Surveys are the principal source of data not only for social science, but for consumer research, political polling, and federal statistics. In response to social and technological trends, rates of survey nonresponse have risen markedly in recent years, prompting observers to worry about the continued validity of surveys as a tool for data gathering. Newspaper stories, magazine articles, radio programs, television broadcasts, and Internet blogs are filled with data derived from surveys of one sort or another. Reputable media outlets generally indicate whether a survey is representative, but much of the data routinely bandied about in the media and on the Internet are not based on representative samples and are of dubious use in making accurate statements about the populations they purport to represent. Surveys are social interactions, and like all interactions between people, they are embedded within social structures and guided by shared cultural understandings. This issue of The ANNALS examines the difficulties with finding willing respondents to these surveys and how the changing structure of society, whether it be the changing family structure, mass immigration, rising inequality, or the rise of technology, has presented new issues to conducting surveys. This volume will be of interest to faculty and students who specialize in sociological movements as well as economic and immigration movements and its effect on surveying. "

Global environmental change, argues Michel Serres, has forced us to reconsider our relationship to nature. In this translation of his influential 1990 book Le Contrat Naturel, Serres calls for a natural contract to be negotiated between Earth and its inhabitants. World history is often referred to as the story of human conflict. Those struggles that are seen as our history must now include the uncontrolled violence that humanity perpetrates upon the earth, and the uncontrollable menace to human life posed by the earth in reaction to this violence. Just as a social contract once brought order to human relations, Serres believes that we must now sign a "natural contract" with the earth to bring balance and reciprocity to our relations with the planet that gives us life. Our survival depends on the extent to which humans join together and act globally, on an earth now conceived as an entity. Tracing the ancient beginnings of modernity, Serres examines the origins and possibilities of a natural contract through an extended meditation on the contractual foundations of law and science. By invoking a nonhuman, physical world, Serres asserts, science frees us from the oppressive confines of a purely social existence, but threatens to become a totalitarian order in its own right. The new legislator of the natural contract must bring science and law into balance. Serres ends his meditation by retelling the story of the natural contract as a series of parables. He sees humanity as a spacecraft that with the help of science and technology has cast off from familiar moorings. In place of the ties that modernity and analytic reason have severed, we find a network of relations both stranger and stronger than any we once knew, binding us to one another and to the world. The philosopher's harrowing and joyous task, Serres tells us, is that of comprehending and experiencing the bonds of violence and love that unite us in our spacewalk to the spaceship Mother Earth.

How do federal statistics strengthen our nation's science as well as its policy? From demographers requiring vital statistics to economists relying on national accounts, from political scientists using voting data to sociologists requiring race/ethnicity statistics, from public health researchers needing epidemiology data to those working on the history of the United States and drawing on statistical records, the need for official statistics is great. And yet it is not widely recognized that federal statistics provide a vital contribution to the nation's scientific infrastructure, as well as serving as an information provider to the policy process. What is the role of the federal statistical system in our scientific knowledge of American society? Would the social knowledge relevant to public policies have reached current levels of maturity in the absence of public statistics? Except by the scientific community that actually uses them, federal statistical programs are typically not thought of in scientific terms but as adjuncts to important government functions. In this latest volume of The ANNALS, leading academics, along with key federal officials, including the president's science advisor, the chief statistician of the U.S., the director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the presidents of the National Academies, and the director of the Census Bureau address the argument that the statistics that the federal statistical system produces should be understood as constituting a scientific infrastructure for the empirical social sciences. Further, they see the current federal statistical system as "the best hope for bringing strong science to bear on new data sources" and "the best place to navigate unforeseen challenges in preserving the independence of statistical information from political interference." This unique collection of essays conceptualizes the U.S. Federal Statistical System-its role, reach, achievements, and vulnerabilities. The authors explore challenging issues such as privacy and confidentiality protections, data quality, and maintaining representativeness. Their intriguing discussion also takes up: * the move from a census and survey data system to a system that increasingly incorporates administrative and digital data; * the nation's scientific leadership's role as advocates for statistical programs; * the problems with the scientific methodology-sample surveys-on which these statistics rest; and * strengthening the network of statistical agencies and programs. Recommendations are offered, ranging from how to better organize the system, how to protect statistics from political interference, how to strengthen their role in science and in the policy process, and how to prepare for the challenges of a "new information order." If federal statistics are the knowledge base from which policy problems and solutions emerge, it is imperative that we pay attention to the lessons they offer. Never before has this topic received this level of attention from such an array of contributors. A must read for all social scientists and policy-makers.

