Mark Wilson – författare

Mark Wilson presents a series of explorations of our strategies for understanding the world. 'Physics avoidance' refers to the fact that we frequently cannot reason about nature in the straightforward manner we anticipate, but must seek alternative policies that allow us to address the questions we want answered in a tractable way. Within both science and everyday life, we find ourselves relying upon thought processes that reach useful answers in opaque and roundabout manners. Conceptual innovators are often puzzled by the techniques they develop, when they stumble across reasoning patterns that are easy to implement but difficult to justify. But simple techniques frequently rest upon complex foundations--a young magician learns how to execute a card-guessing trick without understanding how its progressive steps squeeze in on a proper answer. As we collectively improve our inferential skills in this gradually evolving manner, we often wander into unfamiliar explanatory landscapes in which simple words encode physical information in complex and unanticipated ways. Like our juvenile conjurer, we fail to recognize the true strategic rationales underlying our achievements and may turn instead to preposterous rationalizations for our policies. We have learned how to reach better conclusions in a more fruitful way, but we remain baffled by our own successes. At its best, philosophical reflection illuminates the natural developmental processes that generate these confusions and explicates their complexities. But current thinking within philosophy of science and language works to opposite effect by relying upon simplistic conceptions of 'cause', 'law of nature', 'possibility', and 'reference' that ignore the strategic complexities in which these concepts become entangled within real-life usage. To avoid these distortions, better descriptive tools are wanted. The nine new essays within this volume illustrate this need for finer discriminations through a range of revealing cases, of both historical and contemporary significance.

J.L. Austin has written of "the blinding veil of ease and obviousness that hides the mechanisms of the natural successful act". By revisiting a classic "small metaphysics" puzzle drawn from physics that launched a thousand ships of grander philosophizing, Imitation of Rigor employs recent insights into the architectures of effective reasoning as a means of explicating how Austin's covert "mechanisms" operate in concrete terms. By these means, the book attempts to reconnect analytic philosophy with the evolving practicalities within science from which many of its grander concerns originally sprang. In doing so, it provides an "alternative history" of how the subject might have developed had the diagnostic insights of its philosopher/scientist forebears (e.g. Heinrich Hertz and Ernst Mach) not been cast aside in the vain pursuit of inappropriate standards of "ersatz rigor".

The Caribbean Environment has been fully revised with a wealth of new topical case study material to match the latest syllabus. Completely up to date, it is the most comprehensive and accessible resource for CSEC geography. It contains questions, mapwork skills and activities, clear explanations, high-quality informative photographs and diagrams. Additional digital resources offer further support as students make progress in their programme of study.

Mark Wilson presents a series of explorations of our strategies for understanding the world. "Physics avoidance" refers to the fact that we frequently cannot reason about nature in the straightforward manner we anticipate, but must seek alternative policies that allow us to address the questions we want answered in a tractable way. Within both science and everyday life, we find ourselves relying upon thought processes that reach useful answers in opaque and roundabout manners. Conceptual innovators are often puzzled by the techniques they develop, when they stumble across reasoning patterns that are easy to implement but difficult to justify. But simple techniques frequently rest upon complex foundations--a young magician learns how to execute a card-guessing trick without understanding how its progressive steps squeeze in on a proper answer. As we collectively improve our inferential skills in this gradually evolving manner, we often wander into unfamiliar explanatory landscapes in which simple words encode physical information in complex and unanticipated ways. Like our juvenile conjurer, we fail to recognize the true strategic rationales underlying our achievements and may turn instead to preposterous rationalizations for our policies. We have learned how to reach better conclusions in a more fruitful way, but we remain baffled by our own successes. At its best, philosophical reflection illuminates the natural developmental processes that generate these confusions and explicates their complexities. But current thinking within philosophy of science and language works to opposite effect by relying upon simplistic conceptions of "cause", "law of nature", "possibility", and "reference" that ignore the strategic complexities in which these concepts become entangled within real life usage. To avoid these distortions, better descriptive tools are required in philosophy. The nine new essays within this volume illustrate this need for finer discriminations through a range of revealing cases, of both historical and contemporary significance.

