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Bench to Bedside: Diagnostic Microbiology for the Clinicians
by Nancy KhardoriThis reference text is a must have for any current or future clinicians or students of microbiology. It is concisely organized to provide vital information on many of the microbes one will regularly encounter and the most efficacious ways of addressing associated infections. Discussion of antimicrobial resistance mechanisms and measures to combat them are also one of the key features of this text. Whether you desire to utilize this book at the bedside for prompt treatment decisions or as a reference manual to be used at your leisure, you will find it to be a valuable addition to your library.
Benched (Orca Currents)
by Cristy WatsonWhen Cody and his friends accept a challenge from a local gang to steal a park bench, their main concern is keeping themselves on the gang's good side. Cody learns that the stolen bench had been dedicated to the father of the English teacher who sponsors the school newspaper, the paper that Cody has just started writing for, and he's worried about the consequences. As the gang applies pressure for more from Cody and his friends, he realizes they've crossed a line, and now he has to figure out how to make it right.
Benchere in Wonderland
by Steven GillisWhat is the role of art in the world? And what is the responsibility of the artist? After the death of his wife, Michael Benchere, a well-respected sculptor and once-famous architect, looks for ways to redefine the meaning of his life through the purpose of his art. Determined to create a sculpture that celebrates nothing more than the pure beauty of art, Benchere heads into the Kalahari desert where he is followed quite unexpectedly by a ragtag mix of people. Over the course of his months in the desert, Benchere must address not only the relationship of his art to the world at large, but his own relationship to the world and how our responsibilities, our loves and dreams don’t ever fade in time but, in effect, become evermore defined.
Bencher's Crossing, TX
by A. Soo DonimMurder, Murder, Everywhere! Sheriff's Deputy Clinton Greengrass meets Texas Ranger Ed Givens over a dead body. It's a decidedly inauspicious beginning. When one body turns into three, the investigation--and the attraction between them--heats up, but Clint misses his chance when they close the case before he makes a move. Three years and a promotion later, Sheriff Greengrass is out of the closet and working on the case of another string of murders, murders that bring Ed and all the sexual tension back to town. Despite the circumstances, Clint is happy to get a second chance, but a lawman's job is never done. Can Macone County handle the two of them as partners on and off the job?
Benching Jim Crow: The Rise and Fall of the Color Line in Southern College Sports, 1890-1980 (Sport and Society)
by Charles H. MartinChronicling the uneven rise and slow decline of segregation in American college athletics, Charles H. Martin shows how southern colleges imposed their policies of racial exclusion on surprisingly compliant northern teams and explains the social forces that eventually forced these southern schools to accept integrated competition. Martin emphasizes not just the racism prevalent in football and basketball in the South, but the effects of this discrimination for colleges and universities all over the country. Southern teams such as the University of Alabama, University of Mississippi, and the University of North Carolina were obsessed with national recognition, but their Jim Crow policies prevented them for many years from playing against racially mixed teams from other parts of the country. Devoting special attention to the Southeastern Conference, the Atlantic Coast Conference, and teams in Texas, Martin explores the changing social attitudes and culture of competition that turned the tide and allowed for the recruitment of black players and hiring of black coaches. He takes a close look at the case of Texas Western College (now the University of Texas at El Paso), the first major white university in an ex-Confederate state to recruit African American athletes extensively. Martin skillfully weaves existing arguments and documentation on the integration of college sports with wide-ranging, original research, including previously unpublished papers and correspondence of college administrators and athletic directors uncovered in university archives.
