Skip to main content

Books in Social sciences and humanities

  • Aspects of Learning and Memory

    • 1st Edition
    • May 12, 2014
    • Derek Richter
    • English
    Aspects of Learning and Memory provides information pertinent to the fundamental aspects of learning and memory. This book discusses the various problems of memory. Organized into eight chapters, this book begins with an overview of the different kinds of learning. This text then discusses the concept of memory, which is extended to include the capacity to retain learned skills, such as reading, wring, or driving a car. Other chapters consider the mechanism by which humans recall the past is frequently a process of matching a present image with a past image. This book discusses as well the physiological mechanisms associated with learning and memory, which involve the establishment of neuronal patterns that can be reactivated at a later date when remembrance occurs. The final chapter deals with complexity of changes involved in learning. This book is a valuable resource for psychologists, clinical neurologists, pathologists, and scientists working in different fields of research.
  • Late Eighteenth Century European Scientists

    Volume 2
    • 1st Edition
    • May 12, 2014
    • R. C. Olby
    • English
    Late Eighteenth Century European Scientists is an account of the remarkable progress made by European scientists at the close of the eighteenth century in the fields of chemistry, electricity, astronomy, and botany. Seven scientists are profiled: Jean Lamarck, Joseph Koelreuter, Antoine Lavoisier, Henry Cavendish, Alessandro Volta, James Watt, and William Herschel. In choosing these scientists, the book emphasizes the following considerations: the need to be representative, to show the contrast between those whose work is primarily experimental and those whose work is speculative, and to include a subject which shows the reaction of science on technology and of technology on society. Comprised of seven chapters, this book begins with Lamarck, whose views, particularly on physics and chemistry, furnish a picture of traditional science during the mid-eighteenth century. The first chapter looks at his life, writings, and work in fields ranging from meteorology and geology to botany, zoology, and evolution. The next chapter focuses on Koelreuter and his experiments on pollen, ovule, pollination, fertilization, and hybridization. The discussion then turns to Cavendish, Herschel, and Volta, who have been included in this monograph primarily because they employed observation and experiment so successfully and as a result made important discoveries. Lavoisier has been chosen on account of his genius for looking at well-known facts and fresh discoveries from a new point of view. Watt has been selected in order to show the technological and sociological difficulties that are involved in applying a new source of power to industry and commerce. This book will be of interest to both students and scientists.
  • Computer Simulation in Human Population Studies

    • 1st Edition
    • May 12, 2014
    • Bennett Dyke + 1 more
    • English
    Computer Simulation in Human Population Studies contains the proceedings of a conference held at Pennsylvania State University on June 12-14, 1972, under the sponsorship of the Social Science Research Council. The conference provided a forum for discussing the application of computer simulation techniques to human population studies and organized topics around four themes: anthropology and social systems; genetics and adaptive systems; demography; and simulation methodology. Comprised of 23 chapters, this volume begins with an analysis of two tests of computer microsimulation: the effect of an incest taboo on population viability, and the effect of age differences between spouses on the skewing of their consanguineal relationships. The reader is then introduced to computer simulation of incest prohibition and clan proscription rules in closed, finite population; an empirical perspective on simulation models of human population; and models applicable to geographic variation in humans. Subsequent chapters deal with the role of co-adapted sets in the process of adaptation; simulation of human reproduction; and the mathematics of population simulation models. This book will be of interest to anthropologists, geneticists, biologists, computer scientists, mathematicians, and social scientists.
  • Iatrophilosophers of the Hellenic States

    • 1st Edition
    • May 12, 2014
    • John Precope
    • English
    Iatrophilosophers of the Hellenic States distinguishes the iatrophilosophers from the manual practitioners and from the educated amateur or theoretical researcher. This book discusses the intrusion of philosophy into medicine, which was the first background of the scientific spirit amongst the Greeks. Organized into five parts encompassing 30 chapters, this book begins with an overview of several great priest-physicians or religious healers, including Linus, Orpheus, Musaeus, and Asclepius. This text then describes the great men that earned the title of "wise". Other chapters consider Thales, who gained the title "wise" in the time of the Athenian archon Damusius. This book discusses as well several men of a speculative turn of mind, known as dialecticians or sophists. The final chapter deals with Aristotle, the famous iatrophilospher who flourished during the time the Hellenic States had remained free or independent. This book is a valuable resource for readers whose interests span a variety of fields.
  • Playfulness

    Its Relationship to Imagination and Creativity
    • 1st Edition
    • May 12, 2014
    • J. Nina Lieberman
    • Allen J. Edwards
    • English
    Playfulness: Its Relationship to Imagination and Creativity focuses on a discussion of the play element in play. This book discusses the differentiation between play and exploratory behavior based on familiar versus novel aspects in the factual givens. Organized into seven chapters, this book begins with an overview of the role of play, imagination, and creativity in psychological research. This text then examines the theoretical model that indicates the role of playfulness in affective, cognitive, and social functioning, and particularly relates these links to creativity and imagination. Other chapters consider playfulness as behavior at later stages of development. This book discusses as well some of the variables considered in relation to playfulness, including sex differences, social class, and level of intelligence. This book is intended to be suitable for professionals and advanced students in a number of disciplines. Developmental and educational psychologists as well as educators will also find this book useful.
  • Village Ethnoarchaeology

