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On June 28, 1972 in a South Bronx subway station, John Skagen, a white off-duty policeman on his way home, suddenly and without apparent provocation, ordered James Richardson, a black man on his way to work, to get against the wall and put his hands up. Richardson had a gun, and the two exchanged shots. In the melee that followed, Skagen was fatally wounded by a cop who rushed to the scene. In the ensuing trial, William Kunstler handled Richardson's defense and the author of this book, then assistant district attorney, prosecuted the case. Here is a first-hand, behind-the-scenes account of every step of the proceedings.

Taiwan's relationship with mainland China is one of the most fraught in East Asia, a key issue in the island's domestic politics, and a major obstacle in Sino-American relations. Between Assimilation and Independence explores the roots of this conflict in the immediate postwar period, when the Nationalist government led by Jiang Jieshi took control of the island after fifty years of Japanese rule. It is the first in-depth examination of how the Nationalists consolidated their rule over Taiwan even as they collapsed on the mainland. During the 1945-50 period, the Taiwanese experienced disappointment with Nationalist misrule; struggles over decolonization and the Japanese legacy; a violent uprising and brutal government response; and the chaos surrounding Jiang Jieshi's retreat with his mainlander-dominated authoritarian regime. This book, based on archival materials newly available in Taiwan and the United States, shows how the Taiwanese sought to place the island between independence--becoming a sovereign nation--and assimilation into China as a province.

For A Privileged Few; Confronting America's Dirty Little Secret. Does America have a "dirty little secret" about poverty, health care, COVID-19, race, and even some religious beliefs that many public leaders might not want you to know about? In the book, "For A Privileged Few" we are asked the question - "When a politician says that they care about people, does the question ever come to your mind, 'I wonder if that means they care about people like me?' That may seem like a simplistic question, but the answer might not be as simple as you might think. Because it may mean they only really care about certain 'types' of people. And if that is true, then do you even matter to that politician in the scheme of things that are most important to you? Isn't the very soul of any democracy found in a straight answer to a more basic question...'Do my concerns, needs, problems, hopes, and dreams even matter to anyone who is supposed to represent me?' It is a question that deserves a response." Steven Phillips is a counselor, teacher, and fifth generation minister who has spoken to several million people worldwide in his almost fifty years of service. In "For A Privileged Few" he takes a serious look at what might be the unspoken motivations of certain public decision makers, politicians, and even some religious leaders. In very straightforward terms, he asks the question, "Is it possible that some of these people actually don't care about many of those whom they say they represent?" Dr. Phillips asks some very frank, and even sometimes "painful" questions about how our society operates. He discusses how our nation was created and a number of "unaddressed issues" which have been hindering our continued success ever since. His observations cut to the very core of many of the social, political, and religious issues of our day. With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic during an election year in America, many of our values have come under increased scrutiny. It is becoming more and more obvious that many of the people who have been fortunate enough to climb to the top of the ladder of success in America, live in a sort of privileged, almost "caste-like" system of status. And, that privileged status is becoming increasingly unattainable for most Americans. For the first time in living memory, we are seeing growing numbers of our youth continuing to live with their parents after graduating from college. Many of these young Americans are expressing their belief that the so-called, "American Dream" has become evermore elusive for them - they have little hope of finding a good paying job, owning a home of their own, or being able to pay off the crushing debts that they incurred while completing their education. And yet, America is still producing the greatest number of billionaires in the world. Clearly, something is wrong. It could even be said that this unspoken status system has actually been competing with our stated core values of "Life, Liberty, And Justice For All" throughout our history. This possibility is beginning to be more easily demonstrated during the COVID-19 pandemic - which is having a far greater lethal effect upon hundreds-of-thousands of Americans with less means. Yet many social, economic, political, and even some religious leaders seem to be turning a blind eye to these issues. Like light shining through the cracks in an old suit of armor, Steven asks if the worst public health crisis in the past one hundred years is starting to expose some very troubling conflicts of interests. More importantly, he is trying to caution Americans that they must demand straight answers from all their leaders. Steven's advice? "...In times like these, it's important to know who really has your back."

“A powerfully informative guide for patient and practitioner from a misinformed past toward a future of recovery and health” (David Perlmutter, MD). In this important and timely book, Steven Phillips, MD, and his former patient, Sony singer-songwriter Dana Parish, reveal striking evidence that a range of common infections, from COVID-19 to Lyme, cause a variety of autoimmune, psychiatric, and chronic conditions. Chronic explores the science behind what makes them difficult to diagnose and treat, debunks widely held beliefs, and provides solutions that empower sufferers to reclaim their lives. After nearly dying from his own mystery illness, Dr. Phillips experienced firsthand the medical community’s ignorance about the pathogens that underlie a deep spectrum of serious conditions—from fibromyalgia, multiple sclerosis, chronic fatigue syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, and lupus, to depression, anxiety, OCD and neurodegenerative disorders. Parish, too, watched her health spiral after twelve top doctors missed the underlying infections that caused heart failure and other sudden debilitating symptoms. Now, they’ve come together with a mission: to change the current model of simply treating symptoms and shift the focus to finding and curing root causes of chronic diseases that affect millions around the world. “This book shines an alarming light on emerging infections that cause chronic illnesses. Brimming with bulletproof science, Chronic is an insightful clarion call for more attention to this plague of the twenty-first century.” —Sanjay Gupta, MD

