Status Games

Status Games PDF

Author: Loretta Graziano Breuning

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2021-09-08

Total Pages: 191

ISBN-13: 1538144204

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Rewire your brain to avoid the trap of comparison and status-seeking to achieve more contentment and satisfaction from life People care about status despite their best intentions because our brains are inherited from animals who cared about status. The survival value of status in the state of nature helps us understand our intense emotions about status today. Beneath your verbal brain, you have the brain common to all mammals. It rewards you with pleasure hormones when you see yourself in a position of strength, and it alarms you with stress hormones when you see yourself in a position of weakness. But constant striving for status can be anxiety-provoking and joy-stealing. Nothing feels like enough to our mammal brain. It releases those stress chemicals when you think others are ahead of you. Here, Loretta Breuning shines a light on the brain processes that encourage us to seek higher status. She teaches us how to rewire those connections for more contentment and less stress. No more worrying about keeping up with the Joneses. Your new way of thinking will blaze new trails to your happy hormones and you will RELAX.

Status Games Why We Play and H

Status Games Why We Play and H PDF

Author: Loretta G. BREUNING

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Published: 2021-09-08

Total Pages: 208

ISBN-13: 9781538144190

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People care about status despite their best intentions because our brains are wired this way. But playing status games can be stressful, anxiety-provoking, and joy-stealing. Learn to rewire your brain to replace the trap of social comparison with joy of self-confidence.

Seven Games: A Human History

Seven Games: A Human History PDF

Author: Oliver Roeder

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Published: 2022-01-25

Total Pages: 326

ISBN-13: 1324003782

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A group biography of seven enduring and beloved games, and the story of why—and how—we play them. Checkers, backgammon, chess, and Go. Poker, Scrabble, and bridge. These seven games, ancient and modern, fascinate millions of people worldwide. In Seven Games, Oliver Roeder charts their origins and historical importance, the delightful arcana of their rules, and the ways their design makes them pleasurable. Roeder introduces thrilling competitors, such as evangelical minister Marion Tinsley, who across forty years lost only three games of checkers; Shusai, the Master, the last Go champion of imperial Japan, defending tradition against “modern rationalism”; and an IBM engineer who created a backgammon program so capable at self-learning that NASA used it on the space shuttle. He delves into the history and lore of each game: backgammon boards in ancient Egypt, the Indian origins of chess, how certain shells from a particular beach in Japan make the finest white Go stones. Beyond the cultural and personal stories, Roeder explores why games, seemingly trivial pastimes, speak so deeply to the human soul. He introduces an early philosopher of games, the aptly named Bernard Suits, and visits an Oxford cosmologist who has perfected a computer that can effectively play bridge, a game as complicated as human language itself. Throughout, Roeder tells the compelling story of how humans, pursuing scientific glory and competitive advantage, have invented AI programs better than any human player, and what that means for the games—and for us. Funny, fascinating, and profound, Seven Games is a story of obsession, psychology, history, and how play makes us human.

Probability and Simulation

Probability and Simulation PDF

Author: Giray Ökten

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2020-10-15

Total Pages: 152

ISBN-13: 3030560708

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This undergraduate textbook presents an inquiry-based learning course in stochastic models and computing designed to serve as a first course in probability. Its modular structure complements a traditional lecture format, introducing new topics chapter by chapter with accompanying projects for group collaboration. The text addresses probability axioms leading to Bayes’ theorem, discrete and continuous random variables, Markov chains, and Brownian motion, as well as applications including randomized algorithms, randomized surveys, Benford’s law, and Monte Carlo methods. Adopting a unique application-driven approach to better study probability in action, the book emphasizes data, simulation, and games to strengthen reader insight and intuition while proving theorems. Additionally, the text incorporates codes and exercises in the Julia programming language to further promote a hands-on focus in modelling. Students should have prior knowledge of single variable calculus. Giray Ökten received his PhD from Claremont Graduate University. He has held academic positions at University of Alaska Fairbanks, Ball State University, and Florida State University. He received a Fulbright U.S. Scholar award in 2015. He is the author of an open access textbook in numerical analysis, First Semester in Numerical Analysis with Julia, published by Florida State University Libraries, and a co-author of a children’s math book, The Mathematical Investigations of Dr. O and Arya, published by Tumblehome. His research interests include Monte Carlo methods and computational finance.

From Sofia to Jaffa

From Sofia to Jaffa PDF

Author: Guy H. Haskell

Publisher: Wayne State University Press

Published: 2018-02-05

Total Pages: 256

ISBN-13: 0814344054

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Within two years of the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, an astounding 45,000 of Bulgaria’s 50,000 Jews left voluntarily for Israel. This mass exodus was remarkable considering that Bulgaria was the only Axis power to prevent the deportation of its Jews to the death camps during World War II. After their arrival in Israel, the Jews of Bulgaria were recognized as a model immigrant group in a fledgling state attempting to absorb hundreds of thousands of newcomers from more than eighty countries. They became known for their independence, self-reliance, honesty, and hard work. From Sofia to Jaffa chronicles the fascinating saga of a population relocated, a story that has not been told until now. Beginning with a study of the community in Bulgaria and the factors that motivated them to leave their homeland, this book documents the journey of the Bulgarian Jews to Israel and their adaptation to life there.

