The disciplines of school effectiveness research and school improvement practice and research have been apart for too long. This book is the first major attempt, by leading writers and practitioners in these fields, to bring the areas together in a coherent way. Existing knowledge about the characteristics of `good' schools is outlined, together with the knowledge base about how to `make schools good schools'. The book also makes an entirely original contribution to re-thinking practice in school improvement that can revolutionise our thinking in the late 1990s, and which can be of use to academics, to policymakers and to the practitioners which much existing work has neglected.
This volume raises central theoretical issues regarding behavioural reconstruction in human osteological research. Because behavioural reconstructions have become increasingly common, especially within paleopathology, it is time to review the scientific basis for such an approach. For example, osteological scenarios seeking to link the onset of such skeletal conditions as osteoarthritis, dental disease, and trauma with specific behaviours in past populations are critically examined. Questions are also raised as to the scientific rigor of such hypotheses, the ethnohistorical (or other) evidence used to support them and, ultimately, the soundness of such claims. In addition, commentary is included that broadens the scope to include anthropology and explains the utility (and limitations) of behavioural reconstructions in paleoanthropology and the biocultural perspective as it is used in contemporary anthropology.
Scale Development: Theory and Applications, by Robert F. DeVellis and new co-author Carolyn T. Thorpe, demystifies measurement by emphasizing a logical rather than strictly mathematical understanding of concepts. The Fifth Edition includes a new chapter that lays out the key concepts that distinguish indices from scales, contrasts various types of indices, suggests approaches for developing them, reviews validity and reliability issues, and discusses in broad terms some analytic approaches. All chapters have been updated, and the book strikes a balance between including relevant topics and highlighting recent developments in measurement while retaining an accessible, user-friendly approach to the material covered.
Interaction Effects in Multiple Regression has provided students and researchers with a readable and practical introduction to conducting analyses of interaction effects in the context of multiple regression. The new addition will expand the coverage on the analysis of three way interactions in multiple regression analysis.
Inhaltsangabe:Introduction: Volatility is a crucial factor widely followed in the financial world. It is not only the single unknown determinant in the Black & Scholes model to derive a theoretical option price, but also the fact that portfolios can be diversified and hedged with volatility makes it a topic, which is crucial to understand for market participants comprising a wide group of private investors and professional traders as well as issuers of derivative products upon volatility. The year 1973 was in several respects a crucial year for implicit volatility. The breakdown of the Bretton-Wood-System paved the way for derivative instruments, because of the beginning era of floating currencies. Furthermore Fischer Black and Myron Samuel Scholes published in 1973 the ground breaking Black & Scholes (BS) model in the Journal of Political Economy. This model was adopted in 1975 at the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), which also was founded in the year 1973, for pricing options. Especially since 1973 volatility has become a tremendously debated topic in financial literature with continually new insights in short-time periods. Volatility is a central feature of option-pricing models and emerged per se as an independent asset class for investment purposes. The implicit volatility, the topic of the thesis, is a market indicator widely used by all option market practitioners. In the thesis the focus lies on the implicit (implied) volatility (IV). It is the estimation of the volatility that perfectly explains the option price, given all other variables, including the price of the underlying asset in context of the BS model. At the start the BS model, which is the theoretical basic of model-specific IV models, and its variations are discussed. In the concept of volatility IV is defined and the way it is computed is given as well as a look on historical volatility. Afterwards the implied volatility surface (IVS) is presented, which is a non-flat surface, a contradiction to the ideal BS assumptions. Furthermore, reasons of the change of the implied volatility function (IVF) and the term structure are discussed. The model specific IV model is then compared to other possible volatility forecast models. Then the model-free IV methodology is presented with a step-to-step example of the calculation of the widely followed CBOE Volatility Index VIX. Finally the VIX term structure and the relevance of the IV in practice are shown up. To ensure a good [...]
