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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.

  • Science of Mind

    The Quest for Psychological Reality
    • 1st Edition
    • Bozzano G Luisa
    • English
    This book explains the social factors that shape the nature of theory and research traditions in psychology. It presents a broad treatment of the construction of theory and knowledge in science and philosophy with particular emphasis on psychological thinking. Du Preez, emphasizing the "evolution of knowledge," discusses theory and research across behaviorism, psychoanalysis, phenomenology, cognitive psychology, and many other psychological areas, placing them in their socio-philosophical contexts.

  • 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.

  • Foundations of Measurement

    Volume 3
    • 1st Edition
    • R Duncan Luce
    • English
    From the Foreword is infinite in multitude; and I mean by the sand not only that which exists about Syracuse and the rest of Sicily but also that which is found in every region whether inhabited or unhabited. Again there are some who, without regarding it as infinite, yet think that no number has been named which is great enough to exceed its multitude. And it is clear that they who hold this view, if they imagined a mass made up of sand in other respects as large as the mass of the earth, including in it all the seas and the hollows of the earth filled up to a height equal to that of the highest mountains, would be many times further still from recognizing that any number could be expressed which exceeded the multitude of the sand so taken. But I will try to show you by means of geometrical proofs, which you will be able to follow, that, of the numbers named by me and given in the work which I sent to Zeuxippus, some exceed not only the number of the mass of sand equal in magnitude to the earth filled up in the way described, but also that of a mass equal in magnitude to the universe.:

  • 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.

  • Foundations of Measurement

    Volume 2
    • 1st Edition
    • Patrick Suppes
    • English
    Foundations of Measurement offers the most coherently organized treatment of the topics and issues central to measurement. Much of the research involved has been scattered over several decades and a multitude of journals--available in many instances only to specialties. With the publication of Volumes two and three of this important work, Foundations of Measurement is the most comprehensive presentation in the area of measurement.

  • Adaptive Responses of Native Amazonians

    • 1st Edition
    • Raymond B. Hames
    • English
    Adaptive Responses of Native Amazonians investigates the adaptive responses of the aborigines of Amazonia from the ecological perspective within anthropology. The discussions are organized around the major modes of Amazonian subsistence (cultivation, hunting and fishing), nutrition, and settlement pattern. Comprised of 15 chapters, this volume begins with an overview of Amazonian ecosystems, citing environmental models of Amazonian adaptive behavior and sociocultural evolution as well as the problematic definition or measure of the concept of adaptation. The reader is then introduced to shifting cultivation among the Machiguenga, Native American inhabitants of the tropical rainforest of the Upper Amazon, and the Kuikuru, one of three Carib-speaking villages located at the headwaters of the Xingú River. Subsequent chapters focus on the adaptive strategies of the Wakuénai people to the oligotrophic rainforest of the Rio Negro Basin; neotropical hunting among the Aché of Eastern Paraguay; trekking by the Mekranoti-Kayapó Indians of Central Brazil in lowland South America; and fishing patterns among the Cocamilla Indians of Achual Tipishca in the Huallaga River Basin in northeastern Peru. The book also considers nutrition and settlement patterns among native Amazonians. This monograph will be a useful resource for anthropologists, scholars, specialists, and others who are interested in the general fields of human ecology, South American ethnology, and tropical studies.

  • The Police

    Autonomy and Consent
    • 1st Edition
    • Michael Brogden
    • English
    The Police: Autonomy and Consent is composed of two parts dealing mainly on the theme of police autonomy (Chapters 2-6) and the reciprocal theme of consent (Chapters 7-9). In particular, Chapter 2 is devoted to an historical account of the development of early police autonomy. Chapters 3 and 4 consider the political relation of the successor force within the local state in the mid-1970s, and the historical changes in the relationship between the police institution and the central state, respectively. Subsequent two chapters locate the core problem in considering police independence within the legal domain, and the role and political orientations of the three intrapolice organizations in reinforcing the development of autonomy. Chapter 7 demonstrates that different forms of relationship have historically characterized the relations between police institutions and the different social classes. The last two chapters present evidence on consent, and draws the themes of autonomy and consent together by focusing on the role of the chief police officer, positioned at the nexus between structural demands and organizational restraints, in continually negotiating definitions and practices of police work.

