Big Names Research Articles

Delenda est haec Carthago. The Ostend Company as a Problem of European Great Power Politics (1722-1727)

This contribution explores the legal debate between the Dutch Republic and Emperor Charles vi of the Holy Roman Empire on the right of the inhabitants of the Austrian Netherlands to participate in trade on the high seas. Traditionally, historiography sees the formal existence of the Ostend Company (1722-1731) as a question of power politics. This is challenged from a contextual legal history-approach. First, big names as Jean du Mont de Carels-kroon or Jean Barbeyrac were mobilised in the bilateral quarrel. The arguments they invoked were drawn from the ius commune as well as an analysis of formal political history. Contrary to what is often assumed, the Dutch East India Company (voc)’ s point of view according to which treaties could limit the peremptory natural right to navigate on the high seas (mare liberum, pactis clausum) could not prevent the Ostend Company’s trading activities. The treaties of alliance and commerce concluded in Vienna on 30 April/ 1 June 1725 between Charles vi and Philip v of Spain (the “ Ripperda’ treaties) opened the Spanish colonies again, winding back the limitations created by the Treaty of Munster in 1648 (cujus est ligare, ejus est solvere). Second, this bilateral quarrel was subject to the legal principles governing the multilateral system of Europe, as established by the peace treaties of Utrecht, Rastatt and Baden (1713-1714). A legal reading of Franco-British diplomatic practice after 1713 learns that the Ripperda treaties were seen as containing the germs of a new Universal Monarchy and thus constituted a threat to the European balance. Not mere politics of interest or a variation on Hugo Grotius’ mare liberum, but hierarchy between treaty norms deprived the commercial treaty allowing the Ostend Trade of its legitimacy.

How the Laser Changed the Game

AbstractOnce a big name when it comes to traditional sheet metal processing, the company had to leave the comfort zone to advance to a leadership position in using the new tool that began its carreer around fifty years ago: the laser.

Thinking in Butler

Thinking in Butler

The Algorithms of Fame

What exactly is fame? Is it synonymous with renown, with historical importance, or with historical significance? Do importance and significance have the same meaning in this context? Are the most famous women and men—the “big names”—of past times the persons who contributed the most to propelling or stemming the tides of history? Does being merely remembered matter more or less than accomplishing something that made a difference to the pace of human progress? What is the value of quantifying recognition versus qualifying the value added of a particular individual action or bundle of actions? All of these questions, and more, arise from Skiena and Ward’s novel, bold attempt to compare thousands of human endeavors across time and geography in Who’s Bigger? Where Historical Figures Really Rank. It works, in a sense, but does it improve understanding?

Accounting errors and the risk of intentional errors that hide accounting information. The importance and the implementation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in Albania

Accounting is the language of business! Before any effective decision to be taken, the decision maker should have the financial statements in his hands. In this way his decision is based on the numbers that are produced by accounting. In all those transactions that occur every day in companies worldwide, it happens that errors are made! But how are these errors, involuntary or intentional? The problem starts right here, when we put into question the reliability and accuracy of the information presented in the financial statements. Just mentioning big names like Enron or Lehman Brothers we understand the importance of numbers and "accounting errors" in phrases such as "It's too big to fail". Perhaps the severity of failure or bankruptcy of a company in Albania is not so great but the risk extended throughout the system is threatening for the fragile Albanian economy. Through a case study will address the risk of unintentional and intentional errors occurring in accounting companies, as well as all economic risk as a result of concealment, hiding and manipulation of accounting information. Does Albanians company have knowledge of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act? This paper is seen as a way to give some recommendations to resolve the situation in our country, a situation that can be even in other countries of the world. In the conclusions we will see that these phenomena is the result of lack of control, the preparation of more than one financial statements for the same company, which also contradicts with the IAS for the preparation of the financial statements. This and other related issues will be dealt with extensively in the paper. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n19p494

