This book is designed to introduce doctoral and graduate students to the process of conducting scientific research in the social sciences, business, education, public health, and related disciplines. It is a one-stop, comprehensive, and compact source for foundational concepts in behavioral research, and can serve as a stand-alone text or as a supplement to research readings in any doctoral seminar or research methods class. This book is currently used as a research text at universities on six continents and will shortly be available in nine different languages.

Topics include agricultural development, basic needs, development strategy and planning, economic development and policy, employment, food production, housing needs, income distribution and industrialization. Indexes are divided by references, authors, corporate authors, subject and geographical aspects.

Human wellbeing relies upon the availability and wise management of food, energy and water. The interconnections between these resources make clear that the management of each of them cannot be considered in isolation but in an integrated and holistic way. This report presents the results of the application of an integrated analysis approach, the Multi-Scale Integrated Assessment of Society and Ecosystem Metabolism to three case studies: an analysis of the option to produce biofuel from sugarcane in the Republic of Mauritius; an exploration of the future of grain production in the Indian state of Punjab; an assessment of two alternative energy sources to produce electricity in the Republic of South Africa.