Political Competition, Innovation and Growth: A Historical Analysis

Book Description

This volume confronts an important historical hypothesis with empirical evidence from selected periods of history. The hypothesis in question states that competition among political and legal organisations in developing rules has been a crucial condition for liberty, innovation and growth in the history of mankind. It is due to Immanuel Kant, Edward Gibbon and Max Weber and has been revived and further developed by Nobel-Laureate Douglass C. North who contributes the first chapter. The volume brings together political economists, historians and legal scholars to discuss the role of political competition in the rise and decline of nations - both in theory and in a large number of case studies.

Book Description

The authors reconsider the problem of parametrically specifying distribution suitable for asset-return models. They describe alternative distributions, showing how they can be estimated and applied to stock-index and exchange-rate data. The implications for options pricing are also investigated.

Customer Reviews:

A good source of information.......2000-10-27

The book is a good source of information on stable distributions (univariate and multivariate) and on their applications in different finance areas, including modeling of financial returns, portfolio analysis, option pricing, and risk management. The book might be helpful not only to finance researchers and practitioners but also to others who encounter heavy-tailed and/or skewed processes, for example, econometricians and actuaries.

Foreword, by Eduardo S. Schwartz,California Chair in Real Estate and Professor of Finance Anderson School of Management.......2000-09-09

The adoption of stable modeling in finance and econometrics is undoubtedly one of the most interesting and promising ideas which has arisen in these fields. It is now widely accepted that classical models for the description of the dynamics of financial and economic variables suffer from major structural weaknesses, as they fail to explain important features of the empirical data. Therefore, the search for new more powerful models is a fundamental and fascinating topic of research. In this book, Rachev and Mittnik, two of the most prominent experts in so-called Stable Finance, present a wealth of convincing arguments to support the claim that stable models offer the right approach to the subject. Their monograph, which collects a large part of the authors' work in stable financial modeling, brings together innovative insights as well as new elegant explanations of financial and economic phenomena. Eduardo S. Schwartz, California Chair in Real Estate and Professor of Finance Anderson School of Management University of California, Los Angeles September 1999

Book Description

Lupins have until recently remained wild or semi-domesticated species of minor interest to agriculture, although their value as a rotation crop was noted 2,000 years ago. However, progress in genetics this century led to the full domestication of Lupinus species for use as crops through the combination of favorable genes such as those for low alkaloid content, non-shattering pods, and soft seeds. Several lupin species have become an important part of temperate farming systems as a high protein crop for both animal and human consumption. This book gives an authoritative account of the history, distribution and taxonomy of Lupinus species and the current knowledge of all aspects of their agronomy and impact on agriculture, including breeding, genetics and biotechnology, nutrition, nitrogen fixation, transport physiology, toxins, stress responses, pests and diseases, agronomy and farming systems, composition and food uses, economic value and trade. Contributions are made by researchers in Australia and Europe who have had key roles in lupin research. The book is essential reading for botanists, agronomists, plant breeders and geneticists involved with lupins and other grain legumes or with an interest in crop domestication and evolution. It also provides important information for lecturers and students of agriculture and for professionals in the livestock and food industries.

Book Description

One of the prerequisites for survival is the ability of cells to maintain their volume. Thus, during the course of evolution cells have "learned" a variety of strategies to achieve volume homeostasis. This volume regulatory machinery involves regulation of both, cellular metabolism and cellular transport and is exploited by hormones and transmitters to regulate cellular function. This book to illustrates the complex interplay of cell volume regulatory mechanisms and cellular function in a variety of tissues. However, our knowledge is still far from being conclusive, and the present collection of reviews is thought to foster further experimental efforts to unravel the role of cell volume in the integrated function of cells.

Book Description

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Theory and Application of Diagrams, Diagrams 2006, held in Stanford, CA, USA in June 2006.

The 13 revised full papers, 9 revised short papers, and 12 extended abstracts presented together with 2 keynote papers and 2 tutorial papers were carefully reviewed and selected from about 80 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on diagram comprehension by humans and machines, notations: history, design and formalization, diagrams and education, reasoning with diagrams by humans and machines, as well as psychological issues in comprehension, production and communication.