Written by an experienced team of teachers and examiners, this title offers comprehensive and accessible new full colour text that clearly addresses all of the concepts in the latest CSEC syllabus. Full coverage of the latest syllabus is included with a focus on core social studies concepts which are supported by a variety of stimuli such as diagrams, pictures, texts of important documents, tables, statistics of the region, cartoons and charts. The book features plenty of current Caribbean case studies and guidance on the SBA and includes a CD-ROM with exam-practice questions and PowerPoint presentations. All questions and activities throughout the book are based on the specific objectives of the syllabus and modelled on those set in the examination.

Mark Wilson presents a highly original and broad-ranging investigation of the way we get to grips with the world conceptually, and the way that philosophical problems commonly arise from this. Words such as colour, shape, solidity exemplify the commonplace conceptual tools we employ to describe and order the world around us. But the world's goods are complex in their behaviors and we often overlook the subtle adjustments that our evaluative terms undergo as their usage becomes gradually adapted to different forms of supportive circumstance. Wilson not only explains how these surprising strategies of hidden management operate, but also tells the astonishing story of how faulty schemes and great metaphysical systems sometimes spring from a simple failure to recognize the innocent wanderings to which our descriptive words are heir. Wilson combines traditional philosophical concerns about human conceptual thinking with illuminating data derived from a large variety of fields including physics and applied mathematics, cognitive psychology, and linguistics. Wandering Significance offers abundant new insights and perspectives for philosophers of language, mind, and science, and will also reward the interest of psychologists, linguists, and anyone curious about the mysterious ways in which useful language obtains its practical applicability.

Planning and Managing Smaller Events: Downsizing the Urban Spectacle explores the role of smaller scale events in contributing to the renewal and development of urban societies. This book adopts a case study approach to examine a diverse range of events taking place in towns and cities in Europe, Asia and North America. This volume begins by defining and classifying these kinds of events and then verifying if and how they can provide opportunities for cities and towns without the disadvantages of world-famous large events. It concludes by discussing the growing regional scale of urban phenomena and their transition in post-metropolitan spaces.Planning and Managing Smaller Events: Downsizing the Urban Spectacle will be of interest to government officials and policy makers involved in economic development, urban planning, parks, arts/culture as well as students and researchers interested in urbanism, event management, tourism and recreation.

Planning and Managing Smaller Events: Downsizing the Urban Spectacle explores the role of smaller scale events in contributing to the renewal and development of urban societies. This book adopts a case study approach to examine a diverse range of events taking place in towns and cities in Europe, Asia and North America. This volume begins by defining and classifying these kinds of events and then verifying if and how they can provide opportunities for cities and towns without the disadvantages of world-famous large events. It concludes by discussing the growing regional scale of urban phenomena and their transition in post-metropolitan spaces.Planning and Managing Smaller Events: Downsizing the Urban Spectacle will be of interest to government officials and policy makers involved in economic development, urban planning, parks, arts/culture as well as students and researchers interested in urbanism, event management, tourism and recreation.

Over the past decade smart urban technologies have begun to blanket our cities, forming the backbone of a large intelligent infrastructure. Along with this development, dissemination of the smart cities ideology has had a significant imprint on urban planning and development. Smart Cities and Innovative Urban Technologies focuses on the concepts of smart cities and innovative urban technologies. It contains research that provides insight into spatial formations of information and communication technologies, and knowledge production practices from various perspectives—including analyses of public and private sectors together with NGOs and other stakeholders. It provides a state-of-the-art analysis from multidisciplinary point-of-view in urban studies. Contributions in this edited volume include theoretical developments as well as empirical analyses. This book will be of great use to various audiences including academics as well as practitioners, spatial developers, planners, and public administrators in order to increase understanding of the dynamics and factors effecting smart cities conceptual maturation and their physical emergence. Information generated in these chapters, particularly regarding the challenges and obstacles of smart cities and innovative urban technologies, are intended to be of benefit to the key local actors in making decision in their cities or/and peripheral locations. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Urban Technology.

