This book presents the theory and practical applications of the Master equation approach, which provides a powerful general framework for model building in a variety of disciplines. The aim of the book is to not only highlight different mathematical solution methods, but also reveal their potential by means of practical examples. Part I of the book, which can be used as a toolbox, introduces selected statistical fundamentals and solution methods for the Master equation. In Part II and Part III, the Master equation approach is applied to important applications in the natural and social sciences. The case studies presented mainly hail from the social sciences, including urban and regional dynamics, population dynamics, dynamic decision theory, opinion formation and traffic dynamics; however, some applications from physics and chemistry are treated as well, underlining the interdisciplinary modelling potential of the Master equation approach. Drawing upon the author's extensive teaching and research experience and consulting work, the book offers a valuable guide for researchers, graduate students and professionals alike.

This book showcases a selection of arts-based research methods used in the empirical study of business, organisation and the humanities. Each chapter presents a discursive analysis and a detailed how-to guide for a range of methods including poetry, drawing, photography and social media, film, food, knitting, letter writing and dance. Consideration is given to a variety of steps in the research process, from research design and data collection to analysis and publication. Using Arts-based Research Methods is a unique resource for experienced researchers and students looking to broaden their palette of qualitative research methods.

Providing a clear explanation of the fundamental theory of time series analysis and forecasting, this book couples theory with applications of two popular statistical packages--SAS and SPSS. The text examines moving average, exponential smoothing, Census X-11 deseasonalization, ARIMA, intervention, transfer function, and autoregressive error models and has brief discussions of ARCH and GARCH models. The book features treatments of forecast improvement with regression and autoregression combination models and model and forecast evaluation, along with a sample size analysis for common time series models to attain adequate statistical power. To enhance the book's value as a teaching tool, the data sets and programs used in the book are made available on the Academic Press Web site. The careful linkage of the theoretical constructs with the practical considerations involved in utilizing the statistical packages makes it easy for the user to properly apply these techniques.
Key Features
* Describes principal approaches to time series analysis and forecasting
* Presents examples from public opinion research, policy analysis, political science, economics, and sociology
* Free Web site contains the data used in most chapters, facilitating learning
* Math level pitched to general social science usage
* Glossary makes the material accessible for readers at all levels

The objective of this book is to quantify the social costs of gun violence in order to help policy makers determine how many and which violence programmes to support. Drawing upon the most detailed and extensive economic study of the cost of gun violence, Cook and Ludwig provide detailed information about how the burden of gun violence is distributed in the US. Drawing upon this data, the book draws out the important implications for public policy. The burden of gun violence in America is valued at about $100 billion annually, and this heavy cost is distributed much more evenly over the population than the victimization statistics would suggest. Cook and Ludwig's examination of these costs lead them to propose a multifaceted policy agenda that includes both law enforcement and gun control measures.

Research Methods: A Practical Guide for the Social Sciences is an essential resource for the social researcher. It offers a comprehensive introduction for first time researchers right through to thorough and practical advice for those undertaking more advanced work. The book draws on real life experiences from a wide variety of disciplines to show how theory translates into practice, and offers a rigorous analysis of why researchers choose the methods they use. Think about it boxes throughout the text offer questions and ideas to help the researcher to focus on core issues and practical considerations, whilst your research summaries present questions, activities and checklists to help the researcher to develop their ideas. The book is supported by a fantastic companion website that contains learning materials, interactive exercises, videos, questionnaires, datasets and much more. The website can be found at: www.pearsoned.co.uk/matthews Written to reflect the breadth of the social sciences, Research Methods is essential for anyone conducting research in sociology, health policy, social work, criminology, social policy, cultural studies, political studies, public policy and related fields.