Diagrammatic Representation and Reasoning

Average customer rating:

Diagrammatic Representation and Reasoning

Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

General | Software | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

Logic & Language | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Earth Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

Cognitive Psychology | Behavioral Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Behavioral Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

All Amazon Upgrade | Amazon Upgrade | Stores | Books

Computers & Internet | Amazon Upgrade | Stores | Books

Nonfiction | Amazon Upgrade | Stores | Books

Professional & Technical | Amazon Upgrade | Stores | Books

Science | Amazon Upgrade | Stores | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Computers & Internet | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Nonfiction | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Professional | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Science | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 1852332425

Book Description

The recent rise of multimedia technology has turned visual communication into an everyday reality and made it necessary to achieve a better understanding of the role of diagrams and sketches in communication and in creative thought and problem-solving.
Diagrammatic Representation and Reasoning is a wide-ranging, multidisciplinary overview of this area, covering relevant research in computer science, artificial intelligence, cognitive science and psychology.
Key topics include:
- Cognitive aspects of diagrammatic information;
- Formal methods for computing with diagrams;
- Applications of advanced diagrammatic systems.
This book is a state-of-the-art survey that will be a valuable resource for researchers and students in the fields of cognitive science, artificial intelligence, human-computer interaction, and graphics and visualisation.

Mental Representation and Processing of Geographic Knowledge: A Computational Approach (Lecture Notes in Computer Science)

Average customer rating:

Mental Representation and Processing of Geographic Knowledge: A Computational Approach (Lecture Notes in Computer Science)
Thomas Barkowsky
Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Graphic Design | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

General | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books

General | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

Cognitive | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books

General | Medicine | Subjects | Books

Cognitive Psychology | Behavioral Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Behavioral Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books

All Amazon Upgrade | Amazon Upgrade | Stores | Books

Computers & Internet | Amazon Upgrade | Stores | Books

Health, Mind & Body | Amazon Upgrade | Stores | Books

Medicine | Amazon Upgrade | Stores | Books

Professional & Technical | Amazon Upgrade | Stores | Books

Science | Amazon Upgrade | Stores | Books
ASIN: 3540002162

Book Description

In cognitive science, mental representations of spatial knowledge are metaphorically referred to as cognitive maps. However, investigations in cognitive psychology reveal that the cognitive map metaphor is inadequate and that more suitable conceptions of human spatial knowledge processing are needed.
This book addresses mental processing of knowledge about geographic space from an AI point of view by presenting an experimental computational modeling approach. Results about human memory and visual mental imagery from cognitive psychology are combined with AI techniques of spatial and diagrammatic knowledge processing. The author develops the diagrammatic reasoning architecture MIRAGE as a comprehensive conception of human geographic knowledge processing.

Formalizing Reasoning With Visual & Diagrammatic Representations: Papers from the Aaai Fall Symposium

Average customer rating:

Formalizing Reasoning With Visual & Diagrammatic Representations: Papers from the Aaai Fall Symposium

Manufacturer: Amer Assn for Artificial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1577350782

Reasoning With Diagrammatic Representations: Papers from the 1992 Aaai Spring Symposium : March 25-27, Stanford University Technical Report Ss-92-02

Average customer rating:

Reasoning With Diagrammatic Representations: Papers from the 1992 Aaai Spring Symposium : March 25-27, Stanford University Technical Report Ss-92-02
B. Chandrasekaran , and Herbert Simon
Manufacturer: Amer Assn for Artificial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Reference | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 9994200747

Reasoning With Diagrammatic Representations: Papers from the 1992 Spring Symposium (Technical Reports)

Average customer rating:

Reasoning With Diagrammatic Representations: Papers from the 1992 Spring Symposium (Technical Reports)

Manufacturer: Amer Assn for Artificial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0929280636

Reasoning With Diagrammatic Representations: Papers from the 1997 Fall Symposium (Technical Reports)

Average customer rating:

Reasoning With Diagrammatic Representations: Papers from the 1997 Fall Symposium (Technical Reports)

Manufacturer: AAAI Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Philosophy | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Computers & Internet | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 157735043X

Fundamentals of Physics : Student Solutions to Accompany the 5th Edition
Average customer rating:

Very Good

This is a decent companion.

It is just the best Physics book ever.

Fundamentals of Physics : Student Solutions to Accompany the 5th Edition
David Halliday , Robert Resnick , and Jearl Walker
Manufacturer: John Wiley & Sons Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Science | Subjects | Books
General | Physics | Science | Subjects | Books
General | Physics | Professional Science | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Part 2, Fundamentals of Physics, 5th Edition

Extended , Fundamentals of Physics, 6th Edition

Fundamentals of Physics

Fundamentals of Physics, , Problem Supplement No. 1

Fundamentals of Physics

ASIN: 0471155268

Book Description

This popular book incorporates modern approaches to physics. It not only tells readers how physics works, it shows them. Applications have been enhanced to form a bridge between concepts and reasoning.

Customer Reviews:

Very Good.......2001-02-03

This has good solutions to the problems, usually of varied type and usually very helpful. The only problem is that on average about 5 or 6 problems are worked out per chapter and it would be nice to have more.

This is a decent companion........2001-02-03

This book has reviews of the concepts in chapter, mathematical help and some guide to solving some of the problems in each chapter. If you think you are not really understanding the material, this book is somewhat useful. It might be more useful to get help from a tutor or a t.a. The student solution guide that wiley also offers was more helpful for me in understanding how to do a lot of the problems.

