bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Stephen Hetherington on Epistemology
Authors: Hetherington Stephen
Published: February 2024

Philosophy has long embraced epistemology as one of its central elements. What is knowledge? How do we gain it? Can we gain it? Or do we always deceive ourselves when thinking that we have knowledge? Are we too deeply fallible ever to know something? For centuries, these questions have helped to define and motivate epistemological research. This volume engages strikingly with them, offering some unusual answers.

Stephen Hetherington’s prominent career within epistemology has been a series of bold, varied and provocative arguments and ideas. Bringing together some elements of his unique body of writing for the first time, this collection features previously published, as well as new, material displaying and extending some of his highly original approaches to key issues including knowledge, justification, fallibility, scepticism and the Gettier Problem.

Advancing our understanding of the systemic nature of Hetherington’s thinking, Stephen Hetherington on Epistemology presents his distinctive perspective on some of philosophy’s central questions about knowledge – an inviting blend of forensic detail and ‘big picture’ proposals.
Social Network Analysis
Authors: Scott John
Published: February 2024

This book introduces the non-specialist reader to the principal ideas, nature and purpose of social network analysis. Social networks operate on many levels, from families up to the level of nations, and play a critical role in determining the way problems are solved, organizations are run, and the degree to which individuals achieve their goals. Social network theory maps these relationships between individual actors and has become hugely influential across the social sciences.

Assuming no prior knowledge of quantitative sociology, this book presents the key ideas in context through examples and illustrations. Using a structured approach to understanding work in this area, John Scott signposts further reading and online sources so that readers can develop their knowledge and skills to become practitioners of this research method. A series of Frequently Asked Questions takes the reader through the main objections raised against social network analysis. The new edition updates the overview of the discipline with more recent work and current research in sociology.
Czechoslovak Armies 1939–45
Authors: Thomas Nigel
Published: February 2024

Featuring rare photos, detailed colour illustrations and insignia tables, this study explores the contribution made by Czech and Slovak troops fighting alongside Allied forces during World War II.

Following the Anglo-French failure at the Munich Conference in March 1938 to prevent a Nazi take-over of Bohemia-Moravia (modern Czech Republic/Czechia), many frustrated Czech and Slovak soldiers sided with Allied forces and fought alongside their armies – first in Poland, then in France, and finally from Britain.

Using depictions of relevant uniforms and equipment plus photos of the troops in action, military uniformology expert Nigel Thomas explains how the Czech Army was organized and how it fought alongside Allied forces in the Middle East and at Normandy. He describes the involvement of free Czech agents operating from Britain in Operation Anthropoid, the assassination of Nazi governor Reinhard Heydrich in occupied Bohemia-Moravia, and the part Czech soldiers played in mutinies in both Italy and Prague against German occupation which ultimately helped to secure a final Allied victory.
The Scope and Structure of Unjust Enrichment
Authors: Sheehan Duncan
Published: February 2024

This ambitious book grapples with the complex ongoing debates on the structure of unjust enrichment, proving to be a major contribution to the field.

Responding to the subject’s critics, it presents a clearly articulated structure for this branch of private law, arguing that while unjust enrichment has the function of reversing defective enrichments (whether by performance or in another way) there is scope for normative pluralism in how the law achieves this.

Drawing heavily on comparative material from Germany, Scotland and South Africa, the book then argues for a legal framework which combines elements of the absence of basis and unjust factors approaches. It assesses how that structure can be mapped against the causes of action that make up unjust enrichment, arguing that some are performance claims – reversing a deliberate, intentional performance – and some are non-performance claims. Other claims, often included in books on unjust enrichment, such as ‘necessity’ should be excluded from the subject area. The book concludes with a treatment of defences.

Volume 46 in the series Hart Studies in Private Law
Supply Chain Cinema
Authors: Dickinson Kay , Perren Alisa , Curtin Michael , Kraidy Marwan M. , Keane Michael , Davis Darrell , Jäckel Anne , Iosifidis Petros , Havens Timothy , Balio Tino , Falicov Tamara L. , Sinclair John , Donoghue Courtney Brannon , Mehta Smith , Miller Jade L. , Szczepanik Petr , McDonald Paul , Nichols Randy , Steirer Gregory , Shattuc Jane , Khalil Joe F. , Yueh-yu Yeh Emilie , Steemers Jeanette , Wheeler Mark , Straubhaar Joseph D.
Published: February 2024

Why are big budget films typically made across an array of seemingly dissociated sites?

Supply Chain Cinema shows how the production journeys of such films exemplify the principles of the supply chain, whose core imperative is to nimbly and opportunistically manufacture wherever is most amenable and efficient.

