(Not) keeping up with our parents : the decline of the professional middle class / / Nan Mooney

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910971830003321
• Autore: Mooney Nan <1970->
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Boston, : Beacon Press, c2008
• ISBN: 0-8070-9749-7
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (264 p.)
• Disciplina: 330.9730086/22
• Soggetti: Professional employees - United States; Middle class - United States - Economic conditions; College graduates - United States - Economic conditions - 21st century
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: "Published under the auspices of the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations"--T.p. verso.
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references (p. 231-241) and index.
• Nota di contenuto: The new reality -- From the New Deal to the new economy : a short history of the American middle class -- College promises : real debt and false expectations -- Career and contribution : society or the 401(k)? -- To have or to hold : money, marriage, and children -- What were the benefits? : health care, retirement and everything else the government was supposed to help provide -- Bridging the gaps : saving, spending, and debt -- A question of equity : rent rich or house poor -- From ripples to revolution : changing the system, changing ourselves.
• Sommario/riassunto: The first book to exclusively target the struggles of the professional middle class-educated individuals who purposely choose humanistic, intellectual, or creative pursuits-Nan Mooney's (Not) Keeping Up with Our Parents is a simultaneously sobering and proactive work that captures a diversity of voices. Drawing on more than a hundred interviews with people all across America, (Not) Keeping Up with Our Parents explores how stagnant wages, debt, and escalating costs for tuition, health care, and home ownership are jeopardizing today's educated middle class. Teachers, counselors, nonprofit employees, environmentalists, journalists, and the author speak candidly about their sense of economic-and hence emotional-security, and their plans and fears about what's to come. With up-to-date and accessible ; research, including a short history of the middle class, Mooney explains what it has meant historically to be middle class and how these definitions have changed so dramatically over the decades. She shows that social programs once aided the growth of this class but shifts in policies and labor practices-and increases in fixed costs, such as health care, housing, education, childcare, and household debt-are making it increasingly difficult for families to retain their middle-class status. Throughout the book, Mooney uses real people's stories and an analysis of the new economic reality to put middle-class struggles in perspective: College tuition has increased 35 percent in the past five years, and while the average college undergraduate's debt is $20,000, earnings for graduates have remained stagnant since 2000. In addition, only 18 percent of middle-class families have three months' income saved, and 90 percent of those filing for bankruptcy are middle class. Finally, raising one child through age eighteen costs a middle-income family around $237,000, while the costs of housing, health care, and education are all rising faster than inflation. Despite this difficult reality, Mooney offers concrete ideas on how individuals and society can arrest this downward spiral. Reigniting a sense of social responsibility is crucial-this ranges from improving government-backed education, health care, and childcare programs to drawing on successful models from individual states and other countries. Intimate personal accounts combined with Mooney's incisive analysis will make (Not) Keeping Up with Our Parents resonate deeply for America's professional middle class.

Improving engineering design : designing for competitive advantage / / Committee on Engineering Design Theory and Methodology, Manufacturing Studies Board, Commission on Engineering and Technical Systems, National Research Council

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910957771303321
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Washington, D.C., : National Academy Press, 1991
• ISBN: 9786610211708; 9781280211706; 1280211709; 9780309572248; 030957224X; 9780585143323; 0585143323
• Edizione: [1st ed.]
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (119 p.)
• Disciplina: 745.2/0973
• Soggetti: Industrial design - United States; Engineering design - United States
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references (p. 85-93) and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Improving Engineering Design -- Copyright -- Preface -- Contents -- Executive Summary -- DESIGNING FOR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE -- IMPROVING ENGINEERING DESIGN EDUCATION -- A NATIONAL AGENDA FOR ENGINEERING DESIGN RESEARCH -- RECOMMENDATIONS -- 1 Introduction -- THE CENTRAL ROLE OF ENGINEERING DESIGN -- THE NATURE OF ENGINEERING DESIGN -- Findings-The Current State of Engineering Design in the United States -- THE CONSEQUENCES OF BETTER DESIGN PRACTICE, EDUCATION, AND RESEARCH -- 2 Designing for Competitive Advantage -- CORPORATE COMMITMENT AND ACTION -- THE PRODUCT REALIZATION PROCESS -- Definition of Customer Needs and Product Performance Requirements -- Planning for Product Evolution -- Planning for Design and Manufacturing -- Product Design -- Manufacturing Process Design -- Production -- Difficulties in the Design of Complex Products -- IMPORTANT CONTEMPORARY DESIGN ; PRACTICES -- Traditional Practices -- Modern Practices for Setting Strategy and Specifications -- Modern Practices for Executing Designs -- UNDERSTANDING, MOTIVATING, AND SUPPORTING THE DESIGNER -- The Design Task -- The Designer -- Finding, Supporting, and Rewarding Effective Designers -- Elements of a Supportive Design Environment -- Summary -- 3 Improving Engineering Design Education -- THE GOALS OF ENGINEERING DESIGN EDUCATION -- Undergraduate Engineering Design Education -- Graduate Design Education -- THE STATUS OF ENGINEERING DESIGN EDUCATION -- Undergraduate Programs -- Graduate Programs -- Faculty -- IMPROVING DESIGN EDUCATION -- Institutional Initiatives for Reform -- Aiding Teachers of Design -- Improving University-Industry Interaction in Design Education -- Summary -- 4 A National Engineering Design Research Agenda -- THE NEED FOR BASIC RESEARCH IN ENGINEERING DESIGN -- A TOPICAL SEARCH AGENDA -- A. Developing Scientific Foundations for Design Models and Methods.; A.1. Computer Representations of In-Progress Designs -- A.2. Generating, Organizing, and Generalizing Design Knowledge -- A.3. Synthesis: Parametric, Configuration, and Conceptual Design -- A.4. Tolerance Synthesis -- B. Creating and Improving Design Support Tools -- B.1. Designer-Oriented Computational Prototyping, Analysis, and Simulation Tools -- B.2. Rapid Physical Prototyping -- B.3. Design For 'X' -- C. Relating Design to the Business Enterprise -- C.1 Quality-Cost Models -- C.2 Organization and Communication Models -- C.3. Innovation -- Benefits of Implementing the Engineering Design Research Agenda -- Resources Required -- DISSEMINATION OF RESEARCH RESULTS TO INDUSTRY -- A NATIONAL CONSORTIUM FOR ENGINEERING DESIGN -- 5 Recommendations -- IMPROVING DESIGN PRACTICE -- IMPROVING ENGINEERING EDUCATION -- Curricula -- Support for Faculty -- IMPROVING ENGINEERING DESIGN RESEARCH -- Aggressively Pursuing the Research Agenda -- Conducting Research -- National Consortium for Engineering Design -- Appendix A Examples of Product Realization Processes -- POLAROID'S PRP -- HEWLETT-PACKARD'S PRP -- Appendix B Course Outline for Contemporary Engineering -- Glossary -- Bibliography -- Notes -- Index.
• Sommario/riassunto: Effective design and manufacturing, both of which are necessary to produce high-quality products, are closely related. However, effective design is a prerequisite for effective manufacturing. This new book explores the status of engineering design practice, education, and research in the United States and recommends ways to improve design to increase U.S. industry's competitiveness in world markets.