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Books in Social sciences and humanities

Hand and Brain
The Neurophysiology and Psychology of Hand Movements
1st Edition
English
Used for gestures of communication, environmental exploration, and the grasping and manipulating of objects, the hand has a vital role in our lives. The hand's anatomical structure and neural control are among the most complex and detailed of human motor systems.Hand and Brain is a comprehensive overview of the hand's sensorimotor control. It discusses mediating variables in perception and prehension, the coordination of muscles with the central nervous system, the nature of movement control and hand positioning, hand-arm coordination in reaching and grasping, and the sensory function of the hand.In the last decade the rapid growth of neuroscience has been paralleled by a surge of interest in hand function. This reflects the fact that many of the fundamental issues facing neuroscientists today--including the problem of relating physiology to behavior--are central to the study of sensorimotor control of the hand. This book takes a broad interdisciplinary perspective on the control of hand movements that includes neurophysiology, neuroanatomy, psychology and neuropsychology, and biomechanics.The authors, who have all made significant scientific contributions in their own right, have sought to introduce their chosen topics in a manner that the undergraduate reader will be able to follow without sacrificing detailed and up-to-date coverage ofthe major developments.
Handbook of Computational Economics
1st Edition
H.M. Amman + 2 more
English
The aim of this volume is to provide an introduction and selective overview of the rapidly emerging field of computational economics. Computational economics provides an important set of tools that an increasing number of economists will need to acquire in order to understand and do state-of-the-art research in virtually all areas of economics. Articles in the volume range from very applied, policy oriented applications of computational methods, to highly theoretical and mathematically complex analyses of algorithms and numerical methods. The book emphasizes the unique contributions of computational methods in economics, and focuses on problems for which well developed solutions are not already available from the literature in operations research, numerical methods, and computer science. As well as covering relatively mature areas in the field, a number of chapters are included which cover more speculative "frontier topics", in particular recently discovered computational innovations and research results.For more information on the Handbooks in Economics series, please see our homepage on http://www.elsevier....
Time, Internal Clocks and Movement
1st Edition
Volume 115
M.A. Pastor + 1 more
English
Interest in the concept of time has a long history and has been a topic of study for a wide range of investigators. No change can take place without specification of time. While philosophers and physicists have been intrigued by the concept of subjective perception of time and its relationship to real time, natural scientists have been concerned mainly with investigating time as a factor in understanding the behaviour of animals from the migratory habits of birds to the periodical breeding cycles. The immense bulk of temporal perception studies, the variety of approaches, methods of measurement and even terminology has led to a difficulty in reaching a global interpretation of the results.This book aims to give an integrative approach of time sense and to focus the analysis on temporal factors in the processing of movement, trying to link temporal perception studies in the final common pathway, that is motion. To give some clues of human brain integrative processes at higher levels. And, finally, to clarify the neurophysiological substrate of these operations.
Perceptual and Cognitive Development
1st Edition
Rochel Gelman + 1 more
English
Perceptual and Cognitive Development illustrates how the developmental approach yields fundamental contributions to our understanding of perception and cognition as a whole. The book discusses how to relate developmental, comparative, and neurological considerations to early learning and development, and it presents fundamental problems in cognition and language, such as the acquisition of a coherent, organized, and shared understanding of concepts and language. Discussions of learning, memory, attention, and problem solving are embedded within specific accounts of the neurological status of developing minds and the nature of knowledge.
Environmental Policy in an International Context
Prospects for Environmental Change
1st Edition
Volume 3
Andrew Blowers + 1 more
English
This volume examines the environmental issues currently under debate in the international arena. The text approaches the topic at a conceptual level, and from an interdisciplinary viewpoint. It analyses the roles of key players in environmental policy, the nation state, non-governmental organizations and the business community. It continues with an examination of the importance of international relations (trade, east, west, north, south), and goes on to consider the prospects for sustainable development and social changes required for sustainable development to become a reality.
Insolvency
A Practical Legal Handbook for Managers
1st Edition
Peter Eales
English
This book is intended to provide a middle road between the basic student text and the heavy practitioner’s manual. It covers all aspects of insolvency, including both corporate and private bankruptcy together with the alternative routes to the insolvency process. The book aims to give not only a view of the complex legal issues met with in the field of business, but also addresses the practical alternatives open to insolvent debtors and creditors. Includes a new addendum to take into account the effects of the recent Insolvency and Enterprise Acts.
Accounting for Improvement
1st Edition
Sten Jonsson
English
Accounting for Improvement offers concrete and constructive demonstrations of the possibilities of designing participative forms of organization. Field experiment cases illustrate how the operational level can assume a new significance in competitiveness and strategic positioning. In this way, the relevance of the accounting function to the improvement of productivity and quality is restored.Several broadly applicable lessons can be learnt, among them: how companies can strengthen their competitive base by patient improvement; how people with operative jobs can take command of their work situation and improve it in quality as well as efficiency.New bottom-up, people-orientated, empirically-founded approaches to decentralised participative management demonstrate a place for individuals and teamwork in today's "lost relevance" and "smart machine" environment.
Elsevier's Dictionary of Plant Names
In Latin, English, French, German and Italian
1st Edition
G. Creber + 1 more
English
This comprehensive overview of plant names includes over 12,500 terms covering 298 families, 2,787 genera and 9,427 species which are listed in the alphabetical order of their botanical names. In addition, 2,109 of the more common synonyms are given and referred to their current, preferred names.The presentation of the common names in the four languages of this dictionary is unusual in that as many as twelve names in one language are given. There are more than 17,250 English names including over 3,000 North American and 775 from Australia and New Zealand, whilst the nearly 400 Québecois and a sprinkling of West African and Mauritian names are included among the 13,300 French. More than 13,000 German and 8,600 Italian names are presented.This dictionary will be of value to translators of scientific and general literature; scientific and botanical authors; environmentalists and ecologists; and scientific and lay readers of foreign literature.
Handbook of Perception and Action
Motor Skills
1st Edition
Herbert Heuer + 1 more
English
This up-to-date handbook focuses on the study of action, or"motor control,"which examines movement and skill and the internal processes that lead to them. As action is interrelated with cognition, this is a vigorous field of investigation.Writte... by international experts, Motor Skills provides current reviews on general processes important to motor control--learning, coordination, timing, planning, and control--and on the individual skills of throwing, catching, reaching, and typing.The text describes important conceptual and methodological advances regarding control theory and timing, and is divided into two sections which analyze skill from the perspectives of general processes and individual skills.
Doing What Works in Brief Therapy
A Strategic Solution Focused Approach
1st Edition
Ellen K. Quick
English
The first of its kind, Doing What Works in Brief Therapy is a guidebook to strategic solution focused therapy, a model which combines the principles and techniques of the Mental Research Institute's brief strategic therapy and the Brief Family Therapy Center's solution focused therapy. The book explains how the strategic emphasis on clarification of the problem and interruption of what does not work can complement and enhance the solution-focused emphasis on amplification of what does work. The text reviews the theory and presents specific treatment techniques. Case examples illustrate how the model has been used in brief, intermittent, and single-session therapy in a managed care setting. Brief psychotherapy doesn't have to result in chronic frustration for the therapist or superficial, second-rate care for the client. This book presents an approach that is upbeat, practical, and eminently workable in managed care. The reader learns to focus on critical issues with exquisite precision and to construct creative, individualized interventions that amplify what works and interrupt what does not.

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