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Books in Social sciences

The Social Sciences collection forms a definitive resource for those entering, researching, or teaching in any of the many disciplines making up this interdisciplinary area of study. Written by experts and researchers from both Academic and Commercial domains, titles offer global scope and perspectives.

Key subject areas include: Library and Information Science; Transportation; Urban Studies; Geography, Planning, and Development; Security; Emergency Management.

  • Forensic Criminology

    • 1st Edition
    • Wayne Petherick + 2 more
    • English
    Forensic Criminology gives students of criminology and criminal justice an introduction to the forensic realm and the applied forensic issues they will face when working cases within the justice system. It effectively bridges the theoretical world of social criminology with the applied world of the criminal justice system. While most of the competing textbooks on criminology adequately address the application and the social theory to the criminal justice system, the vast majority do not include casework or real-world issues that criminologists face. This book focuses on navigating casework in forensic contexts by case-working criminologists, rather than broad social theory. It also allows criminology/criminal justice instructors outside of the forensic sciences the ability to develop and instruct a core course that might otherwise be considered beyond their expertise, or in conflict with forensic courses taught in chemistry, biology, or medical programs at their institutions because of its focus on criminology and criminal justice careers. With its practical approach, this textbook is well-suited for forensic criminology subjects being taught and developed in law, criminology, and criminal justice programs around the world.

  • Virtual Research Environments

    From Portals to Science Gateways
    • 1st Edition
    • Robert N. Allan
    • English
    Virtual Research Environments examines making Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) usable by researchers working to solve “grand challenge” problems in many disciplines from social science to particle physics. It is driven by research the authors have carried out to evaluate researchers’ requirements in using information services via web portals and in adapting collaborative learning tools to meet their more diverse needs, particularly in a multidisciplinary study.This is the motivation for what the authors have helped develop into the UK Virtual Research Environments (VRE) programme. They illustrate generics with specific instances of studies carried out comparing portal technologies and evaluating usability. This work, and further development of collaboration and Webbased research tools has been carried out with international collaborators, in particular using the Sakai framework and other recent Java-language based portal programming frameworks and associated standards.The book is divided into a number of chapters providing motivation, illustrations, comparisons of technology and tools, practical information about deployment and use and comments on issues and difficulties in ensuring uptake of e-Science and Grid technology by already practicing researchers.

  • Evaluation of Digital Libraries

    An insight into Useful Applications and Methods
    • 1st Edition
    • Giannis Tsakonas + 1 more
    • English
    Evaluation of Digital Libraries summarizes research and practice on both sides of the Atlantic and aims to answer the potential questions that both the theoretical and practical areas of digital library evaluation have posed during recent years. The book systematically presents aspects of participating communities, reasons and aims of evaluation, methodologies and metrics, and application paradigms.

  • Forensic Comparative Science

    Qualitative Quantitative Source Determination of Unique Impressions, Images, and Objects
    • 1st Edition
    • John R. Vanderkolk
    • English
    While there is no such thing as a perfect match in the field of forensic comparative science, Forensic Comparative Science: Qualitative Quantitative Source Determination of Unique Impressions, Images, and Objects provides the experience, understanding, and judgment, necessary for concluding whether two unique images share common origin from a unique and persistent source.Knowing there will be ranges of different levels of details throughout images, the expert must be able to comprehend when a sufficient quality and quantity of details is reached to render a judgment. By utilizing a process of analyzing the first image, analyzing the second image, comparing them to each other, and evaluating the significance of the analyses and comparisons based on expertise, the comparative scientist will be able to recognize the belief and believe the recognition that occurs during comparative examinations.Forensi... Comparative Science presents a philosophical and theoretical approach to explaining the cognitive process of comparative measurements and source determination. Science is about understanding and generalizing nature. This book is about generalizing comparative science.

  • International Encyclopedia of Human Geography

    • 1st Edition
    • Rob Kitchin + 1 more
    • English
    The International Encyclopedia of Human Geography provides an authoritative and comprehensive source of information on the discipline of human geography and its constituent, and related, subject areas. The encyclopedia includes over 1,000 detailed entries on philosophy and theory, key concepts, methods and practices, biographies of notable geographers, and geographical thought and praxis in different parts of the world. This groundbreaking project covers every field of human geography and the discipline’s relationships to other disciplines, and is global in scope, involving an international set of contributors. Given its broad, inclusive scope and unique online accessibility, it is anticipated that the International Encyclopedia of Human Geography will become the major reference work for the discipline over the coming decades. The Encyclopedia will be available in both limited edition print and online via ScienceDirect – featuring extensive browsing, searching, and internal cross-referencing between articles in the work, plus dynamic linking to journal articles and abstract databases, making navigation flexible and easy. For more information, pricing options and availability visit http://info.scienced...

