Difference between void contracts and voidable contracts Assignment

Difference between void contracts and voidable contracts - Assignment Example Voidable contract is a form of valid contract where all the four essential elements of a contract are present. According to Cross and Miller (2011, p. 752), a voidable contract is a contract which might be â€Å"legally avoided (canceled, or annulled) at the option of one of the parties.† In more generalized sense, the party/parties having the option to avoid the contract can avoid the contract altogether. Otherwise, they can also select which contractual duty is to be avoided. However, there is a process of ratification. If the contract is ratified by the contracting parties, then even a voidable contract will become strictly enforceable. Firstly, void contracts are itself a category of contracts. But voidable contracts are a subcategory of valid contracts. Secondly, void contracts are no contracts at all. However, voidable contracts are strictly enforceable contracts once they are ratified by the contracting parties. Thirdly, a void contract can never have all the four essential contractual elements in it. For example, if the element of consideration be missing in a contract, then that contract can be deemed as a void contract. However, this is not the case with voidable contracts. A voidable contract has all the four essential contractual elements in it 1. Suppose, A and B sign a contract on dealership of cannabis. However, selling or buying cannabis is banned in the US. So this kind of contract is a void contract since it violates law. (Schaffer, Agusti, and Earle 2008) 2. Suppose, A and B sign a contract to build a resort on an island in an active delta area. After a few days, there is a flood and the island is completely submerged under sea. Then, the contract between A and B will become void since the object of the contract cannot be achieved

America’s current policies Essay Example for Free

America’s current policies Essay Often, present generations, completely apathetic about their own sins, casts judgment upon the people who came before. This is not to say that, contrary to the prevailing wisdom currently choking our country, there are not absolute truths that were present during the inception of this country as well as in our present day. It is very unfortunate that some of our founding fathers held slaves; especially the author of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson, who held nearly two hundred slaves at one time on his plantation at Monticello. We do not like that the father of freedom in America could not find it in himself to free his slaves. Jefferson’s own cousin, as well as a number of fellow Virginians freed their slaves. From 1780 until 1800, the population of free blacks in Virginia rose from just over 2,000 to more than 30,000. (Burns, 1997) Where is Thomas Jefferson? However, did those who contributed to the Constitution yet held slaves, serve to invalidate the Constitution or their own individual contributions? It would have to seem that it does. However, not to the same degree as some of America’s current policies invalidates our ability to even cast judgment on other generations in the first place. People in glass houses should not throw stones. This is a famous saying which can be applied to every person or generation who judges another while being less than perfect themselves. America is the 21st century is a far cry from America at its birth. The population, in 1776, was just under three million people. (McCullough, 2007 pg. 26) Last fall, America’s population exceeded three hundred million people. Technology has certainly made the world a much different place and America is not only the richest country in the world, it is also the most powerful. The founding fathers could scarily fathom what this country would become in a little more than two hundred years. However, would they be proud of what had been accomplished? In some ways, the founding fathers would be glowing with joy and pride. In other ways, they could not help but feel a great deal of shame and embarrassment at what America had become. In the past thirty years, revisionist historians have tried to tell Americans that this country was formed, not out of the pursuit of religious freedom as the Mayflower Compact reads but rather to make money and to expand their wealth and land holdings. Also, that the founding fathers were not deeply religious men but rather Deists who seemed apathetic towards absolute truths. These assertions are fallible to the core and scarily a student of history can accept such tripe. However, even the deists and atheists were still very moral men who were led by principles and not by what was convenient as they were men of the Enlightenment. Therefore, the question which should also be asked in conjunction with this theme is: Does America stand on any moral ground to even pass judgment in the first place on any past generation. Did our forefathers risk their lives so that more than thirty million babies could be aborted since 1973 and 40% of all children are now born without a father living in the home? Did our forefathers risk their lives so that more than 20,000 people could be murdered each year for the pursuit of money to buy drugs? When the forefathers secured freedom of speech, did that mean that pornographic movies could be shown on the television or curse words spewed at a dizzying rapidity? In a time when gay marriage is being pressed so heavily upon our members of Congress, would our forefathers; individuals who regarded the act as so impure, that they would go out of their way to describe such actions in an indirect way in their writings and all believed to be a sin? There can be added to this list, more than a dozen modern examples and whether or not one agrees that the aforementioned are problems in this country or not, our forefathers could not help but see them as grave mistakes and impediments on our history. It seems unlikely that those individuals, such as John Adams and George Washington, to name only a few; so fervent in their religious convictions, that they freely invoked the word of God in their writings and speeches, could have consented to such depravity. More than 35% of all of the quotes of America’s forefathers came from the Bible. Does America’s hunger for relativism and humanism disallow us from even being able to even ask the question: Were the actions of the forefathers pure enough to even form a country in the first place? For every person who would say no, there would be two of the aforementioned society which would say the same about us. Now, this is not to say that slavery was not extremely immoral which served as a cancer on our society at that time and created a legacy of racial hatred and inequality which is still present today. Anyone who believes that this country is one of the greatest in the world, if not the entire world as I do, such apathy towards our forefathers own words, has to invoke a degree of annoyance towards men who are revered for what the gave to future generations in the formation of a democratic, capitalist and free society. One wonders why a clear consciousness was not worth simply paying their workers a modest wage instead of forcing involuntary servitude. What was going through the minds when Thomas Jefferson introduced legislation to end slavery during the Constitutional Convention? Historians have argued that if Jefferson provided a hard line against slavery, then his other policies would have been pushed to the side and perhaps never passed. This is probably true. However, what stopped Jefferson from freeing his own slaves at Monticello? These questions may never be answered. So in the end, it would seem best for Americans to tread carefully when dismissing an entire generation and their works because of a sin which was all too apparent in 18th century America. Slavery was wrong? There is no doubt about that. However, has America lost most of its moral authority, as well as the rest of the West? This is to be sure. As more and more people turn away from the ideas of absolute truths and towards relativism and humanism, preferring instead what is convenient and not what is right, problems which America is now suffering, is its natural result. If the incompatibility of the actions and words of the slave holding forefathers invalidates their work, then it should be placed a top a very long list of this country’s ironic measures which have grown at an exponential rate in recent decades. WORKS CITED Burns, Ken Thomas Jefferson New York: Thirteen Productions PBS 1997 McCullough, David 1776. New York: Scribners 2007

