In this book, an integrated introduction to the statistical inference is provided from a frequentist likelihood-based viewpoint. Classical results are presented together with recent developments largely built upon ideas due to R.A. Fisher. After a unified review of background material (statistical methods, likelihood, data reductions, first-order asymptotics) and inference in the presence of nuisance parameters (including pseufo-likelihoods), a self-contained introduction is given to exponential families, exponential dispersion models, generalized linear models, and group families. Finally, basic results of higher-order asymptotics are introduced (index notation, asymptotic expansions for statistics and distributions, and major applications to likelihood inference). The emphasis is more on general concepts and methods than on regularity conditions. Many examples are given for specific statistical models. Each chapter is supplemented with exercises, problems and bibliographic notes. This volume can serve as a textbook in intermediate-level undergraduate courses.

Teaching controversial issues in the classroom is now more urgent and fraught than ever as we face up to rising authoritarianism, racial and economic injustice, and looming environmental disaster. Despite evidence that teaching controversy is critical, educators often avoid it. How then can we prepare and support teachers to undertake this essential but difficult work? Hard Questions: Learning to Teach Controversial Issues, based on a cross-national qualitative study, examines teacher educators' efforts to prepare preservice teachers for teaching controversial issues that matter for democracy, justice, and human rights. It presents four detailed cases of teacher preparation in three politically divided societies: Northern Ireland, England, and the United States. The book traces graduate students' learning from university coursework into the classrooms where they work to put what they have learned into practice. It explores their application of pedagogical tools and the factors that facilitated or hindered their efforts to teach controversy. The book's cross-national perspective is compelling to a broad and diverse audience, raising critical questions about teaching controversial issues and providing educators, researchers, and policymakers tools to help them fulfill this essential democratic mission of education.

Teaching controversial issues in the classroom is now more urgent and fraught than ever as we face up to rising authoritarianism, racial and economic injustice, and looming environmental disaster. Despite evidence that teaching controversy is critical, educators often avoid it. How then can we prepare and support teachers to undertake this essential but difficult work? Hard Questions: Learning to Teach Controversial Issues, based on a cross-national qualitative study, examines teacher educators' efforts to prepare preservice teachers for teaching controversial issues that matter for democracy, justice, and human rights. It presents four detailed cases of teacher preparation in three politically divided societies: Northern Ireland, England, and the United States. The book traces graduate students' learning from university coursework into the classrooms where they work to put what they have learned into practice. It explores their application of pedagogical tools and the factors that facilitated or hindered their efforts to teach controversy. The book's cross-national perspective is compelling to a broad and diverse audience, raising critical questions about teaching controversial issues and providing educators, researchers, and policymakers tools to help them fulfill this essential democratic mission of education.

At a time when debate over school reform commands unprecedented attention, Judith L. Pace argues we must grapple with the underlying challenges of classroom teaching and, at the same time, strive to realize the ideals of democratic education. Building on three qualitative studies in grades four through twelve, The Charged Classroom examines the deeply embedded tensions, escalating pressures, and exciting possibilities of the contemporary American public school classroom. Through detailed descriptions and analyses of social studies and English language arts classrooms, Pace disentangles how teachers and students navigate three charged arenas: academic expectations, discussion of provocative topics, and curricular demands. In each domain, democratic learning opportunities, such as promotion of positive student identity, dialogue across differences, and exploration of conflict, are both opened up and closed down. A passionate and persuasive call for education reform, the book offers crucial insights about the realities of teaching and key recommendations for advancing democratic education in a multicultural society.

This book describes and analyzes authority relationships in classrooms through explorations of theory, prior research, and contemporary qualitative studies. The emphasis is on the social construction of authority and the crucial role authority plays in K-16 teachers' pedagogy and students' academic engagement and achievement.
The introductory chapter grounds the reader in social theory on authority; presents groundbreaking qualitative studies of classroom authority; describes ideological debates over authority in schools; and discusses implications for research, practice, and policy. Six field-based qualitative studies illuminate the dynamics of authority across a spectrum of K-12 and college settings. These studies feature a variety of methodologies, theoretical lenses, and interpretive perspectives that the authors use to gather and analyze data. The emphasis in all the chapters is on the nature, negotiation, and implications of authority relations between teachers and students. The epilogue pulls the book together by elucidating new findings and vital themes that expand the reader's vision of what classroom authority means, how it is constructed, and why it is so important.
This book seeks to revitalize dialogue and research on classroom authority with attention to the contextual factors that bear on its social construction. It is aimed at teacher educators, scholars, policymakers, students of education, and practitioners who seek empirically based understanding of authority that is inextricably connected to classroom life and ultimately to the larger issues of educational quality and democracy in schools and society.

This book describes and analyzes authority relationships in classrooms through explorations of theory, prior research, and contemporary qualitative studies. The emphasis is on the social construction of authority and the crucial role authority plays in K-16 teachers' pedagogy and students' academic engagement and achievement.
The introductory chapter grounds the reader in social theory on authority; presents groundbreaking qualitative studies of classroom authority; describes ideological debates over authority in schools; and discusses implications for research, practice, and policy. Six field-based qualitative studies illuminate the dynamics of authority across a spectrum of K-12 and college settings. These studies feature a variety of methodologies, theoretical lenses, and interpretive perspectives that the authors use to gather and analyze data. The emphasis in all the chapters is on the nature, negotiation, and implications of authority relations between teachers and students. The epilogue pulls the book together by elucidating new findings and vital themes that expand the reader's vision of what classroom authority means, how it is constructed, and why it is so important.
This book seeks to revitalize dialogue and research on classroom authority with attention to the contextual factors that bear on its social construction. It is aimed at teacher educators, scholars, policymakers, students of education, and practitioners who seek empirically based understanding of authority that is inextricably connected to classroom life and ultimately to the larger issues of educational quality and democracy in schools and society.