  • History of Computing in the Twentieth Century

    • 1st Edition
    • Nicholas Metropolis
    • English
    A History of Computing in the Twentieth Century focuses on the advancements in the processes, methodologies, programs, and techniques in computing. The selection first elaborates on computing developments in Cambridge, U.S.A., pioneering work on computers at Bletchley, and the COLOSSUS. Discussions focus on secrecy and priority, the first COLOSSUS, MARK II COLOSSUS, postwar developments in computing, and the HEATH ROBINSON project. The text then ponders on Turing's work at the National Physical Laboratory and the construction of Pilot ACE, DEUCE, and ACE, the Smithsonian Computer History Project, and programming in America. Topics include origins of FORTRAN, optimization techniques in FORTRAN, DEUCE computer, and the Pilot ACE. The book takes a look at the development of programming in the USSR, advancement of programming languages, and reflections on the evolution of algorithmic language. The book also examines the computer development at Manchester University, the sieve process, MANIAC project, and the ENIAC project. The selection is a valuable reference for computer science experts and researchers interested in the development of computing.

  • Dialect and Language Variation

    • 1st Edition
    • English
    This anthology emphasizes dialects of American English and language variation in America. The editors present original essays by today's leading investigators, including articles by some of Europe's best dialectologists, obtained expressly for this work.

  • Neural Network PC Tools

    A Practical Guide
    • 1st Edition
    • Russell C. Eberhart
    • English
    This is the first practical guide that enables you to actually work with artificial neural networks on your personal computer. It provides basic information on neural networks, as well as the following special features:

  • Cannon's Point Plantation, 1794 - 1860

    Living Conditions and Status Patterns in the Old South
    • 1st Edition
    • John Solomon Otto
    • English
    Cannon's Point Plantation, 1794 – 1860: Living Conditions and Status Patterns in the Old South presents the results of historical archaeological investigations at Cannon's Point, an antebellum sea-island cotton plantation off the Georgia coast. This book compares investigations of archaeological remains at sites once occupied by slaves, overseers, and planters—people who differed in racial, social, and economic status. This text not only examines the material living conditions of the Old South, but also observes a substantial example of status patterning in the archaeological record. This publication is valuable to archaeologists and historians concerned with the treatment and daily lives of slaves in the Old South.

  • Applied Iterative Methods

    • 1st Edition
    • Louis A. Hageman
    • English
    Applied Iterative Methods discusses the practical utilization of iterative methods for solving large, sparse systems of linear algebraic equations. The book explains different general methods to present computational procedures to automatically determine favorable estimates of any iteration parameters, as well as when to stop the iterative process. The text also describes the utilization of iterative methods to solve multidimensional boundary-value problems (such as discretization stencil, mesh structure, or matrix partitioning) which affect the cost-effectiveness of iterative solution procedures. The book cites case studies involving iterative methods applications, including those concerning only three particular boundary-value problems. The text explains polynomial acceleration procedures (for example, Chebyshev acceleration and conjugate gradient acceleration) which can be applied to certain basic iterative methods or to the successive overtaxation (SOR) method. The book presents other case studies using the iterative methods to solve monoenergetic transport and nonlinear network flow multidimensional boundary-value problems. The text also describes the procedures for accelerating basic iterative methods which are not symmetrizable. The book will prove beneficial for mathematicians, students, and professor of calculus, statistics, and advanced mathematics.

