Open Access Books - Social Sciences and Humanities - 2017

This volume focuses on describing the social dialogue system in organizations from an Human Resources Management perspective. Based on the NEIRE model for industrial relations, key factors are determined contributing to creative social dialogue in European organizations. Actual data from surveys and interviews from more than 700 CEO and HR managers in eleven European countries give insights in the experiences with and expectations of employers of social dialogue. The volume offers a comprehensive introduction to the historical context and current situation in social dialogue in these countries. This context helps to understand the current major challenges in each country when it comes to a vital social dialogue. Using good practices from many organizations, this book offers an agenda for innovative and cooperative social dialogue in organizations.

This book offers a provocative account of interdisciplinary research across the neurosciences, social sciences and humanities. Rooting itself in the authors' own experiences, the book establishes a radical agenda for collaboration across these disciplines. This book is open access under a CC-BY license.

This book uses meta-analysis to synthesize research on scaffolding and scaffolding-related interventions in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education. Specifically, the volume examines the extent to which study quality, assessment type, and scaffolding characteristics (strategy, intended outcome, fading schedule, scaffolding intervention, and paired intervention) influence cognitive student outcomes. It includes detailed descriptions of the theoretical foundations of scaffolding, scaffolding strategies that have been proposed to meet different intended learning outcomes in STEM, and associated efficacy information. Furthermore, the book describes assessment strategies and study designs which can be used to evaluate the influence of scaffolding, and suggests new fields in which scaffolding strategies that have proven efficacious may be used

Empathy, a basic ability for understanding persons holistically, building supportive relationships, and listening attentively, includes being with suffering persons, healing, and inducing catharsis in them. Therefore, it is necessary within occupations supporting humans: education, clinical psychology, nursing, early childhood care, welfare, and medicine. Conversely, there are individual differences in empathy, and promoting its development is difficult. In this book, we use interdisciplinary approaches to empathy; for example, we discuss a new intervention, physical and cross-cultural understanding of empathy, development of empathy, and applications in general and professional education. The significance of this book is its evidence-based interdisciplinary perspective in understanding empathy.

This survey addresses the use of technology in upper secondary mathematics education from four points of view: theoretical analysis of epistemological and cognitive aspects of activity in new technology mediated learning environments, the changes brought by technology in the interactions between environment, students and teachers, the interrelations between mathematical activities and technology, skills and competencies that must be developed in teacher education. Research shows that the use of some technologies may deeply change the solving processes and contribute to impact the learning processes. The questions are which technologies to choose for which purposes, and how to integrate them, so as to maximize all students’ agency. In particular the role of the teacher in classrooms and the content of teacher education programs are critical for taking full advantage of technology in teaching practice.

Learning disabilities are conditions that are associated with difficulties in knowledge and skill acquisition to the level expected of same-age peers. The current book is an international examination of assessment methods, preventative measures, intervention, and research with those individuals with learning disabilities obtained from authors in the United States of America, Europe, Asia, and Africa.

This volume shares and discusses significant new trends and developments in research and practices related to various aspects of preparing prospective secondary mathematics teachers from 2005–2015. It provides both an overview of the current state-of-the-art and outstanding recent research reports from an international perspective. The authors completed a thorough review of the literature by examining major journals in the field of mathematics education, and other journals related to teacher education and technology. The systematic review includes four major themes: field experiences; technologies, tools and resources; teachers' knowledge; and teachers' professional identities. Each of them is presented regarding theoretical perspectives, methodologies, and major findings. Then the authors discuss what is known in the field and what we still need to know related to the major topics.

