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Books in Social sciences and humanities

  • Proactive Marketing for the New and Experienced Library Director

    Going Beyond the Gate Count
    • 1st Edition
    • Melissa U.D. Goldsmith + 1 more
    • English
    Academic libraries have continually looked for technological solutions to low circulation statistics, under-usage by students and faculty, and what is perceived as a crisis in relevance, seeing themselves in competition with Google and Wikipedia. Academic libraries, however, are as relevant as they have been historically, as their primary functions within their university missions have not changed, but merely evolved. Going beyond the Gate Count argues that the problem is not relevance, but marketing and articulation. This book offers theoretical reasoning and practical advice to directors on how to better market the function of the library within and beyond the home institution. The aim of this text is to help directors, and ultimately, their librarians and staff get students and faculty back into the library, as a result of better articulation of the library’s importance. The first chapter explores the promotion of academic libraries and their function as educational systems. The next two chapters focus on the importance of the role social media and virtual presence in the academic library, and engaging and encouraging students to use the library through a variety of methods, such as visually oriented special collections. Remaining chapters discuss collaboration and collegiality, formalized reporting and marketing.
  • Online Security for the Business Traveler

    • 1st Edition
    • Deborah Gonzalez
    • English
    Whether attending conferences, visiting clients, or going to sales meetings, travel is an unavoidable necessity for many businesspeople. Today’s high-tech enabled businessperson travels with electronic devices such as smartphones, tablets, laptops, health sensors, and Google Glass. Each of these devices offers new levels of productivity and efficiency, but they also become the weak link in the security chain: if a device is lost or stolen during travel, the resulting data breach can put the business in danger of physical, financial, and reputational loss. Online Security for the Business Traveler provides an overview of this often overlooked problem, explores cases highlighting specific security issues, and offers practical advice on what to do to ensure business security while traveling and engaging in online activity. It is an essential reference guide for any travelling business person or security professional.
  • Measuring and Managing Information Risk

    A FAIR Approach
    • 1st Edition
    • Jack Freund + 1 more
    • English
    Using the factor analysis of information risk (FAIR) methodology developed over ten years and adopted by corporations worldwide, Measuring and Managing Information Risk provides a proven and credible framework for understanding, measuring, and analyzing information risk of any size or complexity. Intended for organizations that need to either build a risk management program from the ground up or strengthen an existing one, this book provides a unique and fresh perspective on how to do a basic quantitative risk analysis. Covering such key areas as risk theory, risk calculation, scenario modeling, and communicating risk within the organization, Measuring and Managing Information Risk helps managers make better business decisions by understanding their organizational risk.
  • Evidence-Based Treatment for Children with Autism

    The CARD Model
    • 1st Edition
    • Doreen Granpeesheh + 3 more
    • English
    This manual is a user-friendly, comprehensive description of the Center for Autism and Related Disorders (CARD) model of autism treatment—the latest scientific information on what truly works in treating autism in an integrated, organized, consumable format. The book details effective early behavioral intervention, covering topics such as challenging behavior, visual modification, parental involvement, improving language, cognition, and social skills, and ends with a section that explains how all of the treatments can be put together in real-life service provision organizations. The CARD model is highly comprehensive and provides useful clinical information to form cutting-edge treatment programs.
  • Libraries and Public Perception

    A Comparative Analysis of the European Press
    • 1st Edition
    • Anna Galluzzi
    • English
    What is the future of libraries? This question is frequently posed, with widespread research into the social and economic impact of libraries. Newspapers play an important role in forming public perceptions, but how do newspapers present libraries, their past, present and future? Nobody has yet taken the press to task on the quantity and quality of articles on libraries, however Libraries and Public Perception does just this, through comparative textual analysis of newspapers in Europe. After a comprehensive and useful introductory chapter, the book consists of the following five chapters: Wondering about the future of libraries; Measuring the value of libraries; Libraries in the newspapers; Contemporary challenges and public perception; Which library model from the newspapers: a synthesis.
  • Six Key Communication Skills for Records and Information Managers

    • 1st Edition
    • Kenneth Laurence Neal
    • English
    Excellent business communication skills are especially important for information management professionals, particularly records managers, who have to communicate a complex idea: how an effective program can help the organization be better prepared for litigation, and do it in a way that is persuasive in order to win records program support and budget. <I>Six Key Communication Skills for Records and Information Managers</I> explores those skills that enable records and information to have a better chance of advancing their programs and their careers. Following an introduction from the author, this book will focus on six key communication skills: be brief, be clear, be receptive, be strategic, be credible and be persuasive. Honing these skills will enable readers to more effectively obtain support for strategic programs, communicate more effectively with senior management, IT personnel and staff, and master key forms of business communication including written, verbal and formal presentations. The final chapter will highlight one of the most practical applications of applying the skills for records and information managers: the business case. Based on real events, the business cases spotlighted involve executives who persuaded organizations to adopt new programs. These case histories bring to life many of the six keys to effective communication.
  • Scholarly Information Discovery in the Networked Academic Learning Environment

