The Quality of Work: A People-Centred Agenda

Book Description

Unemployment, under and over employment, work-family tensions, growing job inequalities, retirement with dignity, jobs for youth--from this short list it is clear that there is a pervasive sense of crisis about the issue of employment, or the lack of it. This book is designed to spark debate that will begin to critically assess the directions that work is headed in. Based on years of research into work, Lowe takes on many of the myths about employment that are fuelling this sense of crisis and takes a fact-based look at emerging trends in employment and what we can do about them. He argues that we must shift our thinking from simple numbers of unemployed to thinking about the quality of the work that we do. We must change our approach from tinkering with the edges of the problem to reorganizing work and work environments. Quality Work advocates renewing working life through an agenda built around quality of work as a way of ensuring Canada's continued social viability and economic prosperity. The crisis in work is not just about unemployment but reflects inadequate opportunities for meaningful work that offer personal development, a social purpose, a decent standard of living, and a sense of economic security. Far from being whimsical or fiscally irresponsible, quality work can become the common ground on which individual workers in search of fulfilling employment and employers with an eye on the bottom line can meet.

The Quality of Work: A People-Centred Agenda. (Book Reviews).: An article from: Relations Industrielles/Industrial Relations

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The Quality of Work: A People-Centred Agenda. (Book Reviews).: An article from: Relations Industrielles/Industrial Relations
Andrew Sharpe
Manufacturer: Relations Industrielles
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B0008IMVF6
Release Date: 2005-07-28

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Relations Industrielles/Industrial Relations, published by Relations Industrielles on September 22, 2001. The length of the article is 1057 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: The Quality of Work: A People-Centred Agenda. (Book Reviews).
Author: Andrew Sharpe
Publication: Relations Industrielles/Industrial Relations (Refereed)
Date: September 22, 2001
Publisher: Relations Industrielles
Volume: 56 Issue: 4 Page: 807(3)

Article Type: Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Book Description

Whether you are managing a personal investment portfolio or a major mutual fund, this comprehensive revision of the well-respected reference to finance and investment, is a must for the home or office. Wall Street Words features nearly 4,000 terms - including hundreds of new entries - that accurately and clearly explain the language of the world of finance and investment. Contemporary case histories offer practical, real-world applications of investment concepts and principles. The book also gives new and updated tips from experts in investment, accounting, and financial law to help you manage your money in today's market.

Customer Reviews:

A valuable asset.......2006-05-31

Wall Street Words is the most valuable and most frequently used book in my library. I recommend it to my friends and to Amazon users.

THIS BOOK GIVES YOU AN EDGE WHEN STUDYING FOR THE SERIES 7.......2003-08-07

I am currently studying for the Series 7 stockbroker exam. The study manual often introduces terms with little or no explanation. The glossary in the study manual only covers a small fraction of the terms used. Before buying this book, I would have to list the terms, stop studying, and find explanations. Sometimes, I would have to waste precious study time calling into my trainer to discuss these terms.

Now, I have all of the definitions I need right at my finger tips. This book has been a great supplement to the Series 7 study material. I no longer waste time struggling with terms I do not understand. I do not have to waste valuable time on hold calling into my trainer to get a better understanding of terms.

A good word for Wall Street Words.......2001-08-10

It has all the words, it has all the definitions...it's all here. I work for a Wall Street firm and this is one of the few investment reference guides I keep at my office. Buy it.

Very Helplful.......2000-07-19

A fine book for even experienced investors. I use this book daily even though I am only a part-time investor. A nice addition to your bookshelf

An excellent guide to Wall Street Terms.......2000-05-23

This is probably the single best reference source for Wall Street terminology. It is complete and even includes investment tips. I would recommend Wall Stree Words to any investor who is sometimes baffled by the financial mumbo jumbo of the Wall Street experts.

Wall Street Words: An Essential A to Z Guide for Today's Investor

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Wall Street Words: An Essential A to Z Guide for Today's Investor
David Logan Scott
Manufacturer: Houghton Mifflin (P)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000R0WYSE

Amazon.com

Prisons and criminals, on first glance, seem to hold little that we might mistake for the desirable or attractive. Why then do both of these supposedly dreaded subjects hold such a curious attraction in the fables of our society? Martha Grace Duncan draws on her expertise in psychoanalysis, law, and literature to explore the curious paradox of our attraction to the supposedly detestable. Written in three parts, her book focuses on the affection she finds criminals possessing toward prison, the admiration law-abiding citizens have for criminal characters, and the metaphors of filth and slime used to separate the criminal from the upright and lawful. Singling out examples from literature and relying on Freudian psychology, Duncan succeeds in making the dualities more apparent and the metaphors pronounced. This is an intriguing study of the conceptual relationships between crime and punishment that illustrates the conceptual fluidity at play in the black-and-white world of the law.