Whether the concept being studied is job satisfaction, self-efficacy, or student motivation, values and attitudes--affective characteristics--provide crucial keys to how individuals think, learn, and behave. And not surprisingly, as measurement of these traits gains importance in the academic and corporate worlds, there is an ongoing need for valid, scientifically sound instruments. For those involved in creating self-report measures, the completely updated Third Edition of Instrument Development in the Affective Domain balances the art and science of instrument development and evaluation, covering both its conceptual and technical aspects. The book is written to be accessible with the minimum of statistical background, and reviews affective constructs from a measurement standpoint. Examples are drawn from academic and business settings for insights into design as well as the relevance of affective measures to educational and corporate testing. This systematic analysis of all phases of the design process includes: Measurement, scaling, and item-writing techniques. Validity issues: collecting evidence based on instrument content. Testing the internal structure of an instrument: exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. Measurement invariance and other advanced methods for examining internal structure. Strengthening the validity argument: relationships to external variables. Addressing reliability issues. As a graduate course between covers and an invaluable professional tool, the Third Edition of Instrument Design in the Affective Domain will be hailed as a bedrock resource by researchers and students in psychology, education, and the social sciences, as well as human resource professionals in the corporate world.
Methodological Problems with the Academic Sources of Popular Psychology: Context, Inference, and Measurementexamines the relationship between academic and popular psychology from a critical perspective with a focus on issues of methodology. The monograph traces the path from ideas in reputable popular psychology back to the original academic research tradition from which the claims were generated. It also addresses the conceptual and methodological controversies with respect to the original research typically ignored or played down in popular writing. This book covers a range of topics including the question of universal biases in judgment, resurgent notions of “fast” thinking and a cognitive unconscious, the psychology of happiness and other “positive” psychologies, the effects of parenting on child outcomes, and more general issues related to psychological tests and measures. The methodological problems that emerge include problems with generalizing from specific experimental conditions, highly biased sampling, lack of replication of findings, lack of shared referents across subfields, even different authors, as well as confusion around basic statistical and mathematical issues. Methodological Problems with the Academic Sources of Popular Psychology: Context, Inference, and Measurementreviews these issues extensively, offering both a sense of the history and pervasiveness of these issues in the field itself and an opportunity to review and master these difficult ideas.
Latent growth curve modeling (LGM)—a special case of confirmatory factor analysis designed to model change over time—is an indispensable and increasingly ubiquitous approach for modeling longitudinal data. This volume introduces LGM techniques to researchers, provides easy-to-follow, didactic examples of several common growth modeling approaches, and highlights recent advancements regarding the treatment of missing data, parameter estimation, and model fit. The book covers the basic linear LGM, and builds from there to describe more complex functional forms (e.g., polynomial latent curves), multivariate latent growth curves used to model simultaneous change in multiple variables, the inclusion of time-varying covariates, predictors of aspects of change, cohort-sequential designs, and multiple-group models. The authors also highlight approaches to dealing with missing data, different estimation methods, and incorporate discussion of model evaluation and comparison within the context of LGM. The models demonstrate how they may be applied to longitudinal data derived from the NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD).. Key Features · Provides easy-to-follow, didactic examples of several common growth modeling approaches · Highlights recent advancements regarding the treatment of missing data, parameter estimation, and model fit · Explains the commonalities and differences between latent growth model and multilevel modeling of repeated measures data · Covers the basic linear latent growth model, and builds from there to describe more complex functional forms such as polynomial latent curves, multivariate latent growth curves, time-varying covariates, predictors of aspects of change, cohort-sequential designs, and multiple-group models
The growing number of user-generated content that can be found online has led to a huge amount of data that can be used for scientific research. This book investigates the prediction of certain human-related events using valences and emotions expressed in user-generated content with regard to past and current research. First, the theoretical framework of user-generated content and sentiment detection- and classification methods is explained, before empirical literature is categorized into three specific prediction subjects. This is followed by a comprehensive analysis including a comparison of prediction methods, consistency, and limitations with respect to each of the three predictive sources.
