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Mandeville's Travels was, for more than two centuries after its appearance in c.1356, of enormous influence and popularity in many fields of European culture. This paper discusses first its unprecedented generic eclecticism and its casting into the form of a first person narrative, and then proceeds to explore concepts of space and how a journey narrative may be articulated. Finally, it moves to consideration of the journey and what the traveller reports as having encountered on it as a moral exploration of a world seen as symbol as well as material.

Increased emphasis is being placed on providing integrated and normalizing work experiences for people with severe disabilities through supported employment. As more individuals are offered training in nonsheltered situations, it is important to consider the nature of the typical environments they will be moving into and the elements of work that make it a meaningful and satisfying experience for typical workers. The literature on supported employment has been primarily concerned with outcome studies of demonstration projects, the efficacy of training strategies, and the development of administrative structures and funding systems. In contrast, studies of work for nondisabled individuals have focused on job satisfaction and what the experience means to the worker, and for the most part have ignored those who have disabilities. This review examines supported employment in light of the literature on the experience of work by nondisabled people, with particular reference to the meaning of work in the lives of persons with disabilities. There is discussion of worker satisfaction, the meaning of pay, the effect of the task itself, and the role of the culture of the workplace on the behavior of the workers. Implications for the establishment of supported employment opportunities in typical businesses are presented.

Qualitative research methods generally depend heavily on good communication between researcher and informant. When qualitative methodologists study informants with severe retardation whose use of language may be limited, what do they do? If the researchers plan to study the world of the informant, then traditional participant observation guidelines are useful. But when the researcher wants to interview the informant, some modifications need to be made. The authors suggest several guidelines to follow.

Background: Compare changes in types of hospital service revenues between traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) hospitals and Western-medicine based general hospitals. Methods: 97 TCM hospitals and 103 general hospitals were surveyed in years of 2000 and 2004. Six types of medical service revenue between the two types of hospitals were compared overtime. The national statistics from 1999 to 2008 were also used as complementary evidence. Results: For TCM hospitals, the percentage of service revenue from Western medicine increased from 44.3% to 47.4% while the percentage of service revenue from TCM declined from 26.4% to 18.8% from 1999 to 2004. Percentages of revenue from laboratory tests and surgical procedures for both types of hospitals increased and the discrepancy between the two types of hospitals was narrowed from 1999 to 2004. For TCM hospitals, revenues from laboratory tests increased from 3.64% to 5.06% and revenues from surgical procedures increased from 3.44% to 7.02%. General hospitals' TCM drug revenue in outpatient care declined insignificantly from 5.26% to 3.87%, while the decline for the TCM hospitals was significant from 19.73% to 13.77%. The national statistics from 1999 to 2008 showed similar trends that the percentage of revenue from Western medicine for TCM hospitals increased from 59.6% in 1999 to 62.2% in 2003 and 66.1% in 2008 while the percentage of revenue from TCM for TCM hospitals decreased from 18.0% in 1999, 15.4% in 2003, and 13.7% in 2008. Conclusion: Western medicine has become a vital revenue source for TCM hospitals in the current Chinese health care environment where government subsidies to health care facilities have significantly declined. Policies need to encourage TCM hospitals to identify their own special and effective services, improve public perception, increase demand, strengthen financial sources, and ultimately make contributions to preserving one of the national treasures.

<p><strong>Objective: </strong>To examine the association between patient race/ethnicity, insurance status, and their interaction with patient safety indicators among hospitalized patients. <strong></strong></p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Cross-sectional study was conducted. Data were extracted from the 2009 National Inpatient Sample. A total of 3,052,268 patient safety indicator-related discharges were identified. Dependent variables were 11 patient safety indicators (PSI) whereas independent variables included race/ethnicity and insurance status. <strong></strong></p><p><strong>Results: </strong>As compared with White patients, African American patients were more likely to experience pressure ulcer, postoperative hemorrhage or hematoma, and post-operative pulmonary embolism (PE) or deep vein thrombosis (DVE); Asian/Pacific Islander patients were more likely to experience pressure ulcer, post-operative PE or DVT, and two obstetric care PSIs; whereas Hispanic/Latino patients were more likely to experience post-operative physiometabolic derangement and accidental puncture/ laceration. As compared with patients with private insurance, Medicaid patients were more likely to experience pressure ulcer, post-operative physiological metabolic derangement, post-operative PE or DVT, post-operative respiratory failure, post-operative wound dehiscence, and death among surgeries. However, both obstetric care PSIs showed that African Americans, Hispanics, and uninsured patients were less likely to incur them in comparison with their respective counterparts. Furthermore, strong interactive effects between African American and Medicaid on PSIs were detected. <strong></strong></p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Although mixed findings in disparities in PSIs were observed in our study, Asian/Pacific Islander patients and Medicaid patients seem to be the most vulnerable. Further, interactive effects between African American and Medicaid indicate that poverty may be a key factor related to disparities in health care. Future research is merited to identify underlying factors that are related to PSIs among Asian/Pacific Islander patients. Strategies are needed to improve PSIs among Medicaid patients, especially during the current Medicaid program expansion due to the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. <em>Ethn Dis. </em>2016; 26(3):443-452; doi:10.18865/ed.26.3.443 </p>