Healthy Beginning Guidance On Safe Maternity At Work

Book Description

Managing Bank Capital explains proven techniques available in the management of bank capital that will help maximize shareholder value. This second edition has been fully updated to incorporate significant developments, such as the modeling of credit risk, and includes new sections with more technical information and advanced analysis.

Customer Reviews:

Excellent overview and detail on economic capital for banks.......2006-09-06

I bought this book hoping it would quickly bring me up to speed on key concepts in Economic Capital in the financial institutions industry. This book was simple enough for a relative novice to follow, and went into enough detail that I think most people would get something out of it. I also thought the book was well organized-- each section had a summary chapter that explained what the subsequent chapters in that section would cover so you could quickly skim or deep dive on various topics. The book was a bit dated in the sections on Basel, since it was written before Basel II was completed. Overall, an excellent introduction to Economic Capital and I was happy with my purchase.

Helpful Concepts, Lacking Implementatin Steps.......2002-07-30

With all the attention paid to bank capital management, this book is helpful in describing the concepts. However, it is not quantitative enough. The step-by-step of capital allocation for a given asset class of varying risk levels is lacking. For example, how should the bank treat the sub-prime portion of its credit card or auto loans in the capital allocation? I wish it were more specific. Could Providian or Capital One have directed the capital away from high risk loans, had they followed the advice of the book?

A Must-Read Book for Shareholder Value Management.......1999-06-05

Chris Matten provides a comprehensive guide to applications of RAROC and shareholder value for managing bank capital and compensating bank executives and traders. The author provides particularly good sections on how EVA, shareholder value, and other earnings based measures can be manipulated and abused. This is not the sort of book which the corporate finance shareholder value crowd would likely read, but is one which they need to read.

Excellent only book on the economic allocation of capital........1998-04-26

Mr. Matten's insightful work highlights how rigid appliction of the Basle Accords can lead to capital misallocation. He then provides insightful suggestions, with good examples, on how to better allocate bank capital by discriminating between borrowers on the basis of risk, all the while remaining within the basle guidelines. Mr. Matten points to the need for sophisticated mathematical-statistical analysis but does not dwell on the technicalities, making the book accessible to non-rocket scientists. All in all, a highly recommended book.

Great book, but watch out for typos.......1997-12-16

For a comprehensive approach that brings the reader from Cooke through RAROC, this book is very good and has no competition . What basic explanations of statistics theory you need in order to follow the main 'story' is included discreetly, so advanced readers shouldn't be bothered by them. This being said, beware the errors -- they exist throughout: for the price that Wiley Press is able to get in light of the lack of competition from another good RAROC capital allocation book ($69 last year, $95 now), it hopefully has caught and corrected them. Caveat emptor.

Book Description

Ubertaccio documents the creation, growth, and significance of the Office of the Solicitor General. Ubertaccio argues that the Solicitor General's office has become the President's preeminent tool for legal and constitutional change. Throughout the history of the office, from its early defense of federal power in the area of civil rights by Benjamin Bristow to its advocacy of strong executive power to wage a war against terrorism by Theodore Olson, Solicitors have been advocates of federal and executive power and wrapped the activities of the federal government and the executive office in constitutional dressing.

Between Law and Politics: the Solicitor General and the Structuring of Race, Gender, and Reproductive Rights Litigation.(Book Review): An article from: Presidential Studies Quarterly

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Between Law and Politics: the Solicitor General and the Structuring of Race, Gender, and Reproductive Rights Litigation.(Book Review): An article from: Presidential Studies Quarterly
Nancy Kassop
Manufacturer: Center for the Study of the Presidency
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Presidential Studies Quarterly, published by Center for the Study of the Presidency on March 1, 2004. The length of the article is 1014 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Between Law and Politics: the Solicitor General and the Structuring of Race, Gender, and Reproductive Rights Litigation.(Book Review)
Author: Nancy Kassop
Publication: Presidential Studies Quarterly (Refereed)
Date: March 1, 2004
Publisher: Center for the Study of the Presidency
Volume: 34 Issue: 1 Page: 179(2)

Article Type: Book Review

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Between Law and Politics: The Solicitor General and the Structuring of Race Gender and Reproductive Rights Litigation (Joseph V. Hughes, Jr. and holl

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Between Law and Politics: The Solicitor General and the Structuring of Race Gender and Reproductive Rights Litigation (Joseph V. Hughes, Jr. and holl
Richard L. Pacelle
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: 1585448931

Principle versus politics: The Solicitor General's office in constitutional bureaucratic theory