    • 1st Edition
    • LiLi Li
    • English
    In the dynamic and interactive academic learning environment, students are required to have qualified information literacy competencies while critically reviewing print and electronic information. However, many undergraduates encounter difficulties in searching peer-reviewed information resources. Scholarly Information Discovery in the Networked Academic Learning Environment is a practical guide for students determined to improve their academic performance and career development in the digital age. Also written with academic instructors and librarians in mind who need to show their students how to access and search academic information resources and services, the book serves as a reference to promote information literacy instructions. This title consists of four parts, with chapters on the search for online and printed information via current academic information resources and services: part one examines understanding information and information literacy; part two looks at academic information delivery in the networked world; part three covers searching for information in the academic learning environment; and part four discusses searching and utilizing needed information in the future in order to be more successful beyond the academic world.
  • After the Book

    Information Services for the 21st Century
    • 1st Edition
    • George Stachokas
    • English
    Libraries and librarians have been defined by the book throughout modern history. What happens when society increasingly lets print go in favour of storing, retrieving and manipulating electronic information? What happens after the book? After the Book explores how the academic library of the 21st Century is first and foremost a provider of electronic information services. Contemporary users expect today’s library to provide information as quickly and efficiently as other online information resources. The book argues that librarians need to change what they know, how they work, and how they are perceived in order to succeed according to the terms of this new paradigm. This title is structured into eight chapters. An introduction defines the challenge of electronic resources and makes the case for finding solutions, and following chapters cover diversions and half measures and the problem for libraries in the 21st century. Later chapters discuss solving problems through professional identity and preparation, before final chapters cover reorganizing libraries to serve users, adapting to scarcity, and the ‘digital divide’.
  • China

    Trade, Foreign Direct Investment, and Development Strategies
    • 1st Edition
    • Yanqing Jiang
    • English
    Trade and foreign direct investment (FDI) play a crucial role in shaping China’s development strategies. The development of China’s economy creates strong pressures for continuous restructuring. <I>China</I... therefore explores how trade and FDI affect China’s development strategies regarding the process and pattern of restructuring. The book aims to provide the reader with findings that shed new light on the related issues and problems. The first chapter introduces the topics, and subsequent chapters enter into theoretical discussion and empirical analysis of trade, FDI, and development strategies, followed by a concluding final chapter.
  • Classification in Theory and Practice

    • 2nd Edition
    • Susan Batley
    • English
    Following on from the first edition of this book, the second edition fills the gap between more complex theoretical texts and those books with a purely practical approach. The book looks at major library classification schemes in use in Europe, UK and the USA, and includes practical exercises to demonstrate their application. Importantly, classifying electronic resources is also discussed. Classification in Theory and Practice aims to demystify a very complex subject, and to provide a sound theoretical underpinning, together with practical advice and development of practical skills. Chapters concentrate purely on classification rather than cataloguing and indexing, ensuring a more in-depth coverage of the topic.
  • The Globalization of Chinese Business

    • 1st Edition
    • Robert Taylor
    • English
    The main theme of the book is the globalisation of China’s markets and Chinese business management in the context of ongoing reform at home and the country’s growing global economic role. The Globalisation of Chinese Business includes contributions relating to a wide range of manufacturing and service sectors, encompassing such areas as foreign investment, state and private enterprise, human resource management, consumer culture and advertising, financial markets and healthcare. Following an introduction by the editor there are four sections, the first focused on the globalisation of Chinese management and the second on the evolution of Chinese management. The remaining sections contain chapters on China’s growing service sector, growing markets and competition, and healthcare system reform. An epilogue by the editor in the remaining section concludes.
  • The Handbook for School Safety and Security

    Best Practices and Procedures
    • 1st Edition
    • Lawrence J. Fennelly + 1 more
    • English
    School security is one of the most pressing public concerns today. Yet in most schools, there is little security expertise or detailed knowledge about how to implement and manage a security program. The Handbook for School Safety and Security rectifies this problem by providing the salient information school administrators and security professionals need to address the most important security issues schools face. Made up of contributions from leading experts in school security, The Handbook for School Safety and Security provides a wealth of practical information for securing any K-12 school. It discusses key approaches and best practices for school crime prevention, including such topics as crisis management and mass notification. It also covers the physical measure needed for protecting a school, including detailed discussions of access control, lighting, alarms, and locks. While there is no single fix for the myriad of security challenges facing today’s school security professionals, the best practices found in The Handbook for School Safety and Security will help increase the safety and security of any school.
  • Security for Business Professionals

    How to Plan, Implement, and Manage Your Company’s Security Program
    • 1st Edition
    • Bradley A. Wayland
    • English
    Security for Business Professionals offers business executives and managers everything they need to set-up a security program, especially for those who don’t have the resources to hire an in-house security staff. It can also be used for assessing the adequacy of an existing security program. The book provides an overview of the key security objectives and challenges that managers face, such as how to measure the effectiveness of a security program and balance the costs and benefits. It also shows how to develop security procedures that conform to key regulatory requirements, and how to assess an organization’s most important risks, vulnerabilities, and threats. Security for Business Professionals addresses key physical and informational security concerns, including areas such as asset protection, loss prevention, and personnel security. It also discusses how to develop emergency and incident response plans, and concludes with suggested safety and security exercises and training recommendations.
  • Technology Entrepreneurship

    Taking Innovation to the Marketplace
    • 2nd Edition
    • Thomas N. Duening + 2 more
    • English
    The focus of this book is on technology ventures — how they start, operate, and sometimes exit profitably. In short, it covers all the elements required to launch a successful technology company, including discussion of cutting-edge trends such as "entrepreneurial method" and "lean startup," emphasis on the ideation process and development of an effective business plan, coverage of product and market development, intellectual property, structuring your venture, raising capital, sales and marketing, people management, and even strategies for exiting your venture. This is not another armchair book about entrepreneurship. It’s a working guide for engineers and scientists who want to actually be entrepreneurs.
  • Windows Performance Analysis Field Guide