Over the past decade smart urban technologies have begun to blanket our cities, forming the backbone of a large intelligent infrastructure. Along with this development, dissemination of the smart cities ideology has had a significant imprint on urban planning and development. Smart Cities and Innovative Urban Technologies focuses on the concepts of smart cities and innovative urban technologies. It contains research that provides insight into spatial formations of information and communication technologies, and knowledge production practices from various perspectives—including analyses of public and private sectors together with NGOs and other stakeholders. It provides a state-of-the-art analysis from multidisciplinary point-of-view in urban studies. Contributions in this edited volume include theoretical developments as well as empirical analyses. This book will be of great use to various audiences including academics as well as practitioners, spatial developers, planners, and public administrators in order to increase understanding of the dynamics and factors effecting smart cities conceptual maturation and their physical emergence. Information generated in these chapters, particularly regarding the challenges and obstacles of smart cities and innovative urban technologies, are intended to be of benefit to the key local actors in making decision in their cities or/and peripheral locations. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Urban Technology.

This edited volume gives a new and integrated introduction to item re­ sponse models (predominantly used in measurement applications in psy­ chology, education, and other social science areas) from the viewpoint of the statistical theory of generalized linear and nonlinear mixed models.

Part of the popular Networked Cities series, Urban and Regional Technology Planning focuses on the practice of relational planning and the stimulation of local city-regional scale development planning in the context of the global knowledge economy and network society.Designed to offer scholars, practitioners, and decision makers studies on the ways of cities, technologies, and multiple forms of urban movement intersect and create the contemporary urban environment, Kenneth Corey and Mark Wilson explore the dynamics of technology-induced change that is taking place within the context of the global knowledge economy and network society. Examining first the knowledge economy itself, Wilson and Corey go on to discuss its implications before proposing ways to strategize for future intelligent development, with particular emphasis on the ALERT model for regional and local planning.An important read for those practicing or studying planning in this network society.

Part of the popular Networked Cities series, Urban and Regional Technology Planning focuses on the practice of relational planning and the stimulation of local city-regional scale development planning in the context of the global knowledge economy and network society.Designed to offer scholars, practitioners, and decision makers studies on the ways of cities, technologies, and multiple forms of urban movement intersect and create the contemporary urban environment, Kenneth Corey and Mark Wilson explore the dynamics of technology-induced change that is taking place within the context of the global knowledge economy and network society. Examining first the knowledge economy itself, Wilson and Corey go on to discuss its implications before proposing ways to strategize for future intelligent development, with particular emphasis on the ALERT model for regional and local planning.An important read for those practicing or studying planning in this network society.

Roman consuls were routinely trained by background and experience to handle the usual problems of a twelve-month turn in office. But what if a crisis arose that wasn’t best met by whoever happened to be in office that year? The Romans had a mechanism for that: the dictatorship, an alternative emergency executive post that granted total, unanswerable power to that man who was best suited to resolve the crisis and then stand down, restoring normality. This office was so useful and effective that it was invoked at least 85 times across three centuries against every kind of serious problem, from conspiracies and insurgencies to the repelling of invaders to propitiation of the gods.In Dictator: The Evolution of the Roman Dictatorship, Mark B. Wilson makes the first detailed and comprehensive examination of the role and evolution of the dictatorship as an integral element of the Roman Republic. Each stage of a dictatorship—need, call, choice, invocation, mandate, imperium, answerability, colleague, and renunciation—is explored, with examples and case studies illustrating the dictators’ rigorous adherence to a set of core principles, or, in rare cases of deviation, showing how exceptions tended to demonstrate the rule as vividly as instances. Wilson also charts the flexibility of the dictatorship as it adapted to the needs of the Republic, reshaping its role in relation to the consuls, the senate, and the people.The routine use of the dictatorship is only part of the story. The abandonment and disuse of the dictatorship for 120 years, its revival under Sulla, and its appropriation and transformation under Caesar are all examined in detail, with attention paid to what the dictatorship meant to the Romans of the late Republic, alternative means of crisis resolution in contrast with the dictatorship, and the groundwork laid in those last two centuries for that which was to come. Dictator provides a new basis for discussion and debate relating to the Roman dictatorship, Roman crisis management, and the systems and institutions of the Roman Republic.

