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Improving Quality in Outpatient Services
by Carole Guinane Noreen DavisA valuable reference for those involved in the field of ambulatory patient care, Improving Quality in Outpatient Services offers time-tested instruction on how to create a world-class outpatient program. It supplies a high-level overview of current opportunities, national quality programs, and challenges outlining the policies, procedures, and plan
Improving Repurchase Rates at zulily
by Thales S. Teixeira Sarah McAraIn February 2015, zulily co-founder CEO, Darrell Cavens faced a major challenge in his business, a Seattle-based daily deals site that catered to moms. The more he spent to acquire new customers, the less he retained them in the form of repeat purchases. This was an entirely new conundrum in the company. Up to that point, customer repeat purchase rates had been incredibly consistent. Cavens and his executive team had just discovered this adverse dynamic and needed to resolve it as soon as possible. What was causing the decline in repeat purchase rates? How should Cavens resume new customer acquisition in order to return to the company's previously higher level of growth?
Improving Repurchase Rates at zulily
by Thales S. Teixeira Sarah McaraIn February 2015, zulily co-founder CEO, Darrell Cavens faced a major challenge in his business, a Seattle-based daily deals site that catered to moms. The more he spent to acquire new customers, the less he retained them in the form of repeat purchases. This was an entirely new conundrum in the company. Up to that point, customer repeat purchase rates had been incredibly consistent. Cavens and his executive team had just discovered this adverse dynamic and needed to resolve it as soon as possible. What was causing the decline in repeat purchase rates? How should Cavens resume new customer acquisition in order to return to the company's previously higher level of growth?
Improving Risk Analysis
by Louis Anthony Cox Jr.Improving Risk Analysis shows how to better assess and manage uncertain risks when the consequences of alternative actions are in doubt. The constructive methods of causal analysis and risk modeling presented in this monograph will enable to better understand uncertain risks and decide how to manage them. The book is divided into three parts. Parts 1 shows how high-quality risk analysis can improve the clarity and effectiveness of individual, community, and enterprise decisions when the consequences of different choices are uncertain. Part 2 discusses social decisions. Part 3 illustrates these methods and models, showing how to apply them to health effects of particulate air pollution. "Tony Cox's new book addresses what risk analysts and policy makers most need to know: How to find out what causes what, and how to quantify the practical differences that changes in risk management practices would make. The constructive methods in Improving Risk Analysis will be invaluable in helping practitioners to deliver more useful insights to inform high-stakes decisions and policy,in areas ranging from disaster planning to counter-terrorism investments to enterprise risk management to air pollution abatement policies. Better risk management is possible and practicable; Improving Risk Analysis explains how." Elisabeth Pate-Cornell, Stanford University "Improving Risk Analysis offers crucial advice for moving policy-relevant risk analyses towards more defensible, causally-based methods. Tony Cox draws on his extensive experience to offer sound advice and insights that will be invaluable to both policy makers and analysts in strengthening the foundations for important risk analyses. This much-needed book should be required reading for policy makers and policy analysts confronting uncertain risks and seeking more trustworthy risk analyses." Seth Guikema, Johns Hopkins University "Tony Cox has been a trail blazer in quantitative risk analysis, and his new book gives readers the knowledge and tools needed to cut through the complexity and advocacy inherent in risk analysis. Cox's careful exposition is detailed and thorough, yet accessible to non-technical readers interested in understanding uncertain risks and the outcomes associated with different mitigation actions. Improving Risk Analysis should be required reading for public officials responsible for making policy decisions about how best to protect public health and safety in an uncertain world." Susan E. Dudley, George Washington University
Improving School Leadership: The Promise of Cohesive Leadership Systems
by Gail L. Zellman Gina Schuyler Ikemoto Catherine H. Augustine Jennifer Russell Gabriella GonzalezThis study documents actions of Wallace Foundation grantees to create more-cohesive policies and initiatives to improve instructional leadership in schools; describes how states and districts have worked together to forge such policies and initiatives; and examines the hypothesis that cohesive systems improve school leadership. Such efforts appear to be a promising approach to developing school principals engaged in improving instruction.