    • 1st Edition
    • Clint Huffman
    • English
    Microsoft Windows 8.1 and Windows Server 2012 R2 are designed to be the best performing operating systems to date, but even the best systems can be overwhelmed with load and/or plagued with poorly performing code. Windows Performance Analysis Field Guide gives you a practical field guide approach to performance monitoring and analysis from experts who do this work every day. Think of this book as your own guide to "What would Microsoft support do?" when you have a Windows performance issue. Author Clint Huffman, a Microsoft veteran of over fifteen years, shows you how to identify and alleviate problems with the computer resources of disk, memory, processor, and network. You will learn to use performance counters as the initial indicators, then use various tools to "dig in" to the problem, as well as how to capture and analyze boot performance problems.
  • Building an Information Security Awareness Program

    Defending Against Social Engineering and Technical Threats
    • 1st Edition
    • Bill Gardner + 1 more
    • English
    The best defense against the increasing threat of social engineering attacks is Security Awareness Training to warn your organization's staff of the risk and educate them on how to protect your organization's data. Social engineering is not a new tactic, but Building an Security Awareness Program is the first book that shows you how to build a successful security awareness training program from the ground up. Building an Security Awareness Program provides you with a sound technical basis for developing a new training program. The book also tells you the best ways to garner management support for implementing the program. Author Bill Gardner is one of the founding members of the Security Awareness Training Framework. Here, he walks you through the process of developing an engaging and successful training program for your organization that will help you and your staff defend your systems, networks, mobile devices, and data. Forewords written by Dave Kennedy and Kevin Mitnick!
  • Introduction to Environmental Forensics

    • 3rd Edition
    • Brian L. Murphy + 1 more
    • English
    The third edition of Introduction to Environmental Forensics is a state-of-the-art reference for the practicing environmental forensics consultant, regulator, student, academic, and scientist, with topics including compound-specific isotope analysis (CSIA), advanced multivariate statistical techniques, surrogate approaches for contaminant source identification and age dating, dendroecology, hydrofracking, releases from underground storage tanks and piping, and contaminant-transpor... modeling for forensic applications. Recognized international forensic scientists were selected to author chapters in their specific areas of expertise and case studies are included to illustrate the application of these methods in actual environmental forensic investigations. This edition provides updates on advances in various techniques and introduces several new topics.
  • Advanced Topics in Forensic DNA Typing: Interpretation

    • 1st Edition
    • John M. Butler
    • English
    Advanced Topics in Forensic DNA Typing: Interpretation builds upon the previous two editions of John Butler’s internationally acclaimed Forensic DNA Typing textbook with forensic DNA analysts as its primary audience. Intended as a third-edition companion to the Fundamentals of Forensic DNA Typing volume published in 2010 and Advanced Topics in Forensic DNA Typing: Methodology published in 2012, this book contains 16 chapters with 4 appendices providing up-to-date coverage of essential topics in this important field. Over 80 % of the content of this book is new compared to previous editions.
  • Library Instruction Design

    Learning from Google and Apple
    • 1st Edition
    • Di Su
    • English
    The design philosophies of Google and Apple represent different approaches to new product design. Google's model features bottom-up and data-driven decision-making processes, while Apple's model is to design and build products top-down. Library instruction program design may learn from these differing but complementary approaches. Inspired by Google’s and Apple’s success, Library Instruction Design details how library instruction program design may learn from the philosophy of product design in the business world. In designing library instruction, a Google-philosophy approach teaches what the user wants to know while an Apple-philosophy approach teaches what the librarian thinks the user needs to learn. These two design philosophies aim at different teaching objectives reflecting library and information science education in modern society. The book is divided into five sections, with opening sections covering library instruction, the philosophy of library instruction design and design philosophy from different angles. Later sections discuss applying Google’s model and applying Apple’s model.
  • Radical Information Literacy

    Reclaiming the Political Heart of the IL Movement
    • 1st Edition
    • Andrew Whitworth
    • English
    What would a synthetic theory of Digital, Media and Information Literacy (DMIL) look like? Radical Information Literacy presents, for the first time, a theory of DMIL that synthesises the diversity of perspectives and positions on DMIL, both in the classroom and the workplace, and within the informal learning processes of society. This title is based on original analysis of how decisions are made about the relevance of information and the other resources used in learning, showing how society has privileged objective approaches (used in rule-based decision making) to the detriment of subjective and intersubjective perspectives which promote individual and community contexts. The book goes on to analyse the academic and popular DMIL literature, showing how the field may have been, consciously or unwittingly, complicit in the ‘objectification’ of learning and the disempowerment of individuals and communities. Alternative ways of conceiving the subject are then presented, towards a reversal of these trends.
  • Collective Choice and Social Welfare

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 11
    • A.K. Sen
    • English
    This book is concerned with the study of collective preference, in particular with the relationship between the objectives of social action and the preferences and aspirations of society's members. Professor Sen's approach is based on the assumption that the problem of collective choice cannot be satisfactorily discussed within the confines of economics. While collective choice forms a crucial aspect of economics, the subject pertains also to political science, the theory of the state, and to the theory of decision procedures. The author has therefore used material from these disciplines, plus philosophical aspects from ethics and the theory of justice.
  • The Evolution of the US-Japan Alliance

