Models of Society and Complex Systems introduces readers to a variety of different mathematical tools used for modelling human behaviour and interactions, and the complex social dynamics that drive institutions, conflict, and coordination. What laws govern human affairs? How can we make sense of the complexity of societies and how do individual actions, characteristics, and beliefs interact? Social systems follow regularities which allow us to answer these questions using different mathematical approaches. This book emphasises both theory and application. It systematically introduces mathematical approaches, such as evolutionary and spatial game theory, social network analysis, agent-based modelling, and chaos theory. It provides readers with the necessary theoretical background of each toolset as well as the underlying intuition, while each chapter includes exercises and applications to real-world phenomena. By looking behind the surface of various social occurrences, the reader uncovers the reasons why social systems exhibit both cultural universals and at the same time a diversity of practices and norms to a degree that even surpasses biological variety, or why some riots turn into revolutions while others do not even make it into the news. This book is written for any scholar in the social sciences interested in studying and understanding human behaviour, social dynamics, and the complex systems of society. It does not expect readers to have a particular background apart from some elementary knowledge and affinity for mathematics.

Contingent Valuation and Endangered Species provides a comprehensive and rigorous examination of the contingent valuation method as applied to the profound social problem of biodiversity conservation.The contingent valuation method allows the explicit identification and valuation of the non-use values of species in a way which has not been possible before. This new book offers a rigorous state-of-the-art evaluation of the theoretical and statistical issues central to the contingent valuation method as well as a hands-on account of the design, implementation and analysis of contingent valuation surveys of the benefits of species conservation. Contingent Valuation and Endangered Species includes a comprehensive account of efforts at endangered species protection in Australia and New Zealand as well as current developments in the United States. This comprehensive appraisal of the problems and economics of biodiversity conservation will be welcomed by researchers and practitioners as an explicit hands-on application of the contingent valuation method.

This book explores the extent to which our lives become an important underlying context for data production. Drawing on insights from Gestalt psychology, feminism and post-structuralism, it discusses how to situate yourself in the different phases of research.

The first Joint Meeting of the Austrian and Swiss Operations Research Societies was held at the University of Technology in Vienna, Austria, from 22-24 September 1980. A selection of the papers then presented are published in this volume. The papers included provide a picture of Operations Research as a discipline comprehending various methods and models. The volume is divided into two parts. The first part contains papers on mathematical programming and optimal control theory. Moreover, two papers on decision and game theory are included as well as two on biomathematical to~ics. Being more heterogeneous, the second part, on stochastic models, includes such topics as queueing theory, econometrics and time series analysis. As a special feature of the symposium, a series of applications of OR models in energy planning were discussed, e.g., load and demand forecasting, power distribution and extension planning, reliability and work-safety, etc. These papers have been incorporated into parts one and two according to the models used. GUSTAV FEICHTINGER PETER !C ALL Institut fUr Okonometrie und Institut fUr Operations Research und Operations Research mathematische Methoden der Wirtschafts- Technische UniversitHt wissenschaften Wien UniversitHt ZUrich November 198 I ix Gustav Feichtinger and Peter Kall (eds.), Operations Research in Progress, ix..

This publication features Hiatt-Michael's research and practice during thirty-four years as Professor of Education at the Graduate School of Education and Psychology, Pepperdine University. The chapters represent a range of her major thoughts on teaching, curriculum and family-community involvement by the author. Her work has broadened the scope and understanding of the commonalities of teaching and curriculum across disciplines and professional work. In addition, she has expanded the concept of the site-based school to include and engage the families and community as well as the students and professional staff. Lastly, she connects research and practice of schooling across continents, noting stages of development in educational practices. The Foreward presents personal insights to the author's professional growth. A chronological reading of the chapters will reveal the development of a faculty member from early researcher to award-winning author of theory-to-practice material in a given field of study.

