How To Assess And Monitor Ecological Quality In Freshwaters: Tema Nord 2003:547

Book Description

Several aspects of informatics curricula and teaching methods at the university level are reported in this volume, including:
*Challenges in defining an international curriculum;
*The diversity in informatics curricula;
*Computing programs for scientists and engineers;
*Patterns of curriculum design;
*Student interaction;
*Teaching of programming;
*Peer review in education.

This book contains a selection of the papers presented at the Working Conference on Informatics Curricula, Teaching Methods and Best Practice (ICTEM 2002), which was sponsored by the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) Working Group 3.2, and held in Florianópolis, Brazil in July 2002.

The working groups were organized in three parallel tracks. Working Group 1 discussed the "Directions and Challenges in Informatics Education". The focus of Working Group 2 was "Teaching Programming and Problem Solving". Working Group 3 discussed "Computing: The Shape of an Evolving Discipline." Each working group worked actively and prepared a report with the results of the discussions; these reports are included as the second part of this book.

Customer Reviews:

Not really what I needed.......2006-04-12

I was looking for a comprehensive introduction to workflow concepts. What this book is is hard to define. The diagrams were not conceived of for the book but rather retrofitted or adapted into the book. If you take those away, what you are left with is kindof a field report from some folks who did some work with workflow, not an intro to workflow.

Terrible grammar, poorly written.......2005-04-06

This is probably the worst tech book I have ever read. The grammar is awful, and what could be said in 10 words is said in 30. I can't wait to get thru this book and get rid of it.

Another Rushed Tech Book.......2001-03-12

Not a very readable book, straight scoop. It does certainly throw a lot of information at you. It's chock full of diagrams and pseudocode, but I haven't been able to make heads or tails out of a significant number of them. Which makes me think that the authors had at least an inkling of what they were writing about, but failed to take the time to develop and refine their explanations and reasoning. Very appearant by detailed selections here and there. They also seem to be hung up on their IBM product experiences; narrowness of scope quikly leading into "train of thought" explanations. A classic "Ugh!" book that makes you feel like you wasted "money."

Here is an example paragraph that I just happened to turn to, but it is indicative of the problems throughout the book. Practically the whole book is like this!:

"Before a user can perform any work, he must establish a session with the workflow management system. The session is initiated by the user starting the appropriate workflow management system client component and providing his user identification and password. If both entries are correct, the workflow management system establishes a session. Within a session, the workflow management system assumes that all requests are coming from the user that who established the session. The session can also be terminated automatically by the workflow management system if the user has not been active for a specified period of time. This measure prohibits unauthorized use of the system if a user forgets to terminate a session." p. 101

See what I mean? I wish to add that I am somewhat dissappointed at Prentice Hall publishers. This book is not an exception, but a continuing trend for them. Their editing efforts sadly put them in the league with SAMS and QUE books, IMO. For excellent tech books, it's still O'Reilly (ORA) and Addison Wesley at the top of the heap!

Comprehensive.......2000-06-13

This is a good book. It covers a wider range of topics and provides more details than any other workflow book I read. The authors target technical people who are interested in building, evaluating, or using workflow systems. The book doesn't provide all the implementation details you would need to build a workflow system, though. But once you read it you'll have a better idea about what it takes to do it.

The first part of the book discusses concepts relevant to workflow management. The authors cover a wide range of topics, from business processes to workflow basics to advanced workflow features like dynamic modification of workflows. However, some concepts don't fit in as nicely as others, which makes it seem unfinished. For example, in Chapter 4 the authors present in great detail a formal workflow metamodel. But 63 pages later they don't show how the reader can use this formal treatment: "One of the advantages of representing a metamodel in a formal manner is that one can prove statements formulated in the corresponding language. In our case, properties of process model graphs can their instances can be derived." The chapter ends with a 1/2 page (sketch of a) process termination proof.

The second part of the book focuses on techniques for implementing workflow systems. Here the authors discuss objects, transactions, advanced workflow functionality, and the architecture of workflow systems and workflow-based applications. These chapters seem more biased by IBM's MQSeries Workflow system (with which both authors have been involved) than claimed in the preface. Therefore, the presentation revolves around the techniques used in IBM's product and shadows other alternatives.

Many discussions in this book are followed by examples in the Flow Definition Language used by MQSeries Workflow. There are two problems with this approach. First, unless the reader uses the same workflow system, I question its value. Second, the FDL examples focus on specification rather than implementation. Probably the majority of readers are interested in the latter (which is missing) rather than the former. In fact, throughout the 2nd part the presentation of different techniques remains on a conceptual level.

