Evaluation research findings should be a key element of the policymaking process, but in reality, they are often disregarded. Evaluation for the Real World examines the use—and nonuse—of evaluation re
Evaluation research findings should be a key element of the policymaking process, but in reality, they are often disregarded. Evaluation for the Real World examines the use—and nonuse—of evaluation re
The second edition of Program Evaluation in Practice offers guidance for new and would-be evaluators. It uses real-world examples, explained in writing clear enough so that learners gain a great deal
Although headache is one of the most common complaints that patients bring to their clinicians, few physicians feel confident about its clinical evaluation and management. Is it a problem in its own right, or the presenting symptom of a serious medical condition? Loder, Rizzoli and Burch bring a practical case-based approach to this complex ailment, highlighting specific areas of diagnostic uncertainty in headache evaluation and treatment. Each case is taken from real-world clinical practice and reviews the diagnostic and treatment process in a systematic manner, identifying common challenges and pitfalls and describing newly issued treatment guidelines. Written in a question and answer format, this concise and useful guide in the Common Pitfalls series provides a step-by-step guide for everyday clinical practice, invaluable to anyone dealing with headache on a front-line basis.
In today's security-conscious society, real-world applications for authentication or identification require a highly accurate system for recognizing individual humans. The required level of performance cannot be achieved through the use of a single biometric such as face, fingerprint, ear, iris, palm, gait or speech. Fusing multiple biometrics enables the indexing of large databases, more robust performance and enhanced coverage of populations. Multiple biometrics are also naturally more robust against attacks than single biometrics. This book addresses a broad spectrum of research issues on multibiometrics for human identification, ranging from sensing modes and modalities to fusion of biometric samples and combination of algorithms. It covers publicly available multibiometrics databases, theoretical and empirical studies on sensor fusion techniques in the context of biometrics authentication, identification and performance evaluation and prediction.
Bioterrorism is not a new threat, but in an increasingly interconnected world, the potential for catastrophic outcomes is greater today than ever. The medical and public health communities are establishing biosurveillance systems designed to proactively monitor populations for possible disease outbreaks as a first line of defense. The ideal biosurveillance system should identify trends not visible to individual physicians and clinicians in near-real time. Many of these systems use statistical algorithms to look for anomalies and to trigger epidemiologic investigation, quantification, localization and outbreak management. This book discusses the design and evaluation of statistical methods for effective biosurveillance for readers with minimal statistical training. Weaving public health and statistics together, it presents basic and more advanced methods, with a focus on empirically demonstrating added value. Although the emphasis is on epidemiologic and syndromic surveillance, the stat
The Ozone Layer: A Philosophy of Science Perspective provides the first thorough and accessible history of stratospheric ozone, from the discovery of ozone in the nineteenth century to current investigations of the Antarctic ozone hole. Drawing directly on the extensive scientific literature, Christie uses the story of ozone as a case study for examining fundamental issues relating to the collection and evaluation of evidence, the conduct of scientific debate and the construction of scientific consensus. By linking key debates in the philosophy of science to an example of real-world science, the author not only provides an excellent introduction to the philosophy of science but also challenges many of its preconceptions. This accessible book will interest students and academics concerned with the history, philosophy and sociology of science, as well as having general appeal on this topic of contemporary relevance and concern.
The Ozone Layer: A Philosophy of Science Perspective provides the first thorough and accessible history of stratospheric ozone, from the discovery of ozone in the nineteenth century to current investigations of the Antarctic ozone hole. Drawing directly on the extensive scientific literature, Christie uses the story of ozone as a case study for examining fundamental issues relating to the collection and evaluation of evidence, the conduct of scientific debate and the construction of scientific consensus. By linking key debates in the philosophy of science to an example of real-world science, the author not only provides an excellent introduction to the philosophy of science but also challenges many of its preconceptions. This accessible book will interest students and academics concerned with the history, philosophy and sociology of science, as well as having general appeal on this topic of contemporary relevance and concern.
Drawing on the authors' combined years of experience in both private and public-sector organisations, this practical book highlights the importance of relationship building between individuals, groups and organisations in diverse contexts. It will make a valuable read for business professionals and graduate students in fields as varied as change management, leadership, organisational psychology, and organisational behaviour. Employing the Relational Proximity® framework, it provides tools for informing assessment of the relational impact of policy and management decisions, enabling evaluation of organisational relationships, providing a language for constructive discussion of strained relationships, and integrating a range of models and perspectives within one process. Using real-world case studies and models, the conditions within which people are more likely to form and conduct effective relationships are also examined. This combined approach provides the language and concepts to ena
The increasing popularity of wireless networks makes interference and cross-talk between multiple systems inevitable. This book describes techniques for quantifying this, and the effects on the performance of wireless networks operating in the unlicensed bands. It also presents a variety of system-level solutions, obviating the need for new hardware implementations. The book starts with basic concepts and wireless protocols before moving on to interference performance evaluation, interference modeling, coexistence solutions, and concluding with common misconceptions and pitfalls. The theory is illustrated by reference to real-world systems such as Bluetooth and WiFi. With a number of case studies and many illustrations, this book will be of interest to graduate students in electrical engineering and computer science, to practitioners designing new WLAN and WPAN systems or developing new techniques for interference supression, and to general users of merging wireless technologies.
