Many mothers have long suspected that they're getting the short end of the deal--and finally, a highly respected economics journalist proves they're not just griping. Despite all the lip service given to the importance of motherhood, American mothers are not only not paid for all the work they do, but also penalized for it. "The gift of care can be both selfless and exploited," writes Ann Crittenden in this intrepid and groundbreaking work. Motherhood is dangerously undervalued--it's now the single biggest risk factor for poverty in old age. Mothers lose out in forgone income if they stay at home, an inflexible job market makes part-time work scarce or inadequately paid, and in the case of divorce, they're refused family assets by divorce laws that don't count their unpaid work.

Crittenden is fond of pointing out the hypocrisies plaguing America, and one is the belief in a welfare state enabling single mothers. The true welfare state, she says, protects paid workers from unforeseen risks through social security, unemployment insurance, and workman's compensation. Mothers who work part-time or not at all have no such safety net and typically take a nosedive into poverty, along with their children, after divorce or the death of their spouse. Married working moms are also punished--they pay the highest taxes on earned income in America. Crittenden's impassioned argument is based on research in a variety of fields, from economics to child development to demography. She shows how mothers were demoted from an economic asset to dependents, why welfare for only a certain group of mothers bred bitterness among the rest, and why there is currently an exodus of highly trained women from the work force.

Crittenden also travels far and wide for solutions. She finds them not only in such European nations as Sweden--which has abolished child poverty by giving mothers a year's paid leave, cash subsidies, and flexible work schedules--but in the U.S. military, which runs the best subsidized child-care program in the country and knows the value of providing special benefits to those who selflessly serve their country. Ultimately, Crittenden insists, the equality women have been fighting for will only be achieved when mothers are recognized as productive citizens creating a much-needed public good--human capital, or in layman's terms, well-raised children who grow into productive, law abiding citizens (and who pay into social security). This is an admirable--and charged--defense of motherhood, reminding us that unpaid female labor is "the priceless, invisible heart of the economy," and those who engage in this labor deserve the same rights, and the same respect, as other workers. --Lesley Reed

The Ultimate Element of Differentiation is You..

METRIC SPACES is intended for undergraduate students offering a course of metric spaces and post graduate students offering a course of nonlinear analysis or fixed point theory. The first six chapters cover basic concepts of metric spaces, separable spaces, compact spaces, connected spaces and continuity of functions defined on a metric space. Chapter seven is devoted to the metric fixed point theory. Banach contraction theorem and several of its generalizations along with their applications and Caristi s fixed point theorem are also given in this chapter. The introductory set-valued analysis with special emphysis on continuity and fixed point theory of set-valued maps is given in chapter eight. One of the most useful and important results from nonlinear analysis is Ekeland s variational principle. This principle along with several of its equivalent forms, Takahashi s minimization theorem, introduction of theory of equilibrium problems and the equilibrium version of Ekeland s variational principle and several of its equivalent forms are presented in the last chapter. This book will also be useful for researchers working in nonlinear analysis, optimization and theory of equilibrium problems.

Extensively classroom-tested, Possibilities and Paradox provides an accessible and carefully structured introduction to modal and many-valued logic. The authors cover the basic formal frameworks, enlivening the discussion of these different systems of logic by considering their philosophical motivations and implications. Easily accessible to students with no background in the subject, the text features innovative learning aids in each chapter, including exercises that provide hands-on experience, examples that demonstrate the application of concepts, and guides to further reading.

This monograph instructs graduate- and undergraduate-level students in electrical engineering, informatics, control engineering, mechanics, robotics, bioengineering on the concepts of complex-valued neural networks. Emphasizing basic concepts and ways of thinking about neural networks, the author focuses on neural networks that deal with complex numbers; the practical advantages of complex-valued neural networks, and their origins; the development of principal applications? The book uses detailed examples to answer these questions and more.

This theory-into-practice handbook outlines an interdisciplinary, literature-based methodology that encourages students in the upper elementary grades to take more responsibility for their learning. Learn how to set up a similar environment in your classroom, and watch your students grow as readers, writers, and thinkers.

This volume is an accessible introduction to the subject of many-valued and fuzzy logic suitable for use in relevant advanced undergraduate and graduate courses. The text opens with a discussion of the philosophical issues that give rise to fuzzy logic - problems arising from vague language - and returns to those issues as logical systems are presented. For historical and pedagogical reasons, three-valued logical systems are presented as useful intermediate systems for studying the principles and theory behind fuzzy logic.

Multiple Valued Logic: Concepts and Representations begins with a survey of the use ofmultiple-valued logic in several modern application areas including electronic design automation algorithms and circuit design. The mathematical basis and concepts of various algebras and systems of multiple valued logic are provided including comparisons among various systems and examples of their application. The book also provides an examination of alternative representations of multiple-valued logic suitable for implementation as data structures in automated computer applications. Decision diagram structures for multiple valued applications are described in detail with particular emphasis on the recently developed quantum multiple valued decision diagram.