Object technology seems an afterthought. While you can find the word "object" quite often, this book doesn't show how workflow management systems can benefit from object-oriented technology. The authors regard objects as components that merely encapsulate the implementations workflow activities. Their treatment ignores the other key features of object-orientation (inheritance and polymorphism). Incidentally, Chapter 6 (Workflow and Objects) is one of the shortest chapters in the book.

Some additional comments:

- There are a few places where the authors provide basic background information which probably should be left out. For example, Section 10.1.1 on Availability introduces MTBF and MTTR. In my opinion, unless this discussion is tied into workflow (which is not), it doesn't belong to this book. But this may not be the case for someone who hasn't encountered these concepts.

- The travel reservation example from Appendix A is too simple. As in the previous chapters, the authors spend a great deal with the FDL specification. I would have liked to see a more elaborate example that convinces the reader about the benefits of workflow technology. For example, does the 2nd part of the travel reservation process really require workflow, or merely a batch system?

To summarize, Production Workflow has an intrinsic bias that stems from the authors' experience with the FlowMark and MQSeries Workflow systems. Both these systems use persistent queues and relational database technology. The uninitiated reader may be led to believe that there are no other technologies for building workflow systems, when in fact this is not true. However, the experienced reader should be able to filter out the bias and project the ideas discussed in the book into different contexts.

As far as the quality of the book is concerned, it looks like a rushed job from the publisher's side. I have found quite a few typos, errors, and inconsistencies which should have been fixed by the copy editors.

The best book I've read on workflow today.......1999-11-19

A really complete book on workflow covering both technical and business aspects. A must-read for anybody who wants a coverage of both practical and theoretical issues of WF Management. More oriented towards technical people than business people and very useful as a basis for lectures on the topic. It could have covered other WFMS and models than only MQ-series in order to be more complete, but as the focus is mainly put on models and architecture the book does not appear as a IBM white paper. Anyway, this is already a very good book on Workflow and the best I've read today.

Production Workflow: Concepts and Techniques

Average customer rating:

Production Workflow: Concepts and Techniques
Frank; Roller, Dieter Leymann
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000LZI56U

Book Description

As the European Union grows together we are faced with an increasing number of European surveys and statistics that rely on national instruments or questionnaires. We lack valid instruments with functional equivalence that allow international comparative analysis. This problem is especially important in the case of demographic and socio-economic variables. The usual practice in comparative social research is to work with national questionnaires and classifications thereby making meaningful comparisons questionable. To overcome these problems this book offers rules of comparison, tested instruments and examples for the measurements of basic demographic and socio-economic variables.

The book consists of five parts and a concluding chapter. Part 1 covers general problems and presents solutions for the harmonisation of data from different national and/or cultural contexts. In the second part EUROSTAT and ESOMAR present their established standard instruments. Tested instruments each covering one variable (i.e. occupation, education) are presented in the third part. The fourth part again includes suggested tools for the harmonisation of single variables for which standardised instruments are not yet available (i.e. age, religion, ethnicity, household, family, income). The last part presents selected empirical analyses demonstrating the use and fruitfulness of instruments presented before.

This book is mainly written for two groups. First, researchers and practitioners involved in comparative research in Europe. Second, researchers working with data of the statistical offices of European countries and data from institutions of the European Union.

ADVANCES IN CROSS-NATIONAL COMPARISON A EUROPEAN WORKING BOOK FOR DEMOGRAPHIC AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC VARIABLES

Average customer rating:

ADVANCES IN CROSS-NATIONAL COMPARISON A EUROPEAN WORKING BOOK FOR DEMOGRAPHIC AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC VARIABLES
JURGEN H.P. Editor: HOFFMEYER-ZLOTNIK
Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OSMVNM

Average customer rating:

Fantastic, brief history of a nation's national debt

acceptable... but not unique

An insightful look into the making of the national debt

Intersting Little Book on US Fiscal History

A Good Primer on the History of U.S. Fiscal Policy

Hamilton's Blessing: The Extraordinary Life and Times of Our National Debt
John Steele Gordon
Manufacturer: Penguin (Non-Classics)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Economic History | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Public Finance | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Debt & Deficits | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | United States | Americas | History | Subjects | Books
U.S. | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

The Business of America: Tales from the Marketplace - American Enterprise from the Settling of New England to the Breakup of AT&T

Empire of Wealth : The Epic History of American Economic Power (P.S.)