Nurses Benefits On Quality Improvement Teams Nursing Essay

Nurses Benefits On Quality Improvement Teams Nursing Essay As part of a randomized control trial to improve the delivery of preventive services, the authors studied the effect on clinic nurses in the roles of team leaders or facilitators of multidisciplinary, continuous quality improvement (CQI) teams. Our goal was to learn how these nurses felt about their experience with this project, specifically their satisfaction with process improvement, acquired knowledge and skills, and the impact on their nursing role. Overall, the nurses involved in this study reported significant gains in all three areas. This study suggests that CQI can be a valuable vehicle for improving and expanding the nursing role for clinic nurses. QUALITY improvement (QI), also referred to as Continuous QI (CQI), Total Quality Management (TQM), and other terms, has undergone an explosive growth in health care over the last 10 years.1,2 This growth has been accompanied by the publication of a steadily increasing number of articles. However, review of these articles would lead one to believe that nearly all of this QI activity has occurred in hospitals and large medical organizations and, until recently, most has involved administrative processes rather than clinical ones.3-6 Very few articles have addressed smaller ambulatory care settings and almost none have described the QI role of clinic nurses or the impact of these activities on nurses. Is involvement on QI teams helpful to nurses and do the changes in care processes produced by these teams improve the ability of nurses to provide better patient care? What is the potential for QI to affect the often-restricted role of nurses in ambulatory care? Our involvement in a large scientific trial of QI as a way to create more systematic delivery of preventive services in private medical clinics has provided us with an opportunity to begin answering these questions. This involvement brought us into frequent contact with all types of clinic personnel, but particularly with the nurses who often served in leadership roles on the clinics QI teams. As we provided training or consulting with these nurses, we noted that many of them seemed to enjoy the opportunity and reported anecdotes about how it had expanded their abilities. We conducted a systematic series of interviews and a survey with the clinic nurses who were involved in the trial as leaders or facilitators of the QI teams established in these clinics for preventive services. This studys goal was to learn how these nurses felt about their experience in three areas: 1. satisfaction with the process and its results for them 2. acquisition of specific knowledge and skills 3. impact on the nursing role Back to Top BACKGROUND The trial was called IMPROVE (IMproving PRevention through Organization, Vision, and Empowerment) and it was funded by the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research as a randomized controlled trial.7,8 Sponsored by two normally competing managed care plans (Blue Plus and HealthPartners), it was designed to test the hypothesis that such plans could improve the delivery of specific adult preventive services in contracted clinics by using CQI methods to develop prevention systems. Forty-four individual primary care medical clinics in the Twin Cities region of Minnesota were recruited for the trial from 33 of the 71 medical groups eligible to participate by reason of a contract with one or both plans and location within 50 miles. No financial incentives were provided to the clinics to participate other than reimbursement for the research evaluation efforts (eg, pulling charts for audits, providing patient appointment lists for sampling, etc.). The clinics ranged in size from 2 to 15 primary care clinicians (except for one residency-training clinic with 28), with an average of 8. At the time of recruitment, only an average of 19 percent of their patients were members of the two sponsoring plans. Thus, they were fairly typical of this regions clinics except perhaps in having a particularly strong interest in working on improvement of their preventive services and in learning how to use CQI. At the start of the trial in September 1994 each of the 22 clinics randomized to the intervention arm was asked to form a multidisciplinary QI team with a management sponsor and a leader and facilitator for the team. We suggested that they name a physician as leader and a nurse as facilitator but in this, as in all aspects of the trial, all decisions were up to the clinic. The IMPROVE team provided just-in-time group training to the leaders and facilitators in six sessions over seven months for a total of 26 hours. The training was focused on the specific knowledge and skills needed to use a seven-step CQI process to improve preventive services. During and after the training, IMPROVE project nurses provided periodic telephone and on-site consultation. After an 11-month training period, additional periodic opportunities were provided to network with other clinic leaders and facilitators and to obtain additional group consultations about areas of particular concern. Back to Top METHODS In June of 1996 (22 months after starting the intervention), two of the authors obtained written surveys and conducted individual interviews with each of the nurses who had served as leader or facilitator for one of the clinic teams. One nurse practitioner and two nurses who became facilitators after the completion of the training were excluded in order to provide a more homogeneous group and experience. This left 13 nurses to participate in the study, 9 of whom had served as facilitators and 4 as leaders for their teams. All agreed and signed consents, although one nurse could not find time for the interview and only completed the questionnaire. Other nurses participated as members of some teams, but we felt that the views of those with more project training and experience were especially valuable. The questionnaire was designed to assess the respondents attitudes and beliefs in each of the areas of focus for this study as well as to obtain relevant demographic information. It contained 55 close-ended questions that were developed from learning objectives for the training and a literature review of previous research on the nursing role in ambulatory care settings.9-12 Questions about skills and activities asked for a six-point Likert-scale response from none to very much choices and those asking about satisfaction and nursing roles asked for a five-point scale response from strongly agree to strongly disagree. After pretesting and revision, the questionnaire was mailed to the nurses to complete before the interview. The questionnaire is included in the Appendix. The interviews were structured to obtain qualitative data to expand on the questions in the survey. Eleven interviews were conducted in person at the clinical site and one was conducted over the telephone. Each was tape-recorded and transcribed later. Survey responses were simply summarized and reported directly for the small numbers involved. Questions that were stated negatively in order to improve response validity have been reworded for ease of comparing the answers. The interviews were analyzed for themes and for examples to illustrate questionnaire responses. Back to Top RESULTS Most of the nurses studied had already been involved in some degree of management in their clinics prior to the study. Only four were clinic nurses while two each were clinic manager, patient care manager, and nursing coordinator. The other three nurses were vice president of information services, medical services director, and health educator. Eight held positions that involved supervision of others, and an overlapping eight worked in direct patient care at least part time. As might be expected from such a group, 12 had been nurses more than 10 years and 10 had worked at their present clinics for at least 5 years. Educationally, seven nurses were registered nurses (RNs) (2 with bachelors of science in nursing, two with diplomas, and three with associate degrees) and six were licensed practical nurses (LPNs). All were female. Only four nurses reported that they had received previous formal training in CQI, although another four reported informal on-the-job training as part of a process improvement team. However, only the latter four and one additional other reported previous participation in QI. Three of these had been team leaders, one had been a facilitator, and one was a member of a team. Back to Top Satisfaction with the IMPROVE process improvement experience Table 1 suggests that, even after working on this process for 22 months, most nurses reported high levels of satisfaction associated with this experience of process improvement. That is particularly true for questions about obtaining personal value and improving patient care. Positive recognition from their clinics and greater job security are much less strongly supported. Table 1 From the interviews, several comments reinforced the written survey results concerning the opportunity to learn and grow: I was looking for the experience of a CQI project. I had done some reading on Dr. Deming on my own. I knew he was very successful and I didnt know how. This was just very fascinating to me. Learning something new was probably one of the greatest things that attracted me to this. My mind is just constantly going all the time and I really like getting involved in new things. The nurses also reported high scores in task significance. Questions included, The time spent on this process improvement has been worth it, I feel like what I am doing with my team is worthwhile, and I believe that our process improvement activities have resulted in our patients receiving better care. Comments around task significance centered largely on the perceived benefit to their clinics patients. One nurse responded to the question, What are the three most positive benefits of your involvement in process improvement? by answering: Number one is that we actually focused on those eight preventive services and that when you take a look at them they are actually going to improve somebodys life. And thats going to continue here even after were formally finished. Another repeated theme focused on participation-the opportunity provided to interact in a positive way, not only within each clinic site, but with other clinics involved in the project: Youre not in this alone, youre working with a lot of good people, and not just health professionals. We have good people like _____ who is not a health professional. She works in the business part, but I cant imagine doing this without her because they have the skills of getting the word out when youre busy with patients. So we need each other. It has been fun to be involved with other people. This has given me an awareness of not only my own clinic site, but awareness of the broader picture of health care within the Twin Cities. Back to Top Acquisition of specific knowledge and skills Overall, these nurses reported increasing a wide variety of knowledge and skills relevant to process improvement and working with people as a result of this experience. Table 2 summarizes these reported changes between self-perceived skills before and after the 22-month project. The largest improvements involved learning how to make use of data, managing change, and managing meetings. Even the eight respondents with previous training in QI reported gains, even though they had rated their previous overall QI knowledge and skills as average (3 nurses) to above average (5 nurses). Table 2 From the interviews, several themes emerged as to what the nurses perceived as skills gained from participating in process improvement. The most frequently mentioned skill was the ability to apply a model for problem solving (the seven-step model): I think really learning how to problem solve was very beneficial because we had tried to solve some situational process problems in our clinic before and it gets to a certain point where everyone complains about something and they decide to do something about it and we would set up some basic rules or policies and three or four months later no one was doing it anymore because it didnt work. There never was a lot of follow through, so I think this really gave us a good role model on how to go about problem solving in the clinic. Another frequently cited skill was the ability to effectively conduct meetings: One of the major things I learned was how to run a meeting. It is so effective and we use it so much in other meetings now. People come out of those meetings and say, This is a great way to do a meeting we get out of here on time and we get something done. Other themes cited were around skills gained in interpersonal relationships, specifically the ability to directly deal with coworkers or others on solving problems: I now am being more direct and am looking at things more from a process point of view rather than a personal point of view. Another nurse reported: Overall, now if someone is not following the standard, I approach them now by going over what the protocol is or what the process is, rather than honing in on the fact that the person may not be a good nurse. Back to Top Impact on the nursing role As illustrated in Table 3, these nurses reported that they believe QI is important for nurses and that nurses have a crucial contribution to make to QI. With a few exceptions, they believe that QI will improve the ability of nurses to control their work and many of them feel that their work on process improvement has helped them to be better nurses. However, when asked about each of nine specific areas of nursing activities (room preparation, technical activities, nursing process, telephone communications, patient advocacy, patient education, care coordination, expert practice, and quality improvement), only in QI did more than 3 of the 13 nurses report that they had experienced a significant change in the frequency with which they performed that type of activity after working on this project. Table 3 During the interviews, the nurses were asked whether they saw a role for process improvement in the nursing profession. The majority of the responses revolved around the value they perceived in being able to approach problems in a systematic way: I dont think nurses training ever gave us the skills to deliberately study something and improve it. Yet we get out and we become head nurses. It has helped the role of the nursing supervisors in dealing with their staff. It has helped them work through problems and problem solve rather than just coming to me for an answer. Many of the nurses