Meaningful Interpretation captures the essential philosophy and best practices of the National Park Service Interpretive Development Program (IDP). The IDP was created by hundrends of field interpreters through a series of workshops and training courses, and defines professional standards for National Park Service interpretation through a national benchmark curriculum."--pub. desc.
Covering everything from the history of interpretation, to strategies and tools for effective communication, to the future of the profession, this reference guide is a vital resource for guides and interpreters in natural resource management programs. Includes tips on traditional campfire programs, high-tech audiovisual presentations, presenting to special groups and much more.
This book introduces a new method based on algebraic inequalities for optimising engineering systems and processes, with applications in mechanical engineering, materials science, electrical engineering, reliability engineering, risk management and operational research. This book shows that the application potential of algebraic inequalities in engineering and technology is far-reaching and certainly not restricted to specifying design constraints. Algebraic inequalities can handle deep uncertainty associated with design variables and control parameters. With the method presented in this book, powerful new knowledge about systems and processes can be generated through meaningful interpretation of algebraic inequalities. This book demonstrates how the generated knowledge can be put into practice through covering the algebraic inequalities suitable for interpretation in different contexts and describing how to apply this knowledge to enhance system and process performance. Depending on the specific interpretation, knowledge, applicable to different systems from different application domains, can be generated from the same algebraic inequality. Furthermore, an important class of algebraic inequalities has been introduced that can be used for optimising systems and processes in any area of science and technology provided that the variables and the separate terms of the inequalities are additive quantities. With the presented various examples and solutions, this book will be of interest to engineers, students and researchers in the field of optimisation, engineering design, reliability engineering, risk management and operational research.
Describes what marriage should be according to the Bible, arguing that marriage is a tool to bring individuals closer to God, and provides meaningful instruction on how to have a successful marriage.
Environmental Interpretation is the first truly applied treatment of environmental communication written specifically for people with big ideas and small budgets. Drawing on 20 years experience and the successes of his colleagues worldwide, Sam Ham presents an unusually diverse collection of low-cost communication techniques that really work. More than 200 illustrations, photos, and technical insets provide simple instructions for designing and implementing effective education programs in forests, parks, protected areas, zoos, botanical gardens, extension and community programs, and in all kinds of agriculture and natural resource management programs. Aside from its step-by-step, "how-to" approach, what sets this volume apart is its solid theoretical foundation. Readers learn not only how to communicate their ideas more forcefully but why the methods work. Some 20 case studies, carefully selected from throughout the Western Hemisphere, stimulate the imagination and show how others have successfully applied what this book is about. Written for beginners and experts alike, the book represents a valuable resource for anyone faced with the need to communicate about the environment yet constrained by lack of money and experience.
How is the Qur'an - central to all Muslim societies - to be understood today in order to meet the needs of these societies? Abdullah Saeed, a distinguished Muslim scholar, explores the interpretation of the ethico-legal content of the Qur'an, whilst taking into consideration the changing nature of the modern world. Saeed explores the current debates surrounding the interpretation of the Qur'an, and their impact on contemporary understanding of this sacred text. Discussing the text's relevance to modern issues without compromising the overall framework of the Qur'an and its core beliefs and practices, he proposes a fresh approach, which takes into account the historical and contemporary contexts of interpretation. Inspiring healthy debate, this book is essential reading for students and scholars seeking a contemporary approach to the interpretation of the Qur'anic text.
′The editors of the new SAGE Handbook of Regression Analysis and Causal Inference have assembled a wide-ranging, high-quality, and timely collection of articles on topics of central importance to quantitative social research, many written by leaders in the field. Everyone engaged in statistical analysis of social-science data will find something of interest in this book.′ - John Fox, Professor, Department of Sociology, McMaster University ′The authors do a great job in explaining the various statistical methods in a clear and simple way - focussing on fundamental understanding, interpretation of results, and practical application - yet being precise in their exposition.′ - Ben Jann, Executive Director, Institute of Sociology, University of Bern ′Best and Wolf have put together a powerful collection, especially valuable in its separate discussions of uses for both cross-sectional and panel data analysis.′ -Tom Smith, Senior Fellow, NORC, University of Chicago Edited and written by a team of leading international social scientists, this Handbook provides a comprehensive introduction to multivariate methods. The Handbook focuses on regression analysis of cross-sectional and longitudinal data with an emphasis on causal analysis, thereby covering a large number of different techniques including selection models, complex samples, and regression discontinuities. Each Part starts with a non-mathematical introduction to the method covered in that section, giving readers a basic knowledge of the method’s logic, scope and unique features. Next, the mathematical and statistical basis of each method is presented along with advanced aspects. Using real-world data from the European Social Survey (ESS) and the Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP), the book provides a comprehensive discussion of each method’s application, making this an ideal text for PhD students and researchers embarking on their own data analysis.
"Interpreting Economic and Social Data" aims at rehabilitating the descriptive function of socio-economic statistics, bridging the gap between today's statistical theory on one hand, and econometric and mathematical models of society on the other. It does this by offering a deeper understanding of data and methods with surprising insights, the result of the author's six decades of teaching, consulting and involvement in statistical surveys. The author challenges many preconceptions about aggregation, time series, index numbers, frequency distributions, regression analysis and probability, nudging statistical theory in a different direction. "Interpreting Economic and Social Data" also links statistics with other quantitative fields like accounting and geography. This book is aimed at students and professors in business, economics demographic and social science courses, and in general, at users of socio-economic data, requiring only an acquaintance with elementary statistical theory.
Originally published in 1972, this book is an important introduction to the analytical aspects of sociology. It analyses the various strands in 20th Century sociological thought, illustrating the richness as much as the poverty of any particular approach. It explores and compares the work of Weber and Pareto on sociological analysis, stressing the vital significance of their contributions to sociological knowledge. It looks at the stimulating implications of Karl Mannheim’s thought on the sociology of knowledge and finds in Mannheim the beginnings of most of the contemporary trends in sociology. It covers the fundamental assumptions of Parsonian thought and analyses the derivative character of the ideas of Robert Merton and Reinhard Bendix, along with Dahrendorf’s notions on a re-orientation of sociology.
