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Elsevier

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.

  • Perfect Passwords

    Selection, Protection, Authentication
    • 1st Edition
    • Mark Burnett
    • English
    User passwords are the keys to the network kingdom, yet most users choose overly simplistic passwords (like password) that anyone could guess, while system administrators demand impossible to remember passwords littered with obscure characters and random numerals.Every computer user must face the problems of password security. According to a recent British study, passwords are usually obvious: around 50 percent of computer users select passwords based on names of a family member, spouse, partner, or a pet. Many users face the problem of selecting strong passwords that meet corporate security requirements. Too often, systems reject user-selected passwords because they are not long enough or otherwise do not meet complexity requirements. This book teaches users how to select passwords that always meet complexity requirements. A typical computer user must remember dozens of passwords and they are told to make them all unique and never write them down. For most users, the solution is easy passwords that follow simple patterns. This book teaches users how to select strong passwords they can easily remember.

  • Handbook of Evaluation Methods for Health Informatics

    • 1st Edition
    • Jytte Brender McNair
    • English
    The Handbook of Evaluation Methods for Health Informatics provides a complete compendium of methods for evaluation of IT-based systems and solutions within healthcare. Emphasis is entirely on assessment of the IT-system within its organizational environment. The author provides a coherent and complete assessment of methods addressing interactions with and effects of technology at the organizational, psychological, and social levels. It offers an explanation of the terminology and theoretical foundations underlying the methodological analysis presented here. The author carefully guides the reader through the process of identifying relevant methods corresponding to specific information needs and conditions for carrying out the evaluation study. The Handbook takes a critical view by focusing on assumptions for application, tacit built-in perspectives of the methods as well as their perils and pitfalls.

  • Procurement and Financing of Motorways in Europe

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 15
    • Giorgio Ragazzi + 1 more
    • English
    This volume raises many challenging and controversial issues surrounding motorway procurement and finance in Europe. A somewhat surprising outcome is that a general appraisal bias can be identified in the following sense: Experts from countries which have introduced concession schemes for managing and financing of their motorways are very critical of these schemes, stressing their shortcomings and caveats. Some even conclude that public management under a regime of welfare maximisation would be desirable as a sustainable option. Experts from countries which have been sticking to public procurement and tax finance of motorways strongly attack the inefficiency of public planning regimes and the general tendency to allocate the revenues from special transport related taxes to the public budget, eventually spending them on other purposes rather than transport. A typical feature of the latter regime seems to be the chronic lack of funds for infrastructure investment. Although a single ideal country concept for motorway procurement and finance obviously cannot be identified, every paper gives some insights into possible future improvements. Therefore, beyond the rich documentation of national solutions it is the perspective on workable future concepts which makes the book a valuable guide through the jungle of manifold options for public/private partnerships.This book is a selection of papers presented to the international conference "Highways: Costs and Regulation in Europe", held in Bergamo on the 26th - 27th of November 2004. The Conference was organised by the University of Bergamo, and sponsored by the European Investment Bank.

  • Security Metrics Management

    How to Manage the Costs of an Assets Protection Program
    • 1st Edition
    • Gerald L. Kovacich
    • English
    Security metrics is the application of quantitative, statistical, and/or mathematical analyses to measuring security functional trends and workload. In other words, tracking what each function is doing in terms of level of effort (LOE), costs, and productivity. Security metrics management is the managing of an assets protection program and related security functions through the use of metrics. It can be used where managerial tasks must be supported for such purposes as supporting the security professional’s position on budget matters, justifying the cost-effectiveness of decisions, determining the impact of downsizing on service and support to customers, etc. Security Metrics Management is designed to provide basic guidance to security professionals so that they can measure the costs of their assets protection program - their security program - as well as its successes and failures. It includes a discussion of how to use the metrics to brief management, justify budget and use trend analyses to develop a more efficient and effective assets protection program.

  • Digital Libraries and the Challenges of Digital Humanities

    • 1st Edition
    • Jeffrey Rydberg-Cox
    • English
    One of the major challenges facing librarians and curators of digital repositories are the innovative ‘born digital’ documents created by scholars in the humanities. These documents range from the parsed corpora created by linguists to traditional reference information presented in electronic databases, to rich, multi-media hypertexts combining audio, still and moving video and text, and many other sorts of material. Too often, librarians think of electronic resources solely as providing access to subscription databases. This book encourages librarians to think holistically of the life cycle of electronic resources from new items being created at their institution, to end-user access, to long term preservation of digital resources.

  • Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics

    • 2nd Edition
    • Keith Brown
    • English
    The first edition of ELL (1993, Ron Asher, Editor) was hailed as "the field's standard reference work for a generation". Now the all-new second edition matches ELL's comprehensiveness and high quality, expanded for a new generation, while being the first encyclopedia to really exploit the multimedia potential of linguistics.* The most authoritative, up-to-date, comprehensive, and international reference source in its field* An entirely new work, with new editors, new authors, new topics and newly commissioned articles with a handful of classic articles* The first Encyclopedia to exploit the multimedia potential of linguistics through the online edition* Ground-breaking and International in scope and approach* Alphabetically arranged with extensive cross-referencing* Available in print and online, priced separately. The online version will include updates as subjects developELL2 includes:* c. 7,500,000 words* c. 11,000 pages* c. 3,000 articles* c. 1,500 figures: 130 halftones and 150 colour* Supplementary audio, video and text files online* c. 3,500 glossary definitions* c. 39,000 references* Extensive list of commonly used abbreviations * List of languages of the world (including information on no. of speakers, languagefamily, etc.)* Approximately 700 biographical entries (now includes contemporary linguists)* 200 language maps in print and onlineAlso available 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 www.info.sciencedire...