reported that their environment was changing and that their role had changed. Because of this changing environment, they reported needing new skills and a new way of thinking: Everything is changing. We need to improve for our patients. I think the scope of nursing has changed and that the nurses need to look at the whole system, you know what goes on with the patient besides just with the hands-on things. I think it (process improvement) is a blend of how you clinically take care of somebody, but I think it kind of helps you to critically look at other things. Youre dealing with so many systems with the patient and how they move through these systems. We were never trained to deal with the system, we were only trained to deal with each patient. In the clinic setting, we need to be aware of what we are doing and why we are doing it. There is a lot of time and wasted effort. Back to Top DISCUSSION Although the sample is small, this study helps to document the generally positive feelings of ambulatory practice nurses involved in leading or facilitating their local clinic QI effort to improve the process of providing preventive services. Both their questionnaire responses and their interview comments and anecdotes suggest that they feel they benefited from their involvement with this project, despite the fact that it required a great deal of time and energy from them. Overall, they report that they were very satisfied with the experience and that it provided them with increased knowledge and skills as well as enhancements for their nursing role. In light of the reported knowledge, skill, and role enhancements, it is not surprising that these nurses would feel satisfied with their experience. Even though most of these nurses were already working at higher-level positions, nursing in ambulatory practice has traditionally been viewed as less prestigious and challenging than hospital nursing, both by nurses and by the public generally. Hackbarths study showed that ambulatory nurses reported more frequent performance of lower-level work dimensions and less frequent performance of dimensions requiring disciplinary knowledge and critical thinking, despite the growing complexity of care in ambulatory settings.12 Capell and Leggats comment that the traditional view of the nurse as one only involved in the accomplishment of tasks prescribed by others is no longer fitting in todays health care environment, does not mean that traditional role is disappearing.13(p39) Thus, anything that promises improvement in the nursing role is likely to find appeal. Counte has shown that in the hospital setting, personal participation in a TQM program was associated with higher job satisfaction.14 McLaughlin and Kaluzny feel that the new set of decision-making skills required by TQM includes not only technical skills like data management and statistical analysis, but also the ability to work well in multidisciplinary teams.15 Despite previous QI training and/or experience, all of the nurses in this project reported gains in skills, and most of these skills were gained in the areas noted above, along with change management. Another aspect of the current health care environment that lends both importance and urgency to acquiring new skills is the extreme degree of turmoil in health care, especially in the Twin Cities. As Magnan has documented for these clinics involved in the IMPROVE trial, enormous change is going on.16 Within a one-year time period during the process improvement efforts described here, 64 percent of the clinics were purchased, merged, or underwent a major shift in affiliations; 77 percent of the clinics changed at least one major internal system; and 45 percent of the clinics changed their medical director and/or their clinic manager. This turmoil may explain why so few respondents reported that the experience provided them with more job security in their current clinic (question 12 in Table 1), even though it gave them more job opportunities for the future (question 9). Clearly QI is very important to health care improvement and reform. Phoon et al.17 believe that the success of health care delivery depends on the successful integration and coexistence of QI and managed care. Moreover, they believe that nurses play a key role in this integration, although they tend to emphasize primarily nurse managers and practitioners. Spoon et al., on the other hand, use their experience with 45 CQI process improvement teams in a community hospital to highlight the potential for this experience to empower typical hospital nurses.18 They also point out the many ways nurses are essential to most of the steps in the improvement process. Corbett and Pennypacker go on to describe a process improvement effort that took place entirely within a hospital nursing department,19 although that is not particularly consistent with the interdisciplinary needs for most QI efforts. It is worth highlighting that the training in this project was very action oriented. It focused not on theory, but on the application of process improvement and team skills. For example, the trainees learned to flow chart their own clinics prevention process and to collect and analyze their own data in order to learn the root causes for the problems with that process. Role plays of meeting management skills and audits of dummy charts prepared them for applying those skills with their own clinic teams. A basic assumption governing the intervention with these trainees and their teams was that they could act their way into a new way of thinking by applying specific skills in a structured way. These new ways of thinking derive from a real understanding of work as process and include recognizing that problems are generally due to systems deficiencies rather than to individual workers. In other words, we were teaching systems thinking-what Peter Senge describes in The Fifth Discipline as the discipline for seeing wholes.20(p68) We believe that we saw this type of fundamental change in thinking in these nurses and others involved in this improvement process. Over time, the language of the group began to change and to include terms and statements that reflected systems thinking. For example, one rather taciturn physician remarked after the third training session that I never realized how many people were involved in getting the patient ready to be seen by me Aside from the knowledge and skills acquired from the training and the task, it was clear that most of these participants highly valued the opportunity to talk with others in similar environments. They liked to share frustrations as well as to learn from the efforts of peers in other situations. Most clinic personnel are surprisingly isolated, with few opportunities to attend broadening learning experiences, much less to learn first-hand how their way of doing things compares with that of others. We believe that this study and our experience with providing training and consulting for 60 clinics show that there is a great deal about the concepts and techniques of QI that appeals to nurses and other health care professionals. It appeals to both their scientific orientation and their desire to help improve things, in particular their customers-each patient. The acquisition and the application of these concepts and techniques appear to be both satisfying and broadens their views of how they can contribute to health care. Finally, it is worth noting that besides enhancing the skills and satisfaction of nurses, the QI projects in which they work are often likely to lead to role enhancements for nurses, especially those in ambulatory care settings. QI teams interested in improving prevention or other clinical areas of focus, like those we had the privilege to work with, will find that they cannot do this without expanding the role of nurses. McCarthy et al.,21 among others, have demonstrated the power of empowering clinic nurses to offer and arrange for mammography as patients are seen. The Oxford Project in England has carried this even further by creating a new profession for facilitators to help primary care practices improve their prevention activities by training practice nurses to fill an expanded role in performing health checks and facilitating practice system changes.22 Most of these external facilitators are also nurses and it is recommended that all of them have that background.23 Astrops des cription of the facilitators activities within a practice sound very similar to those of the nurses involved in this project and paper. Both this project and the literature suggest that QI concepts and techniques can be important vehicles for improvements in both patient care and in the skills, roles, and job satisfaction of nurses. This can be stimulated and assisted by managed care plans and others external to individual practice settings, but ultimately its success will depend on individual nurses, like those in this study, using their creativity and energy to make it happen. Back to Top REFERENCES 1. Berwick, D.M. Continuous Improvement as an Ideal in Health Care. New England Journal of Medicine 320, no. 1 (1989): 53-56. UvaLinker Bibliographic Links [Context Link] 2. Laffel, G., and Blumenthal, D. The Case for Using Industrial Quality Management Science in Health Care Organizations. Journal of the American Medical Association 262, no. 20 (1989): 2869-2873. [Context Link] 3. Barsness, Z.I., Shortell, S.M., and Gillies, R.R. National Survey of Hospital Quality Improvement Activities. Hospitals and Health Networks 67, no. 23 (1993): 52-55. UvaLinker [Context Link] 4. Shortell, S.M., OBrien, J.L., Carman, J.M., et al. Assessing the Impact of Continuous Quality Improvement/Total Quality Management: Concept versus Implementation. Health Services Research 30, no. 2 (1995): 377-401. [Context Link] 5. Shortell, S.M., Levin, D.Z., OBrien, J.L., and Hughes, E.F. Assessing the Evidence on CQI: Is the Glass Half Empty or Half Full? Hospital and Health Services Administration 40, no. 1 (1995): 4-24. [Context Link] 6. Carman, J.M., Shortell, S.M., Foster, R.W., Hughes, E.F., et al. Keys for Successful Implementation of Total Quality Management in Hospitals. Health Care Management Review 21, no. 1 (1996): 48-60. Ovid Full Text UvaLinker Request Permissions Bibliographic Links [Context Link] 7. Solberg, L.I., Isham G., Kottke, T.E., et al. Competing HMOs Collaborate to Improve Preventive Services. The Joint Commission Journal on Quality Improvement 21, no. 11(1995): 600-610. [Context Link] 8. Solberg, L.I., Kottke, T.E., Brekke, M.L., et al. Using CQI to Increase Preventive Services in Clinical Practice-Going Beyond Guidelines. Preventive Medicine 25, no. 3 (1996): 259-267. [Context Link] 9. Solberg, L.I., and Johnson, J.M. The Office Nurse: A Neglected but Valuable Ally. Family Practice Research Journal 2, no. 2 (1982): 132-141. UvaLinker [Context Link] 10. Flarcy, D.L. Redesigning Management Roles, The Executive Challenge. Journal of Nursing Administration 21, no. 2 (1991): 40-45. UvaLinker Request Permissions Bibliographic Links [Context Link] 11. Haas, S.A., Hackbarth, D.P., Kavanagh, J.A., and Vlasses, F. Dimensions of the Staff Nurse Role in Ambulatory Care: Part II-Comparison of Role Dimensions in Four Ambulatory Settings. Nursing Economics 13, no. 3 (1995): 152-165. [Context Link] 12. Hackbarth, D.P., Haas, S.A., Kavanagh, J.A., and Vlasses, F. Dimensions of the Staff Nurse Role in Ambulatory Care: Part I-Methodology and Analysis of Data on Current Staff Nurse Practice. Nursing Economics 13, no. 2 (1995): 89-97. [Context Link] 13. Capell, E., and Leggat, S. The Implementation of Theory-Based Nursing Practice: Laying the Groundwork for Total Quality Management Within A Nursing Department. Canadian Journal of Nursing Administration 7, no. 1 (1994): 31-41. UvaLinker Bibliographic Links [Context Link] 14. Counte, M.A., Glandon, G.L., Oleske, D.M., and Hill, J.P. Total Quality Management in a Health Care Organization: How are Employees Affected? Hospital and Health Services Administration 37, No. 4 (1992): 503-518. UvaLinker [Context Link] 15. McLaughlin, C.P., and Kaluzny, A.D. Total Quality Management in Health: Making it Work. Health Care Management Review 15, no. 3 (1990): 7-14. [Context Link] 16. Magnan, S., Solberg, L.I., Giles, K., et al. Primary Care, Process Improvement, and Turmoil. Journal of Ambulatory Care Management 20, no. 4 (1997): 32-38. Ovid Full Text UvaLinker Request Permissions Bibliographic Links [Context Link] 17. Phoon, J., Corder, K., and Barte, M. Managed Care and Total Quality Management: A Necessary Integration. Journal of Nursing Care Quality 10, no. 2 (1998): 25-32. Ovid Full Text UvaLinker Request Permissions Bibliographic Links [Context Link] 18. Spoon, B.D., Reimels, E., Johnson, C.C., and Sale, W. The CQI Paradigm: A Pathway to Nurse Empowerment in a Community Hospital. Health Care Supervisor 14, no. 2 (1995): 11-18. Ovid Full Text UvaLinker Request Permissions Bibliographic Links [Context Link] 19. Corbett, C., and Pennypacker, B. Using a Quality Improvement Team to Reduce Patient Falls. Journal of Healthcare Quality 14, no. 5 (1992): 38-54. [Context Link] 20. Senge, P.M. The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization, New York: Doubleday, 1990. [Context Link] 21. McCarthy, B.D., Yood, M.U., Bolton, M.B., et al. Redesigning Primary Care Processes to Improve the Offering of Mammography. The Use of Clinic Protocols by Nonphysicians. Journal of General Internal Medicine 12, no. 6 (1997): 357-363. [Context Link] 22. Fullard, E., Fowler, G., and Gray, M. Promoting Prevention in Primary Care: Controlled Trial of Low Technology, Low Cost Approach. British Medical Journal 294, no. 6579 (1987): 1080-2. UvaLinker Bibliographic Links [Context Link] 23. Astrop, P. Facilitator-The Birth of a New Profession. Health Visitor 61, no. 10 (1988): 311-312. [Context Link] The authors would like to thank the 46 clinics that participated in the IMPROVE project. These included the two demonstration clinic sites; Kasson Mayo Family Practice Clinic and HealthPartners St. Paul Clinic. Intervention Clinics Apple Valley Medical Center Aspen Medical Group, W. St. Paul Aspen Medical Group, W. Suburban Chanhassen Medical Center Chisago Medical Center Creekside Family Practice Douglas Drive Family Physicians Eagle Medical Fridley Medical Center Hastings Family Practice Hopkins Family Practice Interstate Medical Center Metropolitan Internists Mork Clinic, Anoka North St. Paul Medical Center Ramsey Clinic, Amery Ramsey Clinic, Baldwin River Valley Clinic, Farmington River Valley Clinic, Northfield Southdale Family Practice Stillwater Clinic United Family Medical Center Comparative Clinics Aspen Medical Group, Bloomington East Main Physicians