It is just the best Physics book ever........1998-12-27

It is simple and objective. It's a book where the reader dosen't need a professor to learn physics. Good ilustrations and great examples of how physics can be usefull in our lives.

Book Description

This special issue of Radical History Review (RHR) offers not only a self-portrait of the journal but also a retrospective of radical history as a movement, an ideology, and a transformative force in historical scholarship. In an engaging combination of interviews, articles, and round-table discussions, this issue highlights the relentless challenge that radical history has posed to liberal and conservative paradigms.
Recognizing the creative power of pluralism, the RHR editors have marshalled a diverse troop of historical scholars in this issue. In “Forum on Radical History,” sixteen historians discuss how the notion of radicalism has affected the way they write, teach, and live, and in "A Conversation about the Radical History Review," past and present members of the editorial board zero in on the journal itself and the political and academic context in which it was born. Offering a more personal perspective, Mike Wallace, Pulitzer Prize winner and radical history founder, shares his thoughts on RHR and the movement. Other articles in this special issue tackle the state of radicalism today, analyzing the academic labor movement, the significance of physical space in Pinochet’s reign of terror, and the enduring symbolism of a particular statue in Prague.
This retrospective issue celebrates the journal’s past, but it also reflects on the present and looks forward to a future in which radicalism will continue to shape the landscape of historical and political discourse.

Contributors. Tani E. Barlow, Dan Bender, Paul Buhle, Gabriela Cano, Anna Clark, Martin Duberman, Ellen Carol DuBois, Ian Christopher Fletcher, Rob Gregg, Harry D. Harootunian, Winston James, Nikki R. Keddie, Dave Kinkela, Staughton Lynd, Teresa Meade, Joanne Pope Melish, Ellen Noonan, Enrique C. Ochoa, Gary Y. Okihiro, Cynthia Paces, Max Page, Vijay Prashad, David Price, David Roediger, Andor Skotnes, Mike Wallace

Book Description

Most recent writing about Mexican Americans deals only with the twentieth century. This book provides the much-needed historical perspective that is essential for a full understanding of the present. Dozens of selections from firsthand accounts, introduced by the editorÂ's knowledgeable essays capture the flavor and mood of the Mexican American experience in the Southwest from the time the first pioneers came north from Mexico.

The first edition was selected as a Choice Â“Outstanding Academic Book of the YearÂ” and received the following accolades:

Â“An excellent job of illuminating the early historical experience of Mexicans living in the United States.Â”Â—Western Historical Quarterly

Â”Weber . . . has done more than compile a first-rate anthology . . . he has done much to put the selected accounts into a meaningful historical framework. This coupled with excellent documentary choices and extensive notes makes it the single best volume for understanding the Mexican American experience in the nineteenth-century Southwest.Â”Â—Choice

Dozens of selections from firsthand accounts, introduced by David J. WeberÂ's essays, capture the essence of the Mexican American experience in the Southwest from the time the first pioneers came north from Mexico.

Book Description

THE OCEANS MAKE UP more than two-thirds of the Earth's surface. But they are as mysterious for what they conceal as they are familiar for their ubiquity. Deep below the gentle swell of the waves lies an alien world that even today we have only begun to explore. The quest to know more about this secret domain began in earnest in 1872 when HMS Challenger set sail from Portsmouth, England, to map and sample the ocean floor.

Sailing three and half years and 69,000 nautical miles, the story of the Challenger is the stuff of legend. Scientists and crew alike braved the stifling heat of the tropics for months on end only to suffer the stupefying cold of the Antarctic, enduring danger on the high seas, and risking their very lives in the pursuit of knowledge. As the first sea voyage devoted exclusively to science, the Challenger expedition is perhaps the greatest oceanographic mission of all time, surpassing even Charles Darwin's celebrated passage aboard the Beagle. Indeed, among the more important objectives set before the crew of Challenger was the mandate to gather the evidence necessary to prove or refute Darwin's daring new theory of evolution. Put simply, many saw the Challenger expedition as the ultimate battle between God and science.

The undertaking was nothing short of a roaring success. Challenger dredged up hundreds of samples from the seafloor and mapped enormous areas of undersea terrain. Most startling of all, though, was the revelation that the ocean was much more than a barren graveyard that mutely reflected Earth's past--it was not a silent landscape after all. Instead, they found a gloriously complex ecosystem teeming with life, an ecological and geological treasure trove we could scarcely imagine from our landlocked perspective.

