""Place: it's where we're from; it's where we're going. . . . It asks for our attention and care. If we pay attention, place has much to teach us.""With this belief as a foundation, The Power of Place offers a comprehensive and compelling case for making communities the locus of learning for students of all ages and backgrounds. Dispelling the notion that place-based education is an approach limited to those who can afford it, the authors describe how schools in diverse contexts-urban and rural, public and private-have adopted place-based programs as a way to better engage students and attain three important goals of education: student agency, equity, and community.This book identifies six defining principles of place-based education. Namely, it: 1. Embeds learning everywhere and views the community as a classroom. 2. Is centered on individual learners. 3. Is inquiry based to help students develop an understanding of their place in the world. 4. Incorporates local and global thinking and investigations. 5. Requires design thinking to find solutions to authentic problems. 6. Is interdisciplinary. For each principle, the authors share stories of students whose lives were transformed by their experiences in place-based programs, elaborate on what the principle means, demonstrate what it looks like in practice by presenting case studies from schools throughout the United States, and offer action steps for implementation. Aimed at educators from preK through high school, The Power of Place is a definitive guide to developing programs that will lead to successful outcomes for students, more fulfilling careers for teachers, and lasting benefits for communities.

Action movie starring former WWE wrestler Dave Bautista as a disgraced ex-cop trying to get to the bottom of a murder he is the prime suspect for. Ray (Bautista)'s career has followed an unusual trajectory. Both an ex-cop and now, having been released from prison, an ex-con, Ray struggles to find work and finally takes a job as a bouncer for a strip club called The House of the Rising Sun. When the son of the club's owner, Vinnie (Lyle Kanouse), is found murdered, Ray's boss, Tony (Dominic Purcell), suggests that Ray use his policing skills to track down the killer. However, the police themselves are on the case and already have a killer firmly in mind: Ray.

The research articles in this volume cover timely quantitative psychology topics, including new methods in item response theory, computerized adaptive testing, cognitive diagnostic modeling, and psychological scaling. Topics within general quantitative methodology include structural equation modeling, factor analysis, causal modeling, mediation, missing data methods, and longitudinal data analysis. These methods will appeal, in particular, to researchers in the social sciences. The 80th annual meeting took place in Beijing, China, between the 12th and 16th of July, 2015. Previous volumes to showcase work from the Psychometric Society's Meeting are New Developments in Quantitative Psychology: Presentations from the 77th Annual Psychometric Society Meeting (Springer, 2013), Quantitative Psychology Research: The 78th Annual Meeting of the Psychometric Society (Springer, 2015), and Quantitative Psychology Research: The 79th Annual Meeting of the Psychometric Society, Wisconsin, USA, 2014 (Springer, 2015).

This is a collection of eleven essays authored by prominent accounting historians and designed to aid potential as well as experienced researchers in the methodologies and resources available for scholarly work in accounting history. The project, of which this book is the end product, has the full endorsement and backing of the Academy of Accounting Historians. Chapters on resources include the finding and utilization of archival materials (including ancient forms); the growing importance of the Internet in historical research and the Accounting Research Database as a vital, contemporary finding aid; the possibilities for joint venturing with accounting practitioners and their organizations; and the pivotal influence and immediacy of oral history. Methodological chapters explore the advantages and pitfalls of archival research; the synergistic relationships that exist between accounting and economic history, including business history and capital-markets research; the techniques for doing biography; and the issues involved in writing to historical paradigms.

The 77th Annual International Meeting of the Psychometric Society (IMPS) brought together quantitative researchers who focus on methods relevant to psychology. The conference included workshops, invited talks by well-known scholars, and presentations of submitted papers and posters. It was hosted by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and took place between the 9th and 12th of July, 2012. The chapters of this volume are based on presentations from the meeting and reflect the latest work in the field. Topics with a primarily measurement focus include studies of item response theory, computerized adaptive testing, cognitive diagnostic modeling, and psychological scaling. Additional psychometric topics relate to structural equation modeling, factor analysis, causal modeling, mediation, missing data methods, and longitudinal data analysis, among others. The papers in this volume will be especially useful for researchers (graduate students and other quantitative researchers) in the social sciences who use quantitative methods, particularly psychologists. Most readers will benefit from some prior knowledge of statistical methods in reading the chapters.