Diversity in Design: Perspectives from the non-Western World addresses the need for a text that encourages evaluation, appreciation, and comparison amongst diverse cultures by incorporating real-worl
This detailed, up-to-date introduction to heterogeneous cellular networking introduces its characteristic features, the technology underpinning it and the issues surrounding its use. Comprehensive and in-depth coverage of core topics catalogue the most advanced, innovative technologies used in designing and deploying heterogeneous cellular networks, including system-level simulation and evaluation, self-organisation, range expansion, cooperative relaying, network MIMO, network coding and cognitive radio. Practical design considerations and engineering tradeoffs are also discussed in detail, including handover management, energy efficiency and interference management techniques. A range of real-world case studies, provided by industrial partners, illustrate the latest trends in heterogeneous cellular networks development. Written by leading figures from industry and academia, this is an invaluable resource for all researchers and practitioners working in the field of mobile communicatio
A practical and systematic overview of the design, fabrication and test of MEMS-based inertial sensors, this comprehensive and rigorous guide shows you how to analyze and transform application requirements into practical designs, and helps you to avoid potential pitfalls and to cut design time. With this book you'll soon be up to speed on the relevant basics, including MEMS technologies, packaging, kinematics and mechanics, and transducers. You'll also get a thorough evaluation of different approaches and architectures for design and an overview of key aspects of testing and calibration. Unique insights into the practical difficulties of making sensors for real-world applications make this up-to-date description of the state of the art in inertial MEMS an ideal resource for professional engineers in industry as well as students looking for a complete introduction to the area.
This updated, revised and expanded fifth edition of the market-leading clinical guide on stroke covers causes, prevention, clinical features, evaluation and management in a comprehensive yet accessible manner. While it retains the uniform organization, accessible style and patient-oriented focus of previous editions, its scope has been extended to cover the most recent research, providing a fully up-to-date account of the features of cerebrovascular disease, stroke syndromes, complications, and recovery and rehabilitation. Joined by an international team of experts in the field, Caplan offers a widened coverage of each chapter topic, illustrated by using a large number of real-world clinical examples. Not previously included, this new edition now also contains a chapter on the genetics of stroke. Generously illustrated by figures of anatomy and pathology and brain and vascular imaging, this is a must-have for medical specialists and consultants, as well as trainees, in neurology, strok
Achieve accurate and reliable parameter extraction using this complete survey of state-of-the-art techniques and methods. A team of experts from industry and academia provides you with insights into a range of key topics, including parasitics, intrinsic extraction, statistics, extraction uncertainty, nonlinear and DC parameters, self-heating and traps, noise, and package effects. Learn how similar approaches to parameter extraction can be applied to different technologies. A variety of real-world industrial examples and measurement results show you how the theories and methods presented can be used in practice. Whether you use transistor models for evaluation of device processing and you need to understand the methods behind the models you use, or you want to develop models for existing and new device types, this is your complete guide to parameter extraction.
This rigourous and self-contained book describes mathematical and, in particular, stochastic methods to assess the performance of networked systems. It consists of three parts. The first part is a review on probability theory. Part two covers the classical theory of stochastic processes (Poisson, renewal, Markov and queuing theory), which are considered to be the basic building blocks for performance evaluation studies. Part three focuses on the relatively new field of the physics of networks. This part deals with the recently obtained insights that many very different large complex networks - such as the Internet, World Wide Web, proteins, utility infrastructures, social networks - evolve and behave according to more general common scaling laws. This understanding is useful when assessing the end-to-end quality of communications services, for example, in Internet telephony, real-time video and interacting games. Containing problems and solutions, this book is ideal for graduate studen
The public policy arena is a complex framework of actors, politics and instruments. An Introduction to Australian Public Policy, Second Edition examines the broad range of models, influences and players that shape the development of public policy in Australia, and equips students with a working knowledge of both the theoretical underpinnings and real-world challenges of the field. Fully revised and updated, the new edition addresses the diverse approaches to policy formulation required by different practitioners and institutions. Accessible and engaging, this edition includes: a new chapter on policy evaluation; practical exercises on how to write policy briefs and media releases and eleven new, concise case studies from Australia's top public policy practitioners. The book is accompanied by a companion website which contains chapter summaries and a glossary. Widely regarded as the best introduction to Australian public policy available, the book is an essential resource for undergradu
Microeconomics is a classroom-tested resource for learning the key concepts, essential tools, and applications of microeconomics. This leading textbook enables students to recognize and analyze significant data, patterns, and trends in real markets through its integrated, student-friendly approach to the subject — providing practice problems, hands-on exercises, illustrative examples, and engaging applications that ground theory firmly in the real world. Each chapter, opening with a set of clearly defined learning goals based on the Bloom Taxonomy, features numerous Learning-by-Doing (LBD) problems, mathematical and graphical data, and varied problem sets focused on current events.Now in its sixth edition, the text offers extensive new and revised content throughout. All applications reflect current data and important new developments in the field of economics, including behavioral economics, randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in policy evaluation and design, and computational-based m
This excellent resource synthesizes the theory and practice of PLC, providing a straightforward introduction to the fundamentals of PLC, as well as an exhaustive review of the performance, evaluation, security, and heterogeneous network that combine PLC with other means of communications. It advances the groundwork on power-line communication (PLC), a tool which has the potential to boost the performance of local networks, and provides useful worked practical problems on, for example, PLC protocol optimization. Covering the PHY and MAC layers of the most popular PLC specifications, including tutorials and experimental frameworks, and featuring many examples of real-world applications and performance, it is ideal for university researchers and professional engineers designing and maintaining PLC or hybrid devices and networks.