The Causes of the Cold War Essay -- misperception and miscalculation i

Ever since the outbreak of the Cold War after WWII, American historians have depicted it as a battle pitting good versus evil, American democracy, capitalism, and desire for world peace, against Soviet communism, totalitarianism, and desire to take over the world. However, this categorization of the Cold War has been proven false by many documents made public since the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990’s. Over the course of this essay, I will attempt to explain the true causes of the Cold War, and some of the reasons it progressed the way it did. My analysis will begin with a general discussion of how nuclear proliferation impacted the decision making of both American and Soviet leaders. It is, I believe, important to understand this before delving any deeper, as nuclear proliferation’s affect on decision making was arguably the key dynamic operating throughout the entire Cold War. Then, I will analyze more specifically the causes of the Cold War and t he reasons it progressed the way it did. My main contention will be that both sides were operating primarily under a doctrine of realpolitik, but that ideology, especially in the case of the Soviets, distorted perceptions of reality and led to false assumptions. I will also show, that on both sides, these false assumptions led to the misinterpretation of defensive actions as offensive and thus the escalation of tensions. Three points of view exist on the relationship between nuclear proliferation and the maintenance of peace during the Cold War. The first of these, the realist perspective, concludes that nuclear proliferation was positively correlated to peace. Realist theorists generally base this inference on three basic postulates: 1) States want to mainta... ... Stanford University Press; 1 edition, 1995 Richard Ned Lebow and Janice Gross Stein "We All Lost the Cold War" Princeton University Press; Reprint edition, 1995 Vladislav Zubok "A Failed Empire: The Soviet Union in the Cold War from Stalin to Gorbachev" The University of North Carolina Press; 2009 Kathryn Weathersby â€Å"Soviet Aims in Korea and the Origins of the Korean War" 1993 http://pages.ucsd.edu/~bslantchev/courses/nss/documents/weathersby-soviet-aims-in-korea.pdf Works Consulted Norman M. Naimark, "Stalin and Europe in the Postwar Period, 1945-1953: Issues and Problems," Journal of Modern European History 2 (2004): 28--56; Vladimir O. Pechatnov, "The Soviet Union and the Outside World, 1944-1953," Cambridge History of the Cold War, ed. by Melvyn P. Leffler and Odd Arne Westad, 3 vols. (London: Cambridge University Press, forthcoming).

Advanced Criminology

Anthropological research data has shown the violence is an inherent conduct among the primate species (Walker, 2001).   In society, criminal violence is a common occurrence and legislators have suggested that the behavior of criminals be analyzed in order to identify any psychological patterns that are consistent among these particular types of individuals.In the past few decades, neurobiologists have proposed that an individual’s condition, which encompasses empathy, morality and free will, is holistically influenced by the frequency of stimulation and assembly of the neurons of an individual.   Such notion is contradictory to the concept of Cartesian dualism, which states that the brain and the mind are two independent entities that coordinate with each other.To date, the accumulation of research reports from the field of neuroscience is gradually affecting the concepts and effectivity of the justice system because of the shifting in the concept of human behavior and res ponse to different stimuli.   Neuroscience has influenced our current understanding of the multiple factors that govern violent behavior among criminals.NATURE VERSUS NURTURE THEORY OF CRIMEThe theory of nature versus nurture pertains to the controversy on whether inherent qualities of a biological organism, which is depicted as â€Å"nature†, is related or influenced by the experiences, condition or situation of that particular species (â€Å"nurture†).   The concept the human being develop specific behavioral patterns based on their environment is termed tabula rasa or blank state.This notion is considered to be a major influence in the development of an individual.   These external settings of an individual play a major role in the psychology of an individual, including his anti-social, aggression and criminal behavior.It has thus been questioned for several decades whether criminals are born or could these particular individuals emerge after successive events in their lives that result in the transformation of a normal individual to a criminal.To date, there is much debate over the mechanism behind the entire concept of criminality.   Biologically or non-biologically influenced, criminality remains an elusive subject that still needs to be comprehensively analyzed.The 19th century classic report of Phineas Gage regarding the anti-social behavior that emerged after massive damage of the prefrontal cortex of his brain from a railroad accident is now considered as the birth of the field of forensic neurology (Harlow, 1848).Today, computerized imaging of his fractured skull has shown that the autonomic and social nerve systems are the specific damages that were affected, thus resulting in a totally different individual.   Such observation, together with research results gathered from war veterans, has led to the conclusion that violent criminal behavior is caused by injuries to the frontal lobe of the brain.  It has then been proposed that injury to the prefrontal cortex of the brain causes a condition that has been coined as acquired sociopathy or pseudopsychopath (Blair and Cipolotti, 2000).   It is interesting to know that there is an 11% reduction in the size of the grey matter of the prefrontal cortex among patients diagnosed with anti-social personality disorder (APD) (Raine et al., 2000).A related observation has also been observed between intelligence and alterations in the grey matter of the prefrontal cortex.The temporal lobe of the brain has also been determined to influence an individual’s emotional response and aggression, wherein lesions in the amygdale of the temporal lobe result in an individual’s failure to recognize fear and sadness among the faces of other people (van Elst et al., 2001).The connection between the decreased expression of the monoamine oxidase A enzyme and reactive violence has already been established (Caspi et al., 2002).Monoamine oxidase A is responsible for t he catabolism of monoamines such as serotonin (5-HT).   The working hypothesis currently accepted is that the prefrontal-amygdala connection is altered, resulting in a dysfunctional aggressive and violent behavior, resulting in criminality in particular individuals.Earnest A. Hooton (1887 – 1954) is a highly acclaimed physical anthropologist and evolutionist.   Much of his work focused on interindividual variations based on physiological and anatomical characteristics, including measurements of buttock-knee lengths as the main basis for constructing seats for the Pennsylvania railway trains.Hooton was also recognized for his concepts in primatology and comparative anatomy as basis for explaining differences in the human as well as primate species.He was successful in describing a primary race, of which can be further subdivided in several racial subtypes.   He is a proponent of the concept of eugenics, which involves genetic selection of traits that are deemed beneficia l to the current population.The field of eugenics has been an interest in the field of biology and medicine because it facilitates the creation of new haplotypes that may be positively selection in the course of evolution.Hooton’s work is also significant to our current scientific concept of crime because he persistently attempted to prove that criminal have biologically distinct characteristics from non-criminals.His anthropological work on physical differences based on a population of approximately 13,873 male prisoners from 10 different states across the United States.   His results strengthened his claim on the biological causes of violence and aggression and that his claimed that criminal behavior is a simple representation of an inferior type of human species that has degenerated.Unfortunately, Hooton was inadequate in integrating the concept of population genetics into his research because he haphazardly took 3,023 men from the general population to conduct a compara tive analysis of physical differences.   His measurement of foreheads, eyelids, ears, cheekbones, jaws, chins and shoulders resulted in a confusing supportive evidence for his claim.He explained in one of his published works that biology plays a major role in the development of individuals and society and that the environment is wrongly blamed for any failure that befalls an individual (Hooton, 1939).The research claim of Hooton had sparked more effort into determining the basis behind criminality.   Other researchers from different fields of specialization ridicules Hooton’s work, describing it as the comical attempt in defining criminal behavior.The general reaction to Hooton’s claim that criminals are biologically inferior was condemned.   Sociologists refused to accept the notion that physical unattractiveness is strongly correlated to criminal behavior.The advent of eugenics in combination with criminality has sparked interest in designed specialized techniq ues that may be applied to individuals that show physical and anatomical features that are consistently observed among criminals.An advocate of Hooton’s concept on the physical basis of criminality would assertively promote selective management of populations in order to eventually generate a prime standard of individuals in the next generation that is distinct from the features that Hooton described that are strongly correlated with criminality.   An advocate of the biological connection of criminality would employ the concept of eugenics in screening individuals that show a potential to show criminal and anti-social behavior.   To make things more complex, the features that Hooton described may also be used as criteria in admission to schools and workhouses.An extreme reaction would even results in construction of facilities that would enclose candidates or suspects for criminal behavior.   A biological discrimination would thus be observed and this unfair basis of sc reening individuals would create more chaos in society.Eugenics may also be translated as a screening tool in picking which criminals will be kept in prison and which individuals will be freed and this action will be mainly based on the biological features of whether the criminal may be rehabilitated or transformed into a normal non-aggressive person.The so-called degenerate individuals would be kept off the streets in order to prevent interaction with non-degenerate individuals, as well as to prevent future crimes in the community.   In addition, society would be introduced to the option of strictly selecting partners for marriage because they will be taught to pick partners that show obvious physical differences from the consensus physical features of criminals.THE GENERAL THEORY OF CRIMEThe self-control theory as proposed by Gottfredson and Hirschi (1990) couples an argument regarding the driving force behind criminality and the features of a criminal act.   Gottfredson and H irschi contend that crime is similar to other out of control and unlawful actions such as alcoholism and smoking because it generates in an individual a temporary yet immediate feeling of gratification.This kind of action is created by a condition that is characterized by low self-control.   The authors claim that the condition of having poor self-control is an innate condition that is set in place during the early childhood at around 7 or 8 years of age.   In relation to the mechanism behind criminality, the authors explain that crime is a straightforward action to results in gratification in an individual.Such perception of crime is associated with a number of implications to the general theory of crime.   Firstly, the general theory of crime presents that crime is an uncomplicated action that does not need any strategic preparation or intricate knowledge.Secondly, the general theory of crime is related to a number of elements that are included in the theory of routine activ ities because just like other uncontrolled acts, crimes are not planned and it is easy for individuals with low self-esteem to be easily motivated to commit such acts.In addition, criminality is strongly influenced by external factors such as the scarcity of easy targets as well as the presence of associates that are capable of helping or even performing a criminal act.The theory of crime by Gottfredson and Hirschi regarding the early age of 7 or 8 also entails that the longitudinal analysis of crime is not necessary and that age-correlated theories of crime are confusing.The general theory of crime of Gottfredson and Hirschi also considers the fundamental argument regarding age and the unlawful act.   It is actually different from what is presented at general courses in criminology regarding the analysis of age-crime correlations and social factors that are related to crime.A distinction of the general theory of crime of Gottfredson and Hirschi is that the age-crime linkage is ve ry different through time, location and culture that the age-crime correlation is irrelevant of any social explanation.   Their general theory of crime also describes that criminals continue to perform unlawful acts of crime even during marriage and eventually end up as unmarried criminals.The same thing goes with offenders who are currently employed—these individuals generally continue on as offenders and the only difference after some time is that they lose their jobs.The general theory of crime of Gottfredson and Hirschi thus presents an argument against the connection of crime with marriage and employment thus showing that a criminal is incompetent in maintaining a relationship in a marriage or a commitment to work because he is commonly known as person of very low command of his control.Their presentation of the force behind criminality is thus focused on self-control and the authors point out that most investigations regarding criminality do not include this concept.à ‚  The authors explain that most of the concepts on crime describe the possible notions of the criminal.   Gottfredson and Hirschi thus provide a revolutionary concept of crime that describes that the nature of crime is actually simple because it easily connects the concept of individuals and their immediate environment.They proposed that most crimes are easily performed because there is no need for complex preparations.   In addition, a criminal act does not actually impart a lot of deleterious consequences.   They describe that crimes usually happen late at night or very early in the morning to any individual.   There is also no requirement for training or skills to perform a criminal act.The authors also explain the concept that crime does not pay because most criminal acts result in small to negligible benefits.   In the cases that do provide any benefits, the criminals tend to fail with the criminal act or they are highly exposed thus resulting in a lot of risks such as being caught and eventually put in jail.The general theory of crime of Gottfredson and Hirschi also present the conditions that make a situation conducive to crime.   They describe that routine activities play an important factor for a crime to happen because these provide the predictability of the movements and activities of the target individual.Criminals often study how their target victim goes around, comes home or leaves the house.   If the target individual has a routine schedule that is very predictable, the criminal will have a very easy way to know  Ã‚   the best time for him to invade the house of the target victim.The same factors also influence other criminal acts such as rape, wherein the target female victim may probably pass through the same route late at night and the criminal may pick a day at that particular time when not so much people at around and he can attack his victim at the particular time when the female victim is walking along the street late at night.   These settings of predictability of routine activities are actually very beneficial to the criminal and this outweighs the risks of performing the criminal act.Other theories of crime that do not consider these features of crime generally analyze other factors that are not consistent with the empirical information about crime (Walker, 2001).   The other theories actually claim the each crime has a different force that pushes the criminal to perform such unlawful act.In addition, other theories state that substantial knowledge and training are needed in order for a criminal to successfully perform a crime.   The general theory of crime of Gottfredson and Hirschi thus provides a simple yet comprehensible explanation of the force behind criminality.SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES OF CRIMEThere are several sociological theories in the field of criminology.   The Social Control Theory explains that the utilization of the socialization procedure and social learning results in self- control and decreases the chances that an individual will succumb to an anti-social type of behavior.This theory was strongly addressed by Travis Hirschi and it follows the Positivist, Neo-Classical and Right Realism schools of thought (Akers, 2000).   This theory resulted from the Functionalist concepts of crime and suggests that there are four modes of control.The first mode of control is direct, which pertains to imminent punishment based on unlawful action.   This mode of control is also associated with rewards in the case the compliance of the individual is observed.The second mode of control is indirect, which pertains to desistance in performing unlawful acts due to his conscience.   Another mode of control is internal, which is related to self-identification of delinquency and its associated pain and disappointment to the people around the individual.A fourth type of control is satisfaction, wherein an individual will not perform an evil act if he is content with his c urrent conditions.   Hence the Social Control Theory suggests that individuals will not perform any criminal act if their relationships, value and beliefs are intact.The Strain Theory of criminology explains that the society and its related levels and sublevels persuade individuals to perform criminal acts (Agnew, 1992).   This theory was proposed by Emile Durkheim and was further supported by Merton, Cohen and Messner and Rosenfeld.   It has been determined that strain may be of two levels.Structural strain pertains to the processes in society that influence an individual’s perception of his needs.   On the other hand, individual strain pertains to the hostility and suffering that an individual experiences during his search for things that will make him happy.   Hence the strain theories present the connection between structural and functional bases for criminal actions.The structural basis for criminality explains the processes behind actions, as well as finding a n event with a bigger concept of sites, distances and associations.   The functional basis for criminality explains how independent sections fit and result as a bigger system.   Hence all systems are influenced by sections that cooperate with each other and that any impediment that occurs in a particular section will result in a failure of the entire system.This means that either a replacement or a repair should be performed in order to make a system functional again.