Editorial discretion

The gold standard for publication remains the blinded peer review process where authors’ manuscripts are judged in quality and scientific worth by their peers (usually two but often more). The process itself adds weight to the findings of the paper as does the journal in which the paper, has been published. This process is often talked about as a key marker of quality, both of the paper and of the journal, however, it is only part of a larger picture. Often ignored, or indeed perhaps simply less well publicised, is the effect of editorial discretion and bias in the publication process. In truth, the decision to publish is much more complex than it appears. Editors are ultimately responsible for the decision to accept or reject a manuscript. This decision is necessary but not always transparent, taking into account factors other than reviews, such as likelihood of citation, interest, suitability for the readership and what other papers are about to be published in the journal. The Editor also considers quality, both objectively such as use of PRISMA and CONSORT guidelines and often less satisfactorily the Editor’s own standards. We have included an editorial in the …

Speak for Yourself

Speak for Yourself

“What's in a name”: or why create another journal?

Purpose– This paper aims to sets out to provide encouragement to new researchers and challenge the widespread belief that in order to get published you need to travel on the coat tails of a Big Name in accounting research. With this in mind, the argument is that a key contribution ofQualitative Research in Accounting & Management(QRAM) has been to provide such encouragement.Design/methodology/approach– The approach is conceptual and theoretical employing the theories of Bourdieu on social dominance and status, and the work of Plantinga on the nature of perception and belief.Findings– These take the form of an argument that all social fields are structured so that levels of dominance are inevitable given the disposition (or habitus) of actors in the field to be so structured. Thus, the structure awards capital, in the form of status, while denying capital to others. Coupled with this human tendency to form structured fields is a reasoning that is inductive, and, as Plantinga points out, based on underlying beliefs and perceptions.Originality/value– Hopefully, this paper will prove controversial with many denying that in the liberal environment of accounting research something less than an egalitarian meritocracy could possibly exist. It is piously hoped, however, that among “lowly” researchers the paper will strike a chord that resonates.

A Discipline on Foot: Inventing Japanese Native Ethnography, 1910–1945 by Alan Christy (review)

Reviewed by: A Discipline on Foot: Inventing Japanese Native Ethnography, 1910–1945 by Alan Christy Michael Dylan Foster (bio) A Discipline on Foot: Inventing Japanese Native Ethnography, 1910–1945. By Alan Christy. Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham, Md., 2012. x, 297 pages. $85.00, cloth; $84.99, E-book. Several years ago I audaciously decided to teach a seminar titled “Folk-loristics in Japan: History, Method, Context.” Most of the students were [End Page 131] advanced graduate students studying folklore and anthropology, but very few had any background with Japan. By necessity, therefore, all of the required reading assignments were in English. We had plenty to work with: over the last two decades, there have been a number of English-language works on minzokugaku (Japanese folkloristics or native ethnology) as well as on mingei (folk art).1 But these readings were diverse and scattered, each one touching on only a few of the major players, texts, or theoretical aspects in the development of the discipline. I found myself struggling in lectures and discussions to tie readings together in a meaningful fashion, to weave a narrative that was, if not comprehensive, at least comprehensible. I also found myself wishing for a book that would do this for me, a monograph to introduce (but not simplify) the discourses and the individuals responsible for developing minzokugaku. Alan Christy’s A Discipline on Foot is that book. Indeed, Christy confronts this daunting task head-on. His project is to describe the way in which an entire disciplinary field, minzokugaku, came into being during the first half of the twentieth century. As he explains, “minzokugaku in its formative years was an extended experiment: in designating a wide range of new objects as epistemologically valid and valuable, in creating new methodologies for extracting new objects, and in transforming the subjectivity of knowledge producers” (p. 10). Christy weaves the narrative of this experiment over the ten chapters of his monograph; the story he tells is one of failures and successes, rival personalities, conflicting ideologies, and ultimately of a new academic discipline that reflects the changing historical concerns of the twentieth century as well as the intellectual struggles of its founders. This book is a major contribution on a number of levels. For starters, it presents for the first time in English the big-picture view of the early years of minzokugaku as well as accounts of a number of relatively unheralded scholars who were present at its creation. Most works on minzokugaku, in English and Japanese, tend to focus on the overwhelming role played by Yanagita Kunio. Christy certainly does not ignore Yanagita’s paternity, but he complicates it from the start by intertwining Yanagita’s trajectory with those of other major players, most notably Shibusawa Keizō, Orikuchi [End Page 132] Shinobu, Minakata Kumagusu, Kon Wajirō, and Miyamoto Tsuneichi. Particularly valuable is Christy’s focus on Shibusawa, who was a wealthy financier, renowned banker, and one-time minister of finance. Despite his moneyed blueblood background, Shibusawa’s passion was folklore; he founded the Attic Museum (now called the Institute for the Study of Japanese Folk Culture; Nihon Jōmin Bunka Kenkyūjo), a central research institution for minzokugaku and especially folk objects and tools (mingu). Christy shows us the processes by which many of Yanagita’s projects and the work of numerous other researchers were made possible through Shibusawa’s financial assistance. The book also provides brief biographies of a number of “middle-tier native ethnologists” (p. 35), such as Hayakawa Kōtarō and Hashiura Yasuo. These sketches serve not only to demonstrate the range of interests and intellectual backgrounds of minzokugaku scholars but also to provide depth and personality to a discourse that has so often been dominated by a few big names. Having said that, perhaps inevitably, the leading role remains the charismatic, problematic, and enigmatic figure of Yanagita Kunio. The book ends up proving not only Yanagita’s intellectual leadership of the field but his octopus-like powers of reach; we see his tentacles extending into almost every aspect of the burgeoning discipline. Christy’s valuable introduction of other scholars expands our understanding of minzokugaku but also highlights the fact that, ultimately, all roads lead back...