  • Phishing Exposed

    • 1st Edition
    • Dave Jevans + 1 more
    • English
    Phishing Exposed unveils the techniques phishers employ that enable them to successfully commit fraudulent acts against the global financial industry. Also highlights the motivation, psychology and legal aspects encircling this deceptive art of exploitation. The External Threat Assessment Team will outline innovative forensic techniques employed in order to unveil the identities of these organized individuals, and does not hesitate to remain candid about the legal complications that make prevention and apprehension so difficult today. This title provides an in-depth, high-tech view from both sides of the playing field, and is a real eye-opener for the average internet user, the advanced security engineer, on up through the senior executive management of a financial institution. This is the book to provide the intelligence necessary to stay one step ahead of the enemy, and to successfully employ a pro-active and confident strategy against the evolving attacks against e-commerce and its customers.

  • Towards an Interdisciplinary Perspective on the Life Course

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 10
    • René Levy + 4 more
    • English
    Despite the well-established consensus on the need for an interdisciplinary research paradigm to understand the unfolding of human lives within their social context, existing empirical research rarely embraces this belief. This volume aims at examining the feasibility and hurdles of interdisciplinarity specific to given research fields by bringing together leading North-American and European researchers in sociology, psychology, social psychology and social demography, all highly concerned with fostering an interdisciplinary perspective for the study of the human life course. The contributions are organized along four major axes, three of them substantive (agency and structure, transitions, and biographical re-constructions) and one methodological (methodological innovations), leaving ample leeway for the contributions to address the specific gains and difficulties of empirical interdisciplinary research within their particular domain. The editors introduce the volume by discussing general features, theoretical linkages, and transversal substantive themes of interdisciplinarity in life course research. Likewise, the volume is ended by the editors’ conclusions based on the contributions; they single out major challenges and difficulties for the interdisciplinary study of the life course, together with some promising research meant to address such difficulties and improve current knowledge about the life course.The volume speaks to both experienced scholars and graduate students of the life course. Advanced scholars will benefit from the latest in life course research domains and from a comprehensive overview of life course methodologies. Graduate students of the life course will find in the book an original introduction to many empirical aspects of life course research and to the application of innovative methods to various research settings, as well as rich bibliographical references from the research literature in English, German and French.

  • Vulnerability Assessment of Physical Protection Systems

    • 1st Edition
    • Mary Lynn Garcia
    • English
    Vulnerability Assessment of Physical Protection Systems guides the reader through the topic of physical security with a unique, detailed and scientific approach. The book describes the entire vulnerability assessment (VA) process, from the start of planning through final analysis and out brief to senior management. It draws heavily on the principles introduced in the author’s best-selling Design and Evaluation of Physical Protection Systems and allows readers to apply those principles and conduct a VA that is aligned with system objectives and achievable with existing budget and personnel resources. The text covers the full spectrum of a VA, including negotiating tasks with the customer; project management and planning of the VA; team membership; and step-by-step details for performing the VA, data collection and analysis. It also provides important notes on how to use the VA to suggest design improvements and generate multiple design options. The text ends with a discussion of how to out brief the results to senior management in order to gain their support and demonstrate the return on investment of their security dollar. Several new tools are introduced to help readers organize and use the information at their sites and allow them to mix the physical protection system with other risk management measures to reduce risk to an acceptable level at an affordable cost and with the least operational impact. This book will be of interest to physical security professionals, security managers, security students and professionals, and government officials.

  • Physical Security Systems Handbook

    The Design and Implementation of Electronic Security Systems
    • 1st Edition
    • Michael Khairallah
    • English
    A practical reference written to assist the security professional in clearly identifying what systems are required to meet security needs as defined by a threat analysis and vulnerability assessment. All of the elements necessary to conduct a detailed survey of a facility and the methods used to document the findings of that survey are covered. Once the required systems are determined, the chapters following present how to assemble and evaluate bids for the acquisition of the required systems in a manner that will meet the most rigorous standards established for competitive bidding. The book also provides recommended approaches for system/user implementation, giving checklists and examples for developing management controls using the installed systems. This book was developed after a careful examination of the approved reference material available from the American Society for Industrial Security (ASIS International) for the certification of Physical Security Professionals (PSP). It is intended to fill voids left by the currently approved reference material to perform implementation of systems suggested in the existing reference texts. This book is an excellent “How To” for the aspiring security professional who wishes to take on the responsibilities of security system implementation, or the security manager who wants to do a professional job of system acquisition without hiring a professional consultant.

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