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Principle versus politics: The Solicitor General's office in constitutional bureaucratic theory
John O McGinnis
Manufacturer: Stanford University, Stanford Law School, Crown Quadrangle
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Constitutional Law | Law | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0006OXQAG

Sir Edward Clarke (Her Majesty's solicitor-general, 1886-1892): Public speeches, 1890-1900

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Sir Edward Clarke (Her Majesty's solicitor-general, 1886-1892): Public speeches, 1890-1900
Edward Clarke
Manufacturer: G. Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Law | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0008895DM

Book Description

The 1962 edition publication of Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring generated unprecedented concern about the environmental and health problems associated with two decades of widespread use of synthetic pesticides. Over thirty years later, Beyond Silent Spring provides a comprehensive distillation of current views on the issues it raised. With heightened international concern for the environment, and increased emphasis on the need for an integrated approach to the use and control of chemicals, this volume also provides an invaluable review of the successes and limitations of recent regimes of pest and polluting chemical management.

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Beyond Silent Spring
H.F. van Emden
Manufacturer: NY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000MUAHEM

Book Description

Fiction or philosophy, profound knowledge or shocking heresy? When Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation was published anonymously in 1844, it sparked one of the greatest sensations of the Victorian era. More than a hundred thousand readers were spellbound by its startling vision—an account of the world that extended from the formation of the solar system to the spiritual destiny of humanity. As gripping as a popular novel, Vestiges combined all the current scientific theories in fields ranging from astronomy and geology to psychology and economics. The book was banned, it was damned, it was hailed as the gospel for a new age. This is where our own public controversies about evolution began.

In a pioneering cultural history, James A. Secord uses the story of Vestiges to create a panoramic portrait of life in the early industrial era from the perspective of its readers. We join apprentices in a factory town as they debate the consequences of an evolutionary ancestry. We listen as Prince Albert reads aloud to Queen Victoria from a book that preachers denounced as blasphemy vomited from the mouth of Satan. And we watch as Charles Darwin turns its pages in the flea-ridden British Museum library, fearful for the fate of his own unpublished theory of evolution. Using secret letters, Secord reveals how Vestiges was written and how the anonymity of its author was maintained for forty years. He also takes us behind the scenes to a bustling world of publishers, printers, and booksellers to show how the furor over the book reflected the emerging industrial economy of print.

Beautifully written and based on painstaking research, Victorian Sensation offers a new approach to literary history, the history of reading, and the history of science. Profusely illustrated and full of fascinating stories, it is the most comprehensive account of the making and reception of a book (other than the Bible) ever attempted.

Winner of the 2002 Pfizer Award from the History of Science Society

Customer Reviews:

A Fascinating look at Victorian and scientific history.......2006-07-01

One usually looks at history either as a chronological account of a particular place or discipline, or as broad account of a specific time period. This is the sort of slightly eccentric look at a time period that does so much to make connections between what one learns in more customary histories.

Secord is not so much looking at what Vestiges proposed, nor critiquing it by current scientific information, nor creating a biography of the author. He does a little of all these, but his main purpose is look intensively at the work as a social phenomenon. He considers it as a book, published in different versions for different segments of society, he reports on the reactions of various social classes in various geographic areas, the reaction of scientists, clergy and laymen to its "atheistic" or "deist" point of view, gender perspectives, etc. For the most part, for all its detail, it is extremely readable.

In order to do this, he has done an incredible amount of research. Knowing that the social elites talked, rather than wrote about it, he has combed diaries for records of conversation. He has researched technical details and statistics of the book trade. Truly a daunting project.

Serious students of the time period, scientific and philosophical history should find it very worthy of their attention. It should also appeal to the general reader (like me) who has at least a moderate knowledge of the era and of scientific history. I certainly wouldn't recommend this as a beginning text in either field.

The book is filled with a variety of black-and-white illustrations: ledgers, title pages, portraits, caricatures and cartoons, probably at least one on every fourth page. There is an extensive bibiography and a detailed index.

Interesting history, poor epistemology.......2004-03-15

Unlike many of the horrible, theory-driven products of American graduate schools, Victorian Sensation is well written (despite occasional lapses into jargon) and readers can learn a lot about Victorian culture in the first half of the 19th century. Mr. Secord reads carefully and is sensitive to the nuances and social context of what he is reading. This makes for good history. He provides a finely detailed account of how Vestiges was received within different social groups and how the definition of science itself was developing during the period. I'm not sure why he is so surprised that people interpret the same information in different ways. All communication falls into an existing state of affairs. As for the concept of genius, anyone who studies any subject in depth will find that all works are built upon a foundation provided by others. There is no other way. This understanding does not diminish Darwin's achievements; it merely puts journalistic excesses into perspective. Further, hero worship encourages as many people as it discourages.