This textbook provides a self-contained presentation of the main concepts and methods of nonparametric statistical testing, with a particular focus on the theoretical foundations of goodness-of-fit tests, rank tests, resampling tests, and projection tests. The substitution principle is employed as a unified approach to the nonparametric test problems discussed. In addition to mathematical theory, it also includes numerous examples and computer implementations. The book is intended for advanced undergraduate, graduate, and postdoc students as well as young researchers. Readers should be familiar with the basic concepts of mathematical statistics typically covered in introductory statistics courses.

Una de las inquietudes mas acentuadas en el siglo XXI gira en torno a los modelos de formacion por competencias que permean en los planes de estudio de los diversos niveles educativos de algunos paises de Latinoamerica. Esta por demas decir que la necesidad de profesionalizar al profesorado en este tema versa como punto nodal en la mayoria de las agendas de gobierno. Se pretende conseguir que, frente a las preceptivas y las recomendaciones oficiales para implementar los planes de estudio sea el profesorado el que se introduzca al campo de la investigacion y analice y discuta los hallazgos y sugerencias de los trabajos presentados aqui; que sirvan de motor al despertar su interes y motivacion para reflexionar sobre su practica docente. En esta publicacion se exponen los estudios de quince investigadores en educacion que junto con sus colaboradores han recuperado informacion metodologica y cientifica que permite abonarle al campo del conocimiento un acercamiento a la docencia favorecedora de competencias. Este libro pretende ser un estado de las perspectivas que han configurado el campo de estudio en competencias; es un analisis integrado por aportes plurales para su comprension y una fotografia de las distintas versiones de como se abordan las competencias en los paises invitados a compartir hallazgos de sus especialistas, que ya construyen varias comunidades de investigadores educativos.

Food Security, Poverty and Nutrition Policy Analysis: Statistical Methods and Applications, Third Edition combines statistical data analysis and computer literacy, applying the results to develop policy alternatives through a series of statistical methods for real world food insecurity, malnutrition and poverty problems. The book presents the latest uses of statistical methods for policy analysis using the open source statistical environment R, in addition to having the original Stata files and applications. A new chapter on obesity brings in new datasets for analysis to effectively demonstrate the use of such data for addressing policy issues. Finally, program evaluation methods which can be directly applied to the data on food security, nutrition, poverty indicators and causal factors are included. This unique, real-world data takes the reader through a "hands-on" approach toward econometric practice whereby they can also test the effects of policy and program interventions. Further, this is the first book to explore actual data with STATA and R statistical packages that also provides a line-by-line guide to the programming and interpretation of results.

This book traces changes in the social and political orientations of the publics of Britain, France, Italy, Spain, West Germany, Ireland, Denmark, Portugal, Belgium, The Netherlands, Greece and Luxembourg from 1970 to 1988. It charts the persistence of distinctive national outlooks in many domains, alongside the emergence of a European consensus within the framework of an increasingly integrated European Community. Written by leading social scientists from Western Europe and the United States, this book helps chart the future for Europe after 1992.

With the advent of a new millenium little more than a decade away, Professor Ferrarotti has written a unique collection of futurological scenarios that stresses the importance of both the historical and a muti-disciplinary approach. The author draws attention to the political tension underlying technological innovation, while heralding the anticipated appearance of a new ethos shaped by the exigencies of the new technological age. Old-fashioned individualism appears to be doomed, acknowledges the author; yet a new kind of socially-oriented individualism could develop, preserving that which is still vital in traditional values and influencing new, socio-psychological attitudes which are required by a technically advancing society.

This book is concerned with the associated issues between the differing paradigms of academic and organizational computing infrastructures. Driven by the increasing impact Information Communication Technology (ICT) has on our working and social lives, researchers within the Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) field try and find ways to situate new hardware and software in rapidly changing socio-digital ecologies. Adopting a design-orientated research perspective, researchers from the European Society for Socially Embedded Technologies (EUSSET) elaborate on the challenges and opportunities we face through the increasing permeation of society by ICT from commercial, academic, design and organizational perspectives. Designing Socially Embedded Technologies in the Real-World is directed at researchers, industry practitioners and will be of great interest to any other societal actors who are involved with the design of IT systems.