Approaching a Decade

As I write this JMT update, it seems like yesterday that the Internet Journal of Medical Toxicology (IJMT) was transitioning to the Journal of Medical Toxicology (JMT). Can it really be time for volume 10? When one is entrenched in the details, it is easy to forget the big picture. The big picture for JMT continues to be bright. There has been quite a bit of activity for JMT in 2013, sustained in large part by the invaluable efforts of our editorial board and reviewers. The editorial board continues to evolve, with three board members, Russ Kerns, Stephen Borron, and Ed Boyer, rotating off after productive terms. Our two fellow-in-training members, Patrick Lank and Aaron Skolnik, graduated in 2013 and two incoming fellows, Navneet Cheema and Mark Neavyn, joined the board. Navneet has been instrumental, with Nathanael McKeown, at updating the JMT portion of the American College of Medical Toxicology (ACMT) website, adding extensive instructions for author section, as well as links to articles available online, podcasts, all of the journals policies, and more. Mark is organizing the online issues of IJMT to make them accessible to members. Mark Mycyk writes a press release for every print issue of JMT, increasing our media presence, and the JMT Facebook page has been much more active with more “likes” weekly. Our ACMT tweeter, Joseph D'Orazio, also includes us in his prolific activity. The entertaining and informative podcasts for each print issue continue to be produced by Dan Rusyniak and Howard Greller. Thanks to the efforts of Chuck McKay and Lynn Lancaster, the December issue included the proceedings from the ACMT symposium on chelation. The Toxicology Investigators Consortium report also appeared in the December issue, the third annual report published in JMT by this group. JMT is partnering with the CDC to offer continuing medical education (CME) for reviewers. The application was approved this fall, and reviewers will be able to collect physician and pharmacy CME for reviews performed. Rick Wang was instrumental in shepherding this innovative project to completion. Thanks to the efforts of Lewis Nelson, JMT was able to copublish the National Association of Medical Examiners Position Paper: Recommendations for the Investigation, Diagnosis, and Certification of Deaths Related to Opioid Drugs. We also published a joint position statement with AACT on Antidote Shortages in the US, developed with the oversight of Silas Smith. Article submissions more than tripled from 2007 to 2013, and rejection rate increased to 50 %. Submissions came from over 47 countries across various regions including North America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. The number of submissions continues to increase steadily. Full-text article downloads are also increasing steadily from 1 year to the next, including a significant increase of 56 % from 2011 to 2012. As of early August 2013, a Scopus search indicated the following: Journal of Medical Toxicology: 199 citations year-to-date 2013, to 159 articles published in 2011 + 2012 = 1.25 average citations per article. While this does not equate exactly with impact factor, it suggests that our articles are being cited. With this promising data and the help of Springer, JMT has applied for an impact factor. It can take a considerable amount of time (years) to get a decision, but we are optimistic. The editorial board has been tirelessly working toward this important goal. Finally, I attended the International Congress of Peer Review in Chicago in September 2013. The event only occurs every 4 years. Christine Murphy, a member of the editorial board, also attended. It was a fascinating opportunity to meet some of the big names in medical publishing and hear them speak. It was also interesting to discuss the latest research in peer review, including the controversy about open access and conflicts of interest. While much has been done in this area, there are many opportunities for further research. As we approach our tenth year, I extend my appreciation to all of the editorial staff, reviewers, and editorial board members, as well as the previous editors. I also want to thank ACMT for its incredible support of this important endeavor.

