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Books > Business & Economics > Industry & industrial studies > Construction & heavy industry
Winner of the Professional and Scholarly Publishing Award for
General Engineering from the Association of American Publishers
Originally published in 1996. By applying their abundant natural
resources to ironmaking early in the eighteenth century, Americans
soon made themselves felt in world markets. After the Revolution,
ironmakers supplied the materials necessary to the building of
American industry, pushing the fuel efficiency and productivity of
their furnaces far ahead of their European rivals. In American
Iron, 1607-1900, Robert B. Gordon draws on recent archaeological
findings as well as archival research to present an ambitious,
comprehensive survey of iron technology in America from the
colonial period to the industry's demise at about the turn of the
twentieth century. Closely examining the techniques-the "hows"-of
ironmaking in its various forms, Gordon offers new interpretations
of labor, innovation, and product quality in ironmaking, along with
references to the industry's environmental consequences. He
establishes the high level of skills required to ensure efficient
and safe operation of furnaces and to improve the quality of iron
product. By mastering founding, fining, puddling, or bloom
smelting, ironworkers gained a degree of control over their lives
not easily attained by others.
From 1924 to 1946 the Republic of Turkey was in effect ruled as an
authoritarian single-party regime. During these years the state
embarked upon an extensive reform programme of modernisation and
nation-building. Alexandros Lamprou here offers an alternative
understanding of social change and state-society relations in
Turkey, shifting the focus from the state as the prime instigator
of change to the population's participation in the process of
reform. Through the study of the 'People's Houses', the community
centres opened and operated by the Republican People's Party in
most cities and towns of Turkey, and using previously unpublished
archival material, Lamprou analyses how ordinary people
experienced, negotiated and resisted the reforms in the 1930s and
1940s and how this process contributed to the shaping of social
identities. This book will be essential reading for students and
scholars of nation-building, socio-cultural change and
state-society relations in modern Turkey.
The response from the jewelry industry to a campaign for ethically
sourced gold as a case study in the power of business in global
environmental politics. Gold mining can be a dirty business. It
creates immense amounts of toxic materials that are difficult to
dispose of. Mines are often developed without community consent,
and working conditions for miners can be poor. Income from gold has
funded wars. And consumers buy wedding rings and gold chains not
knowing about any of this. In Dirty Gold, Michael Bloomfield shows
what happened when Earthworks, a small Washington-based NGO,
launched a campaign for ethically sourced gold in the consumer
jewelry market, targeting Tiffany and other major firms. The
unfolding of the campaign and its effect on the jewelry industry
offer a lesson in the growing influence of business in global
environmental politics. Earthworks planned a "shame" campaign,
aimed at the companies' brands and reputations, betting that firms
like Tiffany would not want to be associated with pollution,
violence, and exploitation. As it happened, Tiffany contacted
Earthworks before they could launch the campaign; the company was
already looking for partners in finding ethically sourced gold.
Bloomfield examines the responses of three companies to "No Dirty
Gold" activism: Tiffany, Wal-Mart, and Brilliant Earth, a small
company selling ethical jewelry. He finds they offer a case study
in how firms respond to activist pressure and what happens when
businesses participate in such private governance schemes as the
"Golden Rules" and the "Conflict-Free Gold Standard." Taking a
firm-level view, Bloomfield examines the different opportunities
for and constraints on corporate political mobilization within the
industry.
Susan Eisenberg began her apprenticeship with Local 103 of the
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in 1978, the year
president Jimmy Carter set goals and timetables for the hiring of
women on federally assisted construction projects and for the
inclusion of women in apprenticeship programs. Eisenberg expected
not only a challenging job and the camaraderie of a labor union but
also the chance to be part of a historic transformation, social and
economic, that would make the construction trades accessible to
women. That transformation did not happen. In this book, full of
the raw drama and humor found on a construction site, Eisenberg
gracefully weaves the voices of thirty women who worked as
carpenters, electricians, ironworkers, painters, and plumbers to
examine why their numbers remained small. Speaking as if to a
friend, women recall their decisions to enter the trades, their
first days on the job, and their strategies to gain training and
acceptance. They assess with thought, passion, and twenty years'
perspective the affirmative action efforts. Eisenberg introduces
this new edition with a preface that shows how things have changed
and how they have stayed the same since the book's original
publication. She ends with a discussion of the practices and
policies that would be required to uproot gender barriers where
they are deeply embedded in the organization and culture of the
workplace.
Crisis in Bethlehem: Big Steel’s Struggle to Survive is Pulitzer
Prize winner Strohmeyer’s account of the collapse of Bethlehem
Steel. As editor of the Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Globe-Times from
1956 to 1984, Strohmeyer followed the steel industry from the
height of its power through its decline. He evaluates the
self-indulgence of both the unions and industry management and
movingly describes the human agony caused by the failure of steel.