  • Philosophy and Archaeology

    • 1st Edition
    • Merrilee H. Salmon
    • English
    Studies in Archaeology: Philosophy and Archaeology presents the circumstances under which archeological hypotheses can be considered confirmed or disconfirmed. This book discusses the role of analogy in archeological reasoning, particularly in ascribing functions to archeological items. Organized into seven chapters, this book begins with an overview of the relationship between archeology and philosophy. This text then examines the importance of laws for archeology and discusses some essential features of law statements. Other chapters consider the strong claims for the hypothetico–deductiv... method of confirmation in various works by archeologists. This book discusses as well the different uses of analogical reasoning in archeology and provides a discussion of the structure of analogical arguments, criteria for evaluating them, and their relations to the Bayesian arguments for confirmation. The final chapter deals with several issues related to the development of a theory of archeology. This book is a valuable resource for archeologists and philosophers.

  • 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.

  • Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 10
    • English
    Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory, Volume 10 focuses on the progress of methodologies, approaches, techniques, and principles employed in archaeological method and theory. The selection first elaborates on the formation of ethnographic collections, colonization of islands by humans, and shellfish gathering and Shell midden archaeology. Discussions focus on archaeological excavation and interpretation of Shell middens, shellfish gathering in practice and theory, island geometrical properties relevant to colonization, archaeological applications of biogeographical principles, and principles of museum collecting. The text then takes a look at the formation processes of archaeobotanical record and archaeofaunas and butchery studies, including identification of taphonomic agents, a taphonomic approach to the analysis of butchering, approaches to understanding differential preservation, cultural transformations of the archaeobotanical record, and environmental transformation processes. The book examines bioarchaeological interpretations of subsistence economy and behavior from human skeletal remains, as well as activity patterns in the archaeological past, changing directions in bioarchaeology, and health and disease in the archaeological past. The selection is a valuable reference for archaeologists and researchers interested in archaeological method and theory.

  • Multinomial Probit

    The Theory and Its Application to Demand Forecasting
    • 1st Edition
    • Carlos Daganzo
    • English
    Multinomial Probit: The Theory and Its Application to Demand Forecasting covers the theoretical and practical aspects of the multinomial probit (MNP) model and its relation to other discrete choice models. This text is divided into five chapters and begins with an overview of the disaggregate demand modeling in the transportation field. The subsequent chapters examine the computational aspects of the maximum-likelihood estimation and the statistical aspects of MNP model calibration. These chapters specifically describe the properties of the log-likelihood function and the statistical properties of MNP estimators. These topics are followed by a discussion of the mechanical aspects of the MNP model. The closing chapter examines the errors in the estimation of the true parameter value due to lack of data and how these errors propagate to the final prediction. This book will prove useful to econometricians, engineers, and applied mathematicians.

  • Computational Vision

    • 1st Edition
    • Harry Wechsler
    • English
    The book is suitable for advanced courses in computer vision and image processing. In addition to providing an overall view of computational vision, it contains extensive material on topics that are not usually covered in computer vision texts (including parallel distributed processing and neural networks) and considers many real applications.

  • Analysis of Qualitative Data

    New Developments
    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 2
    • Shelby J. Haberman
    • English
    Analysis of Qualitative Data, Volume 2: New Developments focuses on the variety of models used in the analysis of qualitative data. The book first elaborates on multinomial response models and incomplete tables. Discussions focus on models for incomplete tables with ordered categories, incomplete two-way tables and migration, multinomial response models for one or more continuous independent variables, and multinomial response models for two-way tables. The book also reviews symmetrical tables and adjustment of data, including the adjustment of marginal totals using unsaturated models, symmetry models for multi-way tables, and distance models. The publication ponders on latent-class models, as well as models with several latent variables, iterative proportional fitting and latent-class models, maximum likelihood equations for the traditional latent-class model, and the scoring algorithm. The manuscript is a vital reference for researchers interested in the models used in the analysis of qualitative data.

