The Influence of Culture on Students’ Mathematics Achievement Across 51 Countries

The results of international large-scale assessments have shown that countries vary considerably in their mathematics performance. Culture has been suggested as a possible cause for the national difference, but insufficient empirical research has been conducted to investigate the effect of culture on mathematics achievement. Based on Hofstede’s conceptualization of culture, the present study examined the relationship between national culture and students’ mathematics achievement by analyzing data from 51 countries using two-level hierarchical linear modeling. The results showed that national culture played an important role in shaping mathematic achievement. It accounted for 23.89% of the country differences in mathematics performance after controlling for student gender, family socioeconomic status, and national GDP per capita. One cultural dimension “long-term orientation” had a strong positive association with mathematics achievement. The implication of the findings is discussed, followed by a discussion of issues regarding employing culture dimensions theory in mathematics education.     

Violence and schools in the USA: implications for counseling

This article focuses on school violence in the UnitedStates, kindergarten (k) through 12^th grade, andit addresses the following topics: (a) a briefbackground of school violence in the USA, (b) etiologyand consequences of school violence, (c) preventionprograms and efforts, (d) preventive counseling andconsultation, (e) counseling the violence prone andviolence victim, (f) international and cross-culturalimplications, and (g) discussion.     

Arts and craftiness: an economic analysis of art heists

We study the incentives that museums face in determining how much resources to invest in the protection of their artwork from theft. We present and analyze a game-theoretic model of art heists that accounts for the strategic interactions between museums’ and art thieves’ decisions and that incorporates several key features of the black market for stolen art. We find that the equilibrium level of security museums choose need not be monotonic in the true market value or the black market value of artwork, i.e., increasing the value of an art piece—whether it is the true market value or the black market value—does not necessarily lead museums to invest more in protecting their artwork. The effects of parameter changes in the model that reflect a shift of public policy depend critically on what type of policy change is considered. For instance, an increase in the penalty imposed for committing art theft cannot raise the amount of theft in equilibrium and could in fact lead museums to increase their level of security. On the other hand, investing more resources on law enforcement agencies so that they are better able to solve art crimes can actually increase the amount of theft in equilibrium by causing museums to spend less on security.     

Determination of silver ion with various concentrations of hydrogen chloride as precipitant

It has been shown that 0.15 N hydrogen chloride solution is most suitable for employment as precipitant in the quantitative estimation of silver ion, this procedure reducing adsorption to a minimum.When a more dilute solution of reagent is applied, there is a tendency for a portion of the silver to remain dissolved.When hydrogen chloride possessing a greater concentration than 0.15 N is utilized in this determination, adsorption of Cl? ion, and, to a lesser extent, of Ag+ ion, readily occurs.The data presented here have been obtained by careful application of a recognized method, during the course of which temperature effect, and solubility data were given due consideration. Meticulous nephelometric examination was subsequently accorded each experimental sample prior to the calculation of results.     

The use of alternating currents for submarine marine cable transmission

This paper contains the results of experiments performed by members of the Signal Corps Research Laboratory, Bureau of Standards, in an attempt to develop a method or methods of signal transmission over submarine cables which would permit of a more effective use of existing cable systems.In the method proposed and developed, signals are transmitted by means of alternating currents simultaneously with the normal battery of direct-current operation of the cable. Currents of several different frequencies may be used, reserving a given frequency for each message, and by tuning or equivalent methods at the receiving end these messages may be separated, so that the simultaneous transmission of a number of messages is redered possible.Accurate determination of the fundamental physical properties of a particular cable for different frequencies has been accompalished, and the results are given herewith. From these physical properties accurate calculations for any length of cable can be made, so that the design of proper apparatus becomes purely a laboratory problem.Actual trial of the proposed alternating-current method was made covering distances up to approximately 700 kilometres, with results which were in all cases completely satisfactory, indicating that the method is an entirely feasible one, and one which will render cables of this length, and undoubtedly of several times this length, much more useful.