Through extensive on-site investigations and in-depth interviews with film professionals, Kay Dickinson delivers nuanced insight into working practices in the UK and the UAE. Among the sites she examines is Warner Bros’ permanent base at Leavesden Studios near London. From tax breaks designed to attract foreign projects to infrastructures, logistical support and expertise offered, she considers why Hollywood giants elect to make more of their films in Britain than in the USA.

Dickinson goes on to show how the UK’s ambitions to enlarge its creative economies has opened up a host of competitive advantages with British higher education increasingly fashioned to conform to the needs of border-hopping enterprise, thus generating a workforce keenly adapted to the demands of blockbuster moviemaking.
Teaching Social Media
Authors: Kirchhoff Liz
Published: February 2024

Librarians who want to begin, expand, or improve their programs on teaching social media to adults and teens will find this guide invaluable.

Sharing social media expertise with library clientele is a natural way for libraries to support their communities—and increase their relevance. This book provides a roadmap for librarians who wish to offer this service but need to brush up on their own social media skills or learn how to cover the topics in a classroom situation.

Although there are many books on social media, this volume is unique because it presents complete teaching scripts that can be adapted for various classroom situations along with general guidelines and tips. You'll find general advice on social media as well as suggestions for getting support for the program, creating a syllabus tailored to community needs, and planning class format and logistics. Entire chapters cover Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Foursquare, Pinterest, Yelp, and Google+, explaining how these sites work and how to use them to your advantage, as well as some of the privacy and safety concerns surrounding them and how they are trending. Class variations such as Twitter for Business and How to Plan Your Trip Online are also discussed, as are other classes to consider—for example, Tumblr and Instagram—and how to develop them.
Teaching the Scientific Literature Review
Authors: Schmidt Randell K. , Smyth Maureen M. , Kowalski Virginia K.
Published: February 2024

An essential resource for teachers and librarians who work with students in the later high school years through college and graduate school levels, this book explains and simplifies the scholarly task of researching and writing a scientific literature review.

This thoroughly updated and revised follow-up to the popular text Lessons for a Scientific Literature Review: Guiding the Inquiry is designed for pre-collegiate and early collegiate educators in the sciences, high school and college librarians, curriculum directors and common core supervisors, school district leaders, and principals. The book provides step-by-step guidance on instructing students how to perform the necessary research and successfully integrate newly acquired information into a high-quality final product.

In addition, you'll find an emphasis on using quantitative science research reports as well as white papers discussing more theoretical science topics, a student timeline for assignments, and a handout specifically for students working on writing a scientific literature review. More than 20 workshops/lessons that are aligned to standards dealing with digital literacy, information handling, research, and textual interpretations and representation are provided. The book allows you to easily adapt it for use of investigation of subjects in the humanities, and for the teaching of an extended essay.
Teaching Young Children Mathematics
Authors: Schwartz Sydney L.
Published: February 2024

Children learn mathematics most effectively in contexts that are meaningful to them. Realizing the potential of these contexts for fostering young children's mathematical learning while nurturing and challenging them, requires knowledge of mathematics as well as of child development. Avoiding the debates surrounding hands-on learning vs. direct instruction, the author focuses on the value of different contexts for learning, and illustrates ways to genuinely engage children as active learners. The work is rich with examples of children's interactions with each other and with adults as they utilize and extend their understanding of mathematics. Examples and guidelines for developing lessons and activities will be useful to educators and parents.

Chapters explore how we underestimate young children's mathematical capabilities; how appropriate sequencing of learning and building on prior knowledge will enhance understanding; what teachers, including parent-teachers, need to know; and high-stakes testing. This is a work that brings together the connections between knowing the basics and constructing knowledge in accessible and practical ways.
Tips and Other Bright Ideas for Elementary School Libraries
Authors: Brake Kate Vande
Published: February 2024

This valuable collection of handy, nifty, thrifty ideas from library media specialists across the country can make a positive impact on any elementary school library media program.

From library administration to reading promotion to the use of Web 2.0 tools, to providing positive public relations and promoting special events, implementing the tips in this book in any school setting can seem life-saving. These practical and creative methods are collected from the best ideas published in Library Media Connection. These constructive ideas are helpful to elementary school librarians who crave fresh ideas and best practices and are looking for more engaging ways to present library materials and lessons.

