Systems Approach for Development presents articles in such topics as methodology, management and planning, education and transfer of technology, industrial application, energy, power systems, transportation and communication systems, urban systems and housing, and water resource systems. A sample of article in methodology is a simplified model approach in the hierarchical control systems. The book discusses such topics as dynamic economic models, creation of an optimum technology for olive oil production, systems prospective, types of technological forecasting techniques, and the use of a learning automata model in resource allocation problems. The optimal rate of transfer of technology is briefly analyzed and a systems approach to technological education is covered. An essay in the development of operator interface techniques is given. A section of the text provides the requirements of an ideal teaching system for microcomputers. The book will provide useful information to engineers, sociologists, economists, computer programmers, students and researchers in the field of science.

A Dynamic Systems Approach to the Development of Cognition and Action presents a comprehensive and detailed theory of early human development based on the principles of dynamic systems theory. Beginning with their own research in motor, perceptual, and cognitive development, Thelen and Smith raise fundamental questions about prevailing assumptions in the field. They propose a new theory of the development of cognition and action, unifying recent advances in dynamic systems theory with current research in neuroscience and neural development. In particular, they show how by processes of exploration and selection, multimodal experiences form the bases for self-organizing perception-action categories. Thelen and Smith offer a radical alternative to current cognitive theory, both in their emphasis on dynamic representation and in their focus on processes of change. Among the first attempt to apply complexity theory to psychology, they suggest reinterpretations of several classic issues in early cognitive development. The book is divided into three sections. The first discusses the nature of developmental processes in general terms, the second covers dynamic principles in process and mechanism, and the third looks at how a dynamic theory can be applied to enduring puzzles of development. Cognitive Psychology series

The symposium In the next decades, agriculture will have to cope with an ever-increasing demand for food and raw basic materials on the one hand, and with the necessity to use resources without further degrading or exhausting the environment on the other hand, and all this within a dynamic framework of social and economic conditions. Intensification, sustainability, optimizing scarce resources, and climate change are among the key issues. Organized thinking about future farming requires forecasting of consequences of alternative ways to farm and to develop agriculture. The complexity of the problems calls for a systematic approach in which many disciplines are integrated. Systems thinking and systems simulation are therefore indispensable tools for such endeavours. About 150 scientists and senior research leaders participated in the symposium 'Systems Approaches for Agricultural Development' (SAAD) at the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Bangkok, Thailand, in December 1991. The symposium had the following objectives: - to review the status of systems research and modeling in agriculture, with special reference to evaluating their efficacy and efficiency in achieving research goals, and to their application in developing countries; - to promote international cooperation in modeling, and increase awareness of systems research and simulation. The symposium consisted of plenary sessions with reviews of major areas in systems approaches in agriculture, plus presentations in two concurrent sessions on technical topics of systems research. Subjects of studies were from tropical and temperate countries.

Biological and physiological systems: animal sciences. Plant-animal interactions in northern temperate sown grasslands and semi-natural vegetation. Exploitation of the systems approach in technical design of agricultural enterprises. Application of systems theory to farm planning and control: modelling resource allocation. Optimising the mixture of enterprises in a farming system. Farming systems research-extension. Food policy and food security planning: institutional approaches to modelling grain markets and food security in Sub-Saharn Africa. A systems view of commercial supply and marketing links. Agroecosystems. Understanding and managing changes in agriculture. Agricultural sector modelling for policy development. Of agricultural systems and systems agriculture: systems methodologies in agricultural education. Extension education: Top(s) Down, Bottom(s) Up and Other Things.