    The Eagle and the Chrysanthemum
    • 1st Edition
    • Matteo Dian
    • English
    The US-Japan alliance has contributed significantly towards the development of the Japanese security strategy. The Evolution of the US-Japan Alliance explores developments in the alliance between the US and Japan and analyzes the transformation of the Japanese security strategy from 1960 to 2013. It also describes the rise and the decline of Japanese pacifism and of the Yoshida Doctrine, the post war security strategy. Moreover, this book highlights how the end of the Cold War forced Japan to rethink its security strategy and post war pacifism. Japan has abandoned its identity of “peaceful nation”, turning itself into a “normal national”, drawing closer to the United States.
  • Variational Methods in Economics

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 1
    • G. Hadley + 1 more
    • C. J. Bliss
    • English
    Advanced Textbooks in Economics, Volume 1: Variational Methods in Economics focuses on the application of variational methods in economics, including autonomous system, dynamic programming, and phase spaces and diagrams. The manuscript first elaborates on growth models in economics and calculus of variations. Discussions focus on connection with dynamic programming, variable end points-free boundaries, transversality at infinity, sensitivity analysis-end point changes, Weierstrass and Legendre necessary conditions, and phase diagrams and phase spaces. The text then ponders on the constraints of classical theory, including unbounded intervals of integration, free boundary conditions, comparison functions, normality, and the problem of Bolza. The publication explains two-sector models of optimal economic growth, optimal control theory, and connections with the classical theory. Topics include capital good immobile between industries, constrained state variables, linear control problems, conversion of a control problem into a problem of Lagrange, and the conversion of a nonautonomous system into an autonomous system. The book is a valuable source of information for economists and researchers interested in the variational methods in economics.
  • Consumer Durable Choice and the Demand for Electricity

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 155
    • J.A. Dubin
    • English
    This book develops the theory of durable choice and utilization. The basic assumption is that the demand for energy is a derived demand arising through the production of household services. Durable choice is associated with the choice of a particular technology for providing the household service. Econometric systems are derived which capture both the discrete choice nature of appliance selection and the determination of continuous conditional demand.Using the National Interim Energy Consumption Survey (NIECS) from 1978, a nested logit model of room air-conditioning, central air-conditioning, space-heating and water heating is estimated. The estimated probability choice model is used to forecast the impacts of proposed building standards for newly constructed single family detached residences. A network thermal model provides unit energy consumptions for alternative heating and cooling systems across time. Monthly billing data matched to NIECS is analyzed permitting seasonal estimation of the demand for electricity and natural gas by households.The theory of price specification for demand subject to a declining rate structure is reviewed and tested. Finally, consistent estimation procedures are used in the presence of possible correlation between dummy variables indicating appliance ownership and the equation error. The hypothesis of simultaneity in the demand system is tested.Conditional moments in the generalized extreme value family are derived to extend discrete continuous econometric systems in which discrete choice is assumed logistic. An efficiency comparison of various two-stage consistent estimation techniques applied to a single equation of a dummy endogenous simultaneous equation system is undertaken and asymptotic distributions are derived for each estimation method.
  • Foundations of Econometrics

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 7
    • Albert Madansky
    • C. J. Bliss + 1 more
    • English
    Advanced Textbooks in Economics, Volume 7: Foundations of Econometrics focuses on the principles, processes, methodologies, and approaches involved in the study of econometrics. The publication examines matrix theory and multivariate statistical analysis. Discussions focus on the maximum likelihood estimation of multivariate normal distribution parameters, point estimation theory, multivariate normal distribution, multivariate probability distributions, Euclidean spaces and linear transformations, orthogonal transformations and symmetric matrices, and determinants. The manuscript then ponders on linear expected value models and simultaneous equation estimation. Topics include random exogenous variables, maximum likelihood estimation of a single equation, identification of a single equation, linear stochastic difference equations, and errors-in-variables models. The book takes a look at a prolegomenon to econometric model building, tests of hypotheses in econometric models, multivariate statistical analysis, and simultaneous equation estimation. Concerns include maximum likelihood estimation of a single equation, tests of linear hypotheses, testing for independence, and causality in economic models. The publication is a valuable source of data for economists and researchers interested in the foundations of econometrics.
  • The Economics of Organization

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 21
    • James D. Hess
    • C.J. Bliss + 1 more
    • English
    Advanced Textbooks in Economics, Volume 21: The Economics of Organization focuses on the processes, methodologies, and approaches involved in the study of various topics in economics, mathematical economics, and econometrics. The publication first ponders on the general resource allocation problem, particularly noting that a theory of resource allocation is formed by studying the deliberate and purposeful choices of individuals to provide a model for human behavior in the economic realm. The theory of exchange emphasizes that coordination and equilibrium must be formed to explain social linkages. The text then explains market allocation, and a number of propositions are discussed to show the dynamics of this field. The manuscript elaborates on transaction costs, markets and uncertainty, and behavior in the face of uncertainty. The publication also takes a look at the terms of authority, measuring of information, value of communication in teams, cost of communication, and budget planning. The formal organization of decision-making, hierarchical supervision and loss of control, alternative requirements of formal organization, and expedience and incentives are also underscored. The text is a valuable reference for researchers interested in the economics of organization.
  • Introduction to Equilibrium Analysis