Tips and Other Bright Ideas for Elementary School Libraries: Volume 4 is organized into logical sections that tackle topics such as managing the library, working with students, working with teachers, promoting reading, teaching library skills, and using technology. The contents give elementary school library professionals a clear, complete handbook to making their media and research center a success on every level.
Where Do I Start?
Authors: Clara Santa
Published: February 2024

If you're new to running a library or looking for a refresher, this book can serve as your first reference source for school library operation, providing overview information on a wealth of topics, lists of resources for more in-depth information, and coverage of current topics such as Web 2.0, fundraising, digital booktalks, and cybersafety.

With the extreme budget cuts most school libraries are facing, professional development resources for library support staff that improve library management efficiency are in great demand. This popular handbook provides an overview of many topics related to school libraries, collecting a vast amount of information together in one volume with an extensive index and selected additional resources.

Written in an accessible style, it provides a quick reference and overview information for the operation of school libraries that both experienced and new library staff will find useful. Designed to be read both cover-to-cover and utilized as a ready reference, the second edition of Where Do I Start?: A School Library Handbook has updated subject material that includes coverage of Web 2.0 applications, library web pages, reading books to students, digital storytelling, future trends in library automation, and more.
Adopting Maternity
Authors: Moosnick Nora
Published: February 2024

Discusses the issues related to race, class, and gender involved in adoption based on in-depth interviews with 22 adoptive mothers. This text compares and contrasts the experiences of white women who adopted Asian, black, or biracial children. The bulk of the book is dedicated to presenting the women’s words as they talk about their perceptions of fertility treatments, birth mothers, other mothers, adoption processes, and outsiders’ reactions, among other matters. Feminist discourse is used to examine the applicability of these theories to women’s self-characterizations.

Beginning with an overview of the theoretical basis of the book, discussions of becoming an adoptive mother and the realities of being an adoptive mother follow. Each chapter presents feelings and experiences of adoptive mothers, in addition to analysis that brings these feelings into broader societal context. This honest portrayal will offer adoptive families, adoption professionals, and social workers important insights into mothers’ adoptive experiences. Scholars of women’s studies, social work, and sociology will find this volume useful as well.
The African American Entrepreneur
Authors: Rogers W. Sherman
Published: February 2024

African American entrepreneurship has been an integral part of the American economy since the 1600s. On the eve of the Civil War, the collective wealth of free blacks was approximately $50 million. In 2006, African Americans earned a whopping $744 billion, a figure that exceeds the gross domestic product of all but 15 nations of the 192 independent countries in the world. As W. Sherman Rogers so ably demonstrates, African Americans have achieved these economic gains under difficult circumstances. Slavery, segregation, and legally limited access to property, education, and other opportunities have taken a heavy toll, even to this day. Besides providing a penetrating glimpse into the world of black entrepreneurship both past and present, this book urges African Americans to gain financial independence as entrepreneurs. Business ownership, Rogers argues, will bring security, wealth that can be passed to successive generations, and educated offspring with much greater earning power.

The African American Entreprenuer: Then and Now explores the lower economic status of black Americans in light of America’s legacy of slavery, segregation, and rampant discrimination. Its main purpose is to shine a light on the legal, historical, sociological and political factors that together help to explain the economic condition of black people in America from their arrival in America to the present. In the process, the book spotlights the many amazing breakthroughs made by black entrepreneurs even before the Civil War and Emancipation. Profiles of business people from the Post-civil War period through today include Booker T. Washington, pioneer banker and insurer A.G. Gaston, hair care entrepreneur Madame C.J. Walker, Ebony publisher John H. Johnson, Black Entertainment Television founder Robert L. Johnson, publisher Earl Graves, music producer Damon Dash, rapper Sean Combs, former basketball stars Dave Bing and Magic Johnson, food entrepreneur Michelle Hoskins, broadcast personality Cathy Hughes, former Beatrice Foods head Reginald Lewis, Oprah Winfrey, and many more. As Rogers points out, reading about remarkable African American entrepreneurs can inspire readers to adopt an entrepreneurial mindset. To further that goal and help readers take the plunge, he outlines many of the skills, tools and information necessary for business success-success that can help chart a new path to prosperity for all African Americans.
Alcohol
Authors: Watson Juann M. , Isralowitz Richard
Published: February 2024

This text provides up-to-date, comprehensive, and accessible information about alcohol use in western society and other cultures.

In 2009, President Barack Obama hosted a friendly ""beer summit"" on the White House lawn in an attempt to diffuse a racially charged incident between a Caucasian policeman and an African American professor. In the United States, beer and other alcoholic beverage companies are often the main advertisers during television sporting event coverage. A study has found that 44 percent of American college students participate in binge drinking, while the NHTSA reports that over 31 percent of traffic fatalities involve a driver with an illegal blood-alcohol content level. In our culture, consumption of alcohol is both widely accepted as a healthy social norm and condemned as a crime.

