This book discusses current theories and practices in the field of public procurement. Over the past few decades, public procurement has had to evolve conceptually and organizationally in the face of unrelenting budget constraints, government downsizing, public demand for increased transparency in public procurement, as well as greater concerns about efficiency, fairness and equity. Procurement professionals have also had to deal with a changeable climate produced by emerging technology, environmental concerns, and tension between complex regional trade agreements and national socioeconomic goals. This volume presents sixteen case studies focusing on the themes of public procurement as a policy tool and performance-based public procurement. The first section discusses public procurement as a policy tool and the challenges involved in balancing the competing interests of market forces, legal requirements, political pressures, and environmental concerns. The second section discusses performance-based public procurement, highlighting the frameworks used to assess procurement systems, the gaps between policy and practice, and strategies for bridging those gaps. The final section of the book discusses current issues in procurement, such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, risk mitigation, and procurement as a profession. By combining theory and analysis with evidence from the real world, this book is of equal use to academics, policy makers, and procurement professionals.

Using a comparative framework, this volume presents case studies of issues of public procurement and discusses how procurement professionals and policy makers in different regions are responding to these challenges. This book discusses current issues in public procurement. Over the past few decades, public procurement has had to evolve conceptually and organizationally in the face of unrelenting budget constraints, government downsizing, public demand for increased transparency in public procurement, as well as greater concerns about efficiency, fairness and equity. Procurement professionals have also had to deal with a changeable climate produced by emerging technology, environmental concerns, and ongoing tension between complex regional trade agreements and national socioeconomic goals. The first section discusses innovation and reforms in public procurement and how practitioners are adapting to and making use of new technologies. The second section addresses the challenges of maintaining transparency, equity, and fairness in public procurement. The final section discusses preferential public procurement and introduces strategies for building sustainable public procurement systems. By combining theory and analysis with evidence from the real world, this book is of equal use to academics, policy makers, and procurement professionals.

Healthcare practices have been enhanced through the use of information technologies and analytical methods. A cross between computer science, healthcare, and information science is needed for the optimization of data resources and information systems within the healthcare industry. Healthcare Informatics and Analytics: Emerging Issues and Trends introduces the latest research concerning the innovative implementation of information technology and data analysis in the healthcare field. Highlighting current concerns and recent advances in patient care and healthcare delivery, this book is a comprehensive reference source for academics, researchers, medical students, and healthcare practitioners interested in the application of information science within the health sector.

In many countries and sectors, public procurement is developing from a functional orientation to an effective socio-economic policy lever. There is a great interest among managers and academics to learn from other countries' and other sectors' change initiatives and how they dealt with the challenges they encountered. This text provides such learning opportunities. It arises from the International Research Study on Public Procurement (IRSPP) and presents case studies of public procurement, covering diverse nations, sectors and issues.

The cases are combined with editorial commentary and contextualizing chapters to assist the student reader in understanding this complex topic. The text combines descriptions of cases of public procurement with cross case analysis to draw out the key dimensions to enable further examination of the key themes. Each case study concludes with three questions to aid its use as a teaching and training text.

Edited by a team of internationally recognised experts in the field this innovative text illustrates the strategies and innovations within public procurement on a global scale and highlights common problems that all countries encounter. Public Procurement will prove vital reading for anyone with an interest in this topical area.

Out with the bad energy, in with the good! Khi Armand, a specialist in space clearing with expertise in rootwork and shamanism, offers a fantastic illustrated guide to resolving energetic issues in any home or office. He lays out such space-clearing methods as divination and consciousness-shifting: explains how to form a relationship with your space as a spiritual entity; discusses smudging, asperging, floorwashing and visualisation; and divulges many other ideas for protecting and blessing your environment.

A series of poetic remixes, WAR IS NOT MY MOTHER might be considered a form of spirit possession.  Each poem in this manuscript takes up another poet’s work— a selection that ranges from Lorca to CD Wright, Hồ Xuân Hương to Sappho, Agha Shahid Ali to Ishrat Afreen— and alters its DNA, infusing it with an other idiolect. This is an idiolect of pleasure (the wordplay, puns, and cadence of the Vietnamese language) and of pain (the long shadow of the Vietnam war in the lives of those who survived, barely survived, and became refugees). Like any possessing spirit, WAR IS NOT MY MOTHER speaks in tongues: using others’ words to articulate a personal pain. Shorn of their original context and content, the poems in this collection— mutant-hybrids who retain a trace of their skeleton while dressed in entirely other clothes— become a play of voices that call into question notions of authenticity and self in poetic production, a postmodern twist for the classical craft.

Since the 1990s, government at all levels is under increasing pressure to do more with less. However, despite the U.S. government spending about 15 to 20 percent of its GDP on contracts for goods and services, there is a paucity of reference books for public procurement officials and very few textbooks for courses on the subject.