Book Description

Literature... provides Duncan a rich field in which to explore our 'reluctant,' 'rationalized,' and sometimes outright 'admiration' for the 'noble bandit.' ...The real drama of...Duncan's discussion of metaphor, however, comes with the vivid historical pictograph that gives her book a stirring climax....Duncan readily solves the mystery [of the founding of Botany Bay as a penal colony].
--New York Times Book Review

" Romantic Outlaws, Beloved Prisons is a book that merits the interest of psychanalysts for the contribution it offers to our understanding of the realm of guilt and punishment in human psychology...I recommend the book highly."
— The Psychoanalytic QuarterlyProfessor Martha Duncan has written an important, creative work. Her book is elegant, and solidly grounded inliterature, psychoanalysis and law.
-- Legal Studies Form

A complex book on the subject of incarceration that embraces both the actual experience of prisoners and the projection in literature of positive prison fantasies. Drawing on a very rich reservoir of illustrations, Duncan offers fascinating developments that will affect the readers' views on the timely question of crime and punishment.
--Victor Brombert, author of The Romantic Prison

An ex-convict struggles with his addictive yearning for prison. A law-abiding citizen broods over his pleasure in violent, illegal acts. A prison warden loses his job because he is so successful in rehabilitating criminals. These are but a few of the intriguing stories Martha Grace Duncan examines in her bold, interdisciplinary book Romantic Outlaws, Beloved Prisons.

Duncan writes: "This is a book about paradoxes and mingled yarns - about the bright sides of dark events, the silver linings of sable clouds." She portrays upright citizens who harbor a strange liking for criminal deeds, and criminals who conceive of prison in positive terms: as a nurturing mother, an academy, a matrix of spiritual rebirth, or a refuge from life's trivia. In developing her unique vision, Duncan draws on literature, history, psychoanalysis, and law. Her work reveals a nonutopian world in which criminals and non-criminals--while injuring each other in obvious ways--nonetheless live together in a symbiotic as well as an adversarial relationship, needing each other, serving each other, enriching each other's lives in profound and surprising fashion.

Book Description

CD-ROM providing access to all the figures from Immunology, 4th ed., c1999, by Charles A. Janeway, and Case Studies in Immunology, 2nd ed., by Fred S. Rosen. System requirements: Windows 3.1 or higher, 16MB RAM; Macintosh 7.1 or greater, 8MB RAM.

Book Description

A lively introduction to why flowers grow in the spring, leaves change colors in the fall, and other seasonal phenomena.

Customer Reviews:

OUTSTANDING BOOK FOR ALL AGES.......2000-08-04

The Changing Seasons explains why there are different seasons in a very simple, elegant way. The experiments are fun and easy to do. I will be using this book to explain seasons to my elemantary grade students. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand why we have seasons.

Book Description

The book opens with an insightful and sweeping account of the main developments in science and the philosophy of knowledge from the pre-Socratic era to the nineteenth century. Omnès then traces the emergence in modern thought of a fracture between our intuitive, commonsense views of the world and the abstract and--for most people--incomprehensible world portrayed by advanced physics, math, and logic. He argues that the fracture appeared because the insights of Einstein and Bohr, the logical advances of Frege, Russell, and Gödel, and the necessary mathematics of infinity of Cantor and Hilbert cannot be fully expressed by words or images only. Quantum mechanics played an important role in this development, as it seemed to undermine intuitive notions of intelligibility, locality, and causality. However, Omnès argues that common sense and quantum mechanics are not as incompatible as many have thought. In fact, he makes the provocative argument that the "consistent-histories" approach to quantum mechanics, developed over the past fifteen years, places common sense (slightly reappraised and circumscribed) on a firm scientific and philosophical footing for the first time. In doing so, it provides what philosophers have sought through the ages: a sure foundation for human knowledge.

Quantum Philosophy is a profound work of contemporary science and philosophy and an eloquent history of the long struggle to understand the nature of the world and of knowledge itself.

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In this magisterial work, Roland Omnès takes us from the academies of ancient Greece to the laboratories of modern science as he seeks to do no less than rebuild the foundations of the philosophy of knowledge. One of the world's leading quantum physicists, Omnès reviews the history and recent development of mathematics, logic, and the physical sciences to show that current work in quantum theory offers new answers to questions that have puzzled philosophers for centuries: Is the world ultimately intelligible? Are all events caused? Do objects have definitive locations? Omnès addresses these profound questions with vigorous arguments and clear, colorful writing, aiming not just to advance scholarship but to enlighten readers with no background in science or philosophy. The book opens with an insightful and sweeping account of the main developments in science and the philosophy of knowledge from the pre-Socratic era to the nineteenth century. Omnès then traces the emergence in modern thought of a fracture between our intuitive, commonsense views of the world and the abstract and--for most people--incomprehensible world portrayed by advanced physics, math, and logic. He argues that the fracture appeared because the insights of Einstein and Bohr, the logical advances of Frege, Russell, and Gödel, and the necessary mathematics of infinity of Cantor and Hilbert cannot be fully expressed by words or images only. Quantum mechanics played an important role in this development, as it seemed to undermine intuitive notions of intelligibility, locality, and causality. However, Omnès argues that common sense and quantum mechanics are not as incompatible as many have thought. In fact, he makes the provocative argument that the "consistent-histories" approach to quantum mechanics, developed over the past fifteen years, places common sense (slightly reappraised and circumscribed) on a firm scientific and philosophical footing for the first time.