Alcohol provides information about how alcohol acts upon the body, the social problems related to alcohol use, medical disorders connected to alcohol use, alcohol use throughout world cultures and the American population, and public policy issues. This book also contains sections on adolescent and college student alcohol use.
Collaborating for Inquiry-Based Learning
Authors: Wallace Virginia L. , Husid Whitney N.
Published: February 2024

This newly updated and expanded second edition of Collaborating for Inquiry-Based Learning explains effective IBL scaffolding and the school librarian's role as the lead in the collaborative process of inquiry-based teaching.

Want to learn how to easily put inquiry theory into practice in your school library? This newly revised and expanded practical resource links pedagogical theory, research, and practical application of Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL). An important resource for school librarians, classroom teachers, and school library preparation programs, this thoroughly updated second edition of Collaborating for Inquiry-Based Learning explores Inquiry-Based Learning in greater depth and addresses new educational insights.

Readers will learn the new research model PLAN and understand how the steps Prepare, Learn, Analyze, and New Discoveries define a deliberative, metacognitive process that offers simplicity and flexibility. This step-by-step guide moves new and experienced educators seamlessly from assessment of students' needs and prior knowledge through formative and summative assessments to reflection. It offers practical applications for immediate use by educators with students and makes it clear why the school librarian is ideally suited to be the lead in the collaborative process of inquiry-based teaching. This comprehensive guide to IBL is appropriate as a main text or supplementary reading for courses in instructional design and curriculum.
Communal Utopias and the American Experience
Authors: Sutton Robert P.
Published: February 2024

This important study begins with America's first secular utopia at New Harmony in 1824 and traces successive utopian experiments in the United States through the following centuries. For the first time, readers will come to realize that American communalism is not a disjointed, erratic, almost ephemeral part of our past, but has been an on-going, essential part of American history. We have a communal utopian motif that sets the history of the United States apart from any other nation. The utopian communal story is just one other dimension of the Puritan concept that America was a city upon a hill, a beacon light to all the world where the perfect society could be built and could flourish.

After discussing New Harmony and other Owenite communities, the author examines nine Fourierist utopias that were built before the Civil War. Next, he analyzes the five Icarian colonies that, collectively, were the longest-lived, non-religious communal experiments in American history. Then, discussion moves to the seven Gilded Age socialist cooperatives, followed by the utopian communities created during President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal. Finally, Sutton turns to the hippie colonies and intentional communities of the last half of the 20th century.
Controversial Cinema
Authors: Phillips Kendall R.
Published: February 2024

At the heart of any history of controversial films is a strange paradox: while films, especially popular and mainstream films, are often portrayed as meaningless products of popular culture, those popular films involved in public controversies become the focal point of enormous cultural energy, political attention, and profoundly conflicting sets of principles. The ongoing culture wars continue to shape the American political landscape, and controversial films continue to be a major point of conflict. Controversial Cinema: The Films that Outraged America traces the history of controversial films and offers insights into why it is that certain films spark controversies, and how Americans typically react to controversial moviemaking.

Since the widespread banning of DW Griffith's The Birth of a Nation, the American film industry has found itself embroiled in one political controversy after another. These controversies have centered on everything from the portrayal of the past, as in Griffith's film, to depictions of sex and sexuality, to the use of graphic violence, and issues of race, religion, and politics. In turn, segments of the American public have been driven to boycott, picket, and even censor those films they felt challenged their sense of decency. At the heart of this history of controversial films is a strange paradox: while films, especially popular and mainstream films, are often portrayed as meaningless products of popular culture, popular films involved in public controversies become the focal point of enormous cultural energy and political attention. The ongoing culture wars thus continue to shape the American political landscape, and controversial films continue to be a major point of conflict.

In the course of this wide-ranging work, Kendall Phillips offers insights into the kinds of films that spark controversies, and the ways that Americans typically react to them. Organized around broad controversial themes and with particular attention to mainstream films since the dissolution of the Motion Picture Production Code in the mid-1960s, Controversial Cinema explores why films spark broad cultural controversies, how these controversies play out, and the long-term results. The four broad areas of controversy examined in the work are: Sex and Sexuality, Violence, Race, and Religion. Each chapter offers a broad overview of the history of these topics in controversial American films as well as more in-depth examinations of recent examples, including The Silence of the Lambs, Natural Born Killers, Do the Right Thing, and The Passion of the Christ. A final section of the book considers the broader issues of cultural politics in light of the long history of controversial cinema.
Coping with Infuriating, Mean, Critical People
Authors: Brown Nina W.
Published: February 2024

For all of us forced to deal with an infuriating, mean, critical person, seasoned counselor Nina Brown has a word of warning. You must accept that your usual coping strategies are not effective, and will not be effective, with this person, she advises. You cannot expect them to react and behave as adults. So what's a victim to do? Start with the suggestions in this book.