The Benchley Roundup: A Selection by Nathaniel Benchley of His Favorites
by Robert Benchley Nathaniel BenchleyForeword ONE time, during the recent war, an Air Force sergeant accosted Robert Benchley in a bar and, with little or no preamble, said, "I might as well tell you that I don't like your work." Benchley replied that he had moments of doubt himself, and the sergeant then explained that he had hitched a ride from Africa to Italy on a cargo plane, and that the only available sleeping space had been on bags that were full of overseas editions of Benchley's books. By the time they passed Sicily, the man said, he was so stiff and sore that he hoped never to hear the name Benchley again. "Try it yourself sometime," he concluded. "That stuff isn't funny when you have to sleep on it." In somewhat the same way, I would suggest that The Benchley Roundup be read piecemeal rather than in one lump-picked up and put down as though you were waiting for a telephone call, or for guests to arrive-because, after all, the pieces had their original appeal as separate entities. In making my selection from about a thousand previously published pieces, I read in fits and starts over a long period of time. Many people have tried to analyze Robert Benchley's particular form of humor, and I would be the last one to add my tiny voice to that of the throng, because I don't think it can be analyzed. It is sometimes mad, sometimes penetrating, and sometimes based on nothing more than word associations, and the only generalization that can be made with any degree of certainty is that it is different- or, if you will, unique. So let's just leave it that the humorous pieces collected here, written between 1915 and 1945, are those which seem to stand up best over the years. There were some that were much admired when they first appeared, but were based on premises that now seem a little soft; others were glorious in part but evaporated when taken as a whole; and all these have been left out in an attempt to select the most durable. Another compiler might have picked an entirely different group, but that would have been his worry. These are the ones that I like best, and beyond that there isn't much more I ought to say. -Nathaniel Benchley
Benchmark Literacy, Grade 4, Texts for Close Reading: Texts For Close Reading (Benchmark Literacy Ser.)
by Molly SmithNIMAC-sourced textbook
Benchmark Models of Control System Design for Remotely Operated Vehicles
by Cheng Siong Chin Michael Wai LauThis book is intended to meet the needs of those who seek to develop control systems for ROVs when there is no model available during the initial design stage. The modeling, simulation and application of marine vehicles like underwater robotic vehicles (URVs) are multidisciplinary, and combine mathematical aspects from various engineering disciplines. URVs such as remotely operated vehicle (ROVs) are used for a wide range of applications such as exploring the extreme depths of our ocean, where a hard-wired link is still required. Most ROVs operate in extreme environments with uncertainties in the model prior to control system design. However, the method involved extensive testing before the system model could be used for any control actions. It has been found that the range of error can be extensive and uncertain in actual, continuously varying conditions. Hence, it is important to address the problem of reliance on model testing using different modeling approaches. In this book, approaches such as WAMIT, ANSYS-CFX, STAR CCM+, MATLAB and Simulink are used to model parameters for ROVs. A few benchmark models are provided, allowing researchers and students to explore and test different control schemes. Given its scope, the book offers a valuable reference guide for postgraduate and undergraduate students engaged in modeling and simulation for ROV control.
Benchmark Priors Revisited: On Adaptive Shrinkage and the Supermodel Effect in Bayesian Model Averaging*
by Martin Feldkircher Stefan ZeugnerA report from the International Monetary Fund.
Benchmark Tasks for Job Analysis: A Guide for Functional Job Analysis (fja) Scales (Applied Psychology Series)
by Sidney A. Fine Maury GetkateHuman resource practitioners are repeatedly faced with the challenge of effectively using language to clearly describe the work performed on a job. Functional Job Analysis--an internationally recognized and respected job analysis method --has been meeting this challenge for more than forty years. In this book, the authors show how human resource practitioners can use structured task statements and comprehensive rating scales to gain the perspective needed to map the domain of any job. In response to the demands of human resource practitioners, the book focuses on the seven scales used in Functional Job Analysis. More than 450 structured tasks were used to illustrate the breadth and scope of all the levels of these scales. These tasks can be used effectively as benchmarks to chart the work requirements of virtually any job. Personnel practitioners will find insights into the challenges of job analysis, as well as the tools needed to make job analysis more comprehensive, useful, and effective for human resources. Representing the most comprehensive information to date on the use of Functional Job Analysis scales for rating job tasks, this book: *addresses the problems of using language to clearly describe how work is performed on the job; *describes the relation between the need to carefully control the language of job analysis and the structure inherent in the Functional Job Analysis Worker Function scales--a conceptual link showing the reader that the key to understanding work is in the vocabulary used to describe work; *contains the most comprehensive treatment of the way to write clear and comprehensive task statements available in the job analysis literature; and *contains a sample task bank for the job of Functional Job Analysts--aiding the reader in understanding how a complete Functional Job Analysis should look.