The Sinking of the RMS Titanic (1912)

The Sinking of the RMS Titanic (1912) The world was shocked when the Titanic  hit an iceberg at 11:40 p.m. on April 14, 1912, and sunk just a few hours later at 2:20 am on April 15, 1912. The unsinkable ship RMS  Titanic sank on its maiden voyage, losing at least 1,517 lives (some accounts say even more), making it one of the deadliest maritime disasters in history. After the Titanic had sunk, safety regulations were increased to make ships safer, including ensuring enough lifeboats to carry all on board and making ships staff their radios 24 hours a day. Building the Unsinkable Titanic The RMS Titanic was the second of three huge, exceptionally luxurious ships built by White Star Line. It took nearly three years to build the ​Titanic, beginning on March 31, 1909, in Belfast, Northern Ireland. When completed, the Titanic was the largest movable object ever made. It was 882 1/2 feet long, 92 1/2 feet wide, 175 feet high, and displaced 66,000 tons of water. (That is almost as long as eight Statue of Liberty placed horizontally in a line!) After conducting sea trials on April 2, 1912, the Titanic left later that same day for Southampton, England to enlist her crew and to be loaded with supplies. Titanics Journey Begins On the morning of April 10, 1912, 914 passengers boarded the Titanic. At noon, the ship left port and headed for Cherbourg, France, where it made a quick stop before heading to Queenstown (now called Cobh) in Ireland. At these stops, a handful of people got off, and a few hundred boarded the Titanic. By the time the Titanic left Queenstown at 1:30 p.m. on April 11, 1912, heading for New York, she was carrying over 2,200 people, both passengers, and crew. Warnings of Ice The first two days across the Atlantic, April 12-13, 1912, went smoothly. The crew worked hard, and the passengers enjoyed their luxurious surroundings. Sunday, April 14, 1912, also started out relatively uneventful, but later became deadly. Throughout the day on April 14, the Titanic received a number of wireless messages from other ships warning about icebergs along their path. However, for various reasons, not all of these warnings made it to the bridge. Captain Edward J. Smith, unaware of how serious the warnings had become, retired to his room for the night at 9:20 p.m. At that time, the lookouts had been told to be a bit more diligent in their observations, but the Titanic was still steaming full speed ahead. Hitting the Iceberg The evening was cold and clear, but the moon was not bright. That, coupled with the fact that the lookouts did not have access to binoculars, meant that the lookouts spotted the iceberg only when it was directly in front of the Titanic. At 11:40 p.m., the lookouts rang the bell to issue a warning and used a phone to call the bridge. First Officer Murdoch ordered, hard a-starboard (sharp left turn). He also ordered the engine room to put the engines in reverse. The Titanic did bank left, but it wasnt quite enough. Thirty-seven seconds after the lookouts warned the bridge, the Titanics starboard (right) side scraped along the iceberg below the water line. Many passengers had already gone to sleep and thus were unaware that there had been a serious accident. Even passengers that were still awake felt little as the Titanic hit the iceberg. Captain Smith, however, knew that something was very wrong and went back to the bridge. After taking a survey of the ship, Captain Smith realized that the ship was taking on a lot of water. Although the ship was built to continue floating if three of its 16 bulkheads had filled with water, six were already filling fast. Upon the realization that the Titanic was sinking, Captain Smith ordered the lifeboats to be uncovered (12:05 a.m.) and for the wireless operators on board to begin sending distress calls (12:10 a.m.). The Titanic Sinks At first, many of the passengers did not comprehend the severity of the situation. It was a cold night, and the Titanic still seemed like a safe place, so many people were not ready to get into the lifeboats when the first one launched at 12:45 a.m. As it became increasingly obvious that the Titanic was sinking, the rush to get on a lifeboat became desperate. Women and children were to board the lifeboats first; however, early on, some men also were allowed to get into the lifeboats. To the horror of everyone on board, there were not enough lifeboats to save everyone. During the design process, it had been decided to place only 16 standard lifeboats and four collapsible lifeboats on the Titanic because any more would have cluttered the deck. If the 20 lifeboats that were on the Titanic had been properly filled, which they were not, 1,178 could have been saved (i.e. just over half of those on board). Once the last lifeboat was lowered at 2:05 a.m. on April 15, 1912, those remaining on board the Titanic reacted in different ways. Some grabbed any object that might float (like deck chairs), threw the object overboard, and then jumped in after it. Others stayed on board because they were stuck within the ship or had determined to die with dignity. The water was freezing, so anyone stuck in the water for more than a couple of minutes froze to death. At 2:18 a.m. on April 15, 1915, the Titanic snapped in half and then fully sank two minutes later. Rescue Although several ships received the Titanics distress calls and changed their course to help, it was the Carpathia that was the first to arrive, seen by survivors in the lifeboats around 3:30 a.m. The first survivor stepped aboard the Carpathia at 4:10 a.m., and for the next four hours, the rest of the survivors boarded the Carpathia. Once all the survivors were on board, the Carpathia headed to New York, arriving on the evening of April 18, 1912. In all, a total of 705 people were rescued while 1,517 perished.