  • Modern Material Culture

    The Archaeology of Us
    • 1st Edition
    • Richard A. Gould + 1 more
    • English
    Modern Material Culture: The Archaeology of Us presents the relationships between human behavior and materials to contemporary societies. This book discusses the various aspects of material behavior in contemporary human societies. Organized into three parts encompassing 21 chapters, this book begins with an overview of the theory and teaching of the material culture approach. This text then presents ethnographic case studies that posit various general statements about human behavior in relation to materials as varied as herbs, coins, fences, graffiti, and domestic architecture. Other chapters consider a variety of topics ranging from mortuary practices and beliefs to the reuse and recycling of goods in the U.S. This book discusses as well the experimental approaches to material culture studies. The final chapter deals with the artifacts of aboriginal Australian settlements. This book is a valuable resource for archeologists, anthropologists, and readers who are interested in human behavior in relation to materials.

  • Learning and Study Strategies

    Issues in Assessment, Instruction, and Evaluation
    • 1st Edition
    • English
    This volume reflects current research on the cognitive strategies of autonomous learning. Topics such as metacognition, attribution theory, self-efficacy, direct instruction, attention, and problem solving are discussed by leading researchers in learning and study strategies. The contributors to this volume acknowledge and address the concerns of educators at the primary, secondary, and postsecondary school levels. The blend of theory and practice is an important feature of this volume.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • The Politics of Informal Justice

    Volume 2: Comparative Studies
    • 1st Edition
    • Richard L. Abel
    • English
    The Politics of Informal Justice, Volume 2 demonstrates the existence of examples of informal justice in every society, practicing a wide range of political ideology. The book situates contemporary experiments with informal justice in a broad comparative and historical perspective. It identifies the characteristics and common elements of informal justice in four settings: in precapitalist societies and contemporary Third World nations; under liberal capitalism, social democracy, and fascism; and in socialist revolutions and established socialist regimes. The text will be of interest to political scientists, sociologists, historians, and those concerned in the study of legal systems.

  • Transfer of Learning

    Contemporary Research and Applications
    • 1st Edition
    • Stephen M. Cormier + 1 more
    • English
    Since the mid-1970s, scientific and educational research has left a gap in the field of basic and applied research on transfer of learning. This book fills the gap with state-of-the-art information on recent research in the field, emphasizing methodological paradigms and interpretive concepts based on contemporary cognitive/informatio... processing approaches to the study of human behavior. Issues discussed include how transfer is measured, how its direction and magnitude are determined, how training for transfer differs from training for acquisition, and whether different principles of transfer apply to motor, cognitive, and meta-cognitive processes.

  • Archaeology of Urban America

    The Search for Pattern and Process
    • 1st Edition
    • Roy S. Dickens
    • English
    Archaeology of Urban America: The Search for Pattern and Process is composed of three parts, namely, Strategies and Methods; Site Formation, Structure, and Pattern; and Artifact Analysis and Interpretation. The Strategies and Methods section centers on the general questions asked by urban archaeologists, as well as on the ways they design their research to elucidate those questions. The Site Formation, Structure, and Pattern section is generally comprised of chapters classified as ""test cases"" emphasizing the approaches, interpretation, and even direct extension of larger research designs. Lastly, the Artifact Analysis and Interpretation section deals with intersite and intrasite patterning of artifact assemblages, as well as with specific class of artifacts. This material will help stimulate a dialogue among archaeologists who have chosen the American city as their subject. This book will also be useful to urban sociologists, economists, cultural anthropologists, and historians.

  • Integrable Systems in Quantum Field Theory and Statistical Mechanics

    • 1st Edition
    • M. Jimbo + 2 more
    • English
    Advanced Studies in Pure Mathematics, Volume 19: Integrable Systems in Quantum Field Theory and Statistical Mechanics provides information pertinent to the advances in the study of pure mathematics. This book covers a variety of topics, including statistical mechanics, eigenvalue spectrum, conformal field theory, quantum groups and integrable models, integrable field theory, and conformal invariant models. Organized into 17 chapters, this volume begins with an overview of the eigenvalues of the three-state superintegrable chiral Potts model of the associated spin chain by use of a functional equation. This text then illustrates the importance of the star-triangle equation with a few results for the two-dimensional Ising model. Other chapters consider the conformal field theories on manifolds with a boundary, and the constraints placed by modular invariance on their partition functions. This book discusses as well the topological invariants for knots and links. The final chapter deals with equations of motion for two-dimensional quantum field theory. This book is a valuable resource for mathematicians.