Remote Sensing image analysis is mostly done using only spectral information on a pixel by pixel basis. Information captured in neighbouring cells, or information about patterns surrounding the pixel of interest often provides useful supplementary information. This book presents a wide range of innovative and advanced image processing methods for including spatial information, captured by neighbouring pixels in remotely sensed images, to improve image interpretation or image classification. Presented methods include different types of variogram analysis, various methods for texture quantification, smart kernel operators, pattern recognition techniques, image segmentation methods, sub-pixel methods, wavelets and advanced spectral mixture analysis techniques. Apart from explaining the working methods in detail a wide range of applications is presented covering land cover and land use mapping, environmental applications such as heavy metal pollution, urban mapping and geological applications to detect hydrocarbon seeps.

The book is meant for professionals, PhD students and graduates who use remote sensing image analysis, image interpretation and image classification in their work related to disciplines such as geography, geology, botany, ecology, forestry, cartography, soil science, engineering and urban and regional planning.

Publisher's Note: Products purchased from Third Party sellers are not guaranteed by the publisher for quality, authenticity, or access to any online entitlements included with the product. This classic handbook provides the major formulas, calculations, cost estimating techniques, and safety procedures needed for specific die operations and performance evaluations BETTER PERFORMANCE IN EVERY PHASE OF DIE DESIGN AND MANUFACTURINGThe classic reference on metal-stamping die design and operations just got better. Twenty-year-plus engineering veteran Ivana Suchy's Second Edition of the Handbook of Die Design now adds to its comprehensive coverage new ways to improve processes and reduce costs, from design through manufacturing. Whatever you blank, pierce, punch, bend, form, draw, or otherwise fabricate, this reference gives you the hands-on guidance and use-it-now data you need to do it better, faster, safer. It's loaded with at-a-glance charts, step-by-step guidelines, rules of thumb, and up-to-the-minute techniques for ensuring precision design for every type of sheet metal pressworking. It's the essential on-the-job tool for engineers, designers, and technicians in die design and the pressworking range of operations looking for better evaluations and greater job satisfaction. NEW WAYS TO IMPROVE PROCESSES AND CUT COSTS Useful new hardware and specialized hardware Custom-made automated systems New types of pressroom equipment Illustrations and specifications for rotary bending techniques New coating processes to increase tool durability and prevent galling Additional strip samples and actual die design/manufacturing problems More detail on strain hardening of material and its effect on drawing, forming, and bending operations, and the tooling involved Illustrated explanations of the use of nitrogen cylinders and air springs in die manufacture U.S. symbols added to metric for all dimensions and math applications, including tolerance ranges DIE DESIGN, INSIDE OUT: Basic Die Design and Die-Work Influencing Factors * The Theory of Sheet-Metal Behavior * Metal Stamping Dies and Their Function * Metal Stamping Dies: Their Construction and Assembly * Metalworking Machinery * Blanking and Piercing Operations * Blank Calculation or Flat Layout * Bending and Forming Operations * Drawn Parts * Practical Die Design * Die Process Quality and Automation, and Die Maintenance * Springs: Their Design and Calculations * Spring Washers * Materials and Surface Finish * Die Cost Estimating

An invaluable resource, The Metal Stamping Process was written by an expert with over 30 years of practical experience, and it has been used for years as the core reference for what is widely regarded as the premier training program in this industry. With this book you will have immediate access to metalworking formulas, design standards, set up techniques, guidelines for designing and tolerancing parts, material choices, EDM, coatings, lubricants, problems and root causes, tooling tips, machine maintenance and mil standards. Also included is ProQuote, a complete and simple-to-use Excel program for cost estimating. It will help ensure that your calculations are correct and save you time besides. Features The only book in the field to explain the business side of the industry, including "buy/make" decisions. Explains how to do the same operation several different ways, as well as the pros and cons of each way. Provides tooling tips only an insider knows. Focuses on failure avoidance. Contains illustrations that depict actual parts and case studies.