His account is reinforced by over one hundred interviews with
steelworkers, union leaders, steel executives, and industry
analysts. First issued in 1986, the book is more significant than
ever. In this edition, Strohmeyer includes an update on steel
today.
The scope of disasters ranges from man-made emergency to natural
calamity, from a kitchen grease fire to a hurricane or volcanic
eruption. It may be just one house that is destroyed, or perhaps a
whole infrastructure system is threatened. While each type of event
requires a very different scale and type of immediate response, the
project management challenges that face restoration and
reconstruction professionals after the emergency phase is complete
are remarkably similar. Using insights acquired through decades of
real-world experience, as well as from his academic research and
teaching responsibilities, the author explains pertinent
requirements and methods for the contractors and other
professionals who bring order from chaos. The first section of the
book surveys the managerial skills required to confront the range
of disasters that might be encountered and the different project
environments involved. The second section examines the details of
recovery project management and administration, from materials
management to health and safety. The third and final section
provides an overview of restoration techniques, from restorative
drying to debris management and demolition. This is the first
systematic presentation of the tools and skills needed for disaster
recovery project management. It is designed primarily for
contractors (both large and small firms), although it will also be
of value for those who might hire them, the communities they serve,
and their organizational partners in the disaster recovery effort.
Those who are new to disaster restoration and reconstruction will
find the volume particularly useful. Focused on informing the
management of projects that recover the built environment, after
emergency conditions sufficiently stabilize, the volume supplements
and complements books devoted to conventional construction or
emergency relief management.
Andreas Schmidt gibt praktische Hilfestellung fur die zeitnahe
Realisierung und Absicherung von Vergutungsanspruchen. Dies ist fur
Bauunternehmen eine wesentliche Voraussetzung fur den
Unternehmenserfolg, denn diese sind nach der gesetzlichen
Konzeption des Werkvertragsrechts grundsatzlich
vorleistungspflichtig - d.h. sie mussen das fur die
Leistungserbringung erforderliche Personal, Material und Gerat
zunachst vorfinanzieren. Der Autor zeigt, wie der Bauunternehmer
die Regelungen im BGB und in der VOB/B betreffend die Abrechnung
seiner Leistung sachgemass anwendet, um Zahlungsflusse zu
beschleunigen. Zudem erfahrt der Unternehmer, wie er reagieren
kann, wenn der Auftraggeber verspatet oder gar nicht zahlt und wie
er seinen Vergutungsanspruch fur den Insolvenzfall absichern kann.
Construction Economics provides students with the principles
underlying the relationship between economic theory and the
construction industry. Its new approach specifically examines the
problems of securing sustainable construction. The new edition has
been fully revised to provide an overview of the economy and
construction markets since the global financial crisis. As such it
examines the challenges of changing government policy, adapting to
climate change, adopting BIM, and reducing costs. A new
introduction along with new readings, data, examples, glossary
items, government strategies, and references, revises this
established core text and brings it up to the historic EU
referendum. As with previous editions, it retains a tried and
tested format: a clear and user-friendly style use of a second
colour for emphasis regular summaries of key points a glossary of
construction economics extensive use of tables and figures extracts
from Construction Management and Economics reviews of useful
websites. This invaluable textbook is essential reading across a
wide range of disciplines from construction management and civil
engineering to architecture, property and surveying.
Even as substantial legal and social victories are being celebrated
within the gay rights movement, much of working-class America still
exists outside the current narratives of gay liberation. In Steel
Closets, Anne Balay draws on oral history interviews with forty
gay, lesbian, and transgender steelworkers, mostly living in
northwestern Indiana, to give voice to this previously silent and
invisible population. She presents powerful stories of the
intersections of work, class, gender, and sexual identity in the
dangerous industrial setting of the steel mill. The voices and
stories captured by Balay-by turns alarming, heroic, funny, and
devastating-challenge contemporary understandings of what it means
to be queer and shed light on the incredible homophobia and
violence faced by many: nearly all of Balay's narrators remain
closeted at work, and many have experienced harassment, violence,
or rape. Through the powerful voices of queer steelworkers
themselves, Steel Closets provides rich insight into an
understudied part of the LGBT population, contributing to a growing
body of scholarship that aims to reveal and analyze a broader range
of gay life in America.
Dietmar Goldammer zeigt wie sich Architektur- und Ingenieurburos
auf veranderte Arbeitswelten, soziale Verantwortung und
Nachhaltigkeit als neue Herausforderungen einstellen mussen. Der
Autor beschreibt Fruhwarnsysteme, Zertifizierungen und neue
Organisationsformen, die dabei helfen. Er thematisiert auch, wie
die Regelung der Nachfolge des Unternehmers ausgestaltet werden
kann. So zeigt sich: Der gesellschaftliche Wandel ist auch in den
Planungsburos angekommen. Es ware ein Leichtsinn zu glauben, dass
dort alles so weiter geht wie bisher. Das Essential hilft kurz und
pragnant, die richtigen Schritte anzustossen.
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