  • The American Frontier

    An Archaeological Study of Settlement Pattern and Process
    • 1st Edition
    • Kenneth E. Lewis
    • English
    The American Frontier: An Archaeological Study of Settlement Pattern and Process focuses on general rules or laws for the evolution of all agrarian frontiers, emphasizing those that are expanding. A variety of frontiers is also discussed in addition to the agrarian type to pinpoint similarities and differences. Organized into 11 chapters, this book first elucidates the processes of frontier colonization, and then describes the frontier model employed for the interpretation of documentary and material evidence for the examination of the development of South Carolina frontier. Some chapters then focus on the examination of South Carolina's colonial past in terms of the model to determine its degree of conformity with the latter and to set the stage for the archaeological study; the development of archaeological hypotheses; and a consideration of the material record. Other types of frontiers are characterized by separate developmental processes, and several of these are discussed in Chapter 10 as avenues for further research. This book will be valuable to scholars in several fields, including history, geography, and anthropology. Historical archaeologists will find it especially useful in designing research in former colonial areas and in modeling additional kinds of frontier change.

  • Word Order Universals

    • 1st Edition
    • John A Hawkins
    • English
    Word Order Universals is a detailed account of word order universals and their role in theories of historical change. The starting point is the Greenberg data set, which is comprised of a sample of 142 languages for certain limited co-occurrences of basic word orders, and a 30-language sample for more detailed information. In the Language Index, the 142 have been expanded to some 350 languages. Using the original Greenberg samples and the Expanded Sample, an alternative set of descriptive word order statements is provided. Comprised of eight chapters, this book begins with an introduction to the theory of word order universals, encompassing topics such as word order variation across languages and theories of universal grammar. The reader is then introduced to the work of Joseph Greenberg and Theo Vennemann on word order universals; implicational universals in Greenberg's data and the Expanded Sample; and the predictions made by implicational and distributional universals for word order change. Reformulated universals for historical reconstruction are also discussed, along with some laws of reconstruction derived from synchronic universals. The final chapter is devoted to the Expanded Sample, with particular reference to its quantities as well as its typological and genetic classification. This monograph will be a useful resource for specialists in grammar and linguistics.

  • The Biology of the Guinea Pig

    • 1st Edition
    • Joseph E. Wagner
    • English
    The Biology of the Guinea Pig focuses on the use of the guinea pig as a substrate in research. This book provides a comprehensive coverage of material related to applied care and management of guinea pigs and their diseases. Topics on guinea pig behavior, genetics, specific pathogen-free technique, biomethodology, and colony husbandry are also covered. This text likewise deals with the noninduced diseases of guinea pigs and use of the guinea pig in nutrition research, otologic research, toxicology, and teratology. This publication is beneficial to the general scientific community that includes investigators using or considering the use of guinea pigs in research, veterinarians, students of veterinary medicine, professionals concerned with the care and management of guinea pigs, commercial producers of guinea pigs, and cavy fanciers.

  • Genes, Culture, and Personality

    An Empirical Approach
    • 1st Edition
    • Bozzano G Luisa
    • English
    The diversity of human behavior is one of the most fascinating aspects of human biology. What makes our individual attitudes, lifestyle and personalities different has been the subject of many physiological and psychological theories. In this book the emphasis is on understanding the genetic and environmental causes of these differences. Genes, Culture, and Personality is an expansive account of the state of current knowledge about the causes of individual differences in personality and social attitudes. Based on almost two decades of empirical research, the authors have made a significant contribution to the debate on genetic and cultural inheritance in human behavior. The book should be required reading for psychologists, psychiatrists, sociobiologists, and geneticists.