Brown Seaweeds (Phaeophyceae) of Britain and Ireland provides the first complete, up-to-date, detailed illustrated guide and keys to the nearly 200 species of brown algae present around the coasts of Britain and Ireland. It is the culmination of over 30 years of field and laboratory studies by the author. Following an exhaustive introduction that covers the biology and ecology of brown seaweeds, a checklist of species is set out, followed by clear and user-friendly keys to the genera. Particular attention is then paid to providing detailed illustrations, and the volume holds more than 300 compound plates of line drawings and photographs in its extensive taxonomic treatment. Comprehensive information is given on the geographical and seasonal distributions, synonymy, morphology, anatomy, cytology, reproduction, life histories, taxonomy, systematics and bibliographic material pertaining to each species. Notably, this flora offers a much fuller consideration of many of the lesser known, more cryptic microscopic brown algae than previously available. Further, the book also contains the results of much original research undertaken by the author. This will surely remain a standard reference work on brown seaweeds for many years to come – an indispensable research tool and field guide for phycologists and students throughout the North Atlantic region and beyond.
This exciting and innovative book will find its audience in researchers and scholars at many levels of academe in the fields of entrepreneurship and strategic management, organizational theory and accounting, and finance.
The potato famines of the nineteenth century were long attributed to Irish indolence. The Stalinist system was blamed on a Russian proclivity for autocracy. Muslim men have been accused of an inclination to terrorism. Is political behavior really the result of cultural upbringing, or does the vast range of human political action stem more from institutional and structural constraints? This important new book carefully examines the role of institutions and civic culture in the establishment of political norms. Jackman and Miller methodically refute the Weberian cultural theory of politics and build in its place a persuasive case for the ways in which institutions shape the political behavior of ordinary citizens. Their rigorous examination of grassroots electoral participation reveals no evidence for even a residual effect of cultural values on political behavior, but instead provides consistent support for the institutional view. Before Norms speaks to urgent debates among political scientists and sociologists over the origins of individual political behavior. Robert W. Jackman is Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Davis. Ross A. Miller is Associate Professor of Political Science at Santa Clara University.
Summarizes recent research from hundreds of empirical studies on economic growth across countries that have highlighted the correlation between growth and a variety of variables.
Thoroughly revised to reflect new advances in the field, Savage & Aronson’s Comprehensive Textbook of Perioperative and Critical Care Echocardiography, Third Edition, remains the definitive text and reference on transesophageal echocardiography (TEE). Edited by Drs. Alina Nicoara, Robert M. Savage, Nikolaos J. Skubas, Stanton K. Shernan, and Christopher A. Troianos, this authoritative reference covers material relevant for daily clinical practice in operating rooms and procedural areas, preparation for certification examinations, use of echocardiography in the critical care setting, and advanced applications relevant to current certification and practice guidelines.
Meta Analysis: A Guide to Calibrating and Combining Statistical Evidence acts as a source of basic methods for scientists wanting to combine evidence from different experiments. The authors aim to promote a deeper understanding of the notion of statistical evidence. The book is comprised of two parts – The Handbook, and The Theory. The Handbook is a guide for combining and interpreting experimental evidence to solve standard statistical problems. This section allows someone with a rudimentary knowledge in general statistics to apply the methods. The Theory provides the motivation, theory and results of simulation experiments to justify the methodology. This is a coherent introduction to the statistical concepts required to understand the authors’ thesis that evidence in a test statistic can often be calibrated when transformed to the right scale.
