Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Professional Software Development or Budgeting Basics and Beyond

Professional Software Development: Shorter Schedules, Higher Quality Products, More Successful Projects, Enhanced Careers

Author: Steve McConnell

Can you deliver 90% of your software on time, within budget, and fully meet the user's real requirements? Would you like to? Best-selling author Steve McConnell provides a compelling argument for turning software success into an everyday habit by advancing the software profession itself—at the individual, organizational, and industry levels. Expanding on the contents of his previous book After the Gold Rush, the author dispels common myths of software development.

If you are a programmer, software developer, engineer, or work in software development, you should READ THIS BOOK.

Why do so many companies use outdated and ineffective software development practices? See page 103

What is "cargo cult" software development, and who uses it? See page 23

How large is the return on investment for better software practices? Can you prove it? See page 115

How do you create career paths for software professionals? See page 143

Which affects projects more--good personnel or good process? See page 135

How much difference is there between the worst software companies and the best? See page xv



Book review: Getting Interviews or Project Management for Information Systems

Budgeting Basics and Beyond

Author: Jae K Shim

Budgeting Basics and Beyond, Second Edition provides managers with a hassle-free resource that’s guaranteed to make the budgeting process easier, less stressful, and more effective. This updated edition features new information on service and nonprofit applications, types of financial models, Web-based budgeting and planning solutions, and much more. From preparing and presenting budgets to monitoring results against budget figures and handling any budget problem that comes up, this Second Edition is a go-to reference for every budgeting issue. Packed with case studies, illustrations, exhibits, forms, checklists, graphs, samples, and worked-out solutions to a wide variety of budgeting, planning, and control problems, this Second Edition is both a handy desk reference and problem-solver for today’s financial and nonfinancial managers in public practice and private industry.



Table of Contents:
1The what and why of budgeting : an introduction1
2Strategic planning and budgeting : process, preparation and control21
3Administering the budget : reports, analyses, and evaluations35
4Break-even and contribution margin analysis : profit, cost, and volume changes45
5Profit planning : targeting and reaching achievable goals63
6Master budget : genesis of forecasting and profit planning77
7Cost behavior : emphasis on flexible budgets95
8Evaluating performance : the use of variance analysis105
9Manufacturing costs : sales forecasts and realistic budgets155
10Marketing : budgeting for sales, advertising, and distribution167
11Research and development : budgets for a long-term plan185
12General and administrative costs : budgets for maximum productivity197
13Capital expenditures : assets to be bought, sold, and discarded201
14Forecasting and planning : reducing risk in decision making227
15Moving averages and smoothing techniques : quantitative forecasting235
16Regression analysis : popular sales forecast system245
17Cash budgeting and forecasting cash flow : two pragmatic methods255
18Financial modeling : tools for budgeting and profit planning267
19Software packages : computer-based models and spreadsheet software279
20Capital budgeting : selecting the optimum long-term investment291
21Zero-base budgeting : priority budgeting for best resource allocation331
22Managers' performance : evaluation on the division level339
23Budgeting for service organizations : special features359

How Hollywood Works or The Unmanageable Consumer

How Hollywood Works

Author: Janet Wasko

This is a book about the US motion picture industry - its structure and policies, its operations and practices. It looks at the processes that are involved in turning raw materials and labor into feature films. It describes the process of film production, distribution, exhibition and retail - a process that involves different markets where materials, labor and products are bought and sold. In other words, this is a book about how Hollywood works - as an industry.

How Hollywood Works:



- offers an up-to-date survey of the policies and structure of the US film industry

- looks at the relationship between the film industry and other media industries

- examines the role of the major studios and the other 'players' - including, law firms, talent agents, and trade unions and guilds

- provides access to hard-to-find statistical information on the industry

While many books describe the film production and marketing process, they usually do so from an industry perspective and few look at Hollywood critically from within a more general economic, political and social context. By offering just such a critique, Janet Wasko's text provides a timely and essential analysis of how Hollywood works for all students of film and media.



Go to: The AARP Guide to Pills or The Secrets of Skinny Chicks

The Unmanageable Consumer

Author: Yiannis Gabriel

Western-style consumerism appears unstoppable. Yet it is has failed to deliver greater happiness and is now facing major environmental, population and political challenges.

The Unmanageable Consumer examines the key Western traditions of thinking about and being a consumer. Each chapter posits a consumer model with examples from the international community. Readers are invited to enter an exciting and radical analysis of contemporary consumerism which suggests that consumerism is fragile and consumers unpredictable.

Updated with new material, this Second Edition looks at the impact of new technologies on consumerism and the consolidation of consumerism and 'consumer' language in spheres like education and health. The authors discuss the spread of consumerism to developing countries like India and the effect of demographic change and migration. The fallout from 9/11 and US military hegemony is examined as is the influence on consumerism of Islamic fundamentalism, the anti-globalisation movement, environmental concerns and depleting natural resources.

This book will interest advanced undergraduate, postgraduate and MBA students taking courses on behavior, buyer behavior, customer behavior, consumers & society, and retailing. Any one interested in better understanding consumerism will also find this book a fascinating read.



Table of Contents:
Introduction : the faces of the consumer1
1The emergence of contemporary consumerism7
2The consumer as chooser25
3The consumer as communicator44
4The consumer as explorer64
5The consumer as identity-seeker78
6The consumer : hedonist or artist?96
7The consumer as victim112
8The consumer as rebel134
9The consumer as activist152
10The consumer as citizen172
11The unmanageable consumer187

Innovation and Entrepreneurship or Using Cost Effectiveness Analysis in Health Care

Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Author: Joe Tidd

Developed for courses at both undergraduate and postgraduate level Innovation and Entrepreneurship is an accessible introductory text written primarily for students of business and management studies. The book is also suitable for engineering students studying courses in business and management. Contemporary issues in both innovation and entrepreneurship are used to engage and excite students, and lead them to the relevant theory, models and lessons.

 The authors have created a new text which includes: 



•  Fully integrated contemporary themes in innovation, such as sustainability, social entrepreneurship and creating new ventures.

• A focus on the role of individual entrepreneurship and organizational innovation, in private and public services.

• Contemporary cases from areas including new media, computer gaming, internet services, and public and social innovation cases.