    Variations on Themes by Edgeworth and Walras
    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 6
    • W. Hildenbrand + 1 more
    • C. J. Bliss + 1 more
    • English
    Advanced Textbooks in Economics, Volume 6: Introduction to Equilibrium Analysis: Variations on Themes by Edgeworth and Walras focuses on the approaches developed and instituted by Edgeworth and Walras in the study of equilibrium analysis. The book first underscores exchange economies, core of a game, and large economies. Discussions focus on economies with a continuum of agents, Walras equilibrium, prices and demand, balancedness, and commodity space. The manuscript then ponders on limit theorems for the core and existence of competitive equilibria. Topics include equilibria without convexity of preferences, existence of equilibria for economies with convex preferences, individual demand, emergence of prices, asymptotic equal treatment for most, uniform boundedness of core allocations, and limit theorems for type and replica economies. The publication examines continuous, upper, and lower hemi-continuous correspondences, fixed point theorems, and separation of convex sets. The book is a vital source of data for economists and researchers interested in equilibrium analysis.
  • Security Risk Assessment

    Managing Physical and Operational Security
    • 1st Edition
    • John M. White
    • English
    Security Risk Assessment is the most up-to-date and comprehensive resource available on how to conduct a thorough security assessment for any organization. A good security assessment is a fact-finding process that determines an organization’s state of security protection. It exposes vulnerabilities, determines the potential for losses, and devises a plan to address these security concerns. While most security professionals have heard of a security assessment, many do not know how to conduct one, how it’s used, or how to evaluate what they have found. Security Risk Assessment offers security professionals step-by-step guidance for conducting a complete risk assessment. It provides a template draw from, giving security professionals the tools needed to conduct an assessment using the most current approaches, theories, and best practices.
  • Cognition, Intelligence, and Achievement

    A Tribute to J. P. Das
    • 1st Edition
    • Timothy Papadopoulos + 2 more
    • English
    Cognition, Intelligence, and Achievement is motivated by the work of the renowned Professor J. P. Das on the PASS (Planning, Attention, Simultaneous and Successive Processing) theory of intelligence and CAS measures (Cognitive Assessment System) of cognitive processes. This book reviews current research using this and other frameworks in understanding the relationships among cognition, intelligence, and achievement. The assessment and diagnosis of learning disabilities, mental retardation, and ADHD are addressed, and the interrelationships among cognition, culture, neuropsychology, academic achievement, instruction, and remediation are examined. No other book has presented such an integrated view across these domains, from such a diverse array of internationally known and respected experts from psychology, education, and neuroscience.
  • Cyber Crime and Cyber Terrorism Investigator's Handbook

    • 1st Edition
    • Babak Akhgar + 2 more
    • English
    Cyber Crime and Cyber Terrorism Investigator’s Handbook is a vital tool in the arsenal of today’s computer programmers, students, and investigators. As computer networks become ubiquitous throughout the world, cyber crime, cyber terrorism, and cyber war have become some of the most concerning topics in today’s security landscape. News stories about Stuxnet and PRISM have brought these activities into the public eye, and serve to show just how effective, controversial, and worrying these tactics can become. Cyber Crime and Cyber Terrorism Investigator’s Handbook describes and analyzes many of the motivations, tools, and tactics behind cyber attacks and the defenses against them. With this book, you will learn about the technological and logistic framework of cyber crime, as well as the social and legal backgrounds of its prosecution and investigation. Whether you are a law enforcement professional, an IT specialist, a researcher, or a student, you will find valuable insight into the world of cyber crime and cyber warfare. Edited by experts in computer security, cyber investigations, and counter-terrorism, and with contributions from computer researchers, legal experts, and law enforcement professionals, Cyber Crime and Cyber Terrorism Investigator’s Handbook will serve as your best reference to the modern world of cyber crime.
  • Public Enterprise Economics

    Theory and Application
    • 2nd Edition
    • Volume 23
    • Dieter Bös
    • C. J. Bliss + 1 more
    • English
    Advanced Textbooks in Economics, Volume 23: Public Enterprise Economics: Theory and Application focuses on economics, mathematical economics, and econometrics, including microeconomics, marginal-cost pricing, taxes, and income effects. The manuscript takes a look at the essential parts of public sector pricing models, normative optimum theory, and normative piecemeal theory. Discussions focus on welfare improvements with non-tight constraints, welfare -improving increases of public inefficiency, conditions for optimal prices and quantities, compensating for income effects, and conditions for optimal quality. The book then ponders on marginal-cost pricing, Ramsey pricing, rate of return regulation, and pricing with distributional aims. Topics include comparing distributional and allocative pricing, prices versus taxes, optimum Ramsey policy, influence of Ramsey prices on allocation, distribution, and stabilization, and consequences for allocation, distribution, and stabilization. The publication examines bus and underground services in London, economic theory and empirical analysis, and different approaches towards optimal quality, including empirical studies on bus and underground demand, organizational and political history, and microeconomics of the representative consumer. The book is a valuable source of data for researchers interested in public enterprise economics.
  • Microeconomics

