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Elsevier

Books in Social sciences and humanities

  • The Quaternary of Israel

    • 1st Edition
    • Aharon Horowitz
    • English
    The Quaternary of Israel presents the ensuing synthesis of the development of Israel during the Quaternary, with its implication with human life and paleoenvironments. This book discusses Israel as the key area for the connection of the African and European Quaternary sequences, which bear prime significance for the problems of human evolution, settlement, and migration. Organized into nine chapters, this book begins with an overview of the environments, the pre-Quaternary geology, and the structural evolution of the region. This text then examines the sedimentary sequence and erosional processes that influenced Israel during the Quaternary. Other chapters consider the pollen spectra of Israel as representative of vegetation, climatic conditions, and processes of transport and deposition. This book discusses as well the major descriptive reports to anthropological material uncovered in Israel and explores the significance of these discoveries. The final chapter deals with the paleoclimatic, paleogeographic, and environmental development of Israel in connection with human settlement. This book is a valuable resource for anthropologists and geologists.

  • Evaluation of Econometric Models

    • 1st Edition
    • Jan Kmenta + 1 more
    • English
    Evaluation of Econometric Models presents approaches to assessing and enhancing the progress of applied economic research. This book discusses the problems and issues in evaluating econometric models, use of exploratory methods in economic analysis, and model construction and evaluation when theoretical knowledge is scarce. The data analysis by partial least squares, prediction analysis of economic models, and aggregation and disaggregation of nonlinear equations are also elaborated. This text likewise covers the comparison of econometric models by optimal control techniques, role of time series analysis in econometric model evaluation, and hypothesis testing in spectral regression. Other topics include the relevance of laboratory experiments to testing resource allocation theory and token economy and animal models for the experimental analysis of economic behavior. This publication is intended for students and researchers interested in evaluating econometric models.

  • Imagery

    Current Cognitive Approaches
    • 1st Edition
    • Sydney Joelson Segal
    • English
    Imagery: Current Cognitive Approaches focuses on cognitive approaches to the study of imagery. Topics range from the brief image or icon, which serves as the source of storage in short-term memory, to global behavior changes, including hallucinatory imagery under the influence of drugs and hypnotic states. The role of the image in verbal learning and the relationship of the image to both sensory and cognitive aspects of perception are also considered. Comprised of six chapters, this book begins with a discussion on the relationship between imagery and language and a review of some specific evidence pertaining to the psycholinguistic problems of meaning, comprehension, and the learning and retention of verbal material. Subsequent chapters deal with visual perception and the function of iconic storage; different theoretical views on the definition of image; and processing of the stimulus in imagery and perception. The book concludes by analyzing how vivid imagery, "hallucinations", and other alterations in visual perception are produced by LSD and also by suggestions given under hypnosis. This monograph will be of interest to graduate students, teachers, and researchers of cognitive psychology, as well as to clinical psychologists and psychiatrists.

  • Prehistoric Man and His Environments

    A Case Study in the Ozark Highland
    • 1st Edition
    • W. Raymond Wood + 1 more
    • English
    Prehistoric Man and His Environments: A Case Study in the Ozark Highland offers a preliminary model for the paleoecology of the western Ozark Highland in Missouri for the last 35,000 years and an interpretation of how humans have adapted to and exploited the area for the 10,500 years they are known to have lived there. The model, a set of hypotheses that includes a putative explanatory framework for the observations made at Ozark, is based on more than a decade of interdisciplinary fieldwork. Comprised of 14 chapters, this volume begins with a background on the interdisciplinary studies undertaken in the Pomme de Terre River Valley. The research has centered on the post-glacial deposits at the Rodgers Shelter and on five nearby spring bogs, each of which contained the bones of extinct mammals, pollen, and other material dating from late Pleistocene and early Holocene times. The archaeological investigations and subsequent analyses of these sites are discussed in detail. Sedimentary processes, changing subsistence patterns, material culture, and human burials at Rodgers Shelter are then analyzed. The final chapter describes the direction of research in the Ozark Highland, including plans to test aspects of the proposed model. This book will be of interest to anthropologists, archaeologists, geographers, geologists, and botanists.

  • Language Learning by a Chimpanzee

    The Lana Project
    • 1st Edition
    • Duane M Rumbaugh
    • English
    Language Learning by a Chimpanzee: The Lana Project brings together several disciplinary endeavors, such as primatology, experimental psychology, cognitive psychology, computer and information sciences, and neurosciences. This book is composed of two sets of data—one relates to language learning in the chimpanzee, while the other deals with language construction by Homo sapiens. The fundamental issue of mind-brain dualism and difference between man and beast are also covered. This text mainly describes the LANA project that aims to develop a computer-based language training system for investigation into the possibility that chimpanzees may have the capacity to acquire human-type language. This publication is recommended for biologists, specialists, and researchers conducting work on language learning in nonhuman primates.