Table of Contents:
Preface     xi
Acknowledgements     xiii
Principles     1
The Innovation Imperative     3
Innovation - Everybody's Talking About It...     4
Innovation Matters...     4
...but it isn't Easy!     7
Managing Innovation     9
What Do We Know about Managing Innovation?     10
Understanding the What     12
Creating the Conditions for Effective Innovation     17
What, Why and When - the Challenge of Innovation Strategy     21
Developing Personal Capabilities     26
Chapter Summary     27
Key Terms Defined     29
Further Reading and Resources     29
References     30
Discussion Questions     30
Team Exercises     31
Assignment and Case Study Questions     32
Organizing Innovation and Entrepreneurship     39
Linking Creativity, Entrepreneurship and Innovation     40
Personality: Promoting Individual Creativity     41
Processes: Strategies and Stages of Creativity     46
Environment: Creating a Climate for Innovation     54
Developing Personal Capabilities     66
ChapterSummary     70
Key Terms Defined     71
Further Reading and Resources     71
References     72
Discussion Questions     73
Team Exercise: Brainstorming and Spider Diagrams     73
Assignment and Case Study Questions     74
Networks and Systems     81
No man is an Island...     82
The Spaghetti Model of Innovation     83
Types of Innovation Networks     84
Networks at the Start-up     88
Networks on the Inside     89
Networks on the Outside     89
Networks into the Unknown     92
Learning Networks     93
Making Networks Happen - Networks by Design     94
Developing Personal Capabilities     97
Chapter Summary     98
Key Terms Defined     98
Further Reading and Resources     99
References     99
Discussion Questions     100
Team Exercises     100
Assignment and Case Study Questions     100
Context     105
Innovative Manufacturing     107
Images of Manufacturing     108
From Craft to Agile     111
From Hands to High-Involvement     116
Harnessing the 'Hundred-headed Brain'     119
From Things to Knowledge     127
From Hand Tools to Intelligent Manufacturing     131
From Solo Act to Network     135
Developing Personal Capabilities     137
Chapter Summary     138
Key Terms Defined     139
Further Reading and Resources     140
References     141
Discussion Questions     141
Team Exercises     142
Assignment and Case Study Questions     142
New Product and Service Development     147
Service Versus Product Development     148
Products and Service Development Strategies: Success Factors     152
Organization for Development and Delivery of New Products and Services     159
Processes for New Product and Service Development     164
Tools and Technology to Support Service Innovation     167
Developing Personal Capabilities     172
Chapter Summary     175
Key Terms Defined     175
Further Reading and Resources     176
References     176
Discussion Questions     177
Team Exercise      177
Assignment and Case Study Questions     177
Practice     183
Creating and Sharing Knowledge and Intellectual Property     185
Generating and Acquiring Knowledge     186
Identifying and Codifying Knowledge     188
Storing and Retrieving Knowledge     192
Sharing and Distributing Knowledge     194
Translating Knowledge into Innovation     197
Exploiting Intellectual Property     202
Developing Personal Capabilities     211
Chapter Summary     214
Key Terms Defined     214
Further Reading and Resources     215
References     216
Discussion Questions     217
Team Exercise     217
Assignment and Case Study Questions     218
Exploiting Discontinuous Innovation     221
Introduction     222
The Problem and the Opportunity in Discontinuous Innovation     224
Innovation Life Cycles - from Discontinuity to Steady-state     226
Discontinuous Can Be Disruptive     229
Managing Discontinuous Innovation     234
Dealing with Discontinuity     236
Do We Need a New Model for Managing Innovation?     237
How to Search for the Unexpected?     237
Developing Alternative Strategic Frames     242
Extending Resource Allocation Approaches     242
Managing Discontinuous Innovation     245
Developing Personal Capabilities     246
Chapter Summary     246
Key Terms Defined     247
Further Reading and Resources     247
References     248
Discussion Questions     248
Team Exercises     249
Assignment and Case Study Questions     250
Entrepreneurship and New Ventures     255
Characteristics of Entrepreneurs     256
Context for Entrepreneurship     262
Process and Stages for Creating a New Venture     271
Developing Personal Capabilities     287
Chapter Summary     289
Key Terms Defined     290
Further Reading and Resources     290
References     291
Discussion Questions     293
Team Exercise     293
Assignment and Case Study Questions     293
Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation     297
Thinking about Innovation     298
Uncommon Heroes     301
Big can be Beautiful Too      303
Challenges in Managing Social Entrepreneurship and innovation     310
Developing Personal Capabilities     313
Chapter Summary     314
Key Terms Defined     314
Further Reading and Resources     315
References     315
Discussion Questions     315
Team Exercise     316
Assignment and Case Study Questions     316
Innovation for Growth and Sustainability     323
Innovation for Sustainability     324
Open Systems of Innovation     336
Diffusion and Adoption of Innovations     341
Forecasting and Influencing Future Innovation     348
Developing Personal Capabilities     351
Chapter Summary     353
Key Terms Defined     353
Further Reading and Resources     354
References     355
Discussion Questions     355
Team Exercise     356
Assignment and Case Study Questions     356
Innovation, Globalization and Development     359
Globalization of Innovation     360
National Systems of Innovation     369
Positions in International Value Chains     376
Building Capabilities and Creating Value     380
Developing Personal Capabilities     386
Chapter Summary     393
Key Terms Defined     393
Further Reading and Resources     394
References     394
Discussion Questions     395
Team Exercise: Identifying Capabilities     396
Assignment and Case Study Questions     396
Action     401
Taking the Next Steps - Making it Happen     403
Introduction     404
Making Innovation Happen     406
Generating Ideas     408
Selection     418
Implementation     422
Strategic Leadership     429
Building an Innovative Organization     432
Networking for Innovation     435
Learning to Manage Innovation     437
Managing Innovation and Entrepreneurship     438
Developing Personal Capabilities     439
Chapter Summary     440
Key Terms Defined     440
Further Reading and Resources     440
References     441
Discussion Questions     441
Assignment and Case Study Questions     442
Index     447

Read also Eat A Bug Cookbook or Cod

Using Cost-Effectiveness Analysis in Health Care

Author: Peter J Neumann

As health costs in the U.S. soar past $1.5 trillion, much evidence indicates that the nation does not get good value for its money. It is widely agreed that we could do better by using cost-effective analysis (CEA) to help determine which health care services are most worthwhile. American policy makers, however, have largely avoided using CEA, and researchers have devoted little attention to understanding why this is so. By considering the economic, social, legal, and ethical factors that contribute to the situation, and how they can be negotiated in the future, this book offers a unique perspective. It traces the roots of EA in health and medicine, describes its promise for rational resource allocation, and discusses the nature of the opposition to it, using Medicare and the Oregon health plans as examples. In exploring the disconnection between the promise of CEA and the persistent failure of rational intentions, the book seeks to find common ground and practical solutions. It analyzes the prospects for change and presents a roadmap for getting there. It offers pragmatic advice for cost-effectiveness analysts, discussing ways in which they can better translate their research findings into the basis for action. The book also offers advice for policy makers and politicians, including lessons from Europe, Canada, and Australia, and underlines the need for leadership to establish the conditions for change.



Tuesday, December 30, 2008

The Declining World Order or Global Networks

The Declining World Order: America's Imperial Geopolitics

Author: Richard A Falk

This work delineates the impact of terrorism--and the American response--on the basic structure of international relations, the dimming prospects for global reform and the tendency to override the role of sovereign territorial states. Falk examines the changing role of the state, the relevance of institutions, the role of individuals and the importance of the worldwide religious resurgence, with its positive and negative implications. He also considers the post-modern geopolitics of the Bush presidency, with its emphasis on the militarization of space, the control of oil in the Middle East, and its reliance on military capabilities so superior to that of other states as to make any challenge impractical.