Filling this void, the International Handbook of Public Procurement provides the knowledge necessary to understand how procurement works and how to improve the cost-effectiveness of procurement systems. Taking a multidisciplinary approach, the book focuses on the managerial, economic, political, and legal aspects of this topic. It begins with a conceptual framework and highlights various reforms occurring in certain countries. By examining these improvements, readers are able to apply this knowledge to their own strategies.

The next section presents selected cases that illustrate the public procurement process, examining systems in various nations including Germany, China, South Africa, Cambodia, Uganda, and Estonia. The book also discusses the rise of electronic procurement systems (E-procurement) and reviews the benefits of these efficient systems. Other topics presented in this comprehensive volume include practical discussions on contract negotiations, bidding, price strategies and cost analysis, and an insightful chapter on the market's response to contract award announcements.

A virtual encyclopedia from numerous international experts, this book was assembled by Khi V. Thai, Professor at Florida Atlantic University and Editor of the Journal of Public Procurement. Dr. Thai has provided technical assistance in the area of public procurement togovernments across the world. Empowering those on all sides of the issue, this volume dispenses advice valuable to government officials and contractors, as well as providing a comprehensive text for public administration students.

Using a comparative framework, this volume presents case studies of issues of public procurement and discusses how procurement professionals and policy makers in different regions are responding to these challenges. This book discusses current issues in public procurement. Over the past few decades, public procurement has had to evolve conceptually and organizationally in the face of unrelenting budget constraints, government downsizing, public demand for increased transparency in public procurement, as well as greater concerns about efficiency, fairness and equity. Procurement professionals have also had to deal with a changeable climate produced by emerging technology, environmental concerns, and ongoing tension between complex regional trade agreements and national socioeconomic goals. The first section discusses innovation and reforms in public procurement and how practitioners are adapting to and making use of new technologies. The second section addresses the challenges of maintaining transparency, equity, and fairness in public procurement. The final section discusses preferential public procurement and introduces strategies for building sustainable public procurement systems. By combining theory and analysis with evidence from the real world, this book is of equal use to academics, policy makers, and procurement professionals.

In many countries and sectors, public procurement is developing from a functional orientation to an effective socio-economic policy lever. There is a great interest among managers and academics to learn from other countries' and other sectors' change initiatives and how they dealt with the challenges they encountered. This text provides such learning opportunities. It arises from the International Research Study on Public Procurement (IRSPP) and presents case studies of public procurement, covering diverse nations, sectors and issues.

The cases are combined with editorial commentary and contextualizing chapters to assist the student reader in understanding this complex topic. The text combines descriptions of cases of public procurement with cross case analysis to draw out the key dimensions to enable further examination of the key themes. Each case study concludes with three questions to aid its use as a teaching and training text.

Edited by a team of internationally recognised experts in the field this innovative text illustrates the strategies and innovations within public procurement on a global scale and highlights common problems that all countries encounter. Public Procurement will prove vital reading for anyone with an interest in this topical area.

Introduces the theory and applications of the extended finite element method (XFEM) in the linear and nonlinear problems of continua, structures and geomechanics * Explores the concept of partition of unity, various enrichment functions, and fundamentals of XFEM formulation. * Covers numerous applications of XFEM including fracture mechanics, large deformation, plasticity, multiphase flow, hydraulic fracturing and contact problems * Accompanied by a website hosting source code and examples

This book discusses current theories and practices in the field of public procurement. Over the past few decades, public procurement has had to evolve conceptually and organizationally in the face of unrelenting budget constraints, government downsizing, public demand for increased transparency in public procurement, as well as greater concerns about efficiency, fairness and equity. Procurement professionals have also had to deal with a changeable climate produced by emerging technology, environmental concerns, and tension between complex regional trade agreements and national socioeconomic goals. This volume presents sixteen case studies focusing on the themes of public procurement as a policy tool and performance-based public procurement. The first section discusses public procurement as a policy tool and the challenges involved in balancing the competing interests of market forces, legal requirements, political pressures, and environmental concerns. The second section discusses performance-based public procurement, highlighting the frameworks used to assess procurement systems, the gaps between policy and practice, and strategies for bridging those gaps. The final section of the book discusses current issues in procurement, such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, risk mitigation, and procurement as a profession. By combining theory and analysis with evidence from the real world, this book is of equal use to academics, policy makers, and procurement professionals.

Praise for Vi Khi Nao: "Here I was allowed to forget for a while that that is what books aspire to tell, so taken was I by more enthralling and mysterious pleasures." --Carole Maso How do you bear the death of a child? With fishtanks and jellyfish burials, Persephone's pomegranate seeds, and affairs with the neighbors. Fish in Exile spins unimaginable loss through classical and magical tumblers, distorting our view so that we can see the contours of a parent's grief all the more clearly. Vi Khi Nao was born in Long Khanh, Vietnam. Vi's work includes poetry, fiction, film and cross-genre collaboration. Her poetry collection, The Old Philosopher, was the winner of 2014 Nightboat Poetry Prize. Her novel, Fish In Exile, will make its first appearance in Fall 2016 from Coffee House Press. She holds an MFA in fiction from Brown University.