Philoctetes Amidst the Treacle: Stink Foot at The Yard Theatre, Hackney

Philoctetes Amidst the Treacle: Stink Foot at The Yard Theatre, Hackney JUSTINE MCCONNELL Even by the standards of London’s long-established love affair with classical drama, the city is revelling in something near approaching an embarrassment of riches at the moment. Greek tragedy as a star vehicle has seen Juliette Binoche, Helen McCrory, and Kristin Scott Thomas take the title roles in, respectively, Antigone, Medea, and Electra, all within the space of a year.1 Away from the West End too, Greek drama is holding its own. Stink Foot* at the Yard Theatre in Hackney, just a few minutes from the Olympic Stadium built for London 2012, is an impressive and entertaining adaptation of Sophocles’ Philoctetes. Like the three productions mentioned above, intensity and a kind of “authenticity” is sought by the exclusion of an interval, thereby echoing that element of the original fifth-century BCE performances in Athens, which were similarly unbroken by a convenient half-time interlude. Unlike those three big-budget West End productions, however, Stink Foot boasts no famous actors, no intricate sets, no star directors —yet it nevertheless securely establishes itself on a par with them in terms of the theatrical experience it offers. The Yard is a relatively new venue on the London performance scene. Converted from a disused warehouse in 2011, the design of the theatre combines a Greek amphitheatre with Elizabethan galleries. The rake of the seating is visible from the bar, as are the actors in the dressing-room, silhouetted by *Stink Foot was adapted and directed by Jeff James, and presented by Jessica Campbell and Dem Productions. arion 22.3 winter 2015 the semi-transparent lightbox that serves as their backstage space. The entrance to the warehouse is found by walking through a car park (ignoring the “No Entry” sign for vehicles ), past a kebab van, and round the corner; it may feel inauspicious on a cold, dark winter’s night, but the atmosphere changes the moment you arrive. The Yard Box Office welcomes you in as if to their own living room; the bar, serving homemade food and locally brewed beers, has none of the formality or inflated price tags of the West End; likewise the ticket prices, which never rise above £12 ($18). Its mission, as Artistic Director Jay Miller has explained, is “to give opportunities to artists who may have never made work before, while simultaneously inviting more established artists to make work at The Yard—this process enables us to discover unheard , brilliant voices.”2 Stink Foot was written and directed by one of these newer voices, Jeff James. Yet he has been fast establishing himself as a figure to watch; Stink Foot may be only his second solo directing project, but the first was a Harold Pinter doublebill at the Young Vic, and he has worked with a number of British theatre’s big names (including Carrie Cracknell, who directed the National Theatre’s Medea). The adaptation’s title announces its irreverent and visceral approach to Sophocles ’ play, and indeed the embodiment of Philoctetes’ diseased foot is one of the most striking features of the play. For, as a programme note thanking Tate and Lyle foreshadows , the play is performed amidst a bath of treacle. The ingenuity of this becomes apparent a few minutes into the play when the sickly-sweet smell of treacle begins to assail the senses. The treacle itself, oozing from Philoctetes’ bandaged foot and dragged across the floor, gradually covers the stage—and the actors—in a red-brown mess resembling blood. Visually, the effect is very powerful, but the real pièce de résistance is the stench that fills the theatre throughout the performance: not strong enough to detract from one’s enjoyment of the show, but nevertheless pungent enough never to slip from the forefront of one’s mind. Which is as it philoctetes amidst the treacle 194 should be, if we are to enlist one more important sense in our engagement with this play. Sophocles himself made much of the horror of the scent emanating from Philoctetes’ wound: touvtou~ d’e[ason, mh; barunqw`sin kakh/` ojsmh/` pro; tou` devonto~3 Compelling the audience to engage...