Table of Contents:
Ch. 1The future of the state and state system3
Ch. 2Regionalism45
Ch. 3Global institutions67
Ch. 4Global civil society81
Ch. 5Toward global justice107
Ch. 6Religious resurgence137
Ch. 7Challenging citizenship171
Ch. 8Grasping George W. Bush's postmodern geopolitics189
Ch. 9The United Nations after the Iraq War201
Ch. 10Patriotism215
Ch. 11Human rights and civil liberties227
Ch. 12Will the empire be fascist?241

Interesting book: Trying Again or Yoga Mom Buddha Baby

Global Networks: Linked Cities

Author: Saskia Sassen

In her pioneering book The Global City, Saskia Sassen argued that certain cities in the postindustrial world have become central nodes in the new service economy, strategic sites for the acceleration of capital and information flows as well as spaces of increasing socio-economic polarization. One effect has been that such cities have gained in importance and power relative to nation-states.
In this new collection of essays, Sassen and a distinguished group of contributors expand on the author's earlier work in a number of important ways, focusing on two key issues. First, they look at how information flows have bound global cities together in networks, creating a global city web whose constituent cities become "global" through the networks they participate in. Second, they investigate emerging global cities in the developing world-Sao Paulo, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Mexico City, Beirut, the Dubai-Iran corridor, and Buenos Aires. They show how these globalizing zones are not only replicating many features of the top tier of global cities, but are also generating new socio-economic patterns as well. These new patterns of development promise to lead to significant changes in the structure of the global economy, as more and more cities worldwide are integrated into globalization's circuitry.
Includes contributions from:Linda Garcia, Patrice Riemens, Geert Lovink, Peter Taylor, David Smith, Michael Timberlake, Stephen Graham, Sueli Schiffer Ramos, Christoff Parnreiter, Felicity Gu, David Meyer, Pablo Ciccolella, Iliana Mignaqui, Eric Huybrechts, Ali Parsa. Also includes six maps.

Booknews

Contributors extend Saskia Sassen's global cities thesis to consider the information architecture binding global cities together in dense networks. They look at global cities in the South, including Shanghai, Mexico City, Beirut, and Buenos Aires, which are becoming key nodes in the emerging global urban system. Discussion encompasses firms and their global service networks, global capital exchange, and sociospatial impacts of the development of global city functions. Sassen teaches sociology at the University of Chicago. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)



Developing Knowledge Based Client Relationships or Food Tourism Around The World

Developing Knowledge-Based Client Relationships: Leadership in Professional Services

Author: Ross Dawson

Developing Knowledge-Based Client Relationships, Second Edition, focuses on high-value client relationships and key drivers of these today, in particular knowledge-based client relationships. Author Ross Dawson presents clearly and in an extremely practical fashion what knowledge organizations can do to enhance the value of the knowledge they deliver to clients in order to strengthen the client relationship, provide client leaderships, and develop mutually profitable relationships. Dawson then presents a framework for enhancing the client relationship capabilities of the firm, which examines strategy, structures, processes, skills and culture as key enablers of relationship capabilities.

He examines key client programs, and how to create deeper knowledge-based relationships through these. He discusses in detail the collaborative technologies available today and how they can be used in client relationships, along with managing portfolios of communications channels. He also discusses firm-wide relationship management, leading relationship teams, and value-based pricing for knowledge-based client relationships. This is done by presenting underlying theoretical framework, a variety of tools for structuring relationships and presenting knowledge to clients, and numerous case studies and examples of firms which have implemented these concepts successfully.

*New edition of one of our bestselling books
*Completely updated and revised to focus on the latest thinking in client relationships and professional services
*Very active author whose speaking engagements and consulting work generate bulk sales and spikes on amazon.com



Interesting textbook: Decision Sciences or Money and the Morality of Exchange

Food Tourism Around The World: Development, Management and Markets

Author: Colin Michael Hall

Food and wine are vital components of the tourism experience, and are increasingly being seen as prime travel motivators in their own right. Food Tourism Around The World: Development, Management and Markets offers a unique insight into this phenomenon, looking at the interrelationship between food, the tourism product and the tourist experience.

Using international case studies and examples from Europe, North America, Australasia and Singapore, Food Tourism Around The World: Development, Management and Markets discusses the development, range and repurcussions of the food tourism phenomenon. The multi-national contributor team analyses such issues as:

* the food tourism product
* food tourism and consumer behaviour
* cookery schools - educational vacations
* food as an attraction in destination marketing

Ideal for both students and practioners, the book represents the most comprehensive and wide-ranging treatment yet of this recent development in tourism.

* International case studies and examples
* Comprehensive and systematic treatment of a comparatively new field
* Interlinking of theory and practice makes this useful for both students and industry players



Table of Contents:
List of exhibits
List of figures
List of tables
Acknowledgements
Contributors
1The consumption of experiences or the experience of consumption? An introduction to the tourism of taste1
2Consuming places: the role of food, wine and tourism in regional development25
3Consuming tourists: food tourism consumer behaviour60
4The demand for halal food among Muslim travellers in New Zealand81
5The world of cookery-school holidays102
6The lure of tea: history, traditions, and attractions121
7Food and tourism in Papua New Guinea137
8Food trails in Austria149
9Food tourism in the Niagara Region: the development of a nouvelle cuisine158
10The lure of food: food as an attraction in destination marketing in Manitoba, Canada178
11The Bluff Oyster Festival and regional economic development: festivals as culture commodified192
12Food tourism in the Peak District National Park, England206
13Valorizing through tourism in rural areas: moving towards regional partnerships228
14Restaurants and local food in New Zealand249
15Linking food, wine and tourism: the case of the Australian capital region268
16Managing food and tourism developments: issues for planning and opportunities to add value285
17New global cuisine: tourism, authenticity and sense of place in postmodern gastronomy296
18The experience of consumption or the consumption of experiences? Challenges and issues in food tourism314
References336
Index371

Procedures and Theory for Administrative Professionals or Leadership in Organizations

Procedures and Theory for Administrative Professionals (with CD-ROM)

Author: Patsy Fulton Calkins

This new edition of Procedures for the Office Professional is designed to prepare the adminstrative professional to fulfill a challenging role in today's workplace. Employees must be able to adjust to a diversified workforce with emerging technologies and be prepared to function in an expanding and global marketplace. This book equips users to better handle these changes by providing instruction and activities directed toward technology, communication and human relations. With emphasis on creative thinking and lifelong learning, this book provides users with opportunities for unique solutions and ideas.



Table of Contents:
1. The Workplace--Constantly Changing
2. Anger, Stress, and Time Management
3. Ethical Behavior
4. Workplace Environment and Team
5. The Communication Process
6. Written Communication
7. Presentation Skills
8. Telecommunications
9. Workplace Mail
10. Computer Hardware
11. Computer Software
12. Reprographics
13. Telework
14. Filing Rules and Procedures
15. Records Technology
16. Financial Documents
17. Effective Meetings and Conferences
18. Travel Arrangements
19. Job Application
20. Leadership

Go to: Month of Meals or Its All Good Hair

Leadership in Organizations

Author: Ann A Cooper

Finally information that explains proper social manners for every type of business situation. The Professional Development Series is designed to guide and teach both professionals and students the social skills necessary to compete and succeed in today's global environment.Covering such topics as Team Dynamics, Leadership in Organizations, Career Planning and Networking and Business Etiquette and Protocol, these short, comprehensive books will provide the reader immediate "know-how" to feel comfortable in any type of professional situation. Available by themselves or in bundles, these will prove to be a must have for every business person. Leadership in Organizations addresses the characteristics of good leadership, the professional image of a leader, the leader as a communicator, the leader as a supervisor, the leader in personnel management and the ethics of a leader.