Active Calculus is different from most existing calculus texts in at least the following ways: the text is freely readable online in HTML format and is also available for in PDF; in the electronic format, graphics are in full color and there are live links to java applets; version 2.0 now contains WeBWorK exercises in each chapter, which are fully interactive in the HTML format and included in print in the PDF; the text is open source, and interested users can gain access to the original source files on GitHub; the style of the text requires students to be active learners — there are very few worked examples in the text, with there instead being 3-4 activities per section that engage students in connecting ideas, solving problems, and developing understanding of key calculus concepts; each section begins with motivating questions, a brief introduction, and a preview activity, all of which are designed to be read and completed prior to class; following the WeBWorK exercises in each section, there are several challenging problems that require students to connect key ideas and write to communicate their understanding.

"This book consists of ten weeks of material given as a course on ordinary differential equations (ODEs) for second year mathematics majors at the University of Bristol. It is the first course devoted solely to differential equations that these students will take. This book consists of 10 chapters, and the course is 12 weeks long. Each chapter is covered in a week, and in the remaining two weeks I summarize the entire course, answer lots of questions, and prepare the students for the exam. I do not cover the material in the appendices in the lectures. Some of it is basic material that the students have already seen that I include for completeness and other topics are ""tasters"" for more advanced material that students will encounter in later courses or in their project work. Students are very curious about the notion of chaos, and I have included some material in an appendix on that concept. The focus in that appendix is only to connect it with ideas that have been developed in this course related to ODEs and to prepare them for more advanced courses in dynamical systems and ergodic theory that are available in their third and fourth years."

Offering key insights into critical debates on the construction, management and destruction of heritage in Muslim contexts, this volume considers how Islamic heritages are constructed through texts and practices which award heritage value. It examines how the monolithic representation of Islamic heritage (as a singular construct) can be enriched by the true diversity of Islamic heritages and how endangerment and vulnerability in this type of heritage construct can be re-conceptualized. Assessing these questions through an interdisciplinary lens including heritage studies, anthropology, history, conservation, religious studies and archaeology, this pivot covers global and local examples including heritage case studies from Indonesia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Jordan, and Pakistan.

This survey addresses the use of technology in upper secondary mathematics education from four points of view: theoretical analysis of epistemological and cognitive aspects of activity in new technology mediated learning environments, the changes brought by technology in the interactions between environment, students and teachers, the interrelations between mathematical activities and technology, skills and competencies that must be developed in teacher education. Research shows that the use of some technologies may deeply change the solving processes and contribute to impact the learning processes. The questions are which technologies to choose for which purposes, and how to integrate them, so as to maximize all students’ agency. In particular the role of the teacher in classrooms and the content of teacher education programs are critical for taking full advantage of technology in teaching practice.

This volume discusses the effects, models and implications of history teaching in relation to conflict transformation and reconciliation from a social-psychological perspective. Bringing together a mix of established and young researchers and academics, from the fields of psychology, education, and history, the book provides an in-depth exploration of the role of historical narratives, history teaching, history textbooks and the work of civil society organizations in post-conflict societies undergoing reconciliation processes, and reflects on the state of the art at both the international and regional level. As well as dealing with the question of the ‘perpetrator-victim’ dynamic, the book also focuses on the particular context of transition in and out of cold war in Eastern Europe and the post-conflict settings of Northern Ireland, Israel and Palestine and Cyprus. It is also exploring the pedagogical classroom practices of history teaching and a critical comparison of various possible approaches taken in educational praxis. The book will make compelling reading for students and researchers of education, history, sociology, peace and conflict studies and psychology.

This book offers a devastating look at deeply flawed development processes driven by international finance, African governments and the global consulting industry. It examines major river basin development underway in the semi-arid borderlands of Ethiopia, Kenya and South Sudan and its disastrous human rights consequences for a half-million indigenous people. The volume traces the historical origins of Gibe III megadam construction along the Omo River in Ethiopia—in turn, enabling irrigation for commercial-scale agricultural development and causing radical reduction of downstream Omo and (Kenya's) Lake Turkana waters. Presenting case studies of indigenous Dasanech and northernmost Turkana livelihood systems and Gibe III linked impacts on them, the author predicts agropastoral and fishing economic collapse, region-wide hunger with exposure to disease epidemics, irreversible natural resource destruction and cross-border interethnic armed conflict spilling into South Sudan.