Big Names and Fragmented Experiences: Deductive and Inductive Sensemaking

The origins of strategy have received limited research attention to date Gavetti and Rivkin (2007). Using an inductive theory-building case study, our study examines the process of strategy making in nascent firms. Specifically, we seek to understand how entrepreneurs converge on a set of choices among a vast set of possibilities. The abundance of possibilities is a characteristic of the ambiguity surrounding early strategy formulation, as multiple aspects of strategy are undefined. In ambiguity, entrepreneurs engage in sensemaking as they try to construct choices for their strategies. We observe two distinct modes of sensemaking that have differential affects on attention and choice. A deductive reasoning process stabilizes attention and analysis. An inductive reasoning process generates new options and possibilities, thereby diverting attention and postponing choice. These findings have important implications for understanding the specific sensemaking processes in start-ups under ambiguity and their effects on strategy formation.

Types of possible strategies and strategic options

Strategy is defined by the relationship which a company should establish with the environment and the aspirations of a strategist. Formulating a strategy involves determining the mission and long-term objectives, analysis of opportunities and threats to the environment, determine the attractiveness of the industry by analyzing competitive forces, identifying sources of competitive advantage through the analysis of the internal environment (assessment of resources and capabilities of the company) and the determination of feasible alternatives. Future intentions and sources of advantage are the two main elements that determine feasible strategic alternatives. Future intentions can only be determined where benefits can be realized. This must go 'hand in hand' so the defined strategy will have a proactive and responsible role. Comparing today's market leaders with those of twenty or even a decade or five years shows how sometimes the big names lost their significance or disappeared from the business scene. All this has the effect of affirming philosophy of management which should allow, on a systematic basis, the company to successfully cope with the dynamic and complex environment. It has become a necessity to look at the changes as an opportunity and not as a threat.