    Institutions, Equilibrium and Optimality
    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 30
    • M.C. Blad + 1 more
    • English
    The first part of this book contains the material for a course in standard microeconomics and general equilibrium. These chapters contain the necessary background on commodities, consumers, producers, as well as the classical results about the existence of general (Walras) equilibria and the fundamentals of welfare theory. The second part of the book may be seen as a continuation dealing with more advanced topics.This textbook shows how the general equilibrium theory can be put into use to provide new insights into various fields of economic science. The reader does not need previous particular mathematical training; the formal approach is introduced in a piecemeal fashion, so that no difficult mathematics occurs in the beginning.
  • Economics of Insurance

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 29
    • K.H. Borch + 2 more
    • English
    The theory of insurance is presented in this book, discussed from the viewpoint of the theory of economics of uncertainty. The principle of premium calculation which the book uses is based on economic equilibrium theory and differs from many of the premium systems discussed by actuaries.Reinsuranc... is developed in the framework of general economic equilibrium theory under uncertainty. Here ordering of risks, preferences and utility theory play an important role. The book discusses the markets for insurance and divides them into three classes: (i) life insurance (ii) business insurance and (iii) household insurance, and these classes are each treated extensively in three separate chapters. Finally uninsurable risks are presented under "asymmetric information". Here moral hazard and adverse selection are treated and illustrations are given, some based on game theory.
  • Applied Consumption Analysis

    • 2nd Edition
    • Volume 5
    • L. Phlips
    • English
    This volume links the abstract theory of demand with its econometric implementation. Exercises lead the reader from elementary utility maximization to the most sophisticated recent techniques, highlighting the main steps in the historical evolution of the subject. The first part presents a brief discussion of duality and flexible forms, and in particular of Deaton and Muellbauer's ``almost ideal demand system''. Part two includes the author's work on true wage indexes, and on intertemporal utility maximization.
  • The Strategy of Social Choice

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 18
    • H. Moulin
    • C.J. Bliss + 1 more
    • English
    Advanced Textbooks in Economics, Volume 18: The Strategy of Social Choice focuses on the social, economics, and political implications of social choice. The publication first surveys introduction, social choice functions and correspondences, and monotonicity and the arrow theorem. Discussions focus on efficiency, anonymity and neutrality, classifying voting methods, normative versus positive approach to voting, voting and the non-strategic theory of social choice, and development of the strategic theory of voting. The text then ponders on strategy-proofness and monotonicity and sophisticated voting. Topics include sophisticated implementation, voting by binary choices, strategy-proof social choice functions and game forms, Gibbard-Satterthwait... theorem, and restricted domains. The manuscript examines cooperative voting and voting by veto, including the minority principle, proportional veto core, voting by integer veto, effectivity functions, maximal and stable effectivity functions, and implementation by Nash equilibrium. The text is a dependable source of data for researchers interested in the process of social choice.
  • Social Anxiety

    Clinical, Developmental, and Social Perspectives
    • 3rd Edition
    • Patricia M. DiBartolo + 1 more
    • English
    The third edition of Social Anxiety: Clinical, Developmental, and Social Perspectives integrates examinations of social anxiety, shyness, and embarrassment with the research on social anxiety disorder subtypes, biological theories and cognitive-behavioral or pharmacological treatment outcome studies.Clinicians, social and developmental psychologists and behavioral geneticists have all conducted research over the past ten years which is essential to furthering our understanding and treatment of social anxiety disorders. This book weaves together research findings gathered by renowned minds across these various disciplines, and deals with both theory and research. It explores what constitutes social anxiety, assesses the condition and its relationship to other psychological disorders, exploring the biological basis and treatment approaches as well. Coverage includes key issues not discussed fully by other books, including related disorders in adults and children, relationship to social competence and assertiveness, perfectionism, social skills deficit hypothesis, comparison between pharmacological and psychosocial treatments, and potential mediators of change in the treatment of social anxiety disorder.From the Author: Although social anxiety disorder (social phobia) is widely researched topic in psychiatry, other disciplines, such as social and developmental psychology, have independently been studying the same phenomena for many years. Yet, there has been very little cross-discipline communication and integration. The main objective of the book is to integrate the findings on social anxiety from various disciplines, including clinical psychology, psychiatry, social psychology, neuroscience, and developmental psychology.
  • Strategies of Banks and Other Financial Institutions

    Theories and Cases
    • 1st Edition
    • Rajesh Kumar
    • English
    How and why do strategic perspectives of financial institutions differ by class and region? Strategies of Banks and Other Financial Institutions: Theories and Cases is an introduction to global financial institutions that presents both theoretical and actual aspects of markets and institutions. The book encompasses depository and non-depository Institutions; money markets, bond markets, and mortgage markets; stock markets, derivative markets, and foreign exchange markets; mutual funds, insurance, and pension funds; and private equity and hedge funds. It also addresses Islamic financing and consolidation in financial institutions and markets. Featuring up-to-date case studies in its second half, Strategies of Banks and Other Financial Institutions proposes a useful theoretical framework and strategic perspectives about risk, regulation, markets, and challenges driving the financial sectors.
  • Extending Explanation-Based Learning by Generalizing the Structure of Explanations

    • 1st Edition
    • Jude W. Shavlik
    • English
    Extending Explanation-Based Learning by Generalizing the Structure of Explanations presents several fully-implemented computer systems that reflect theories of how to extend an interesting subfield of machine learning called explanation-based learning. This book discusses the need for generalizing explanation structures, relevance to research areas outside machine learning, and schema-based problem solving. The result of standard explanation-based learning, BAGGER generalization algorithm, and empirical analysis of explanation-based learning are also elaborated. This text likewise covers the effect of increased problem complexity, rule access strategies, empirical study of BAGGER2, and related work in similarity-based learning. This publication is suitable for readers interested in machine learning, especially explanation-based learning.
  • Information Theory