This volume documents an important event in the World Year of Physics 2005 and a continuation of the traditional international summer schools that have taken place in Romania regularly since 1964. On one hand, the study of exotic nuclei seeks answers about the structure and interaction of unique finite quantum mechanical many-body systems. On the other, it provides data that have an impact on the understanding of the origin of the elements in the Universe. The contributions, written by outstanding professors from prestigious research centers over the world, provide the reader with both comprehensive reviews and the most recent results in the field. Large experimental facilities are discussed together with future research projects. The book offers insights into how experiments in terrestrial nuclear physics laboratories may be combined with observations in outer space to enlarge our basic knowledge. Sample Chapter(s). Chapter 1: Research on Neutron Clusters (1,195 KB). Contents: Exotic Nuclei: Research on Neutron Clusters (F M Marques); Neutron Transfer Studied with a Radioactive Beam of 24 Ne, Using TIARA at SPIRAL (W Catford et al.); Rare Isotopes INvestigations at GSI (RISING) Using Relativistic Ion Beams (J Jolie et al.); Mass Formula from Normal to Hypernuclei (C Samanta); Exotic Nuclear Structures: Exotic Phenomena in Medium Mass Nuclei (A Petrovici); NUSTAR at FAIR. Nuclear Structure Research at GSI and the Future (G Muenzenberg); From Super-Radiance to Continuum Shell Model (V Zelevinski); New Methods for the Exact Solution of the Nuclear Eigenvalue Problem Beyond Mean Field Approaches (N Lo Iudice et al.); Q-Phonon Approach for Low-Lying 1 - Two-Phonon States in Spherical Nuclei (V V Voronov et al.); Analytic Description of the Phase Transition from Octupole Deformation to Octupole Vibrations (D Bonatsos et al.); Three-Body Models in Nuclear Physics (P Descouvemont); Properties of Low-Lying States: Shape Parameters and Proton-Neutron Symmetry (V Werner); Shell Model Nuclear Level Densities (M Horoi); Exotic Decays, Clusters and Superheavy Nuclei: Nuclear Structure and Double Beta Decay (J Suhonen); Systematics of Proton Emission (D S Delion et al.); Synthesis of Superheavy Elements at SHIP (S Hofmann et al.); Synthesis of Heaviest Elements Using a Gas-Filled Recoil Separator at RIKEN (K Morita); Fission Valleys and Heavy Ion Decay Modes (D N Poenaru et al.); Dynamics of Mass Asymmetry in Dinuclear Systems (W Scheid et al.); Exotic Matter in Nuclei and Stars. Neutrinos: Clusters of Matter and Antimatter: A Mechanism for Cold Compression (W Greiner); BRAHMS Experiment Quest for Early Universe Phases of Hadronic Matter (Z Majka); Strange Matter in Core-Collapse Supernova (J Horvath); Neutrino Astrophysics: Gamma Ray Bursts (G C McLaughlin); Neutrino Emission from Neutron Stars (D G Yakovlev et al.); New Achievements in Neutrino Properties (S Stoica); High Energy Cosmic Rays: The Origin of Cosmic Rays (P Biermann); The Mystery of the Highest Energies in the Universe (H Rebel); The Cosmic Ray Experiment KASCADE-GRANDE (I M Brancus et al.); Prospects for the Detection of High-Energy Cosmic Rays Using Radio Techniques (Ad van den Berg); Nucleosynthesis and Nuclear Physics for Astrophysics: Explosive Nucleosynthesis: Supernovae, Classical Novae, and X-Ray Bursts (J Jose); Experimental Approach to Nuclear Reactions of Astrophysical Interest Involving Radioactive Nuclei (C Angulo); Background Studies at the LUNA Underground Accelerator Facility (Zs Fulop); Thoughts about Two of the Important Reactions in Nuclear Astrophysics (L Buchmann); Recent Experimental Studies of Nuclear Astrophysics Using Intermediate-Energy Exotic Beams (T Motobayashi); An Indirect Method Using ANCs in Nuclear Astrophysics (R E Tribble et al.); Recent Applications of the Trojan-Horse Method in Nuclear Astrophysics (C Spitaleri); Nuclear Astrophysics Experiments at CIAE (W Liu et al.); Global Reaction Models Relevant to the p Process (S V Harissopoulos); Large Facilities: TRIUMF OCo Canada's National Laboratory for Particle and Nuclear Physics (L Buchmann); Status of the AGATA Project (E Farnea); Research at ISOLDE and the Path to Eurisol (P A Butler); and other papers. Readership: Academics, Universities and research centres in physics. Undergraduate and graduate students, taking nuclear physics classes, research professionals in nuclear physics and astrophysics.
Perfect for any statistics student or researcher, this book offers hands-on guidance on how to interpret and discuss your results in a way that not only gives them meaning, but also achieves maximum impact on your target audience. No matter what variables your data involves, it offers a roadmap for analysis and presentation that can be extended to other models and contexts. Focused on best practices for building statistical models and effectively communicating their results, this book helps you: - Find the right analytic and presentation techniques for your type of data - Understand the cognitive processes involved in decoding information - Assess distributions and relationships among variables - Know when and how to choose tables or graphs - Build, compare, and present results for linear and non-linear models - Work with univariate, bivariate, and multivariate distributions - Communicate the processes involved in and importance of your results.