  • Uncertainty in Economics

    Readings and Exercises
    • 1st Edition
    • Peter Diamond + 1 more
    • English
    Uncertainty in Economics: Readings and Exercises provides information pertinent to the fundamental aspects of the economics of uncertainty. This book discusses ho uncertainty affects both individual behavior and standard equilibrium theory. Organized into three parts encompassing 30 chapters, this book begins with an overview of the relevance of expected utility maximization for positive and normative theories of individual choice. This text then examines the biases in judgments, which reveal some heuristics of thinking under uncertainty. Other chapters consider the effect of restricting trade in contingent commodities to those trades that can be affected through the stock and bond markets. This book discusses as well the individual problem of sequential choice and equilibria, which are built around the notion of sequential choice. The final chapter deals with an entirely different aspect of the economics of information and reverts to the assumption that markets are perfect and costless. This book is a valuable resource for economists and students.

  • The Functions of Language and Cognition

    • 1st Edition
    • Grover J. Whitehurst + 1 more
    • English
    The Functions of Language and Cognition provides a forum for articulating a functional approach to language and cognition. This book discusses the influence of structural approaches to language and thought. Organized into 10 chapters, this book begins with an overview of a comprehensive alternative treatment of cognitive and linguistic functioning from a social, functional perspective. This text then discusses some considerations for a theory of skills and of cognitive development in general. Other chapters focus on acquisition of perceptual concepts rather than logical, verbal, or mathematical concepts. This book examines as well each of the possible limits in terms of their potential effects on cognitive development and in terms of the evidence regarding their actual effects. The final chapter deals with the influence of personal standards and strategies on therapy outcomes. This book is a valuable resource for graduate and upper-level undergraduate students in developmental psychology, clinical psychology, cognitive psychology, education, and rehabilitation.

  • Chinese Economic Reform

    How Far, How Fast?
    • 1st Edition
    • Bruce L. Reynolds
    • English
    Chinese Economic Reform: How Far, How Fast? focuses on China's economic reform and tackles topics ranging from the reformed price system and the macroeconomic mechanism to the dual pricing system in industry. The rapid growth in money income and government deficit is also examined, along with the relationship between price level, money supply, and GNP. Agricultural reform and the shortcomings of China's banking system as a tool for monetary control are considered as well. Comprised of 17 chapters, this book begins with an analysis of the impact of the two-tier plan/market system on the Chinese industry, followed by a discussion on the dual pricing system in the industry and money and price level determination in China. The reader is then introduced to China's macroeconomic policy and how it has been influenced by the reform process; money and the consumption goods market; and issues in the structural reform of agriculture. Subsequent chapters focus on the banking system; economic policy and income distribution; trade, employment, and inequality in post-reform China; and the stock-share system as an avenue for reforming the Chinese economy. Economic liberalization in China is also compared with that in India. This monograph will be of interest to economists and economic policymakers.

  • The Coercive Social Worker

    British Lessons for American Social Services
    • 1st Edition
    • Joel F. Handler
    • English
    The Coercive Social Worker: British Lessons for American Social Services focuses on the role of social services in public departments of welfare, with emphasis on the enormous power of the social worker to impose the casework plan on the client. It explains how traditional social work theory combines with the delivery of "hard" services in the integrated, comprehensive family service to produce social workers with such power. Some of the lessons that can be learned by American social service agencies from the British experience are discussed. Comprised of seven chapters, this volume begins with a historical background on Britain's public social service program, launched in 1970 to provide a comprehensive, integrated family service at the local government level. The significance of the British experience to American social services is considered, with particular reference to the relationship between social work theory and social service policy and administration. The foundations of the modern welfare state are also discussed, along with social services in America in an income maintenance setting. The final chapter examines the problems facing the consumer of a comprehensive, integrated family service; the creation and implementation of administrative discretion in the social service context; legal rights of consumers; and alternative systems for the delivery of social services. This book is intended for social work professionals, administrators, policymakers, and advocates of the rights of people who deal with social welfare agencies.

  • New Quantitative Techniques for Economic Analysis

    • 1st Edition
    • Giorgio P. Szegö
    • English
    Economic Theory, Econometrics, and Mathematical Economics: New Quantitative Techniques for Economic Analysis provides a critical appraisal of the results, the limits, and the developments of well-established quantitative techniques. This book presents a detailed analysis of the quantitative techniques for economic analysis. Organized into four parts encompassing 16 chapters, this book begins with an overview of the general questions concerning models and model making. This text then provides the main results and various interesting economic applications of some quantitative techniques that have not been widely used in the economic field. Other chapters consider the principle of optimality in dynamic programing wherein the infinite sequence of consumption-saving decisions can be reduced to one decision. This book discusses as well the methods for online control and management of large-scale systems. The final chapter deals with special problems. This book is a valuable resource for economists, social scientists, epistemologists, economic historians, and research workers.

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