**Finalist in the Outstanding Music Education Print Resource Category for the 2025 Music & Drama Education Awards**Stringtastic Beginners is a fun new series designed to teach through playing in an engaging exploration of musical styles. A fully integrated series, violin, viola, cello and double bass can all learn and play together in any combination. Each book contains over 40 imaginative pieces to steadily establish a secure playing technique and build confidence, one step at a time, taking the student from complete beginner (open strings) to playing the notes of the D major scale. The first 20 pieces comprise two independent tunes that can be played as duets – one for open strings and a more advanced part using the left-hand fingers, which students can revisit as they progress. Ideal for individual and group tuition as well as flexible ensemble and classroom settings. Every piece is supported by an exciting backing track plus a piano-only track for practice, all available to download. Plus, the teacher’s book provides the complete piano accompaniments which work with any combination of instrumental parts.Mark Wilson and Paul Wood have developed an engaging and accessible new series of string-playing method books… The presentation will appeal to young learners, and the careful, well-conceived pedagogy will thrill their teachers! Furthermore, the Stringtastic integrated approach gives proper deference to the social aspect of music-making by allowing violinists, violists, cellists, and bassists to play together from the start. I look forward to sharing this method with my young students and colleagues in early music education.Dr. Mark Elliot Bergman, Director of Strings and Orchestral Studies, Sheridan College.

**Finalist in the Outstanding Music Education Print Resource Category for the 2025 Music & Drama Education Awards**Stringtastic Beginners is a fun new series designed to teach through playing in an engaging exploration of musical styles. A fully integrated series, violin, viola, cello and double bass can all learn and play together in any combination. Each book contains over 40 imaginative pieces to steadily establish a secure playing technique and build confidence, one step at a time, taking the student from complete beginner (open strings) to playing the notes of the D major scale. The first 20 pieces comprise two independent tunes that can be played as duets – one for open strings and a more advanced part using the left-hand fingers, which students can revisit as they progress. Ideal for individual and group tuition as well as flexible ensemble and classroom settings. Every piece is supported by an exciting backing track plus a piano-only track for practice, all available to download. Plus, the teacher’s book provides the complete piano accompaniments which work with any combination of instrumental parts.Mark Wilson and Paul Wood have developed an engaging and accessible new series of string-playing method books… The presentation will appeal to young learners, and the careful, well-conceived pedagogy will thrill their teachers! Furthermore, the Stringtastic integrated approach gives proper deference to the social aspect of music-making by allowing violinists, violists, cellists, and bassists to play together from the start. I look forward to sharing this method with my young students and colleagues in early music education.Dr. Mark Elliot Bergman, Director of Strings and Orchestral Studies, Sheridan College.

**Finalist in the Outstanding Music Education Print Resource Category for the 2025 Music & Drama Education Awards**Stringtastic Beginners is a fun new series designed to teach through playing in an engaging exploration of musical styles. A fully integrated series, violin, viola, cello and double bass can all learn and play together in any combination. Each book contains over 40 imaginative pieces to steadily establish a secure playing technique and build confidence, one step at a time, taking the student from complete beginner (open strings) to playing the notes of the D major scale. The first 20 pieces comprise two independent tunes that can be played as duets – one for open strings and a more advanced part using the left-hand fingers, which students can revisit as they progress. Ideal for individual and group tuition as well as flexible ensemble and classroom settings. Every piece is supported by an exciting backing track plus a piano-only track for practice, all available to download. Plus, the teacher’s book provides the complete piano accompaniments which work with any combination of instrumental parts.Mark Wilson and Paul Wood have developed an engaging and accessible new series of string-playing method books… The presentation will appeal to young learners, and the careful, well-conceived pedagogy will thrill their teachers! Furthermore, the Stringtastic integrated approach gives proper deference to the social aspect of music-making by allowing violinists, violists, cellists, and bassists to play together from the start. I look forward to sharing this method with my young students and colleagues in early music education.Dr. Mark Elliot Bergman, Director of Strings and Orchestral Studies, Sheridan College.