Monday, December 29, 2008

Agricultural Revolution in England or Private Power Public Law

Agricultural Revolution in England: The Transformation of the Agrarian Economy 1500-1850

Author: Mark Overton

This book is the first available survey of English agriculture between 1500 and
1850. Written specifically for students, it combines new material with an analysis of the existing literature. It describes farming in the sixteenth century, analyzes the reasons for improvements in agricultural output and productivity, and examines changes in the agrarian economy and society. Professor Overton argues that the impact of these related changes in productivity and social and economic structure in the century after 1750 amount to an agricultural revolution.



Interesting textbook: Sexy Yoga or Yoga Therapies

Private Power, Public Law: The Globalization of Intellectual Property Rights

Author: Susan K K Sell

Susan Sell's book reveals how power in international politics is increasingly exercised by private interests rather than governments. In 1994 the World Trade Organization (WTO) adopted the Agreement in Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), which dictated to states how they should regulate the protection of intellectual property. This book argues that TRIPS resulted from lobbying by powerful multinational corporations who wished to mould international law to protect their markets.



Table of Contents:
List of figures and tables
Acknowledgments
List of abbreviations
1Introduction1
2Structure, agents, and institutions30
3US intellectual property rights in historical perspective60
4The domestic origins of a trade-based approach to intellectual property75
5The Intellectual Property Committee and transnational mobilization96
6Life after TRIPS: aggression and opposition121
7Conclusion: structured agency revisited163
References189
Index210

Integrative Life Planning or Human Capital

Integrative Life Planning: Critical Tasks for Career Development and Changing Life Patterns

Author: Lorraine Sunny Hansen

A landmark book that offers a holistic counseling approach that joins career planning and the life path of an individual. The author details the concept of integrative life planning (ILP), an ideal approach for dealing with changes in work, family, learning, and society.

Booknews

Recognizes the radical shifts in today's lifestyles and workplaces and offers a holistic counseling approach that joins career planning with the life path of an individual. Provides an analysis of Hansen's ILP concept, which is anchored in a framework of six critical tasks: finding work that needs doing in changing global contexts, weaving our lives into a meaningful whole, connecting family and work, valuing pluralism and inclusivity, exploring spirituality and life purpose, and managing personal transitions and organizational change. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.



Read also Photoshop Elements 5 Book for Digital Photographers or Microsoft Office 2007

Human Capital: What It Is and Why People Invest It

Author: Thomas O Davenport

No longer mere company "assets," today's in-demand workers have become free agents who can and do invest their ability, behavior, and energy-their human capital-in the companies of their choice. And the companies they choose, the companies that will win in the marketplace, will be the ones that know how to create and deliver the best return on that investment. In this book, author Thomas O. Davenport explores the dynamics of this emerging workplace phenomenon and describes specific strategies that companies and workers can use to build mutually beneficial relationships in the new knowledge economy.

Booknews

Davenport, a corporate strategy and human relations consultant, explores the concept of the worker as investor. Of likely current interest to senior executives, managers and supervisors, and skilled white-collar employees. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknew.com)



Table of Contents:
Preface
The Author
1Worker as Investor: A New Metaphor3
2Human Capital Investments and Returns17
3Human Capital and Competitive Strategy44
4Hiring Human Capital Investors65
5Setting the Stage Through Workplace Environment94
6Paving the Way for High Investment121
7Building Human Capital143
8Holding On to Human Capital Investors169
9Optimizing and Measuring Human Capital Investment202
Notes227
Index243

Sunday, December 28, 2008

The Methodology of Economics or Probablty Theory Statist Inference

The Methodology of Economics: Or, How Economists Explain

Author: Mark Blaug

This book examines the nature of economic explanation. The author introduces current thinking in the philosophy of science and reviews the literature on methodology. He looks at the status of welfare economics, and also provides a series of case studies of leading economic controversies, showing how they may be illuminated by paying attention to questions of methodology. A final chapter draws the strands together and gives the author's view of what is wrong with modern economics. This book is a revised and updated edition of a classic work on the methodology of economics.



Table of Contents:
Preface
Preface to first edition
Pt. IWhat you always wanted to know about the philosophy of science but were afraid to ask
1From the received view to the views of Popper3
2From Popper to the new heterodoxy27
Pt. IIThe history of economic methodology
3The verificationists, a largely nineteenth-century story51
4The falsificationists, a wholly twentieth-century story83
5The distinction between positive and normative economics112
Pt. IIIA methodological appraisal of the neoclassical research program
6The theory of consumer behavior137
7The theory of the firm150
8General equilibrium theory161
9Marginal productivity theory170
10Switching, reswitching, and all that178
11The Heckscher-Ohlin theory of international trade185
12Keynesians versus monetarists192
13Human capital theory206
14The new economics of the family220
15The rationality postulate229
Pt. IVWhat have we now learned about economics?
16Conclusions237
Glossary249
Suggestions for further reading253
Bibliography255
Name index275
Subject index281

Go to: Autism Spectrum Disorders or Complete Idiots Guide to Low Sodium Meals

Probablty Theory Statist Inference

Author: Aris Spanos

This major new textbook is intended for students taking introductory courses in probability theory and statistical inference. The primary objective of this book is to establish the framework for the empirical modeling of observational (nonexperimental) data. The text is extremely student friendly, with pathways designed for semester usage, and although aimed primarily at students at second-year undergraduate level and above studying econometrics and economics, Probability Theory and Statistical Inference will also be useful for students in other disciplines that make extensive use of observational data, including finance, biology, sociology and psychology.



Nuclear Systems or Quality and GMP Auditing

Nuclear Systems: Elements of Thermal Design

Author: Neil E Todreas

Elements of thermal hydraulic design are examined in this volume. It also covers other components of the nuclear power plant, such as the pressurizer and the entire primary coolant system, reflecting the importance of such considerations in thermal engineering of a modern nuclear plant.

Booknews

Thorough description and working of components of the nuclear power plant, including: the pressurizer, containment and primary coolant system. Examination of hydraulic configurations, flow in multiple heat channels, and approaches for reactor analysis. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)



Books about: Introduction to Managerial Accounting or Financial and Managerial Accounting

Quality and GMP Auditing: Clear and Simple

Author: James L Vesper

More than just a checklist of audit questions, this guidebook contains proven methods and techniques for performing effective audits. Completely covering the four key competencies essential for successful GMP audits, the book explores the rationale behind using audits as a quality tool and explains the audit cycle broken into five distinct phases. To focus the power of auditing on a particular situation, several different types of audits are presented, as are more than a dozen audit approaches with general questions to answer and specific items to examine. These tools help readers prepare checklists and standards so audits become more effective, consistent, and standardized.

Booknews

A consultant in the pharmaceutical and medical device industries explains to quality professionals the principles of Good Manufacturing Practices auditing and how to apply them to specific companies. He uses a building-block approach to describe the four key competencies essential for successful audits, break the audit cycle down into five distinct phases, and suggest a dozen approaches for different situations. The topics include auditing policy and standard operating practices, types of audits, qualifications and skills, planning and preparing, conducting the audit, analyzing the data, the report, and follow-up and closing. Six professionals in the field also share their experiences and impressions in short questionnaires. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.



Recasting Bourgeois Europe or Economic Geography and Public Policy

Recasting Bourgeois Europe: Stabilization in France, Germany and Italy in the Decade after World War I

Author: Charles S Maier

The author of fourteen books, Charles Maier is one of the most prominent contemporary scholars of European history.