Sports Media covers reporting, anchoring, and production, and offers thorough descriptions of the sports reporter and anchor's function in sports journalism. This text offers important historical background on the evolution of the sports industry, some grounding in the business of sports, and a discussion of social issues including the experience of women in sports journalism. New to this edition: An introduction focused on the intersection of economics, technology, and culture that drives modern sports journalism Interviews with industry experts currently working in the field of sports journalism The evolution of the industry to today's audience-driven, social media-influenced landscape Reporting as storytelling in a modern media environment A companion website (www.routledge.com/cw/schultz) featuring video and audio examples from the authors' own work to illustrate concepts from the text, links to additional examples and further resources, video tours of production facilities, video interviews with leaders in the field, and an updated instructor's manual.

Mindfulness in Gardening explores the activity of gardening as an exercise for both body and mind. Ark Redwood, a professional gardener for over 30 years and currently head gardener at Chalice Well, one of Britain’s most sacred gardens, guides you through the changing seasons, expanding your knowledge of how to be conscious of the living and providing expert insight on meditating in your natural environment. Practical exercises are included for readers to imitate in their own garden. This book is essential reading for those looking to add a mindful dimension to the experience of gardening and understand the benefits this provides.    

This open access book asks whether cash-transfer programs for very low-income households promote social and economic citizenship and, if so, under what conditions. To this end, it brings together elements that are too often considered separately: the transformation of social and economic citizenship rights in a market-centered context, and the increasing popularity of cash transfer as an instrument both of social policy and humanitarian action. We link these by juxtaposing theoretical treatment of citizenship and inclusion with concrete policy case studies set in contemporary Turkey. Cases are taken both from domestic social policy and international relief efforts aimed at Syrian refugees. Theoretical discussion and case studies lead to the conclusion that cash transfer programs can promote economic and social inclusion - if deployed at an appropriate scale; if sufficient financial, technical, and social resources are available; and if program design and implementation promotes market inclusion of beneficiaries both as consumers and workers.

Mental health professionals often make explicit or implicit predictions involving crucial matters—Is a client at risk for self-harm or harming others? What treatment approach is most likely to be successful? Has a child been subjected to sexual or physical abuse? Decision research has particularly strong applied use for improving the accuracy of such determinations; unfortunately this work has not been broadly disseminated in the mental health field. Applying Decision Research to Improve Clinical Outcomes, Psychological Assessment, and Clinical Prediction introduces graduate students and practitioners in the mental health field to research, knowledge, and practical strategies that can enhance diagnostic and predictive accuracy and thereby improve client care. Major chapters of the book address well-established, but often under-recognized, principles and procedures for improving the integration of clinical data and interpretive accuracy; the differentiation between seemingly accurate but illusory, as opposed to genuine, associations between signs, symptoms, and outcomes; and the minimization of impediments to accurate decision making. The authors merge applied clinical tasks in the mental health field with decision research and cognitive psychology to suggest ways in which prediction, diagnosis, and assessment can be accomplished with greater efficacy and precision.

The 78th Annual International Meeting of the Psychometric Society (IMPS) built on the Psychometric Society's mission to share quantitative methods relevant to psychology. The chapters of this volume present cutting-edge work in the field. Topics include studies of item response theory, computerized adaptive testing, cognitive diagnostic modeling and psychological scaling. Additional psychometric topics relate to structural equation modeling, factor analysis, causal modeling, mediation, missing data methods and longitudinal data analysis, among others. The papers in this volume will be especially useful for researchers (graduate students and other quantitative researchers) in the social sciences who use quantitative methods, particularly psychologists. Prior knowledge of statistical methods is recommended for the best use of this volume. The conference took place in Arnhem, The Netherlands between July 22nd and 26th, 2013. This is the second volume to showcase the Psychometric Society Meeting. The first is New Developments in Quantitative Psychology: Presentations from the 77th Annual Psychometric Society Meeting (Springer, 2014).