Statistical Design-Chemometrics is applicable to researchers and professionals who wish to perform experiments in chemometrics and carry out analysis of the data in the most efficient way possible. The language is clear, direct and oriented towards real applications. The book provides 106 exercises with answers to accompany the study of theoretical principles. Forty two cases studies with real data are presented showing designs and the complete statistical analyses for problems in the areas chromatography, electroanalytical and electrochemistry, calibration, polymers, gas adsorption, semiconductors, food technology, biotechnology, photochemistry, catalysis, detergents and ceramics. These studies serve as a guide that the reader can use to perform correct data analyses.
-Provides 42 case studies containing step-by-step descriptions of calculational procedures that can be applied to most real optimization problems
-Contains 106 theoretical exercises to test individual learning and to provide classroom exercises and material for written tests and exams
-Written in a language that facilitates learning for physical and biological scientists and engineers
-Takes a practical approach for those involved in industrial optimization problems

This book explores the ontologies, epistemologies, methodologies, and methods that inform tourism qualitative research conducted either by Asian scholars or non-Asian scholars focusing on Asia. In addition to providing a platform for researchers to publish their qualitative journeys, it aims to encourage further Asian qualitative tourism research production. The book not only includes chapters from Asian scholars but also non-Asian tourism researchers with a focus on Asia, as their chapters are crucial to represent the multiplicity of realities constituting 'Asia'. It is of interest to the whole tourism academic community as it provides novel methodological insights from a non-Western perspective, which at the moment are often silenced by dominant (Western) voices.

Becoming Metric-Wise: A Bibliometric Guide for Researchers aims to inform researchers about metrics so that they become aware of the evaluative techniques being applied to their scientific output. Understanding these concepts will help them during their funding initiatives, and in hiring and tenure. The book not only describes what indicators do (or are designed to do, which is not always the same thing), but also gives precise mathematical formulae so that indicators can be properly understood and evaluated. Metrics have become a critical issue in science, with widespread international discussion taking place on the subject across scientific journals and organizations. As researchers should know the publication-citation context, the mathematical formulae of indicators being used by evaluating committees and their consequences, and how such indicators might be misused, this book provides an ideal tome on the topic.

This book makes valuable theoretical, empirical, and methodological contributions to the study of overseas doctoral students' cross-cultural adaptation. Focusing on Australia, one of the top three destinations for Chinese students, this book seeks to understand how Chinese doctoral students perceive their lived experience of adapting to the academic and research environment at Australian universities. The book presents an innovative data collection chiefly based on interviews. It probes into Chinese doctoral students' emic perception of their cross-cultural adaptation from a human development perspective and in three main phrases: how motivated and prepared they are for their overseas stay (planning), how they experience their adaptation as active agents (implementing), and how they evaluate their overseas doctoral journey after the fact (reflecting). Empirically speaking, its findings can help bolster the effectiveness of cross-cultural adaptation and that of the internationalisation of doctoral education. Methodologically speaking, it combines popular techniques and underused instruments such as graphics and maps to offer an in-depth portrait of the issue. Given its content, the book is primarily intended for researchers in cultural studies and practitioners in international education, or in a broader sense for anyone who has a keen interest in how individuals navigate the learning trajectory and construe meanings in unfamiliar academic and socio-cultural settings. Though the book focuses on Australia as a case study, its findings are equally applicable to other contexts.

This book discusses the question of whether legal interpretation is a scientific activity. The law's dependency on language, at least for the usual communication purposes, not only makes legal interpretation the main task performed by those whose work involves the law, but also an unavoidable step in the process of resolving a legal case. This task of decoding the words and sentences used by normative authorities while enacting norms, carried out in compliance with the principles and rules of the natural language adopted, is prone to all of the difficulties stemming from the uncertainty intrinsic to all linguistic conventions. In this context, seeking to determine whether legal interpretation can be scientific or, in other words, can comply with the requirements for scientific knowledge, becomes a central question. In fact, the coherent application of the law depends on a knowledge regarding the meaning of normative sentences that can be classified (at least) as being structured, systematically organized and tendentially objective. Accordingly, this book focuses on analyzing precisely these problems; its respective contributions offer a range of revealing perspectives on both the problems and their ramifications.