In Coping with Infuriating, Mean, Critical People, Brown explains why many people, who may not display all of the characteristics necessary for a formal, full-blown narcissist diagnosis, still display what she calls a destructive narcissistic pattern that results in much the same anguish for those with whom the individual interacts. Thankfully, she also provides specific methods that will help victims of this behavior deal with the narcissistic colleague, supervisor or boss, parent, or intimate other.

Only the extremely lucky among us have never faced or felt the effects of narcissistic behaviors and attitudes, displayed by colleagues, bosses, friends, parents, or lovers. These individuals may boast and brag constantly, take credit for other people's work, expect favors but return few or none, never listen (but always know all the answers), be sure of what is right and best regardless of the topic. They devalue others, micromanage, are hypercritical and mistrustful. Other characteristics of this harmful personality include an inflated sense of importance, although achievements are exaggerated and actual outcomes don't support feelings of superiority. They are exploitative, without empathy, and believe they are envied by all. Brown's excellent advice will help you cope.
Emergency Planning for the Solo Entrepreneur
Authors: Hack Kathryn
Published: February 2024

The challenges facing a solo entrepreneur when calamity strikes are unique in the realm of disaster planning, and the only effective strategy for preventing a business failure after an unexpected major setback is to have a clearly thought-out emergency backup plan. This book guides you to being 100 percent ready for the worst-case scenario.

Disasters are sudden, calamitous events that can bring about great loss and failure to a business. Some disasters can be prevented through good judgment and careful planning; others—whether "acts of God" such as flood or fire or a personal health crisis—cannot be. What will happen if the one person responsible for the day-to-day operations of a solo entrepreneurship is suddenly incapacitated and unable to manage the business? In cases of small businesses that do not have a clear backup or disaster recovery plan, the outcome is often the total failure of the business.

This book is both a wakeup call and an action plan for small business owners. It will guide readers toward creating a backup system that will enable a business to "run itself" without the immediate presence of its owner—for a week, a month, or even longer. The author presents a tested strategy that has its roots in preparing for natural disasters, and replaces the all-too-common refusal to believe that bad things can and do happen with hard facts and realism. Clearly, solopreneurs cannot afford to take risks of failure when it comes to their businesses—the most important thing in their lives aside from family and health.
Enterprise Security for the Executive
Authors: Bayuk Jennifer
Published: February 2024

A guide to security written for business executives to help them better lead security efforts.

Enterprise Security for the Executive: Setting the Tone from the Top is designed to help business executives become familiar with security concepts and techniques to make sure they are able to manage and support the efforts of their security team. It is the first such work to define the leadership role for executives in any business's security apparatus.

In Enterprise Security for the Executive, author Jennifer Bayuk, a highly regarded information security specialist and sought-after consultant and speaker, explains protocols and technologies at just the right level of depth for the busy executive—in their language, not the tech-speak of the security professional. Throughout, the book draws a number of fact-based scenarios to illustrate security management basics, including 30 security "horror stories," and other analogies and terminology not commonly shared outside of the security profession.
Evolving Global Information Infrastructure and Information Transfer
Authors: Grover Robert J. , Greer Roger C. , Achleitner Herbert K. , Visnak Kelly
Published: February 2024

This book explains the rapidly changing, complex flow of information in the context of 21st-century culture, policy, technology, and economics—an essential resource for librarians and information specialists in all types of settings.

The role of information professionals today is to interact creatively with clientele: to help them navigate the information infrastructure. Shattering the concept of the library as a place, Evolving Global Information Infrastructure and Information Transfer describes "the library" as transformed to a dynamic virtual presence in the information infrastructure, where people are the most important resources in a digital library or information center—not the collections.

Instead of focusing on specific technologies, which are always changing, this book examines the "big picture" of how information is created, recorded, mass produced, distributed, and utilized in society. This unique approach enables readers to better understand how they fit into this changing world, to envision their place in the digital age, and to assume a leadership role that ensures the success of their clients as well as themselves. This standout work is ideally suited for all types of librarians, educators, information workers, members of the research community, and policymakers in public and private sector organizations.
The First Female Stars
Authors: Menefee David W.
Published: February 2024

The First Female Stars: Women of the Silent Era rediscovers the fascinating lives and pioneering achievements of 15 women who dared to venture into early motion pictures, an industry dominated by men, and who not only succeeded but became the focal points of the industry. Each star earned a position at the height of her profession, and though many are largely forgotten today, made a lasting and significant contribution to early cinema. In this entertaining and informative volume, author David Menefee reveals these women and their signature roles, drawing on many original sources to show us how such actresses as Theda Bara, Sarah Bernhardt, Dorothy Gish, and Norma Talmadge were received in their time, and the many ways in which their influence remains important today.

