Investing In Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities (Frank J. Fabozzi Series)

Book Description

Commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS)-securitizations of mortgage loans backed by commercial real estate-have become compelling devices for fixed income investing. This title, edited by renowned financial expert Frank Fabozzi, describes the structure, valuation, and performance of CMBS, illustrates an empirical framework for estimating CMBS defaults, instructs how to value prepayment and credit risks of CMBS, and more.

Book Description

Employee absenteeism is a chronic organizational problem that costs U.S. corporations an estimated $30 billion annually. In this pioneering volume, Colette Frayne reports the results of the first study to examine empirically the use of a simple straightforward self-management training program to increase employee attendance. The author presents a complete description of the self-management training process used in the study, shows how self-management can be of significant value in reducing employee absenteeism, and offers precise information for the human resources professional who wishes to organize and implement self-management training within his or her own organization. Frayne also addresses other applications of self-management in the workplace, demonstrating that the approach works because it accommodates both the employees' needs for freedom and the organization's need for control. Following an introductory chapter which discusses the research focus for the study, presenting the rationale for examining the topic, and explores the basic principles of social learning theory, Frayne provides a detailed overview of existing theories that were precursors to social learning theory. She then outlines the methodology that was used for sample generation, data collection, and training implementation. Two chapters examine the research results and discuss their implications for reducing employee absenteeism. In the next chapter, Frayne discusses the results and interpretations derived from conducting a follow-up study and replication of the initial research. Training in self-management, she shows, offered many benefits to the individuals involved in the training program and to the organization that supported the program. Specifically, many of the trainees improved their attendance, their relationships with supervisors, their job performance, and their career promotion opportunities--improvements that held up well over time. Care is taken throughout to present both practical guidelines for implementing effective self-management training programs and empirical research to support the various applications of the training. Numerous tables and figures enhance the text.

Book Description

In 1987, zoologist Alan Rabinowitz was invited by the Thai government to study leopards, tigers, and other wildlife in the Huai Kha Khaeng valley, one of Southeast Asia's largest and most prized forests. It was hoped his research would help protect the many species that live in that fragile reserve, which was being slowly decimated by poachers, drug traffickers, and even the native tribes of the area. Chasing the Dragon's Tail is the remarkable story of Rabinowitz's life and adventures in the forest as well as the streets of Bangkok, as he works to protect Thailand's threatened wildlife.

Based on Rabinowitz's field journals, the book offers an intimate and moving look at a modern zoologist's life in the field. As he fights floods, fire-ant infestations, elephant stampedes, and a request to marry the daughter of a tribal chief, the difficulties that come with the demanding job of species conservation are dramatically brought to life. First published in 1991, this edition of Chasing the Dragon's Tail includes a new afterword by the author that brings the story up to date, describing the surprising strides Thailand has made recently in conservation.

"Rabinowitz seems to crave risk and adventure, and the story of his hazardous years 'chasing the dragon's tail' in the Thai forest?which includes encounters with angry poachers, a narrow escape from his own leopard trap, and the aftermath of his participation in an opium counci?makes engrossing reading. He also reveals much about Thai life and its contradictions. . . .

?Publishers Weekl.

"...one of the best recent books on Thailand. Although essentially the record of a zoologist conserving wild cats in the Huai Kha Khaeng Wildlife Sanctuary, the book also offers a penetrating account of author Alan Rabinowitz's struggle to come to terms with Thailand and the Thai people.

?Far Eastern Economic Revie.

Other titles by Alan Rabinowitz include Beyond the Last Village and Jaguar.

Customer Reviews:

The Struggle To Save Thailand's Biodiversity.......2006-08-21

This book describes the day-to-day life and frustrations of renowned conservationist Alan Rabinowitz in Thailand. While the large mammal biodiversity of the country is amazing, it is being severely depleted. The large mammals are victims of a local culture that seems to think of wildlife as free wealth to be plundered for subsistence or luxury.

While he is primarily a conservationist, Dr. Rabinowitz sometimes assumes the role of animal rights advocate as he describes acts of heartless cruelty by the locals towards animals. Examples: a python which is skinned alive by some of his servants (it is easier to remove the skin when the animal is alive), and a magnificent gaur (the largest wild cattle species in the world) which had died a slow death from starvation after its jaw had been shattered by a bullet.