  • Handbook of the Economics of Risk and Uncertainty

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 1
    • Mark Machina + 1 more
    • English
    The need to understand the theories and applications of economic and finance risk has been clear to everyone since the financial crisis, and this collection of original essays proffers broad, high-level explanations of risk and uncertainty. The economics of risk and uncertainty is unlike most branches of economics in spanning from the individual decision-maker to the market (and indeed, social decisions), and ranging from purely theoretical analysis through individual experimentation, empirical analysis, and applied and policy decisions. It also has close and sometimes conflicting relationships with theoretical and applied statistics, and psychology. The aim of this volume is to provide an overview of diverse aspects of this field, ranging from classical and foundational work through current developments.

  • Soil Microbiology and Biochemistry

    • 1st Edition
    • Eldor Paul
    • English
    Soil Microbiology and Biochemsitry enconmpasses the broad spectrum of soil organisms and the dynamic processes carried on by them, including ecological relationships in the biota, the dynamics of the carbon and nitrogen cycles, and microbe-driven reactions involving sulfu, phosphorous, and metals. This reference source will prove invaluable to anyone involved in the study of agricultural and nonagricultural soils.

  • Volcanic Hazards

    A Sourcebook on the Effects of Eruptions
    • 1st Edition
    • R. J. Blong
    • English
    Volcanic Hazards: A Sourcebook on the Effects of Eruptions provides a comprehensive discussion of volcanic eruptions and their effects. This volume provides background data on volcanic activity with attention directed specifically at those types of activity and those characteristics which are hazardous. It establishes the direct effects of volcanic eruptions on humans in terms of death and injuries, and social aspects such as perception of eruption hazards, evacuation, panic, looting, and religious beliefs. It discusses the indirect consequences of volcanic eruptions for humans by illustrating the effects on buildings, utilities, communication networks and machinery, agriculture, and commercial activity. This book should be of interest to planners, engineers, city administrators, agriculturalists, and emergency services personnel who must deal with the effects of volcanic hazards; to volcanologists and geologists who did not know eruptions affected so many things; to geographers, environmentalists, and natural hazard scientists who are interested in the interrelatedness of phenomena; and to citizens who have experienced, or might yet experience, some of these effects.

  • Practical Microwave Electron Devices

    • 1st Edition
    • Bozzano G Luisa
    • English
    Practical Microwave Electron Devices provides an understanding of microwave electron devices and their applications. All areas of microwave electron devices are covered. These include microwave solid-state devices, including popular microwave transistors and both passive and active diodes; quantum electron devices; thermionic devices (including relativistic thermionic devices); and ferrimagnetic electron devices. The design of each of these devices is discussed as well as their applications, including oscillation, amplification, switching, modulation, demodulation, and parametric interactions. Numerous design examples and case studies are presented throughout the book. For each microwave electron device covered, typical design examples or case studies are presented as well as qualitative or quantitative explanations. The fundamental theory of each device is summarized along with the underlying principles of the design. Each summary is presented so that the design techniques can be applied to other specific cases, designs, and applications. Review questions are included with each chapter to stimulate creative thinking and enhance the acquisition of knowledge and design skills. This book is written for engineers, scientists, and technicians seeking practical knowledge on microwave electron devices and their applications through self-study. It is also suitable for use as a college textbook in upper-division courses for seniors and first-year graduate students in electrical engineering.

  • Clostridium Difficile

    Its Role in Intestinal Disease
    • 1st Edition
    • Rial D. Rolfe
    • English
    Despite the tremendous progress made during the last few years in understanding the pathogenesis, epidemiology, diagnosis, and treatment of Clostridium difficile-associated intestinal disease, many extremely important and fundamental questions remain to be answered. The objectives of this book are to summarize the available information regarding Clostridium difficile and its role in intestinal disease and to serve as a basis for future investigations in this challenging area.Clostridium difficile: its role in Intestinal Disease. An excellent volume that should appeal not only to the devotee of C difficile but to all gastroenterologists and microbiologists, this will not languish on my library shelves like so many other books I have reviewed. It will be regularly thumbed. --R.H. George, consultant microbiologist, Children's Hospital, BirminghamClostridiu... difficile: Its Role in Intestinal disease. The book is well written and informative; it has a vast amount of information packed in it...this book would be a welcome addition to the researchers and clinicians interested in C difficile-associated intestinal diseases. --Edward Balish, University of Wisconsin Medical School

