Persistence factors revealed: students’ reflections on completing a fully online program

Despite their rapid growth, online programs routinely face student attrition. How to retain students and help them successfully complete is usually a top priority for online programs. This study investigated persistence factors that contributed to students’ successful completion from one of the largest and most successful online programs in the United States of America. Results show that both personal and program attributes contributed to students’ successful completion of a fully online program. Main individual attributes include interest in or career goals related to technology, time and effort invested, and perceived utility of learning. Main program attributes include relevancy of courses to individual or professional needs, satisfaction with courses and program, and ties between coursework and job promotion. Results of this study have implications in terms of prioritizing different attributes and strategizing resources to improve completion and graduation rates for fully online programs.     

The problem of secondary education completion: The case study of Cape Verde,a small island developing state

Like many small island developing states, Cape Verde faces a challenge with secondary school completion. The lack of global development goals for secondary education results in the lack of government policies to promote secondary education, which may in effect be partially responsible for the drop in primary school completion The purpose of this paper is to identify the student populations who leave secondary school prior to completion based on Cape Verde’s Ministry of Education data, which is disaggregated by municipality and school. In addition we link these student populations to socioeconomic factors in order to examine possible causes for their abandonment of schooling. This paper intends to draw attention to the issues facing secondary education in a small, developing island nation and highlight policies that have proven effective in similar contexts. The case study of Cabo Verde can be used to generate secondary education policy discussions in other small island developing states (SIDS), as well as other sub-Saharan African nations.     

Peer-Based Supplemental Instruction in STEM: Differences in Effectiveness Across Transfer and Nontransfer Undergraduates

Although there is a large body of research on the effectiveness of supplemental instruction for college undergraduates, very little of it has focused on transfer students, who often confront additional sources of stress and historically perform more poorly than their native student counterparts. In this study, we investigated the effectiveness of a peer-based supplemental instructional program in general and organic chemistry at a large state university over a six-year period, while considering differences across transfer and nontransfer students. The results suggest that the supplemental instruction improved outcomes overall but that nontransfer students benefit to a greater degree than transfer students, in the form of higher grades and pass rates, from attending supplemental instruction. The results suggest that peer-based supplemental instruction is a useful method to improve undergraduate student performance in chemistry, but more research is needed on ways to enhance the effectiveness of interventions in improving the performance of transfer undergraduate students in STEM fields.     

关于我国外汇市场主要汇率的协整分析

自1973年布雷顿森林体系崩溃以来，世界外汇市场的汇率就表现出巨幅而且频繁波动的特征。由于外汇市场风险极大，因而要捕捉到汇率运动的规律就十分困难。目前，几家中国的商业银行推出了个人外汇买卖业务。本文着重对几种汇率之间的协整关系进行实证分析，以期发现它们之间是否存在长期的稳定的关系。其结果将有助于投资者制定决策并且有效地规避风险。     

服务业就业比重与失业率的关系研究

面对当前中国沉重的就业压力,流行的观点认为,发展服务业能够扩大就业,降低失业率。本文利用世界银行相关经验数据,对服务业就业比重与就业总量、失业率等方面的关系进行计量经济学分析,发现了几个重要关系：就业总量与服务业就业比重存在显著正相关;劳动力总供给和女性劳动参与率与服务业就业比重也存在显著正相关。这一发现有力地解释了普遍存在于市场经济国家的一种现象：服务业就业比重的上升尽管创造了新的就业机会,但失业率却没有因此而下降。     

浅析利率平价理论及其在中国的表现

本文以2009年9月-2010年11月的数据为依据,运用利率平价理论分析我国近两年的汇率走势,认为利率平价理论在我国并不适用,并就其可能的原因做出简要的分析。     

基于VAR模型的我国当前货币政策利率传导机制

选取2003～2012年共40期季度数据,通过在货币供应量（M2）、货币市场利率（CHIBOR）、贷款利率（LR）和产出水平（GDP）之间构造VAR模型,对我国的货币政策利率传导机制进行分析发现：目前我国货币政策仍以数量调控为主,利率传导机制只在货币供应量向货币市场利率传导环节通畅,货币市场利率和金融机构存贷利率之间并不存在长期稳定的均衡关系,政府通过制定贷款利率来直接干预经济的渠道也不畅通.完善货币政策调控需要优化货币市场结构,推动利率市场化改革,确立金融机构完全市场主体地位,促进民间金融发展,为金融发展提供一个公平竞争的环境.     

地方高校科技期刊被引频次研究——以《衡阳师范学院学报》为例

被引频次可以客观反映科技期刊被使用和受重视的程度,已成为许多机构评价科技期刊的重要指标之一。提高期刊被引频次是编辑决策面临的首要问题。借助《中国知网》,采取手工检索和自动检索相结合的方法逐期逐篇登记,对《衡阳师范学院学报》(简称《学报》)2010—2012年的261篇自然科学论文进行被引频次统计分析。结果表明环境科学与资源科学被引频次比值较高,对《学报》评价有着积极影响,而教学论文发文量大,但被引率低,给《学报》评价带来消极影响。从作者职称、学历情况看,教授与博士的论文被引频次比值最大。继续依托校内重点学科与省级平台是《学报》提高被引频次的重要途径;此外,要积极争取知名学者的稿件,提高国家级基金论文比例,努力提高《学报》论文质量以实现被引频次大幅上升的目标。     

住房价格与中国居民储蓄率——基于面板联立方程的经验分析

本文基于世代交叠模型,引入住房消费因素,构建两期交叠模型研究房价与储蓄率的关系。研究发现房价与储蓄率之间存在负向的相互影响,进而利用1999—2011年中国31个省市区的面板数据,构建面板联立方程模型对房价与储蓄率的关系进行实证检验。研究结果发现,房价对居民储蓄率的影响显著为负,房价的上涨并未导致居民储蓄率的提高,反而导致"储蓄搬家"现象的产生。同时,房价与居民储蓄率之间存在内生性关系以及非对称的负向互动影响,且房价对居民储蓄率的负向作用程度更大。进一步研究发现,收入水平的提高、老龄化的加快、收入差距的扩大与未来收入的不确定性均显著促进居民储蓄率的提高。此外,因短期内中国传统的节俭习惯难以逆转,中国居民储蓄行为存在"棘轮效应"。     

特征不为2的可线性化域上一类矩阵群的完全性

讨论了一类矩阵群的完全性,给出了特征不为2的可线性化域上的一类矩阵群的完全性的证明。