Each profile contains a biographical treatment, an analysis of key films from her career, a discussion of the actress's influence on the medium, and selected filmography. Each also includes two photographs, most often one of the actress herself and a still from a film.
Folktales from the Arabian Peninsula
Authors: Taibah Nadia Jameel , MacDonald Margaret Read
Published: February 2024

This unique and diverse selection of traditional folktales from the countries of the Arabian Peninsula appeals to a broad audience, ranging from storytellers and educators to folklorists and scholars.

A unique compilation of stories, Folktales from the Arabian Peninsula includes tales from seven countries: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.

Coauthored by a renowned folklorist and a professor of education who recalls some of these poignant tales from her own childhood, the book opens with a discussion of the Arabian Peninsula that introduces each country and discusses its terrain, peoples, and current situation to provide important background information. The engaging stories that follow will serve elementary, junior high, and high school librarians as well as public librarians, professional storytellers, and folklorists. The tales themselves—many of which have never been published in English language children’s collections—are appropriate for readers grades five and up.
From Watergate to Whitewater
Authors: Doss Marion T. , Roberts Robert North
Published: February 2024

The two decades since the Watergate scandal have seen an unprecedented focus on ethics in government. The public integrity scandals of the Clinton administration have, once again, focused national attention on ethics in Washington. This work addresses this very topical subject and the authors come to some unusual conclusions. Tracing the origins of the modern public integrity war back to the very birth of the nation, the authors explain how conservatives and progressives have used allegations of unethical conduct in an effort to persuade the American public to accept their respective visions for American society. A cynical public, anesthetized to the distinction between actual wrongdoing and partisan attack, follows ideology and self-interest rather than character, allowing politicians to get away with even the most egregious conduct.
Get It Write!
Authors: Haven Kendall
Published: February 2024

These field-tested writing strategies and techniques create a carefully sequenced and balanced approach that fosters competent narrative and expository writing. Through simple and effective writing concepts this essential teacher resource illustrates ways in which every student can begin and master the writing process. Finally, writing is fun again! Includes: detailed teachers' guide and a student workbook portion included on a CD introduction to the Eight Essential Elements and steps for recognizing the integral building blocks of every narrative tools for building powerful, effective characters and exploring goals, motives, conflicts and problems instruction for students in using story ingredients to build effective expository and narrative writing.
The Global Underworld
Authors: Liddick Donald R.
Published: February 2024

Transnational crime is an increasing national security threat to the United States and to individual citizens around the world. Criminal groups both in the United Staes and abroad operate crime cartels that span national boundaries, but in ways that affect all Americans, and wreak havoc on law enforcement organizations as well as businesses and other entities, such as the stock market. More often than not, transnational crime takes the form of organized crime, and in its many forms is responsible for over-priced goods, unsafe products, environmental hazards, corruption of public officials, the exploitation of women and children, tax evasion, theft and piracy, identity theft, organ smuggling, stock market fraud, drug trafficking, and black market trading in armaments and weapons of mass destruction, among other scandals and forms of misconduct. Because perpetrators often act in collusion with legitimate organizations and other powerful elites, who either cooperate knowingly or unknowingly or are coerced through violence, dealing with the problem is especially difficult. Here, Liddick describes the many groups responsible for transnational crimes, and the nature and scale of their various enterprises. The result is a powerful testament to the globalization of criminal organizations and their danger to American society.

From the Russian mafiya to Chinese Triads, from outlaw motorcycle gangs to Latin American drug cartels, the nature and incidence of transnational crime is a serious threat to American security, both at the national and the individual level. Because of America's porous borders, it is relatively easy for criminal foreigners to set up their organizations within the United States Moreover, there are well-established groups already present in the United States that are now capable of operating on a multinational level. While response to the problem has been overdue, recent efforts to address transnational crime include technological innovations and controversial legislation such as the Patriot Act and the Homeland Security Act. But how well will these measures protect Americans from the increasing prevalence of criminal organizations that are capable of carrying out crimes that span the globe? This important book provides an engaging glimpse into the world of transnational crime through an introduction to the various groups involved, true stories of criminal misconduct, and a careful review and evaluation of efforts to address the problem.
Leading Your Business to the Next Level
Authors: Page Rodney , Tosh Peter
Published: February 2024