Relying on official documentation and the logs and journals of the ship's scientific staff, her officers, and crew, The Silent Landscape recounts the story of an extraordinary voyage. But neither science nor the seas remain static through the years -- and this book is more than a vivid historical yarn. In the 125 years since the Challenger explored the great oceans of the world, we have learned much more about the hidden mysteries of the deep. So the author, an earth scientist and marine geologist, also brings a 21st century perspective to bear on Challenger's research and discoveries, illuminating the science of that 19th century voyage with the most current oceanographic information available to us. As Challenger sails from the endangered coral reefs of the Caribbean to the trackless depths beneath the western Pacific, The Silent Landscape takes us on an epic journey across time.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent.......2004-09-25

For the most part, I'm a reader of fiction. As a student, I read so much non-fiction as part of daily life that I really seek an escape when it comes to my private time. So, when Richard Corfield came to speak at the University of Washington, I wasn't expecting to spend the next several days pouring over his book.

"The Silent Landscape" outlines the voyage of the HMS Challenger, one of the most important sea voyages to date. Not only does Corfield outline the voyage, he stops along the way, and punctuates the discoveries of the Challenger crew with brilliant descriptions of the technology used at the time, the personal trials undertaken by the crew, and the conditions of life aboard the ship.

Students of oceanography will no doubt be familiar with the Challenger. Anyone with even the remotests interest in the subject would do well to read this book. Not only informative, Corfield's writing style is pleasant and the layout of the work economical and extremely well done.

Traversing three and a half years and 69,000 nautical miles.......2003-11-17

The Silent Landscape: The Scientific Voyage Of HMS Challenger by Oxford University based earth scientist and science writer Richard Corfield is the true and inherently fascinating story of one boat's 1872 journey and mission to map and sample the ocean floor. This was the first nautical voyage dedicated exclusively to oceanic science. Traversing three and a half years and 69,000 nautical miles, the members of the expedition suffered from suffocating tropical heat to extreme arctic cold. The HMS Challenger and its crew endured hardships and made history in its seminal and ground breaking contributions to human knowledge. A most amazing and engaging true story, The Silent Landscape is a welcome and enthusiastically recommended contribution to academic 19th Century Science History reference collections and supplemental reading lists.

The Start of Oceanographic Endeavor.......2003-10-24

Probably the most famous scientific sea voyage was that of Charles Darwin in the _Beagle_ from 1831 to 1836. Darwin's findings, after many years of cogitation and hesitation, were the foundation of his _Origin of Species_, but the _Beagle_'s voyage was not one primarily dedicated to science. It was by a naval ship bound for exploration but also for territorial annexation. From 1872 to 1876, however, HMS _Challenger_ circumnavigated the globe for no purpose other than getting scientific information, especially about the sea. In _The Silent Landscape: The Scientific Voyage of HMS Challenger_, Richard Corfield has told the story of this remarkable voyage, but has also taken extraordinary leaps into the science the voyage sparked well into our current century. It is an inspiring story of the importance of pure science.

_Challenger_ was originally a warship, but for its new endeavor, most of its guns were removed to make way for laboratories. The corvette was changed to the first scientific exploration vessel the world had seen. It was a ship on the cusp, with both sails and steam. There was a naval staff to run the ship and the sounding and dredging apparatus, and also the "scientifics," the boffins who were to make the scientific investigation and documentation. There are many first findings reported here, like the "manganese nodules" (which are composed of more than manganese), balls of metallic rock which litter the sea floor like potatoes. The way such stones are formed is still a matter of dispute, but they are of serious interest now to oceanic mining conglomerates. Professor Corfield has told the story of the voyage in sequence, but, as with his section on plate tectonics, he frequently jumps ahead for a century to tell what has been found since the _Challenger_. Just when the reader might be close to an overdose of scientific detail, Corfield lightens the story with quotations from the journals of the members of the crew to reflect on the danger or the tedium of the work.

The official report of the voyage of the _Challenger_ occupied 50 volumes, the last published in 1895. Corfield explains that the voyage laid the foundations for current theories of climate change, global warming, continental drift, and much more. "Its importance can hardly be exaggerated," he says, and part of the appeal of this volume is that _Challenger_'s legacy of discoveries in the twentieth century are so well laid out. But Corfield stresses also that _Challenger_ was a milestone in the history of humanity, a first voyage for knowledge for its own sake. One of the most appealing characteristics of our species, the quest for satisfaction of curiosity, was manifest on this first voyage. It was the start of a grand tradition of oceanic and aerospace exploration.

The Silent Landscape: The Scientific Voyage of HMS Challenger
Average customer rating:
The Silent Landscape: The Scientific Voyage of HMS Challenger
Richard Corfield
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000K06NUG

Average customer rating:
The Silent Landscape: The Scientific Voyage of HMS Challenger
Richard Corfield
Manufacturer: Joseph Henry Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OT0XTK

Book Description

Paperback

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books