Which High School Classes Do Ivy League Schools Require

Which High School Classes Do Ivy League Schools Require SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips College admissions can seem like a giant puzzle, especially if you’re hoping to attend an Ivy League or other extremely selective school. Planning your high school schedule carefully is definitely important, but these schools' expectations aren’t as inflexible as you might think they are. In this article, I’ll provide a conciseoverview of what Ivy League admission requirements are forhigh school transcripts and give you some tips on how to map out your classes so you have the best shot at being accepted. What Are Ivy League Schools Looking For in Your Transcript? Ivy League schools want to see students who have consistently challenged themselves throughout high schoolby taking progressively more advanced courses and earning high grades. Here area few examples of Ivy League admission requirements from the school websites so you can see exactly what they say about their expectations for applicants' transcripts. All bold emphasis is mine. Yale â€Å"It is very important that we see a high level (or an improving degree) of rigor and success throughout your high school years.† â€Å"When the admissions committee looks at your transcript, it will not focus on whether you have taken any specific course. It will be far more interested to see that you have challenged yourself with difficult coursework and have done well.† Columbia â€Å"We hope to see that a student is challenging herself or himself with a rigorous course load.† â€Å"The admissions process at Columbia is a 'holistic' one, taking many factors into careful consideration. We do not rely on standardized testing and grades alone and instead look at all parts of every application to help inform our judgment.† Dartmouth â€Å"The majority of applicants have taken the following courses: 4 years of English 4 years of mathematics (often through calculus, if available) 4 years of social science 4 years of laboratory science 4 years of a foreign language† â€Å"Here’s what we want to know: Given the courses that your school offers, have you enrolled in a challenging curriculum? Have you had academic success that suggests that you'll thrive in the classroom at Dartmouth? If we answer YES to these two questions, then we look deeper into your application to better understand your particular areas of academic strength and weakness, subjects that interest you most, and your motivation for learning.† Based on these statements, you can expect a comprehensive review of your application by admissions officers at Ivy League schools, with an eye toward overall course rigor combined with impressive grades. If you’re taking the most challenging courses available at your high school and earning high grades, you’re on your way to a strong application.In the next section, I’ll talk more specifically about which classes you should take if you’re hoping to attend an Ivy League school. Start strong and stay on track. Keep running in circles until you realize that you have homework to do and this was just a metaphor. Which Classes Should You Actually Take? If you want to get into an Ivy League school, you’ll need to take the highest level classes that are available to you (usually Honors and AP courses) in most subjects.These schools expect you to challenge yourself more and more throughout high school and earn high grades up through your senior year. That being said, you don’t have to go crazy with a million APs senior yearto show how much you’ve grown.If you have a strong interest in math and science, for example, and aren't such a fan of English and foreign languages, you might be able to get by without taking the most difficult classes in your weaker subject areas. As long as you show that you are an extremely strong student in your specific area of interest (and have relevant extracurricular achievements to back it up), you will have a solid chance at Ivy League colleges. We saw in the section above that the majority of Dartmouth applicants have taken four classes in each core subject,which isn't too out of the ordinary.To give an even less demanding example of curriculum requirements for applicants, Princeton expects students to take four years of math (with calculus for students interested in engineering), English, and foreign language, and at least two years each of history and lab science.This is a perfectly reasonable expectation for almost any high school student. The mentality of â€Å"the more classes the better† can be very harmful.Don't overload yourself with extra courses in which you could end up dropping the ball.A failing grade is not something you want on your transcript, no matter how many hard classes you take! If you’re looking to fill out your schedule beyond the core curriculum, decide which subject areas are of special interest to you, and then take the most challenging classes or electivesavailable in those areas. Don't put yourself in a situation in which you're doing the academic equivalent of one-handed no-legged (?) pushups and trying desperately not to fumble. I'll give you a sample of what your core course record might look like in high school if you’re hoping to attend an Ivy League school. This isn't the be-all and end-all of schedules, so don't feel as though you have to copy it. It's just helpful to see everything laid out: Freshman Year Honors French 2 Honors Geometry Honors English Honors World History Honors Science and Engineering Sophomore Year Honors French 3 Honors Algebra 2 Honors English AP US History AP Biology Junior Year Honors French 4 Honors Pre-Calculus Honors English AP Government AP Chemistry Senior Year AP French AP Calculus AP Literature AP Psychology Honors Physics I modeled this loosely after my own high school schedule (which I can verify did get me into Dartmouth), and as you can see, it’s not an insane number of classes. Keep in mind that this is just a sample. Your school might offer more or fewerAP classes, or structure course tracks differently.For example, some schools have AP World History or Economics classes, which were not an option at my high school.Other schools might offer only a few AP classes or none at all, in which case you'd just take all Honors classes (or IB classes, if that’s an option).Colleges are aware of these limitations and will take them into account when reviewing your application. If you're an advanced student, you might finish the course track at your high school for a subject before your senior year. This happens especially with math and language classes. If you're done with AP Calculus after your sophomore or junior year, don't worry about being penalized if you decide not to take another math class in high school; you've already reached the level in math that Ivy League schools expect from most students. In this case, you might double up on science classes or classes in other academic areas that interest you during your last one or two years of high school. Try to maintain a relatively even balance of courses in different core subject areas as a baseline, while also taking care to emphasize your strengths. Not too interested in languages but love social studies classes? Even if you haven't finished the entire language course track, you can make the choice to take two social studies classes and lose the language.This shouldn’t hurt your chances as long as you’ve taken a language for three years already and are enrolled in the most challenging social studies classes. Make your passions apparent so your transcript gives colleges a sense of the unique qualities you’ll bring to the school. If you don't like studying languages, this might as well say "Welcome ... to your nightmares (a sus pesadillas)!" What’s More Important: Good Grades or Course Difficulty? Overall, selective colleges value a rigorous course load over perfect grades.An Ivy League school might accept a student who had all As and one or two Bs in the highest-level classes, but it probably wouldn’t accept a student who had flawless grades in mid- or low-level classes. These schools are looking for students who are up for an intellectual challenge and genuinely enjoy learning.If you’re in lower-level classes and earning straight As, you might not be challenging yourself enough.Taking the easy route to a good grade won't win you any points on your application. On the flip side, be careful about enrolling in a course schedule that's too intense for you.If your schedule becomes overwhelming, you might end up tanking your GPA (and your mental health!). It’s a delicate balance to strike between earning high grades and taking hard classes. Just know that you don’t have to take eight AP classes your senior year to get into an Ivy League school. If your schedule gets too intense, your hair could start turning gray, and in severe cases you might even be driven to purchase shutter shades. How Should You Go About Actually Choosing Your Classes? If you're the planning type (which you probably are since you're reading this article), you can map out your entire high school schedule early on in your freshman year. Structure your schedule so that you end up taking courses that are relevant to your strengths as a student while also fulfilling core curricular requirements.Your school shouldhave a course directory that you can look through for this purpose. Leave some spots in your schedule open to more than one option in case your goals change as you progress through high school. For example, if you're interested in both AP Psychology and AP Government but only have room for one, you can give yourself the option to pick between them later on. It's also smart to consult with your guidance counselor in the process of choosing which classes you'll take. If you have a specific college in mind, look at the application requirements toverify you'll fulfill them.Since your guidance counselor will know how other students with certain course schedules fared in the college application process, he or she might be able to give you advice based on the experiences of past students who were admitted to the school that interests you. Talking to your guidance counselor can be helpful, but make sure they're always holding an official-looking folder. That's the only way you know you can trust them. Stock photos never lie. What Else Should You Do If You Hope to Attend an Ivy League School? Apart from your grades and course schedule, your test scores will also be important to these colleges. On the SAT, you should score above 1500 for a solid chance of admission.On the ACT, you should score at least 33.Expectations might even be a bit higher depending on which Ivy League school you're targeting. If you want a good chance of attending one of these schools, especially the most selective Ivies, you'll also need to develop your application apart from test scores and grades. If you can accomplish something in high school that goes above and beyond what most students have done, you'll stand out from the crowd.This could be anything from winning an artistic competition to designing an app to making a breakthrough scientific discovery.These are just random suggestions, and everyone is different. But if you show that you're passionate about something and capable of acting on that passion to produce something unique, you'll have a leg up on the competition. For more details, read our comprehensive guide on how to get into an Ivy League school! Become one with the yellow flower. What's Next? If you're hoping to attend a very competitive college, you may be interested in your high school class rank. Read this article to find out what a good class rank might mean for you. Think you might be interested in branching out on your own academically in high school? Learn more about how to take an independent study class. If you've already completed a semester (or a few semesters) of high school, you can use the information in this article to calculate your current GPA and see how you measure up. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

