Alicia Witt and Jason London star in this family comedy directed by Kevan Peterson. When Melanie (Witt) and Phil (London) ask their son Danny (Julian Feder) what he wants for his birthday, they are greeted with the response that every parent dreads: a dog. When Danny selects his dog from the local shelter he lovingly names her Shelly in honour of all sheltered dogs. Realising that Shelly has a talent, Danny decides to enter her in the illustrious Wiener Dog Nationals race. Only one thing stands in their way: Ms Merryweather (Morgan Fairchild) and her champion dog Princess.

The United States spends more than 17% of its GDP on health care, while other developed countries throughout the world average 8.7% of GDP on healthcare expenditures. By 2028, that percentage in the United States is projected to be 19.7% of GDP. Yet all this spending apparently doesn't equate to value, quality, or performance. Among 11 high-income countries the United States healthcare industry ranked last during the past seven years in four key performance categories: administrative efficiency, access to care, equity, and healthcare outcomes. This book presents the implantable medical device (IMD) supply chain ecosystem as a microcosm of how these challenges of affordability and healthcare outcomes are created and are allowed to fester. The IMD Spiderweb, as the authors call it, is exposed as an example of how a wide range of participants-including physicians, health system CEOs, group purchasing organizations, health insurance companies and supply chain executives-become ensnared in a web designed to benefit only one player. The book also details the affordability challenges in the industry caused by the past and current IMD ecosystem and presents a model for meeting those challenges. The result is that the true cost of IMDs is hidden, while hospitals and health systems in the United States pay as much as six times more for some IMDs as their counterparts do in Europe, and prices for the same model of a particular IMD vary wildly even among different U.S. hospitals. While there is a fascination with the latest and greatest device there is also a shroud around visibility into how these products-which include cardiac rhythm management devices such as pacemakers and orthopedic implants such as knees and hips-have performed and are likely to perform in patients. The costs continue to rise not only in healthcare expenditures, but also in death and disability. The IMD spiderweb is presented as a prime lesson in the challenges in healthcare affordability and outcomes that occur throughout the entire healthcare industry. It is also put forward as an opportunity. The story behind how these challenges arose and are deepened by the ecosystem provides a foundation for solutions.

This book is concerned with the management of natural resources, in particular with the management of the resource called fish and wild life. It recognizes that successful management of a natural resource requires the design of research and development programs.

Successful natural resource administration demands the well-exercised ability to deal with the interests of many actors--including the public and wildlife--in a balanced, constructive way. The authors of this book, recognized as experts in the management of natural resources, discuss management with special emphasis on fish and other wildlife. Their approach to management development constantly searches for creative compromises that protect today's wildlife for future generations while maximizing present social and economic benefits. Their comprehensive treatment also includes a discussion of such topics as the interaction of human management of wildlife with natural regulation of wildlife; the need for sound research and development programs; the importance of public participation in the management of natural resources; and the political and administrative context in which resource management must take place.

The United States spends more than 17% of its GDP on health care, while other developed countries throughout the world average 8.7% of GDP on healthcare expenditures. By 2028, that percentage in the United States is projected to be 19.7% of GDP. Yet all this spending apparently doesn't equate to value, quality, or performance. Among 11 high-income countries the United States healthcare industry ranked last during the past seven years in four key performance categories: administrative efficiency, access to care, equity, and healthcare outcomes. This book presents the implantable medical device (IMD) supply chain ecosystem as a microcosm of how these challenges of affordability and healthcare outcomes are created and are allowed to fester. The IMD Spiderweb, as the authors call it, is exposed as an example of how a wide range of participants-including physicians, health system CEOs, group purchasing organizations, health insurance companies and supply chain executives-become ensnared in a web designed to benefit only one player. The book also details the affordability challenges in the industry caused by the past and current IMD ecosystem and presents a model for meeting those challenges. The result is that the true cost of IMDs is hidden, while hospitals and health systems in the United States pay as much as six times more for some IMDs as their counterparts do in Europe, and prices for the same model of a particular IMD vary wildly even among different U.S. hospitals. While there is a fascination with the latest and greatest device there is also a shroud around visibility into how these products-which include cardiac rhythm management devices such as pacemakers and orthopedic implants such as knees and hips-have performed and are likely to perform in patients. The costs continue to rise not only in healthcare expenditures, but also in death and disability. The IMD spiderweb is presented as a prime lesson in the challenges in healthcare affordability and outcomes that occur throughout the entire healthcare industry. It is also put forward as an opportunity. The story behind how these challenges arose and are deepened by the ecosystem provides a foundation for solutions.