  • Analytical Methods For Geochemical Exploration

    • 1st Edition
    • J. C. Van Loon + 1 more
    • English
    Written for the practicing analyst, Analytical Methods for Geochemical Exploration offers thoroughly tested chemical analysis methods for determining what base or precious metals are in geochemical exploration samples, such as rocks, soil, or sediment. Theory is kept to a minimum and complete procedures are provided so that no additional sources are needed to conduct analyses.

  • Semiotic Mediation

    Sociocultural and Psychological Perspectives
    • 1st Edition
    • Elizabeth Mertz
    • English
    Semiotic Mediation: Sociocultural and Psychological Perspectives provides the theoretical and empirical direction toward the synthesis of the subjective, developmental, or cognitive aspects of semiotic processes in a psychological context, and the historical, institutional, and ideological grounding of sign systems in sociocultural contexts. The book is divided into three sections that show the theoretical rationale and empirical consequences of cross-disciplinary research into semiotic processes. Part I provides a comprehensive theoretical foundation, with analysis and exegesis of work on semiotic mediation by theorists such as Peirce, Vygotsky, Bakhtin, Whorf, Saussure, and Frege. Part II presents empirical case studies that range across the fields of developmental psychology, cultural anthropology, sociolinguistics, and history of religion. Linking together these diverse data bases and research methodologies are crosscutting concerns with four dimensions of semiotic mediation. The third part is a section comprised of commentaries on the organization and themes of metasemiotic representation. The concluding chapter sketches the philosophical history of the notion of semiotic mediation and then synthesizes the volume's empirical studies in terms of directions for future research. Anthropologists, psycholinguists, psychosociologists, and linguistics experts will find the book invaluable.

  • Sexual Reproduction of Tree Crops

    • 1st Edition
    • M. Sedgley + 1 more
    • English
    Research into the reproductive biology of crop plants has expanded greatly in recent years and has lead to an increasing awareness of the importance of flowering, pollination, and fruit set in crop productivity. This book focuses specifically on tree cultivation. It deals with the basic biology of sexual reproduction and relates this to the practical aspects of tree crop breeding and orchard management for fruit and seed production, in both temperate and tropical species.It is aimed at both students and research scientists in horticulture, forestry, and pollination ecology as well as those working in tree breeding, tree cultivation, and orchard management. The conservation problems of rainforest regeneration in the tropics and subtropics and of changing land use priorities in Europe and North America also make this book of value to those concerned with tree species preservation and survival.

  • Role Theory

    Expectations, Identities, and Behaviors
    • 1st Edition
    • Bruce J. Biddle
    • English
    Role Theory: Expectations, Identities, and Behaviors presents the applications of role concepts for education, social work, and clinical practice. This book examines the advantages as well as the shortcomings of the role stance. Organized into nine chapters, this book begins with an overview of behaviors that are characteristics of persons within contexts and the various processes that are employed to explain and predict those behaviors. This text then examines the concepts of the role field and discovers their applications to social problems of pressing concern. Other chapters consider the empirical evidence that has been developed within the role orientation concerning social problems. This book discusses as well the behavioral comparability, behavior linkage, behavioral effects, and complex linking concepts for behaviors. The final chapter discusses how contexts may affect the behaviors of persons and how those behaviors may have subsequent functions. This book is a valuable resource for anthropologists, sociologists, and social psychologists.