Companies that have survived the perils of startup face an entirely new and different set of challenges as the firm prospers and grows. For owners, executives, managers, and employees alike, the evolution of an enterprise from entrepreneurship to maturity is aruduous and requires a talent for managing constant change, both in the marketplace and in the company itself. Setting your company on a trajectory of profitable growth—and getting past that crucial break—even point—requires fundamentally different strategies, skills, and techniques from what worked in startup mode. Any forewarning puts entrepreneurial leaders ahead in coping with the obstacles over the next hill. Leading Your Business to the Next Level provides that forewarning and offers practical management approaches that will make the growth journey less hazardous and more rewarding.

Drawing from the authors' combined 70+ years of experience working in and consulting to high-growth organizations, the book provides a toolkit for navigating the transition from the chaos, intensity, and informality of the startup to the relative order of the more established firm. Through illustrative case examples and interactive elements, including checklists and diagnostics, they demonstrate how mastery of six core disciplines is the key to achieving and sustaining profitable growth: * enhancing customer loyalty; * dynamic planning and budgeting; * executing the business plan; * maximizing leadership effectiveness; * changing the emphasis from sales/revenue to margin/profit; * positioning human resource management as a strategic asset. In an environment where over 50% of small businesses fail in the first year and 95% within five years, Leading Your Businesss to the Next Level will help you and your organization make the critical transition from startup to mature and growing business.
Library Programs Online
Authors: Peters Thomas A.
Published: February 2024

Meet your library patrons where they increasingly live and work-online. This guide introduces you to the exciting possibilities online programs offer, and shows you how to set up online programs in your library-whether one-time stand-alone or half-day, full-day, or multi-day workshops and conferences. Public programs-from lectures, demonstrations, and interviews to book discussions and story hours can be delivered in real time (live) primarily over the web, utilizing a variety of interactive communication tools, including voice-over-IP, text chatting, and co-browsing. Furthermore, online programming can be used for district-wide staff training.

The author explains how to integrate pre-recorded components of a program into a live, online public program; shows how to extend the reach and appeal of online public programs with podcasting and audiorecordings; and explains how to use voice-over-IP and video-over-IP to enhance online programs. In addition to outlining the costs of staring and operating a public online program, Peters also provides cost recovery methods and scenarios.

Online public programs can extend your library's reach into the service population, grab the attention of some early adopters and opinion leaders in the community you serve, and convey to patrons and other libraries that your library is moving boldly into the digital future. Plus, many people are more likely to attend an online library program than an in-library public program. And because online programs are easily recorded and redistributed on demand, your library gets more bang for each buck it invests in its public programming outreach.

Distance education programs in higher education, corporate and governmental training efforts, and other sectors of society have become commonplace, but this is the first guide to focus on how libraries (public, academic, school, and special) and library-related organizations (associations, consortia, etc.) can and are developing exciting online programs for library users and librarians.
Library Robotics
Authors: Kepple Sarah
Published: February 2024

A dive–right–in, quick–start guide for busy library professionals who want to build literacy, STEAM, and other 21st–century skills using simple robots in a fun, collaborative environment.

Robotics in the library? Absolutely. Robotics can add a new dimension to library programming—one that can help America’s youth build the Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math (STEAM) and 21st–century learning skills they will need to be successful in an international, technology–infused workforce. This book provides a complete guide for launching a robotics program in the library and demonstrates the links between robotics programming and learning. It also includes complete instructions for various program models that employ robotics.

Robotics programs are an ideal way for public and school libraries to demonstrate their vital roles as the hubs of community learning, and the subject is universally popular with students as well as parents and industrial funders. The book’s clearly and succinctly written chapters begin by providing the information that librarians will need for stakeholders and to select equipment, then move logically into addressing guided activities and expansion ideas. Children’s librarians, teen librarians, school media specialists (particularly those focused on middle school students), and adult and technology librarians looking to connect with ““new adults”” will find this book useful and appealing.
Life, Sex, and Prostate Cancer Surgery
Authors: Hallenborg John C.
Published: February 2024

In this moving memoir, a veteran business journalist details his recent bout with prostate cancer and what he learned about the disease and himself on the road to recovery.

John Hallenborg did get tested for prostate cancer and is fully recovered today, thanks to "the healing processes of time, a great doctor, and loving family and friends." Life, Sex, and Prostate Cancer Surgery: How One Man Healed and Was Made Whole is his story.