The authors in this book ask us to consider whether the perception of beauty has been defined by our genetics and culture over the years - has it grown and changed? Do certain neural connections define our emotional reactions to beauty? Does beauty follow any rules or laws? Can the aspiration toward beauty be detrimental? Can we divorce ourselves from dictates and sink into a mindful connection with our internal beauty? Can we move from the superficial where "beauty is only skin deep" to an intense appreciation of beauty in all of its variations. The Perception of Beauty will lead to a deeper understanding and contemplation of nature, art, and the world around us.

Speech-language pathology has different practice and research histories, standards, methods, and challenges in different countries and regions. Awareness of these different realities may contribute to the scientific development of the field and improve the services delivered to different populations. Sharing solutions to similar problems in different contexts can increase evidence-based practice that is relevant in specific situations. The aim of this book was to build a panel of contributions from different countries and several areas of research. Authors were invited to contribute with their newest conclusions and results about the themes they considered most relevant. The result includes discussions about new theoretical trends, research results, and new proposals for assessment and intervention.

New media divide opinion; many are fascinated while others are disgusted. This book is about those who dislike, protest, and try to abstain from media, both new and old. It explains why media resistance persists and answers two questions: What is at stake for resisters and how does media resistance inspire organized action? Despite the interest in media scepticism and dislike, there seems to be no book on the market discussing media resistance as a phenomenon in its own right. This book explores resistance across media, historical periods and national borders, from early mass media to current digital media. Drawing on cases and examples from the US, Britain, Scandinavia and other countries, media resistance is discussed as a diverse phenomenon encompassing political, professional, networked and individual arguments and actions.

The book presents the Proceedings of the 13th International Congress on Mathematical Education (ICME-13) and is based on the presentations given at the 13th International Congress on Mathematical Education (ICME-13). ICME-13 took place from 24th- 31st July 2016 at the University of Hamburg in Hamburg (Germany). The congress was hosted by the Society of Didactics of Mathematics (Gesellschaft für Didaktik der Mathematik - GDM) and took place under the auspices of the International Commission on Mathematical Instruction (ICMI). ICME-13 brought together about 3.500 mathematics educators from 105 countries, additionally 250 teachers from German speaking countries met for specific activities. Directly before the congress activities were offered for 450 Early Career Researchers. The proceedings give a comprehensive overview on the current state-of-the-art of the discussions on mathematics education and display the breadth and deepness of current research on mathematical teaching-and-learning processes.The book introduces the major activities of ICME-13, namely articles from the four plenary lecturers and two plenary panels, articles from the five ICMI awardees, reports from six national presentations, three reports from the thematic afternoon devoted to specific features of ICME-13. Furthermore, the proceedings contain descriptions of the 54 Topic Study Groups, which formed the heart of the congress and reports from 29 Discussion Groups and 31 Workshops. The additional important activities of ICME-13, namely papers from the invited lecturers, will be presented in the second volume of the proceedings.

This is a new approach to an introductory statistical inference textbook, motivated by probability theory as logic. It is targeted to the typical Statistics 101 college student, and covers the topics typically covered in the first semester of such a course. It is freely available under the Creative Commons License, and includes a software library in Python for making some of the calculations and visualizations easier.

Introductory Business Statistics is designed to meet the scope and sequence requirements of the one-semester statistics course for business, economics, and related majors. Core statistical concepts and skills have been augmented with practical business examples, scenarios, and exercises. The result is a meaningful understanding of the discipline, which will serve students in their business careers and real-world experiences.

This brief book provides a noncomprehensive introduction to GNU Octave, a free open source alternative to MatLab. The basic syntax and usage is explained through concrete examples from the mathematics courses a math, computer science, or engineering major encounters in the first two years of college: linear algebra, calculus, and differential equations.