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Books in Social sciences and humanities

    • Dynamic Modelling and Control of National Economies 1989

      Selected Papers from the 6th IFAC Symposium, Edinburgh, UK, 27–29 June 1989
      • 1st Edition
      • N.M. Christodoulakis
      • English
      The Symposium aimed at analysing and solving the various problems of representation and analysis of decision making in economic systems starting from the level of the individual firm and ending up with the complexities of international policy coordination. The papers are grouped into subject areas such as game theory, control methods, international policy coordination and the applications of artificial intelligence and experts systems as a framework in economic modelling and control. The Symposium therefore provides a wide range of important information for those involved or interested in the planning of company and national economics.
    • Explaining the Growth of Government

      • 1st Edition
      • Volume 171
      • J.A. Lybeck + 1 more
      • English
      The aim of this book is to explain the post-war growth of the public sector in a number of developed economies. The purpose is to see whether scientists familiar with their respective countries' institutional, political and economic framework, but still working as a group, can advance some common factors behind the growth of government.
    • Benefiting from Basic Education, School Quality and Functional Literacy in Kenya

      • 1st Edition
      • Volume 2
      • T. O. Eisemon
      • English
      Studies of the retention of literacy and numeracy by adults who have only obtained primary schooling have given little encouragement to the belief that the cognitive effects of schooling are enduring for many school leavers. How these findings can be reconciled with the claims made for the importance of schooling as an instrument of social and economic change is the subject ofinvestigation in this volume. The cognitive outcomes of literacy acqusition and secular schools in coastal Kenya are the focus of this ethnographic study, which stresses the relevance of an international understanding of the particular problems and dilemmas that face the educational systems of individual countries.
    • New Horizon Testing

      Latent Trait Test Theory and Computerized Adaptive Testing
      • 1st Edition
      • David J. Weiss
      • English
      New Horizons in Testing: Latent Trait Test Theory and Computerized Adaptive Testing provides an in-depth analysis of psychological measurement, espoused by the computer-latent trait test theory (item response theory) and computerized adaptive testing. The book is organized into five parts. The first part addresses basic problems in estimating the parameters of the item response theory models that constitute a class of latent trait test theory models. The second part, discusses the implications of item response theory for measuring individuals using more than just simply a trait level (e.g., ability) score. Part III describes the application of item response theory models to specific applied problems, including the problem of equating tests or linking items into a pool, a latent trait model for timed tests, and the problem of measuring growth using scores derived from the application of item response theory models. Part IV is concerned with the application of item response theory to computerized adaptive testing. Finally, Part V includes discussion of two special models beyond the standard models used in the rest of the book. One of these models, the constant information model, is a simplification of the general latent trait models, whereas the other is an extension of latent trait models to the problem of measuring change. Psychometricians, psychologists, and psychiatrists will find the book useful.
    • Contexts for Prehistoric Exchange

      • 1st Edition
      • PERISIC
      • English
      Contexts for Prehistoric Exchange is a collection of papers that discusses the theoretical and methodological approaches in understanding the parameters of regional exchange from both the Old and New Worlds. The papers deal with the sourcing of exchange material, spatial patterning, the modeling of exchange, production for exchange, consumption, and symbolic contexts. One paper evaluates the different laboratory techniques for analyzing archaeological materials, their efficiency, "cost," range of applicability, and the mathematical usefulness of the data toward the research. Another paper describes the prehistoric obsidian used throughout New Mexico, and applies mathematical representations of the procurement strategies associated with the different obsidian source areas or time periods. The paper then incorporates these analyses with available bodies of theories on raw-material procurement and exchange. Through an analysis of stylistic and technological attributes of southwestern ceramics, one paper notes that inferring exchange on the basis of stylistic similarity does not always lead to a simple correlation between stylistic distributions and patterns of material exchange. Another paper suggests that ethnohistory and archaeology in Andean exchange can be complementary approaches to the discovery of patterns, processes, and change/exchange of other systems. The collection can prove beneficial for archaeologists, anthropologist, sociologists, and researchers interested in the pre-history of the Old World or New World.
    • The Econometric Analysis of Non-Uniqueness in Rational Expectations Models

      • 1st Edition
      • Volume 201
      • L. Broze + 1 more
      • English
      This book is devoted to the econometric analysis of linear multivariate rational expectation models. It shows that the interpretation of multiplicity in terms of "new degrees of freedom" is consistent with a rigorous econometric reasoning. Non-uniqueness is the central theme of this book. Each chapter is concerned with a specific econometric aspect of rational expectations equilibria. The most constructive result lies in the possibility of an empirical determination of the equilibrium followed by the economy.
    • HERMES: Harmonised Econometric Research for Modelling Economic Systems

      • 1st Edition
      • Commission of the European Commission of the European Com
      • English
      The "HERMES" European system of models is featured in this book. This system was set up at the initiative of the Commission of the European Communities (Directorate-General for Science, Research and Development). It involves a series of medium term, macrosectoral econometric models in which energy plays a special role as a production factor. The different models are interlinked by a bilateral flow module, which describes for each product the trade between all the Community countries taken in twos. The United States, Japan and five zones are represented in this by simplified versions of the Commission's COMET model.This volume will help the reader to understand and interpret the numerous studies which have been undertaken with the help of the HERMES system. Economists and researchers will find valuable information and figures, with a common nomenclature, on the economies of the different countries, both on structural data and on economic operators.
    • The Western European Idea in Education

      • 1st Edition
      • V. Mallinson
      • English
      A textbook on education in Western Europe, this book is designed for students of both education and European studies. It compares and contrasts education ideals and practice and cultural aspirations in different countries and generations and then goes on to consider how Western Europe will react to future challenge and change - both from within and beyond its own confines
    • Economics and Cognitive Science

      • 1st Edition
      • Paul Bourgine + 1 more
      • English
      Economics, dealing with mental processes of decision makers is part of cognitive science; conversely, cognitive science, faced with constraints on information processing, is part of economics. In July 1990, the Cecoia 2 conference was organised in Paris to further explore the connections between the two. The papers presented in this volume illustrate this truly interdisciplinary research intertwining social and cognitive sciences. Three main topics are represented: agent's mental representation when facing complex uncertainty; agent's computational constraints leading to bounded rationality; agent's learning and evolution in an imperfectly known environment.
    • The Structure of Earnings and the Measurement of Income Inequality in the U.S

      • 1st Edition
      • Volume 184
      • Daniel J. Slottje
      • English
      The various issues involved in measuring income inequality in the U.S. are analyzed in this book. In describing the level of inequality inherent in a particular graduation it is important which income recipient and which data set is used and also the measure of income inequality used as the appropriate summary statistic.Recent trends in labor markets are examined and the book attempts to trace the impact of these trends on the distribution of income for various age, race and occupational cohorts, and across states. Some new methods for analyzing inequality in a multidimensional framework are also discussed. This book provides one of the most comprehensive treatments of income inequality available to date.