Michael Wright – författare

800 million people live in Africa, a continent which covers 22% of the world's surface and encompasses some 50 countries. Conflict, poverty, endemic diseases, and lack of clean water pose serious challenges for the population, made worse by a rampaging AIDS pandemic. Huge loss of life has impacted dramatically on both health systems and social and family structures. As the attention of the world focused increasingly on Africa, the International Observatory on End of Life Care was commissioned to conduct a timely review of hospice and palliative care development across the continent. The Observatory undertook this review using an approach specially designed for resource poor settings. Information was collected against an agreed template to allow comparisons between countries and regions. As a result, an insight is given into the challenges, opportunities and successes faced by hospice and palliative care workers, country by country, throughout the 26 countries in Africa where a palliative care initiative is underway. Strategies and models of care are explored, and the development of palliative care is viewed from various standpoints including ethnographic, historical, ethnic, demographic and epidemiological perspectives. This is the first comprehensive reference focusing exclusively on palliative care and hospice development in Africa, and makes fascinating reading.

Since the turn of the century, there has been worldwide growth in the effort to improve the quality of end of life care. Alongside these initiatives, growing interest in the international development of hospice and palliative care has created the need for an informed, in depth overview of the state of development in different world regions. A follow-up to the successful Hospice and Palliative Care in Africa: a review of developments and challenges (Wright and Clark, OUP 2006), this book provides a detailed evidence-base of the palliative care provision in Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines, identifies barriers to development and how these may be overcome. The book aims to stimulate a more informed debate around these issues, to improve policy-making among intergovernmental and governmental organisations on end of life care in these regions, and to encourage further research and improved practice. Hospice and Palliative Care in Southeast Asia: a review of developments and challenges in Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines includes in-depth country reports that analyse the current state of hospice and palliative care. The book is written using a template that allows effective comparison between countries and regions. Data has been gathered from multiple sources, field visits, and interviews with key activists made possible by close working relations with hospice-palliative care colleagues across the region and in particular through links with the Asia Pacific Hospice Palliative Care Network (APHN) and the national associations of each country. This book will be of relevance to anyone interested in international palliative care, including practitioners, researchers, policy-makers, social scientist, and medical historians.

The jews-harp is a distinctive musical instrument of international importance, yet it remains one of those musical instruments, like the ocarina, kazoo or even the art of whistling, that travels beneath the established musical radar. The story of the jews-harp is also part of our musical culture, though it has attracted relatively little academic study. Britain and Ireland played a significant role in the instrument’s manufacture and world distribution, particularly during the nineteenth and first half of the twentieth centuries. Drawing upon previously unknown written sources and piecing together thousands of fragments of information spanning hundreds of years, Michael Wright tells the story of the jews-harp’s long history in the Britain and Ireland. Beginning with an introductory chapter describing the instrument, Part One looks at the various theories of its ancient origin, how it came to be in Europe, terminology, and its English name. Part Two explores its commercial exploitation and the importance of the export market in the development of manufacturing. Part Three looks the instrument’s appearance and use in art, literature and the media, finally considering the many players who have used the instrument throughout its long history.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of the most important themes in German HIV/AIDS prevention and care from the beginning of the epidemic to the present. Multidisciplinary in approach, it highlights the unique contributions of Germany to AIDS work, making available for the first time knowledge which can be applied to other countries as well as to other fields of public health practice. Topics discussed include:*structural prevention, a concept which unites political and behavioural change*the synchronistic relationship between AIDS policy and gay politics*the dominance of love and intimacy over other 'risk factors'*an approach to prevention among drug users which emphasis human rights and accepts the using behaviour*a unique partnership between public authorities and the voluntary sector*services for women working in cross-national border prostitution*an AIDS survivor syndrome among gay men*HIV in the context of emotional risks taken by women in relationships.In addition, specifically German themes are described, including special needs of gay men from the former East Germany, the difficulties of providing adequate outpatient care for people with HIV/AIDS and the history of the AIDS prevention debate in Germany.The book offers medical, nursing, public health, sociological, psychological and social work perspectives on the German response to AIDS.

The decade since the publication of the Cadbury Report in1992 has seen growing interest in corporate governance. This growth has recently become an explosion with major corporate scandals such as WorldCom and Enron in the US, the international diffusion of corporate governance codes and wider interest in researching corporate governance in different institutional contexts and through different subject lenses. In view of these developments, this book will be a rigorous update and development of the editor’s earlier work, Corporate Governance: Economic, Management and Financial Issues.   Each chapter, written by an expert in the subject offers a high level review of the topic, embracing material from financial accounting, strategy and economic perspectives.