Why We Play

Why We Play PDF

Author: Roberte Hamayon

Publisher: Hau

Published: 2016

Total Pages: 343

ISBN-13: 9780986132568

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Play is one of humanity's straightforward yet deceitful ideas: though the notion is unanimously agreed upon to be universal, used for man and animal alike, nothing defines what all its manifestations share, from childish playtime to on stage drama, from sporting events to market speculation. Within the author's anthropological field of work (Mongolia and Siberia), playing holds a core position: national holidays are called "Games," echoing in that way the circus games in Ancient Rome and today's Olympics. These games convey ethical values and local identity. Roberte Hamayon bases her analysis of the playing spectrum on their scrutiny. Starting from fighting and dancing, encompassing learning, interaction, emotion and strategy, this study heads towards luck and belief as well as the ambiguity of the relation to fiction and reality. It closes by indicating two features of play: its margin and its metaphorical structure. Ultimately revealing its consistency and coherence, the author displays play as a modality of action of its own. "Playing is no 'doing' in the ordinary sense" once wrote Johan Huizinga. Isn't playing doing something else, elswhere and otherwise ?

The Cultural Experience

The Cultural Experience PDF

Author: David W. McCurdy

Publisher: Waveland Press

Published: 2004-11-03

Total Pages: 201

ISBN-13: 1478609605

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The Cultural Experience has helped generations of undergraduates discover the excitement of ethnographic research through participation in relatively familiar cultures in North American society. Grounded in the interviewing-based ethnographic technique known as ethnosemantics, the latest edition continues to treat ethnography as a discovery process. Students are taught how to set up an ethnographic field study, choose a microculture, and find and approach an informant, as well as how to ask ethnographic questions, record data, and organize and analyze what they have learned. Detailed instruction on how to write an ethnography is also provided. The guidelines are followed by ten short but substantive, well-written student ethnographies on such microcultures as exotic dancing, firefighting, pest extermination, and the work of midwives and police detectives. The Second Edition of this popular classroom volume includes boxed inserts that offer suggestions to aid in the research process, material on how to use observation and narratives with the ethnosemantic approach, an emphasis on how to find cultural themes and adaptive challenges by analyzing ethnographic field data, and extensive strategies for writing the final ethnographic paper. It also presents a comprehensive treatment of ethical responsibilities as well as a discussion of the significance of ethnographic research and its applications in the workplace.

Game Theory

Game Theory PDF

Author: E. N. Barron

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2011-02-14

Total Pages: 437

ISBN-13: 1118030656

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A fundamental introduction to modern game theory from a mathematical viewpoint Game theory arises in almost every fact of human and inhuman interaction since oftentimes during these communications objectives are opposed or cooperation is viewed as an option. From economics and finance to biology and computer science, researchers and practitioners are often put in complex decision-making scenarios, whether they are interacting with each other or working with evolving technology and artificial intelligence. Acknowledging the role of mathematics in making logical and advantageous decisions, Game Theory: An Introduction uses modern software applications to create, analyze, and implement effective decision-making models. While most books on modern game theory are either too abstract or too applied, this book provides a balanced treatment of the subject that is both conceptual and hands-on. Game Theory introduces readers to the basic theories behind games and presents real-world examples from various fields of study such as economics, political science, military science, finance, biological science as well as general game playing. A unique feature of this book is the use of Maple to find the values and strategies of games, and in addition, it aids in the implementation of algorithms for the solution or visualization of game concepts. Maple is also utilized to facilitate a visual learning environment of game theory and acts as the primary tool for the calculation of complex non-cooperative and cooperative games. Important game theory topics are presented within the following five main areas of coverage: Two-person zero sum matrix games Nonzero sum games and the reduction to nonlinear programming Cooperative games, including discussion of both the Nucleolus concept and the Shapley value Bargaining, including threat strategies Evolutionary stable strategies and population games Although some mathematical competence is assumed, appendices are provided to act as a refresher of the basic concepts of linear algebra, probability, and statistics. Exercises are included at the end of each section along with algorithms for the solution of the games to help readers master the presented information. Also, explicit Maple and Mathematica® commands are included in the book and are available as worksheets via the book's related Web site. The use of this software allows readers to solve many more advanced and interesting games without spending time on the theory of linear and nonlinear programming or performing other complex calculations. With extensive examples illustrating game theory's wide range of relevance, this classroom-tested book is ideal for game theory courses in mathematics, engineering, operations research, computer science, and economics at the upper-undergraduate level. It is also an ideal companion for anyone who is interested in the applications of game theory.

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