Recasting Bourgeois Europe, his first book, presented an unparalleled analysis of the crucial decade in Europe after 1918. Based on extensive archival research in each of the three countries, the book examined how European societies progressed from a moment of social vulnerability to one of political and economic stabilization.

Recasting Bourgeois Europe accomplished two major historiographical goals simultaneously. First, Maier provided a comparative history of three different European societies for a period when common developments demanded an approach other than that of the usual national histories. Second, he rethought the political structure of the European interwar period. Although most accounts presented the 1920s as a time characterized by illusory attempts to return to a prewar political equilibrium, and doomed to succumb to the Depression and the dictatorships, Maier suggested instead that the stabilization of the 1920s, vulnerable as it was, foreshadowed the more enduring political stability achieved after World War II.

The immense and ambitious scope of this book, its ability to follow diverse but uni.ed histories in detail, and its effort to make stabilization, and not just breakdown, a historical problem have made it a classic of European historiography.



See also: Design and Management Service Processes or Cases in International Finance

Economic Geography and Public Policy

Author: Richard E Baldwin

Research on the spatial aspects of economic activity has flourished over the past decade due to the emergence of new theory, new data, and an intense interest on the part of policymakers, especially in Europe but increasingly in North America and elsewhere as well. However, these efforts--collectively known as the "new economic geography"--have devoted little attention to the policy implications of the new theory.

Economic Geography and Public Policy fills the gap by illustrating many new policy insights economic geography models can offer to the realm of theoretical policy analysis. Focusing primarily on trade policy, tax policy, and regional policy, Richard Baldwin and coauthors show how these models can be used to make sense of real-world situations. The book not only provides much fresh analysis but also synthesizes insights from the existing literature.

The authors begin by presenting and analyzing the widest range of new economic geography models to date. From there they proceed to examine previously unaddressed welfare and policy issues including, in separate sections, trade policy (unilateral, reciprocal, and preferential), tax policy (agglomeration with taxes and public goods, tax competition and agglomeration), and regional policy (infrastructure policies and the political economy of regional subsidies). A well-organized, engaging narrative that progresses smoothly from fundamentals to more complex material, Economic Geography and Public Policy is essential reading for graduate students, researchers, and policymakers seeking new approaches to spatial policy issues.



Table of Contents:
Ch. 1Introduction1
Ch. 2The Core-Periphery Model9
Ch. 3The Footloose Capital Model68
Ch. 4The Footloose Entrepreneur Model91
Ch. 5Linear Models110
Ch. 6The Constructed Capital Model137
Ch. 7Global and Local Spillovers Models155
Ch. 8Vertical Linkages Models190
Ch. 9Policy and Economic Geography: What's New?227
Ch. 10A Typology of Welfare Effects: Regional Perspective243
Ch. 11Efficiency, Equity and Optimal Agglomeration252
Ch. 12Unilateral Trade Policy277
Ch. 13Reciprocal Trade Agreements317
Ch. 14Preferential Trade Agreements330
Ch. 15Agglomeration with Taxation and Public Goods365
Ch. 16Tax Competition and Agglomeration391
Ch. 17Infrastructure Policies and Economic Geography425
Ch. 18Political Economics of Regional Subsidies448
Ch. 19Concluding Remarks and Directions for Future Research472
Index481

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Automotive Service Management or Risk Management for Agriculture

Automotive Service Management: From Intent to Implementation

Author: Mitch Schneider

Gain the expertise required for success in one of the hottest segments of the automotive industry! This pioneering, eight-book series leads users to an understanding of the principles and procedures needed to manage an automotive services facility. Written by a National Automotive Service Advisory Panel member and former host of the "Tech Tips" segment on the popular "Truckin' USA" television show, each book contains proven solutions for effectively tackling challenges faced by today's professional automotive service managers. The rationale for automotive services management as a unique discipline is also explained, making this series a great resource for professionals and those interested in Auto Service Management as their career path.



New interesting book: Windows Vista or Sams Teach Yourself

Risk Management for Agriculture

Author: Lowell B Catlett

Risk Management for Agriculture addresses the issue of price risk as a management function versus a marketing function. Price risks impact not only the marketing of a product but the cash flow and the overall financial health of the business. The use of derivatives such as futures contracts, options contracts, and swaps need to be viewed as tools that can be used solely or in combinations to control price risk. Each of these derivatives and subsequent combinations is examined closely and comprehensively within the text. Price forecasting is addressed as well as fundamentals of futures hedging and options hedging. There is a complete glossary of terms at the end of the text to help reinforce the terms that are used throughout. Although price risk is the focus of the text, there is also a chapter devoted to the management of other agricultural risks. Students and professionals will benefit from this text that takes a comprehensive, management approach to price risk.



Table of Contents:
Ch. 1Introduction1
Ch. 2Fundamentals of price risk15
Ch. 3Price forecasting29
Ch. 4Markets, exchanges, and regulation57
Ch. 5Fundamentals of futures hedging73
Ch. 6Fundamentals of options hedging113
Ch. 7Swaps149
Ch. 8Complex derivatives163
Ch. 9Managing other hedging risks183

Privatization or New Niagara

Privatization: An Economic Analysis

Author: John Vickers

The process of selling assests and enterprises to the private sector raises questions about natural monopolies, the efficiency and equity of state-owned versus privately owned enterprises, and industrial policy. This comprehensive analysis of the British privatization program explores these questions both theoretically and empirically.



Interesting book: Man Eating Bugs or A Midwest Gardeners Cookbook

New Niagara: Tourism, Technology and the Landscape of Niagara Falls, 1776-1917

Author: William Irwin

Visitors may wonder how Niagara Falls came to be the site of magnificent bridges, a famous cereal factory, and a picturesque New York state reservation designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. Although many have always admired the natural splendor of the Falls, William Irwin explains that it was not until the mid-1800s that Niagara truly captured the American imagination. With the coming of John Roebling's railway suspension bridge in 1855 came the promise of a "new" Niagara, one in which nature and technology could flourish in harmony. Although some saw the transformation of Niagara Falls as a national shame, for many others it stimulated utopian visions of a great modern America. Tourists flocked to a place that showcased both the beauty of nature and the marvels of technology. Companies such as Shredded Wheat (later absorbed by Nabisco) fed on the public's expectations of novel and revolutionary progress at Niagara. The Shredded Wheat factory and the Niagara Power Company became tourist attractions in their own right. Some developers went so far as to claim that their works exceeded Niagara's natural beauty. By taking us back to a period when Niagara Falls was appreciated as much for its utopian promise as for its natural beauty, The New Niagara reveals America's remarkable romance with technology and its faith in human mastery of the environment.



Table of Contents:
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1Awakening to Niagara: Early American Development and Tourism at Niagara Falls1
2Bridge to a New Niagara31
3Preserving Niagara and Creating the State Reservation63
4Capturing the Falls: Power, Powerhouses, and the Electricity Age97
5Electricity's Throne: Niagara Falls and the Utopian Impulse131
6The Spirit of Niagara: Niagara Falls and the Pan-American Exposition of 1901153
7"The Wonder of the Age": Shredded Wheat and the Natural Food Company's Model Factory179
Epilogue205
Notes229
Index263

HIPAA for Medical Office Personnel or China Market

HIPAA for Medical Office Personnel

Author: Dan Krager

HIPAA for Medical Office Personnel will provide information to learners on how the HIPAA ruling of 1996 affects their behavior when on the job. The book provides a brief background on the ruling; outlines the five titles included in the ruling, and delineates items from Title II that affect the medical office environment and what changes are necessary to be in compliance with this ruling.

