Open Monographs

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https://hdl.handle.net/11299/188696

These monographs are published by University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing and are available for unrestricted download. For additional information about copyright and reuse licenses, please see the front matter of each book.

Many of these books are available for purchase. For more information visit: www.lib.umn.edu/publishing/monographs

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Now showing 1 - 17 of 17

Statistics for Ecologists: A Frequentist and Bayesian Treatment of Modern Regression Models
(University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing, 2024-01) Fieberg, John R
Ecological data pose many challenges to statistical inference. Most data come from observational studies rather than designed experiments; observational units are frequently sampled repeatedly over time, resulting in multiple, non-independent measurements; response data are often binary (e.g., presence-absence data) or non-negative integers (e.g., counts), and therefore, the data do not fit the standard assumptions of linear regression (Normality, independence, and constant variance). This book will familiarize readers with modern statistical methods that address these complexities using both frequentist and Bayesian frameworks.
Equilibrium Displacement Models: Theory, Applications, & Policy Analysis
(University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing, 2023-07) Brester, Gary W; Atwood, Joseph A; Boland, Michael A
Applied economists frequently use equilibrium displacement models (EDMs), also termed linear elasticity models, for policy analyses because they can be used to estimate changes in prices and quantities that result from exogenous economic or policy shocks. These models are also widely used to estimate changes in producer and consumer surplus caused by exogenous economic shocks and to quantify the short- and long-term impacts of a variety of economic and regulatory actions across multiple markets. For the first time, a textbook that contains all of the theory and applications of EDMs along with a set of spreadsheet files is available in one place.
The Best Laid Schemes o’ Mice an’ Woman: Anatomy and Autopsy of an Evaluation Institute
(University of Minnesota Libraries, 2022-09) King, Jean
The Minnesota Evaluation Studies Institute (MESI) at the University of Minnesota served graduate students, faculty, and community members for 23 years (1996–2019), providing evaluator education, community- and University-based consultancies, and evaluation resources. For four of those years (2011–2015), MESI die-hards made a concerted effort to create a sustainable, self-funded institute that could survive in the context of a research university. They were, finally, unsuccessful. This is the story of what happened before, during, and after those years until the combination of the Director’s retirement and a global pandemic led to MESI’s ending in permanent hiatus. Content includes grounding in the evaluator education literature, a history and detailed description of the Institute, the logic on which it was built, and criteria and indicators for its success. The author discusses the positives and negatives of the experience and provides a Top Ten list of recommendations for others considering creating a similar structure.
Recommended Methods of Manure Analysis, Second Edition
(University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing, 2022) Wilson, Melissa L.; Cortus, Scott; Brimmer, Rachel; Floren, Jerry; Gunderson, Larry; Hicks, Kristin; Hoerner, Tim; Lessl, Jason; Meinen, Robert J.; Miller, Robert O.; Mowrer, Jake; Porter, Jeffrey; Spargo, John T.; Thayer, Brian; Vocasek, Fred
The Recommended Methods of Manure Analysis is a comprehensive source of standardized methods for sampling, processing, and analysis of mineral constituents of livestock manure samples for agricultural and horticultural use. The second edition builds upon the previous edition and describes the most up-to-date and widely used techniques used in commercial laboratories in the United States and Canada. It provides step-by-step protocols for each laboratory analysis method, including method performance and laboratory quality assurance and quality control procedures. Details about the Manure Analysis Proficiency Program, the first national laboratory proficiency testing program of its kind for manure, are included to round out this resource for livestock manure testing.
Linear Regression Using R: An Introduction to Data Modeling, 2nd Edition
(University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing, 2022) Lilja, David J; Linse, Greta M
Linear Regression Using R: An Introduction to Data Modeling, 2nd Edition presents one of the fundamental data modeling techniques in an informal tutorial style. Learn how to predict system outputs from measured data using a detailed step-by-step process to develop, train, and test reliable regression models. Key modeling and programming concepts are intuitively described using the R programming language. All of the necessary resources are freely available online.
Quantitative Ecology: A New Unified Approach
(University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing, 2019-07) Lehman, Clarence; Loberg, Shelby; Clark, Adam
Quantitative Ecology introduces and discusses the principles of ecology from populations to ecosystems including human populations, disease, exotic organisms, habitat fragmentation, biodiversity and global dynamics. The book also reformulates and unifies ecological equations making them more accessible to the reader and easier to teach.
Writing Boxes: The Reading/Writing Connection in Libraries
(University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing, 2019-07-15) Von Drasek, Lisa
Writing Boxes: The Reading/Writing Connection in Libraries is a guidebook and source of programming inspiration for all librarians working with early to young adult readers. Librarians will find thematic, easy to implement, hour-long writing workshops that require only paper, markers, and excited young writers. Writing Boxes further explores the essential connection between reading and writing by pairing each workshop with mentor texts to model writing, providing librarians with exemplary books to spark writing responses across genres, formats, and curricula.
The ABC of It: Why Children's Books Matter
(University of Minnesota, 2019-02-15) Marcus, Leonard S.; Von Drasek, Lisa
For fourteen months beginning in June 2013, the New York Public Library hosted an exhibition about the role of children’s books in world culture and in our lives. Now with this book, a collaboration between the University of Minnesota’s Kerlan Collection of Children’s Literature and children’s literature historian Leonard Marcus, the nostalgia and vision of that exhibit can be experienced anywhere.
2018 Directory of Evaluator Education Programs in the United States