""Wounds of the Spirit" is a complex book about a complex and difficult topic."
-- "Hypatia"

In Wounds of the Spirit, Traci West employs first person accounts-from slave narratives to contemporary interviews to Tina Turner's autobiography-to document a historical legacy of violence against black women in the United States. West, a black feminist Christian ethicist, situates spiritual matters within a discussion of the psycho-social impact of intimate assault against African American women.

Distinctive for its treatment of the role of the church in response to violence against African American women, the book identifies specific social mechanisms which contribute to the reproduction of intimate violence. West insists that cultural beliefs as well as institutional practices must be altered if we are to combat the reproduction of violence, and suggests methods of resistance which can be utilized by victim-survivors, those in the helping professions, and the church.

Interrogating the dynamics of black women's experiences of emotional and spiritual trauma through the diverse disciplines of psychology, sociology, and theology, this important work will be of interest and practical use to those in women's studies, African American studies, Christian ethics, feminist and womanist theology, women's health, family counseling, and pastoral care.

China is rapidly becoming an economic superpower, yet has a very different business culture that is often misunderstood outside of China. This can result in costly financial and strategic errors. This book confronts the myths about China and Chinese business practice and gives the reader a clear understanding of the culture and how to engage with it successfully.

This volume is a selection of significant and previously unpublished essays and short stories by the influential critic of German and American literature and popular culture, James A. Snead. The volume contains innovative essays and notes about African American popular culture, literary criticism and five pieces of short fiction. Published posthumously, the volume attests to Snead's unique intellectual commitment to a critical engagement with the interconnections between European and African American cultural formations.

In competitive markets the quality of the competitive strategy is now as important as the customer strategy in determining customer performance. All strategies require information and competitive strategies are no exception. As a result there is an existing and growing requirement for competitive intelligence. This book shows how to collect and analyze competitive intelligence, including the use of electronic resources, as part of a competitive strategy.

To beat your competitors you must know exactly what they are doing. It is impossible to put together a successful competitive strategy if you are unsure what your competitors are doing, what they plan to do or even who your competitors really are. As markets evolve even more rapidly and companies adapt their plans much faster, the demand for competitive intelligence has spiralled. Christopher West, an expert in the field, shows you how to collect, analyse and use competitive intelligence from a variety of sources, including the internet, and change your competitive strategy accordingly.

This book is a volume in the Penn Press Anniversary Collection. To mark its 125th anniversary in 2015, the University of Pennsylvania Press rereleased more than 1,100 titles from Penn Press's distinguished backlist from 1899-1999 that had fallen out of print. Spanning an entire century, the Anniversary Collection offers peer-reviewed scholarship in a wide range of subject areas.

How activists in Ghana, South Africa, and Brazil provide inspiration and strategies for combating the gender violence epidemic in the United States How can the U.S. learn from the perspectives of anti-gender violence activists in South America and Africa as we seek to end intimate violence in this country? The U.S. has consistently positioned itself as a moral exemplar, seeking to export its philosophy and values to other societies. Yet in this book, Traci C. West argues that the U.S. has much to learn from other countries when it comes to addressing gender-based violence. West traveled to Ghana, South Africa, and Brazil to interview activists involved in the struggle against gender violence. In each of these places, as in the United States, Christianity and anti-black racism have been implicated in violence against women. In Ghana and Brazil, in particular, their Christian colonial and trans-Atlantic slave trade histories directly connect with the socioeconomic development of the Americas and historic incidents of rape of black slave women. With a transnational focus on religion and racism, West brings a new perspective to efforts to systemically combat gender violence. Calling attention to forms of violence in the U.S. and international settings, such as marital rape, sex trafficking of women and girls, domestic violence, and the targeting of lesbians, the book offers an expansive and nuanced view of how to form activist solidarity in tackling this violence. It features bold and inspiring approaches by black women leaders working in each setting to uproot the myriad forms of violence against women and girls. Ultimately, West calls for us to learn from the lessons of Africana activists, drawing on a defiant Africana spirituality as an invaluable resource in the quest to combat the seemingly chronic problem of gender-based violence.

Designed to help birders and banders identify, age, and sex all seventeen species of hummingbirds found in North America, this is the only identification guide devoted entirely to hummingbirds that includes up-close, easy-to-use illustrations. It also provides information on the eight species that have been reported but rarely seen in North America. On first viewing hummingbirds are often a blur of fast-moving color. However, when they perch and hover they can be observed, and the size, shape, and color; the proportions of the body, bill, throat, and tail; the wing feather pattern; and the birds' behavior are crucial to accurate identification. The author's concise descriptions and illustrations pinpoint all these features in clear, jargon-free language. Anyone who loves hummingbirds will welcome the information he provides.