Agent-based modeling (ABM) is a technique increasingly used in a broad range of social sciences. It involves building a computational model consisting... of “agents,” each of which represents an actor in the social world, and an "environment" in which the agents act. Agents are able to interact with each other and are programmed to be pro-active, autonomous and able to perceive their virtual world. The techniques of ABM are derived from artificial intelligence and computer science, but are now being developed independently in research centers throughout the world.In Agent-Based Models, Nigel Gilbert reviews a range of examples of agent-based modeling, describes how to design and build your own models, and considers practical issues such as verification, validation, planning a modeling project, and how to structure a scholarly article reporting the results of agent-based modeling. It includes a glossary, an annotated list of resources, advice on which programming environment to use when creating agent-based models, and a worked, step-by-step example of the development of an ABM.This latest volume in the SAGE Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences series will have wide appeal in the social sciences, including the disciplines of sociology, economics, social psychology, geography, economic history, science studies, and environmental studies. It is appropriate for graduate students, researchers and academics in these fields, for both those wanting to keep up with new developments in their fields and those who are considering using ABM for their research.Key FeaturesAimed at readers who are new to ABMOffers a brief, but thorough, treatment of a cutting-edge techniqueOffers practical advice about how to design and create ABMIncludes carefully chosen examples from different disciplines

The only book to present the synergy between modeling and simulation, systems engineering, and agent technologies expands the notion of agent-based... simulation to also deal with agent simulation and agent-supported simulation. Accessible to both practitioners and managers, it systematically addresses designing and building agent systems from a systems engineering perspective.

In these stories, Dostoevsky explores both the figure of the dreamer divorced from reality, and also his own ambiguous attitude toward utopianism,... themes central to his great novels. In White Nights, the apparent idyll of the dreamer's romantic fantasies disguises profound loneliness and estrangement from "living life." A Gentle Creature and The Dream of a Ridiculous Man show how withdrawal from reality can end in spiritual desolation as well as moral indifference, and how, in Dostoevsky's view, the tragedy of the alienated individual can only be resolved by the rediscovery of a sense of compassion and responsibility toward other people. No other edition brings together these specific stories--which are most interesting when read alongside one another--and the new translations capture all the power and lyricism of Dostoevsky's writing at its best.

In these stories, Dostoevsky explores both the figure of the dreamer divorced from reality, and also his own ambiguous attitude toward utopianism,... themes central to his great novels. In White Nights, the apparent idyll of the dreamer's romantic fantasies disguises profound loneliness and estrangement from "living life." A Gentle Creature and The Dream of a Ridiculous Man show how withdrawal from reality can end in spiritual desolation as well as moral indifference, and how, in Dostoevsky's view, the tragedy of the alienated individual can only be resolved by the rediscovery of a sense of compassion and responsibility toward other people. No other edition brings together these specific stories--which are most interesting when read alongside one another--and the new translations capture all the power and lyricism of Dostoevsky's writing at its best.About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

This book is designed to ease the beginner into competent reading of Old English texts. It presents the essential points of Old English grammar and also... includes a selection of short, relatively simple original language texts, glossed and annotated. Numerous practice exercises are also included throughout. A companion website includes additional interactive exercises, a fuller grammar, and further original language texts

Updated to reflect the new features of Stata 11, A Gentle Introduction to Stata, Third Edition continues to help new Stata users become proficient in... Stata. After reading this introductory text, you will be able to enter, build, and manage a data set as well as perform fundamental statistical analyses. New to the Third Edition A new chapter on the analysis of missing data and the use of multiple-imputation methods Extensive revision of the chapter on ANOVA Additional material on the application of power analysis The book covers data management; good work habits, including the use of basic do-files; basic exploratory statistics, including graphical displays; and analyses using the standard array of basic statistical tools, such as correlation, linear and logistic regression, and parametric and nonparametric tests of location and dispersion. Rather than splitting these topics by their Stata implementation, the material on graphics and postestimation are woven into the text in a natural fashion. The author teaches Stata commands by using the menus and dialog boxes while still stressing the value of do-files. Each chapter includes exercises and real data sets are used throughout.

Updated to reflect the new features of Stata 11, A Gentle Introduction to Stata, Third Edition continues to help new Stata users become proficient in... Stata. After reading this introductory text, you will be able to enter, build, and manage a data set as well as perform fundamental statistical analyses. New to the Third Edition A new chapter on the analysis of missing data and the use of multiple-imputation methods Extensive revision of the chapter on ANOVA Additional material on the application of power analysis The book covers data management; good work habits, including the use of basic do-files; basic exploratory statistics, including graphical displays; and analyses using the standard array of basic statistical tools, such as correlation, linear and logistic regression, and parametric and nonparametric tests of location and dispersion. Rather than splitting these topics by their Stata implementation, the material on graphics and postestimation are woven into the text in a natural fashion. The author teaches Stata commands by using the menus and dialog boxes while still stressing the value of do-files. Each chapter includes exercises and real data sets are used throughout.

