hesis without Tears - A Guide for African University Students is written for university and college students in Africa who are looking for guidelines for writing a good thesis. It describes some of the most influential methods in social science and speaks directly to students without any prior knowledge of project work.Written in a simple, straight-forward and a highly engaging style, the book takes the reader through the essential features of the thesis work process and guides students in making key decisions that will reduce the anxieties they are likely to experience in their research process. Highlights of the issues discussed include: A* Characteristics of a well-written thesisA* Structure of research projectsA* Research designA* The role of theories in research projectsA* Qualitative and quantitative data collection methods and techniquesA* Mixed research methods It is intended as a supplementary textbook for courses in research methodology for bachelor and master's degree students.
'Research Without Tears' provides a concise and fascinating guide for those starting their first research project and writing a paper, report or thesis.
The nature of truth in mathematics has exercised the minds of thinkers from at least the time of the ancient Greeks. The great advances in mathematics and philosophy in the twentieth century and in particular the work by G]odel and the development of the notion of independence in mathematics have led to new and complex views on this question. Collecting the work of a number of outstanding mathematicians and philosophers, including Yurii Manin, Vaughan Jones, and Per Martin-L]of, this volume provides an overview of the forefront of current thinking and a valuable introduction for researchers in the area.
Considering a graduate degree in economics? Good choice: the twenty-first-century financial crisis and recession have underscored the relevance of experts who know how the economy works, should work, and could work. However, Ph.D. programs in economics are extremely competitive, with a high rate of attrition and a median time of seven years to completion. Also, economic professions come in many shapes and sizes, and while a doctoral degree is crucial training for some, it is less beneficial for others. How do you know whether a Ph.D. in economics is for you? How do you choose the right program—and how do you get the right program to choose you? And once you've survived years of rigorous and specialized training, how do you turn your degree into a lifelong career and meaningful vocation? Getting a Ph.D. in Economics is the first manual designed to meet the specific needs of aspiring and matriculating graduate students of economics. With the perspective of a veteran, Stuart J. Hillmon walks the reader though the entire experience—from the Ph.D. admissions process to arduous first-year coursework and qualifying exams to armoring up for the volatile job market. Hillmon identifies the pitfalls at each stage and offers no-holds-barred advice on how to navigate them. Honest, hard-hitting, and at times hilarious, this insider insight will equip students and prospective students with the tools to make the most of their graduate experience and to give them an edge in an increasingly competitive field.
Playing a key role in our lives, as a vehicle for our thoughts and a powerful medium of communication, language is at the centre of philosophical investigation. The fifteen specially commissioned essays in this book introduce and explore the ideas of major philosophers who have shaped philosophical thinking about language, providing insights into crucial developments in this fascinating field over the last 140 years. Chapters examine the work of Frege, Russell, Wittgenstein, Carnap, Austin, Quine, Chomsky, Grice, Davidson, Dummett, Kripke and Derrida. This second edition broadens coverage of the area with new chapters on Susan Stebbing and on recent developments in feminist philosophy of language. Featuring contributions from Arif Ahmed, Kent Bach, Thomas Baldwin, Michael Beaney, Siobhan Chapman, Kirk Ludwig and other leading experts in the field, Philosophy of Language: The Key Thinkers provides a thorough introduction to the puzzles, debates and ideas that animate contemporary philosophy of language. It is an ideal resource for undergraduate students in philosophy, linguistics and related disciplines.
This volume presents four machine-independent theories of computational complexity, which have been chosen for their intrinsic importance and practical relevance. The book includes a wealth of results - classical, recent, and others which have not been published before.In developing the mathematics underlying the size, dynamic and structural complexity measures, various connections with mathematical logic, constructive topology, probability and programming theories are established. The facts are presented in detail. Extensive examples are provided, to help clarify notions and constructions. The lists of exercises and problems include routine exercises, interesting results, as well as some open problems.
The elegant ‘interconnected mechanisms’ by which the gastrointestinal (GI) tract regulates food intake are a marvel of biology, but the redundancy (e.g., several hormones seem to have effects in food intake) of both GI (by means of hormones) and central nervous system (CNS, by means of satiety/satiation signals) pathways governing energy homeostasis poses formidable challenges for scientists trying to take a clear glimpse of this machinery, e.g. for designing anti-obesity and alike pharmaceuticals. In essence, notwithstanding the astonishing advancements made over the past few decades in unscrambling many of the molecular pathways involved in energy (homeostasis) regulation, a rather cloudy understanding of “how all the pieces fit together to function as an integrated system” is what can be found for the most part in the scientific community; we discuss that in part II of the work, in a single chapter divided in several sections for numerous imperative hormones, e.g. cholecystokinin. The current work is divided into three parts: part I is regarding fundamentals of physiology and mathematical modeling employed all over the work; part II is more generic and concerns several hormones (what we have called a “web of hormones”) and part III (divided into three chapters) is more specific, concerning a single hormone (i.e., ghrelin). The core of the work is part III, and to a certain extent part II, bearing mind we provide a literature review based on papers scattered/dispersed all over the medical science literature. The main objective of this work is proposing a mathematical model for ghrelin dynamics (Figure 70), a model centered on the gastrointestinal tract (stomach + small intestine, a two-compartment model), with daily-like dynamics, short-term dynamics; and, simultaneously, proposing a prototype for a systems biology like model (igure 40), a model based on numerous hormones, for understanding mathematically food intake/bodyweight control. Ghrelin is a quite powerful orexigenic hormone discovered in the late 1990s that controls appetite and energy homeostasis, alongside leptin and other hormones still to be investigated in depth by the medical sciences literature. Accordingly, we provide a (simple) mathematical model, consisting of a set of ordinary differential equations detailing ghrelin dynamics combined to gastrointestinal signals due to meals. Numerical simulations are able to replicate in silico available data from the literature; additionally, we were able to fit a reduced version of the basal model to experimental data. The model is developed as a module for a bigger potential multi-compartmental structure, detailing food and energy homeostasis within a sort of "a web of hormones" (see part II and the last chapter of part III). The present contribute is to recommend a primary mathematical model for ghrelin dynamics centered in the gastrointestinal tract, with potentiality to be applied also for postabsorptive states, left mainly as future works. We go on with the model by presenting mainly two variations, further unfolding is left as future endeavor: tastants and stochastic version. We test several optimization routines for the parameter estimation procedure, hybrid algorithms (global + local search), for parameter estimation, based on data published for humans (three meals a day). For all the routines, the best is a hybrid composed of simulating annealing as global search and pattern search as local search. In the objective function (sum of the squared errors, SSE), we apply artificial neural networks (a two-layer feedforward neural network) for generating new data from the data already published, a strategy adopted to increase the data set. In the last part of the chapter about ghrelin modeling (part III), we propose several prototypes for future works based on the basal models; the model used for parameter estimation is a “minimal/reduced” model; we also provide discussions and future works for the minimal model and parameter estimation. Key-words. Ghrelin; leptin; mathematical modelling; food intake; appetite; parameter estimation.
This textbook guides students through rhetorical and assignment analysis, the writing process, researching, citing, rhetorical modes, and critical reading. Using accessible but rigorous readings by professionals throughout the college composition field, the Oregon Writes Writing Textbook aligns directly to the statewide writing outcomes for English Composition courses in Oregon. Created through a grant from Open Oregon in 2015-16, this book collects previously published articles, essays, and chapters released under Creative Commons licenses into one free textbook available for online access or print-on-demand.