    Coding Theorems for Discrete Memoryless Systems
    • 1st Edition
    • Imre Csiszár + 1 more
    • Z. W. Birnbaun + 1 more
    • English
    Information Theory: Coding Theorems for Discrete Memoryless Systems presents mathematical models that involve independent random variables with finite range. This three-chapter text specifically describes the characteristic phenomena of information theory. Chapter 1 deals with information measures in simple coding problems, with emphasis on some formal properties of Shannon’s information and the non-block source coding. Chapter 2 describes the properties and practical aspects of the two-terminal systems. This chapter also examines the noisy channel coding problem, the computation of channel capacity, and the arbitrarily varying channels. Chapter 3 looks into the theory and practicality of multi-terminal systems. This book is intended primarily for graduate students and research workers in mathematics, electrical engineering, and computer science.
  • Safeguarding Intangible Assets

    • 1st Edition
    • Michael D. Moberly
    • English
    Safeguarding Intangible Assets provides strategies for preserving and enhancing a company’s intangible assets to increase its profitability, competitiveness, and sustainability. Intangible assets such as patents, trademarks, copyrights, methodologies, and brand typically account for 80 percent of an organization’s value and revenue. There are many forces making it more and more difficult to protect these assets, and securing them is a complex issue often overlooked by security and risk managers. Many security managers do not have adequate policies or procedures in place to protect these assets from compromise, infringement, and theft. Safeguarding Intangible Assets provides managers with the tools necessary for protecting these assets through effective and consistent oversight designed to preserve their control, use, and ownership. The book offers strategies for various types of business transactions, such as mergers and acquisitions, corporate-university R&D alliances, new product launches, early stage firms, and university-based spin-offs.
  • International Conflict Resolution Using System Engineering (SWIIS)

    • 1st Edition
    • H. Chestnut + 2 more
    • English
    Finding an alternative to supplement military ways of resolving international conflicts has been taken up by many people skilled in various areas such as political science, economics, social studies, modelling and simulation, artificial intelligence and expert systems, military strategy and weaponry as well as private business and industry. The Workshop will therefore be of use as it looks at various control methods which would create a conciliatory social and political environment or climate for seeking and obtaining non-military solutions to international conflicts and to solutions to national conflicts which may lead to international conflicts.
  • Social Cognition and Metacognition in Schizophrenia

    Psychopathology and Treatment Approaches
    • 1st Edition
    • Paul Lysaker + 2 more
    • English
    Deficits in social cognition and metacognition in schizophrenics makes it difficult for them to understand the speech, facial expressions and hence emotion and intention of others, as well as allowing little insight into their own mental state. These deficits are associated with poor social skills, fewer social relationships, and are predictive of poorer performance in a work setting. Social Cognition and Metacognition in Schizophrenia reviews recent research advances focusing on the precise nature of these deficits, when and how they manifest themselves, what their effect is on the course of schizophrenia, and how each can be treated. These deficits may themselves be why schizophrenia is so difficult to resolve; by focusing on the deficits, recovery may be quicker and long lasting. This book discusses such deficits in early onset, first episode, and prolonged schizophrenia; how the deficits relate to each other and to other forms of psychopathology; how the deficits affect social, psychological, and vocational functioning; and how best to treat the deficits in either individual or group settings.
  • Stability of Happiness

    Theories and Evidence on Whether Happiness Can Change
    • 1st Edition
    • Kennon M Sheldon + 1 more
    • English
    The right to "pursue happiness" is one of the dominant themes of western culture, and understanding the causes of happiness is one of the primary goals of the positive psychology movement. However, before the causality question can even be considered, a more basic question must be addressed: CAN happiness change? Reasons for skepticism include the notion of a "genetic set point" for happiness, i.e. a stable personal baseline of happiness to which individuals will always return, no matter how much their lives change for the better; the life-span stability of happiness-related traits such as neuroticism and extraversion; and the powerful processes of hedonic adaptation, which erode the positive effects of any fortuitous life change. This book investigates prominent theories on happiness with the research evidence to discuss when and how happiness changes and for how long.
  • The Changing Landscape of China’s Consumerism

    • 1st Edition
    • Alison Hulme
    • English
    Consumerism in China has developed rapidly. The Changing Landscape of China's Consumerism looks at the growth of consumerism in China from both a socio-economic and a political/cultural angle. It examines changing trends in consumption in China as well as the impact of these trends on society, and the politics and culture surrounding them. It examines the ways in which, despite needing to "unlock" the spending power of the rural provinces, the Chinese authorities are also keen to maintain certain attitudes towards the Communist Party and socialism "with Chinese Characteristics." Overall, it aims to show that consumerism in China today is both an economic and political phenomenon and one which requires both surrounding political culture and economic trends for its continued establishment. The ways in which this dual relationship both supports and battles with itself are explored through apposite case studies including the use of New Confucianism in the market context, the commodification of Lei Feng, the new Chinese tourist as a diplomatic tool in consumption, the popularity of Shanzhai (fake product) culture, and the conspicuous consumption of China's new middle class.
  • Laboratory Experiments in the Social Sciences

