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Books in Social sciences and humanities

Land Policy and Urban Growth
Pergamon International Library of Science, Technology, Engineering and Social Studies
1st Edition
Haim Darin-Drabkin
English
Land Policy and Urban Growth explores the relationships between urban growth patterns, land prices, and land policies in countries with market economies. The effects of the peculiar character of the private land market on land prices are discussed, along with the link between market mechanisms and government intervention in the urban-growth process. Comprised of 18 chapters, this book begins with a brief survey of patterns of urban growth, with emphasis on the high rate of urban expansion and what future land needs might be in urban areas. The next section is concerned with urban land prices in industrialized and developing countries and highlights the dramatic increases in urban land prices arising from urban development. Various theories of urban land-price formation are examined, together with public policies on urban land and their impact not only on the land market but also on land supply and allocation. Finally, some alternative urban land policies are outlined. This monograph will be of interest to policymakers involved in land use and urban planning.
Local Government and Strategic Choice
An Operational Research Approach to the Processes of Public Planning
2nd Edition
J.K. Friend + 1 more
English
Local Government and Strategic Choice, Second Edition discusses decision-making in local government, in particular, to those more strategic levels of choice which tend to be linked with the terms 'planning' and 'policy-making.' This book is organized into four parts. Part I centers on an appraisal of planning in a major local authority. Part II details the nature of the planning process in any governmental setting and the characteristic types of operational and organizational problem to which it gives rise. Parts III and IV use the medium of case examples to suggest how the planning process can be made more effective, first through the development of an appropriate technology of choice, and secondly through the adaptation of organizational forms to allow the technology to become a workable instrument of democratic control.
Filtering and Control of Macroeconomic Systems
A Control System Incorporating the Kalman Filter for the Indian Economy
1st Edition
Volume 160
M.J.M. Rao
J. Tinbergen
English
Advances in computer technology, coupled with the sophistication of econometric modelling, have enabled rapid progress in the formulation and solution of optimal control and filtering programmes, especially in the sphere of macroeconomic policy designing.These developments in systems methodology have prompted the need for an interface between optimal control theory and dynamic macroeconomic analysis. The implications of this convergence have already aroused a great deal of research, but it remains to be seen whether policy makers in most developing countries will consider actually incorporating these techniques into planning. The author argues that control and systems theory can be of immense help in stabilizing those economies plagued by cyclical and structural problems. By demonstrating the applicability of control & filter theory to short-term macroeconomic planning, this book illuminates the impressive array of problems that can thereby be solved, and helps foster a closer working relationship between economists and control theorists. The work deals specifically with the construction of a Kalman filter mechanism, for deriving short-term optimal economic policies under conditions of uncertainty. It specifies and resolves a macroeconometric model which is linked to a unique observation sub-system of a given economy, congruent with the errors in information signalling which are prevalent within the data base context of most developing countries. An evaluation of control settings contrasts short and long-term economic policies. This indicates that an economy may `overheat' under protracted settings of instrument values around their optimal levels if the constraints on the system, in the form of external shocks, are too great to allow reaching all targets simultaneously using feasible instrument paths.
Curiosity and Exploration
Theories and Results
1st Edition
Hans-Georg Voss + 1 more
English
Curiosity and Exploration: Theories and Results provides a systematic review of research on curiosity and exploration and is intended to present theories, methods, and research findings and to compare these with other fields of psychology. The text discusses topics on various aspects of curiosity and exploration such as the historical development of curiosity research; theoretical approaches to fully explain the phenomena of curiosity and exploration; developmental perspective in the study of curiosity and exploration; and the author's summary and evaluation at the end of the book. Psychologists will find the book to be very interesting.
The Upper Paleolithic of the Central Russian Plain
1st Edition
Olga Soffer
Stuart Struever
English
The Upper Paleolithic of the Central Russian Plain examines the hunter-gatherer adaptations on the Upper Paleolithic central Russian Plain. The book offers both a culture history for the area and an explanation for the changes in human adaptation. It presents what has been found at 29 major Upper Paleolithic sites occupied over a period of some 14,000 years. The book presents details of the archaeological inventories and assemblages found at the 29 sites, together with the geography and geology of the study area. It then uses environmental data to model environmental conditions and resource distribution during the various periods of human occupation, as well as to predict optimal strategies for exploiting available resources. Subsequent chapters present the relative and chronometric dating schemes. The book also elucidates the man-land relationships, ensuing subsistence strategies, settlement types present in the archaeological record, settlement systems, and sociopolitical behavior. The text will be significant to archaeologists, paleoecologists, and anthropologists interested in hunter-gatherers and late Pleistocene adaptations.