This newly revised edition of Programmable Controllers discusses all phases of programmable controller applications from systems design and programming to installation, maintenance, and start-up. Used as a resource by thousands of technicians and engineers, this applications-based book provides a clear and concise presentation of the fundamental principles of programmable controllers for process and machine control. Increased coverage of all five standard PLC programming languages - Ladder Diagram, Function Block Diagram, Sequential Function Chart, Instruction List, and Structured Text a and the addition of numerous programming applications and examples clearly explain each programming language.

Sex in Development examines how development projects around the world intended to promote population management, disease prevention, and maternal and child health intentionally and unintentionally shape ideas about what constitutes "normal" sexual practices and identities. From sex education in Uganda to aids prevention in India to family planning in Greece, various sites of development work related to sex, sexuality, and reproduction are examined in the rich, ethnographically grounded essays in this volume. These essays demonstrate that ideas related to morality are repeatedly enacted in ostensibly value-neutral efforts to put into practice a "global" agenda reflecting the latest medical science.Sex in Development combines the cultural analysis of sexuality, critiques of global development, and science and technology studies. Whether considering the resistance encountered by representatives of an American pharmaceutical company attempting to teach Russian doctors a "value free" way to offer patients birth control or the tension between Tibetan Buddhist ideas of fertility and the modernization schemes of the Chinese government, these essays show that attempts to make sex a universal moral object to be managed and controlled leave a host of moral ambiguities in their wake as they are engaged, resisted, and reinvented in different ways throughout the world. Contributors. Vincanne Adams, Leslie Butt, Lawrence Cohen, Heather Dell, Vinh-Kim Nguyen, Shanti Parikh, Heather Paxson, Stacy Leigh Pigg, Michele Rivkin-Fish

"Technology has always fascinated me. Gemini, Apollo, and Star Trek all captivated me as a kid. I managed to marry both law and technology by becoming a tech lawyer." So are we introduced to columnist and practicing lawyer Mark Grossman. Based on a series of previously published articles, Technology Law adopts a reader-friendly approach to the problems and issues faced by those of us who depend on technology to make a living-in other words, just about everyone! Written in the first person, it transitions easily between explanations of why certain laws exist (and what they mean) and suggestions for responding responsibly and effectively.

For quite some time, in systems and software design, security only came as a second thought or even as a nice-to-have add-on. However, since the breakthrough of the Internet as a virtual backbone for electronic commerce and similar applications, security is now recognized as a fundamental requirement. This book presents a systematic security improvement approach based on the pattern paradigm. The author first clarifies the key concepts of security patterns, defines their semantics and syntax, demonstrates how they can be used, and then compares his model with other security approaches. Based on the author's model and best practic in security patterns, security novices are now in a position to understand how security experts solve problems and can basically act like them by using the patterns available as building blocks for their designs.

What is a developing country? How does one know whether a country is actually developing or not? This book looks at this issue from several perspectives. Using a series of reports by various organisations, it shows how countries rank in their levels of development according to different criteria. Countries ranking high according to one measure may rank lower according to another. It was once commonly believed that raising a country's average per capita income level would lead to improvements in most other areas. Time and experience have shown, however, that social conditions and general well-being of people may not necessarily improve when a country's average income level increases. Countries with high levels of per capita income may rank lower in their social and structural development. By contrast, some poor countries rank with the advanced countries in their governance and levels of individual and economic freedom. This book examines four criteria which are often used today to rank and assess countries' levels of development. They are: per capita income; economic and social structure; social conditions, and; the prevailing level of economic and political freedom. Specific indices or quantitative studies are explained and applied to each criteria and differences among the various measures are explained.

Arc welding is one of the key processes in industrial manufacturing, with welders using two types of processes - gas metal arc welding (GMAW) and gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW). This new book provides a survey-oriented account of the modeling, sensing, and automatic control of the GMAW process.
Researchers are presented with the most recent information in the areas of modeling, sensing and automatic control of the GMAW process, collecting a number of original research results on the topic from the authors and colleagues.