A distinctive feature of Dr. Rabinowitz's passionate first-person narrative is that he cares for wild animals as individuals apart from his desire to save them as species. His study animals are given Thai names and not numbers. He is emotionally involved with their well-being and does not maintain the cold detachment towards them that one might expect from a scientist. He also does not hesitate to give vent to his anger and anguish when one of the animals he has grown familiar with dies a horrible death at the hands of poachers. His view of the local culture is heavily influenced by how they treat animals and is understandably negative. This has been described as "cultural imperialism" by a reviewer but it is hard not to be moved by the sufferings of animals which are skinned alive and left to die in agony. Readers would have to judge for themselves on this point. In my opinion, Dr. Rabinowitz would have failed in his duty as a conservationist if he did not portray accurately the problems of saving Thailand's biodiversity - and most of the problems undoubtedly stem from the fact that the local culture does not see animals as deserving basic human sympathy, kindness and ethical treatment. "The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated."

Apart from the above sociological aspects of conservation in Thailand, the book contains a lot of information about the mammals themselves and their ecology. There are detailed descriptions of radiocollaring leopards and other wild cats which are very exciting, as are some of the descriptions of the largest cat of them all, the tiger.

Alan Rabinowitz may be a biologist, but he is certainly a skilled writer. .......2006-01-23

This is the true story of a biologist with a dark past heading to a small Asian country to study leopards. Though the story is about animal conservation, the human interactions are what make the bulk of it. The author is an emotional person, and the conveyance of his feelings and thoughts in his writing make this story very entertaining. He is also very candid about some of the things he did in Thailand.

I have to say one more thing about his writing style. As I was reading the book, I could picture myself hiking along the trails of the forest reserve, or talking to the forest monks. I cringed and felt helpless as I read of the daily cases of skinning and cooking animals alive. And I felt the sense of helplessness and frustration of trying to stop an entire nation from devouring every bit of wildlife left.

With Friends Like Alan, Who Needs Enemies?.......2004-05-01

Self-indulgent prose about a self-involved man's self-pitying and self-important journey halfway around the world to assert himself and his culture on other people. I'm not qualified to comment on his zoological practices, but I don't come away impressed with him. His writing is C level work -- simply wretched. It does have the quality of being revealing, but not necessarily of the point he labors and fails to make. This book is a depressing first-person account of cultural imperialism. No wonder Americans are so universally reviled in other countries...

A captivating story of the state of the tiger in Thailand.......1997-10-01

"Like his first book, Jaguar, Rabinowitz's Chasing The Dragon's Tail is a telling testimony to the difficulties emarked upon in the attempt at large predator conservation. Rabinowitz's books are a must read for anyone interested in habitat preservation and conservation."

Average customer rating:

Endangered Animals of Thailand
Humphrey
Manufacturer: CRC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Thailand | Asia | History | Subjects | Books

Ecology | Environment | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

Reference | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 1877743070

Resident forest birds in Thailand: Their status and conservation (ICBP/Birdlife Monograph)

Average customer rating:

Resident forest birds in Thailand: Their status and conservation (ICBP/Birdlife Monograph)
Philip D Round
Manufacturer: International Council for Bird Preservation
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Real Estate | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Conservation | Environment | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

Endangered Species | Conservation | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0946888132

Average customer rating:
The Ultimate Golf Book: A History and a Celebration of the World's Greatest Game

Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

History of Sports | Miscellaneous | Sports | Subjects | Books
General | Golf | Sports | Subjects | Books
General | Sports | Subjects | Books
Look Inside Sports Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books
All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Golf's Greatest Moments: An Illustrated History by the Game's Finest Writers

The Illustrated History of Golf

The Greatest Golf Stories Ever Told: Thirty Amazing Tales from the Links

The Wicked Game : Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, and the Story of Modern Golf

Golf A History

ASIN: 061814546X

Book Description

Ever since the Dark Ages, when a few Scots ambled over the dunes with their het kolvin sticks, slapping a ball around in something akin to golf, no sport has more universally or irreversibly awed its players and fans. THE ULTIMATE GOLF BOOK captures the world's ultimate sporting passion as it has never been captured before, with a lively, authoritative history, stunning illustrations, and perhaps the finest collection of original writing on the sport ever assembled between two covers. Putting a fresh, contemporary spin on the centuries-old story of golf, Sports Illustrated's colorful senior writer John Garrity has written a delightful, loose-limbed riff of a history that travels the globe and the links, covering the key personalities, events, advances in technique and technology, proliferation of interest, and curious mystery of this international obsession. Complementing the history are twenty personal essays from a diverse group of literary low-handicappers, musing on everything from the Age of Tiger, to the woes of the lowly club pro, to the charm of playing golf in the dead of winter, to giving up the game altogether. All of this plays out against the dramatic backdrop of more than 300 photographs and illustrations, many rare and historic, many commissioned especially for this volume, which is truly one of a kind. From the tee to the green, the clubhouse to the nuthouse, THE ULTIMATE GOLF BOOK is a must-have for any serious student of the game.