The real problem with this work lies in his epistemology, which is shoddy beyond measure. To wit: "The texts of science have no meaning apart from what readers make out of them, yet -ironically - they aspire to be a transcript of the truth of nature, needing no interpretation." Historians and scientists alike may well be confused about many of the details of how science developed, but Secord is a reader who can make little sense of science. He seems to be at home in the emotional, blustering, and over-moralized world our ancestors lived in before they learned how to evaluate the world with some degree of objectivity (full objectivity is impossible, of course). This was the problem the 19th century set itself. The fact that this rationalism was carried too far does not mean it needs to be rejected in toto. I am old enough to remember the distortions of print culture and I find those fostered by electronic media and espoused by Mr. Secord to be no improvement. All symbolic systems distort. The current obsession with cultural relativism is no more than an unconscious mimicry of habits encouraged by television, which favors rhetoric (he said-she said) over objectivity. Mr. Secord and his ilk consider themselves to be on the cutting edge of historical criticism when they really represent a new orthodoxy fostered by television. Secord is hardly the chief offender here. He retains both a readable style and knowledge of how to gather and evaluate evidence. He would be a better historian if he would rid himself of his philosophical pretensions.

Interesting, but a little tedious.......2003-08-13

Don't get me wrong, I liked the book, the problem is it seems to me James Secord digress too much. It's a good thing to know the context at which the events took place, but too much detail sometimes makes reading hard. Secord definitively can't be accused of superfluos, he really did a profound investigation and a great effort, though a little hard sometimes, the book still is worth reading.

The Evolution of Evolution.......2002-01-13

As Henry Drummond noted in 1883, "This is the age of the evolution of Evolution. All thoughts that the Evolutionist works with, all theories and generalizations, have themselves evolved and are now being evolved."
This remarkable work on the Vestiges of Robert Chambers is itself a history of the evolution of evolution, describing in wonderful detail the context of a book that perfectly fits Drummond's description. Springing from eighteenth century intimations, first theorized by Lamarck, the idea of evolution finally bursts into public consciousness with Chambers' Vestiges, whose sudden popularity, if not notoriety, made it one of the first modern bestsellers in an age of technological breakthroughs in communications, transport, and printing. Laying the groundwork for laters theories, it nonetheless is too often dismissed as pseudo-scientific when, in fact, the author was aware of certain aspects of the pre-Darwinian ideas of evolution that only now are resurfacing, after being shunted aside by the Darwin tide to come. The account in this work is an engaging hybrid of cultural history mixed into the biography of Chambers' book, and is useful for the student of evolution in its account of the social relations of science, from the gentleman scientist to the grub street popularizers, and indirectly brings to life the later relationship of Huxley to Darwin. The age of Darwin in which we live has made him the sole authority and source of a science of evolution and this distorts the facts, and has obscured the reputation of this and other books. Indeed part of the confusion over selectionist theories sprang from the need for Darwin to artificially separate himself from previous ideas of evolution, by a novelty of claims, since the idea of evolution had seen its foundations laid. It is good to remember the full tale. The reality is that Vestiges was the first thunderclap of the evolutionary idea, whose correct intimations mixed with much speculative confusion were filtered out of the positivist account of Darwin, that provoked its own firestorm of reactions, for not the least reason that it was as evolutionary as the work of Chambers, and did not truly foot the bill for a theory of descent.

A review from the Sunday Times, London.......2001-02-18

From the Sunday Times, 18 February 2001

Bigger than Darwin

VICTORIAN SENSATION: The Extraordinary Publication, Reception, and Secret Authorship of Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation by James A Secord Chicago U P pp624

MIRANDA SEYMOUR

Tennyson, with whom this accomplished work begins and ends, was an avid reader. In 1844, he spotted a review of an anonymously authored book which, according to the critic, convincingly linked the natural sciences to the history of creation. The poet, like many other readers of Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation, had already formed what we might consider advanced views on this subject. Man had resulted from a slow gestation beginning with simple invertebrates; man's ability to reason and distinguish between good and bad was part of his development. Tennyson had already completed much of In Memoriam, arguably the most powerful of Victorian poems. After reading Vestiges, he used its notion of an ever-ascending condition to celebrate the idea of a link "Betwixt us and the crowning race".