  • Scholarly Communication for Librarians

    • 1st Edition
    • Heather Morrison
    • English
    Reviews the current landscape of scholarly communications and publishing and potential futures, outlining key aspects of transition to best possible futures for libraries and librarians.

  • Method in the Madness

    Research Stories You Won’t Read in Textbooks
    • 1st Edition
    • Keith Townsend + 1 more
    • English
    Method in the Madness is presented as a companion to researchers investigating the complex world of work. Rather than a ‘How to’ text on performing research, this book presents a record of experiences. Research so often evolves in the field or the planning stages and a successful researcher need to be aware of serendipitous opportunities as they arise and how to solve problems as they occur. The book comprises an introduction written by the editors followed by thirteen chapters written by different contributors. The introduction draws together the disparate experiences that follow and discusses the ways in which the contributors, all of whom are respected researchers, dealt with and learned from the research experience. In the following chapters, the contributors describe and reflect on the research process, the challenges they met during their research and the lessons learned. The style varies, but includes narratives, anecdotes and descriptions of individuals’ experiences as research was designed and carried out and the results generated.

  • The Law of Emergencies

    Public Health and Disaster Management
    • 1st Edition
    • Nan D. Hunter
    • English
    The Law of Emergencies discusses the legal framework for disaster response and emergency management. The book engages with and debates some of the most important Constitutional issues of our time, such as the tension between civil liberties and national security. It also examines how the law of emergencies plays out in the context of real life emergencies where individuals often have to make split-second decisions. It analyzes legal authority at the federal, state and local levels, placing the issues in historical context but concentrating on contemporary questions. This book includes primary texts, reader-friendly expository explanations, and sample discussion questions. Prior knowledge of the law is not necessary in order to use and understand this book. The contents are organized into 13 substantive chapters plus two additional chapters with problem sets, making the book especially easy to use for a separate course focused on law. The book leads students through the process of understanding both what the law requires and how to analyze issues for which there is no clear legal answer. It features materials on such critical issues as how to judge the extent of Constitutional authority for government to intervene in the lives and property of American citizens. At the same time, it also captures bread-and-butter issues such as responder liability and disaster relief methods. No other book brings these components together in a logically organized, step by step fashion. The book also features case studies of high-risk scenarios including pandemic flu, together with charts and text boxes for clarification. This book will be of interest to graduate and undergraduate students studying the major legal principles underlying emergency management and homeland security policy and operations; professionals in EM and HS; and private-sector risk managers.

  • The Future of the Academic Journal

    • 1st Edition
    • Bill Cope + 1 more
    • English
    Examines current issues in journals publishing and reviews how the industry will develop over the next few years. With contributions from leading academics and industry professionals, the book provides an authoritative and balanced view of this fast-changing area. There are a variety of views surrounding the future of journals and these are covered using a range of contributors. Online access is now taken for granted - 90 per cent of journals published are now available online, an increase from 75 per cent in 2003.

  • Fatal Accidents

    How Prosperity and Safety Are Linked
    • 1st Edition
    • J. F. Lancaster
    • English
    Accidents are generally regarded as unexpected events that do not fall into any regular pattern. Such is not the case. Analysis of the historical records of accident mortality rates in general, and specifically in industry and transport, shows that they diminish with the passage of time in an ordered fashion, although we are not consciously aware of this fact.In his challenging book Fatal Accidents, the author, in order to explain this paradox, proposes a model of human behaviour in which the reduction in fatal accident rates results from a development of skill, such that the population becomes progressively more adept at avoiding mishaps. Such changes are subconsciously and collectively regulated by the population concerned – for example, by drivers in the case of road transport – and are made possible by advances in science and technology. A similar model is applicable to the reduction of general mortality rates, to economic growth and to population growth. The future cannot be predicted, but at present safety is improving at a satisfactory rate.

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