Book Description

Change is constant in everyday life. Infants crawl and then walk, children learn to read and write, teenagers mature in myriad ways, the elderly become frail and forgetful. Beyond these natural processes and events, external forces and interventions instigate and disrupt change: test scores may rise after a coaching course, drug abusers may remain abstinent after residential treatment. By charting changes over time and investigating whether and when events occur, researchers reveal the temporal rhythms of our lives. Applied Longitudinal Data Analysis is a much-needed professional book for empirical researchers and graduate students in the behavioral, social, and biomedical sciences. It offers the first accessible in-depth presentation of two of today's most popular statistical methods: multilevel models for individual change and hazard/survival models for event occurrence (in both discrete- and continuous-time). Using clear, concise prose and real data sets from published studies, the authors take you step by step through complete analyses, from simple exploratory displays that reveal underlying patterns through sophisticated specifications of complex statistical models. Applied Longitudinal Data Analysis offers readers a private consultation session with internationally recognized experts and represents a unique contribution to the literature on quantitative empirical methods. Visit http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/examples/alda.htm for: BL Downloadable data sets BL Library of computer programs in SAS, SPSS, Stata, HLM, MLwiN, and more BL Additional material for data analysis

Customer Reviews:

A Wonderful Work.......2007-07-15

I find Professor Singer's Book to be a most informative and useful tool for anyone who wishes to better understand Multilevel Modeling.

Applied Longitudinal Data Analysis by Singer,et al.......2007-03-13

Clearly written text... and usefull for researchers.
I would recommend it to anyone starting to learn about the subject!

The Clearest and Most Useful Book on HLM for Longitudinal Studies.......2006-07-28

This is simply the best book for those analyzing longitudinal data (data measured at more than one time point). Singer's coverage of Hierarchical Linear MOdeling (HLM) is clear, well-written (sprinkled with humor, it's like a lecture by the most popular prof. at your school), and geared towards researchers who need their programs to run, not just learn the mathematical underpinnings. Singer and Willett (the coauthor, not listed above!) set the standard for presenting math/statistics book examples.

THe authors accomplish the latter by keying her examples to data located at a UCLA website; you can run the same programs on the same datasets used in the book (wow!), and compare your output, troubleshooting any problems you may have. Singer and Willett (her coauthor, not listed here!) provide outputs and programs correspoing to several of the most popular statistical programs, including SAS and SPSS.

SInger and Willet also explain the rationale for using HLM over more traditional techniques such as regression. Simply stated, regression aggregates at a level that cause one to lose information (and hence the power to detect differences.) HLM allows one to look at overall differences due to time, but also the trajectories of individual differences who are "nested" within those time points. It's the (relatively) new thing, and is increasing used by investigators, and desired by peer reviewers.

As supplements, I suggest using the UCLA website mentioned above, subscribing to an e-mail LISTSERV for interesting (though sometimes compicated discussions of "multilevel modeling" (MULTILEVEL@JISCMAIL.AC.UK), and searching for Judith Singer's website through Google or A9 (if you use A9--"Alexa"--enough you'll get a small discount at Amazon.com). Also, compare Amazon's and Judith Singer's (through her website) current prices on this book.

Breaking down complex analyses .......2006-03-18

This is an excellent book. Multilevel modeling and survival analysis are becoming increasingly important in psychological studies, but are pretty complicated procedures. Singer & Willet offer both a conceptual background and practical ways to do the analyses in a clear, understandable manner. The book is very readable and will be an important reference for future analyses!

very clear and thorough.......2006-03-16

This book does a particularly good job of explaining the substantive meaning of the equations involved in multilevel modeling analyses. It spends a lot of extra time explaining what the equations mean in real world terms using examples from actual data sets. I teach a graduate level course on HLM and I much prefer this book to the Raudenbush & Byrk book because it not only does a better job of explaining the math (for graduate students less comfortable with statistics) but the chapters are also sprinkled with incredibly useful advice on actually running the analyses (getting them to converge, interpreting them, etc.) The Raudenbush & Bryk book probably does a slightly better job of presenting the equations, but it falls short on explanation and practical advice. If you were only going to buy one HLM book, I would start with this one.

