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Managing IT Performance to Create Business Value provides examples, case histories, and current research for critical business issues such as performance measurement and management, continuous process improvement, knowledge management, risk management, benchmarking, metrics selection, and people management. It gives IT executives strategies for improving IT performance and delivering value, plus it guides them in selecting the right metrics for their IT organizations. Additionally, it offers knowledge management strategies to mature an organization, shows how to manage risks to exploit opportunities and prepare for threats, and explains how to baseline an IT organization's performance and measure its improvement. Consisting of 10 chapters plus appendices, the book begins with an overview of performance-based strategic planning, after which it discusses the development of a quality improvement (QI) plan, establishing benchmarks, and measuring performance improvements. It covers how to design IT-specific measures and financial metrics as well as the establishment of a software measurement program. From there, it moves on to designing people improvement systems and discusses such topics as leadership, motivation, recruitment, and employee appraisal. The final few chapters show how to use balanced scorecards to manage and measure knowledge-based social enterprising and to identify, analyze, and avoid risks. In addition to covering new methods and metrics for measuring and improving IT processes, the author looks at strategies for measuring product development and implementing continuous innovation. The final chapter considers customer value systems and explains how to use force field analysis to listen to customers with the goal of improving customer satisfaction and operational excellence.

Capital without Borders will offer the first in-depth, cross-national examination of the wealth management profession: an extremely powerful professional group about which little is known, except that it controls large flows of capital around the world and has a significant impact on growing wealth inequality. With Oxfam estimating that 1 percent of the global population will own more than half the world's assets by 2016, and policymakers voicing increasingly urgent concerns about the political impact of inequality, this book offers a timely look at the evolution and activities of this central group of players. To understand the workings of their profession, and its complex legal and financial innovations, the author spent two years training to become a wealth manager herself. This experience gave her unique access to practitioners and their methods, and the opportunity to conduct over 60 interviews with wealth managers in 17 countries, from Switzerland to the British Virgin Islands, and from Singapore to South Africa. The findings shed light on the dynamics of growing world wealth inequality, and how they are fueled by political and economic forces. The research will inform ongoing debates about globalization and financialization, in part by making abstract issues concrete and easy to understand for a general readership. Capital without Borders explains the use of offshore banks, shell corporations, and trusts to hide billions in private wealth not only from taxation, but from all manner of legal obligations--including to creditors and family members. Such insights will be of interest not only to scholars and policy-makers, but to anyone interested in the world of wealth and high finance--Provided by publisher.

"Adam Smith (1723-90) is perhaps best known as one of the first champions of the free market and is widely regarded as the founding father of capitalism. From his ideas about the promise and pitfalls of globalization to his steadfast belief in the preservation of human dignity, his work is as relevant today as it was in the eighteenth century. Here, Ryan Hanley brings together some of the world's finest scholars from across a variety of disciplines to offer new perspectives on Smith's life, thought, and enduring legacy. Contributors provide succinct and accessible discussions of Smith's landmark works and the historical context in which he wrote them, the core concepts of Smith's social vision, and the lasting impact of Smith's ideas in both academia and the broader world. They reveal other sides of Smith beyond the familiar portrayal of him as the author of the invisible hand, emphasizing his deep interests in such fields as rhetoric, ethics, and jurisprudence. Smith emerges not just as a champion of free markets but also as a thinker whose unique perspective encompasses broader commitments to virtue, justice, equality, and freedom. An essential introduction to Adam Smith's life and work, this incisive and thought-provoking book features contributions from leading figures such as Nicholas Phillipson, Amartya Sen, and John C. Bogle. It demonstrates how Smith's timeless insights speak to contemporary concerns such as growth in the developing world and the future of free trade, and how his influence extends to fields ranging from literature and philosophy to religion and law."--Publisher website.

"Ius cogens has been a subject of great interest in international law studies. But the inquiry into the collision between peremptory norms has been virtually non-existent. This book aims at addressing this particular doctrinal gap. Antinomies between ius cogens norms may arise in the conflicting simultaneous application of the peremptory norms on human rights, the non-use of force and self-determination. In order to determine how norms of ius cogens might be applied in situations of normative conflict - either apparent or real ones -, the author suggests the use of 'weighing and balancing' techniques. After analysing the main theories on the issue, and describing the most commonly accepted peremptory norms in current international law, this work approaches the problem of antinomies between peremptory norms by applying 'weighing and balancing' techniques to two case studies. First, the apparent conflict between the prohibition of the use of force and the prohibition of the most serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, as embodied in the notion of 'humanitarian intervention.' Second, the real conflict between the prohibition of the use of force and the right to self-determination as conveyed by a hypothetical Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement entailing the partial cession of occupied territories. Norms of ius cogens are known for regulating sensitive and highly axiological matters, as shown by these two case studies. As a result, finding answers to the problem of conflicting peremptory norms is important not only as regards the doctrinal advancement in the field of international law, but also for the purpose of reaching lawful solutions to central concerns of the international community at large"--Back cover

