For MIS specialists and nonspecialists alike, teacher and consultant Dan Power provides a readable, comprehensive, understandable guide to the concepts and applications of decision support systems. Not only does his book help enhance your DSS design and development capabilities, it also shows how DSS can buttress organization goals and the impact DSS have throughout organizations and at all levels of management. Power defines DSS broadly: interactive computer-based systems and subsystems that help people use computer communications, data, documents, knowledge, and models to solve problems and make decisions. He focuses his book on practical applications, but also includes important and relevant empirical research and underlying theory. His book thus provides enough concrete detail to help grasp the essentials of DSS, but it also gives advanced tips and suggestions to DSS specialists too. For people trained in fields outside the information sciences, Power's book is especially valuable. It gives them the knowledge they need to work with their MIS colleagues and to truly appreciate the management value of information technology overall. Power makes clear that decision support systems differ and that managers must specify what they want, based on their needs and the purposes to which the systems will be put. They should know how to build DSS and understand the basics of networking, security, and web-based DSS. Thus, of special interest is the structure that Power uses to organize his book. In Chapter 1 he presents an expanded framework for categorizing DSS. Chapters 2-5 provide a general managerial and technical perspective on building DSS. In Chapters 7 through 11 he lays out the details and gives examples of the general types of DSS. The last chapter, Evaluating Decision Support System Projects, reviews and discusses the tools and issues associated with assessing proposals for DSS projects. The book also includes a glossary and DSS audit questions, giving it special, ongoing value to all readers.

A rich collection of articles on multiple aspects of Anglo-Norman and Norman studies, forming an indispensable addition to an understanding of this important period of history. This volume of Anglo-Norman Studies demonstrates yet again the multi-disciplinarity and European range of the series. As befits the proceedings of a conference held in Normandy at Bayeux, it contains two articles on the renowned Tapestry, and a consideration of the campaign of 1066; there are also several papers on the medieval duchy, their topics including its early tenth-century origins, the abbesses of Norman nunneries, abbatial investitures in the context of religious reform, the reign of Robert Curthose, the charters of a major aristocratic family, and historical writing in and around late twelfth- and early thirteenth-century Normandy. Alongside these are articleson landscape and belief, villein manumissions and the theology of the incarnation, the evolution of criminal law in Scotland, Bohemond of Antioch, the architectural historian John Bilson, and important aspects of twelfth-centurypoetry. David Bates is a Professorial Fellow at the University of East Anglia and was until recently a Visiting Professor at the University of Caen Basse-Normandie. Contributors: Lesley Abrams, Bernard S. Bachrach, Steven Biddlecombe, Alexandrina Buchanan, Howard B. Clarke, Edoardo D'Angelo, Gregory Fedorenko, Jean-Herve Foulon, George Garnett, Veronique Gazeau, Paul R. Hyams, Sylvette Lemagnen, Monika Otter, Daniel Power, Alice Taylor, C.S. Watkins.

The most recent ideas and arguments from leading historians of John's reign. The reign of King John (1199-1216) is one of the most controversial in English history. When he succeeded to Richard the Lionheart's lands, he could legitimately claim to rule half modern France as well as England and Ireland; butby the time of his death his dominion lay in tatters, and his subjects had banded together to restrict his powers as king under the Magna Carta and to overthrow him in favour of the son of the king of France. Over the centuries his reign has provided politicians and historians with fertile ground for inspiration and argument, and this volume adds to the debate, offering the most recent ideas and arguments from leading historians on the subject, and covering all the major issues involved. It is coherently formulated around explorations of the two major events of his reign: the loss of his continental inheritance, and the ending of his reign in the disaster of civil war. Topicscover all aspects of his life and career, from his reputation, the economy, the Norman aristocracy, the Church, Justice and the Empire, to his mother Eleanor of Aquitaine and his wife Isabella of Angouleme. It will be essential reading for all interested in one of the most significant periods of English history. Contributors: NICK BARRATT, J.L. BOLTON, JIM BRADBURY,SEAN DUFFY, A.A.M. DUNCAN, NATALIE FRYDE, JOHN GILLINGHAM, CHRISTOPHER HARPER-BILL, PAUL LATIMER, JANE MARTINDALE, V.D. MOSS, DANIEL POWER, IFOR W. ROWLANDS, RALPH V. TURNER, NICHOLAS VINCENT. Professor S.D. CHURCH teaches in the Department of History at the University of East Anglia.

The period from the late tenth to the early fourteenth centuries was one of the most dynamic in European history. Latin Christendom found a new confidence which has left its mark upon the landscape in the form of the great cathedrals and castles, while thousands of new towns and villages were founded. The continent was carved up into dynastic kingdoms and principalities from which the European state system would evolve. An age of great religious enthusiasm, it developed a darker side in the form of the Crusades and the persecution of heretics and Jews. In this book seven experts in the field examine how Europe was transformed in the Central Middle Ages. Thematic chapters analyse the political, social, economic, religious and intellectual history of Latin Christendom, and trace its expansion to the north, south and east. As well as many familiar topics the authors discuss less well known aspects of the period such as the popular experience of religion or the new kingdoms of east-central Europe. The book includes a chronology of developments, a glossary, maps, illustrations and guidance for further reading.