Benchmarking: The Search for Industry Best Practices that Lead to Superior Performance
by Robert C. CampWritten by Dr. Robert Camp, universally regarded as the founding father of the benchmark process, this bestseller is quite simply the definitive reference on the topic. Camp guides readers through the historic ten-step benchmarking process that he developed while at Xerox. This process is credited with reviving that company when it was floundering in 1979. Camp presents other examples of the process, including its dramatic application to L.L. Bean. He uses these examples to show managers how to relate benchmarking to their own circumstances and then provides them with expert strategy and tips so that they can efficiently and easily launch their own quest for best performance.
Benchmarking and Threshold Standards in Higher Education (SEDA Series)
by Helen Smith Michael Armstrong Sally BrownThe specification of standards in higher education has long been the subject of international debate. This text covers the rationales, operational issues and perspectives on benchmarking and standards from international viewpoints.
The Benchmarking Book
by Tim StapenhurstWith growing demands for increased operational efficiency and process improvement in organizations of all sizes, more and more companies are turning to benchmarking as a means of setting goals and measuring performance against the products, services and practices of other organizations that are recognized as leaders. The Benchmarking Book is an indispensable guide to process improvement through benchmarking, providing managers, practitioners and consultants with all the information needed to carry out effective benchmarking studies. Covering everything from essential theory to important considerations such as project management and legal issues, The Benchmarking Book is the ideal step-by-step guide to assessing and improving your company’s processes and performance through benchmarking.
Benchmarking Chloride Ingress Models on Real-life Case Studies—Marine Submerged and Road Sprayed Concrete Structures: State-of-the-Art Report of the RILEM TC 270-CIM (RILEM State-of-the-Art Reports #37)
by Eddie Koenders Kei-Ichi Imamoto Anthony SoiveThis book presents the work of RILEM Technical Committee 270-CIM: Benchmarking Chloride Ingress Models on Real-life Case Studies - Theory and Practice. It provides a comparative benchmark analysis of various types of chloride ingress models with emphasis on short, medium and long-term predictions. The book is subdivided in five chapters. The first chapter is an introduction on the benchmark and selected cases. The second chapter reports theoretical backgrounds of various analytical and numerical models for chloride ingress, followed by a short description of the models employed in the benchmark analysis. Chapter three describes the benchmark results of the Marine Submerged case, and chapter 4 of the Road Sprayed case. The last chapter reports conclusions, guidelines for calibration and recommendations. The book will benefit academics, designers, engineers, consultants, but also asset owners and standardization committees interested in durability and service life assessment of concrete structures.
Benchmarking Collaborative Networks: A Key to SME Competitiveness (Contributions to Management Science)
by Katarzyna RostekLimited potential of financial, organizational, human and technology resources doesn't provide SMEs sufficient opportunities to access information and knowledge necessary in competition. Observing the methods and tools used by large companies, this book studies the conditions under which it would be possible to provide support to SMEs at a lower cost and with greater methodological and organizational backing. The author presents the proposed solution, Benchmarking Collaborative Network, which would provide SMEs access to information about their level of competitiveness, the key areas for the creation of competitive advantage and the activities required to achieve this advantage.