A proposal for a categorization of cognition based on core properties of the constituent processes that integrates theory and empirical findings across domains. All sciences need ways to classify the phenomena they investigate; chemistry has the periodic table and biology a taxonomic system for classifying life forms. These classification schemes depend on conceptual coherence, demonstrated correspondences across paradigms. This conceptual coherence has proved elusive in psychology, although recent advances have brought the field to the point at which it is possible to define the type of classificatory system needed. This book proposes a categorization of cognition based on core properties of constituent processes, recognizing correspondences between cognitive processes with similar underlying structure but different surface properties. These correspondences are verified mathematically and shown not to be merely coincidental. The proposed formulation leads to general principles that transcend domains and paradigms and facilitate the interpretation of empirical findings. It covers human and nonhuman cognition and human cognition in all age ranges. Just as the periodic table classifies elements and not compounds, this system classifies relatively basic versions of cognitive tasks but allows for complexity. The book shows that a more integrated, coherent account of cognition would have many benefits. It would reduce the conceptual fragmentation of psychology; offer defined criteria by which to categorize new empirical results; and lead to fruitful hypotheses for the acquisition of higher cognition.

The history of implementing ERP systems has shown that leaving the fate of your Enterprise Resource Planning project in the hands of software consultants and vendors may only create a false sense of security. While the help of consultants is usually required, they are not all-knowing, have a limited ability to control the keys to project success, and are often the beneficiaries of cost overruns. When it comes to software vendors, their sales people will be long gone when it comes time to go-live with the new system. This book presents comprehensive strategies and techniques that enable organizations to take charge of their Enterprise Resource Planning projects to drive success. It is a guide to making informed decisions during each project phase. The author describes how to become less dependent on outside consultants, mitigate project risks, and significantly reduce implementation costs. Just as important are strategies and methods for the project team and stakeholders to identify business improvement opportunities within your organization and redesign processes to achieve the project benefits. The book also contains many tips to create internal project ownership, select ERP software, manage service providers, transfer software knowledge, develop the right implementation strategies, establish a realistic schedule and budget, and properly test the new system. It also addresses the various application and system infrastructure deployment options, emerging technology trends, and the implications from a software selection, implementation and on-going support standpoint. The information in this book is applicable to new implementations and system upgrades. This edition updated: November 2024 For those who prefer audiobooks, this version is also available on Google Play. Click "Switch To Audiobook" on this ebook homepage. Reviews "You owe it to your company and yourself to read this book. If you do so, you will sharply increase your odds for success and spend a lot less money. Steve has done the ERP industry a big service." - Thomas F. Wallace, early ERP pioneer, author, and Distinguished Fellow at The Ohio State University Center for Operational Excellence. "There really aren't many "must-read" ERP books in the 30 year (or so) history of ERP, but you can add this book to the must-read list. The book fits nicely into what I call the Center of Excellence movement - the push by ERP customers to gain more value out of their ERP investments and endure less headaches. The book is a combination of hard-won advice, cautionary tales, and a bit of a manifesto for not placing blind trust in third party consultancies." - Jon Reed, SAP/ERP Market Analyst. "I love this book." - R. Ray Wang. CEO and Principal Analyst at Constellation Research, a founding partner of the Altimeter Group and thought leader on enterprise digital transformation. "If the Project Management Institute (PMI) had a certification program in ERP Management, this would be the only textbook needed." - Andy Klee, President, Klee Associates, ERPtips.com (SAP), and JDEtips.com (Oracle Enterprise One).

Although few would doubt that very high inflation is bad for growth, there is much less agreement about moderate inflation’s effects. Using panel regressions and a nonlinear specification, this paper finds a statistically and economically significant negative relationship between inflation and growth. This relationship holds at all but the lowest inflation rates and is robust across various samples and specifications. The method of binary recursive trees identifies inflation as one the most important statistical determinants of growth. Finally, while there are short-run growth costs of disinflation, these are only relevant for the most severe disinflations, or when the initial inflation rate is well within the single-digit range.

"This Economic Issue is based on IMF Working Paper WP/00/168, 'Does IMF financing result in moral hazard?', October 2000"--Page iii.

The External Balance Assessment (EBA) methodology has been developed by the IMF’s Research Department as a successor to the CGER methodology for assessing current accounts and exchange rates in a multilaterally consistent manner. Compared to other approaches, EBA emphasizes distinguishing between the positive empirical analysis and the normative assessment of current accounts and exchange rates, and highlights the roles of policies and policy distortions. This paper provides a comprehensive description and discussion of the 2013 version (“2.0”) of the EBA methodology, including areas for its further development.

Prices in Russia have been decontrolled in several steps since early 1991, after decades of near-fixity. Their behavior before and after the January 1992 price liberalization is analyzed here, as are the associated movements of wages and overall consumer incomes and expenditures. The emphasis is on developments in the first half of 1992. Comparisons are made with recent experience in Eastern Europe. Evidence on shortages, saving and income distribution is also considered.