This book brings together an international group of researchers reporting on their work about play and early childhood education across 13 countries - Norway, Sweden, Denmark, England, Germany, Hong Kong, United States of America, India, The Maldives, Sri Lanka, Singapore, China and Australia. It contributes to growing international conversations about play and the role of play in early childhood education. Each of the chapters in this anthology reflects different directions in research as well as a range of approaches to reconceptualising play. Each researcher questions assumptions underpinning young children's play and early childhood education and explores the implications of these questions for further research, practice and policy. Chapters report a wide range of innovative and transformative research, focusing on areas such as the play of infants and toddlers, the role of values in play, the complexity of connections between play and learning, motivation, the role and understandings of early childhood educators in promoting children's play, risky play and the impact of Westernised approaches to play in different contexts. This book argues for the importance of children's play at a time when there is a great deal of pressure to increase the academic focus of early education and to eliminate play that could be deemed risky. Several authors note moves towards pedagogies of play and explore the potential links between play and learning in early education settings. The research reported in this book is a timely reminder of the value of play, for and of itself, as well as the learning potential of play. It provides a pathway into the debates about the role and value of play in early years' education for students, researchers and policy-makers.

Academics across the globe are being urged by universities and research councils to do research that impacts the world beyond academia. Yet to date there has been very little reflection amongst scholars and practitioners in these fields concerning the relationship between the theoretical and engaged practices that emerge through such forms of scholarship. Theoretical Scholarship and Applied Practice investigates the ways in which theoretical research has been incorporated into recent applied practices across the social sciences and humanities. This collection advances our understanding of the ethics, values, opportunities and challenges that emerge in the making of engaged and interdisciplinary scholarship.

For courses in Research Methods in Education."Understanding and Evaluating Research," third edition, is a supplemental textbook appropriate for all courses in educational research. A reader, this text contains quantitative "and" qualitative educational research articles from a variety of professional journals. With each article is a sample article analysis and exercises that help students become better consumers of research. The third edition is greatly enhanced by the inclusion of a new chapter on "Mixed Method Designs" and two mixed-method studies, revised and expanded discussion of qualitative methods, more emphasis given to randomized designs, revision of research typology, and features eight new articles.

No less than a revolutionary transformation of the research enterprise is underway. This transformation extends beyond the natural sciences, where 'e-research' has become the modus operandi, and is penetrating the social sciences and humanities, sometimes with differences in accent and label. Many suggest that the very essence of scholarship in these areas is changing. The everyday procedures and practices of traditional forms of scholarship are affected by these and other features of e-research. This volume, which features renowned scholars from across the globe who are active in the social sciences and humanities, provides critical reflection on the overall emergence of e-research, particularly on its adoption and adaptation by the social sciences and humanities.

The primary goal of this book is to present the research findings and conclusions of physicists, economists, mathematicians and financial engineers working in the field of "Econophysics" who have undertaken agent-based modelling, comparison with empirical studies and related investigations.
Most standard economic models assume the existence of the representative agent, who is "perfectly rational" and applies the utility maximization principle when taking action. One reason for this is the desire to keep models mathematically tractable: no tools are available to economists for solving non-linear models of heterogeneous adaptive agents without explicit optimization. In contrast, multi-agent models, which originated from statistical physics considerations, allow us to go beyond the prototype theories of traditional economics involving the representative agent. This book is based on the Econophys-Kolkata VII Workshop, at which many such modelling efforts were presented. In the book, leading researchers in their fields report on their latest work, consider recent developments and review the contemporary literature.

Through the analysis of examples taken from America, the Caribbean and western and East Central Europe, this book addresses one of the greatest challenges for the immediate future: the impact of migration, displacement and minority cultures and peoples within the space of larger multicultural states. It focuses upon the concepts of inclusion and exclusion and the processes of ethnic self identification cultural traditions in host countries ethnic stereotyping and inter ethnic communications and tensions.