During the tumultuous 1950s in America, sex was as threatening to the nation's moral order as communism. New York was the capital of the post-World War II world and the epicenter of a fierce culture war over music, theatre, movies, fashion, and literature, as well as birth control, homosexuality, adolescent sex, pornography, and prostitution. Over the last half-century, America's social life--especially notions of culture, sexuality, and politics--has fundamentally changed, and what were once sinful or subversive sexual practices have been integrated into the marketplace, irreversibly changing American moral values; the once illicit has become an industry of more than 50 billion. Drawing on first-person interviews, unpublished memoirs, newspaper accounts, contemporary studies, government documents, and recent scholarship, Sin, Sex & Subversion argues that "deviant" sexuality was subversive, and that unique New York "outsiders" of the 1950s set the stage for the following decades and the world we know today. In each chapter, author David Rosen examines a critical moral issue through an in-depth profile of figures such as Liberace, Samuel Roth, Bettie Page, the Rosenbergs, and others. Through these individuals, Rosen shows how those who operated outside the law or who challenged popular values, even if they were silenced in their time, ended up paving the way for a new normal. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in history--books about World War II, the Third Reich, Hitler and his henchmen, the JFK assassination, conspiracies, the American Civil War, the American Revolution, gladiators, Vikings, ancient Rome, medieval times, the old West, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to

TABLE OF CONTENTS -- ABOUT THE AUTHOR -- PREFACE -- ONE-Kaufmann: Existentialism from Dostoevsky to Sartre -- I. DOSTOEVSKY -- II. KIERKEGAARD -- III. NIETZSCHE -- IV. JASPERS -- V. HEIDEGGER -- VI. SARTRE -- VII. A STORY WITH A MORAL -- TWO-Dostoevsky: NOTES FROM UNDERGROUND -- THREE-Kierkegaard: ON HIMSELF -- 1. On His Mission -- 2. On His Works -- 3. On His "Mode of Existence" -- 4. "That Individual" -- FOUR-Nietzsche: "LIVE DANGEROUSLY" -- 1. "The Challenge of Every Great Philosophy" -- 2. "The Gay Science" -- 3. On Free Death -- 4. The Beginning of "The Will to Power" -- 5. From "Ecce Homo" -- FIVE-Rilke: THE NOTES OF MALTE LAURIDS BRIGGE -- SIX-Kafka: THREE PARABLES -- 1. An Imperial Message -- 2. Before the Law -- 3. Couriers -- SEVEN-Jaspers: EXISTENZPHILOSOPHIE -- 1. On My Philosophy -- I. THE COURSE OF MY DEVELOPMENT -- II. MAKING TRADITION OUR OWN -- III. DRIVES TO THE BASIC QUESTIONS -- IV. MY WORKS -- V. EPILOGUE -- 2. Kierkegaard and Nietzsche -- I. HISTORICAL REFLECTIONS -- THE CONTEMPORARY SITUATION -- II. KIERKEGAARD AND NIETZSCHE -- III. MEANING OF THE PHILOSOPHICAL SITUATION PRODUCED BY KIERKEGAARD AND NIETZSCHE -- 3. The Encompassing -- I. THE ENCOMPASSING WHICH WE ARE: EMPIRICAL EXISTENCE, CONSCIOUSNESS AS SUCH, SPIRIT -- II. THE ENCOMPASSING AS BEING ITSELF -- WORLD AND TRANSCENDENCE -- III. EXISTENZ, ANIMATION AND GROUND OF ALL MODES OF THE ENCOMPASSING -- IV. REASON: THE BOND BETWEEN THE VARIOUS MODES OF THE ENCOMPASSING -- V. REASON AND EXISTENZ -- VI. REFLECTIONS ON THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE FORM OF THIS BASIC IDEA -- VII. PHILOSOPHICAL RESULT -- EIGHT-Martin Heidegger: THE WAY BACK INTO THE GROUND OF METAPHYSICS -- NINE-Sartre: EXISTENTIALISM -- 1. The Wall -- 2. Self-Deception -- I. SELF-DECEPTION AND FALSEHOOD -- II. PATTERNS OF SELF-DECEPTION -- III. THE "FAITH" OF SELF-DECEPTION -- 3. Portrait of the Anti-Semite

