The Federal Reserve--the central bank of the United States--is the most powerful peacetime bureaucracy in the federal government. Under the chairmanship... of Alan Greenspan (1987-2006), the Fed achieved near mythical status for its part in managing the economy, and Greenspan was lauded as a genius. Few seemed to notice or care that Fed officials operated secretly with almost no public accountability. There was a courageous exception to this lack of oversight, however: Henry B. Gonzalez (D-TX)--chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services (banking) Committee. In Deception and Abuse at the Fed, Robert Auerbach, a former banking committee investigator, recounts major instances of Fed mismanagement and abuse of power that were exposed by Rep. Gonzalez, including: Blocking Congress and the public from holding powerful Fed officials accountable by falsely declaring--for 17 years--it had no transcripts of its meetings; Manipulating the stock and bond markets in 1994 under cover of a preemptive strike against inflation; Allowing $5.5 billion to be sent to Saddam Hussein from a small Atlanta branch of a foreign bank--the result of faulty bank examination practices by the Fed; Stonewalling Congressional investigations and misleading the Washington Post about the $6,300 found on the Watergate burglars. Auerbach provides documentation of these and other abuses at the Fed, which confirms Rep. Gonzalez's belief that no government agency should be allowed to operate with the secrecy and independence in which the Federal Reserve has shrouded itself. Auerbach concludes with recommendations for specific, broad-ranging reforms that will make the Fed accountable to the government and the people of the United States.

Decide & Conquer brings together all the practical skills you need to make the best possible decisions every day. This quick, concise book... identifies every key obstacle to quality decision-making... and shows exactly how to overcome them. Discover how your personality impacts your decision-making... why instincts and experience can lead you astray... how to simplify complicated decisions without oversimplifying them... and much more. You'll use these techniques in your relationships, your finances, your career ... every day, everywhere.

This clearly written and well-focused volume combines concise decisions of the primary areas of communication law with the foundational case decisions... in those domains. Thus, in one volume, students of communication law, constitutional law, political science, and related fields find both the key rulings that define each area of law and a detailed summary of the legal concepts, doctrines, and policies so vital to understanding the rulings within their legal context. The text forgoes the tendency to provide encyclopedic treatment of all the relevant cases and focuses instead on the two or three cases most vital to an accurate and informed understanding of the current state of each field of communication law. The chapters provide readers with the most salient concepts and the necessary depth to understand the law while permitting most reading time to be directed to the law itself. Full-text rulings allow readers to immerse themselves in the law itself--to develop a feel for its complexity, its flexibility, and its language. Useful as a quick reference to the landmark rulings and the jurisprudence of communication law, this book also serves well as the primary text in related undergraduate courses or as a supplemental text in graduate classes in the field.

To study the settlement process of undocumented migrants, Jacqueline Hagan examines one of Houston's Maya communities, the approximately 900 Maya from a... township in the Department of Totonicapan, Guatemala. She traces this Maya community from its genesis in 1978, when a few men left the township in search of economic opportunity, to the complex effects of the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA). Based on several years of living and participating in the Totonicapan Maya community in Houston and a visit to the Guatemalan home community, Hagan's research combines interviews, community participation, and observation to evaluate immigration policy. Hagan shows that these immigrants do not passively accept U.S. immigration policy, but instead interpret it and base their actions on their own agenda within the context of their local community. The results, often quite unexpected by national policy makers, question popular myths about the settlement of immigrant communities. The author discusses the different settlement experiences of men and women and the effects of IRCA on family and community structure. Analyzing how legal status influences settlement behavior and international networks, she finds that strong community-based networks and social ties with a home community lead to successful adaptation. Jacqueline Maria Hagan is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Houston.

Of the nearly five thousand cases presented to the Supreme Court each year, less than 5 percent are granted review. How the Court sets its agenda,... therefore, is perhaps as important as how it decides cases. H. W. Perry, Jr., takes the first hard look at the internal workings of the Supreme Court, illuminating its agenda-setting policies, procedures, and priorities as never before. He conveys a wealth of new information in clear prose and integrates insights he gathered in unprecedented interviews with five justices. For this unique study Perry also interviewed four U.S. solicitors general, several deputy solicitors general, seven judges on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, and sixty-four former Supreme Court law clerks. The clerks and justices spoke frankly with Perry, and his skillful analysis of their responses is the mainspring of this book. His engaging report demystifies the Court, bringing it vividly to life for general readers--as well as political scientists and a wide spectrum of readers throughout the legal profession. Perry not only provides previously unpublished information on how the Court operates but also gives us a new way of thinking about the institution. Among his contributions is a decision-making model that is more convincing and persuasive than the standard model for explaining judicial behavior.

For ten years, Herbert J. Gans spent considerable time in four major television and magazine newsrooms, observing and talking to the journalists who... choose the national news stories that inform America about itself. Writing during the golden age of journalism, Gans included such headline events as the War on Poverty, the Vietnam War and the protests against it, urban ghetto disorders, the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, and Watergate. He was interested in the values, professional standards, and the external pressures that shaped journalists' judgments.Deciding What's News has become a classic. A new preface outlines the major changes that have taken place in the news media since Gans first wrote the book, but it also suggests that the basics of news judgment and the structures of news organizations have changed little. Gans's book is still the most comprehensive sociological account of some of the country's most prominent national news media. The book received the 1979 Theatre Library Association Award and the 1980 Book Award of the National Association of Educational Broadcasters. This is the first work to be published under the Medill School of Journalism's "Visions of the American Press" imprint, a new journalism history series featuring both original volumes and reprints of important classics.

Focusing on curriculum leadership and closing the achievement gap, this influential book is updated with new insights on developing and aligning... curriculum in a standards-based environment.