Awards, Announcements, and News

On the September 19th, 2013 edition of CBC radio’s “Q”, the opening essay by guest host Kevin Sylvester (himself a “kid’s book” writer) focused on why “kiddy litter” gets such short shrift in Canada compared to other countries. He notes that Winnipeg-born, Toronto-trained Jon Klassen won 2 Caldecott medals this year for “This is not my hat” and “Extra yarn.” Kevin asks, “where is our ‘Canada Reads’ for kids?” and suggests we go to cbc.ca/books and click on “kids.” Hear Kevin’s 2-minute essay (http://www.cbc.ca/q/popupaudio.html?clipIds=2407373814)or read it here and find out what kid’s books he writes to boot: (http://kevinarts.blogspot.ca/2013/09/my-q-opening-essay.html)Speaking of children’s book awards, you might have heard of the Silver Birch awards from the Ontario Library Association that have been around for 20 years. But did you know there was a whole “forest of reading” intended to recognize Canadian authors and books, “contribute to the financial stability of the Canadian publish industry, and provide a literacy enhancement tool? Other tree awards include the Blue Spruce, Red Maple, White Pine, Evergreen, Golden Oak, Tamarac, and Peuplier. This would be a great time to find out more because the 2014 nominees are out with an award presentation planned for May 14, 2014. https://www.accessola.org/OLAWEB/Forest_of_Reading/Welcome/OLAWEB/Forest_of_Reading/Welcome.aspx or www.accessola.com/forestAnother group working to increase the culture of reading in Canada is the National Reading Campaign. They have a new website and media package here: http://www.nationalreadingcampaign.ca/. They gather lots of interesting information including their National Reading Plan which starts, “Reading is essential to the quality of our lives and to our ability to take our place as citizens in a democracy.” There is “research” section devoted to studies about the benefits of reading. Among the various “facts” highlighted for the website: “Reading is 68% better at reducing stress than listening to music, 100% more effective than drinking a cup of tea, and 700% better than playing video games”If you also create children’s literature, you might be interested in CANSCAIP’s Packaging Your Imagination Conference on November 16, 2013 in Toronto. From their website the “Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, Illustrators & Performers (CANSCAIP) presents a day of workshops focused on writing, illustrating & performing for children. Whether you are a beginner, a seasoned professional or somewhere in-between, PYI gives you the opportunity to improve your craft, expand your network of industry professionals, and meet and learn from some of the biggest names in the industry.” http://www.nationalreadingcampaign.ca/events/canscaips-packaging-your-imagination-conference/Finally, the CCBC (Canadian Children’s Book Centre) is another good way to keep up with what’s going on in the ever-expanding (and hard to keep track of) world of Children’s literature especially in Canada. http://www.bookcentre.ca/Here’s to the autumn trees (and squirrels) reminding us to stock up on great books to curl up with when we’re not out enjoying all that winter has to offer.David Sulz, Communications Editor

Danone harnesses the “benefit of doubt”

Purpose – To provide a review of the winning case study from the executive development category of EFMD's Excellence in Practice Awards, 2013. Design/methodology/approach – An independent review of the winning case. Findings – Uncertainty may have become a common aspect of business life, particularly in recent years, but can such disruption transform the modern corporate culture of targets, measures and key performance indicators (KPI)? Franck Riboud, CEO of Danone thinks that it can. He proposes that Danone can only compete with big name competitors such as Nestlé, Unilever and CocaCola by “thinking outside the box”, and thus leveraging the “benefit of doubt”. Originality/value – Provides insight for practitioners into a learning and development initiative of proven impact.

Special Issue on International Organized Sessions of JSAI2012

Perhaps the above themes reflect part of the current interests in AI (in Japan). Two sessions have the same theme —data mining. For the age of “big data,” more intelligent data mining techniques will be required. Of course the same or similar problems have been pointed out and discussed before the age. Thus, we are still on the way of researching for the intelligent and effective data mining. In addition, more intelligent treatment of data from the Web will be necessary. Thus, a session on web intelligence was organized. The second session discussed challenges in AI. Since 2012 was the celebrating (100th birthday) year of Alan Turing, under the big name, they discussed fundamental problems and challenges in AI. From authors in these sessions, some interesting papers have been submitted. After peer reviews, the following papers have been accepted.