Individual Differences and Psychopathology
Physiological Correlates of Human Behaviour, Vol. 3
1st Edition
Anthony Gale + 1 more
English
Physiological Correlates of Human Behaviour, Vol. 3: Individual Differences and Psychopathology offers an introduction to biological research into human behavior. The book discusses the three major dimensions of personality (extraversion, neuroticism and psychoticism) and the major theories of the underlying psychophysiological causes for the observed differences in behavior; and the theory of anxiety. The text also describes the measures of individual differences in habituation of physiological responses; the perspectives on pain; the cortical correlates of intelligence; and sensation seeking as a biosocial dimension of personality. The individual differences in evoked potentials; Pavlov's nervous system typology; theories of psychosomatic disorders; and the role of learning and organismic variables in criminality are also considered. The book further tackles some problems and controversies in the psychophysiological investigation of schizophrenia; the psychophysiological contributions to psychotherapy research; and the use of psychophysiological measures for investigating the influence of social factors on psychiatric relapse. Psychologists, psychiatrists, and behavioural psychologists will find the book invaluable.
Cycles, Value & Employment
Responses To The Economic Crisis
1st Edition
Orio Giarini
English
An unconventional evaluation of the causes which, in the last ten years, have dramatically pushed down the rates of economic growth. The distinguished author, a member of the Club of Rome, argues that it is not simply a question of a new long term economic cycle of the types described by Schumpeter and Kondratieff, but is rather the effect of a fundamental change in the traditional, industrial modes of production. A clear evaluation of such change leads to the necessity of reformulating the notion of economic value, in order to find new strategies for developing a nation's wealth.
Decisions, Values and Groups
Reports from the First Interdisciplinary Conference in the Behavioral Science Division Held at the University of New Mexico
1st Edition
Dorthy Willner
English
Decisions, Values and Groups, Volume 1 contains the proceedings of the First Interdisciplinary Conference of the Behavioral Sciences Division of the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, held at the University of New Mexico in 1957. The papers explore the roles of decisions, values, and groups in the behavioral sciences and cover topics ranging from the use of mathematical models in decision making to the contribution of the laboratory to the study of individual differences. Theoretical contributions to small group research are also discussed. This book is comprised of 22 chapters and begins with an overview of the merging of mathematical and statistical techniques with the empirical method in the study of behavior, as well as the place of decisions, values, and groups in behavioral science research. The reader is then introduced to the applications of mathematical models to decision processes, with particular reference to the automation of decision making. The following chapters focus on conceptualizations and designs for research in values and evaluative processes; theoretical aspects of small group research; and psychodynamic patterns of behavior; and special problems in the military. A non-introspective approach to the study of human motivation is described. This volume will be of interest to behavioral scientists and social scientists.
Human Judgement and Decision Processes
1st Edition
Martin F. Kaplan
English
Human Judgment and Decision Processes is a collection of papers that covers the various theoretical frameworks that relate judgment to decision making. The book is comprised of 10 chapters that cover both mathematical models involved in decision making and interpersonal aspect of judgment process. The first five chapters cover papers about decision making. The subjects of the papers include multiattribute utility measurement for social decision making; portfolio theory and the measurement of risk; and information-integrat... analysis of risky decision making. The other half of the text deals with the judgment process, which includes topics such as interaction of judge and informational components; judgment and decision processes in the formation and change of social attitudes; and the role of probabilistic and syllogistic reasoning in cognitive organization and social inference. The book will be of great use to psychologists involved in research on human judgment and decision process.
How to Find Out in Psychology
A Guide to the Literature and Methods of Research
1st Edition
D. H. Borchardt + 1 more
English
How to Find Out in Psychology: A Guide to the Literature and Methods of Research is a research guidebook in psychology. The book is comprised of 11 chapters that address concerns in psychological research. The text first covers the concept of psychology and its major theories, and then proceeds to tackling bibliographic aids for research in psychology. The next series of chapters details the methodologies in researching and presenting. The last chapters discuss the professional matters in psychology. The book will be of great use to students, researchers, and practitioners of behavioral science.

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