The dynamic systems approach is a rapidly expanding advancement in the study of developmental research, particularly in the domain of adolescent development. It provides a unique way of examining the subject, and this innovative study of developmental processes helps social scientists to translate dynamic systems conceptualizations into clear empirical research that readers will be able to implement themselves. The first part of this edited book discusses techniques that describe and assess specific process characteristics such as variability, sudden jumps and attractor states. The second part explores the different techniques for building a dynamic systems model, which can simulate the behaviour of a system to investigate the mechanisms behind the processes. Each chapter describes one technique and is based on a specific practical example of its application in adolescent development. Step-by-step instructions for model-building and examples of ready-made models are provided on the website that belongs to the book: www.psypress.com/dynamic-systems-approach. This book provides a clear step-by-step description of theories and techniques that are designed for the study of developmental processes, and is therefore ideal for researchers of developmental psychology who do not specialise in statistics or research methods.

This book presents a number of guidelines that are particularly useful in the context of decisions related to system-approach-based modern traffic engineering for the development of transport networks. Including practical examples and describing decision-making support systems it provides valuable insights for those seeking solutions to contemporary transport system problems on a daily basis, such as professional working for local authorities involved in planning urban and regional traffic development strategies as well as representatives of business and industry directly involved in implementing traffic engineering solutions. The guidelines provided enable readers to address problems in a timely manner and simplify the choice of appropriate strategies (including those connected with the relation between pedestrians and vehicle traffic flows, IT development in freight transport, safety issues related to accidents in road tunnels, but also open areas, like roundabouts and crossings). Furthermore, since the book also examines new theoretical-model approaches (including the model of arrival time distribution forming in a dense vehicle flow, the methodological basis of modelling and optimization of transport processes in the interaction of railways and maritime transport, traffic flow surveys and measurements, transport behaviour patterns, human factors in traffic engineering, and road condition modelling), it also appeals to researches and scientists studying these problems. This book features selected papers submitted to and presented at the 16th Scientific and Technical Conference Transport Systems Theory and Practice organized by the Department of Transport Systems and Traffic Engineering at the Faculty of Transport of the Silesian University of Technology. The conference was held on 16–18 September 2019 in Katowice (Poland), more details at www.TSTP.polsl.pl.

The project School-In was an in-service professional development project which aimed to improve inclusion and facilitate schools' academic results by taking the local context, expectation structures, and school culture into consideration. This intervention project was based on a systemic approach and designed to include the entire teaching staff, ensuring cross-disciplinary and cross-level impact. Conducted in five Norwegian municipalities, School-In was financed by the Research Council of Norway (NFR) as an innovation project for the public sector. This book gives a detailed overview of the project School-In, documenting its research and intervention methods. It provides stakeholders, educational researchers, and practitioners with information about the make-up of the study. In this book, School-In is presented as an example of how new ideas and knowledge can be gained from several research approaches and readers are given specific examples of how development processes may be conducted and investigated in schools.

During the last decade there has been increased awareness of the limitations of standard approaches to the study of development. When the focus is on variables and relationships, the individual is easily lost. This book describes an alternative, person-oriented approach in which the focus is on the individual as a functioning whole. The authors take as their theoretical starting points the holistic-interactionistic research paradigm expounded by David Magnusson and others, and the new developmental science in which connections and interactions between different systems (biological, psychological, social, etc.) are stressed. They present a quantitative methodology for preserving--to the maximum extent possible--the individual as a functioning whole that is largely based on work carried out in the Stockholm Laboratory for Developmental Science over the past 20 years. The book constitutes a complete introductory guide to the person-oriented approach. The authors lay out the underlying theory, a number of basic methods, the necessary computer programs, and an extensive empirical example. (The computer programs have been collected into a statistical package, SLEIPNER, that is freely accessible on the Internet. The empirical example deals with boys' school adjustment from a pattern perspective and covers both positive and negative adaptation.) Studying Individual Development in an Interindividual Context: A Person-Oriented Approach will be crucial reading for all researchers who seek to understand the complexities of human development and for their advanced students.

Social Development, 2nd Edition provides psychologists with a comprehensive, scholarly, engaging, and up-to-date treatment of theoretical insights and empirical findings in the field of social development. It conveys the excitement of recent advances along with the accumulated knowledge that forms the basis of the field. Psychologists will gain a better understanding of cultural variation, both among societies around the world and within our own society.