Have you ever had to provide accurate costs for a new supermarket or a pub "just an idea...a ballpark figure..." ? The earlier a pricing decision has to be made, the more difficult it is to estimate the cost and the more likely the design and the specs are to change. And yet a rough-and-ready estimate is more likely to get set in stone. Spon's First Stage Estimating Handbook is the only comprehensive and reliable source of first stage estimating costs. Covering the whole spectrum of building costs and a wide range of related M&E work and landscaping work, vital cost data is presented as: costs per square metre elemental cost analyses principal rates composite rates. Compact and clear, Spon's First Stage Estimating Handbook is ideal for those key early meetings with clients. And with additional sections on whole life costing and general information, this is an essential reference for all construction professionals and clients making early judgements on the viability of new projects.

Specifically written for contractors and small businesses carrying out small works, this second edition of Spon's Estimating Cost Guide to Small Groundworks, Landscaping Work and Gardening contains accurate information on thousands of rates, each broken down to labour, material overheads and profit. This is the first book to focus on this range of external work, including garden maintenance work on blocks of flats and individual houses, schools and sports fields, garden makeovers, laying patios and paths, small land drainage schemes on farmland, and small-scale local authority maintenance work.

Spon's Construction Resource Handbook is the first book to present critical information about materials, labour and plant constants required for the estimating process under one cover. It covers all areas of the construction industry and will provide all those involved in the preparation of tenders, cost estimates and first-stage estimates with the information they need to work with greater confidence and prepare more accurate estimates and tenders. With a unique style of presentation, it includes thousands of item descriptions and a comprehensive collection of data, including labour and plant outputs, materials, elemental breakdowns and lists of relevant organizations. Up-to-date and comprehensive, Spon's Construction Resource Handbook will be an indispensable reference for estimators, quantity surveyors, engineers and architects working in local government and professional practices, government agencies, and contractors in all fields of construction. It will provide an invaluable reference base for negotiation of new rates where variations occur on a contract.

The Model Rules of Professional Conduct provides an up-to-date resource for information on legal ethics. Federal, state and local courts in all jurisdictions look to the Rules for guidance in solving lawyer malpractice cases, disciplinary actions, disqualification issues, sanctions questions and much more. In this volume, black-letter Rules of Professional Conduct are followed by numbered Comments that explain each Rule's purpose and provide suggestions for its practical application. The Rules will help you identify proper conduct in a variety of given situations, review those instances where discretionary action is possible, and define the nature of the relationship between you and your clients, colleagues and the courts.

Data is at the center of many challenges in system design today. Difficult issues need to be figured out, such as scalability, consistency, reliability, efficiency, and maintainability. In addition, we have an overwhelming variety of tools, including relational databases, NoSQL datastores, stream or batch processors, and message brokers. What are the right choices for your application? How do you make sense of all these buzzwords? In this practical and comprehensive guide, author Martin Kleppmann helps you navigate this diverse landscape by examining the pros and cons of various technologies for processing and storing data. Software keeps changing, but the fundamental principles remain the same. With this book, software engineers and architects will learn how to apply those ideas in practice, and how to make full use of data in modern applications. Peer under the hood of the systems you already use, and learn how to use and operate them more effectively Make informed decisions by identifying the strengths and weaknesses of different tools Navigate the trade-offs around consistency, scalability, fault tolerance, and complexity Understand the distributed systems research upon which modern databases are built Peek behind the scenes of major online services, and learn from their architectures

Strengthen programs of family and community engagement to promote equity and increase student success! When schools, families, and communities collaborate and share responsibility for students′ education, more students succeed in school. Based on 30 years of research and fieldwork, the fourth edition of the bestseller School, Family, and Community Partnerships: Your Handbook for Action, presents tools and guidelines to help develop more effective and more equitable programs of family and community engagement. Written by a team of well-known experts, it provides a theory and framework of six types of involvement for action; up-to-date research on school, family, and community collaboration; and new materials for professional development and on-going technical assistance. Readers also will find: Examples of best practices on the six types of involvement from preschools, and elementary, middle, and high schools Checklists, templates, and evaluations to plan goal-linked partnership programs and assess progress CD-ROM with slides and notes for two presentations: A new awareness session to orient colleagues on the major components of a research-based partnership program, and a full One-Day Team Training Workshop to prepare school teams to develop their partnership programs. As a foundational text, this handbook demonstrates a proven approach to implement and sustain inclusive, goal-linked programs of partnership. It shows how a good partnership program is an essential component of good school organization and school improvement for student success. This book will help every district and all schools strengthen and continually improve their programs of family and community engagement.