**Finalist in the Outstanding Music Education Print Resource Category for the 2025 Music & Drama Education Awards**Stringtastic Beginners is a fun new series designed to teach through playing in an engaging exploration of musical styles. A fully integrated series, violin, viola, cello and double bass can all learn and play together in any combination. Each book contains over 40 imaginative pieces to steadily establish a secure playing technique and build confidence, one step at a time, taking the student from complete beginner (open strings) to playing the notes of the D major scale. The first 20 pieces comprise two independent tunes that can be played as duets – one for open strings and a more advanced part using the left-hand fingers, which students can revisit as they progress. Ideal for individual and group tuition as well as flexible ensemble and classroom settings. Every piece is supported by an exciting backing track plus a piano-only track for practice, all available to download. Plus, the teacher’s book provides the complete piano accompaniments which work with any combination of instrumental parts.Mark Wilson and Paul Wood have developed an engaging and accessible new series of string-playing method books… The presentation will appeal to young learners, and the careful, well-conceived pedagogy will thrill their teachers! Furthermore, the Stringtastic integrated approach gives proper deference to the social aspect of music-making by allowing violinists, violists, cellists, and bassists to play together from the start. I look forward to sharing this method with my young students and colleagues in early music education.Dr. Mark Elliot Bergman, Director of Strings and Orchestral Studies, Sheridan College.This entertaining book of 57 original pieces, composed by Wilson and Wood, is appealing to youngsters. Cute illustrations and amusing lyrics set to the music help foster a sense of rhythm.Marian Heckenberg, Stringendo Magazine, April 2024

**Finalist in the Outstanding Music Education Print Resource Category for the 2025 Music & Drama Education Awards**Stringtastic Beginners is a fun new series designed to teach through playing in an engaging exploration of musical styles. A fully integrated series, violin, viola, cello and double bass can all learn and play together in any combination. Each book contains over 40 imaginative pieces to steadily establish a secure playing technique and build confidence, one step at a time, taking the student from complete beginner (open strings) to playing the notes of the D major scale. The first 20 pieces comprise two independent tunes that can be played as duets – one for open strings and a more advanced part using the left-hand fingers, which students can revisit as they progress. Ideal for individual and group tuition as well as flexible ensemble and classroom settings. Every piece is supported by an exciting backing track plus a piano-only track for practice, all available to download.This Teacher’s Accompaniment book provides the complete piano accompaniments which work with any combination of instrumental parts.Mark Wilson and Paul Wood have developed an engaging and accessible new series of string-playing method books… The presentation will appeal to young learners, and the careful, well-conceived pedagogy will thrill their teachers! Furthermore, the Stringtastic integrated approach gives proper deference to the social aspect of music-making by allowing violinists, violists, cellists, and bassists to play together from the start. I look forward to sharing this method with my young students and colleagues in early music education.Dr. Mark Elliot Bergman, Director of Strings and Orchestral Studies, Sheridan College.

Now in her mid-forties, Kathleen sits anxiously waiting for the arrival of the man whom she gave up for adoption thirty years before. Years spent insulating herself against the pain of separation and loss fall away 'like bricks in a flood wall' as she allows herself to recall the events of that time with a clarity that brings each of her story's characters to life.Central to the play is Kathleen's relationship with her son - the baby whom she only knew "...for six short weeks" and the grown man, "...parking somewhere now, I expect. Getting out of his car, looking at the houses. Looking at this house". You is about loss and the way it has shaped Kathleen's life. It is also about its impact upon her family and everyone else who found themselves a part of her story.

LONGLISTED FOR THE COLIN RODERICK AWARD 2021Molly and her father have emigrated to Australia to try their luck as gold prospectors in Ballarat, Victoria. Life on the diggings is hard and Molly misses her mother, who died before they left England. A Chinese teenager, Chen, shows Molly and her Papa how to pan for gold and helps them when their food and money run out. Not everyone on the goldfields is friendly, however. Chen and other Chinese diggers are often bullied and the police lock up miners who haven't paid the exorbitant gold licence fee. Before long, Molly, Papa and Chen are caught up in a protest that will become known as the Eureka Rebellion - a legendary battle that will profoundly affect them all.From award-winning author and illustrator Mark Wilson, this powerful story is inspired by real people and historical events.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE SPEECH PATHOLOGY AUSTRALIA BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR AGES 8-10 AWARD 2023Growing up on a farm in country Victoria, all Rachel wants is to help people. When war comes, she travels to distant Europe and the Middle East, working tirelessly to care for wounded and sick soldiers from the battlefields of Gallipoli and the Western Front.Inspired by the life of Rachel Pratt, a World War I Australian army nurse who was awarded the Military Medal for bravery, this is an incredible story of bravery and sacrifice.