Fearless Archaeologist: Susan Kent’s Vision for Ethnoarchaeology

Susan Kent was a remarkable archaeologist who died in 2003 at the age of 50. That she died in her hotel room in Milwaukee while attending the Society for American Archaeology (SAA) meetings rather adds to her mystique leading Kehoe (2006) to refer to her as an ‘anomalous archaeologist.’ In the decade since her death, the American Anthropological Association published a special volume on Sue Kent and her work in their Archaeological Papers series (Ashmore et al. 2006), containing numerous tributes to her and retrospectives on her life and work. It is hard to imagine that anything else needs to be said, but Susan Kent was truly a classic whose work dominates ethnoarchaeology, and she is most deserving of being placed permanently in the pantheon of ethnoarchaeological forebears in the Ethnoarchaeology Classics series. I had the pleasure of knowing Sue, although I did not know her well. Obviously, I knew her work and had heard her give papers at conferences, but I first started speaking with her when she invited me to present a paper in her session on gender at the Society of Africanist Archaeologists meetings in 1996. I was unable to attend the conference but I did contribute a chapter to what would become her edited volume Gender in African Prehistory (Kent 1998a). Sue ran the editorship of the book like a military campaign, demanding that all contributors meet strict deadlines and threatening them with expulsion if they did not comply. At this point Sue had a lot of excellent edited volumes under her belt. She seems to always have had the power to draw big names to her volumes, a power that encouraged everyone to comply with her orders, especially junior scholars like me who were anxious to be associated with the luminaries. In those days, email was just beginning and much of Sue’s cajoling and threatening had to be done by regular mail and by phone. Sue had very little financial support at Old Dominion University, and she had to pay for all her long distance phone calls and all her mail out of her own pocket, making her dedication to producing edited volumes all the more impressive. When I discovered this, I called her back whenever she phoned me so that we could talk at length on my institution’s dime. Sue was full of ideas, a lively conversationalist and very funny. She was a terrifically generous colleague, very interested in networking people, and I have her to thank for several introductions and opportunities that have come my way. The shadow over her life however, was her state of chronic ill health. In the mid 1990s

"Something Like a Harlem Renaissance West": Black Popular Fiction, Self-Publishing, and the Origins of Street Literature: Interviews with Dr. Roland Jefferson and Odie Hawkins

Since the dawn of the twenty-first century, the popularity of self-published street literature (also known as urban literature, ghetto fiction, and hip-hop literature) has exploded among African American readers. Starting with the publication of titles such as Teri Woods’s True to the Game (1998), Sister Souljah’s The Coldest Winter Ever (1999), Vickie M. Stringer’s Let That Be the Reason (2001), and Nikki Turner’s A Hustler’s Wife (2003), street literature has emerged as a driving force in the African American publishing industry. Dozens of independent imprints, each publishing several books per year, sprang up virtually overnight, and now thousands of street literature novels compete for the attention of an ever-growing black readership. Some of the more influential independent publishers of this new genre include Urban Books, Teri Woods Publishing, and Stringer’s Triple Crown Publications, though new publishing houses arrive on the scene each year. Triple Crown Publications is probably the most successful of these new publishing houses, having sold more than a million books between its founding in 2001 and 2006. As a further indication of street literature’s growing power in the marketplace, mainstream trade publishers (including Ballantine Books, Simon and Schuster, and St. Martin’s Press) have begun offering six-figure, multiple-book deals to some of the biggest names in the business, including K’wan Foye, Shannon Holmes, and Turner. These books can be purchased at Barnes and Noble and Amazon.com, at book vendor tables along 125th Street in Harlem, and in state and federal penitentiaries across the country. Street literature is particularly popular in American cities with large black populations, including New York, Detroit, Houston, Oakland, and Atlanta. At a moment when the

Book Review: Weighing Anchors: When Network Newscasters Don’t Know Write from Wrong, by Mervin Block