Doody Review Services

Reviewer: LouAnn Schraffenberger, RHIA, CCS, CCS-P (Univ of Illinois at Chicago School of Biomed & Health Info Mgmt)
Description: This textbook provides an overview of all the sections of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, that was passed in 1996 and formulated rules for all healthcare providers, payers, and electronic clearinghouses to follow concerning confidential patient information.
Purpose: The purpose is to educate and inform readers whose work involves any patient's health information on how to comply with the federal government's rulings on protecting confidential patient information.
Audience: The book was specifically written for students taking courses in healthcare studying medical office procedures or nursing. It could also be used for training new hospital personnel who come in contact with confidential patient information so that they are aware and respect the nature of the information. The two authors are an individual who has taught coding and billing in a community college and an individual who serves as HIPAA officer and security officer in a small community hospital in Illinois.
Features: Specific chapters focus on matters of privacy, electronic transmission of health information for payment purposes and code sets, security of health information and unique identifiers to be used in electronic transmissions. The source of the information is the HIPAA government rulings and the government Web sites. Each chapter includes an outline, key terms, a "think about it" set of questions, summary, end-of-chapter questions, scenarios, and references. There are supplemental materials for the teacher using the book.
Assessment: There is a lot of good information packed into this small book that is very reasonably priced. I liked the chapters organized by specific topics within the HIPAA regulations that allow a reader to focus on one or two areas of interest. At the end of chapter 5, I particularly liked the section "What is important to know about HIPAA?" It addresses several misconceptions about the rulings and provides clear direction on the intent of the rule. All in all, this is a very nice, straightforward book about the HIPAA rulings that all healthcare providers should know.

Rating

3 Stars from Doody




Read also All the Shahs Men or Notorious COP

China Market: America's Quest for Informal Empire, 1893-1901

Author: Thomas J McCormick

An authoritative history of the Chinese student movement for democracy which ended in tragedy in Tiananmen Square in the spring of 1989.

What People Are Saying

Ernest R. May
"Impressive...a significant contribution to the ultimate understanding of an important and complex series of events."
Political Science Quarterly


Choice
"A book which should be read by all."


American Historical Review
"A most important volume."


Journal of American History
"Vigorous, clear-cut, and fully documented...the author consciously tries to avoid a narrow 'pocketbook determinism.'"




Friday, December 26, 2008

Welfare Economics and Social Choice Theory or Oil and Politics in the Gulf

Welfare Economics and Social Choice Theory

Author: Allan M Feldman

Welfare economics, and social choice theory, are disciplines that blend economics, ethics, political science, and mathematics.

Welfare Economics and Social Choice Theory, 2nd Edition, include models of economic exchange and production, uncertainty, optimality, public goods, social improvement criteria, life and death choices, majority voting, Arrow's theorem, and theories of implementation and mechanism design.

Our goal is to make value judgments about economic and political mechanisms:  For instance, does the competitive market produce distributions of products and services that are good or bad for society?   Does majority voting produce good or bad outcomes?  How can we design tax mechanisms that result in efficient amounts of public goods being produced?

We have attempted, in this book, to minimize mathematical obstacles, and to make this field accessible to undergraduate and graduate students and the interested non-expert.



Look this: Food Fights or Kids with Celiac Disease

Oil and Politics in the Gulf: Rulers and Merchants in Kuwait and Qatar, Vol. 24

Author: Jill Crystal

Why in recent years have the social and economic upheavals in Kuwait and Qatar been accompanied by a remarkable political continuity? In a region of revolution and coups, these particular monarchies have somehow survived. In her analysis of political change in the Gulf, Jill Crystal investigates this apparent anomaly by examining the impact of oil on the formation and destruction of political coalitions and state institutions. She also adds to our understanding of state formation by highlighting the ways in which states and rulers structure the relationship between those with money and those with power. This updated edition includes a discussion of the Gulf War and its aftermath.



Table of Contents:
Preface
Kuwait family tree
Qatar family tree
1State formation and oil1
2History's legacy: Kuwait and Qatar before oil15
3Kuwait on the eve of oil36
4Kuwait after oil62
5Qatar112
6The Gulf War and its aftermath171
7Conclusion187
Notes206
Select bibliography220
Index234

Rushed to Judgment or Fundamentals of Aircraft Structural Analysis

Rushed to Judgment: Talk Radio, Persuasion, and American Political Behavior

Author: David Barker

Convenient, entertaining, and provocative, talk radio today is unapologetically ideological. Focusing on Rush Limbaugh -- the medium's most influential talk show -- Rushed to Judgment systematically examines the politics of persuasion at play on our nation's radio airwaves and asks a series of important questions. Does listening to talk radio change the way people think about politics, or are listeners' attitudes a function of the self-selecting nature of the audience? Does talk radio enhance understanding of public issues or serve as a breeding ground for misunderstanding? Can talk radio serve as an agent of deliberative democracy, spurring Americans to open, public debate? Or will talk radio only aggravate the divisive partisanship many Americans decry in poll after poll? The time is ripe to evaluate the effects of a medium whose influence has yet to be fully reckoned with.



Table of Contents:
List of Figures
List of Tables
Acknowledgments
1Introduction1
2Political Talk Radio and Its Most Prominent Practitioner14
3Toward a Value Heresthetic Model of Political Persuasion30
4Talk Radio, Public Opinion, and Vote Choice: The "Limbaugh Effect," 1994-9656
5Talk Radio, Opinion Leadership, and Presidential Nominations: Evidence from the 2000 Republican Primary Battle75
6The Talk Radio Community: Nontraditional Social Networks and Political Participation92
7Information, Misinformation, and Political Talk Radio106
8Conclusion119
App. AThe Limbaugh Message129
App. BExcerpts from the Rhetoric Stimulus131
App. CExcerpts from the Value Heresthetic Stimulus133
Notes135
References141
Index157

Book about: Inside the Music Industry or Providing Quality Service

Fundamentals of Aircraft Structural Analysis

Author: Howard D Curtis

Fundamentals of Aircraft Structural Analysis focuses on the basics behind the elements of aircraft structural analysis using an applications-oriented approach. Through the use of extensive practical problems,Howard Curtis introduces your undergraduate students to the theory required for understanding linear,static structural behavior,and the classic methods of analysis. By focusing on the basics,students will comprehend each topic and be encouraged to study more advanced topics.



The Asian Financial Crisis or Limits of Citizenship

The Asian Financial Crisis: Lessons for a Resilient Asia

Author: Wing Thye Woo

This book analyzes the Asian financial crisis of 1997-1999. In addition to the issues of financial system restructuring, export-led recovery, crony capitalism, and competitiveness in Asian manufacturing, it examines six key Asian economies--China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, and Thailand. The book makes clear that there is little particularly Asian about the Asian financial crisis. The generic character of the crisis became clear during 1998, when it reached Russia, South Africa, and Brazil. The spread of the crisis reflects the rapid arrival of global capitalism in a world economy not used to the integration of the advanced and developing countries.

