We investigate the spectral statistics of the difference of two density matrices, each of which is independently obtained by partially tracing a random bipartite pure quantum state. We first show how a closedform expression for the exact joint eigenvalue probability density function for arbitrary dimensions can be obtained from the joint probability density function of the diagonal elements of the difference matrix, which is straightforward to compute. Subsequently, we use standard results from free probability theory to derive a relatively simple analytic expression for the asymptotic eigenvalue density (AED) of the difference matrix ensemble, and using Carlson's theorem, we obtain an expression for its absolute moments. These results allow us to quantify the typical asymptotic distance between the two random mixed states using various distance measures; in particular, we obtain the almost sure asymptotic behavior of the operator norm distance and the trace distance.

This data article describes the dataset of the International COVID-19 Impact on Parental Engagement Study (ICIPES). ICIPES is a collaborative effort of more than 20 institutions to investigate the ways in which, parents and caregivers built capacity engaged with children's learning during the period of social distancing arising from global COVID-19 pandemic. A series of data were collected using an online survey conducted in 23 countries and had a total sample of 4,658 parents/caregivers. The description of the data contained in this article is divided into two main parts. The first part is a descriptive analysis of all the items included in the survey and was performed using tables and figures. The second part refers to the construction of scales. Three scales were constructed and included in the dataset: ‘parental acceptance and confidence in the use of technology’, ‘parental engagement in children's learning’ and ‘socioeconomic status’. The scales were created using Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and Multi-Group Confirmatory Analysis (MG-CFA) and were adopted to evaluate their cross-cultural comparability (i.e., measurement invariance) across countries and within sub-groups. This dataset will be relevant for researchers in different fields, particularly for those interested in international comparative education.

El presente artículo informa acerca de los hallazgos de la tercera etapa de una amplia investigación sobre el fraude académico universitario que ha conducido el Centro de Investigación y Formación en Educación, CIFE, de la Universidad de los Andes en Bogotá, con el propósito de desarrollar intervenciones para combatirlo. Ante resultados preocupantes de las primeras etapas en términos de la frecuencia de fraude en la Universidad y de las razones que dan los estudiantes para cometerlo y evitarlo, emprendimos una detallada investigación cualitativa que analiza con profundidad estas razones. A partir de los resultados, proponemos una interpretación de tipo cultural para las decisiones de fraude de los alumnos, que se aleja de una que considere solamente factores relacionados con el desarrollo moral individual. Luego utilizamos principios constructivistas del aprendizaje y su posible aplicación, para sustentar la necesidad de combatir el fraude académico desde el cambio pedagógico. Palabras clave:Fraude académico, plagio en educación, educación universitaria, educación superior, fraude y pedagogía. AbstractThe present article gives information about the findings of the third stage of a research project on academic fraud that has been conducted by the Centro de Investigación y Formación en Educación, CIFE, from the Andes University, Bogotá, with the purpose of developing interventions to fight it. Facing upsetting findings in the first two stages about the frequency of fraudulent behaviors and the reasons given by the students to justify academic fraud, we conducted a detailed qualitative study that analyzes these reasons. From the results we propose a cultural explanation for students' decisions on academic fraud, instead of one that only takes into account factors related to individual moral development. Then we use constructivist learning principles and their possible applications to support the need to fight against academic fraud from pedagogical change.

In this article we present the results of a research project in which we describe academic cheating at Universidad de los Andes and identify possible factors associated with the students' decision to cheat or not to do it. The participants were 1.194 undergraduate students who answered a survey in which they identified cheating behaviors, rated them according to how serious they considered them, admitted types of cheating committed, rated reasons that would make them cheat or stop them from doing it and evaluate different arguments related to two moral dilemmas. Ninety four percent of students admitted having committed at least one type of cheating. We found differences in types and frequencies of cheating across academic departments. Academic overload and specific types of evaluation were among the reasons most commonly mentioned for cheating. While those who rated highly heteronomic arguments were more prone to cheating, those who rated highly autonomic arguments were more prone to not cheating. However, a closer look at the relation between cheating and moral development did not lead to definite conclusions. The results made us realized that it is a severe problem that needs to be addressed, among other approaches, from a pedagogical perspective. We suggest some ideas about it.

We propose a multipartite extension of Matsumoto and Hayashi's distortion-free entanglement concentration protocol, which takes n copies of a general multipartite state and, via local measurements, produces a maximally-entangled multipartite state between local spaces of dimensions ∼ 2 nE i , where Ei are the local entropies of the input state. However, the extended protocol is generally not universal in the sense that for the same measurement outcomes, the output state will still depend on the input state. Our main result is that when specialized to any state in the multiqubit W class, the protocol is also universal, so that as in the biparatite version, the output is a unique, maximally-entangled state for each given set of measurement outcomes. Our analysis brings to the forefront a new and interesting family of maximally-entangled multipartite states, which we term Kronecker states. A recurrence relation to obtain the coefficients of the W-class Kronecker states is also given.