Improving Schools Through Teacher Development: Case Studies of the Aga Khan Foundation Projects in East Africa (Contexts Of Learning Ser.)
by Stephen E. AndersonThis book presents a story of school improvement activity in East Africa from 1985 to 2000, which focused on sustained teacher development. The core of the book consists of six evaluations of school-and district-wide school improvement projects (SIPs) supported by the Aga Khan Foundation in Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda. The case studies present an evolving body of knowledge about the successes and challenges of a comprehensive approach to school improvement grounded in a common set of strategic principles. The strategic principles embody the belief that the chances for quality improvement in teaching and learning are greater when change efforts *are school-based, *involve whole schools as the unit of change, *emphasize the ongoing professional development of teachers, *attend to school management and organizational conditions affecting the capacity of teachers to implement change, * prepare for the institutionalization of organizational structures and processes that enable continuous school development, and *evolve through partnerships among relevant education stakeholders.The book concludes with commentaries by international experts in school improvement and teacher development on the SIP project designs, implementation and outcomes, and on lessons that can be drawn from the projects and their evaluations for school improvement policy, practice and theory in developing and developed countries around the world.
Improving Seed Conditioning
by Bill GreggSeed conditioning is the final process that establishes the quality of a seed lot and determines its value. It is a complex process involving a significant series of machines, each of which must be used in the proper sequence of the entire process, and each machine must be carefully and properly adjusted and set up for each lot of seed. If the conditioning plant operator does not have sufficient knowledge of how to set up and adjust each of the machines, then an excessive amount of good seed is lost during conditioning and not all undesirable materials are removed. Therefore, the performance of seed conditioning depends entirely on how effectively the operator sets up and adjusts the machines. Much effort has been spent in developing seed technology so as to produce high quality seed, but performance of seed conditioning by maximizing the operator’s knowledge of getting the best performance from each of his machines has not been carefully and completely developed. Improving Seed Conditioning focuses on teaching the conditioning plant operator details of each machine and how to get maximum performance from it in terms of operating efficiency, maximum removal of undesirable particles, and minimum loss of good seed. Organized in a manner that focuses on the specific machine models installed in each operator’s specific plant, this manual is set up to be used as text material in training classes or as a guide for operators employed by seed companies.
Improving Self-Escape from Underground Coal Mines
by National Research Council Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education Committee on Mine Safety: Essential Components of Self-Escape Board on Human-Systems IntegrationCoal mine disasters in the United States are relatively rare events; many of the roughly 50,000 miners underground will never have to evacuate a mine in an emergency during their careers. However, for those that do, the consequences have the potential to be devastating. U.S. mine safety practices have received increased attention in recent years because of the highly publicized coal mine disasters in 2006 and 2010. Investigations have centered on understanding both how to prevent or mitigate emergencies and what capabilities are needed by miners to self-escape to a place of safety successfully. This report focuses on the latter - the preparations for self-escape. In the wake of 2006 disasters, the U.S. Congress passed the Mine Improvement and New Emergency Response Act of 2006 (MINER Act), which was designed to strengthen existing mine safety regulations and set forth new measures aimed at improving accident preparedness and emergency response in underground coal mines. Since that time, the efforts of the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) have contributed to safety improvements in the mining industry. However, the Upper Big Branch mine explosion in 2010 served as a reminder to remain ever vigilant on improving the prevention of mine disasters and preparations to help miners survive in the event of emergencies. This study was set in the context of human-systems integration (HSI), a systems approach that examines the interaction of people, tasks, and equipment and technology in the pursuit of a goal. It recognizes this interaction occurs within, and is influenced by, the broader environmental context. A key premise of human-systems integration is that much important information is lost when the various tasks within a system are considered individually or in isolation rather than in interaction with the whole system. Improving Self-Escape from Underground Coal Mines, the task of self-escape is part of the mine safety system.
Improving Service Level Engineering
by Roland SchützeThis book examines how fuzzy methods can be employed to manage service levels in business and IT alignment. It starts by mapping the dependencies of service level agreements, coming up with gradual and bi-polar concepts to eventually classify the level of coupling by intuitionistic fuzzy sets. The second part presents an approach to analyze the impact of service failures using intuitionistic fuzzy methods (IFSFIA). Lastly, the third part of the book extends the concept towards business and IT-aligned service-level engineering and provides two use cases.