A Thread Across the Ocean: The Heroic Story of the Transatlantic Cable

The Great Game: The Emergence of Wall Street as a World Power: 1653-2000

A New Economic View of American History: From Colonial Times to 1940

ASIN: 0140270159

Book Description

Measured at the staggering amount of $5.1 trillion (and growing every day) the national debt is unfathomable to most Americans. What we may not realize is that the United States was born out of debt. After the Revolution, the brilliant Alexander Hamilton was less interested in paying down the Revolutionary war debt than in using it to create a vibrant national economy. "If it is not excessive," he declared, "a national debt will be to us a national blessing." In a fascinating narrative brimming with colorful characters, historical accidents, and American ingenuity, business historian John Steele Gordon leads us on a tour of an American institution whose largely unknown story has been integrally entwined with our country's destiny. At key points in U.S. history, Gordon shows how the national debt has been a potent instrument of fiscal policy in keeping the world safe for democracy. But how much debt is too much? At a time when we despair of balancing even a single year's budget, Hamilton's Blessing provides much needed perspective - and hope. * Author writes the "Business of America" column in American Heritage magazine and is heard often on public radio's "Marketplace."

Amazon.com

Over the past couple of decades, our national debt has become a favorite political football for Democrats and Republicans alike. Yet few Americans seem aware that the debt has a long and (mostly) honorable history. Alexander Hamilton considered it a kind of political Krazy Glue, which would also spur American industry by keeping taxes high. This borrowing power enabled the North to win the Civil War without wrecking its economy and rescued us from the Great Depression. John Steele Gordon doesn't deny the dangers of an entire nation living on credit; indeed, he believes that our fiscal affairs are a mess. But he puts this mess in fascinating perspective. And he's quick to see the human side of economic behavior: "One problem," he writes, "is that human nature predisposes us to recognize depression easily and quickly, but prosperity, like happiness, is most easily seen in retrospect." Bull's-eye!

Customer Reviews:

Fantastic, brief history of a nation's national debt.......2006-04-27

John Steele Gordon has taken what could be an amazingly dull topic, limited in appeal, and translated it into a spectacular read for anyone with at least a basic education. This great little book is a welcome addition for folks interested in finance, the U.S. economy, and the national deficit. Nonetheless, despite its breezy style and short length (traits typically necessary for widespread appeal), I don't expect it will reach a wide audience. Consider yourself lucky that you've discovered this plain-language, excellent primer on how our national debt came to be!

The author's premise, like that of Alexander Hamilton, is that a national debt can be used constructively to monetize an economy. Both men were quite correct, and the debt served its purpose beautifully in supporting the fledging United States of America. It's subsequently been bastardized by numerous administrations, as a means of funding open-ended congressional and executive expenditures of middling value. Throughout the narrative of changes in the U.S. debt, the author details the creation and destruction of the National Bank of the United States. This institution flourished under Federalist rule, and languished or disappeared entirely when populist presidents (Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson) sat in office.

Overall, a remarkable book that will be discovered by too few, and certainly treasured by those lucky enough to discover it.

acceptable... but not unique.......2005-02-20

The book is okay ... but in general the book attempts to have the reader buy into Hamilton and his develpment of the National Debt as a good thing in todays economic system.

It was set up originally to help our economy expand and to be used in a way such that in difficult times money would be borrowed so that in prosperous times it could be paid back. Although it is a factual account of a major portion of our Nations'Economic history it fails to take into account one thing in its summary, the Human Equation.

All things work great on paper but in this instance this is not the case. The current system, seeing that it has no intent of ever paying back the current debt, now has adopted the belief that as long as the debt to GNP ratio stays within + or - 5%, everything will be OK. This is where the book falls short, it doesn't analyse Hamiltons' theories as they apply today, accounting for Human Intervention. It instead tries to explain away our current economic problems as part of economic evolution. Not the case. Socialism works great on paper but fails in real life. Why.... Humanity. Simply put, if you borrow more than you could ever make or pay back, sooner or later you reach a point of critical mass (or you just keep printing more money, hence inflation).

None the less, if some basic, simplistic history is what you want want, here it is.

An insightful look into the making of the national debt.......2004-04-15

I tip my hat to Mr. Gordon for providing a compelling short history of national debt, and how it has been shaped by tariffs, taxation and ever-increasing spending that has run amok in recent decades. It is a fascinating study into the competing visions of fiscal responsibility, notably the balanced budget extolled by Jeffersonians, which has actually been achieved on numerous occasions, versus deficit spending espoused by Hamiltonians, and of which John Maynard Keynes became the leading exponent in the inter-wars years between WWI and WWII.

While debts traditionally run high during wars, Gordon notes that since WWII, the yearly budget has rarely been balanced. It is during this time that Keynesian theory took hold and in Gordon's view led to a budget deficit that quickly spun out of control as entitlement programs took up fully three-quarters of the yearly budget. These programs have been virtually untouchable, but in 1995 (the point to which Gordon takes his history) a new reckoning emerged with the Republican landslide in Congress. Bill Clinton duly responded by proposing a balanced budget.

Gordon is a fiscal conservative, but recognizes the need to run in the red during hard economic times. He notes that this was Hoover's mistake at the onset of the Great Depression, as he continued to push for a balanced budget despite warnings that it would make the recession worse. However, the federal deficit, which has mushroomed to over $5 trillion, threatens to bankrupt many of the entitlement programs including social security.

