News by Subject Mathematics

Researchers from Dartmouth and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have developed an original approach to flight scheduling that, if implemented, could result in a significant increase in profits for airlines and more flights that align with passengers' preferences. The approach is presented in a paper, 'Airline Timetable Development and Fleet Assignment Incorporating Passenger Choice,' recently published in Transportation Science, the leading journal in the field of transportation analysis.

How long has it been since you logged onto a Web site and you were prompted to decide whether to opt out of 'cookies' that the site told you will enhance your online experience? Minutes? Hours?

Antonie J. Jetter, associate professor of Engineering and Technology Management at Portland State University, studied the wisdom of crowds theory. Jetter found diverse crowds of local natural resource stakeholders can collectively produce complex environmental models very similar to those of trained experts. "I am excited about the possibilities for other complex systems," Jetter said.

Eating out, ordering in or carrying out? Most Americans indulge in some form of restaurant eating. Consumers believe that cleanliness at these establishments is a key factor in determining where they satisfy their cravings.

The popularity of bike-share systems has grown in popularity thanks to the younger, more environmentally conscious generation. While they have garnered considerable attention in cities from Paris to Washington, D.C., their promise of urban transformation is far from being fully realized.

How can mathematics learning in primary school be facilitated? UNIGE has developed an intervention to promote the learning of math in school. Named ACE-ArithmEcole, the program is designed to help schoolchildren surpass their intuitions and rely instead on the use of arithmetic principles. More than half (50.5%) of the students who took part in the intervention were able to solve difficult problems, as compared to 29.8% for pupils who followed the standard course of study.

Researchers at The University of Tokyo Institute of Industrial Science conducted simulations considering and neglecting hydrodynamic interactions to determine whether or not these interactions cause the large discrepancy observed between experimental and calculated nucleation rates for hard-sphere colloidal systems, which are used to model crystallization. The team obtained similar nucleation rates from both simulations, clarifying that hydrodynamic interactions cannot explain the mismatch observed between actual and simulated nucleation rates for hard-sphere systems.

In an article published in Physical Review Letters, Bristol scientists have answered the fundamental question: 'Is it possible to move without exerting force on the environment?', by describing the tractionless self-propulsion of active matter.