Like all teens, African American teens find themselves wondering what they should or should not be doing and how they should behave toward each other -- only they often have no male role model in the home and negative models, like gang-banger, on the street. As they struggle to build their characters, they receive feedback from multiple sources, causing confusion. TRAINING BLACK SPIRIT offers a guide through the fog of adolescence by providing a personal training aid in ethics -- values -- especially tailored for Black teens. TRAINING BLACK SPIRIT holds that our spirits, which protect and sustain us, direct and unify our thoughts, efforts, and actions. Author Dr. William L. Conwill helps Black teens prepare for adulthood in the family, the community, and the world by developing their characters. TRAINING BLACK SPIRIT builds upon African American cultural heritage, which is all too often absent from Black teens' experience. The principles presented in TRAINING BLACK SPIRIT provide directives or instructions on living, as well as a defense against destructive influences. like drugs and violence. These principles are represented throughout the text by Adinkra symbols, along with a martial-arts self-defense interpretation for each principle, which teens discuss with an adult facilitator.. Drawing on brain science, transpersonal psychology, and mainstream psychiatry, as well as ancient traditions, TRAINING BLACK SPIRIT guides Black teens in conducting a personal and conscious examination of the traditional principles that enable us to survive, create, and nurture life. Keeping teens from heading down the wrong road is am increasing challenge. TRAINING BLACK SPIRIT is a guide for young, black teensto explore their personal values or ethics through the use of symbols and values from West African culture to help build character. TRAINING BLACK SPIRIT

A Story for Children, P-E-A-R-L-S of Wisdom for their Parents Complemented by exquisite, colorful artwork, Dr. Zelinger skillfully crafts an easily relatable children's story using everyday situations, around the oppressive concept of Terrorism in the news. With masterful understanding of the child's world, new and frightening concepts are introduced carefully and gently, with the child's perspective in mind. Dr. Zelinger provides parent coaching to further the dialogue in her P-E-A-R-L-S of Wisdom section (Prepare, Explain, Answer, Reassure, Listen, Safeguard) where caregivers are given scripts to guide them, as well room for individuality. This pioneer book helps children and parents face a critical, often avoided topic with reassurance and calm. "This book provides the 'PEARLS' of wisdom for parents and children to discuss a scary topic like terrorism in ways that promote healthy and authentic parent-child conversations that yield to mutual respect and bonding." --Marc A. Brackett, PhD., Director, Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence "This fascinating guide amounts to a riveting lesson of clarity and to a masterpiece in bridging the unbridgeable." --Hon. Yehuda Lancry, Former Ambassador of Israel to the U.N. "Dr. Zelinger uses common sense, a simple clarification of the basic issues, and reassurance to provide a deeper understanding of terrorism for kids--without a corresponding rise in anxiety." --Tomas W. Phelan, Ph.D., Psychologist/Author Dr. Laurie Zelinger is a distinguished Board Certified Psychologist with Diplomate status in school psychology as well as a credentialed play therapist who serves on executive boards of state and national organizations. Ann Israeli is a retired art teacher, wall paper and textile designer. From the Growing With Love Series

On May 23, 1957, US Army Sergeant Robert Reynolds was acquitted of murdering Chinese officer Liu Ziran in Taiwan. Reynolds did not deny shooting Liu but claimed self-defense and, like all members of US military assistance and advisory groups, was protected under diplomatic immunity. Reynolds's acquittal sparked a series of riots across Taiwan that became an international crisis for the Eisenhower administration and raised serious questions about the legal status of US military forces positioned around the world. In American Justice in Taiwan, author Stephen G. Craft provides the first comprehensive study of the causes and consequences of the Reynolds trial and the ensuing protests. After more than a century of what they perceived as unfair treaties imposed by Western nations, the Taiwanese regarded the special legal status of resident American personnel with extreme distrust. While Eisenhower and his advisers considered Taiwan to be a vital ally against Chinese communism, the US believed that the Taiwanese government had instigated the unrest in order to protest the verdict and demand legal jurisdiction over GIs. Regardless, the events that transpired in 1957 exposed the enormous difficulty of applying the US's Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) across cultures. Employing meticulous research from both Western and Chinese archives, Craft demonstrates that the riots were only anti-American in that the Taiwanese rejected the UCMJ, the affording of diplomatic immunity to occupying US forces, and the military courts' interpretation of self-defense. His compelling study provides a new lens through which to examine US{u2013}Taiwan relations in the 1950s, US policy in Asia, and the incredibly charged and complex question of the legal status of US troops on foreign soil. -- Amazon's website