Applied Longitudinal Data Analysis: Modeling Change and Event Occurrence

Average customer rating:

Applied Longitudinal Data Analysis: Modeling Change and Event Occurrence
John B. Willett Judith D. Singer
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OKPGYQ

Book Description

Widely acknowledged as the definitive reference source of its kind, Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases is backin a new 6th Edition! Authored by a "who's who" of experts from around the world, this 2-volume set encompasses all that is currently known about the epidemiology, etiology, pathology, microbiology, immunology, and treatment of infectious agents. Completely revised and updatedand with a bold, new 4-color formatit is a complete, essential compendium of knowledge on this vast and complex subject.

Now includes a bound-in CD-ROM containing all of the images from the book available for PowerPoint download.

Customer Reviews:

Amazing reviews of infectious diseases.......2007-05-12

This book is the mother of books about infectious diseases all around the world! This is an obligatory book that has to be on your library. Has excellent reviews of the majority of illnesses with great quality images. Even this version of the book includes a CD with images info to make your own presentations. Currently, I think is the best book about Infectious diseases.

Infectious Disease Bible.......2007-04-04

I am a hospital pharmacist. An infectious disease pharmacist showed me how much you could find in the previous edition of this book when I was doing a residency. Because many of the patients get admitted to the hospital due to some type of infection, this book has been invaluable in helping me understand details of any disease state. It has helped me understand antibiotic drug therapies and the reasons behind them more than any other written resource. And most importantly, it is a known and respected reference to the hospitalists that I can refer to modifying drug therapies or answering drug information questions related to infectious diseases.

It may seem expensive, but it has laid down multiple blueprints for looking at the complicated field of infectious diseases. I encourage anyone who is going into the field of pharmacy to make sure they can at least access these books.

I was ripped off.......2006-12-29

I ordered an online e editon 2 volumes and CD
I didnt not get the online pin number. I wrote to amazon and Still I havent heard from them
It is a total cheating

The Last Word in Infectious Diseases.......2006-12-03

This book is a must have for everyone that studies ID .The chapters are made to be read by themselves, they include the latest in the subject matter and the themes are reviewed in depth.Overall the best book around on the subject.

The book you need.......2003-03-16

As an infectious disease fellow, I recommend that anyone who want be an ID man should have such a book. Most infectious problems and diseases have been detailed in this book, although there are far going of emerging diseases and new antibiotics.
The only shortcomes of this book are lackiing comprehensive details and reveiw of antimicrobial therapy for some disease entities.

Tropical Infectious Diseases: Principles, Pathogens & Practice( 2 Volume Set)

Average customer rating:

A must for anybody interested in Tropical Medicine
very useful

Tropical Infectious Diseases: Principles, Pathogens & Practice( 2 Volume Set)
Richard L. Guerrant , David H. Walker , and Peter F. Weller
Manufacturer: Churchill Livingstone
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Medicine | Subjects | Books

French | Foreign Language Nonfiction | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Look Inside Nonfiction Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Look Inside Science Books | Trip | Specialty Stores | Books

Nonfiction | French | Foreign Language Books | Specialty Stores | Books

Professional & Technical | French | Foreign Language Books | Specialty Stores | Books

All French Books | French | Foreign Language Books | Specialty Stores | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Medicine | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Professional | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

ASIN: 044306668X

Book Description

The reference JAMA called "an outstanding contribution" and "must reading" is back in a fully revised New Edition! This 2-volume set presents cutting-edge discussions of scientific principles, pathogenesis, pathophys-iology, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention for the full range of tropical infectious diseases. A new bonus CD-ROM, a clinical-focused organization, standardized life-cycle diagrams, and 850 illustrations make vital guidance easy to find and apply.

Customer Reviews:

A must for anybody interested in Tropical Medicine.......2000-11-26

I have been reading most books on Tropical Medicine. This is the the best book I have seen so far. It is a must have for anybody seriously interested in Tropical Medicine.

very useful.......1999-11-28

The first truly comprehensive guide to tropical infectious diseases, compiled by the leading authorities in the field. Of enormous use and benefit.

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books