The twentieth century will forever be marked by the horrific event of the Shoah. As a young man, the future John Paul II witnessed this horror during the Nazi occupation of Poland. His pontificate achieved a number of groundbreaking steps in the Catholic Church's relationship with the Jewish people. This book both reflects upon John Paul II's achievements, and seeks to continue the theological and philosophical dialogue that he cherished. By examining together the words and deeds of John Paul II, eminent Jewish and Catholic scholars exemplify in this volume the dialogue that John Paul fostered. Together, Jews and Catholics can encourage each other in the tasks of knowing the Creator, living a life worthy of the created dignity that human beings possess, and defending the vulnerable among us. As Dostoevsky warned before the horrors of the twentieth century, without God, anything is permitted. Following in the footsteps of John Paul II, we discover that our search for meaning and truth is one that needs to be undertaken arm-in-arm. Contributors include Hadley Arkes, David G. Dalin, Robert P. George, Matthew Levering, Bruce Marshall, David Novak, Michael Novak, Gregory Vall, and George Weigel.

American Exceptionalism provokes intense debates culturally, economically, politically, and socially. This collection, edited by Charles W. Dunn of Regent University's Robertson School of Government, brings together analysis of the idea's origins, history and future. Contributors include: Hadley Arkes, Michael Barone, James W. Ceasar, Charles W. Dunn, Daniel L. Dreisbach, T. David Gordon, Steven F. Hayward, Hugh Heclo, Marvin J. Folkertsma, William Kristol, and George H. Nash. While many now argue against the policies and ideology of American Exceptionalism as antiquated and expired, the authors collected here make the bold claim that a closer reading of our own history reveals that there is still an exceptional aspect of American thought, identity and government worth advancing and protecting. It will be the challenge of the coming American generations to both refine and examine what we mean when we call America "exceptional," and this book provides readers a first step towards a necessary understanding of the exceptional purpose, progress and promise of the United States of America.

Arguments over constitutional interpretation increasingly highlight the full range of political, moral, and cultural fault lines in American society. Yet all the contending parties claim fealty to the Constitution. This volume brings together some of America's leading scholars of constitutional originalism to reflect on the nature and significance of various approaches to constitutional interpretation and controversies. Throughout the book, the contributors highlight the moral and political dimensions of constitutional interpretation. In doing so, they bring constitutional interpretation and its attendant disputes down from the clouds, showing their relationship to the concerns of the citizen. In addition to matters of interpretation, the book deals with the proper role of the judiciary in a free society, the relationship of law to politics, and the relationship of constitutional originalism to the deepest concerns of political thought and philosophy.

Productivity, Technology and Economic Growth presents a selection of recent research advances on long term economic growth. While the contributions stem from both economic history, macro- and microeconomics and the economics of innovation, all papers depart from a common viewpoint: the key factor behind long term growth is productivity, and the latter is primarily driven by technological change. Most contributions show implicitly or explicitly that technological change is at least partly dependent on growth itself. Furthermore, technology appears to interact strongly with investment in physical and human capital as well as with changes in historical, political and institutional settings. Together these papers are an up-to-date account of the remarkable convergence in theoretical and empirical work on productivity and growth over the past decades. The first part deals with the characteristics of growth regimes over longer periods, ranging from 20 years to two centuries. The next four chapters study the determinants of productivity growth and, in some cases, productivity slowdown during the last quarter of the twentieth century. The final five chapters focus on the role of technology and innovation as the key determinants of growth. Productivity, Technology and Economic Growth is, therefore, a welcome collection for academic scholars and graduate students in economics, history and related social sciences as well as for policy makers.