Revised Edition. Carnes offers us exercises, inventories, and guided reflections for those of us facing the daily challenges of attaining or... maintaining an addiction-free lifestyle. This revised edition of A Gentle Path through the Twelve Steps is a treasure chest, a rich and powerful resource for anyone working a twelve-step program. Carnes is a gifted teacher and leader in the addiction recovery field.Wendy Maltz, M.S.W., Sexual Healing Journey This unique, non-threatening workbook emphasizes common themes at the heart of all Twelve Step fellowships...an especially clear explanation of what "working the program" means.Claudia Black, Ph.D., It Will Happen to Me The revised A Gentle Path through the Twelve Steps gets my highest recommendation. It is a wonderful guide to the journey to restoration and healing.Marilyn Murray, M.A., Prisoner of Another War To get through difficult times, we need good friends, wise mentors and compassionate recovery programs. Pat Carnes and his twelve-step guide have been all of these to me, personally, and more. A Gentle Path through the Twelve Steps Revised Edition is a principle guide to following the path of the many stages we encounter daily.Brenda Schaeffer, Licensed Psychologist, Loving Me Loving You and Is It Love or Is It Addiction A Gentle Path through the Twelve Steps has already helped thousands and promises to help many more.Mark R. Laaser, Ph.D., The Secret Sin: Healing the Wounds of Sexual Addiction

Agent Orange on Trial is a riveting legal drama with all the suspense of a courtroom thriller. One of the Vietnam War's farthest reaching legacies was... the Agent Orange case. In this unprecedented personal injury class action, veterans charge that a valuable herbicide, indiscriminately sprayed on the luxuriant Vietnam jungle a generation ago, has now caused cancers, birth defects, and other devastating health problems. Peter Schuck brilliantly recounts the gigantic confrontation between two million ex-soldiers, the chemical industry, and the federal government. From the first stirrings of the lawyers in 1978 to the court plan in 1985 for distributing a record $200 million settlement, the case, which is now on appeal, has extended the frontiers of our legal system in all directions. In a book that is as much about innovative ways to look at the law as it is about the social problems arising from modern science, Schuck restages a sprawling, complex drama. The players include dedicated but quarrelsome veterans, a crusading litigator, class action organizers, flamboyant trial lawyers, astute court negotiators, and two federal judges with strikingly different judicial styles. High idealism, self-promotion, Byzantine legal strategies, and judicial creativity combine in a fascinating portrait of a human struggle for justice through law. The Agent Orange case is the most perplexing and revealing example until now of a new legal genre: the mass toxic tort. Such cases, because of their scale, cost, geographical and temporal dispersion, and causal uncertainty, present extraordinarily difficult challenges to our legal system. They demand new approaches to procedure, evidence, and the definition of substantive legal rights and obligations, as well as new roles for judges, juries, and regulatory agencies. Schuck argues that our legal system must be redesigned if it is to deal effectively with the increasing number of chemical disasters such as the Bhopal accident, ionizing radiation, asbestos, DES, and seepage of toxic wastes. He imaginatively reveals the clash between our desire for simple justice and the technical demands of a complex legal system. This is a book for all Americans interested in their environment, their legal system, their history, and their future.

Who is responsible for the terror, atrocities, and violations of human rights that occur in civil wars? Blame can be directly attributed to the actual... perpetrators of the massacres, rapes, and pillaging--but it can also be placed on the leaders who often hide behind their ambivalent orders. Placing responsibility clearly in the hands of political leadership, Mitchell explores the interaction of leaders, their management practices and repressive policies, using the Arab-Israeli conflict and the English and Russian civil wars to shed light on when leaders are more or less likely to turn to atrocities to achieve their goals. With civil wars continuing to rage around the world, Agents of Atrocity provides a timely history of atrocities and the leaders and henchmen who carried them out, while providing a new context for understanding why they occur and how they can be prevented in the future.

Historians have long held that during the decades from the end of the Habsburg-Valois Wars in 1559 until the outbreak in 1618 of the Thirty Years' War,... Spanish domination of Italy was so complete that one can refer to the period as a "pax hispanica." In this book, based on extensive research in the papers of the ambassadors who represented Charles V and Philip II, Michael J. Levin instead reveals the true fragility of Spanish control and the ambiguous nature of its impact on Italian political and cultural life.While exploring the nature and weaknesses of Spanish imperialism in the sixteenth century, Levin focuses on the activities of Spain's emissaries in Rome and Venice, drawing us into a world of intrigue and occasional violence as the Spaniards attempted to manipulate the crosscurrents of Italian and papal politics to serve their own ends. Levin's often-colorful account uncovers the vibrant world of late Renaissance diplomacy in which popes were forced to flee down secret staircases and ambassadors too often only narrowly avoided assassination. An important contribution to our understanding of the nature and limits of the Spanish imperial system, Agents of Empire more broadly highlights the centrality of diplomatic history to any consideration of the politics of empire.

