Winning The Game Scientists Play

In this inspiring book of personal insight and sound advice, veteran scientist Carl J. Sindermann gives an insider's look at the competitive world of science and reveals the best strategies for attaining prominence and success. Taking apart the many different roles scientists must play during their careers, Sindermann compares common mistakes scientists make with what the best strategists do-whether they are publishing papers, presenting data, chairing meetings, or coping with government or academic bureaucracy. In the end, he maintains, well-honed interpersonal skills, a savvy eye on one's competitors, and excellent science are the keys to a satisfying and successful career.

The interpersonal strategies that surround the act of doing good science--hereafter referred to as scientific game play ing-have received some published attention, and many of the game rules are almost axiomatic among successful prac titioners of science. There is a need, however, to review pe riodically what we know and what we think we know about the art, and to add new insights that become available. This book is a response to that need; it has been written for science practitioners and grandstanders of the 1980s, drawing on in Sights and perceptions gained from victories and defeats of the 1970s. It seems especially important that the strategies and rules of scientific game playing be reviewed critically as we move into the decade of the 1980s, since many of those rules have changed during the 1970s--in fact each recent decade has seen significant changes. The 1950s were expansionist, when sci entific jobs were relatively easy to find, when faculties were expanding, when students were plentiful, and when federal grants were readily available. The 1960s began as a period of stabilization, and then became one of unrest and reexami nation of purpose. The climate was still good; students were v vi PREFACE still abundant, but there was less growth in faculty size, and federal grants reached a plateau. In the 1970s the student population started to decline, and federal funding for research began to dry up.

Nothing rings truer to those teaching political science research methods: students hate taking this course. Tackle the challenge and turn the standard research methods teaching model on its head with Political Science Research in Practice. Akan Malici and Elizabeth Smith engage students first with pressing political questions and then demonstrate how a researcher has gone about answering them, walking through real political science research that contributors have conducted. Through the exemplary use of survey research, experiments, field research, case studies, content analysis, interviews, document analysis, statistical research, and formal modeling, each chapter introduces students to a method of empirical inquiry through a specific topic that will spark their interest and curiosity. Each chapter shows the process of developing a research question, how and why a particular method was used, and the rewards and challenges discovered along the way. Students can better appreciate why we need a science of politics--why methods matter--with these first-hand, issue-based discussions. The following features make this an ideal teaching tool: An introductory chapter that succinctly introduces key terms in research methodology Key terms bolded throughout and defined in a glossary Broad coverage of the most important methods used in political science research and the major subfields of the discipline A companion website designed to foster online active learning An instructor's manual and testbank to help incorporate this innovative text into your syllabus and assessment.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 22nd International Workshop on Computer Science Logic, CSL 2008, held as the 17th Annual Conference of the EACSL in Bertinoro, Italy, in September 2008. The 31 revised full papers presented together with 4 invited lectures were carefully reviewed and selected from 102 submissions. All current aspects of logic in computer science are addressed, ranging from foundational and methodological issues to application issues of practical relevance. The book concludes with a presentation of this year's Ackermann award.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the International Conference IFIP TCS 2000 held in Sendai, Japan in August 2000. The 32 revised full papers presented together with nine invited contributions were carefully reviewed and selected from a total of 70 submissions. The papers are organized in two tracks on algorithms, complexity, and models of computation and on logics, semantics, specification, and verification. The book is devoted to exploring new frontiers of theoretical informatics and addresses all current topics in theoretical computer science.