    Rural Iran in Archaeological Perspective
    • 1st Edition
    • May 12, 2014
    • Carol Kramer
    • English
    Village Ethnoarchaeology: Rural Iran in Archaeological Perspective discusses selected tangible features of the subject area, noting the differences in households and associated material culture. The book comments among settlement variability, the complexities in relationships among population density, settlement age, area, and function. The text also deals with material correlates of sociocultural behavior, spatial organization, architectural variability, regional patterns, and archaeological sampling strategies. The book presents a study based on three sets of contemporary data: (1) from an ethnographic fieldwork on Aliabad in summer 1975; (2) the census and cartographic documents published by the Iranian government; and (3) a corpus of published comparative ethnographic data. The book notes that among the households in Aliabad, which is neither economically stratified nor markedly heterogeneous, economic variations exist. The text suggests that that material diversity and systems involving socioeconomic differentiation can have substantial time depth in this part of the world. The book can prove beneficial for archaeologists, anthropologist, sociologists, and researchers interested in ethnographic accounts of Middle Eastern communities.
  • Illegal Transactions in International Trade

    Theory and Measurement
    • 1st Edition
    • May 12, 2014
    • Jagdish N. Bhagwati
    • English
    Studies in International Economics, Volume 1: Illegal Transactions in International Trade: Theory and Measurement embraces the theoretical, empirical, and econometric aspects of international economic analysis. The selection first elaborates on a theoretical analysis of smuggling, an alternative proof of the Bhagwati-Hansen results on smuggling and welfare, and smuggling and trade policy. Discussions focus on optimal tariff and revenue questions, legal trade eliminated by smuggling, legal trade co-existing with smuggling, overinvoicing and underinvoicing of transactions, and smuggling and welfare. The text then examines overinvoicing, underutilization, and distorted industrial growth, fiscal policies, faking of foreign trade declarations, and the balance of payments, and accuracy of economic observations. Topics include statistics of foreign commodity trade, trade tariffs and subsidies, effect on capital complexity, industrial employment and output growth, implications for industrial development, effective exchange rate for capital imports, and foreign-exchange profits of overinvoicing. The manuscript ponders on tariffs and smuggling in Indonesia and the problems of assessing unrecorded trade, including complications in comparing partners' trade accounts, measuring recorded values of all products, market impact of smuggling, and methods for detecting smuggling. The selection is a valuable source of data for researchers interested in international trade.
  • The Theory of Positional Games with Applications in Economics

    • 1st Edition
    • May 12, 2014
    • Iosif A. Krass + 1 more
    • Karl Shell
    • English
    The Theory of Positional Games with Applications in Economics deals with information and probabilistic extension of games in extensive forms, in normal forms, and to the existence of solutions of infinite games. The text also explains the application of existence of a solution to a von Neumann model with conflict interaction, and the theory of differential games based on Isaac's equations. The text describes in detail the definitions of a difference game, control sets of players, general strategies, optimal behavioral strategies. Isaac's approach to differential games is based primarily on the assumption of the sufficient smoothness of a Bellman's function. Bellman's function becomes smooth if control functions satisfy certain regularity conditions and smoothness conditions. Other approaches to differential games include the geometric properties of games and those of Avner Friedman and Nokolai Krasovsky. The computation of behavioral strategies in the Friedman approach is primarily based on Isaac's approach. Krasovky's approach is somewhat a generalization of both the geometrical approach and Friedman's approximation approach. The book is suitable for economists, statistician, mathematicians, students or professors of economics, business, and games theory.
  • Early Man in South Buckinghamshire

    An Introduction to the Archaeology of the Region
    • 1st Edition
    • May 12, 2014
    • J. F. Head
    • English
    Early Man in South Buckinghamshire: An Introduction to the Archaeology of the Region introduces the archaeology of South Buckinghamshire. This book records and outlines the evidence for the presence and activities of the early inhabitants of the southern portion of the county. It includes the topics on soils and settlements, communications, and Old and New Stone Age. The tumuli and surface finds, Bronze and Iron Age, Roman, Saxon, and Chiltern crosses are also elaborated. This monograph likewise includes a discussion of the county archaeological society and museums that are concerned with South Buckinghamshire antiquities, such as the Buckinghamshire Record Society, High Wycombe Museum, and Council for British Archaeology. This publication is suitable for archeologists, historians, and investigators concerned with the archaeology of South Buckinghamshire.
  • Artisan or Artist?

    A History of the Teaching of Art and Crafts in English Schools
    • 1st Edition
    • May 12, 2014
    • Gordon Sutton
    • English
    Artisan or Artist?: A History of the Teaching of Art and Crafts in English Schools provides information pertinent to the origin of the teaching of art and crafts in English schools. This book discusses the fundamental aspects of art education in the schools. Organized into 16 chapters, this book begins with an overview of the close link between drawing and writing. This text then discusses the character of English education in the 19th century. Other chapters consider the definite views of art and craft education and discuss the regulations for training of teachers for elementary schools. This book discusses as well the progress of art as a subject for the school certificate. The final chapter deals with the methods and findings of psychology that have benefited art education. This book is a valuable resource for art historians, artists, art teachers, art students, and research workers.