Customer Reviews:

Destined to be a classic.......2006-11-03

Quite simply, this may be one of the best books in recent history,
on quantum theory and its role in the philosophy of science. The
author, admirably, does not insult his reader by leaving out the
important mathematics needed to make quantum theory comprehensible.
Neither are mathematical models left to speak for themselves; rather,
the meaning of the theory is carefully and skillfully guided through
the abstract symbols.

Honors should also go to translator. One never feels that this easy
to read book was ever written in any language but English.

Healing the Fractures.......2005-12-27

Professor Omnes (University of Paris XI) is one of France's noted experimental physicists today. "Quantum Philosophy" is a poetic narrative of science from Ancient Greece to contemporary Quantum Mechanics is written with literary elegance which Arturo Sangalli's translation has preserved.

Although there are no equations, this book is not for the beginner. Omnes alludes to people, theories, events and ideas, which if not already known would remain quite mysterious. For the informed philosopher of science it is an insightful account of the main developments leading up to 20th Century formalism and the triumph of mathematics which was necessary to heal the fracture brought about by the post-intuitive sciences of Einstein, Bohr, Godel, Cantor and Hilbert.

Probable futures..........2004-06-23

Roland Omnes is a professor of physics at the University of Paris. Like many physicists and astronomers of our time, he is concerned about the interpretations of science among the general public, particularly as science becomes increasingly specialized and difficult for non-mathematically and non-scientifically trained persons to understand. There are many areas of misunderstanding in the general conception of physics, with the cutting-edge theories developing out of the strands of relativity and quantum physics that even physicists themselves have trouble understanding and explaining.

Omnes does a good job in the first half of the text tracing an historical development of physics from the earliest, pre-Socratic times in ancient Greece, a time when philosophy and science were not readily separable (a time that is re-emerging in many ways) through to the triumph of science, with physics in the forefront, as a worldview acceptable to Enlightenment thinkers, general academia, and the public at large. The first several chapters each take a turn at this broad topic - a chapter on classical logic comes first, looking in much the way a geometrist might the underlying postulate and axioms of later thought. Omnes then discusses classical physics and astronomy , leading up from the Greeks to Kepler, Newton, and finally Maxwell and his electro-magnetism theories.

The third chapter looks at the historical development of classical mathematics, and the fourth at the philosophy of knowledge, not exclusively but primarily in epistemological terms. Figures such as Bacon, Descartes, Locke, Hume and Kant are discussed here. The history of mathematics and epistemology has a profound if understated effect on later scientific development.

The second primary section deals with what Omnes terms `the fracture'. In discussing the processes of formal mathematics, logic, and physics in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, he brings up the trouble-spots - Godel's Incompleteness Theorem, varying philosophies in mathematics, relativistic challenges to classical physics models, and the increasing problem of epistemology in the processes of mathematics and science. To what extent are concerns about interpretation valid? Omnes discusses the importance of interpretation as justified for three reasons - that quantum mechanics `could not be more obscure' (and thus in need of interpretative illumination); the idea of who (or what) the observer is, is no longer clear in modern thinking; and, the issues of probability must be reconciled to the reality of existence.

The third primary section is the heart of Omnes' argument. Going beyond the `traditional' quantum theory, he introduces the idea of consistent histories. Omnes argues strongly for a common sense approach (citing John Bell, among others); physics is about physicality, and reality is that which emerges from the structure of the laws of physics and mathematics, a construct Omnes opts to call in a term laced with theological overtones, the Logos. However, this logical construct, deriving from the general laws of nature, cannot be free from the influence of probability.

The final section of the book looks at key questions and topics - how can we define science? What is the proper methodology for science, mathematics and the theory of knowledge in terms how we can know things in a probability-laced, quantum age? How does common sense play a factor in the way things progress from here?

Omnes puts the current state as being able to summarized in three points: logic is part of the world of matter, not a subject merely of our consciousness; that we have enough knowledge now to understand the laws of reality in a common sense manner; and finally, that we can acknowledge the ultimate separation of theory from reality. Beginning in this way, Omnes presents a tentative theory of knowledge destined to influence scientists and philosophers in the future.