In a time of changing technology and cultural shifts, it is difficult to measure some aspects of the workforce. Education and the American Workforce brings together a comprehensive collection of employment and education information from federal statistical agencies. The Census Bureau is the leading source of quality data about the nation's people and economy. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is the principal federal agency responsible for measuring labor market activity, working conditions, and price changes in the economy. Together, these agencies produce a wealth of information about the American workforce. This book includes information about the jobs that people hold, the occupations that they pursue, the industries where they work, and the education levels that people have attained. In addition to tables, each section also includes relevant figures and highlights of notable data. Some examples of interesting data found inside Education and the American Workforce include: *With no formal educational requirement and a median salary of $22,680, 4.5 million people are employed as retail salespersons, the most of any single occupation. Cashiers and food preparation/serving workers account for another 3.5 million each. There are 2.9 million registered nurses, the most numerous of occupations that require a bachelor's degree. *The biggest numeric decline is expected for Postal Service mail carriers, dropping by about 78,000 in ten years. When combined with other Postal Service occupations-such as clerks, sorters, postmasters, and others-a decline of 140,000 jobs is expected for the Postal Service. *Among the 75 largest counties, Bronx County, NY had the highest number of residents age 25 and over with less than a high school diploma at 29.4 percent while Montgomery County, PA had the lowest percentage at 6.2 percent. *Meanwhile, New York County, NY and Fairfax County, VA had the highest percentage of residents with a bachelor's degree or higher at 59.9 percent followed by Montgomery County, MD at 57.9 percent among the 75 largest counties. Nationally, between 2011 and 2015, 29.8 percent of the population had a bachelor's degree or higher.

The question of how cooperation and social order can evolve from a Hobbesian state of nature of a "war of all against all" has always been at the core of social scientific inquiry. Social dilemmas are the main analytical paradigm used by social scientists to explain competition, cooperation, and conflict in human groups. The formal analysis of social dilemmas allows for identifying the conditions under which cooperation evolves or unravels. This knowledge informs the design of institutions that promote cooperative behavior. Yet to gain practical relevance in policymaking and institutional design, predictions derived from the analysis of social dilemmas must be put to an empirical test. The collection of articles in this book gives an overview of state-of-the-art research on social dilemmas, institutions, and the evolution of cooperation. It covers theoretical contributions and offers a broad range of examples on how theoretical insights can be empirically verified and applied to cooperation problems in everyday life. By bringing together a group of distinguished scholars, the book fills an important gap in sociological scholarship and addresses some of the most interesting questions of human sociality.

This book explores social constructionism and the language of mental distress. Mental health research has traditionally been dominated by genetic and biomedical explanations that provide only partial explanations. However, process research that utilises qualitative methods has grown in popularity. Situated within this new strand of research, the authors examine and critically assess some of the different contributions that social constructionism has made to the study of mental distress and to how those diagnosed are conceptualized and labeled. This will be an invaluable introduction and source of practical strategies for academics, researchers and students as well as clinical practitioners, mental health professionals, and others working with mental health such as educationalists and social workers.

This book, comprised of entirely original research, collects data on the socioeconomic situation of China's 56 ethnic groups. Although the majority of China's population is of the Han nationality (which accounts for more than 90% of China's population), the non-Han ethnic groups have a population of more than 100 million. China has officially identified, except for other unknown ethnic groups and foreigners with Chinese citizenship, 55 ethnic minorities. In addition, ethnic minorities vary greatly in size. With a population of more than 15 million, the Zhuang are the largest ethnic minority, and the Lhoba, with a population of only about three thousand, the smallest. China's ethnic diversity has resulted in a special socioeconomic landscape for China itself. However, till presently, a complete socioeconomic picture of China's ethnic groups - especially of its smallest ethnic minorities - still remained unclear. How different have China's ethnic groups been in every sphere of daily life and economic development during China's fast transition period? In order to answer these questions, we have created a detailed and comparable set of data for each of China's ethnic groups. This book presents, in an easy-to-use format, a broad collection of social and economic indicators on China's 56 ethnic groups. This useful resource profiles the general social and economic situations for each of these ethnic groups. These indicators are compiled and estimated based on the regional and local data gathered from a variety of sources up to 2012.

Throughout the 20th century, grade-school teachers were trained in schools of education where progressive theories largely held sway and were licensed by state bureaucracies philosophically compatible with the education schools. Vested education interests now seek to make the monopoly even more controlling by requiring that all teachers be products of education schools accredited by a single national agency dedicated to progressive ideals.