The unethical behavior of several prominent organizational leaders at the start of this millennium and the subsequent fallout from the media, customers, and employees have brought business ethics to a more prominent place within the vision of company executives. However, the day-to-day tasks of leading an organization and the lack of any research-based knowledge of how to lead and manage company ethics often preempt the opportunity to give priority to ethics at the corporate level. Executive leaders could benefit from a framework with which to evaluate current and to create new corporate ethical management systems (CEMSs). This book offers such a framework called the Moldable Model, a system of consistent components that give busy executives a framework and a guide to build an organization-specific CEMS. This book teaches organizational leaders how to design ethical workplaces utilizing the role modeling, context, and accountability components. In a step-by-step process, the author guides the reader through the research-based components with definitions, ethical leadership theory, research findings, explanations, and the practical application of those components through suggested organizational activities. Readers can expect to develop ethical tools such as a code of ethics, an ethical decision-making ladder, a list of ethical leader attributes, and a complete CEMS for implementation into their specific organizations. Each chapter ends with application exercises, and there are several case studies at the end of the book to aid the reader in the use of these ethical tools. In just a few hours, a busy executive can have the knowledge and tools to design an ethical workplace with the tremendous results discussed in this book.

Using modern biology and history to investigate a series of grisly deaths in the countryside of 18th-century France. Something unimaginable occurred from 1764 to 1767 in the remote highlands of south-central France. For three years, a real-life monster, or monsters, ravaged the region, slaughtering by some accounts more than 100 people, mostly women and children, and inflicting severe injuries upon many others. Alarmed rural communities—and their economies—were virtually held hostage by the marauder, and local officials and Louis XV deployed dragoons and crack wolf hunters from far-off Normandy and the King's own court to destroy the menace. And with the creature's reign of terror occurring at the advent of the modern newspaper, it can be said the ferocious attacks in the Gévaudan region were one of the world's first media sensations. Despite extensive historical documentation about this awesome predator, no one seemed to know exactly what it was. Theories abounded: Was it an exotic animal, such as a hyena, that had escaped from a menagerie? A werewolf? A wolf-dog hybrid? A new species? Some kind of conspiracy? Or, as was proposed by the local bishop, was it a scourge of God? To this day, debates on the true nature of La Bête, "The Beast," continue. With historical illustrations, composite sketches by the author, on-the-scene modern-day photographs, autopsy analysis, and fictionalized accounts, Beast takes a fascinating look at all the evidence, using a mix of history and modern biology to advance a theory that could solve one of the most bizarre and unexplained killing sprees of all time: France's infamous Beast of the Gévaudan

Participatory democracy has become a buzzword in current discussions about how to democratize the EU. European institutions associate it with civil society involvement in European governance and claim that it might reduce its so-called democratic deficit. The Treaty of Lisbon formalizes this promise by enacting a new Article 11 TEU specifically dedicated to participatory democracy as a founding principle of the EU legal order. This participatory turn has already attracted much scholarly attention. However, two fundamental paradoxes have been overlooked. Whereas participatory democracy was traditionally meant to further the maximum participation of citizens in political life, the EU supports a modern version of the participatory ideal where citizens are represented by a selfdesignated elite of civil society experts. This book takes a critical stance on that technocratic form of government. At the same time, it examines whether there are realistic ways for a bureaucratic organization like the EU to involve a truly civil society of active citizens in governance. Participatory democracy was also intended to overcome the social inequalities of market capitalism. Yet, the EU came into existence as a European economic community embracing free and undistorted competition. This book claims that European civil society may only flourish if social Europe acts as a counterweight to economic Europe. So it analyses whether the EU has developed a social dimension strong enough to protect civil society from the colonizing forces of European economic integration. The author is currently working as an attorney at Van Olmen & Wynant, a Brussels-based law firm with a niche expertise in social and employment law. He also holds a PhD in law from the University of Leicester, awarded for the doctoral thesis upon which this book is based