Tackling environmental issues such as global warming, ozone depletion, acid rain, water pollution, and soil contamination requires an understanding of... the underlying science and chemistry of these processes in real-world systems and situations. Chemistry for Environmental and Earth Sciences provides a student-friendly introduction to the basic chemistry used for the mitigation, remediation, and elimination of pollutants. Written and organized in a style that is accessible to science as well as non-science majors, this textbook divides its content into four intuitive chapters: Fire, Earth, Water, and Air. The first chapter explains classical concepts in chemistry that occur in nature such as atomic and molecular structures, chemical bonding and reactions, states of matter, phase transitions, and radioactivity. Subsequent chapters focus on the chemistry relating to the geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere—including the chemical aspects of soil, water, and air pollution, respectively. Chemistry for Environmental and Earth Sciences uses worked examples and case studies drawn from current applications along with clear diagrams and concise explanations to illustrate the relevance of chemistry to geosciences. In-text and end-of-chapter questions with complete solutions also help students gain confidence in applying concepts from this book towards solving current, real-world problems.

The first part of the book explains the various analytical tools that simplify and accelerate decision making. Learn about tools that help you determine... causes, evaluate choices, and forecast future events. For occasions when a group, rather than an individual, has to make a decision, you will also learn what tools can help you create group consensus. The second half of the book shows you how to apply analytical tools to different healthcare situations, including comparing clinician performance, determining the causes for medical errors, analyzing the costs of programs, and determining the market for new services. Many practical examples walk you step-by-step through common decision-making scenarios.

In an increasingly complex world, decision analysis has a major role to play in helping decision-makers to gain insights into the problems they face.... Decision Analysis for Management Judgment is unique in its breadth of coverage of decision analysis methods. It covers both the psychological problems that are associated with unaided managerial decision making and the decision analysis methods designed to overcome them. It is presented and explained in a clear, straightforward manner without using mathematical notation. The fourth edition has been fully revised and updated and includes a number of changes to reflect the latest developments in the field.

NEW FOURTH EDITION Decision Analysis has, for decades, been the most powerful method available for making decisions under conditions of uncertainty,... e.g., new business strategies and new product launches. In this timely book, business consultants McNamee and Celona set forth the practical application of decision analysis for business decision-makers and those who support them. The book clearly illustrates the need for coupling decision process with analysis to create quality decisions. Includes cases and discussion questions. 339 pages.

From thunderous broadsides traded between wooden sailing ships on Lake Erie, to the carrier battles of World War II, to the devastating high-tech action... in the Persian Gulf, here is a gripping history of five key battles that defined the evolution of naval warfare--and the course of the American nation. Acclaimed military historian Craig Symonds offers spellbinding narratives of crucial engagements, showing how each battle reveals the transformation of technology and weaponry from one war to the next; how these in turn transformed naval combat; and how each event marked a milestone in American history. · Oliver Hazard Perry's heroic victory at Lake Erie, one of the last great battles of the Age of Sail, which secured the Northwestern frontier for the United States · The brutal Civil War duel between the ironclads Monitor and Virginia, which sounded the death knell for wooden-hulled warships and doomed the Confederacy's hope of besting the Union navy · Commodore Dewey's stunning triumph at Manila Bay in 1898, where the U.S. displayed its "new navy" of steel-hulled ships firing explosive shells and wrested an empire from a fading European power · The hairsbreadth American victory at Midway, where aircraft carriers launched planes against enemies 200 miles away--and where the tide of World War II turned in the space of a few furious minutes · Operation Praying Mantis in the Persian Gulf, where computers, ship-fired missiles, and "smart bombs" not only changed the nature of warfare at sea, but also marked a new era, and a new responsibility, for the United States. Symonds records these encounters in detail so vivid that readers can hear the wind in the rigging and feel the pounding of the guns. Yet he places every battle in a wide perspective, revealing their significance to America's development as it grew from a new Republic on the edge of a threatening frontier to a global superpower. Decision at Sea is a powerful and illuminating look at pivotal moments in the history of the Navy and of the United States. It is also a compelling study of the unchanging demands of leadership at sea, where commanders must make rapid decisions in the heat of battle with lives--and the fate of nations--hanging in the balance.

Decision-making is a process of choosing from possible courses of action in order to attain goals and objectives. Nobel laureate Herbert Simon wrote... that the whole process of managerial decision-making is synonymous with the practice of management. Decision-making is at the core of all managerial functions. Planning, for example, involves the following decisions: what should be done? When? How? Where? By whom? Other managerial functions, such as organizing, implementing and controlling, rely heavily on decision-making. "Decision by Objectives" is a book about the art and science of decision-making. It presents a very practical approach to decision-making that has a sound theoretical foundation, known as the analytic hierarchy process. Intended for both the student and the professional, the book includes approaches to prioritizing, evaluating alternative courses of action, forecasting, and allocating resources. By focusing on objectives rather than alternatives alone, it shows the reader how to synthesize information from multiple sources, analyses, and perspectives. The methods presented have been gaining popularity throughout the world.

Designed for MSW-level social work students, this collection of cases encourages readers to think like practicing professionals. The cases depict actual... situations across a variety of practice settings--individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities. Sure to stimulate in-depth class discussions, these detailed, open-ended cases urge students to decide on the central problem and recommend a course of action. The resulting case analyses and class discussions help students develop important problem-solving and critical-thinking skills, internalize social work values and ethics, and apply theory to practice. Through the "decision case" approach, students adopt attitudes and skills that are considered essential for effective social work practice, yet difficult to teach in the traditional curriculum. As they discuss their perspectives on these cases, students learn to articulate and defend their positions, to listen more effectively, and to develop skills in, and appreciation for, collaborative problem-solving.