Intersting Little Book on US Fiscal History.......2003-07-25

John Steele Gordon is an excellent writer, one whom I have enjoyed very much in the pages of American Heritage and who wrote a nifty history of Wall Street called "The Great Game."

This book, "Hamilton's Blessing: The Extraordinary Life and Times of Our National Debt" is a good, if brief, overview of the fiscal history of the American government. It is somewhat misnamed, since the National Debt serves as a background and tie in to each period of fiscal history studied.

The author does a superb job of explaining Alexander Hamilton's establishment of our financial, banking, debt and money system. Here is a woefully under appreciated founder explained succinctly and whose brilliance and indispensability are brought forth by Gordon.

Descriptions of attitudes towards and major changes in financial policy and tools follow. Gordon covers the major aspects: the struggle over the Second National Bank, Jackson's paying off the debt (the only time the US Gov't has been debt free), Lincoln and Chase's tax, greenback and bond finance of the Civil War, the long fight to establish the income tax, the fight over high marginal rates and an efficient system of taxation, and the change in view in the last century from one that deficits and debt were something to be controlled to our current sorry state of view whereby no one worries about much about deficits anymore.

Debt, when properly used, has allowed us to primarily wage wars. It was retired in times of peace. We face an interesting time now, when debt as a percentage of GDP is much higher than it has been in most peacetimes. This raises the question that if we have to fight a truly massive and long war in the future, will we have the capacity to borrow what we need (based on historic statistics, it is a question well worth pondering).

Gordon finishes the book with a polemic against the political culture that has lost its way in terms of providing an efficient and fair and economically sound system of taxation and the willingness to moderate the nation's debt.

This is a good and interesting book. Anyone looking for a succinct telling of the development of our government's fiscal structure will appreciate this gem.

A Good Primer on the History of U.S. Fiscal Policy.......2002-06-24

Just two years ago, John Steele Gordon's book on the history of the U.S. federal debt would have seemed dated, even though it was published in 1997. After more than twenty consecutive years of operating in the red, the U.S. federal government had not only erased its annual deficits and began paying down the debt, but surpluses were projected over the next ten years.

This is no longer the case. A tax cut, the war on terrorism, and a slowdown in the economy have combined to push the U.S. government's outlays above its revenues. They have also made this book -- "Hamilton's Blessing" -- relevant again.

Gordon's book is two things: 1) a basic history describing the twists and turns of U.S. fiscal policy over the last two hundred-plus years and 2) a political tract condemning the latest turn U.S. fiscal policy has taken since the Great Society.

By combining the two, Gordon seeks to show that the most recent practice of U.S. fiscal policy -- that of habitually running deficits in peacetime -- is not only unprecedented in U.S. history, but also, more importantly, unsupported by any sound theory of economics.

"Hamilton's Blessing" is well-written and interesting. The book is only slightly marred by a lack of detail in some areas. How exactly does a large public debt hurt your average citizen and by how much? We never find out.

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Government Finance Review, published by Government Finance Officers Association on October 1, 1997. The length of the article is 792 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Hamilton's Blessing: The Extraordinary Life and Times of Our National Debt. (book reviews)
Author: Cornelius E. Tierney
Publication: Government Finance Review (Magazine/Journal)
Date: October 1, 1997
Publisher: Government Finance Officers Association
Volume: v13 Issue: n5 Page: p54(1)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Book Description

A detailed look at the ways in which a "Superboss" motivates his employees written in an entertaining diary form. Written by best-selling author and founder of the management consultancy firm Superboss, LTD., David Freemantle, this book portrays 100 management episodes that are typically encountered in organizations today and provides advice for managers on how to motivate their employees to deal with whatever comes their way.

Customer Reviews:

contents.......1999-03-16

i would like to know what contents does this book contains

Book Description

Looking for an introduction to interactive television (ITV) that is neither simplistic nor overwhelmingly theoretical? This comprehensive review of interactive television as a tool in rural education and community development is written in layman's terms. Divided into sections that reflect different aspects of ITV networks, the book includes sidebars and guest essays from pioneers in two-way interactive television and educational technology as insightful real-life examples. A comprehensive glossary for technical terms is also included.

Book Description

The actual organization and use of information systems in American, European and Japanese firms are investigated and compared with theoretical conclusions. Finally, following the experimental evolution of the information products over the past twenty years, the results presented indicate that information and communication firms are now starting to offer the kind of business information systems predicted by the analysis.
The transformation of business information systems technology can be followed in the Chronicle, which is provided on diskette and which covers the development of modern IT and telecommunications industries. The data are arranged to allow researchers to reconfigure the data according to their own needs.

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