Rather than existing in a planktonic or free-living form, evidence indicates that microbes show a preference for living in a sessile form within complex communities called biofilms. Biofilms appear to afford microbes a survival advantage by optimizing nutrition, offering protection against hostile elements, and providing a network for cell-to-cell signaling and genetic exchange. Biofilms, Infection, and Antimicrobial Therapy provides an in-depth exploration of biofilms, offering broad background information, as well a detailed look at the serious concerns to which biofilm-associated infections give rise. Prosthetic device infections, such as those involving artificial heart valves, intravascular catheters, or prosthetic joints, are prime examples of biofilm-associated infections. With the increasing use of such devices in the modern practice of medicine, the prevalence of these infections is expected to increase. Unfortunately, one of the most troubling characteristics of microbes found in biofilms is a profound resistance to antimicrobial agents. As biofilm-associated infections are particularly difficult to treat, they result in significant mortality, morbidity, and increased economic burden. Clearly, a better understanding of the pathogenesis of these infections and improved means for prevention and treatment are urgently needed! InBiofilms, Infection, and Antimicrobial Therapy, Drs Pace, Rupp, and Finch assemble the contributions of more than 50 of the world's leading authorities on microbial biofilms who present recent findings on antibacterial tolerance and bacterial persistence associated with biofilms and discuses the implications of those findings with regard to human health. They explore the molecular mechanisms of bacterial adherence, biofilm formation, regulation of biofilm maintenance, and cell-to-cell communication and present the latest information on various treatment protocols that should aid physicians in the treatment o

Rather than existing in a planktonic or free-living form, evidence indicates that microbes show a preference for living in a sessile form within complex communities called biofilms. Biofilms appear to afford microbes a survival advantage by optimizing nutrition, offering protection against hostile elements, and providing a network for cell-to-cell signaling and genetic exchange. Biofilms, Infection, and Antimicrobial Therapy provides an in-depth exploration of biofilms, offering broad background information, as well a detailed look at the serious concerns to which biofilm-associated infections give rise. Prosthetic device infections, such as those involving artificial heart valves, intravascular catheters, or prosthetic joints, are prime examples of biofilm-associated infections. With the increasing use of such devices in the modern practice of medicine, the prevalence of these infections is expected to increase. Unfortunately, one of the most troubling characteristics of microbes found in biofilms is a profound resistance to antimicrobial agents. As biofilm-associated infections are particularly difficult to treat, they result in significant mortality, morbidity, and increased economic burden. Clearly, a better understanding of the pathogenesis of these infections and improved means for prevention and treatment are urgently needed! InBiofilms, Infection, and Antimicrobial Therapy, Drs Pace, Rupp, and Finch assemble the contributions of more than 50 of the world's leading authorities on microbial biofilms who present recent findings on antibacterial tolerance and bacterial persistence associated with biofilms and discuses the implications of those findings with regard to human health. They explore the molecular mechanisms of bacterial adherence, biofilm formation, regulation of biofilm maintenance, and cell-to-cell communication and present the latest information on various treatment protocols that should aid physicians in the treatment o

At a time when debate over school reform commands unprecedented attention, Judith L. Pace argues we must grapple with the underlying challenges of classroom teaching and, at the same time, strive to realize the ideals of democratic education. Building on three qualitative studies in grades four through twelve, The Charged Classroom examines the deeply embedded tensions, escalating pressures, and exciting possibilities of the contemporary American public school classroom. Through detailed descriptions and analyses of social studies and English language arts classrooms, Pace disentangles how teachers and students navigate three charged arenas: academic expectations, discussion of provocative topics, and curricular demands. In each domain, democratic learning opportunities, such as promotion of positive student identity, dialogue across differences, and exploration of conflict, are both opened up and closed down. A passionate and persuasive call for education reform, the book offers crucial insights about the realities of teaching and key recommendations for advancing democratic education in a multicultural society.

Research on the ecosystems has emerged in recent decades as a vital, successful, and sometimes controversial approach to environmental science. Ecosystem science has addressed issues such as human alteration of biogeochemical cycles, ecological complexity and biodiversity, and ecological response to climate change. As a central and integrating science, ecosystem-level studies have been highly successful. This book emphasizes the idea that much of the progress in ecosystem research has been driven by the emergence of new environmental problems that could not be addressed by existing approaches. By focusing on successes, limitations, and frontiers in ecosystem studies, it will be welcomed by students and scientists throughout the ecological and environmental communities.

In the United States, Federal incentives for the deployment of wind and solar power projects are delivered primarily through the tax code, in the form of accelerated tax depreciation and tax credits that are based on either investment or production. Both wind and solar projects are equally eligible for accelerated tax depreciation, but tax credit eligibility varies by technology: solar is currently eligible for the investment tax credit ("ITC"), while wind is eligible for either the ITC or the production tax credit ("PTC"), though wind project sponsors typically choose the PTC. The PTC is a per-kilowatt-hour tax (kWh) credit for electricity generated using qualified energy resources. This book provides a brief overview of the renewable electricity PTC. It describes the credit; a legislative history; and presents data on PTC claims and discusses the revenue consequences of the credit. It also briefly considers some of the economic and policy considerations related to the credit. This book concludes by briefly noting policy options related to the PTC.

This is a collection of nine rhyming poems that easily roll off the tongue. They teach adults and children alike that there is hope in the future no matter what circumstances are in the present. Characters such as Fern, Mundi and Kadoodle lead the reader into their worlds that are not so different from our own. They have adventures and disappointments but still learn from all that they have experienced. Have fun learning about the life of a spider and the wild visions of a mother as she sits waiting for her daughter to improve in health.