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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.

  • School Security

    How to Build and Strengthen a School Security Program
    • 3rd Edition
    • Paul Timm
    • English
    School Security: How to Build and Strengthen a School Safety Program, Third Edition emphasizes a proactive rather than reactive approach to school security. Through a holistic approach, rather than focusing on a particular threat or event, readers are introduced to basic loss prevention and safety concepts. The book covers fundamental CPTED concepts and addresses bullying, teen suicide, harassment, and dating violence. This updated new edition includes new information throughout on topics such as new legislative requirements, technological advancements such as AI, communications and access control, and even a parent’s guide to school safety.The book discusses how to positively influence student behavior, lead staff training programs, and write sound security policies. It presents complex security concepts in straightforward language that resonates with educational stakeholders who may not have security backgrounds. It recognizes the financial constraints facing most educational institutions and prioritizes cost-effective solutions. Tiered implementation strategies allow schools to enhance security incrementally within available resources. It also emphasizes integrating security measures into school culture, balancing robust security with maintaining an open, welcoming educational environment—a critical concern overlooked in more technically-oriented security literature.
  • Models and Measures for Sustainable City Logistics

    Behavioral Choice Processes
    • 1st Edition
    • Francesco Russo + 1 more
    • English
    Models and Measures for Sustainable City: Behavioral Choice Processes Logistics offers a thorough understanding of urban freight movements, focusing on behavioral aspects of consumers. It outlines the role of modelling the behavioral aspects of people determining urban freight movements, mapping the behavior of the end consumer and the retailer which generates freight movements in an urban context. It provides new methods of urban freight transport simulation, taking into account the challenges of sustainable development goals, and uses the most recent approaches in modelling for city logistics scenario design and planning. It also outlines the relationships between measures and main components (expressed by indicators) of sustainable development.This book guides readers in implementing the most effective city logistics measures and actions, addressing the choice of a set of measures and the definition of planning scenarios. Readers are introduced to simulation methods for estimating impacts and system performance, which can be used for comparing the future scenario outcomes according to the set of target indicators defined by Agenda 2030. The book first specifies end consumer behaviors in purchasing processes, analyzing the individual phases of the purchase. The retailer’s behaviors are then specified, and after specifying the patterns of the decision makers, the quantities of goods that constitute the references for the choices of the decision makers are analyzed. Finally, the book presents the problems whose solution makes it possible to identify the vehicles of the various types and then the flows on the network. The overall structure of the model system and the specification of each single model are then given. Some models calibrated in different real cases are presented, highlighting their applicability to other contexts. Finally, implementable measures are presented and the relationships between measures and main components (expressed by indicators) of sustainable development are examined.Transport technicians, post-graduate students, and academics alike will find this a valuable resource for understanding how to incorporate user behavior into transport planning and logistics modeling, ultimately helping them to optimize processes and promote sustainability.
  • Handbook of the Economics of Climate Change

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 2
    • English
    Handbook of the Economics of Climate Change, Volume Two provides readers from a broad range of backgrounds – including students, researchers, policymakers, and practitioners – with a central reference for core elements the economics of climate change. Topics in this new release include Mitigation Costs, Climate Change, Climate Policy, and Development, Climate Change, Climate Policy, and Trade, Climate Change, Climate Policy, and Financial Markets, Industrial Climate Policy, Technology, and Innovation, Climate, Health, and Human Behavior, Critical Perspectives on Climate Economics, and Future Directions for Climate Economics.
  • Community Trees and Forests

    Improving Environmental and Human Well-Being
    • 1st Edition
    • David J. Nowak
    • English
    Improving Environmental and Human Health with Community Trees and Forests provides the latest and most comprehensive information on community forests globally, how these trees improve human health and well-being, the value of community trees, and what local land managers, from the lot to regional scale, could do to improve the benefits provided by community trees. It offers a complete understanding of the benefits and costs associated with trees in cities and how these benefits occur. This book facilitates the creation of sustainable community forests that provide optimal benefits to individuals and society.It takes a systems approach, focusing on the forest population rather than the individual tree, and providing information on the best tree species and designs to produce optimal effects. The book is divided into three major sections: The Basics, Urban Forest Benefits, and Improving the Urban Environment with Trees. It covers how cities affect our local environment, the monetary value of trees, and specific steps that land managers should follow to manage and improve their local tree and forest population. This comprehensive resource is valuable for city forest and park managers, policy makers, regional managers, and non-profit groups.
  • Integrating Activity-Based Models with Mobile Phone Data

    Advances in Traffic Modeling and Multi-Agent Simulation
    • 1st Edition
    • Fei Yang + 2 more
    • English
    Integrating Activity-Based Models with Mobile Phone Data: Advances in Traffic Modeling and Multi-Agent Simulation analyzes the path from the observation to prediction using traffic big data. The book explores the refined identification method of individual travel chains in the diversified and complex urban travel environment, reconstructing the structure and algorithms of Activity-based Models or ABM based on the characteristics identified by mobile phone signaling data. Final sections develop an activity decision-making and microscopic behavior simulation platform. Users will find this to be a resource that supports urban and regional traffic management optimization and traffic planning using traffic big data.
  • Securing Electric Mobility