One day in late summer, Michael Wright gave up his comfortable South London existence and, with only his long-suffering cat for company, set out to begin a new life. His destination was 'La Folie', a dilapidated 15th century farmhouse in need of love and renovation in the heart of rural France...Inspired by the success of his column in the Daily Telegraph about La Folie, this book is his winningly honest account of his struggle to fulfil a childhood dream and become a Real Man - to make the journey from social townie to rugged, solitary paysan. And in chronicling his enthusiastic attempts at looking after livestock and coming to terms with the concept of living Abroad Alone, the author discovers what it takes to be a man at the beginning of the 21st century, especially if one is short sighted, flat footed and not very good at games.Life-affirming, laugh out loud funny (and boasting more than its fair share of larger-than-life locals, bilingual chickens, diminutive but over-sexed sheep, invisible rodents, manly power tools with unpronounceable names, plus the occasional femmes fatale), this tale of a new-found life in France with a cat, a piano and an aeroplane, is both an elegy for a world that's fast disappearing as a hymn to the simple pleasures of being alive.

This book, originally published in 1985, examines the practical effects of management buy-outs in terms of improvements in financial and managerial performance and sets them in their general theoretical context. It opens by considering buy-outs from the standpoint of economic analysis, entrepreneurship and the wider economic implications for industrial restructuring. It goes on to look at the effects of buy-outs in practice in a range of case studies developed by the authors. These consider the financial, economic and managerial impacts. Finally, it discusses the implications of management buy-outs for government policy and presents some general conclusions. This title will be of interest to students of business studies and management.

This book, originally published in 1985, examines the practical effects of management buy-outs in terms of improvements in financial and managerial performance and sets them in their general theoretical context. It opens by considering buy-outs from the standpoint of economic analysis, entrepreneurship and the wider economic implications for industrial restructuring. It goes on to look at the effects of buy-outs in practice in a range of case studies developed by the authors. These consider the financial, economic and managerial impacts. Finally, it discusses the implications of management buy-outs for government policy and presents some general conclusions. This title will be of interest to students of business studies and management.

Human Behavior Theory and Social Work Practice with Marginalized Oppressed Populations addresses what social workers can do to combat the increasingly complex social concerns that face the profession, and explores how to incorporate the celebration of diversity and the protection of human rights into social work curricula and the helping process. The authors combine human behavior theories with a narrative, postmodern practice methodology that deals with both the client’s or constituencies’ presenting problem and equity issues, and, as a result, the book is both theoretical and applied. Two major integrating themes throughout are at the forefront of the book—the celebration of diversity and the equality of human rights. The goal is to strengthen diversity and human rights components of the social work curriculum and to provide more practice guidelines for cross-cultural practice.

Human Behavior Theory and Social Work Practice with Marginalized Oppressed Populations addresses what social workers can do to combat the increasingly complex social concerns that face the profession, and explores how to incorporate the celebration of diversity and the protection of human rights into social work curricula and the helping process. The authors combine human behavior theories with a narrative, postmodern practice methodology that deals with both the client’s or constituencies’ presenting problem and equity issues, and, as a result, the book is both theoretical and applied. Two major integrating themes throughout are at the forefront of the book—the celebration of diversity and the equality of human rights. The goal is to strengthen diversity and human rights components of the social work curriculum and to provide more practice guidelines for cross-cultural practice.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of the most important themes in German HIV/AIDS prevention and care from the beginning of the epidemic to the present. Multidisciplinary in approach, it highlights the unique contributions of Germany to AIDS work, making available for the first time knowledge which can be applied to other countries as well as to other fields of public health practice. Topics discussed include:*structural prevention, a concept which unites political and behavioural change*the synchronistic relationship between AIDS policy and gay politics*the dominance of love and intimacy over other 'risk factors'*an approach to prevention among drug users which emphasis human rights and accepts the using behaviour*a unique partnership between public authorities and the voluntary sector*services for women working in cross-national border prostitution*an AIDS survivor syndrome among gay men*HIV in the context of emotional risks taken by women in relationships.In addition, specifically German themes are described, including special needs of gay men from the former East Germany, the difficulties of providing adequate outpatient care for people with HIV/AIDS and the history of the AIDS prevention debate in Germany.The book offers medical, nursing, public health, sociological, psychological and social work perspectives on the German response to AIDS.