  • Engine Testing

    Theory and Practice
    • 1st Edition
    • Bozzano G Luisa
    • English
    Engine Testing: Theory and Practice brings together the information on both the theory and practice of engine testing that engineers in this field must have available. Organized into 19 chapters, this book begins with a description of the engine test cell, including the salient features of its main types. Subsequent chapters deal with the other main components of an engine testing installation: the control room and the ventilation systems. Other chapters discuss the essential features of a test installation fuel supply system, as well as the characteristics, advantages, and disadvantages of the various types of dynamometer. The measurements of torque, power, speed, fuel consumption, air consumption, heat loss, and mechanical loss are also explained. Other topics of significance include the process of combustion, exhaust emissions, data logging, and statistical analysis. This material will be very useful to practicing test engineers and students.

  • Corruption

    A Study in Political Economy
    • 1st Edition
    • Susan Rose-Ackerman
    • English
    Corruption: A Study in Political Economy focuses on the problem of corruptions in political economy and functional bribery. This book is organized into four parts encompassing 11 chapters. Chapters 2 to 4 deal with the fundamental relationship among voters, legislators, and interest groups, as well as the role of the government bureaucracy in shaping legislative choices. Chapters 5 illustrates the basic relationships with an analysis of a monopolistic government official charged with allocating a benefit through a queuing system, while Chapter 6 retains the assumption of a single official with monopoly power but moves beyond the queuing model to consider alternative sanctioning strategies, a wider variety of bureaucratic tasks, and bribers who may be competitively or monopolisticly organized. Chapters 7 and 8 explore the potential of a system where officials are permitted to compete with one another in processing applications for governmental benefits. Under this system, an individual or firm rejected by one official can seek the benefit from other bureaucrats. Chapter 9 introduces a final administrative variable into the analysis, while Chapter 10 discusses the governmental corruption to analogous corrupt activities entirely within the private sector. Lastly, Chapter 11 looks into the relation between corruption and democratic theory, the possibility of reforming corrupt bureaucracies, and the link between economics and morality. This book will be of value to public servants, legislators, economists, sociologists, and researchers.

  • Oxidative Stress

    • 1st Edition
    • Helmut Sies
    • English
    Oxidative Stress is intended as an in-depth account of knowledge and problems in the field of oxygen-related damage in biological systems. The topics range from an assessment of molecular events in in vitro model systems to complex problems in clinical medicine. Organized into two parts with a total of 18 chapters, this book begins with an introduction to oxidative stress, elucidating specific topics on reactive oxygen species, detoxification system, and nature of oxidative damage. The first part focuses on models used with cells and tissues in the study of oxidative stress, whereas the second part describes the processes elicited by oxidative stress.

  • Integrated Project Support Environments

    The Aspect Project
    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 33
    • Alan W. Brown
    • English
    A major part of software engineering developments involve the use of computing tools which facilitate the management, maintenance, security, and building of long-scale software engineer projects. Consequently, there have been a proliferation of CASE tools and IPSES. This book looks at IPSES in general and the ASPECT project in particular, providing design and implementation details, as well as locating ASPECT in IPSE developments.

  • Life Table Techniques and Their Applications

    • 1st Edition
    • Krishnan Namboodiri + 1 more
    • H. H. Winsborough
    • English
    This is the first volume to present a comprehensive treatment of the theory and application of life table techniques. The emphasis is placed on applications, and the theory is presented in such a way that individuals with minimal knowledge of calculus and matrix algebra can follow the argument.

  • Evolutionary History of the Primates

    • 1st Edition
    • Frederick S. Szalay + 1 more
    • English
    Evolutionary History of the Primates presents a documentation and analysis of the fossil record and evolutionary history of the primates to facilitate the understanding of the genealogy, adaptations, dispersal, and taxonomy of the order. The book consists of 13 chapters; each chapter is devoted to a specific genera or higher taxa of primates. The chapters contain available information on the morphology, relationships, and adaptations of primate groups. The book clarifies discussed points or documents interpretations, and it indicates the type of fossil material available for each taxon. The text will be valuable to many researchers and students who need a source of data and interpretations about fossil primates.