Tackle your taxes-and get the most from your next tax return!Do you want to be sure you're getting the maximum tax refund? Of course you do! Luckily, Tax For Australians For Dummiesis here to make it easy to ensure you get every cent you deserve for the 2015-16 tax year. Written by respected tax specialist and CPA fellow Jimmy B. Prince, this fun and friendly guide walks you step-by-step through the complex Australian tax system and explains in plain English what you can claim and exactly what you're owed. Designed to help you take advantage of everything from investments to kids to government concessions, Tax For Australians For Dummieshas you covered from every angle. With plenty of top tips to help make filing your tax return a breeze-plus some key warnings to help you avoid any pitfalls along the way-it's completely up-to-date for anyone completing their tax returns from June onwards. Whether you prepare your own tax return, use myTax or eTax or go to an accountant, there's something inside that will take your return from 'What?' to 'Wow!' in no time. Includes updated tax rates and superannuation thresholdsExplains Fringe Benefits Tax and Capital Gains TaxCovers tax and financial hardshipDescribes changes to small business deductionsIf you're an employee, investor, small business owner, retiree or even a student, Tax For Australians For Dummiesis the no-nonsense, easy-to-follow guide that answers all of your tax questions. Jimmy B. Princeis a fellow of CPA Australia, a tax specialist, and author of several investment books. He is a former lecturer in income tax law at La Trobe University and has worked for the Australian Taxation Office.

This book aims to find a workable interpretation of the non-appropriation principle that is compatible with both the existing international space law framework and the move of the private space industry towards the mining of asteroids and other celestial bodies. It does so by analysing the rules on the use of orbits as limited natural resources as a concrete indication of how space resources can be exploited by one user while respecting the non-appropriation principle and the interests of other users in space. This analysis is complemented by a thorough review of the meaning of property rights in the context of the existing international space law regime. This allows the author to distinguish between the lawful exploitation and unlawful appropriation of resources in a manner that could pave the way for a workable asteroid mining regime that takes into account the needs of individual companies and the international community. Exclusive use in an inclusive environment frames the legal regime of the exploitation of natural resources in outer space as the most pressing example to date of the tension that arises between the rights of a single spacefaring actor and the interests of the broader international community. Though academic in its approach in dealing with one of the most fundamental issues of space law to date, the book has very practical ambitions. By offering a pragmatic interpretation of the space law principles that are likely to remain the legal foundations of asteroid mining for the foreseeable future, Exclusive use in an inclusive environment hopes to inform academics, practitioners and policymakers alike in their future attempts at working out a fair, equitable and effective management regime for the exploitation of natural resources in outer space

Les intellectuels juifs de Bagdad. Discours et alle¿¿geances (1908-1951) raconte l¿́¿histoire d¿́¿un groupe d¿́¿intellectuels juifs de langue arabe a¿¿ Bagdad. Faisant usage de sources historiques, Aline Schlaepfer examine les strate¿¿gies que ceux-ci mirent en place pour s¿́¿assurer une pre¿¿sence permanente dans la sphe¿¿re publique en Irak. En analysant leurs discours et leurs alle¿¿geances, l'auteure montre qu¿́¿ils ne cesse¿¿rent jamais de s¿́¿exprimer publiquement sur les de¿¿bats politiques les plus sensibles en Irak: nationalisme, communautarisme, colonialisme, nazisme et fascisme. Cet ouvrage suit leur parcours a¿¿ travers une premie¿¿re moitie¿¿ de XXe sie¿¿cle irakien particulie¿¿rement agite¿¿e: la re¿¿volution jeune-turque de 1908, la cre¿¿ation de l¿́¿Etat irakien (1920), plusieurs coups d¿́¿Etat (1936 et 1941), et la cre¿¿ation de l¿́¿Etat d¿́¿Israe¿l (1948), qui conduisit finalement a¿¿ leur de¿¿part d¿́¿Irak en 1951. In Les intellectuels juifs de Bagdad. Discours et alle¿¿geances (1908-1951) , Aline Schlaepfer focuses on a group of Arabic-speaking Jewish intellectuals in Baghdad. Making use of historical materials, the author examines how strategies were negotiated by Jewish intellectuals in order to maintain a presence in the Iraqi public sphere. By analysing their discourses and allegiances, she shows that they continuously expressed their views on the most sensitive political debates in Iraq, such as nationalism, sectarianism, colonialism, Nazism and fascism. This work follows their trajectory during a turbulent period in Iraqi history; the 1908 Young-Turk Revolution, the creation of Iraq (1920), several coups d¿́¿e¿¿tat (1936 et 1941), and the creation of the State of Israel (1948), eventually leading to their departure from Iraq in 1951