Improving Service Quality in the Global Economy: Achieving High Performance in Public and Private Sectors, Second Edition
by Michael Milakovich Harvey W. BlanchWithin American service sector organizations there exists a gap between understanding customer service quality improvement (QI) theories and applying them. Improving Service Quality in the Global Economy: Achieving High Performance in Public and Private Sectors, Second Edition fills that gap by presenting theory, application models, and cases of su
Improving Software Testing: Technical and Organizational Developments
by Tim A. MajchrzakSoftware is continuously increasing in complexity. Paradigmatic shifts and new development frameworks make it easier to implement software - but not to test it. Software testing remains to be a topic with many open questions with regard to both technical low-level aspects and to the organizational embedding of testing. However, a desired level of software quality cannot be achieved by either choosing a technical procedure or by optimizing testing processes. In fact, it requires a holistic approach.This Brief summarizes the current knowledge of software testing and introduces three current research approaches. The base of knowledge is presented comprehensively in scope but concise in length; thereby the volume can be used as a reference. Research is highlighted from different points of view. Firstly, progress on developing a tool for automated test case generation (TCG) based on a program's structure is introduced. Secondly, results from a project with industry partners on testing best practices are highlighted. Thirdly, embedding testing into e-assessment of programming exercises is described.
Improving Staff Effectiveness in Human Service Settings: Organizational Behavior Management Approaches
by Lee W Frederiksen Anne W RileyAn insightful volume that demonstrates how human service managers and administrators can innovatively and successfully make their agencies more effective using the principles of organizational behavior management. Improving Staff Effectiveness in Human Service Settings demonstrates the potential of OBM for identifying, tracking, targeting, and evaluating problems. Researchers, academicians, and practitioners examine interventions with OBM that took place in actual human service settings in response to severe organizational and staff problems. This important volume is an excellent resource brimming with well-evaluated, cost-effective staff management strategies..
Improving Student Learning at Scale: A How-To Guide for Higher Education
by Keston H. Fulcher Caroline PrendergastThis book is a step-by-step guide for improving student learning in higher education. The authors argue that a fundamental obstacle to improvement is that higher educators, administrators, and assessment professionals do not know how to improve student learning at scale. By this they mean improvement efforts that span an entire program, affecting all affiliated students. The authors found that faculty and administrators particularly struggle to conceptualize and implement multi-section, multi-course improvement efforts. It is unsurprising that ambitious, wide-reaching improvement efforts like these would pose difficulty in their organization and implementation. This is precisely the problem the authors address. The book provides practical strategies for learning improvement, enabling faculty to collaborate, and integrating leadership, social dynamics, curriculum, pedagogy, assessment, and faculty development. In Chapter 2, the authors tell a program-level improvement story from the perspective of a faculty member. Chapter 3 inverts Chapter 2. Beginning from the re-assess stage, the authors work their way back to the individual faculty member first pondering whether she can do something to impact students’ skills. They peel back each layer of the process and imagine how learning improvement efforts might be thwarted at each stage. Chapters 4 through 9 dig deeper into the learning improvement steps introduced in Chapters 2 and 3. Each chapter provides strategies to help higher educators climb each step successfully. Chapter 10 paints a picture of what higher education could look like in 2041 if learning improvement were embraced. And, finally, Chapter 11 describes what you can do to support the movement.
Improving Supply Chains in the Oil and Gas Industry: 12 Modules to Improve Chronic Challenges for Maintenance, Repair and Operations (Springer Series in Supply Chain Management #16)
by Sanchay Roy Stewart DunbarThis book analyses and proposes solutions to one of the core challenges faced in the Maintenance, Repair and Operations (MRO) supply chains in the oil and gas industry, a field that is currently impacted by low oil prices, emerging technologies and a societal transition to cleaner energies. It describes the end-to-end nature of the oil and gas supply chain, and challenges paradigms and accepted ways of working within the industry – such as wastes driven by broken interfaces, naivete regarding supply chains, and the practice that considers re-organisation to be the answer to these challenges – and identifies opportunities to shift this paradigm towards reliability and value. Moreover, the book shares the authors’ front-line experience and encourages readers to consider deploying the solutions presented in their own contexts. The insights from the book’s 12 modules are based on personal experiences and are industry-generic, allowing them to be transferred to other MRO supply chains. Readers are encouraged to use this book as a reference for their own supply chain transformations. The book is primarily intended for practitioners, including chief operating officers, chief financial officers, chief supply chain officers, engineers and heads of procurement, purchasing, operations, and materials management.
Improving Surveillance Across the CEMAC Region
by Noriaki Kinoshita Robert York Plamen Iossifov Misa Takebe Zaijin ZhanA report from the International Monetary Fund.