The book makes recommendations for reform, including the formation of regional monetary bodies, the establishment of an international bankruptcy system, the democratization of international organizations, the infusion of public money to revive the financial and corporate sectors in Pacific Asia, and stronger supervision over financial institutions. The book emphasizes a mismatch in Pacific Asia between investment in physical hardware (e.g., factories and machinery) and in social software (e.g., scientific research centers and administrative and judiciary systems). In a world of growing international competitiveness, concerns over governance will weigh increasingly heavily on unreformed Asian countries. The long-term competitiveness of Asia rests on its getting its institutions right.



Table of Contents:
Contributors
Preface
ILessons from the Asian Financial Crisis
1A Reform Agenda for a Resilient Asia3
2Understanding the Asian Financial Crisis13
3Restructuring Asia's Financial System45
4Export Competitiveness in Asia71
5The Cost of Crony Capitalism91
6Competitiveness in Asia: A Value-Driven Perspective103
IICountry Profiles: Reform, Recovery, and Growth
7China: Confronting Restructuring and Stability127
8Indonesia: A Troubled Beginning165
9Japan: The World's Slowest Crisis185
10Korea: Returning to Sustainable Growth?203
11Malaysia: Adjusting to Deep Integration with the World Economy227
12Thailand and the Crisis: Roots, Recovery and Long-Run Competitiveness257
Index275

Interesting book:

Limits of Citizenship: Migrants and Postnational Membership in Europe

Author: Yasemin Nuho glu Soysal

In many Western countries, rights that once belonged solely to citizens are being extended to immigrants, a trend that challenges the nature and basis of citizenship at a time when nation-states are fortifying their boundaries through restirictive border controls and expressions of nationalist ideologies. In this book, Yasemin Soysal compares the different ways European nations incorporate immigrants, how these policies evolved, and how they are influenced by international human rights discourse.
Soysal focuses on postwar international migration, paying particular attention to "guestworkers." Taking an in-depth look at France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, she identifies three major patterns that reflect the varying emphasis particular states place on individual versus corporate groups as the basis for incorporation. She finds that the global expansion and intensification of human rights discourse puts nation-states under increasing outside pressure to extend membership rights to aliens, resulting in an increasingly blurred line between citizen and noncitizen. Finally, she suggests a possible accommodation to these shifts: specifically, a model of post-national membership that derives its legitimacy from universal personhood, rather than national belonging.
This fresh approach to the study of citizenship, rights, and immigration will be invaluable to anyone involved in issues of human rights, international migration, and transnational cultural interactions, as well as to those who study the contemporary transformation of the nation-state, nationalism, and globalization.

Booknews

Guestworkers, foreigners recruited to meet demands for labor in the industrialized countries of Europe, reflect a new concept of citizenship in the postwar era. Host countries had expected that foreign workers would remain only temporarily, outside the bounds of national polity, and would be sent home at will as productivity dropped or unemployment rose. Instead, guestworkers have formed permanent communities and been incorporated into school systems, welfare plans, and labor markets even though they lack formal citizenship status. Their experience demonstrates that rights and privileges once reserved for citizens of a state are being codified as personal rights, changing the meaning of citizenship. With four appendixes and an extensive bibliography. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)



Thursday, December 25, 2008

Strategic Management or Womens Activism and Globalization

Strategic Management: Concepts

Author: Fred David

Featuring a model that is widely used for strategic planning among consultants and companies worldwide, this current, well-written book offers a practitioner-oriented perspective, meets all AACSB guidelines, and focuses on skill-building in all major areas of strategy formation, implementation, and evaluation.

Global, natural environment and e-commerce themes are evident throughout the book which also contains 46 Experiential Exercises. A five-part organization includes an overview of strategic management; coverage of strategic formulation, implementation, and evaluation; and a strategic management case analysis.

For consultants and other strategic planners.

Booknews

A textbook for the business policy and strategic management course. New with this edition (4th ed., 1993) is an exercise at the end of each chapter that directs students to contact or visit local businesses to investigate important strategic management topics. This edition has a total of 35 cases, 13 new and 22 updated from the previous edition. Numerous ancillary materials are available. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)



Look this:

Women's Activism and Globalization: Linking Local Struggles and Transnational Politics

Author: Nancy A Naples

Women's Activism and Globalization is a broad and comprehensive collection that shows how women activists across the globe are responding to the forces of the "new world order" in their communities. The first person accounts and regional case studies provide a truly global view of women working in their communities for change. The essays examine women in urban, rural, and suburban locations around the world to provide a rich understanding of the common themes as well as significant divergences among women activists in different parts of the world.



Table of Contents:
Preface
1Changing the Terms: Community Activism, Globalization, and the Dilemmas of Transnational Feminist Praxis3
2Transnational Solidarity: Women's Agency, Structural Adjustment, and Globalization15
3Women's Local and Translocal Responses: An Introduction to the Chapters34
4Women to Women: Dissident Citizen Diplomacy in Nicaragua45
5From Mothers' Rights to Equal Rights: Post-Soviet Grassroots Women's Associations64
6Las Mujeres Invisibles/The Invisible Women83
7Contesting Multiple Margins: Asian Indian Community Activism in the Early and Late Twentieth Century99
8Creating Alternatives from a Gender Perspective: Transnational Organizing for Maquila Workers' Rights in Central America121
9Context, Strategy, Ground: Rural Women Organizing to Confront Local/Global Economic Issues142
10Linking Local Efforts with Global Struggle: Trinidad's National Union of Domestic Employees156
11Women Activists in Mali: The Global Discourse on Human Rights172
12The Limits of Microcredit: Transnational Feminism and USAID Activities in the United States and Morocco189
13"No Discrimination Whatsoever": Women's Transnational Activism and the Evolution of EU Sex Equality Policy220
14Redefining Security: Okinawa Women's Resistance to U.S. Militarism239
15The Challenges and Possibilities of Transnational Feminist Praxis267
Bibliography283
Contributors323
Index327

OSHA Regulations and Guidelines or Market Volatility

OSHA Regulations and Guidelines: A Guide for Health Care Providers

Author: Ronald P Nielsen

This resource provides an overview of the OSHA regulations and standards for safety as they apply to health care sites. (prevention, infection, hazard, chemicals, OSHA, safety, Allied Health, guidelines)



Look this:

Market Volatility

Author: Robert J Shiller

Market Volatility proposes an innovative theory, backed by substantial statistical evidence, on the causes of price fluctuations in speculative markets. It challenges the standard efficient-markets model for explaining asset prices by emphasizing the significant role that popular opinion or psychology can play in price volatility.

Offering detailed analyses of the stock, the bond, and the real estate markets, Shiller discusses the relations of these speculative prices and extends the analysis of speculative markets to macroeconomic activity in general.

Robert J. Shiller is Stanley B. Resor Professor of Economics at the Cowles Foundation, Yale University.



Managerial Accounting or Business Enterprise in American History

Managerial Accounting: Tools for Business Decision-Making

Author: Donald E Kieso

Weygandt Managerial Accounting Third Edition gives students the tools they need to succeed, whether as accountants or in other career paths. With a framework in decision-making, Weygandt 3/e covers all the necessary techniques and concepts for a one semester, undergraduate managerial accounting course. Many students in this course are not accounting majors and will need to understand the big picture of accounting. Therefore, Weygandt 3/e provides students with a pedagogy that helps them to build their decision-making skills and to understand how to use accounting information to make quality business decisions in whatever major or career they choose.



