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Elsevier

Books in Arts and humanities

Elsevier's Arts and Humanities titles encompass a rich spectrum of scholarship that explores human culture, history, philosophy, and creative expression. These works offer deep insights into language, literature, visual arts, and critical theory, supporting the academic community in understanding diverse perspectives and cultural legacies. Designed for scholars, educators, and students, this collection bridges classic studies with contemporary issues, fostering a deeper appreciation and knowledge of the human experience.

  • Schools, Classrooms, and Pupils

    International Studies of Schooling from a Multilevel Perspective
    • 1st Edition
    • Stephen W. Raudenbush + 1 more
    • English
    Schools, Classrooms, and Pupils: International Studies of Schooling from a Multilevel Perspective examines "multilevel" or "hierarchical" linear models of research on schooling and the statistical and computational issues that arise in applying them. Some of the likely benefits of using multilevel methods to study schools and classrooms are also discussed, including the increased credibility of the statistical findings. Comprised of 15 chapters, this book begins by considering how the explicit modeling of the organizational structure of schooling creates new opportunities for research. After presenting a basic guide to the techniques of multilevel modeling, the effect of school, class, and individual variables on science achievement in Israeli elementary schools is analyzed using a two-level hierarchical model, with emphasis on reform in the science curriculum which began in the early 1970s. Subsequent chapters focus on the use of multilevel models to link educational progress with curriculum coverage; trends in attainment in Scottish secondary schools; the technical and vocational education initiative in Britain; and sex discrimination in teachers' salary. This monograph should be of considerable interest to students, teachers, school administrators, researchers, and educational policymakers.

  • Prehistory of the Nile Valley

    • 1st Edition
    • Fred Wendorf + 1 more
    • Stuart Struever
    • English
    Studies in Archeology: Prehistory of the Nile Valley provides information pertinent to the prehistoric settlements along the Nile Valley. This book presents brief descriptions and the characteristics of the primary archeological taxonomic entities defined in the post-Nubia work. Organized into two parts encompassing 13 chapters, this book begins with an overview of the physiography of the Nile Valley and the Nile River, which gives fertility to the desert and attracts people to live beside its banks. This text then describes the geology of the El-Kilh area that lies on the west bank of the Nile about 15 km north of Idfu. Other chapters consider the series of lake aggradations and recessions during the Holocene in the Fayum Depression. This book discusses as well the development of the landscape at Dishna. The final chapter deals with the abundant geological and archeological data in Nubia. This book is a valuable resource for anthropologists.

  • Regional Analysis

    Economic Systems
    • 1st Edition
    • Carol A. Smith
    • English
    Regional Analysis, Volume I: Economic Systems explores the interconnectedness of economic and social systems as they exist and develop in territorial-environm... systems. This volume concentrates on developing and refining models of trade and urban evolution, emphasizing evolutionary models and relationship between economic and political subsystems in the developmental process. Topics include the regional approach to economic systems; trade, markets, and urban centers in developing regions; spatio-economic organization in complex regional systems; and economic consequences of regional system organization. This publication is valuable to social and regional scientists, geographers, economists, social anthropologists, archeologists, sociologists, and political scientists interested in the implications of rural-urban relations and regional settlement patterns.

  • The Unity of the Senses

    Interrelations Among the Modalities
    • 1st Edition
    • Lawrence E. Marks
    • Edward C. Carterette + 1 more
    • English
    Academic Press Series in Cognition and Perception: The Unity of the Senses: Interrelations Among the Modalities focuses on the perceptual processes, approaches, and methodologies involved in studies on the unity of the senses. The publication first elaborates on the doctrines of equivalent information, analogous sensory attributes and qualities, and common psychophysical properties. Discussions focus on discrimination, sensitivity, sound symbolism, intensity, brightness, and cross-modal perception of size, form, and space. The text then examines the doctrine of neural correspondences and sound symbolism in poetry, including sound and meaning, analogue and formal representation, vowel symbolism in poetry, coding perceptual information, coding sensory attributes, and evolution and development. The manuscript takes a look at synesthetic metaphor in poetry, as well as unity of the senses and synesthetic metaphor, warm and cool colors, synesthetic metaphors of odor and music, metaphorical imperative, and the music of Conrad Aiken. The publication is a valuable source of data for researchers interested in the unity of the senses.

  • The Unreal Life of Oscar Zariski

    • 1st Edition
    • Carol Parikh
    • English
    The Unreal Life of Oscar Zariski records the life of Oscar Zariski that is based upon Carol Parikh's interviews with his family, colleagues, students, and his own memories from tape-recorded interviews conducted before his death in 1986. This book describes Oscar Zariski's work in mathematics that perpetually altered the foundations of algebraic geometry. The powerful tools he forged from the ideas of algebra allowed him to penetrate classical problems with a clarity and depth that brought a rigor to the way algebraic geometers carry out proofs. The strength of his work was matched by his forcefulness as a teacher, and the students he trained at Johns Hopkins and later at Harvard have made essential contributions to many areas of mathematics. This publication is beneficial to students and researchers interested in Oscar Zariski’s life and work in mathematics.