Cloud native infrastructure is more than servers, network, and storage in the cloud—it is as much about operational hygiene as it is about elasticity and scalability. In this book, you’ll learn practices, patterns, and requirements for creating infrastructure that meets your needs, capable of managing the full life cycle of cloud native applications. Justin Garrison and Kris Nova reveal hard-earned lessons on architecting infrastructure from companies such as Google, Amazon, and Netflix. They draw inspiration from projects adopted by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation (CNCF), and provide examples of patterns seen in existing tools such as Kubernetes. With this book, you will: Understand why cloud native infrastructure is necessary to effectively run cloud native applications Use guidelines to decide when—and if—your business should adopt cloud native practices Learn patterns for deploying and managing infrastructure and applications Design tests to prove that your infrastructure works as intended, even in a variety of edge cases Learn how to secure infrastructure with policy as code

With tender prices rising slightly, looking at price lists is not enough – you need SPON’S ARCHITECTS’ AND BUILDERS’ PRICE BOOK 2011 to get a competitive edge. SPON’S ARCHITECTS’ AND BUILDERS’ PRICE BOOK, compiled by Davis Langdon, provides the most accurate, detailed and professionally relevant construction price information currently available for the UK. Its unique Tender Index, updated through the year, provides an ongoing reality check and adjustment for changing market conditions. This is the only price book which sets out a detailed cost base for major works contracts exceeding £3,500,000 in value, as well as minor works. Major changes have been made to this 136th edition: Overheads and profits have been kept low and in line with actual levels. Preliminaries have also been dropped to 11%, on a lower cost base. And labour rates have been adjusted to reflect today’s fragile market. As well as an overhaul of prices, Spon's Architects' and Builders' Price Book 2011includes: new Measured Works items including bio diverse roofs; Clayboard void formers; fire resisting glass blocks; UPVC window options (coloured, Secured by Design); glazing (curve cutting, drill holes); insulating panels (Kooltherm, Thermafloor, Thermaline); more internal door options; blister tactile paving; Metsec SFS framing; Ecosil paint new Approximate Estimating items: lift pits; Corium brick tiles; solar hot water; photovoltaic cells; and polished plaster extra elemental building cost models on land remediation; school refurbishment; and office refurbishment. Buyers of this 2011 edition can make a free internet download of SPON’S ARCHITECTS’ AND BUILDERS’ price data, which will run to the end of 2011 and: Access Spon’s new Approximate Estimates rate data, as well as the Measured Works data Produce estimate and tender documents Generate priced or unpriced schedules Adjust rates and data and enter rogue items Export schedules into Excel Carry out an index search. This year, for the first time, the resources include a versatile and powerful ebook.

A 75th anniversary e-book version of the most important and practical self-help book ever written, Alcoholics Anonymous. Here is a special deluxe edition of a book that has changed millions of lives and launched the modern recovery movement: Alcoholics Anonymous. This edition not only reproduces the original 1939 text of Alcoholics Anonymous, but as a special bonus features the complete 1941 Saturday Evening Post article “Alcoholics Anonymous” by journalist Jack Alexander, which, at the time, did as much as the book itself to introduce millions of seekers to AA’s program. Alcoholics Anonymous has touched and transformed myriad lives, and finally appears in a volume that honors its posterity and impact.

A multi-disciplinary approach to transportation planning fundamentals The Transportation Planning Handbook is a comprehensive, practice-oriented reference that presents the fundamental concepts of transportation planning alongside proven techniques. This new fourth edition is more strongly focused on serving the needs of all users, the role of safety in the planning process, and transportation planning in the context of societal concerns, including the development of more sustainable transportation solutions. The content structure has been redesigned with a new format that promotes a more functionally driven multimodal approach to planning, design, and implementation, including guidance toward the latest tools and technology. The material has been updated to reflect the latest changes to major transportation resources such as the HCM, MUTCD, HSM, and more, including the most current ADA accessibility regulations. Transportation planning has historically followed the rational planning model of defining objectives, identifying problems, generating and evaluating alternatives, and developing plans. Planners are increasingly expected to adopt a more multi-disciplinary approach, especially in light of the rising importance of sustainability and environmental concerns. This book presents the fundamentals of transportation planning in a multidisciplinary context, giving readers a practical reference for day-to-day answers. Serve the needs of all users Incorporate safety into the planning process Examine the latest transportation planning software packages Get up to date on the latest standards, recommendations, and codes Developed by The Institute of Transportation Engineers, this book is the culmination of over seventy years of transportation planning solutions, fully updated to reflect the needs of a changing society. For a comprehensive guide with practical answers, The Transportation Planning Handbook is an essential reference.