polyclonal immunoglobulins. However, new available immunoassays specifically measuring free light chains, or the “so-called” Hevylite assay, may reliably quantify specific MC. As a general recommendation, MC should be quantified on agarose gel electrophoresis by scanning densitometry or from capillary zone electrophoresis readout only, provided that a high resolution electrophoresis is performed and...

Abstract: This paper focuses on the concepts of reliability, construct and content validation of mathematics achievement test items. Methods for constructing domain specifications for a pool of mathematics items are discussed. Mathematics achievement test items are presented for use in a review of content validity. The features of a computer program for automatically generating representative test items from domain specifications are discussed. 1.

Effective teaching and learning online pose several institutional challenges worldwide. This paper examines current theory and practices of online teaching, in efforts to promote the best practices of effective online teaching and learning at African institutions. A comprehensive model is presented for exploring alternative resources and techniques that can be used to set up courses, teach and assess learning in an online classroom. Examples of effective online course design, syllabus, discussion forums, student activities and assessments are presented.