  • Exemplar-Based Knowledge Acquisition

    A Unified Approach to Concept Representation, Classification, and Learning
    • 1st Edition
    • Ray Bareiss
    • B. Chandrasekaran
    • English
    Exemplar-Based Knowledge Acquisition: A Unified Approach to Concept Representation, Classification, and Learning covers the fundamental issues in cognitive science and the technology for solving real problems. This text contains six chapters and begins with a description of the rationale for the design of Protos Approach, its construction and performance. The succeeding chapters discuss how the Protos approach meets the requirements of representing concepts, using them for classification, and acquiring them from available training. These chapters also deal with the design and implementation of Protos. These topics are followed by a presentation of examples of the application of Protos to audiology and evaluate its performance. The final chapters survey related work in the areas of case-based reasoning and automated knowledge acquisition and the contributions of Protos approach. This book will be of great value to psychologists, psychiatrists, and researchers in the field of artificial intelligence.

  • Depth Perception Through Motion

    • 1st Edition
    • Myron L. Braunstein
    • Edward C. Carterette + 1 more
    • English
    Series in Cognition and Perception: Depth Perception Through Motion focuses on the processes, methodologies, and techniques involved in depth perception through motion, including optic array, rigid motions, illusions, and axis. The book first elaborates on the paradox of depth perception, illusions of motion in depth, and optic array. Discussions focus on rigid motions in three-dimensional space, perspective gradients, projection plane, stereokinetic effect, rotating trapezoid, and the windmill and fan illusions. The text then examines transformations leading to the perception of depth, slant perception, and perceived direction of rotary motion. Topics include shadow and computer projections, direct observation of rotating figures, a model of the perception of rotary motion, dynamic slant and static slant perception, translations along the Z axis, and rotations about the X or Y axis. The publication is intended for researchers and graduate students interested in depth perception in dynamic environments.

  • Current Issues in ASL Phonology

    Phonetics and Phonology, Vol. 3
    • 1st Edition
    • Geoffrey R. Coulter
    • English
    Phonetics and Phonology, Volume 3: Current Issues in ASL Phonology deals with theoretical issues in the phonology of ASL (American Sign Language), the signed language of the American Deaf. These issues range from the overall architecture of phonological theory to particular proposals such as the nature of syllables and the reality of underlying "dynamic" or "contour" elements. The seemingly universal preference, CV (consonant-vowel) as opposed to VC (vowel-consonant) syllable structure, is also discussed. Comprised of 14 chapters, this volume begins with some general background on ASL and on the community in which it is used. It then looks at secondary licensing and the nature of constraints on the non-dominant hand in ASL; underspecification in ASL handshape contours; and the nature of ASL and the development of ASL linguistics. The applicability of the notion of "phonology" to a signed language and the sort of questions that can be explored about the parallelisms between signed and spoken linguistic systems are also considered. Later chapters focus on the linearization of phonological tiers in ASL; phonological segmentation in sign and speech; two models of segmentation in ASL; and sonority and syllable structure in ASL. The book also examines phrase-level prosody in ASL before concluding with an analysis of linguistic expression and its relation to modality. This monograph will appeal to phonologists who work on both signed and spoken languages, and to other cognitive scientists interested in the nature of abstract articulatory representations in human language.

  • Anthropology and the Public Interest

    Fieldwork and Theory
    • 1st Edition
    • Peggy Reeves Sanday
    • English
    Anthropology and the Public Interest: Field work and Theory provides an understanding of how culture affects human lives, and uses this understanding in formulating and implementing domestic social policy. This book defines basic research as contributing to theory, knowledge, and method that contributes to the advancement of social science. Organized into four parts encompassing 19 chapters, this book begins with an overview of the greatest potential payoff for the advancement of social science and for enlightened social programming. This text then presents an insightful discussion of why cultural differences among people have gone so largely unrecognized. Other chapters consider the cultural or language processes of contemporary U.S. populations. This book discusses as well the changing environment that gave rise to the tremendous growth in academic anthropology. The final chapter deals with social indicators research and discusses the potential role of anthropology in such work. This book is a valuable resource for anthropologists.

  • New Directions in Dance

    Collected Writings from the Seventh Dance in Canada Conference Held at the University of Waterloo, Canada, June 1979
    • 1st Edition
    • Diana Theodores Taplin
    • English
    New Directions in Dance is a collection of papers presented at the Seventh Dance in Canada Conference held at the University of Waterloo, Canada, in June 1979. The book focuses on the future directions of dance and covers dance thought and expression, its physical realities, related arts, and its role in society. The topics encompass a wide range of disciplines, from choreography, semiotics, and aesthetics to criticism, psychology,history, physics, biomechanics, orthopedics, education, and computer analysis. Comprised of 19 chapters, this book begins with an introduction to Aristotle's dramatic theories and their application to the criticism of dances, particularly those with dramatic structure and/or origins. Of particular relevance are Aristotle's treatment of the aesthetic concepts of unity and causality; his definition of tragedy; the means of poetic imitation as diction and melody; and the manner of poetic imitation as dramatic with the use of spectacle. The discussion then turns to R. G. Collingwood's principles of art and whether they contain a theory of dance; some applications of linguistic and semiological concepts to theater dance; and parallel trends in the development of Expressionist painting and the genesis of modern dance in Germany. Subsequent chapters explore children as dance audience; the history of dance in Canada; the link between physics and ballet; and computer-assisted notation of dance. The final section is devoted to dance policy and education. This monograph will be of interest to dancers, dance scholars and researchers, artists, students, teachers, and others involved in the dance profession.

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