Articles on the significance of genealogy and kinship ties in determining political events in the middle ages. In recent decades historians have become increasingly aware of the value of prosopography as an auxiliary science standing at the crossroads between anthropology, genealogy, demography and social history. It is now developing as an independent research discipline of real benefit to medievalists. The geographically and chronologically wide-ranging subjects of the essays in this collection, by scholars from the British Isles and the Continent, are united bya common theme, namely the significance of genealogy and kinship ties in determining political events in the middle ages. The papers, including a review of the history of prosopography and some of its major successes as a method by Karl Ferdinand Werner, range from general considerations of prosopographical and genealogical methodology (including discussion of Anglo-Norman royal charters) to specific analyses of individual political and kinship groups (including the genealogy of the counts of Anjou and a rehabilitation of the prosopographical material in Wace's Roman de Rou). The main geographic focus is England and France from the tenth to the twelfth centuries, but other areas as diverse as Celtic Ireland and the Latin Principality of Antioch also come under prosopographical scrutiny. Contributors: DAVID E. THORNTON, ANNE WILLIAMS, C.P. LEWIS, DAVID BATES, ELISABETH VAN HOUTS, EMMA COWNIE, JUDITH GREEN, JOHN S. MOORE, K.S.B. KEATS-ROHAN, CHRISTIAN SETTIPANI, HUBERT GUILLOTEL, KATHLEEN THOMPSON, VERONIQUE GAZEAU, MICHEL BUR, ALAN V. MURRAY, DANIEL POWER.

A richly valuable source of knowledge. MEDIUM AEVUM By the time of the Conquest, the Normans had been established in Normandy for over a hundred and fifty years. They had transformed themselves from pagan Northmen into Christian princes; their territories extended from England, southern Italy and Sicily to distant Antioch, and their influence had spread throughout western Europe and the Mediterranean. Duke William's victory at Hastings and the resulting Anglo-Norman union brought England into the mainstreamof European history and culture, with far-reaching consequences for Western civilisation. These specially commissioned studies are concerned with the achievements of the cross-Channel realm. They make a major contribution toan understanding of the hundred years that witnessed great change and major developments in English and Norman government and society. There are surveys of the two constituent parts, of Normandy under the Angevin kings, of the place of kingdom and duchy in the politics and culture of the North Sea, and of the parallel Norman achievement in the Mediterranean. There are overviews both of secular administration and of the church, and a study of "feudalism" and lordship. Within the broad field of cultural history, there are discussions of language, literature, the writing of history, and ecclesiastical architecture. Contributors: LESLEY ABRAMS, MATTHEW BENNETT, MARJORIE CHIBNALL, CHRISTOPHER HARPER-BILL, ELISABETH VAN HOUTS, EMMA MASON, RICHARD PLANT, CASSANDRA POTTS, DANIEL POWER, IAN SHORT, ANN WILLIAMS

The official records of England are the focus of this volume - their origin, their use, and what they reveal. The major theme of this volume is the records of the Anglo-Norman realm, and how they are used separately and in combination to construct the history of England and Normandy. The essays cover all types of written source material,including private charters and the official records of the chancery and Exchequer, chronicles, and personal sources such as letters, while some 100 previously unpublished documents are included in a series of appendices. There arestudies here of particular Anglo-Normans, including a great aristocrat and a seneschal of Normandy; of records relating to Normandy surviving in England; of the Norman and English Exchequers, between them the financial mainstay of the king/dukes; of the controversial origins of the English Chancery records; and of Rosamund Clifford, the King's mistress. CONTRIBUTORS: NICHOLAS VINCENT, DAVID CARPENTER, DAVID CROOK, MARK HAGGER, DAVID CROUCH, MARIE LOVATT, DANIEL POWER.

A revisionist approach to Eleanor of Aquitaine and the political, social, cultural and religious world in which she lived. Eleanor of Aquitaine (1124-1204) is one of the most important and well-known figures of the Middle Ages; she exercised a huge influence on both the course of history, and on the cultural life, of the time. The essays in this collection use her as a point of entry into wider-ranging discussions of the literary, social, political and religious milieux into which she was born, and to which she contributed; they address many of the misconceptions that have grown around both Eleanor herself and the medieval Midi in general, and open up new areas of debate. Topics explored include the work of the troubadours and the importance to them of patronage; perceptions of southern France and itsinhabitants by outsiders; the early history of the Templars in southern France; cultural contacts between the Midi and other parts of the Latin world; the uses of ritual and historical myth in the expression of political power; and attitudes towards women. Contributors: Catherine Leglu, Marcus Bull, Richard W. Barber, Daniel F. Callahan, Malcolm Barber, John B. Gillingham, Linda Paterson, Ruth Harvey, Daniel Power, Laurent Mace, William Paden.