Decolonization after World War II led to a significant global increase in the number of states. Each new nation was born with high expectations. But these hopes were soon eroded by the ineffectiveness and capriciousness of many of the new regimes. In many states military juntas have become the order of the day, and even where juntas have not taken power, political differences have repeatedly degenerated into violent exchanges that do not readily lend themselves to political settlement. Not only the new states have suffered from these problems; indeed, political solutions to conflict have become depressingly conspicuous by their absence. Against this background, the last decade has seen a resurgence of interest in evaluating the political capacity or strength of modern nation-states. In Power without Force, Robert Jackman argues that political capacity has two broad components: organizational age and legitimacy. Thus, it is essential to focus both on institutions conceived in organizational terms and the amount of compliance and consent that leaders are able to engender. The emphasis on each reflects the view that political life centers on the exercise of power, and that, unlike physical force, power is intrinsically relational. Although all states have he capability to inflict physical sanctions, their ability to exercise power is the key element of their political capacity. Drawing on a wide range of studies from political science, sociology, and political economy, Power without Force redirects attention to the central issues of political capacity. By stressing that effective conflict resolution must be addressed in political terms, this volume underscores perennial issues of governance and politics that form the heart of comparative politics and political sociology.
Mites (Acari) for Pest Control is an extremely comprehensivepublication, covering in depth the 34 acarine families that containmites useful for the control of pest mites and insects, nematodesand weeds. In addition to providing information on each relevantacarine family, the book includes essential information on theintroduction, culture and establishment of acarine biocontrolagents, the effects of the host plants, agrochemicals andenvironmental factors on mites used in biological control anddiscusses commercial and economic considerations in theiruse. Mites are now used in various ways for biological control, witha growing number of species being sold commercially throughout theworld. The authors of this landmark publication, who have betweenthem a huge wealth of experience working with mites in biologicalcontrol programs, have put together a book that will for many yearsbe the standard reference on the subject. The book will be of great value to all those working in cropprotection and biological control both in research as well as incommercial operations, including acarologists, entomologists,integrated pest management specialists, agricultural and plantscientists. Libraries in all universities and researchestablishments where these subjects are studied and taught shouldall have copies on their shelves. Uri Gerson is at the Department of Entomology, Faculty ofAgricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences, Hebrew University,Rehovot, Israel. Robert L. Smiley and Ronald Ochoaare at the Systematic Entomology Laboratory, US Department ofAgriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Beltsville, MD, USA
Sunny Randall, "Boston's leading lady gumshoe" (New York Daily News), returns as hired bodyguard for the spoiled, and possibly dangerous, prize female client of a sleazy producer. This time, she gets a little help from Parker's popular character Jesse Stone, making a guest appearance here
What’s a better present than a classic Beginner Book? Six of them—for less than the price of two! Following on the success of The Big Blue Book of Beginner Books and The Big Green Book of Beginner Books, we’ve taken the complete text and art of P. D. Eastman’s Sam and the Firefly, Robert Lopshire’s I Want to Be Somebody New!, Marilyn Sadler’s The Very Bad Bunny, Mike McClintock’s Stop That Ball!, Al Perkins’s The Digging-est Dog, and Joan Heilbroner’s Robert the Rose Horse and bound them together in one sturdy hardcover omnibus. This is a perfect introduction to reading that will whet young readers’ appetites for additional books in the Beginner Book series.