Improving Sustainability in the Hospitality Industry (Hospitality Essentials Series)
by Frans Melissen Lieke SauerOver the past few years the hospitality industry has become a lot more sustainable than it used to be. However, the industry’s contribution to the sustainable development of our societies is still significantly smaller than it could be. This book specifically addresses the links between operations, tactics and strategy from a sustainable development perspective and moves beyond describing what is to reflect on what could be or even what should be, thus providing students with a concise guide for improving sustainability concepts and businesses in the hospitality industry. Each chapter uses specific cases and examples to reflect on different ways in which sustainability principles can be used for revisiting the host–guest relationship and improving the industry’s business processes and models. In doing so, the book provides current and future professionals with guidelines, inspiration and a call for action to take sustainability within the hospitality industry to the next level, based on inclusiveness, equality and a sustainable relationship with our natural environment.
Improving Tax Administration In Developing Countries
by Richard M. Bird Milka Casanegra de JantscherA report from the International Monetary Fund.
Improving Upper Canada: Agricultural Societies and State Formation, 1791–1852
by Ross FairAgricultural societies founded in the colony of Upper Canada were the institutional embodiment of the ideology of improvement, modelled on contemporary societies in Britain and the United States. In Improving Upper Canada, Ross Fair explores how the agricultural improvers who established and led these organizations were important agents of state formation. The book investigates the initial failed attempts to create a single agricultural society for Upper Canada. It examines the 1830 legislation that publicly funded the creation of agricultural societies across the colony to be semi-public agents of agricultural improvement, and analyses societies established in the Niagara, Home, and Midland Districts to understand how each attempted to introduce specific improvements to local farming practices. The book reveals how Upper Canada’s agricultural improvers formed a provincial association in the 1840s to ensure that the colonial government assumed a greater leadership role in agricultural improvement, resulting in the Bureau of Agriculture, forerunner of federal and provincial departments of agriculture in the post-Confederation era. In analysing an early example of state formation, Improving Upper Canada provides a comprehensive history of the foundations of Ontario’s agricultural societies today, which continue to promote agricultural improvement across the province.
Improving Urban Access: New Approaches to Funding Transport Investment
by Christian Wolmar Elliott D. Sclar Måns LönnrothBy 2050, two-thirds of the world’s population will live in cities. To thrive, they will need efficient and sustainable forms of transport, but to achieve this, the financial incentives guiding urban transport operation must change – and change rapidly. Urban transport plays a critical role in determining the social, environmental and economic shape of cities. Improving Urban Access: New Approaches to Funding Transport Investment provide innovative ideas on how we might reorganize transport finance to ensure that it is suited to serving the social, environmental and economic principles that must guide future urban living. Continuing the work begun by its predecessor, Urban Access for the 21st Century, the authors assess the complexity of implementing new finance approaches and suggest ways to make positive and radical changes. Although the range of revenue raising options remain limited to users, indirect beneficiaries, and the general public, these can be recast to transform the way transport is paid for and therefore how its services are delivered. New finance models only succeed when they are intrinsically linked to the economic, social, cultural and political forces that create urban life. Together these volumes provide a starting point for the deeper research and policy design needed to successfully create urban transport finance systems that can address the challenges that 21st century cities present.
Improving Workplace Learning (Improving Learning)
by Karen Evans Lorna Unwin Phil Hodkinson Helen RainbirdAcross the western world, there is a growing awareness of the importance of workplace learning, seen at the level of national and international policy, as well as in the developing practices of employers, training providers and Trades Unions. Authoritative, accessible, and appealing, it presents key findings on work-based learning, bringing together conclusions and investigating a variety of workplace contexts to show how such learning can be improved. An extensive practical treatment, brought to life with illustrations from both the public and private sectors, this book has a unique combination of breadth of coverage and depth of understanding. Grounded in rich and detailed empirical studies, this volume challenges conventional thinking. An important new addition to the Improving Learning series, it focuses on guidelines for improving learning by marrying the very best theory and practice to provide an accessible and authoritative guide to workplace learning. Practitioners, policy makers, students and academics with an interest in learning at work will find this an invaluable addition to their bookshelves.