Providing an overview of a variety of topics, this book looks at the classification of various welding processes; the modeling aspects of GMAW; physics of welding; metal transfer characteristics; weld pool geometry; process voltages and variables; power supplies; sensing (sensors for arc length, weld penetration control, weld pool geometry, using optical and intelligent sensors); control techniques of PI, PID, multivariable control, adaptive control, and intelligent control. Finally, the book illustrates a case study presented by the authors and their students at Idaho State University, in collaboration with researchers at the Idaho National Engineering and Environment Laboratory.

The 19th century is known as the modern era of science. Many of the ideas, theories, and inventions developed during this time are used everyday in today's society. Windelspecht investigates the century's tremendous discoveries, inventions, and inquiries in more than 60 alphabetical entries. This reference presents familiar subjects, such as the telephone and elevator, as well as those less frequently studied, such as the spectroscope and Pasteur's development of the germ theory.

Readers will find a thorough discussion of each entry's scientific impact and gain an understanding of the lasting social and political importance of these advancements. Narratives enrich many of the entries by adding perspective to the century's fascinating history. Students and researchers will find this reference book easy to use. An appendix of entries listed by scientific field, a glossary of terms, and name and subject indexes make this the perfect, easy-to-use reference for anyone interested in the scientific revolutions of the 19th.

Applying statistical results to real life situations can be difficult or futile if you can't be certain what the results actually mean. This reference guide provides readers with the frequently elusive link between statistical results and practical applications. Students will learn the basic concepts and principles of statistics and probability, without getting bogged down in complicated theories and abstractions. Many statistics texts rely too heavily on mathematical formulas. Kault restores the emphasis to understanding statistical results and using common sense in decision making. Everyday examples bring the concepts to life. In the entry on hypothesis testing, Kault examines how a statistical result incorrectly overruled the common sense of many doctors. A chapter on random variables shows the chance that students will carry cell phones, and a chapter on categorical measurements uses statistics to determine the efficiency of a new treatment for a serious disease. Each chapter ends with questions that will help students further understand important concepts. Useful on its own and perfect as a means of expanding classroom discussions, this book is ideal for high school students or anyone needing to review the basics of statistics.

Technologically driven information overloads corporate leaders, managers, and employees alike, forcing them into a reactive mode with little time for reflection or strategic thinking. When the survey is completed, the teleconference over, and the weekend retreat a distant memory, we go back to our jobs unchanged. We hope that our activities contribute to corporate objectives, but we quickly lose sight of the connection between our work and critical outcomes. It doesn't have to be that way. Denton explains how to combine new interactive Intranet Web-based technology with new managerial software to focus on strategic decision making, effective team management, and the big picture.

Along with its companion Web site, www.CIVID3.com, this book provides an innovative solution that integrates and displays your critical information in real time. Condense all the reports received from finance, operations, marketing, and other divisions into a single interactive visual display that's always up to date. Establish two-way communication that allows managers and workers at all levels of the company to participate. This is the first system to graphically display--on a single desktop screen--the status of your key organizational and group performance measures. Combine outcomes and processes. Use subjective as well as objective information. Integrate and display the results in a user-friendly format, in real time. This book's solution allows organizational members to focus on their ultimate purpose and makes it easier to implement strategic or operational decisions.

This ambitious text is the first of its kind to summarize the theory, research, and practice related to pedagogical content knowledge. The audience is provided with a functional understanding of the basic tenets of the construct as well as its applications to research on science teacher education and the development of science teacher education programs.

Using the detailed instructions in this book, readers will learn how to comply with product safety regulations, how to develop safe products, and how to implement safe manufacturing processes. In addition, readers will learn how to understand the federal regulations, determine how those regulations apply to their businesses, and understand the scope of their responsibilities.

From the Preface by J. E. Littlewood: 'All [Hardy's] books gave him some degree of pleasure, but this one, his last, was his favourite. When embarking on it he told me that he believed in its value (as well he might), and also that he looked forward to the task with enthusiasm. He had actually given lectures on the subject at intervals ever since his return to Cambridge in 1931, and he had at one time or another lectured on everything in the book except Chapter XIII [The Euler-MacLaurin sum formula]...[I]n the early years of the century the subject [Divergent Series], while in no way mystical or unrigorous, was regarded as sensational, and about the present title, now colourless, there hung an aroma of paradox and audacity'.