Previously published as a special issue of Environmental Education Research, this collection includes papers published in the first 10 years of the journal, together with a series of specially commissioned critical vignettes that address the kinds of research that the journal attracts and wider aspects of the journal's work over that time. Contributors and editors also look ahead to the next ten years, discussing six major themes within contemporary research that require close scrutiny: EE and ESD: tension or transition? locating the environmental in environmental education research doing environmental education research environmental learning as process and outcome environmental education for ... developing environmental education research. For each theme, two papers published by the journal in the first ten years are re-printed and two researchers review the issues they raise, giving readers a broad and future-facing overview of the development of the field today.

This volume comprehensively examines the long-term effects of higher education on attitudes and activities of a large, nationally representative sample of high school students who graduated in 1972. The authors hold that what people want from higher education depends on core American values. The authors question whether colleges foster new attitudes that lead to new types of behavior, or if colleges confer new identities upon students by bestowing certificates and degrees. The chapters give particular attention to the impact of college on career success, expressive individualism, civic commitment, and changes in self-concept. The study is strengthened by its use of data on those high school graduates who did not attend college, and by following high school graduates until they are about 32 years old. The book concludes by examining the significance of the authors' findings for higher education curriculum policy.

Responding to the rapid growth of personal narrative as a method of inquiry among qualitative scholars, Bud Goodall offers a concise volume of practical advice for scholars and students seeking to work in this tradition. He provides writing tips and strategies from a well-published, successful author of creative nonfiction and concrete guidance on finding appropriate outlets for your work. For readers, he offers a set of criteria to assess the quality of creative nonfiction writing. Goodall suggests paths to success within the academy--still rife with political sinkholes for the narrative ethnographer--and ways of building a career as a public scholar. Goodall's work serves as both a writing manual and career guide for those in qualitative inquiry.

What makes a research project feminist? Connie Miller has complied an annotated bibliography of English-language works that help to answer that question. Each of the titles brought together in this volume addresses some aspect of feminist research. The bibliography includes both general works and those devoted to specific disciplines, and the entries include journal articles, books, book chapters, conference papers, and reports. The book begins with a general section followed by chapters on specific disciplines. Each chapter begins with an introduction discussing general trends. Anthropology, sociology, psychology, economics, political science, and history each merit a separate chapter. A chapter on geography includes architecture and urban planning as well, and a chapter on science covers the hard sciences. A Communications chapter includes mass media and communications, linguistics and speech, film studies, and art criticism. Omitted is the vast body of literature on feminist literary criticism, philosophy, education, nursing, and medicine. The book concludes with both subject and author indexes. The volume will be of interest to feminist scholars from all disciplines as well as to those involved in Women's Studies programs.

This book develops a debate around responsible social inquiry into new racism. A variety of ways of researching new forms of racism (for example, aversive, modern, cultural, purportedly color-blind, and new racism) are addressed. Experiments that have been undertaken to inquire into group identity and people's implicit bias in relation to those perceived as "other" are critically explored and their potential consequences reconsidered. The book also critically explores survey research, which, it is argued, can serve to reinforce the notion of the existence of ethnoracial groups with defined boundaries that inhere in social life. The book considers interviewing (including focus group interviewing) and case study research (including participant observation/ethnography) in terms of possibilities for moving beyond new forms of racism. Action research (defined by the understanding of an inextricable link between knowing and acting) is examined in-depth in terms of the hopes to "make a difference" at the moment of inquiry. Types of retroductive logic that are used to examine underlying structures that arguably unduly constrain people's life chances and render human relationships inhumane are also explored. The book draws together the different arguments; and it proposes ways in which the design of research into new racism can better approached as well as ways in which dialogue around processes of inquiry and the products thereof can be better fostered. Suggestions for nurturing humane social relationships that provide for transcultural meaning-making are threaded through the text.