This book provides a comprehensive introduction to methods and models for categorical data analysis and their applications in social science research. An explicit aim of the book is to integrate the transformational and the latent variable approach, two diverse but complementary traditions dealing with the analysis of categorical data. This is the first introductory text to cover models and methods for discrete dependent variables, cross-classifications, and longitudinal data in a rigorous, yet accessible, manner in a single volume.The second edition of this book includes new material on multilevel models for categorical data. Several chapters have undergone extensive revisions and extensions to include new applications and examples. Highlights of the 2nd edition include a detailed discussion of classical and Bayesian estimation techniques for hierarchical/multilevel models, extensive coverage of discrete-time hazard models and Cox regression models, and methods for evaluating and accommodating departures from model assumptions. The accompanying website contains programming scripts to replicate each example using various statistical packages, which has proven to be an invaluable resource for instructors, students, and researchers. This book presents the essential methods and models that form the core of contemporary social statistics. The book covers a remarkable range of models that have applications in sociology, demography, psychometrics, econometrics, political science, biostatistics, and other fields. It will be especially useful as a graduate textbook for students in advanced social statistics courses and as a reference book for applied researchers. Companion website also available, at https://webspace.utexas.edu/dpowers/www/

Annual volume of recent research on all aspects of the Norman World. Papers on English and Norman history from the early eleventh to the early thirteenth centuries: castles and monasteries, ecclesiastical administration and missionary activity, attitudes of the aristocracy, Domesday and Textus Roffensis

Survey of the reign of Henry II, offering a range of new evaluations and interpretations. Henry II is the most imposing figure among the medieval kings of England. His fiefs and domains extended from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean, and his court was frequented by the greatest thinkers and men of letters of his time,besides ambassadors from all over Europe. Yet his is a reign of paradoxes: best known for his dramatic conflicts with his own wife and sons and with Thomas Becket, it was also a crucial period in the evolution of legal and governmental institutions. Here experts in the field provide significant reevaluations of its most important aspects. Topics include Henry's accession and his relations with the papacy, the French king, other rulers in the British Islesand the Norman baronage; the development of the common law and the coinage; the court and its literary milieu; the use of Arthurian legend for political purposes; and the career of the Young King Henry, while the introduction examines the historiography of the reign. CONTRIBUTORS: MARTIN ALLEN, MARTIN AURELL, NICK BARRATT, PAUL BRAND, SEAN DUFFY, ANNE DUGGAN, JEAN DUBABIN, JOHN GILLINGHAM, EDMUND KING, DANIEL POWER, IAN SHORT, MATTHEW STRICKLAND CHRISTOPHER HARPER-BILL and NICHOLAS VINCENT are Professors of Medieval History at the University of East Anglia.

The period from the late tenth to the early fourteenth centuries was one of the most dynamic in European history. Latin Christendom found a new confidence which has left its mark upon the landscape in the form of the great cathedrals and castles, while thousands of new towns and villages were founded. The continent was carved up into dynastic kingdoms and principalities from which the European state system would evolve. An age of great religious enthusiasm, it developed a darker side in the form of the Crusades and the persecution of heretics and Jews.
In this book seven experts in the field examine how Europe was transformed in the Central Middle Ages. Thematic chapters analyse the political, social, economic, religious and intellectual history of Latin Christendom, and trace its expansion to the north, south and east. As well as many familiar topics the authors discuss less well known aspects of the period such as the popular experience of religion or the new kingdoms of east-central Europe. The book includes a chronology of developments, a glossary, maps, illustrations and guidance for further reading.

The twelfth-century borderlands of the duchy of Normandy formed the cockpit for dynastic rivalries between the kings of England and France. This 2004 book examines how the political divisions between Normandy and its neighbours shaped the communities of the Norman frontier. It traces the region's history from the conquest of Normandy in 1106 by Henry I of England, to the duchy's annexation in 1204 by the king of France, Philip Augustus, and its incorporation into the Capetian kingdom. It explores the impact of the frontier upon princely and ecclesiastical power structures, customary laws, and noble strategies such as marriage, patronage and suretyship. Particular attention is paid to the lesser aristocracy as well as the better known magnates, and an extended appendix reconstructs the genealogies of thirty-three prominent frontier lineages. The book sheds light upon the twelfth-century French aristocracy, and makes a significant contribution to our understanding of medieval political frontiers.

The twelfth-century borderlands of the duchy of Normandy formed the cockpit for dynastic rivalries between the kings of England and France. This 2004 book examines how the political divisions between Normandy and its neighbours shaped the communities of the Norman frontier. It traces the region's history from the conquest of Normandy in 1106 by Henry I of England, to the duchy's annexation in 1204 by the king of France, Philip Augustus, and its incorporation into the Capetian kingdom. It explores the impact of the frontier upon princely and ecclesiastical power structures, customary laws, and noble strategies such as marriage, patronage and suretyship. Particular attention is paid to the lesser aristocracy as well as the better known magnates, and an extended appendix reconstructs the genealogies of thirty-three prominent frontier lineages. The book sheds light upon the twelfth-century French aristocracy, and makes a significant contribution to our understanding of medieval political frontiers.