Improving Workplace Learning by Teaching Literature
by Christine Angela EastmanThis book investigatesthe integration of literary writing into work based or business writing. It proposes ways of how to help people withconsiderable work experience use literature to engage with the problems theyface in their work. Many people like toread for pleasure, but their skills in reading could always be improved. Thisbook makes an original contribution to the fields of education, work basedlearning and business by encouraging students to explore history, memoir,fiction, and non-fiction to model their own writing and widen their knowledgebeyond the work place and their customary reading. Inside are onsiteexperiments with fiction and non-fiction prose that show how people in theworkplace respond and grow from contact with significant literature and culturethat relates broadly to their work. As a Coaching Master'sstudent observes: "I have not been aprolific reader. It has been a weakness and a gap. I have probably read more in the last year[during the project course] than I have read in the past twenty years. So thatsays something. My ability to attend to what in a book has weight or relevancehas markedly improved. In the past I banked largely on my opinions because notbeing a prolific reader, I had to. It can be incredibly empowering to see thatthere are so many assets outside of my own mind. When something comes up now, I tend to weighit. I am more specific about how I use words. "
Improving Your Emotional Intelligence In a Day For Dummies (In A Day For Dummies #77)
by Steven J. SteinLearn to boost your emotional intelligence for success in life and business—in a day! Learning to manage your emotions in difficult situations is one of the basic ways we can improve our lives and relationships. Improving Your Emotional Intelligence In a Day For Dummies uses relatable everyday moments to reveal how to deal with friends, family, and colleagues in healthier, more productive ways. Uses everyday examples of healthy ways to deal with stressful situations Written by a recognized expert on psychological assessment and emotional intelligence who is also the author of Emotional Intelligence For Dummies This e-book also links to an online component at dummies.com that extends the topic into step-by-step tutorials and other "beyond the book" content.
Improving Your Performance
by Mark T. BarclayAs you read this book you will be able to see a little of both sides of the sheepfold. Prayerfully this will help you to work and flow together in the same mind and spirit. Enjoy the book, and please allow the Holy Spirit to engrave His truths upon your heart.
Improving Your Project Management Skills
by Larry RichmanBased on the bestselling American Management Association seminar!If a full-fledged project management course doesnÆt fit your schedule or your budget, check out the new edition of Improving Your Project Management Skills. Based on the hugely popular American Management Association seminar of the same name, this ultra-practical reference offers powerful and repeatable project initiatives that improve processes, streamline productivity, and cut costs dramatically. YouÆll get tools, tips, charts, lists, and never-fail advice for: Planning and budgeting ò Defining project scope ò Project scheduling ò Implementation ò Performance measurement ò Leadership and staff issues ò Work breakdown structures ò Alignment with business goals ò Risk assessment and management ò Communication ò Project closure ò And much more Now completely revised and updated, the book is consistent with the most recent edition of A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK«) and includes dozens of current practices and real-world examples. Equal parts learning tool and workplace reference, Improving Your Project Management Skills puts the power of a world-class project management seminar right in your hands!
Improving Your Splunk Skills: Leverage the operational intelligence capabilities of Splunk to unlock new hidden business insights
by Josh Diakun Derek Mock James D. Miller Paul R. JohnsonTransform machine-generated data into valuable business insights using the powers of Splunk Key Features Explore the all-new machine learning toolkit in Splunk 7.x Tackle any problems related to searching and analyzing your data with Splunk Get the latest information and business insights on Splunk 7.x Book Description Splunk makes it easy for you to take control of your data and drive your business with the cutting edge of operational intelligence and business analytics. Through this Learning Path, you'll implement new services and utilize them to quickly and efficiently process machine-generated big data. You'll begin with an introduction to the new features, improvements, and offerings of Splunk 7. You'll learn to efficiently use wildcards and modify your search to make it faster. You'll learn how to enhance your applications by using XML dashboards and configuring and extending Splunk. You'll also find step-by-step demonstrations that'll walk you through building an operational intelligence application. As you progress, you'll explore data models and pivots to extend your intelligence capabilities. By the end of this Learning Path, you'll have the skills and confidence to implement various Splunk services in your projects. This Learning Path includes content from the following Packt products: Implementing Splunk 7 - Third Edition by James Miller Splunk Operational Intelligence Cookbook - Third Edition by Paul R Johnson, Josh Diakun, et al What you will learn Master the new offerings in Splunk: Splunk Cloud and the Machine Learning Toolkit Create efficient and effective searches Master the use of Splunk tables, charts, and graph enhancements Use Splunk data models and pivots with faster data model acceleration Master all aspects of Splunk XML dashboards with hands-on applications Apply ML algorithms for forecasting and anomaly detection Integrate advanced JavaScript charts and leverage Splunk's API Who this book is for This Learning Path is for data analysts, business analysts, and IT administrators who want to leverage the Splunk enterprise platform as a valuable operational intelligence tool. Existing Splunk users who want to upgrade and get up and running with Splunk 7.x will also find this book useful. Some knowledge of Splunk services will help you get the most out of this Learning Path.