Weighing Anchors: When Network Newscasters Don't Know Write from Wrong. Mervin Block. Portland: Marion Street Press, 2012. 216 pp. $18.95 pbk.Readers expecting to find something new in Mervin Block's Weighing Anchors: When Network Newscasters Don't Know Write from Wrong are going to be disappointed. However, its message demands your attention-too many network news anchors and programs suffer from writing errors that erode the reputation of that individual and the quality of that broadcast.Block explains why his book, a reprint of many of his website posts, is important to educators, university students, and the general public.Most scripts at the Big Three networks are free of mistakes, but network scripts shouldn't have so many defects. So why write about faulty scripts . . . ? [Because] we expect a network to do good work; when it doesn't, it's worth a story.Block identifies the Big Three (ABC, CBS, and NBC) in the aforementioned pref- ace, but the book also evaluates CNN's anchors and programs. But he never explains why MSNBC and FOX News are exempt from his evaluation and criticism. This is one of the shortcomings of Weighing Anchors.Several themes emerge from Weighing Anchors. Block repeatedly discusses the important role a quality copy editor provides newsrooms, and how the absence of such an individual partially explains the numerous mistakes that appear on air. He cites examples from almost every prominent news anchor and program, including ABC's World News, NBC's Nightly News, CBS' Evening News, and CNN.The potential for qualifier words worming their way into news stories could be flagged by a strong editor, Block asserts. He reminds his readers that journalism stu- dents are taught not to characterize news as good or bad, happy or sad. Or amazing, shocking, disturbing or alarming. Listeners can decide for themselves how good or bad the news is.Block acknowledges budget cuts have eliminated the copy editor from many news- rooms, but he does not accept that as a sufficient reason for abandoning copy editing. The ND [news director] should choose someone who's a strong writer, knows English well and is confident enough to edit even anchors, he states.Another theme Block examines is network and cable television's overuse of learned. He notes,Some of broadcast's biggest names are among the biggest learners: they tell us they've this or that. And though they usually imply they've something important, whatever they've is often not new, or not true or not theirs alone.Block identifies multiple examples in which learned events were in fact stories disseminated by the Associated Press or another news agency hours (and in some cases days) before the broadcasts began. …

Ethical Considerations in Healthcare Design and Construction

Perhaps some of us take ethical conduct in personal relationships and busi- ness situations for granted. Unfortunately, while most of us attempt to live a highly ethical life, there are often breaches in ethical conduct that we may dismiss as fair and usual business practices, or some may simply disregard the need to be ethical in their attempt to be selected for project.The following case studies illustrate how easily one's conduct can breach ethi- cal standards. The aim of this article is to introduce the four principles and four behavioral standards of ethical conduct. While some ethical situations are not obviously right or wrong, others are more clear-cut. Each of the cases below illus- trates a specific ethical principle.Case 1-Jeff is the Business Development Director for a national construction com- pany with a local office that specializes in healthcare construction. He notices that his company never receives notice of projects from one of the local hospitals. Although he visits with the director of facilities for the hospital, shares his company's experi- ence and expertise, and participates in the fund-raising activities for the hospital, he realizes that his company never receives requests for proposals (RFPs). In one of his visits with the Director of Facilities, he asks her if there is a reason that his company is not considered. She reassures him that his company has an excellent reputation for safety and quality in construction, and that she will ensure that he receives an RFP in the future. Jeff is later informed by a colleague that the Director's assistant previ- ously worked for a construction company and that the same company is highly favored by the hospital in spite of its lack of healthcare construction experience. Later it is revealed in the news that the president of the construction firm donated $1.5 million to the hospital's foundation.Case 2 -Big Name Hospital System has decided to have a design competition among architects for its new Heart Center, which will be the flagship, state-of-the-art hos- pital for the entire system. An RFP is sent out to a number of architectural teams with the terms for the design competition. The firms are notified that they will not be compensated for their design, that designs must meet certain space and budget cri- teria, and that the designs must be examples of evidence-based healing environments. The teams are given 4 months to complete their designs, and then they are expected to present the designs to the Executive Selection Team for Big Name Hospital System. The architects are expected to bring their updated space programs, schematic designs, and architectural renderings of how they envision the new Heart Center and evidence for their design features and solutions. After all of the architectural firms have pre- sented their prospective designs, the Executive Selection Team chooses two finalists. They inform the architectural teams that they like certain elements of their designs, but they request them to consider other design requirements and features that were presented by some of the architectural firms who were not selected as finalists. The executive team indicates that they really like the design presented by one of the previ- ous teams. They share the renderings and schematic designs of one of those teams to the finalists and ask them to take them into consideration in their final presentations for the project. Approximately a year later, Steve, who is the Managing Partner for a large architectural firm that was considered in the design competition but was not selected as one of the two finalists, notices that the new Heart Center for Big Name Hospital System has won a design award by a very prestigious organization. When he reviews the small schematic design and the rendering for the new Heart Center, he is shocked to realize that it is nearly identical to the design that his architectural firm submitted and presented to the executive team at Big Name Hospital System. …