Tennyson's readers knew exactly what that reference meant. It is we who have lost it. Hailing Darwin as the great originator, we have forgotten that Vestiges, in the mid-19th century, had a greater impact, reaching far more readers and being discussed at all levels.

This is the central point of James A Secord's book. The idea he illustrates in a hundred entertaining ways is that we, as readers, like making narratives. We want things tidy, with beginnings and ends. It's reassuring to suppose that the concept of evolutionary culture began with Darwin's Origin of the Species in 1859. Reassuring, and wrong, not just because Darwin's grandfather had been writing about evolutionary matters in the previous century, but because geologists had reached Darwin's conclusions on evolution - not natural selection, which blew up a storm rather later - years before he published his turgid and, in many respects, quite cautious book.

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, first published (anonymously) in 1818, was not directly responsible for the upward surge of new ideas about creation and spontaneous generation. Shelley's extraordinary book did, however, provide the creationists and their opponents with a potent image. Discussions of man's origins were regular among the circles in which she herself moved; her own interest in fossil history led her to consider writing a book on the subject. The suggestions made by Vestiges were, then, original only in the elegance of their formulation. (Even its opponents conceded that the prose was superb.) Revealingly, the gossips and critics were able to produce at least 10 authors who might have produced such an argument. Two of them, intriguingly, were women.

"Sensational" was the description always given to Vestiges. In Britain alone, it went through 14 editions and sold 40,000 copies: why? It helped, of course, that Vestiges looked small and user-friendly, its scarlet cover causing one irate reviewer to compare it to "the accomplished harlot". It was, unlike Darwin's later work, easy to follow and illustrated with homely analogies. Above all, it was a curiosity. The anonymity by which the Scottish publisher, Robert Chambers, screened himself for 40 years became one of the book's hottest selling points.

Not even Secord, whose knowledge is impressively omnivorous, is certain why Chambers continued to hide his identity for so long. The decision was first taken, it seems, from a combination of prudence and shrewdness. He wanted to sell copies; he knew that his unscientific status would be held against him. Anonymity, while frequent in fiction, was unusual in the fields of biography and history. To be anonymous in this area was to attract attention and speculation. Guessing the author became part of the enterprise in a period that extended into decades during which Vestiges and its authorship were passionately discussed. An anonymous sequel, published in 1845, may have sold only 3,000 copies, but it achieved the more important goal for Chambers of keeping up interest.

Transmutation was the brand-new theory of creation that Chambers put on offer in his book, prefacing it with the bold, Frankenstein-led query: "In what way was the creation of animated beings effected?" The notion of endless ascent was not received with unanimous respect. Florence Nightingale joked that she found it impossible to climb down again, "and was obliged to go off as an angel". Darwin, scratching for fleas while he furtively studied the British Museum's copy, thought the geology and zoology were hopelessly amateur, although he agreed with the general conclusions. Philip Gosse, rejecting the idea that fossils indicated a pre-biblical history, wrote a response, Omphalos; 75% of the published copies were pulped through lack of demand. Vestiges continued to sell. Punch joked about a lonely book that is spurned at the door of every famous author who might have claimed it. Chambers, confronted with an inquiry about "that horrible book" and whether he had read it, kept his counsel.

It is hard to overpraise this book. Magnificently illustrated, erudite, thoughtful and stimulating, it has the added bonus of a wickedly subversive style. I liked, to single out a small example, Secord's throwaway description of a Punch journalist: "Douglas Jerrold was a known infidel (and ate his peas with a knife)." One of the illustrations shows a group of "advanced thinkers" chatting by the fire. The light catches their faces; they look intensely alive, and enthralled. Reading Victorian Sensation gives you the illusion, at least, of joining them.

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Victorian Sensation: The Extraordinary Publication, Reception, and Secret Authorship of Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation & Annie's Box: Charles ... review): An article from: Wordsworth Circle
Robert M. Ryan
Manufacturer: Wordsworth Circle
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books | Classics | Comic | Contemporary | Literary
Victorian | Movements & Periods | History & Criticism | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | e-Docs | Formats | Books
ASIN: B0008IP8MY
Release Date: 2005-07-28

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Wordsworth Circle, published by Wordsworth Circle on September 22, 2001. The length of the article is 1742 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Victorian Sensation: The Extraordinary Publication, Reception, and Secret Authorship of Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation & Annie's Box: Charles Darwin, His Daughter and Human Evolution. (book review)
Author: Robert M. Ryan
Publication: Wordsworth Circle (Refereed)
Date: September 22, 2001
Publisher: Wordsworth Circle
Volume: 32 Issue: 4 Page: 206(3)