Free Essays on Acropolis

Acropolis I. Introduction Acropolis (Greek akros, â€Å"highest†; polis, â€Å"city†), fortified natural stronghold or citadel in ancient Greece. The Greeks built their towns in plains near or around a rocky hill that could easily be fortified and defended. The word acropolis referred both to the hill and to what was built on it. Almost every Greek city had its acropolis, which provided a place of refuge for townspeople during times of war. Sometimes the ruler of the town lived within the walls of this stronghold. In many cases the acropolis became the site of temples and public buildings and thus served as the town’s religious center and the focal point of its public life and as a place of refuge. The best-known acropolis of the ancient world is the Acropolis of Athens. The ruins of its temples and their sculptures are widely regarded as the finest examples of ancient Greek art and architecture. Built on a limestone hill that rises about 150 m (about 500 ft) above sea level, the Acropolis dominates the city of Athens. It houses the remains of the Parthenon, a magnificent temple dedicated to the goddess Athena; the Propylaea, a monumental marble gateway and the main entrance to the Acropolis; the Erechtheum, a temple famous for the perfection of its details; and the Temple of Athena Nike.... Free Essays on Acropolis Free Essays on Acropolis Acropolis I. Introduction Acropolis (Greek akros, â€Å"highest†; polis, â€Å"city†), fortified natural stronghold or citadel in ancient Greece. The Greeks built their towns in plains near or around a rocky hill that could easily be fortified and defended. The word acropolis referred both to the hill and to what was built on it. Almost every Greek city had its acropolis, which provided a place of refuge for townspeople during times of war. Sometimes the ruler of the town lived within the walls of this stronghold. In many cases the acropolis became the site of temples and public buildings and thus served as the town’s religious center and the focal point of its public life and as a place of refuge. The best-known acropolis of the ancient world is the Acropolis of Athens. The ruins of its temples and their sculptures are widely regarded as the finest examples of ancient Greek art and architecture. Built on a limestone hill that rises about 150 m (about 500 ft) above sea level, the Acropolis dominates the city of Athens. It houses the remains of the Parthenon, a magnificent temple dedicated to the goddess Athena; the Propylaea, a monumental marble gateway and the main entrance to the Acropolis; the Erechtheum, a temple famous for the perfection of its details; and the Temple of Athena Nike....

Evolution of strategy Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Evolution of strategy - Coursework Example 36). It also involves the creation of a plan that details the actions, which need to be undertaken in order to achieve the organizations goals. The plan will act as the road map that outlines the actions of the organization, which must be undertaken for its objectives to be met. Planning is therefore an important function in management as it seeks to ensure that the organizations goals and objectives are implemented. This function is not restricted to the management of organizations only, as it also proves beneficial in the management of different aspects of an individual’s life. Explored below are concepts linked to management in relation to my pursuit of my academic diploma. Planning as a function necessitates the identification of detailed objectives. Goal setting is a complex process, and requires the individual or organization to set SMART objectives. SMART goals are specific in nature, measurable, realistic, and attainable within a specific timeframe. The latter is of importance in my pursuit of the Management diploma, as it helps me distinguish between short and long-term goals. For example, successfully completing this semester’s coursework is my short-term goal, which will in turn help me accomplish my long-term goal; graduating with my diploma. Planning enables me to structure my reading schedule based on the immediacy of my goals. John Locke the seventieth century philosopher was of the opinion that those who have been charged with the responsibility of managing are bound by a â€Å"social contract† since the many have given up rights and privileges in order to let them lead (Yolton, 1998, pp. 191-7). The same concept applies in management planning where management decisions when ‘in developing systems for your people (employees) to use you are touching lives† (Belke & McCormick, 2012, p. 225). Based on Locke’s supposition, I am accountable for managing my

The household in the economy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

The household in the economy - Essay Example We will also look at the evidence and the various theoretical and methodological issues related to household economy. In the pre-industrial era, the household was a unit of production as compared to a modern household which is a unit of consumption in (Kertzer, 1991). According to Kertzer, â€Å"In a household-as-labour-unit model, the composition of the household is a product of the labour demands of the economic operation, whether it be a farm or a protoindustrial home workshop.† In the pre-industrial times the agricultural land formed the main source of income. This was true even in the case of landless labourers. As such, the economy of the household and indeed its structure also revolved around the land. In countries, like France, where impartible inheritance was a custom, the households tended to be complex family systems. When France banned impartible inheritance in nineteenth century, it led to a progressive decline of the complex family households. Similarly, different inheritance systems in different parts of Europe led to formation of different household systems throughout Europe. In these types of land based agricultural households, the women did not have much say in decision making. Household labour was almost entirely borne by the women while men concentrated on farming. With the advent of the industrial era, things began to change even in predominantly agricultural areas. The farmers whose lands were located closer to the urban areas could no longer be considered â€Å"as â€Å"peasants†, but as market oriented entrepreneurs. Before 1770s, textiles were mainly produced within the household. But with industrialization, these labour intensive jobs moved out of the household and into the factories. On the other hand, the farmers who were producing milk were directly supplying it to the towns like Lancashire and Manchester. This led to the prosperity of farming households. Most of these successful farms were very small (upto 5 acres), and yet profitable

IDENTITY THEFT CAN AFFECT Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

IDENTITY THEFT CAN AFFECT - Research Paper Example During 2012, more than 12 million reported being victims of identity fraud in America. The number showed an increase from that reported in 2011 and 2010: the figures reported were USD 11.6 and 10.2 million respectively (Javelin Strategy & Research, 2013). The average costs incurred by the victims of identity theft were USD 365 (Javelin Strategy & Research, 2013). This paper will explore the growth of identity theft, its effects on individuals and the wider community and the types of identity theft. The problem of identity theft and identity fraud is worsened by the lack of cyber borders and the increase in globalization, which make it possible for identity thieves to commit crimes within and outside the borders of the US. The commission of these crimes within and outside the country makes the work of investigating them more difficult. The fact that the criminals possess numerous identities and also the fact that they may use networks to engage in the crimes also challenges the investigative role of law enforcement officials (Finklea, 2013). Additionally, identity theft is often connected and committed in tandem with other crimes, ranging from bank fraud, credit card theft and employment and immigration fraud. More importantly, it is necessary to take into account that the impacts of identity theft and fraud felt by businesses and individuals are not only limited to financial burdens, but also other important areas (Javelin Strategy & Research, 2013). For example, in assessing the national impacts felt by the US, it is important to note that identity theft and the associated crimes affect the health of the national economy and also the security of the nation. It is necessary to take into account that, in many cases, policy makers have differed over the role of the federal government in preventing the crime, mitigating its effects, providing the best

Social science content standards Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Social science content standards - Essay Example tandards presents many good points as to how students can use their knowledge of social studies in the future, whatever that future might mean for each individual student. Not only does our curriculum help enable students the knowledge of past historical events of importance, but we also present them with the tools to be able to look at the past and see how it impacts and changes the present. The age old quote is only to apt here, those who do no know the past are doomed to repeat it. We give students the tools they need to know the glories, triumphs, as well as the worldly knowledge that comes from the failures and defeats that the past teaches us as well. It is important for students to learn and apply these lessons to their own lives, and see the connections between how choices can affect their own future, and how better choices can and often do lead to a better future. This ability to think and comprehend the past and how it directly correlates to the present is all too apparent throughout our curriculum. We offer emphasis on the most important historical events, for nobody is expected to memorize and know everything that has happen, but this also helps students learn how to discern between important events and those of less importance, and see how these events directly led to the presents. It is also our hope that students will be able to see historical trends that have happened through modern history, and by recognizing these they can begin to see not only what happened, but why those things happened. We also teach students the ability to look at documents associated with an era, and learn and appreciate how these documents all go together with the events of a time period to form an overall history. This is a vital task that can be applied to any future career or job, as reading and understanding documents is a task that all students will need to be able to have if they hope to be competitive in the college level education field, or even in the work

Can Machines Know Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Can Machines Know - Essay Example There are also several ways of citing what makes up knowledge, some of them are more or less â€Å"internalist† and some are also â€Å"externalist.† I would like to follow the internalist point of view which says that knowledge is a justified belief that requires the believer to be aware of the cognitive process of the given belief. If this is the case, internalism, then, requires consciousness in the justification of a belief. So if we ask whether a machine can achieve consciousness, for me, the answer is no. There are several notions in explaining the criteria of consciousness. For example, functionalism theory states that consciousness comes about when all the parts are put together in the right sort of a whole. However, I would like to believe that personal experience or ability to experience is important in determining consciousness along with the ability to think and interpret. To experience â€Å"experiencing† one needs the skill of perception and intelligence. While one may argue that a computer with sensors could function in this manner, the concept of human independence, feelings and ethics or moral capacity is missing in the whole process.