Table of Contents:
Cost Concepts for Decision Makers.

1. Managerial Accounting.

2. Job Order Costing Accounting.

3. Process Costing Accounting. 

4. Activity-Based Costing.

Decision-Making Concepts.

5. Cost-Volume-Profit.

6. Incremental Analysis.

7. Variable Costing: A Decision-Making Perspective.

8. Pricing.

Planning and Control Concepts.

9. Budgetary Planning.

10. Budgetary Control and Responsibility Accounting.

11. Standard Cost and Balanced Scorecard.

12. Planning for Capital Investments.

Performance Evaluation Concepts.

13. Statement of Cash Flows.

14. Financial Analysis: The Big Picture.

Appendixes.

A. Present Value Concepts.

B. Ethical Standards.

Cases for Management Decision Making.

Photo Credits.

Company Index.

Subject Index.

Look this:

Business Enterprise in American History

Author: Mansel G Blackford

Timelines and examples from well-known companies help students gain a better understanding of the important connections among public policy and businesses, as well as a comparative understanding of business history over time and in recent decades.



Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Selling the Air or Economics and the Law

Selling the Air: A Critique of the Policy of Commercial Broadcasting in the United States

Author: Thomas Streeter

In this interdisciplinary study of the laws and policies associated with commercial radio and television, Thomas Streeter reverses the usual take on broadcasting and markets by showing that government regulation creates rather than intervenes in the market. Analyzing the processes by which commercial media are organized, Streeter asks how it is possible to take the practice of broadcasting—the reproduction of disembodied sounds and pictures for dissemination to vast unseen audiences—and constitute it as something that can be bought, owned, and sold.
With an impressive command of broadcast history, as well as critical and cultural studies of the media, Streeter shows that liberal marketplace principles—ideas of individuality, property, public interest, and markets—have come into contradiction with themselves. Commercial broadcasting is dependent on government privileges, and Streeter provides a searching critique of the political choices of corporate liberalism that shape our landscape of cultural property and electronic intangibles.

Booknews

A sociological look at how the creation and maintenance of American commercial radio and television has been shaped by ideas about markets, property, individuals, social process, politics, work, and the home. Not an attack on commercial broadcasting, but an inquiry into the conditions under which the technical process of disseminating disembodied sounds and pictures can become a commodity to be bought, owned, and sold. The treatment also reflects on the meaning of the ideas that are so manifest. Paper edition (unseen), $16.95. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)



Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1The Fact of Television: A Theoretical Prologue3
2Liberalism, Corporate Liberalism22
3A Revisionist History of Broadcasting, 1900-193459
4Inside the Beltway as an Interpretive Community: The Politics of Policy113
5Postmodern Property: Toward a New Political Economy of Broadcasting163
6"But Not the Ownership Thereof": The Peculiar Property Status of the Broadcast License219
7Broadcast Copyright and the Vicissitudes of Authorship in Electronic Culture256
8Viewing as Property: Broadcasting's Audience Commodity275
9Toward a New Politics of Electronic Media309
Index329

Interesting book: The Ultimate Weight Solution Cookbook or Vice Busting Diet

Economics and the Law: From Posner to Post-Modernism

Author: Nicholas Mercuro

This is an expanded second edition of Nicholas Mercuro and Steven Medema's influential book Economics and the Law, whose publication in 1998 marked the most comprehensive overview of the various schools of thought in the burgeoning field of Law and Economics. Each of these competing yet complementary traditions has both redefined the study of law and exposed the key economic implications of the legal environment. The book remains true to the scope and aims of the first edition, but also takes account of the field's evolution.

At the book's core is an expanded discussion of the Chicago school, Public Choice Theory, Institutional Law and Economics, and New Institutional Economics. A new chapter explores the Law and Economics literature on social norms, today an integral part of each of the schools of thought. The chapter on the New Haven and Modern Civic Republican approaches has likewise been expanded. These chapters are complemented by a discussion of the Austrian school of Law and Economics. Each chapter now includes an "At Work" section presenting applications of that particular school of thought.

By providing readers with a concise, noncritical description of the broad contours of each school, this book illuminates the fundamental insights of a field with important implications not only for economics and the law, but also for political science, philosophy, public administration, and sociology.



Facilitating the Project Lifecycle or Behavioral Trading

Facilitating the Project Lifecycle: Skills & Tools to Accelerate Progress for Project Managers, Facilitators, and Six Sigma Project Teams

Author: Janet A Means

Step by step, Facilitating the Project Lifecycle guides the project manager/facilitator in making smart choices about when and how to pull key talent together to spell success for the project and ultimately the organization. The authors will help you understand the benefits of using facilitated group work sessions to get real work done during a project and get it done better and more efficiently than more traditional individual work approaches. In addition, the book includes:



• Recommendations for capitalizing on group knowledge to accelerate the building of key project deliverables and ensure their quality as they are built

• A work session structure for planning, delivering, and following up facilitated work sessions

• Guides for building key project deliverables

• Sample agendas

• Proven techniques for managing the group dynamics




Table of Contents:
1Old dogs and new tricks5
2Facilitation within the project lifecycle12
3Who's on first?25
4What effective facilitation is and is not32
5Making work sessions work45
6The work session tightrope55
7Preparing for the work session69
8Conducting the work session82
9Wrapping up the work session94
10Establishing the project charter103
11Analyzing and designing business processes116
12Defining business requirements135
13Assessing risks152
14Convening work-in-progress reviews166
15It's all about communication189
16Flip-charting197
17Brainstorming202
18Facilitated dialogue206
19Nominal group and affinity analysis211
20Prioritization techniques217
21Breakout groups232
22Staying on track : agendas, action items, and other focusing techniques237
23Creating a purpose statement253
24Defining objectives and targets258
25Scope framing267
26Guiding factors : assumptions, constraints, dependencies, and touch points276
27Discovering impacts282
28Risk analysis matrices288
29Process decomposition298
30Process mapping308
31Process detail table323
32Context diagramming329
33Requirements table345
34Developing a timeline357

Interesting book: Cultural Diversity in the Workplace or Tax Research

Behavioral Trading: Methods for Measuring Investor Confidence and Expectations and Market Trends

Author: Woody Dorsey

Have you ever wondered to what extent investor confidence and expectations, rather than solid financial analysis, impact stock market prices? In Behavioral Trading, stock market contrarian, Woody Dorsey, gives readers for the first time insight into his unique and highly successful market diagnosis technique based on proprietary methodologies, often described as market expectations theory, behavioral finance and most commonly contrary opinion analysis. Although long popular with major investors and the financial media for his macroeconomic perspective that is more than six months ahead of the crowd, Dorsey shows how his technique makes behavioral economics practical, accessible and understandable.

About the Author:
Woody Dorsey studied economics, philosophy and forecasting methodologies at Amherst College, and began publishing market commentary in 1985. His innovations in Market Sentiment Interpretation, Trend Duration Analysis, and Market Correlation Deductions are part of a system of diagnosing the markets. He lives in Vermont.