Systems Out of Balance


Book Description

Between the relative economic stability of the sixties and our troubled times now, the American Dream has become more Dream than American. Our economy is based on greed instead of merit. Our political system eschews wisdom for authoritarianism. Our cultural system promotes idolatry over harmony. We, the middle class, could blame this shift on recent events, but the reality is that the corruption of our economic, political, and cultural systems is far more insidious and deeply ingrained than we are led to believe. These trusted systems have become unbalanced. We have been active -- if not conscious -- participants of this decline, and we must now wake up. If the Iraq War and the market crisis of 2008 have taught us nothing else, we must learn the importance of recognizing when we are being misinformed. We must learn to think critically, sifting through the information that bombards us daily and separating fact from misinformation. Kirk D. Sinclair, PHD, approaches these complex and initially overwhelming concepts with the clear and thoughtful mind of a scientist. He scrutinizes, untangles, and exposes the issues, banishing doublespeak designed to make us complicit and encouraging us to step up and take responsibility for the systems that so dominate our lives. With this collection of intelligent, comprehensive essays, Sinclair has broken down the problems many of us did not even know we had. Systems Out of Balance: How Misinformation Hurts the Middle Class will arm you with valuable knowledge and an increased understanding of our social systems, how they affect our lives, and what you can do to restore the balance. The time to truly exercise our liberty is now.




Balance Dysfunction in Parkinson's Disease


Book Description

Balance Dysfunction in Parkinson's Disease: Basic Mechanisms to Clinical Management presents the most updated information on a variety of topics. Sections help clinicians evaluate the types of balance control issues, dynamic balance dysfunction during turning, and the effects of medication, deep brain stimulation, and rehabilitation intervention on balance control. This book is the first to review the four main postural control systems and how they are affected, including balance during quiet stance, reactive postural adjustments to external perturbations, anticipatory postural adjustments in preparation for voluntary movements, and dynamic balance control during walking and turning. In addition, the book's authors summarize the effects of levodopa, deep brain stimulation, and rehabilitation intervention for each balance domain. This book is recommended for anyone interested in how and why balance control is affected by PD. - Provides the first comprehensive review of research to date on balance dysfunctions in Parkinson's disease - Discusses how to translate current neuroscience research into practice regarding neural control of balance - Provides evidence on the effects of current interventions on balance control




Balance


Book Description

Although vital to our well-being and even to our success as a species, the physical sense of balance has never attained the same recognition as sight, hearing, touch, smell, or taste. Now, with an epidemic of debilitating falls sweeping America's aging population, the time is ripe for a lively and illuminating tour of the human body's most exquisitely intricate and least understood faculty. Balance is the first book written for a general audience that examines the mysteries of the human balance system -- the astonishingly complicated mechanisms that allow our bodies to counteract the force of gravity as we move through space. A scientific, historical, and practical exploration of how balance works, Balance also provides the keys to remaining upright for as long as humanly possible. From simple motion sickness to astronauts' "space stupids," and from fetal somersaults to the Flying Wallendas, McCredie guides readers on a delightful quest to elevate balance to its rightful place in the pantheon of the senses.




World Out of Balance


Book Description

Introduction -- Realism, balance-of-power theory, and the counterbalancing constraint -- Realism, balance-of-threat theory, and the "soft balancing" constraint -- Liberalism, globalization, and constraints derived from economic interdependence -- Institutionalism and the constraint of reputation -- Constructivism and the constraint of legitimacy -- A new agenda




Balancing Acts


Book Description

Balancing Acts offers consultants and managers a simple, powerful way to think about change, and ascribes a four-phase iterative process for implementing change. Reviewing change initiatives from different types of organizations, Balancing Acts confronts the problems and pitfalls head-on that often arise during workplace transitions. Conklin explains why organizational change can be so difficult, and shows that by balancing a set of competing psychological and systemic challenges, interveners will increase their chance of success. Conklin shows that human groups function as complex systems, and that a change initiative is not a linear progression toward a predefined result. Instead, change is an iterative process that involves a search for feasible and useful solutions. The book’s central argument is that while leading or supporting this search, consultants and leaders must balance four critical concerns: confrontation and compassion, participation and observation, assertion and inquiry, and planfulness and emergence.




Quest for Balance


Book Description

Explains the competencies a manager must possess in order to use a balanced scorecard. * Features case studies of corporations who have successfully used the human element when implementing the balanced scorecard as a PMS.




A Body Out of Balance


Book Description

One of the most common yet underrecognized autoimmune and rheumatological disorders. Sjögren's (pronounced SHOW-grens) syndrome, or SjS, affects more people than rheumatoid arthritis and lupus combined. Difficult to diagnose, SjS is characterized by symptoms that shift almost daily, usually beginning with vague discomforts such as dry eyes and dry mouth, then advancing to more severe concerns such as joint pain and swollen glands. A Body Out of Balance provides a comprehensive guide to the wide array of symptoms, traditional and complementary treatments, and invaluable coping methods, so patients may devise a personal treatment plan. Co written by a woman living with the disease and by a physician who has treated countless SjS patients, this indispensable resource will enhance awareness and demystify this often-misunderstood disorder.




The Balance of Nature and Human Impact


Book Description

Explores equilibrium and non-equilibrium in undisturbed and disturbed ecological systems, examining how human activities affect the balance/imbalance of nature.




Off Balance


Book Description

The prescriptive follow-up to the New York Times bestseller The Dream Manager. One of the major issues in our lives today is work-life balance. Everyone wants it; no one has it. But Matthew Kelly believes that work- life balance was a mistake from the start. Because we don't really want balance. We want satisfaction. Kelly lays out the system he uses with his clients, his team, and himself to find deep, long-term satisfaction both personally and professionally. He introduces us to the three philosophies of our age that are dragging us down. He shows us how to cultivate the energy that will give us enough battery power for everything we need and want to do. And finally, in five clear steps, he shows us how to use his Personal & Professional Satisfaction System to establish and honor our biggest priorities, even if we spend a lot more time on some of the lesser ones.




World in the Balance: The Historic Quest for an Absolute System of Measurement


Book Description

“Shows that the story of metrology . . . can in the right hands make for a riveting read.”—The Economist Millions of transactions each day depend on a reliable network of weights and measures. But achieving such a network was anything but easy, as Robert P. Crease, physicist and philosopher, demonstrates in this endlessly fascinating, always entertaining look at just how this international system evolved. From the link between musical pitch and distance in the dynasties of ancient China and the use of figurines to measure gold in West Africa to the creation of the French metric and British imperial systems, Crease takes readers along on one of history’s greatest philosophical and scientific adventures.