Holland proposes an alternative vision compatible with the emerging 21st-century paradigm of a competitive education industry: Lower unnecessary barriers to teaching so that bright persons of diverse background and disposition can become teachers. Set up an alternative track--as in New Jersey--so that bright liberal arts graduates or persons with valuable real-world experience can be hired as teachers and put under the supervision of experienced mentors. Apply value-added assessment--as in Tennessee--to these new teachers, and to veteran teachers as well, so that principals can see how much each teacher has helped each child progress academically--or not--from school year to school year. Holland's plan to break up the teacher-prep monopoly is bound to be controversial, and, as such, should be of great interest to all--from parents and administrators to teachers and policy makers--concerned with improving the state of American education.

"I think your work is a necessary and valuable exposure of this religious phenomenon and the appallingly cynical exploitation of the religious and cultural beliefs of the poor and the vulnerable."

Suzanne WiltonHuddersfield, UK

"The book is particularly apt at this period of Christianity in Nigeria because it

addresses the 'money syndrome' that has crept into Christianity in Nigeria and the faking of the call of God.... The book addresses the yearning of many Christians who are worried by this menace but may not know how to discuss it."

Reverend Kenneth NwaubaniAbia, Nigeria

"I am particularly impressed by the depth of research that has gone into this book. It will generate intellectual discourse, challenge our spiritual guardians and mentors and it may well put some of them on the defensive."

Hon. Kazeem AdioOsun, Nigeria

"This book provides an interesting insight into the plight of religion in Nigeria and into the facet of the human condition that allows for the exploitation of the faithful and vulnerable individuals."

Will ColbridgePenistone, UK

"Very few publications, if any, capture through the religious prism the mechanical nature of developing Nigerian society in the way that this publication does. ..."

Casmir OkoliLondon, UK

"The book will, I believe, open the door for many who are still in the dark regarding the subject matter."

Rev Fr Nicholas NwagwuNew York, USA

In an age where the quality of teacher education programs has been called into question, it is more important than ever that teachers have a fundamental understanding of the principles of human learning, motivation, and development. Theory to Practice: Educational Psychology for Teachers and Teaching is a series for those who teach educational psychology in teacher education programs. At a time when educational psychology is at risk of becoming marginalized, it is imperative that we, as educators, "walk our talk" in serving as models of what effective instruction looks like. Each volume in the series draws upon the latest research to help instructors model fundamental principles of learning, motivation, and development to best prepare their students for the diverse, multidimensional, uncertain, and socially-embedded environments in which these future educators will teach. The inaugural volume, Teaching on Assessment, is centered on the role of assessment in teaching and learning. Each chapter translates current research on critical topics in assessment for educational psychology instructors and teacher educators to consider in their teaching of future teachers. Written for practitioners, the aim is to present contemporary issues and ideas that would help teachers engage in meaningful assessment practice. This volume is important not only because of the dwindling presence of assessment-related instructional content in teacher preparation programs, but also because the policy changes in the last two decades have transformed the meaning and use of assessment in K-12 classrooms.

This book explores how public opinion is used to design, monitor and evaluate government programmes in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. Using information collected from the media and from international practitioners in the public opinion field, as well as interviews in each of the 4 countries, the author describes how views of public opinion and governance differ significantly between elites and the general public. Bennett argues that elites generally risk more by allowing the creation of new data, fearing that its analysis may become public and create communications and political problems of various kinds. The book finds evidence that recent conservative governments in several countries are changing their perspective on the use of public opinion, and that conventional public opinion studies are facing challenges from the availability of other kinds of information and new technologies. This book is a hugely valuable contribution to a hitherto little explored field and will appeal to academics and practitioners alike.

Rethinking School-University Partnerships: A New Way Forward provides educational leaders in K-12 schools and colleges of education with insight, advice, and direction into the task of creating partnerships. In current times, colleges of education and local school districts need each other like never before. School districts struggle with pipeline, recruitment, and retention issues. Colleges of education face declining enrollment and a shifting educational landscape that fundamentally changes the way that teachers are trained and what local school districts expect their teachers to be able to do. It is with these overlapping constraints and converging interests that partnerships emerge as a foundational strategy for strengthening the education of our teachers. With nearly 80 contributors from 16 states (and Jamaica) representing 39 educational institutions, the partnerships described in this book are different from the ways in which colleges of education and school districts have traditionally worked with one another. In the past, these loose relationships centered primarily on student teaching and/or field experience placements. In this arrangement, the relationship was directed towards ensuring that the local schools were amenable to hosting students from the college of education so that the student/ candidate could complete the requirements to earn a teaching license. In our view, this paradigm needs to be enlarged and shifted.