Omnes presents his discussion with a minimum of mathematical equations, preferring once again to incorporate his common sense approach even to his own writing. Those who are knowledgeable in the hard sciences and mathematics will find this book intriguing; those without such a background will still find this a useful and sometimes inspiring text.

Christian physics..........2003-09-02

From page 241 of the hardcover edition--

"On tackling this kind of subject, even briefly, one must clearly show his true colors. Thus, I, the author, call myself a Christian, though my preferences in matters of belief are closer to Nicholas de Cues' [sic--Cusa?]"Docta Ignorantia" than to Thomas Aquinas' "Summa Theologica" or Karl Barth's "Dogmatik". By this personal note I wished to assure my Christian friends that the targets of my criticism are only certain thoughtless proselytes."

Speaking of "thoughtless proselytes," how about moving that confession up to the Preface so the reader will know the entire volume is biased?

Quantum Philosophy.......2003-07-08

There are many books that aim to explain quantum mechanics to the general public, but Omnes takes a different tack. His goal is nothing less than to provide a scientific foundation for a new philosophy of knowledge (epistemology). This is a big job, and Omnes, a French physicist who has contributed to the theory of quantum decoherence, deserves a gentleman's "C" for making the attempt. Potential readers must be warned, however, that Omnes - quite astonishingly as a physicist writing for a (presumably) non-technical audience - does not take time to explain the concepts of quantum mechanics (wave function, superposition, decoherence, etc.) which are essential to understanding his discussion. Because of this, it is highly recommended that before tackling Omnes, readers should at least have read a serious popular treatment such as Gribbin or Nick Herbert (to name only two of many).

The book under review is the 1999 hardcover translation of Roland Omnes' "Philosophie de la science contemporaine" ("Philosophy of Contemporary Science"), which was written in 1994. A 2002 paperback edition is also available. The book is about 290 pages long. It contains a glossary and index, but does not contain footnotes or a bibliography.

The first half of the book tells a well-known story of the rise of empirical physics and mathematics (other sciences are not considered) from the Pre-Socratics through the 18th century in Europe, followed by the triumph of formalism in the 19th century and the first startling developments in 20th century physics. While perceptively and gracefully told, such a rapid review of the history of science has to suffer by the speed with which the author covers 2,000 years of scientific developments.

The second half of the book moves to the present in discussing the implications of quantum mechanics towards the foundations of a new theory of knowledge. These chapters read like a series of interconnected essays, which circle around some rather big ideas: (1) it is possible to recover common-sense knowledge about ordinary objects from the formalism of quantum mechanics, (2) the theory of quantum decoherence is sufficient to dispose of certain well-known problems, such as Schroedinger's Cat, that result from naively applying quantum superposition to classical objects, and (3) there are two kinds of metaphysical entity: a Logos, as represented by mathematics and logic, and a Reality, as represented by physics.

Omnes' key point in all of this, is that the future theory of knowledge will be solidly grounded on a firm scientific basis; but he himself admits that the presentation in this book is only the start of a sketch of such a grand plan.

In summary, while I found some things of interest in the book, and appreciated its graceful and literate writing style, I was put off by a general superficiality and incompleteness of treatment, an inadequate explanation of concepts, and especially by the author's unfortunate and all too frequent resort to bald "proof by assertion" instead of the discussion, give-and-take, and scholarly references which are expected even in a popular or semi-popular work.

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Quantum Philosophy: Understanding and Interpreting Contemporary Science
Roland Omnes
Manufacturer: Princeton U.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000P486SY

Book Description

The actions in El pozo del Yocci take place during the permanent state of unrest that harrased the argentine northern provinces, sparked by the quarrels between federalists and unitarians during Juan Manuel de Rosas' rule over the Argentine Confederation. This non declared civil war became a temptation to the expansion desires of the bolivian ruler, mariscal Santa Cruz who, besides giving shelter to the anti-rosists, encouraged them by financing their raids against the province governors who sided with the Burenos Aires government. The turmoil of political hatred among caudillos was also stirred by personal reasons, many stemming from episodes happened only 25 years before when the division between royalists spaniards and independist criollos painfully set brother against brother, tore appart families and truncated many love stories. There is no better story-teller than Juana Manuela Gorriti, daughter of a family forced to exile losing many lives and fortune due to their confrontation with caudillo Facundo Quiroga, to depict in a most vivid way the chain of circumstances which, as in a greek tragedy, events from the past define the present and future of the main characters. This short novel is not just a jewel of the XIX Century South American literature, but a vivid fresco where historical characters become human and alive through the pen of a most gifted woman writer, who happened to know them personal and intimately.

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El pozo del Yocci
J. M. Gorriti
Manufacturer: Ediciones de la Imprenta de la Universidad
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000MEJ0KU

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El Pozo Del Yocci
Stockcero
Manufacturer: Stockcero
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000N72742

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