Hallenborg at last found a way to both medical and emotional well-being. With sardonic humor and psychological acuity, he tells of his experiences and feelings while dealing with "the big C"— the physical toll of the treatment, the fears of its effect on his sex life, and the other diseases that intruded along the way. Life, Sex, and Prostate Cancer Surgery is often graphic, always unflinching, sometimes hilarious, and ultimately uplifting. For anyone facing prostate cancer themselves or involved in the life of someone who is, it offers helpful information and hard-earned reasons for hope.
The Manager as Coach
Authors: Gilley Jerry W. , Gilley Ann
Published: February 2024

In theory, managers serve as guides, directors, decision makers, and energizers for their employees. Unfortunately, few managers have, themselves, been trained in the skills and techniques to get the best results from their employees, and managerial styles can run the gamut from permissive-but-ineffectual to aloof to autocratic. In The Manager as Coach, the authors focus on the key purposes of coaching—improving individual performance, solving problems, and securing results—in order to address the challenges of effective management head-on. Dispelling popular myths and misconceptions about coaching as a passing fad or a collection of superficial motivation techniques, they offer practical tools for mastering the skills of effective coaching to the benefit of employees and the organization, identifying four primary roles that managers—as coaches—play on a regular basis: trainer, career advisor, strategist, and performance appraiser. Featuring diagnostic exercises, worksheets, and a listing of resources, The Manager as Coach will help readers develop the qualities and skills to align individual and organizational goals and forge dynamic, productive relationships.

Whether large or small, manufacturing or service, every organization selects managers and assigns them the task of securing results through people. In theory, managers serve as guides, directors, decision makers, and energizers for their employees. Unfortunately, few managers have, themselves, been trained in the skills and techniques to get the best results from their employees, and managerial styles can run the gamut from permissive-but-ineffectual to aloof to autocratic.

This volume in The Manager as… series addresses the challenges of effective management head-on by exploring the role of manager as coach. Focusing on the key purposes of coaching—improving individual performance, solving problems, and securing results—the authors dispel popular myths and misconceptions of management coaching as a passing fad, a process of endless tutoring, or superficial motivation techniques, and offer practical tools for mastering the skills of effective coaching to the benefit of both employees and the organization. They identify four primary roles managers—as coaches—play on a regular basis: trainer, career advisor, strategist, and performance appraiser. Featuring diagnostic exercises, worksheets, and a listing of resources, The Manager as Coach will help readers develop the qualities and skills to align individual and organizational goals and forge dynamic, productive relationships.
The Manager as Mentor
Authors: Marquardt Michael , Loan Peter
Published: February 2024

One of the most valuable roles a manager can perform in today's rapidly changing environment is to mentor and inspire the people around them to learn. By nurturing talent, motivating individual development, and encouraging excellence, a manager's mentoring can enhance individual performance and the organization's prospects for success. Mentoring is not an easy skill to develop, and many managers, who may excel at leading or coaching, may be disasters as mentors when it comes to creating a bond and bringing out untapped qualities in others. The Manager as Mentor goes beyond traditional approaches to explore the newest techniques in mentoring and collaboration. Featuring personal development tools, worksheets, and references, The Manager as Mentor will enable managers to bring out the best in themselves, the people they guide, and their organizations.

Mentoring is an age-old practice, tracing its roots in ancient Greek folklore to Odysseus' friend, Mentor, whom the Homeric hero entrusted as guide to his son's development. Today, with the ascendance of the knowledge age and the transformation of the workplace into an environment of continual learning, mentoring has emerged as one of the most important and valuable roles a manager can perform. By serving as a role model, providing feedback, nurturing talent, inspiring individual development, and facilitating excellence, a manager's mentoring strengthens relationships within the organization, and ultimately contributes to such critical factors as improved job performance, low turnover, and greater profitability. Mentoring is not an easy skill to attain, however, and many managers who may excel at leading teams or coordinating projects may be disasters as mentors. The Manager as Mentor explores emerging trends and approaches to help managers master the skills of effective mentoring—and enhance themselves, their proteges, and their organizations in the process.

Drawing from extensive research, dozens of examples, and their own practical application in training managers around the world, the authors argue that exceptional mentoring skills can be developed. They guide the reader toward understanding the key roles that mentors play and the activities and techniques they can employ for maximum impact. Diagnostic exercises will help readers assess their strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for development, and create a step-by-step action plan for achieving goals—either individually or in groups. The authors also offer an extensive listing of resources for more in-depth information on various aspects of mentoring, such as problem solving, active listening, and employee advocacy. Ultimately, The Manager as Mentor offers the tools by which managers can promote learning, empowerment, and insight to create vibrant organizational cultures.