When poet and essayist Kenneth Sherman was diagnosed with cancer, he began keeping a notebook of observations that blossomed into this powerful memoir. With incisive and evocative language, Sherman presents a clear-eyed view of what the cancer patient feels and thinks. His narrative voice is personal but not confessional, practical but not cold, thoughtful and searching but not self-pitying or self-absorbed. The author’s wait time for surgery on a malignant tumour was exceptionally long and riddled with bureaucratic bumbling; thus he asks our health-care providers and administrators if our system cannot be made efficient and more humane. While he is honest about what is good and bad in our system, he is not stridently political or given to directing blame. His narrative is interwoven with engaging ruminations on the meaning of illness in society, and is peppered with references to other writers’ thoughts on the subject. A widely published poet, Sherman helps the reader understand the deep connection between disease and creativity—the ways in which we write out of our suffering. Wait Time will be of special interest to anyone facing a serious illness as well as to health-care providers, social workers, and psychologists working in the field. Its thoughtful observations on health, life priorities, time, and mortality will make it of interest to all readers.

The report reviews a range of policies that countries have used to tackle waiting times for different services, including elective surgery and primary care consultations, but also cancer care and mental health services, with a focus on identifying the most successful ones.

According to Transforming Health Care Scheduling and Access, long waits for treatment are a function of the disjointed manner in which most health systems have evolved to accommodate the needs and the desires of doctors and administrators, rather than those of patients. The result is a health care system that deploys its most valuable resource-highly trained personnel-inefficiently, leading to an unnecessary imbalance between the demand for appointments and the supply of open appointments. This study makes the case that by using the techniques of systems engineering, new approaches to management, and increased patient and family involvement, the current health care system can move forward to one with greater focus on the preferences of patients to provide convenient, efficient, and excellent health care without the need for costly investment. Transforming Health Care Scheduling and Access identifies best practices for making significant improvements in access and system-level change. This report makes recommendations for principles and practices to improve access by promoting efficient scheduling. This study will be a valuable resource for practitioners to progress toward a more patient-focused "How can we help you today?" culture.

Describes nine different teaching strategies which have been proven to have positive effects on student learning and explains how those strategies can be incorporated into the classroom.

This book constitutes the strictly refereed post-workshop proceedings of the International Workshop on Job Scheduling Strategies for Parallel Processing, held in conjunction with IPPS '96 symposium in Honolulu, Hawaii, in April 1996. The book presents 15 thoroughly revised full papers accepted for inclusion on the basis of the reports of at least five program committee members. The volume is a highly competent contribution to advancing the state-of-the-art in the area of job scheduling for parallel supercomputers. Among the topics addressed are job scheduler, workload evolution, gang scheduling, multiprocessor scheduling, parallel processor allocation, and distributed memory environments.

You'll be shocked and surprisedto learn what lies at the end of time!Relish the conundrums of time travelin this story of a man attempting to both solvea mystery and come to terms with his life."K. A. Bedford delivers by focusing less on the "wow" factor (and more) on the social-implications factor." — The Harrow"This is a gotta-read, with some thoughtful concepts to ponder." — Pam Allen, ConNotations------------------------------"Bedford is funny in a crazed, Rudy Rucker kind of way.While Rucker writes of gonzo theorists, Bedford writes of the gonzo mechanics who keep the machines running." — Fred Cleaver, Denver Post------------------------------Winner of the Australian Aurealis Award------------------------------If You enjoy Douglas Adams's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy but crave something more sci-fi, with fewer goofy antics, you'll appreciate Time Machines Repaired While-U-Wait.------------------------------In the future, Aloysius "Spider" Webb will journey to the End of Time.For now, he must be content with repairing broken time machines, rebuilding his life and avoiding the lunatic antics of his boss, Dickhead McMahon.Spider's life is status quo until he discovers inside a broken second-hand time machine, the corpse of a brutally murdered woman from the future. The Department of Time and Space steps in to manage the situation — leaving Spider asking a lot of questions that only lead to more questions; unsettling evidence, brewing trouble, and the knowledge that Spider himself might be involved in an epic battle for control of time itself.Will his knowing the future be a curse or a blessing? and will Spider Webb really find out how things turn out before they happen? With his new found knowledge, who can Spider trust?One thing is certain: it will all happen before the End of Time!------------------------------About the Author:K. A. Bedford lives in Perth, Western Australia. All of his novels have been shortlisted for the Aurealis Award for Best Australian Science Fiction Novel, and he has twice won, including for TIME MACHINES REPAIRED WHILE-U-WAIT, which was also shortlisted for the Philip K. Dick Award.Bedford attended Curtin and Murdoch Universities, where he studied Writing, Theatre, and Philosophy.------------------------------Other books by K. A. Bedford: - Orbital Burn - Eclipse - Hydrogen Steel - Time Machines Repaired While-U-Wait (A Spider Webb Novel) - Paradox Resolution (A Spider Webb Novel)------------------------------Praise:"The local Western Australia ambiance provides a unique perspective that is quite consistent with the gonzo aspects of the story. Bedford has created a science-fiction novel that is sure to please most SF fans." — D. Douglas Fratz, Sci-Fi"The premise is not only is time travel common place, it's treated like any other vacation spot. The equipment is cheap enough that one can often find good deals on time machines on Ebay. But the book doesn't rest on one plot device but manages to pull off suspense mystery and intrigue. I am liking it despite myself!" — Paul, Reader

What are the risks of terrorism and what are their consequences and economic impacts? Are we safer from terrorism today than before 9/11? Does the government spend our homeland security funds well? These questions motivated a twelve-year research program of the National Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events (CREATE) at the University of Southern California, funded by the Department of Homeland Security. This book showcases some of the most important results of this research and offers key insights on how to address the most important security problems of our time. Written for homeland security researchers and practitioners, this book covers a wide range of methodologies and real-world examples of how to reduce terrorism risks, increase the efficient use of homeland security resources, and thereby make better decisions overall.

Why is it that some improvement efforts succeed while others fail despite robust change management programs and the often do-or-die pressure to improve? Quite simply, there are three elements that separate those that succeed from those that fail. They are the 3Ms Measure, Manage to Measure, and Make-it-Easy.Complete with forms, templates, and case