This book explores ways in which creative research practice can be explicitly and mindfully geared to make a difference to the quality of social and ecological existence. It offers a range of examples of how different research methods can be employed (and re-tuned) with this intention. The book suggests that what Romm names "active" research involves using the research space responsibly to open up new avenues for thinking and acting on the part of those involved in the inquiry and wider stakeholders. The book includes a discussion of a range of epistemological, ontological, methodological and axiological positions (or paradigms) that can be embraced by inquirers implicitly or explicitly. It details the contours of an epistemology where knowing is recognized to be grounded in social relations, as a matter of ethics. While focusing on discussing the "transformative paradigm" and attendant view of research ethics, it considers to what extent the borders between paradigms can be treated as being permeable in creative and active inquiries. Apart from considering options for enhancing responsible research practice during the process of inquiry (and reconsidering mixed-research designs) the book also considers options for responsible theorizing that is inspirational for pursuing goals of social and ecological justice.

This volume showcases selected conference papers addressing the sustainable future of ASEAN from the perspectives of business and social science disciplines. In addressing the 17 Sustainable Developments Goals (SDGs) envisioned by the United Nations in the domains of environment, health and well-being, posing potential means of reducing inequalities globally, the authors target specific issues and challenges confronting the fast-growing region of ASEAN and present suggestions for co-operation and commitment from governments, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and society at large, in line with the ASEAN Vision 2020. Papers are selected from the 3rd International Conference on the Future of ASEAN (ICoFA) 2019, organised by Universiti Teknologi MARA in Malaysia, whose conference theme "Charting the Sustainable Future of ASEAN" enables intellectual discourse on sustainability issues from business and the social sciences, as well as science and technology. The selection of papers is published in two volumes, comprising scholarly and practical insights into sustainability in ASEAN. This first volume of papers from business and social science scholars will be of interest to researchers and policymakers interested in sustainability developments in the ASEAN region.

This unique book comprehensively covers the evolving field of transversality, globalization and education, and presents creative, research-based thought experiments that seek to unravel the forces of globalization impacting education. Pursuing various approaches to and uses of transversality, with a focus on the ideas of Felix Guattari, it is the only book of its kind. Specifically, it examines the influence of Guattari at the forefront of educational research that addresses, enhances and sets free activist micro-perspectives, which can counter macro-global movements, such as capitalism and climate change. This book is a global education research text that includes perspectives from four continents, providing a balanced and significant work on globalization in education.

This book presents a broad range of statistical techniques to address emerging needs in the field of repeated measures. It also provides a comprehensive overview of extensions of generalized linear models for the bivariate exponential family of distributions, which represent a new development in analysing repeated measures data. The demand for statistical models for correlated outcomes has grown rapidly recently, mainly due to presence of two types of underlying associations: associations between outcomes, and associations between explanatory variables and outcomes. The book systematically addresses key problems arising in the modelling of repeated measures data, bearing in mind those factors that play a major role in estimating the underlying relationships between covariates and outcome variables for correlated outcome data. In addition, it presents new approaches to addressing current challenges in the field of repeated measures and models based on conditional and joint probabilities. Markov models of first and higher orders are used for conditional models in addition to conditional probabilities as a function of covariates. Similarly, joint models are developed using both marginal-conditional probabilities as well as joint probabilities as a function of covariates. In addition to generalized linear models for bivariate outcomes, it highlights extended semi-parametric models for continuous failure time data and their applications in order to include models for a broader range of outcome variables that researchers encounter in various fields. The book further discusses the problem of analysing repeated measures data for failure time in the competing risk framework, which is now taking on an increasingly important role in the field of survival analysis, reliability and actuarial science. Details on how to perform the analyses are included in each chapter and supplemented with newly developed R packages and functions along with SAS codes and macro/IML. It is a valuable resource for researchers, graduate students and other users of statistical techniques for analysing repeated measures data.