Research shows that 80 percent of all strategic initiatives by professional service firms fail to meet their objectives. This book is about how to make them a success. Strategy is, in the end, about people, and will succeed or fail depending on how well partners, employees, clients, and others apply it. Scientifically, there are several basic elements in getting human beings to adopt any new strategic idea, which can be encapsulated in four questions: - Will it give me more certainty in areas of my life that I most care about? - Will it give me more autonomy, more freedom, more choice in the areas of my life that I most care about? - Will it increase the amount of trust that people have in me? - Will it increase my value, my status, in the eyes of those that I care about? Almost all of the strategic failures that the authors - Dr Bob Murray and Dr Alicia Fortinberry - have witnessed or researched have come about because the key stakeholders have answered one or more of these questions in the negative. The Human Science of Strategy: what works and what doesn't examines the issues behind each of these questions and shows how they form the drivers of almost all human decision-making and behaviour.

Rooted in Western classical and medieval philosophies, the natural law movement of the last few decades seeks to rediscover fundamental moral truths. In this book, prominent thinkers demonstrate how natural law can be used to resolve a wide range of complex social, political, and constitutional issues by addressing controversial subjects that include the family, taxation, war, racial discrimination, medical technology, and sexuality. This volume will be of value to those working in philosophy, political science, and legal theory, as well as to policy analysts, legislators, and judges.

Categorical data are quantified as either nominal variables--distinguishing different groups, for example, based on socio-economic status, education, and political persuasion--or ordinal variables--distinguishing levels of interest, such as the preferred politician or the preferred type of punishment for committing burglary. This new book is a collection of up-to-date studies on modern categorical data analysis methods, emphasizing their application to relevant and interesting data sets. This volume concentrates on latent class analysis and item response theory. These methods use latent variables to explain the relationships among observed categorical variables. Latent class analysis yields the classification of a group of respondents according to their pattern of scores on the categorical variables. This provides insight into the mechanisms producing the data and allows the estimation of factor structures and regression models conditional on the latent class structure. Item response theory leads to the identification of one or more ordinal or interval scales. In psychological and educational testing these scales are used for individual measurement of abilities and personality traits. The focus of this volume is applied. After a method is explained, the potential of the method for analyzing categorical data is illustrated by means of a real data example to show how it can be used effectively for solving a real data problem. These methods are accessible to researchers not trained explicitly in applied statistics. This volume appeals to researchers and advanced students in the social and behavioral sciences, including social, developmental, organizational, clinical and health psychologists, sociologists, educational and marketing researchers, and political scientists. In addition, it is of interest to those who collect data on categorical variables and are faced with the problem of how to analyze such variables--among themselves or in relation to metric variables.

Two friends, Jens and Gary, both Dutch, travel in 1992 to California for a sports training camp and are involved in a devastating plane crash. They barely survive; out of the twenty-two people on board sixteen are killed, including two of their Dutch team mates. A young Dutch woman, who unknowingly belongs to a subculture guided by underground powers, is indirectly involved in the accident. Back home she tries to find the Dutch survivors. Jens and Gary experience the most difficult period of their life; having to deal with the grief of losing their friends and recovering from severe injuries. In the period after the accident, their lives start changing. They are caught up in events they never thought possible. Jens and Gary meet occasionally. In intense discussions they discover that not all is what it seems. Twelve years after the accident, several striking signs draw Jens' attention. "Too many to be just coincidental," he decides. "Is someone trying to tell me something? Does Gary have a point after all?," he wonders. In 2012, a remembrance day is organized at the crash site. Back in California Jens meets a presumed lost friend. This event explains to him why things have happened, and why certain people have played a part in his life. He is shocked by what he hears about mysterious tribes and clans who guide and influence us earthly inhabitants. It all unfolds in a thrilling vision on the origin of mankind, the society and our greatest threat. BY SHEER ACCIDENT is based on many true events experienced by the writers themselves.

In this thorough and informative book, Wagner lays the groundwork for a new strategy to reinvent the public school. The prototype he introduces, the 'New Village School' is organized around 'the 4C's': competency-based curriculum, core values, collaboration and community. Wagner outlines ways that communities, government, teachers, parents, and students can begin a dialogue about how to enact meaningful school changes