Benchmarking Economic Efficiency: Technical and Allocative Fundamentals (International Series in Operations Research & Management Science #315)
by Jesús T. Pastor Juan Aparicio José L. ZofíoThis book unifies and extends the definition and measurement of economic efficiency and its use as a real-life benchmarking technique for actual organizations. Analytically, the book relies on the economic theory of duality as guiding framework. Empirically, it shows how the alternative models can be implemented by way of Data Envelopment Analysis. An accompanying software programmed in the open-source Julia language is used to solve the models. The package is a self-contained set of functions that can be used for individual learning and instruction. The source code, associated documentation, and replication notebooks are available online. The book discusses the concept of economic efficiency at the firm level, comparing observed to optimal economic performance, and its decomposition according to technical and allocative criteria. Depending on the underlying technical efficiency measure, economic efficiency can be decomposed multiplicatively or additively. Part I of the book deals with the classic multiplicative approach that decomposes cost and revenue efficiency based on radial distance functions. Subsequently, the book examines how these partial approaches can be expanded to the notion of profitability efficiency, considering both the input and output dimensions of the firm, and relying on the generalized distance function for the measurement of technical efficiency. Part II is devoted to the recent additive framework related to the decomposition of economic inefficiency defined in terms of cost, revenue, and profit. The book presents economic models for the Russell and enhanced graph Russell measures, the weighted additive distance function, the directional distance function, the modified directional distance function, and the Hölder distance function. Each model is presented in a separate chapter. New approaches that qualify and generalize previous results are also introduced in the last chapters, including the reverse directional distance function and the general direct approach. The book concludes by highlighting the importance of benchmarking economic efficiency for all business stakeholders and recalling the main conclusions obtained from many years of research on this topic. The book offers different alternatives to measure economic efficiency based on a set of desirable properties and advises on the choice of specific economic efficiency models.
Benchmarking for Best Practice
by Mohamed ZairiBenchmarking for Best Practice uses up-to-the-minute case-studies of individual companies and industry-wide quality schemes to show how and why implementation has succeeded. For any practitioner wanting to establish best practice in a wide variety of business areas, this book makes essential reading. It is also an ideal textbook on the applications of TQM since it describes concepts, covers definitions and illustrates the applications with first-hand examples.Professor Mohamed Zairi is an international expert and leading figure in the field of benchmarking. His pioneering work in this area led to the implementation of sixty comprehensive benchmarking projects in companies worldwide. He has written several books on this subject including 'Practical Benchmarking' in 1992.
Benchmarking for Performance Evaluation: A Production Frontier Approach
by Subal C. Kumbhakar Subhash C. Ray Pami DuaThis book provides a detailed introduction to the theoretical and methodological foundations of production efficiency analysis using benchmarking. Two of the more popular methods of efficiency evaluation are Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SFA) and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), both of which are based on the concept of a production possibility set and its frontier. Depending on the assumed objectives of the decision-making unit, a Production, Cost, or Profit Frontier is constructed from observed data on input and output quantities and prices. While SFA uses different maximum likelihood estimation techniques to estimate a parametric frontier, DEA relies on mathematical programming to create a nonparametric frontier. Yet another alternative is the Convex Nonparametric Frontier, which is based on the assumed convexity of the production possibility set and creates a piecewise linear frontier consisting of a number of tangent hyper planes. Three of the papers in this volume provide a detailed and relatively easy to follow exposition of the underlying theory from neoclassical production economics and offer step-by-step instructions on the appropriate model to apply in different contexts and how to implement them. Of particular appeal are the instructions on (i) how to write the codes for different SFA models on STATA, (ii) how to write a VBA Macro for repetitive solution of the DEA problem for each production unit on Excel Solver, and (iii) how to write the codes for the Nonparametric Convex Frontier estimation. The three other papers in the volume are primarily theoretical and will be of interest to PhD students and researchers hoping to make methodological and conceptual contributions to the field of nonparametric efficiency analysis.
Benchmarking for School Improvement: A Practical Guide for Comparing and Achieving Effectiveness
by Anthony KellyBenchmarking is a term used by the DfEE and OFSTED to describe a school's performance against a national or local average. This useful guide helps senior management teams of schools or colleges, to undertake their own benchmarking, with the aim of increasing effectiveness and improvement.Tony Kelly looks at the different types of benchmarking and what should be benchmarked and why. He discusses the possibility of forming a benchmarking partnership with another organisation which is acknowledged to be better performing. He also addresses the process of forming a benchmarking team within a school or college. Practical guidance is provided on techniques such as making an effectiveness comparison, targeting for improvement, and producing target-setting tables and benchmarking comparison charts.The content of the book has been based on extensive research from the UK and overseas. It provides step-by-step advice, photocopiable templates and suggestions for further reading.