Ethical issue in Costa Coffee Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Ethical issue in Costa Coffee - Research Paper Example Costa Coffee, one such profitable venture by Whitbread (PRATLEY, 2011).To understand the ethical issue affecting Costa Coffee, it is first imperative to look into detail into the ethical issues that affect the coffee industry in general. The coffee retailing industry is haunted by what is known as the coffee paradox. Coffee production for the larger part takes place in developing countries. According to statistics, 90 percent of the world’s coffee production takes place in developing countries, the leading coffee producers being Vietnam, Brazil and Columbia (BUSINESS INSIDER). However, the world’s greatest coffee consumption takes place in industrialized and developed countries like the United States of America and the United Kingdom. This gives rise to a situation what Benoit Daviron and Stefano Ponte call the coffee paradox. The coffee paradox refers to the existence of a coffee crisis in the countries that produce it, and a coffee boom in the countries that consume i t (DAVIRON, 2005). Low wages, poor living standards and poor infrastructure is a regular feature of countries that supply the world with a commodity with a high demand. The producers get low prices, while the same coffee is sold at a substantially higher price. To offset the negative impact of the coffee crisis, coffee retailing firms consider it a part of their business ethics to employ measures that ensures prosperity for the producers of coffee in the developing countries as well. According to Geoff Riley, it is fair-trade that has helped in reducing the widening gap between the producer and consumer prices in the coffee industry (RILEY). Coffee production in the international market is increasingly pressurized by social activists to abide by fair-trade regulations. Fair-trade refers to the social movement whereby producers in developing countries are encouraged to trade their produce at terms that favor their own economy. Another feature of fair-trade is encouraging sustainabili ty in order to conserve resources for the generations to come. In the field of coffee productions, fair-trade coffee refers to coffee selling companies that comply with the standards of sustainable coffee production and distribution. Companies certified as fair-trade coffee retailers may charge a slightly higher price than those coffee retailers who do not comply with fair-trade regulations. According to the ethical consumer’s guide, Costa Coffee has been rated at 9.5 on a scale of 20, while Starbucks, its direct competitor has been rated at 6.5. The ratings give an insight of the top (SHOPPING GUIDE TO COFFEE SHOPS). (2)Produce a report about how that company could improve the ethics of its operations while meeting its objectives and making sure there are good employer/employee relations Costa Coffee does not abide by the fair-trade standards, however, the company can look into alternative ways of fulfilling its objectives as well as improving the ethics of their business op eration. The issue of Costa Coffee’s commitment to its business ethics however is not as simple as whether the company chooses to abide by the laws of fair-trade coffee. While consumers all over the world recognize the fair-trade logo as synonymous to ethical business operation, Costa Coffee has adopted a different, yet less known approach to responsible and sustainable coffee distribution (WELCH, 2011). Costa coffee reportedly joined the Rainforest Alliance in 2008, an ethical trading body

Social science content standards Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Social science content standards - Essay Example tandards presents many good points as to how students can use their knowledge of social studies in the future, whatever that future might mean for each individual student. Not only does our curriculum help enable students the knowledge of past historical events of importance, but we also present them with the tools to be able to look at the past and see how it impacts and changes the present. The age old quote is only to apt here, those who do no know the past are doomed to repeat it. We give students the tools they need to know the glories, triumphs, as well as the worldly knowledge that comes from the failures and defeats that the past teaches us as well. It is important for students to learn and apply these lessons to their own lives, and see the connections between how choices can affect their own future, and how better choices can and often do lead to a better future. This ability to think and comprehend the past and how it directly correlates to the present is all too apparent throughout our curriculum. We offer emphasis on the most important historical events, for nobody is expected to memorize and know everything that has happen, but this also helps students learn how to discern between important events and those of less importance, and see how these events directly led to the presents. It is also our hope that students will be able to see historical trends that have happened through modern history, and by recognizing these they can begin to see not only what happened, but why those things happened. We also teach students the ability to look at documents associated with an era, and learn and appreciate how these documents all go together with the events of a time period to form an overall history. This is a vital task that can be applied to any future career or job, as reading and understanding documents is a task that all students will need to be able to have if they hope to be competitive in the college level education field, or even in the work

Ethical issue in Costa Coffee Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Ethical issue in Costa Coffee - Research Paper Example Costa Coffee, one such profitable venture by Whitbread (PRATLEY, 2011).To understand the ethical issue affecting Costa Coffee, it is first imperative to look into detail into the ethical issues that affect the coffee industry in general. The coffee retailing industry is haunted by what is known as the coffee paradox. Coffee production for the larger part takes place in developing countries. According to statistics, 90 percent of the world’s coffee production takes place in developing countries, the leading coffee producers being Vietnam, Brazil and Columbia (BUSINESS INSIDER). However, the world’s greatest coffee consumption takes place in industrialized and developed countries like the United States of America and the United Kingdom. This gives rise to a situation what Benoit Daviron and Stefano Ponte call the coffee paradox. The coffee paradox refers to the existence of a coffee crisis in the countries that produce it, and a coffee boom in the countries that consume i t (DAVIRON, 2005). Low wages, poor living standards and poor infrastructure is a regular feature of countries that supply the world with a commodity with a high demand. The producers get low prices, while the same coffee is sold at a substantially higher price. To offset the negative impact of the coffee crisis, coffee retailing firms consider it a part of their business ethics to employ measures that ensures prosperity for the producers of coffee in the developing countries as well. According to Geoff Riley, it is fair-trade that has helped in reducing the widening gap between the producer and consumer prices in the coffee industry (RILEY). Coffee production in the international market is increasingly pressurized by social activists to abide by fair-trade regulations. Fair-trade refers to the social movement whereby producers in developing countries are encouraged to trade their produce at terms that favor their own economy. Another feature of fair-trade is encouraging sustainabili ty in order to conserve resources for the generations to come. In the field of coffee productions, fair-trade coffee refers to coffee selling companies that comply with the standards of sustainable coffee production and distribution. Companies certified as fair-trade coffee retailers may charge a slightly higher price than those coffee retailers who do not comply with fair-trade regulations. According to the ethical consumer’s guide, Costa Coffee has been rated at 9.5 on a scale of 20, while Starbucks, its direct competitor has been rated at 6.5. The ratings give an insight of the top (SHOPPING GUIDE TO COFFEE SHOPS). (2)Produce a report about how that company could improve the ethics of its operations while meeting its objectives and making sure there are good employer/employee relations Costa Coffee does not abide by the fair-trade standards, however, the company can look into alternative ways of fulfilling its objectives as well as improving the ethics of their business op eration. The issue of Costa Coffee’s commitment to its business ethics however is not as simple as whether the company chooses to abide by the laws of fair-trade coffee. While consumers all over the world recognize the fair-trade logo as synonymous to ethical business operation, Costa Coffee has adopted a different, yet less known approach to responsible and sustainable coffee distribution (WELCH, 2011). Costa coffee reportedly joined the Rainforest Alliance in 2008, an ethical trading body

David Malouf Essay Example for Free

David Malouf Essay David George Joseph Malouf (born 1934) is an Australian writer. He was awarded the Neustadt International Prize for Literature in 2000, his 1993 novel Remembering Babylon won the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 1996, he won the inaugural Australia-Asia Literary Award in 2008, and he was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Malouf was born in Brisbane, Australia, to a Christian Lebanese father and an English- Jewish mother. He was an avid reader as a child, and at 12 years old was reading such books as Bleak House and The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. [2] These books, he says, taught him about sex: They told you there was a life out there that was amazingly passionate. He is a graduated at Queensland University in 1955 where he lecture for a short period of time before moving to London. There he spent some years teaching but in 1968 he decided to return to Australia and lectured at the university of Sydney where he spend most of his time. He became a full-time writer in 1978. Carreer Many people when asked about Malouf first writings think of Johnno what is his first novel wrote in 1975, but the truth is that his first writing was his 1974 collection, Neighbours in a Thicket: Poems that first earned him a reputation as a significant new Australian talent. Winning various prizes, including the Australian Literature Society Gold Medal, the book draws heavily on Maloufs own past. Neighbours in a Thicket: Poems comprises intimate memories of suburban childhood, of domestic interiors, of mother, sister and the War, of travel in Europe. * His first novel, Johnno (1975), is the semi-autobiographical tale of a young man growing up in Brisbane during the Second World War, a period in Maloufs life that he later wrote about in his memoir. * His second novel, An Imaginary Life (1978), is a fictional life of the poet Ovid, exiled from Rome by the Emperor Augustus in 8 A.D. and sent to live in exile among the Scythians on the Black Sea * In 1982, his novella about three acquaintances and their experience of World War I, Fly Away Peter, won The Age Book of the Year fiction prize. This book sees a return to wartime Australia and Queensland. Ashley Crowther has inherited land from his grandfather, but soon begins to realise that the place really belongs to Jim Saddler, the manager of the estate. Like so many of Maloufs narratives, it returns us to his central themes of possession and dispossession and of Europes complex relationship to Australia. * The Great World (1990), which won the Commonwealth Writers Prize (Overall Winner, Best Book) and tells the story of two Australians imprisoned by the Japanese during the Second World War; represents a turning point in the career of Malouf, whose work has become increasingly popular since the 1980s. While the text pursues much the same subject matter as his earlier novels, it does so on a much broader and more compelling canvas. The novel represents one of Maloufs most ambitious works to date. An epic tale, it combines intimate descriptions of Australias varied landscape, from Sydneys teeming Kings Cross to the tranquil backwaters of the Hawkesbury River while managing to imaginatively encompass the whole of Australia, and the world of Europe beyond. Spanning almost a century, The Great World takes The Great War, along with all those other wars in which Australia has fought in order to re-tell the countrys history. * And the acclaimed Remembering Babylon (1993), which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for Fiction and won the first International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award in 1996, as well as the Commonwealth Writers Prize (South East Asia and South Pacific Region, Best Book). Remembering Babylon (1993), probably Maloufs best known novel is set in 19th-century Australia, and tells the story of a young boy (Gemmy Fairley), a castaway who is rescued and taken in by aborigines. As an adult, Gemmy comes into contact with a group of European settlers and is taken in by the McIvor family. However, he is never completely accepted by the settler community: both insider and outsider, familiar yet foreign, he arouses both the desires and distrust of his people. Most disturbing of all, Gemmy no longer feels at home in his own body. He has become an in-between figure; a hybrid. Since the turn of the century, much of Maloufs major work has adopted and adapted the short story form. His critically acclaimed collection of short stories, Dream Stuff (2000), Malouf brings together a diverse range of narratives dealing with Australia over the past century. Many of these tales approach their subjects obliquely through myths, dreams and hauntings. As with so much of his best work though, they are also firmly grounded in the physical spaces of the Australian landscape.