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Books in Information and uncertainty

Digital Asset Valuation and Cyber Risk Measurement
Principles of Cybernomics
1st Edition
Keyun Ruan
English
Digital Asset Valuation and Cyber Risk Measurement: Principles of Cybernomics is a book about the future of risk and the future of value. It examines the indispensable role of economic modeling in the future of digitization, thus providing industry professionals with the tools they need to optimize the management of financial risks associated with this megatrend. The book addresses three problem areas: the valuation of digital assets, measurement of risk exposures of digital valuables, and economic modeling for the management of such risks. Employing a pair of novel cyber risk measurement units, bitmort and hekla, the book covers areas of value, risk, control, and return, each of which are viewed from the perspective of entity (e.g., individual, organization, business), portfolio (e.g., industry sector, nation-state), and global ramifications. Establishing adequate, holistic, and statistically robust data points on the entity, portfolio, and global levels for the development of a cybernomics databank is essential for the resilience of our shared digital future. This book also argues existing economic value theories no longer apply to the digital era due to the unique characteristics of digital assets. It introduces six laws of digital theory of value, with the aim to adapt economic value theories to the digital and machine era.
Health Care and Environmental Contamination
1st Edition
English
Health Care and Environmental Contamination provides a comprehensive explanation of new and evolving topics in the field, including discussions on emissions from pharmaceutical manufacturing, disposal of medical wastes, inputs from sewerage systems, effects on aquatic organisms and wildlife, indirect effects on human health, antibiotic resistance, stewardship, and treatment. These important issues affect the natural environment, making this first book on the topic a must have for comprehensive, broad, and up-to-date coverage of these issues.
Subsistence and Survival
Rural Ecology in the Pacific
1st Edition
Timothy P. Bayliss-Smith
English
Subsistence and Survival: Rural Ecology in the Pacific covers the ecology of man's environment, man's use and perception of biological resources, and the physiology and health of the human organism itself. The geographical range of this text extends from the glaciated uplands of Papua New Guinea, through the montane forests and grasslands of the Highlands, into the coastal jungles, and across to the smaller islands and atolls of the South West Pacific. This book is organized into five parts encompassing 14 chapters. The first part deals with the theory and applications of human ecology. The next part considers first the International Biological Program in New Guinea concerning the link between human ecology and biomedical research. This part also explores the nutritional adaptation among the Enga and in Melanesia, and then introduces the principles of environmental health engineering as human ecology. The subsequent two parts highlight the impact of human activities on the environment, with an emphasis on the association between environmental exploitation and human subsistence. The final part discusses the relevance of self-subsistence communities for world ecosystem management. This book will be of great value to anthropologists, geographers, human biologists, nutritionists, botanists, and public health engineers.
Global Mobility of Research Scientists
The Economics of Who Goes Where and Why
1st Edition
Aldo Geuna
English
Global Mobility of Research Scientists: The Economics of Who Goes Where and Why brings together information on how the localization and mobility of academic researchers contributes to the production of knowledge. The text answers several questions, including "what characterizes nationally and internationally mobile researchers?" and "what are the individual and social implications of increased mobility of research scientists?" Eight independent, but coordinated chapters address these and other questions, drawing on a set of newly developed databases covering 30 countries, including the US, the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, and China, among others.
Fracture Mechanics of Rock
1st Edition
Barry Kean Atkinson
English
The analysis of crack problems through fracture mechanics has been applied to the study of materials such as glass, metals and ceramics because relatively simple fracture criteria describe the failure of these materials. The increased attention paid to experimental rock fracture mechanics has led to major contributions to the solving of geophysical problems.The text presents a concise treatment of the physics and mathematics of a representative selection of problems from areas such as earthquake mechanics and prediction, hydraulic fracturing, hot dry rock geothermal energy, fault mechanics, and dynamic fragmentation.