Article Type: Book Review

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Victorian Sensation: The Extraordinary Publication, Reception, and Secret Authorship of Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation. (Reviews of Books).(Book Review): An article from: Albion

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Victorian Sensation: The Extraordinary Publication, Reception, and Secret Authorship of Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation. (Reviews of Books).(Book Review): An article from: Albion
Lynn K. Nyhart
Manufacturer: North American Conference on British Studies
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B0008FNZYU
Release Date: 2005-07-30

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Albion, published by North American Conference on British Studies on June 22, 2002. The length of the article is 1230 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Victorian Sensation: The Extraordinary Publication, Reception, and Secret Authorship of Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation. (Reviews of Books).(Book Review)
Author: Lynn K. Nyhart
Publication: Albion (Refereed)
Date: June 22, 2002
Publisher: North American Conference on British Studies
Volume: 34 Issue: 2 Page: 331(3)

Article Type: Book Review

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Victorian Sensation: the Extraordinary Publication, Reception, and Secret Authorship of Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation.(Book Review) (book ... An article from: Canadian Journal of History

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Victorian Sensation: the Extraordinary Publication, Reception, and Secret Authorship of Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation.(Book Review) (book ... An article from: Canadian Journal of History
Richard England
Manufacturer: University of Saskatchewan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B0009FKC2C
Release Date: 2005-07-31

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Canadian Journal of History, published by University of Saskatchewan on December 1, 2002. The length of the article is 1016 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Victorian Sensation: the Extraordinary Publication, Reception, and Secret Authorship of Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation.(Book Review) (book review)
Author: Richard England
Publication: Canadian Journal of History (Refereed)
Date: December 1, 2002
Publisher: University of Saskatchewan
Volume: 37 Issue: 3 Page: 574(3)

Article Type: Book Review

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Victorian Sensation - The Extraordinary Publication, Reception and Secret Authorship of Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation

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Victorian Sensation - The Extraordinary Publication, Reception and Secret Authorship of Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation
JA Secord
Manufacturer: University Of Chicago Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OPIDNC

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VICTORIAN SENSATION - The Extraordinary Publication,Reception and Secret Authorship of Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation
James A. Secord
Manufacturer: University Of Chicago Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OPID5K

Book Description

Understanding the properties of snow and how it changes and interacts with the skis will help you appreciate the special phenomena that occur at the triple point, where the solid, liquid, and vapor phases coexist. You'll learn about alpine, cross-country, and speed skiing techniques, wax performance, and you'll get scientific data that is not readily available on the technical specifications and performance of ski equipment.

About the Author: David A. Lind is Professor of Physics at the University of Colorado in Boulder. He has been both Chairman of the Department of Physics and Director of the Nuclear Physics Laboratory, which he organized when he came to Colorado in 1956.

Customer Reviews:

lots of data; lack of concept; slightly out-of-date.......2003-01-25

I am a firm believer that understanding of the mechanics of a carving ski and of the forces transferred between the skis and the skier as he makes his way down the slope are necessary to better understand why one or another skier's action may help to intiate a turn, or shorten its radius, or, in contrast, will lead to a skidded turn. "The physics of skiing" is the only book I could find which addresses the mechanics and physics of skiing. It starts with the physical properties of snow and its formation in the atmosphere, then discusses the properties of snow equipment (mostly downhill skis, briefly snowboards and cross-country skis), and then goes into dynamics of gliding, wedging, and carving. The book is written as a college textbook with numerous (although fairly simple) equations and diagrams of forces. It requires a sufficiently strong background in physics. Although it contains a large amount of interesting data, I was not quite satisfied with it for two reasons. First, it lacks a concept. It is more a review of different literature sources on skiing-related topics than an analysis combining understanding of physics of skiing with a discussion of how this knowledge is applicable to modern skiing techniques. It provides the readers with the background theory, but does not lead to any suggestions how to benefit from this understanding and improve their skiing technique. Too bad that the authors did not have a good ski instructor in their company to make the book more useful and down-to-earth. Secondly, since it is based on references published between 1977 and 1997, part of the discussion is more applicable to the old almost straight skis than to modern supersidecut skis.

Want to Know about Skiis and Snow? This book will tell you.......2001-09-30

As a ski instructor the subject of how and why these damn things work as well as how to set up your skiis has always been of interest. This book will give you 95% of the answers to those questions. The book covers down hill, cross country as well as a catagory called adventure skiing. I will be ordering extra copies to give to my skiing friends
W. E. M.

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