The ultimate book of magic for kids from a world-famous magician, complete with photographs for easy to follow instructions. From one of the world's premier practitioners of classic magic, with years of experience instructing younger readers in the magical arts, comes this new revision of his complete guide to learning and performing fantastic feats of prestidigitation. Acclaimed by the Los Angeles Times as "the text that young magicians swear by," it's full of step-by-step instructions. More than 2,000 illustrations provide the know-how behind 300 techniques, from basic card tricks to advanced levitation, along with advice on planning and staging a professional-quality magic show.

Constructing Measures introduces a way to understand the advantages and disadvantages of measurement instruments. It explains the ways to use such instruments, and how to apply these methods to develop new instruments or adapt old ones, based on item response modeling and construct references. Now in its second edition, this book focuses on the steps taken while constructing an instrument, and breaks down the "building blocks" that make up an instrument—the construct map, the design plan for the items, the outcome space, and the statistical measurement model. The material covers a variety of item formats, including multiple-choice, open-ended, and performance items, projects, portfolios, Likert and Guttman items, behavioral observations, and interview protocols. Each chapter includes an overview of the key concepts, related resources for further investigation, and exercises and activities. A variety of examples from the behavioral and social sciences and education—including achievement and performance testing, attitude measures, health measures, and general sociological scales—demonstrate the application of the material. New to this edition are additional example contexts including a cognitive/achievement example, an attitude example, and a behavioral example and new concentrations on specific measurement issues and practices such as standard-setting, computer-delivery and reporting, and going beyond the Likert response format.Constructing Measures is an invaluable text for undergraduate and graduate courses on item, test, or instrument development; measurement; item response theory; or Rasch analysis taught in a variety of departments, including education, statistics, and psychology. The book also appeals to practitioners who develop instruments, including industrial/organizational, educational, and school psychologists; health outcomes researchers; program evaluators; and sociological measurers.

Constructing Measures introduces a way to understand the advantages and disadvantages of measurement instruments. It explains the ways to use such instruments, and how to apply these methods to develop new instruments or adapt old ones, based on item response modeling and construct references. Now in its second edition, this book focuses on the steps taken while constructing an instrument, and breaks down the "building blocks" that make up an instrument—the construct map, the design plan for the items, the outcome space, and the statistical measurement model. The material covers a variety of item formats, including multiple-choice, open-ended, and performance items, projects, portfolios, Likert and Guttman items, behavioral observations, and interview protocols. Each chapter includes an overview of the key concepts, related resources for further investigation, and exercises and activities. A variety of examples from the behavioral and social sciences and education—including achievement and performance testing, attitude measures, health measures, and general sociological scales—demonstrate the application of the material. New to this edition are additional example contexts including a cognitive/achievement example, an attitude example, and a behavioral example and new concentrations on specific measurement issues and practices such as standard-setting, computer-delivery and reporting, and going beyond the Likert response format.Constructing Measures is an invaluable text for undergraduate and graduate courses on item, test, or instrument development; measurement; item response theory; or Rasch analysis taught in a variety of departments, including education, statistics, and psychology. The book also appeals to practitioners who develop instruments, including industrial/organizational, educational, and school psychologists; health outcomes researchers; program evaluators; and sociological measurers.

Classroom Assessment: Research and Innovation, highlights recent research focused on classroom assessment, through a selection of articles published within the past decade in the journal, Educational Assessment.The volume provides an opportunity to reach a broader audience than through journal subscriptions alone, with timely information about research in the area, and to consider the important role that classroom assessment plays in a balanced assessment system. The eight articles in this volume collectively provide the reader with a comprehensive range of contemporary studies being conducted on the assessment that is taking place in classrooms to support teaching and learning. It illustrates how the field can center classroom assessment in balanced assessment systems and showcases the breadth of methodologies and topics in this area, aiming to spark additional interest and innovations in the field.This book will be an important asset to researchers and scholars of education, while also being an important tool for teachers and educational policymakers.