An extraordinary wartime memoir, combining the best kind of adventure story with a coming of age testimony of unforgettable resonance and poignancy. September 2011, Halkidiki, Northern Greece. A solitary 86 year-old man gazes across an Aegean headland, knowing that he must finally confront his past. He begins to write...September 1939, Nieppe, Northern France. 14 year-old Stephen is living with his family, 25 kilometres from Ypres. His French mother battles with her encroaching blindness. Failing to escape the advancing German army, his English father can no longer look after the war graves that cast so heartbreaking a shadow across the region. Stephen and his friend Marcel embark upon their great adventure: collecting souvenirs from strafed convoys and crashed Messerschmitts. But their world turns dark when arrested and imprisoned for sabotage and threatened with deportation or the firing squad. Upon his release, and still only 16, Stephen is recruited by the French Resistance. Growing up under the threat of imminent betrayal, he learns the arts of clandestine warfare, and - in a moment that haunts him still - how to kill...Such was the impact of Stephen Grady's work for the French Resistance, (especially during the countdown to D-Day and its bloody aftermath) that he was awarded the Croix de Guerre and the American Medal of Freedom.

The jews-harp is a distinctive musical instrument of international importance, yet it remains one of those musical instruments, like the ocarina, kazoo or even the art of whistling, that travels beneath the established musical radar. The story of the jews-harp is also part of our musical culture, though it has attracted relatively little academic study. Britain and Ireland played a significant role in the instrument’s manufacture and world distribution, particularly during the nineteenth and first half of the twentieth centuries. Drawing upon previously unknown written sources and piecing together thousands of fragments of information spanning hundreds of years, Michael Wright tells the story of the jews-harp’s long history in the Britain and Ireland. Beginning with an introductory chapter describing the instrument, Part One looks at the various theories of its ancient origin, how it came to be in Europe, terminology, and its English name. Part Two explores its commercial exploitation and the importance of the export market in the development of manufacturing. Part Three looks the instrument’s appearance and use in art, literature and the media, finally considering the many players who have used the instrument throughout its long history.

Landscaping is a critical element in improving both the function and appearance of rainwater recycling and stormwater management practices. Designing landscaped areas to soak up rainfall runoff from building and paved areas helps protect water quality in local creeks and waterways. These landscape designs reduce polluted runoff and help prevent creek erosion. As the runoff flows over vegetation and soil in the landscaped area, the water percolates into the ground and pollutants are filtered out or broken down by the soil and plants. As Mike Breedlove, landscape architect and head of Breedlove Land Planning in Conyers, GA, likes to say, "The role of the landscape architect is to successfully marry mankind to nature." His statement is even more succinct than the description used by the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA), which highlights how landscape architects use a comprehensive working knowledge of architecture, civil engineering, and urban planning to "design aesthetic and practical relationships with the land." This integrative function of landscape architecture makes the profession seem a natural spawning ground for the innovation needed to successfully meet the considerable challenges posed by stormwater-related pollution and erosion. Fencing or hiding stormwater facilities out of view not only loses the opportunity to create an aesthetically pleasing site design, but also sends the message that stormwater is an attractive nuisance. Furthermore, constructing rain parks is becoming an essential part for urban landscape planning.

This two-volume set represents a collection of papers presented at the 18th International Conference on Environmental Degradation of Materials in Nuclear Power Systems – Water Reactors. The purpose of this conference series is to foster an exchange of ideas about problems and their remedies in water-cooled nuclear power plants of today and the future. Contributions cover problems facing nickel-based alloys, stainless steels, pressure vessel and piping steels, zirconium alloys, and other alloys in water environments of relevance. Components covered include pressure boundary components, reactor vessels and internals, steam generators, fuel cladding, irradiated components, fuel storage containers, and balance of plant components and systems.

This two-volume set represents a collection of papers presented at the 18th International Conference on Environmental Degradation of Materials in Nuclear Power Systems – Water Reactors. The purpose of this conference series is to foster an exchange of ideas about problems and their remedies in water-cooled nuclear power plants of today and the future. Contributions cover problems facing nickel-based alloys, stainless steels, pressure vessel and piping steels, zirconium alloys, and other alloys in water environments of relevance. Components covered include pressure boundary components, reactor vessels and internals, steam generators, fuel cladding, irradiated components, fuel storage containers, and balance of plant components and systems.