    • 2nd Edition
    • Murray Webster + 1 more
    • English
    While there are many books available on statistical analysis of data from experiments, there is significantly less available on the design, development, and actual conduct of the experiments. Laboratory Experiments in the Social Sciences summarizes how to design and conduct scientifically sound experiments, be they from surveys, interviews, observations, or experimental methods. The book encompasses how to collect reliable data, the appropriate uses of different methods, and how to avoid or resolve common problems in experimental research. Case study examples illustrate how multiple methods can be used to answer the same research questions and what kinds of outcome would result from each methodology. Sound data begins with effective data collection. This book will assist students and professionals alike in sociology, marketing, political science, anthropology, economics, and psychology.
  • Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory

    Volume 11
    • 1st Edition
    • Michael B Schiffer
    • English
    Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory, Volume 11 is a collection of papers that discusses world systems theory, modeling interregional interaction in prehistory, and the archaeological analysis of ceramics. Some papers review dating and weathering of inorganic materials, strategies for paleo-environmental reconstruction, as well as deposits and depositional events. One paper reviews the Old World state formation that occurred in West Asia during the fourth and third millennia B.C. Another paper examines the role of interactions among societies in the process of local social change, and the need for archaeologists to develop a framework in which to analyze intersocietal interaction processes. The presence of items such as ceramics is associated directly to factors of availability, functions, economic values, or ethnic affiliation. As an example, one paper cites the use and misuse of English and American ceramics in archaeological analysis in identifying cultural patterns and human behavior. Another paper notes that each biological or mechanical agent of transport and deposition has its own respective attributes on a deposit where the attributes of sedimentary particles on the deposit can be defined. From such definitions, the archaeologists can make observations and inferences. Sociologists, anthropologist, ethnographers, museum curators, professional or amateur archaeologists, and academicians studying historical antiquities will find the collection very useful.
  • Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory

    Volume 1
    • 1st Edition
    • Michael B Schiffer
    • English
    Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory, Volume 1 presents the progressive explorations in methods and theory in archeology. This book discusses the strategy for appraising significance, which is needed to maximize the preservation and wise use of cultural resources. Organized into 10 chapters, this volume begins with an overview of planning for the best long-term use of cultural resources, which is the essence of conservation archeology. This text then examines importance of the concept in cultural ecological studies. Other chapters consider the methods used in determining the density, size, and growth rate of human populations. This book discusses as well the use of demographic variables in archeological explanation. The final chapter deals with the decisions that must be made in designing a survey and to identify the alternative consequences for data recovery of various strategies. This book is a valuable resource for archeologists and planners.
  • Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory

    Volume 9
    • 1st Edition
    • Michael B Schiffer
    • English
    Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory, Volume 9 is a collection of papers that describes protohuman culture, pastoralism, artifact classification, and the use of materials science techniques to study the construction of pottery. Some papers discuss contingency tables, geophysical methods of archaeological site surveying, and predictive models for archaeological resource location. One paper reviews the methodological and theoretical advances in the archaeological studies of human origins, particularly covering the Plio-Pleistocene period. Another paper explains the historic and prehistoric development of pastoralism through archaeological investigation. One paper traces the three phases of artifact classification, each being a representation of a different attitude and approach. Another paper evaluates pottery artifacts using a number of basic materials-science concepts and analytic approaches, toward the study of their mechanical strength; and also reviews their use in archaeological studies of pottery production and organization. To investigate archaeological intrasites, the archaeologist can use different specialized methods such as seismic, electromagnetic, resistivity, magnetometry, and radar. Another paper describes various empiric correlative models for locational prediction developed in both contexts of cultural resource management and academic research. Sociologists, anthropologist, ethnographers, museum curators, professional or amateur archaeologists will find the collection immensely valuable.
  • Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory

    Volume 8
    • 1st Edition
    • Michael B Schiffer
    • English
    Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory, Volume 8 is a collection of papers that discusses postprocessual archaeology, bone technology, and tree-ring dating in Eastern North America. One paper discriminates between the process and norm, and eliminates the dichotomy by locating human agency and the active. It focuses on monitoring individuals as being in the center of social theory. Another paper discuses the physical model and the textual model that describe the basic components of an archaeological record. For example, the first model implies that archaeological inferences move from material components of the record to material phenomena in the past. The second model assumes that archaeological inference should move from material phenomena to mental phenomena, from material symbols to the ideas and beliefs they encode. Another paper explains the use of analogy as a useful tool in archaeological considerations. One paper investigates bones as a material for study, including the analysis of carnivore-induced fractures or hominid-induced modifications from using bones as tools. The collection is suitable for sociologists, anthropologist, professional or amateur archaeologists, and museum curators studying archaeological artifacts.
  • Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory

    Volume 5
    • 1st Edition
    • Michael B Schiffer
    • English
    Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory, Volume 5 presents the progressive explorations in methods and theory in archeology. This book provides information pertinent to the developments in urban archeology. Organized into nine chapters, this volume begins with an overview of cultural resource management developed to assess the significance of, and to manage the cultural resources on public lands. This text then explores the basic aspects of natural and human-caused changes on the portion of the archaeological resource base consisting of archaeological sites. Other chapters consider the practice of urban archeology in the United States, with emphasis on the relationships between human behavior and material culture in an urban setting. This book discusses as well the applications of computer graphics in archeology. The final chapter deals with the types of skeletal and population changes that accompany malnutrition. This book is a valuable resource for anthropologist, archaeologists, urban planners, and graduate students.