    • 1st Edition
    • Aparna Kumari
    • English
    Electric vehicles (EVs) continue to capture a growing share of the smart car market across the globe. Like most new technologies, e-mobility comes with a learning curve. Securing Electric Mobility provides readers with in-demand knowledge relating to the dynamically evolving intersection between information & communication technology and vehicle engineering.The edited volume offers in-depth understanding of the distinct features of EV cybersecurity. It opens with a description of the fundamental elements of EVs, their interconnectedness, their cyber-physical characteristics and resulting vulnerabilities. It then dissects the digital threat landscape to increase awareness of all possible risks posed by cyberattacks on electric vehicles, and from there it systematically covers data management, regulatory frameworks, existing solutions and emerging cybersecurity protocols and methodologies that are enhanced by blockchain, artificial intelligence, Internet-of-Things integration, machine learning, and real-time monitoring systems. The value of this thorough overview is strengthened further through the inclusion of real-word case studies, which prove the effectiveness of the adopted approaches to safeguard vehicle control systems, owners’ personal data, and the broader cyber-physical network and related equipment.This book proves to be an indispensable, state-of-the-art resource for academia and industry alike as it encourages further transformative, interdisciplinary investigations into the security-assurance complexities that guide EVs’ resilience evolution.
  • Rethinking Rural

    Data-Driven Approaches for Sustainable Development
    • 1st Edition
    • Luca Salvati
    • English
    Rethinking Rural: Data-Driven Approaches for Sustainable Development offers a comprehensive, interdisciplinary exploration of sustainable rural development through a quantitative lens. Drawing on official statistics, spatial analysis, and refined indicators, this edited volume brings together leading scholars from ecology, economics, and planning to rethink the environmental-econom... nexus shaping rural territories. With a focus on Europe and the Mediterranean, but applicable globally, the book emphasizes continuous, spatially explicit monitoring of socioecological and socioeconomic complexities to inform effective, place-specific policies that enhance sustainability and resilience.Structure... in three parts, the book first presents integrated perspectives on rural system evolution, including climate change impacts, land use, and socioeconomic drivers across diverse contexts such as Mediterranean landscapes and Colombia’s deforestation. The second part details traditional and advanced tools for monitoring rural environments, from territorial indicators to wildfire and habitat assessment. The final section addresses planning and policy challenges, evaluating natural disaster management, resilience strategies, environmental degradation costs, and socio-demographic influences on tourism insurance.
  • Technology in Supply Chain Management and Logistics

    Current Practice and Future Applications
    • 2nd Edition
    • Anthony M. Pagano + 1 more
    • English
    Technology in Supply Chain Management and Logistics: Current Practice and Future Applications, Second Edition analyzes the implications of these technologies in a variety of supply chain settings, including block chain, Internet of Things (IoT), inventory optimization, and medical supply chain. This book outlines how technologies are being utilized for product planning, materials management and inventory, transportation and distribution, workflow, maintenance, the environment, and in health and safety. Readers will gain a better understanding of the implications of these technologies with respect to value creation, operational effectiveness, investment level, technical migration and general industry acceptance.The book identifies emerging supply chain technologies, and trends in technology acceptance and utilization levels across various industry sectors. It includes contributions from experts in their fields to illustrate how technology can be applied in a variety of areas including manufacturing, equipment distribution, retail, aerospace repair and maintenance, and medical supply chain. Also included are chapters on cutting edge exponential technologies, principals for implementing technological change in supply chain management, and future estimates of technology in supply chain. This second edition updates this constantly changing area.
  • Autonomous Driving and Traffic Dynamics in Road Transportation

    Modeling, Simulation, and Control
    • 1st Edition
    • Michail Makridis + 1 more
    • English
    Autonomous Driving and Traffic Dynamics in Road Transportation: Modeling, Simulation, and Control provides an introduction to autonomous vehicles (AV) in road transport systems, along with discussions on the critical similarities and differences with human drivers. Focusing on key concepts in traffic dynamics and AI-based modeling, the book also offers a comprehensive discussion of the unique dynamics introduced by AVs and their impacts on congestion, safety, energy, and their role in sustainable future intelligent transportation systems. Sections delve into traditional driving behaviors, examining the basics of car-following, driver characteristics, lateral movement, and how well AI models generalize these behaviors. Further sections covers shifts to autonomous driving systems, analyzing their operational principles and providing comparative evidence with human drivers. Assessments on the performance of traditional car-following models against artificial intelligence developments that highlight strengths and weaknesses for each approach are also included. Final sections integrate human drivers and AVs into broader traffic flow theories, presenting findings on how autonomous driving impacts traffic patterns, look at the role of AI and modeling, explore the pros and cons of various methods and data sources, and discuss real-world traffic management applications, combining AI and traditional models for traffic estimation, control, and ensuring fair, disruption-resilient outcomes.
  • Reinventing Transit for the 21st Century

    • 1st Edition
    • Baruch Feigenbaum
    • English
    Reinventing Transit for the 21st Century addresses the critical state of urban transit systems in the U.S., exacerbated by declining ridership and looming fiscal challenges post-COVID. The book advocates for substantial reforms, including transitioning to contracted services, fostering competition, and redesigning transit boards to emphasize expertise over politics. It also calls for integrating various service modes and adopting new technologies to reduce costs and enhance the rider experience.Spanning 10 chapters, the book begins with an overview of current transit systems and the factors behind their decline. It outlines a vision for modern transit, focusing on customer needs, service redesign, complementary services like bike-sharing, funding mechanisms, and international lessons on contracting. Governance improvements and the role of technology are also discussed, with a concluding chapter presenting a model 21st-century transit system.Accessible to political leaders, transit executives, researchers, planners, and riders, the book includes a glossary for clarity. It emphasizes the importance of serving transit-dependent riders, often from lower-income Communities of Color, to boost ridership and provide essential services. This book is essential for anyone invested in the future of urban transit.