The question of how students transfer knowledge is an important one, as it addresses the larger issue of the educational experience. In Agents of... Integration: Understanding Transfer as a Rhetorical Act, Rebecca S. Nowacek explores, through a series of case studies, the issue of transfer by asking what in an educational setting engages students to become “agents of integration”— individuals actively working to perceive, as well as to convey effectively to others, the connections they make. While many studies of transfer are longitudinal, with data collected over several years, Nowacek’s is synchronous, a rich cross-section of the writing and classroom discussions produced by a team-taught learning community—three professors and eighteen students enrolled in a one-semester general education interdisciplinary humanities seminar that consisted of three linked courses in history, literature, and religious studies. With extensive field notes, carefully selected student and teacher self-reports in the form of interviews and focus groups, and thorough examinations of recorded classroom discussions, student papers with professor comments, and student notebooks, Nowacek presents a nuanced and engaging analysis that outlines how transfer is not simply a cognitive act but a rhetorical one that involves both seeing connections and presenting them to the instructors who are institutionally positioned to recognize and value them. Considering the challenges facing instructors teaching for transfer and the transfer of writing-related knowledge, Nowacek develops and outlines a new theoretical framework and methodological model of transfer and illustrates the practical implications through case studies and other classroom examples. She proposes transfer is best understood as an act of recontextualization, and she builds on this premise throughout the book by drawing from previous work in cognitive psychology, activity theory, and rhetorical genre theory, as well as her own analyses of student work. This focused examination complements existing longitudinal studies and will help readers better understand not only the opportunities and challenges confronting students as they work to become agents of integration but also the challenges facing instructors as they seek to support that student work.

For the tables, glossary, and genealogy mentioned in the book, click here. The Portuguese Inquisition is often portrayed as a tyrannical institution... that imposed itself on an unsuspecting and impotent society. The men who ran it are depicted as unprincipled bandits and ruthless spies who gleefully dragged their neighbors away to rot in dark, pestilential prisons. In this new study, based on extensive archival research, James E. Wadsworth challenges these myths by focusing on the lay and clerical officials who staffed the Inquisition in colonial Pernambuco, one of Brazil's oldest, wealthiest, and most populated colonies. He argues that the Inquisition was an integral part of colonial society and that it reflected and reinforced deeply held social and religious values that crossed the Atlantic, recreated themselves in colonial Brazil, and became powerful tools for exclusion and promotion in Brazilian society. The Inquisition successfully appropriated widely held social norms and manipulated social tensions to create and recreate its own power and prestige for almost three hundred years. It finally declined only when its capacity to socially promote its officials diminished in the late eighteenth century. Agents of Orthodoxy places the men who ran the Inquisition in historical context and demonstrates that they were often motivated by social aspirations in seeking inquisitional appointments. Beautifully written and extensively researched, this book sheds new light on a long-standing institution and its participants.

For those wondering how Bill Clinton could pardon white-collar fugitive Marc Rich but not Native American leader Leonard Peltier, important clues can be... found in this classic study of the FBI's COINTELPRO (Counterintelligence Program). Agents of Repression includes an incisive historical account of the FBI siege of Wounded Knee, and reveals the viciousness of COINTELPRO campaigns targeting the Black Liberation movement. The authors' new introduction examines the legacies of the Panthers and AIM, and shows how the FBI still presents a threat to those committed to fundamental social change.Ward Churchill is author of From a Native Son. Jim Vander Wall is co-author of The COINTELPRO Papers: Documents from the FBI's Secret Wars Against Dissent in the United States, with Ward Churchill.

It’s a time of passion and confusion. Virtue is barely holding down its petticoats. People are bursting their corsets with unbridled desire. It’s... 1885, and the typewriter and the suffrage movement are sending things topsy-turvy. In the midst of it all, five ambitious New Women and one Newish Man struggle to find their way. Miss Mary Barfoot runs a school for secretaries with her young lover, Miss Rhoda Nunn. But when the Misses Madden – spinsters Virginia and Alice and beautiful young Monica – arrive, along with the attractive Dr. Everard Barfoot, things can never be the same.Age of Arousal is a lavish, sexy, frenetic ensemble piece about the forbidden and gloriously liberated self – genre-busting, rule-bending, and ambitiously original.