(University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing, 2018-10) LaVelle, John M.
The 2018 directory of evaluator education programs in the United States, complete with all available curricular information, organized by location, and with an introduction on applying to graduate programs in evaluation.
Otolaryngology at the University of Minnesota: 1888-2018
(University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing, 2018-09) Wilson, Kent
Otolaryngology at the University of Minnesota: 1888–2018 is an engaging story of the 130-year development of the medical specialty at the University of Minnesota. This book covers the program’s early days in a near-frontier setting, to its rise in becoming a regional and national leader of research and specialty medical education. Editor Kent Wilson, MD, walks readers through the program’s early history, from the first Professor of Eye & Ear, John F. Fulton, MD, PhD, to current development of advanced fellowship training in Facial Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery, Pediatric Otolaryngology, and Neurotology. All in all this book provides a contemporary look at otolaryngology — past, present, and future.
Innovative Learning and Teaching: Experiments Across the Disciplines
(University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing, 2017-11) Alexander, Ilene D.; Poch, Robert K.
The authors collected in Innovations in Learning and Teaching are faculty and instructors from various University of Minnesota campuses, each part of a team that successfully completed university-funded grant projects with teaching and technology consultants. Here, several faculty extend the conversation through scholarship of learning and teaching articles. Readers, including future faculty, as well as current instructors, faculty, administrators, regents and legislators, will benefit from the authors’ attention to learners, complex learning, practicable pedagogy, and curricular experimentation.
An Introduction to Cooperation and Mutualism
(University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing, 2017-12) Boland, Michael
This textbook introduces readers to the idea of cooperation and mutualism. Cooperatives and mutuals are participatory organizations in which members participate in control and governance, receive economic benefits through patronage refunds or net income, and become owners through equity. These mutual-benefit organizations exist alongside non-profit organizations and investor-benefit organizations through the global economy.
A Field Guide to Ripple Effects Mapping
(University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing, 2017-10) Chazdon, Scott; Emery, Mary; Hansen, Debra; Higgins, Lorie; Sero, Rebecca
The second volume in the Minnesota Evaluation Studies Institute Program Evaluation Series focuses on the emerging evaluation technique of Ripple Effects Mapping (REM). This participatory data collection method is designed to capture the impact of complex programs and collaborative processes. Well-suited for evaluating group-focused efforts, Ripple Effects Mapping involves aspects of Appreciative Inquiry, mind mapping, facilitated discussion, and qualitative data analysis. As the REM process unfolds, the intended and unintended impacts of participant efforts are visually displayed in a way that encourages discussion and engagement. Using these visuals, plus other graphics, pictures, and real-life examples of how Ripple Effects Mapping has been successfully used in multiple settings, this book provides a comprehensive overview of REM. Providing an in-depth examination of the origins, elements, and how-to of the REM process, the Field Guide to Ripple Effects Mapping is a step by-step guide to successfully implementing this process with a group, collaboration, or community of choice.
A How-to Manual for the Graduate Review and Improvement Process
(University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing, 2017-09) Hakkola, Leah; Moon, Doug; Ginger, Michelle
The inaugural volume of the Minnesota Evaluation Studies Institute (MESI) Program Evaluation Series features the Graduate Review and Improvement Process (GRIP). GRIP is an innovative student-centered process designed to develop actionable steps to enhance student success in graduate programs. MESI staff, primarily graduate students in the Evaluation Studies program, developed and implemented the process in consultation with the University of Minnesota Graduate School as an alternative to the traditional University external review process that typically occurs every five to ten years and produces largely quantitative information about a program (for example, time to degree, retention, and number of publications). With its commitment to active student involvement in the evaluation, GRIP can serve as a complementary process to external monitoring and surveying, one that allows students and program leaders to assess the quality of their curriculum, advising, instruction, and related services and to devise realistic plans to improve them.
From Digitalis to Ziagen: The University of Minnesota's Department of Medicinal Chemistry
(University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing, 2012) Abul-Hajj, Yusuf J.; Broderick, Richard
A comprehensive history of Medicinal Chemistry beginning with the founding of the University of Minnesota’s College of Pharmacy in 1892 until today. In turn that same period of time—1892 to 2012—also represents the most revolutionary era in the history of the entire discipline of medicinal chemistry, witnessing the transformation of the field from an artisanal, trial-and-error approach to isolating and testing therapeutic elements in natural elements to today’s high-tech, computer-assisted discovery and design of new, targeted drugs.
Nostalgia: Sanctuary of Meaning
(University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing, 2014) Wilson, Janelle L
In writing this book, Dr. Janelle L Wilson, Professor in the Department of Sociology/Anthropology at the University of Minnesota Duluth, explores the concept (and experience) of nostalgia. This work brings together research Dr. Wilson carried out over the past several years. In writing the book, she hopes to place the body of research in a framework, make meaning of it, and share it with you, the reader. Dr. Wilson challenges readers to think about their own experience of nostalgia and how it may (or may not) fit with the ideas presented here.
Ong for Everybody: An Introduction to Walter J. Ong's Groundbreaking Technology Thesis and an Annotated Classified Bibliography of Selected Related Works
(University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing, 2014) Farrell, Thomas, J
Thomas J. Farrell is a professor Emeritus in the Department of Writing Studies at the University of Minnesota Duluth. Ong for Everybody includes an accessible introduction and annotations to the works of Walter J. Ong, S.J. (1912-2003), an American cultural historian and philosopher.