The Economics of Screening and Risk Sharing in Higher Education
Human Capital Formation, Income Inequality, and Welfare
1st Edition
Bernhard Eckwert + 1 more
English
The Economics of Screening and Risk Sharing in Higher Education explores advances in information technologies and in statistical and social sciences that have significantly improved the reliability of techniques for screening large populations. These advances are important for higher education worldwide because they affect many of the mechanisms commonly used for rationing the available supply of educational services. Using a single framework to study several independent questions, the authors provide a comprehensive theory in an empirically-driven field. Their answers to questions about funding structures for investments in higher education, students’ attitudes towards risk, and the availability of arrangements for sharing individual talent risks are important for understanding the theoretical underpinnings of information and uncertainty on human capital formation.
Phytolyth Analysis
An Archaeological and Geological Perspective
1st Edition
Dolores R. Piperno
English
This is a methodological guide to the use of plant opal phytolith analysis in paleoenvironmental and paleoecological reconstruction. It is the first book-length treatment of this promising technique, which has undergone rapid development within the past few years and is now beginning to be used with considerable success by paleobotanists who serve the archaeological and paleontological research communities. It will be mandatory reading for all paleobotanists, paleoecologists, and archaeological scientists.
Coba
A Classic Maya Metropolis
1st Edition
William J. Folan
English
Coba: A Classic Maya Metropolis investigates the ancient Maya and their ways both at Coba and in the rest of southern Mesoamerica. More specifically, it examines the composition, size, and organization of Coba and the manner in which the residents of this classic Maya metropolis extended themselves and their activities over the landscape. An interpretation of Maya class structure is also offered. Comprised of 14 chapters, this book begins with a background on the archaeological investigations of Coba as part of the Coba Archaeological Mapping Project. The debate over the urban status of Classic Maya settlements is considered, along with investigations of the hydrology, paleoclimatology, flora patterns, and soils of Coba. The importance of Coba in Maya history is then discussed, and the physical geography of the Yucatan Peninsula is described. Subsequent chapters focus on the various characteristics of Coba, including its urban organization and social structure; the composition of its residential compounds; neighborhoods and wards; and cottage industry and guild formation. A reconstruction of Coba's prehistoric population is also presented. This monograph will be of interest to archaeologists and anthropologists.
Maya Subsistence
Studies in Memory of Dennis E. Puleston
1st Edition
Kent V. Flannery
English
Maya Subsistence: Studies in Memory of Dennis E. Puleston presents studies on the history and development of Maya subsistence in honor of Maya archaeologist Dennis E. Puleston (1940-1978). The discussions are organized around four themes: ecological models for early Maya adaptations; archaeological investigations of Pre-classic and classic Maya subsistence; contributions of geography and soil science to an understanding of ancient Maya subsistence; and Maya subsistence in the post-classic, colonial, and modern eras. Comprised of 15 chapters, this book begins with an analysis of Puleston's career and a review of the history of inquiry into Maya subsistence. Maya subsistence from the earliest Pre-classic period up to the present day is then examined, with emphasis on agriculture, hunting, wild plant collecting, animal husbandry, and trade. In particular, cultural development in the Valley of Guatemala from 1500 B.C. to the Spanish Conquest is discussed, along with the resources of the tropical lowlands and actual prehistoric cornfields miraculously preserved by volcanic ashfall in El Salvador. The book also presents evidence for Maya soil and water conservation over the entire area from Yucatan to Chiapas and central Guatemala, and looks at the traditional role of women and animals in lowland Maya economy. This monograph will be of interest to archaeologists and anthropologists.
Multilevel Analysis of Educational Data
1st Edition
R. Darrell Bock
English
Multilevel Analysis of Educational Data focuses on the principles and procedures used in the evaluation of educational progress. The selection first offers information on some applications of multilevel models to educational data, empirical Bayes methods, and a hierarchical item-response model for educational testing. Discussions focus on the interface between levels, group-level model for content elements, an application of empirical Bayes, validity generalization, improving law school validity studies, and summarizing evidence in randomized experiments on coaching. The text then takes a look at difficulties with Bayesian inference for random effects and multilevel aspects of varying parameters in structural models. The book elaborates on models for multilevel response variables with an application to growth curves and the issues and problems emerging from the application of multilevel models in British studies of school effectiveness, including enduring questions, two-level models, estimation and prediction, and econometric random coefficient modeling. The selection is a dependable reference for educators and researchers interested in the evaluation of educational progress.