Introducing the theoretical and practical basics of veterinary neuropathology, this concise and well illustrated book is an essential basic diagnostic guide for pathologists, neurologists and diagnostic imaging specialists. It presents readers with strategies to deal with neuropathological problems, showing how to interpret gross and histological lesions using a systematic approach based on pattern recognition. It starts with an overview of the general principles of neuroanatomy, neuropathological techniques, basic tissue reaction patterns, and recognition of major lesion patterns. The book goes on to cover vascular diseases, inflammatory diseases, trauma, congenital malformations, metabolic-toxic diseases, neoplasia and degenerative diseases mainly of the central nervous system. In the respective chapters pathologists can quickly find information to support their daily diagnostic workup for both small and large domestic species. Based on the authors’ extensive diagnostic and post graduate teaching experience as well as the inclusion of MRI as it relates to neuropathology, this book also offers a comprehensive but basic analysis of veterinary neuropathology that neurologists and other MRI users will find very useful. An essential manual for daily diagnostic work Richly illustrated with high quality colour gross, histological and MRI images Includes a section on the function and use of MRI (by Johann Lang, DECVDI) Accompanied by a website presenting MRI sequences for interpretation and correlation with neuropathological findings edited by Johann Lang (University of Bern, Switzerland) and Eric Wiesner (University of California, Davis, USA) www.wiley.com/go/vandevelde/veterinaryneuropathology
In some ways, Sunny is a female Spenser. Like him, she's a former cop, now a Boston PI, quick with a pistol and a quip...promises to be a series for the ages."* These six novels feature the New York Times bestselling author's first female protagonist--Sunny Randall, "the real deal" (*Publishers Weekly). Includes: Family Honor Perish Twice Shrink Rap Melancholy Baby Blue Screen Spare Change
2014 BMA Medical Book Awards Highly Commended in Radiology category! Image-Guided Interventions, a title in the Expert Radiology Series, brings you in-depth and advanced guidance on all of today?s imaging and procedural techniques. Whether you are a seasoned interventionalist or trainee, this single-volume medical reference book offers the up-to-the-minute therapeutic methods necessary to help you formulate the best treatment strategies for your patients. The combined knowledge of radiology experts from around the globe provides a broad range of treatment options and perspectives, equipping you to avoid complications and put today's best approaches to work in your practice. "... the authors and editors have succeeded in providing a book that is both useful, instructive and practical" Reviewed by RAD Magazine, March 2015 Formulate the best treatment plans for your patients with step-by-step instructions on important therapeutic radiology techniques, as well as discussions on equipment, contrast agents, pharmacologic agents, antiplatelet agents, and protocols. Make effective clinical decisions with the help of detailed protocols, classic signs, algorithms, and SIR guidelines. Make optimal use of the latest interventional radiology techniques with new chapters covering ablation involving microwave and irreversible electroporation; aortic endografts with fenestrated grafts and branch fenestrations; thoracic endografting (TEVAR); catheter-based cancer therapies involving drug-eluting beads; sacroiliac joint injections; bipedal lymphangiography; pediatric gastrostomy and gastrojejunostomy; and peripartum hemorrhage. Know what to look for and how to proceed with the aid of over 2,650 state-of-the-art images demonstrating interventional procedures, in addition to full-color illustrations emphasizing key anatomical structures and landmarks. Quickly reference the information you need through a functional organization highlighting indications and contraindications for interventional procedures, as well as tables listing the materials and instruments required for each. Access the fully searchable contents, online-only material, and all of the images online at Expert Consult.
A Single Cohesive Framework of Tools and Procedures for Psychometrics and Assessment Bayesian Psychometric Modeling presents a unified Bayesian approach across traditionally separate families of psychometric models. It shows that Bayesian techniques, as alternatives to conventional approaches, offer distinct and profound advantages in achieving many goals of psychometrics. Adopting a Bayesian approach can aid in unifying seemingly disparate—and sometimes conflicting—ideas and activities in psychometrics. This book explains both how to perform psychometrics using Bayesian methods and why many of the activities in psychometrics align with Bayesian thinking. The first part of the book introduces foundational principles and statistical models, including conceptual issues, normal distribution models, Markov chain Monte Carlo estimation, and regression. Focusing more directly on psychometrics, the second part covers popular psychometric models, including classical test theory, factor analysis, item response theory, latent class analysis, and Bayesian networks. Throughout the book, procedures are illustrated using examples primarily from educational assessments. A supplementary website provides the datasets, WinBUGS code, R code, and Netica files used in the examples.
Written by the preeminent democratic theorist of our time, this book explains the nature, value, and mechanics of democracy. In a new introduction to this Veritas edition, Ian Shapiro considers how Dahl would respond to the ongoing challenges democracy faces in the modern world. "Within the liberal democratic camp there is considerable controversy about exactly how to define democracy. Probably the most influential voice among contemporary political scientists in this debate has been that of Robert Dahl."--Marc Plattner, New York Times "An excellent introduction for novices, as well as a trusty handbook for experts and political science mavens."--Publishers Weekly
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