This book challenges several widespread views concerning Aristotle's methods and practices of scientific and philosophical research. Taking central topics in psychology, zoology, astronomy and politics, Professor Lloyd explores generally unrecognised tensions between Aristotle's deeply held a priori convictions and his remarkable empirical honesty in the face of complexities in the data or perceived difficult or exceptional cases. The picture that emerges of Aristotle's actual engagement in scientific research and of his own reflections on that research is substantially more complex than is usually allowed.

Intellectual property law is currently exploding, as demonstrated by the growth of technology transfer offices in universities. More and more scientists, companies, and institutions are rushing to secure intellectual property rights for their ideas and inventions. This process frustrates many people; patent laws are constantly changing, and most books about them are either overly technical or boring.
Protecting Your Ideas: The Inventor's Guide to Patents is a succinct, straightforward guide to the system. This guide presents the steps involved in obtaining patent protection for inventions. It is easy to read and brimming with essential information and advice compounded from FAQs posed by the author's academic and industrial clientele. The text includes tips, warnings, and examples that guide the reader through the invention process so patent rights are not jeopardized. Checklists and other helpful information are provided to assist the inventor preparing to enter the patent process. The book includes valuable resource information and business guidance to protect the inventor from consumer fraud that is sometimes associated with the patent process. Protecting and Idea is a must read for every engineer, scientist, or amateur inventor.
Key Features
* Simple, easy-to-read format demystifies the patent process
* Numerous example patents help to illustrate the issues involved
* Provides an overview of the types of intellectual property protection
* Incorporates up-to-date information about U.S. patent laws
* Advises inventors about the do's and don'ts of patenting
* Includes useful resources for helping inventors safeguard their ideas

How can theology and science engage in dialogue in a postmodern world which is characterized by a great deal of fragmentation and pluralism? Is there ground to which they can move from their traditional duel to engage in a rewarding and friendly duet? Those are the questions discussed in this fascinating book, originally given as the John Albert Hall lectures for 1998. Dr Wentzel van Huyssteen first argues that many of the stereotyped ways of relating theology to science are overly simplistic generalizations about the complex relationship between the two disciplines. Moreover the postmodern mood challenges the very terms 'religion' and 'science'. He then goes on to discuss at length the very different views of Stephen Hawking and Paul Davies, in search of an epistemology which could be of use in an interdisciplinary discussion. This he finds in evolutionary epistemology, the significance that the theory of evolution by natural selection may have for philosophical epistemology, our theories of knowledge, and for the origin and development of human cognitive structures, maps and abilities. Before this final discussion there is an examination of Darwin and responses to him and an argument with Richard Dawkins.

This is the first full-length historical study of Gestalt psychology--an attempt to advance holistic thought within natural science. Holistic thought is often portrayed as a wooly-minded revolt against reason and modern science, but this is not so. On the basis of rigorous experimental research and scientific argument as well as on philosophical grounds, the Gestalt theorists Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Köhler and Kurt Koffka opposed conceptions of science and mind that equated knowledge of nature with its effective manipulation and control. Instead, they attempted to establish dynamic principles of inherent, objective order and meaning in current language, principles of self-organization in human perception and thinking, in human and animal behavior, and in the physical world. The impact of their work ranged from cognitive science to theoretical biology and film theory. Based on exhaustive research in primary sources, including archival material cited here for the first time, this study illuminates the multiple social and intellectual contexts of Gestalt theory and analyzes the emergence, development and reception of its conceptual foundations and research programs from 1890 to 1967.

Duns Scotus, along with Thomas Aquinas and William of Ockham, was one of the three most talented and influential of the medieval schoolmen, and a highly original thinker. This book examines the central concepts in his physics, including matter, space, time, and unity.

This study of science and technology looks at knowledge systems. Topics covered include: mapping encounters and (en)countering maps - a critical examination of cartographic resistance; the intricacies of technology transfer - travel as mode and method; and science, local knowledge and community.