Benchmarking in Food and Farming: Creating Sustainable Change (Gower Sustainable Food Chains Series)
by Lisa JackAt a time when food producers have to make significant changes to their businesses in order to survive, a review of benchmarking in agriculture and discussion of its future potential is critical. This book meets that need by providing an overview of existing benchmarking practices in agriculture and the food supply chain, and evaluating the potential of these practices to drive sustainable innovation in food and farming. Increasing pressures from commodity markets, corporate buyers, government and rising input prices (particularly fuel prices) are creating an environment in which farmers and their advisors are keen to make greater use of performance information for survival and growth. Where farmers are diversifying into alternative production methods, non-agricultural enterprises and on-farm production and sales, the greater the interest in a wider range of accounting tools for decision making. Lisa Jack and her contributors draw on a wide range of data and sources from Australia, New Zealand, the USA, the UK and Europe to provide critical evaluations of what might be considered 'state of the art' benchmarking practices at this time, including recent strategic developments such as the use of non-financial measures in balanced scorecards. The food and farming industry is unusual in that benchmarking takes place among large numbers of small, family-owned businesses working in a global industry. Not only, therefore, is this book important for those working in food supply chain businesses, but also for those involved in the general practice of benchmarking.
Benchmarking in Institutional Research
by Gary D. Levy Nicolas A. ValcikWhile the term benchmarking is commonplace nowadays in institutional research and higher education, less common, is a solid understanding of what it really means and how it has been, and can be, used effectively.This volume begins by defining benchmarking as "a strategic and structured approach whereby an organization compares aspects of its processes and/or outcomes to those of another organization or set of organizations to identify opportunities for improvement."Building on this definition, the chapters provide a brief history of the evolution and emergence of benchmarking in general and in higher education in particular. The authors apply benchmarking to:Enrollment management and student successInstitutional effectivenessThe potential economic impact of higher education institutions on their host communities.They look at the use of national external survey data in institutional benchmarking and selection of peer institutions, introduce multivariate statistical methodologies for guiding that selection, and consider a novel application of baseball sabermetric methods. The volume offers a solid starting point for those new to benchmarking in higher education and provides examples of current best practices and prospective new directions.This is the 156th volume of this Jossey-Bass series. Always timely and comprehensive, New Directions for Institutional Research provides planners and administrators in all types of academic institutions with guidelines in such areas as resource coordination, information analysis, program evaluation, and institutional management.
Benchmarking Infrastructure Using Public Investment Efficiency Frontiers
by VerdierA report from the International Monetary Fund.
Benchmarking Islamic Finance: A Framework for Evaluating Financial Products and Services (Islamic Business and Finance Series)
by Mohd Ma’Sum BillahPricing or benchmarking is a process of evaluating the performance of a financial company’s products and services or systems, against other businesses, considered to be at the top of their field, by applying a measurement of “best in performance.” This book includes contributions from the leading global experts in the field who tackle topics such as whether the Islamic financial system has been dependent on the LIBOR / EURIBOR in its benchmarking exercises to date, and thus, whether it will be affected negatively by the predicted non-existence of the LIBOR / EURIBOR from 2021 onwards. They also address the question of whether the Islamic financial system requires benchmarking of its products and services and consider the emergence of Sharī ͑ah-justified benchmarking in today’s Islamic financial system. Additionally, they look at how benchmarking formulas should be adapted to ensure the satisfaction of customers within the principles of Maqasid al-Sharī ͑ah. It takes a legal and institutional approach to the subject, which readers will find particularly valuable, as there are various forms of Islamic finance institutions that do not conform to established models in the finance industry. Furthermore, there are emerging business models that will benefit from this line of investigation. This book offers a timely analysis of these issues and redresses the existing misconceptions and misinterpretations pertaining to benchmarking, in an Islamic finance context, and, as such, provides guidance and strategies for future directions. It will appeal to researchers of Islamic banking, finance, and insurance, as well as, practitioners, particularly standard setting bodies, regulators, and policy makers.