Staff Nurse Appraisal free essay sample

There is a greater chance that the performance appraisal will have a positive outcome if certain conditions are present before, during, and after the interview. Before the Interview * Make sure that the conditions mentioned previously have been met (e. g. , the employee knows the standard by which his or her work will be evaluated), and she has a copy of the appraisal form. Select an appropriate time for the appraisal conference. We will write a custom essay sample on Staff Nurse Appraisal or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page * Be prepared mentally and emotionally for the conference yourself. * Schedule uninterrupted interview time. * Plan a seating arrangement that reflects collegiality rather than power (placing the chairs side by side) During the Interview * Greet the employee warmly, showing that the manager and the organization have a sincere interest in his or her growth. * Begin the conference on a pleasant, informal note. Ask the employee to comment on his or her progress since the last performance appraisal. * Avoid surprises in the appraisal conference. * Use coaching techniques throughout the conference. * When dealing with an employee who has several problems select the major ones. * Listen carefully to what the employee has to say. Focus on the employee’s performance and not on his or her personal characteristics. * When delivering performance feedback, be straightforward and state concerns directly. Never threaten, intimidate, or use status in any manner * Let the employee know that the organization and the manager are aware of his or her uniqueness, special interests, and valuable contributions to the unit. * Use terms and language that are clearly understood and carry the same meaning for both parties. Avoid words that have a negative connotation. * Mutually set goals for further growth or improvement in the employee’s performance. Plan on being available for employees to return retrospectively to discuss the appraisal review further. After the Interview Both the manager and employee need to sign the appraisal form to document that the conference was held and that the employee received the appraisal information * End the interview on a pleasant note. * Document the goals for further development that have been agreed on by both parties. * If the interview reveals specific long-term coaching needs, the manager should develop a method of follow-up to ensure that such coaching takes place. Reference: Leadership Roles and Management Functions in Nursing Theory and Application.

Free Essays on Single Family Life

Article 1 InfoTrac Web: CPI.Q.. Source: Report Newsmagazine (BC Edition), December 18 2000, vol 27 no 16, p .42. Title: Don't confuse compassion with indulgence: we should discourage the formation of single-parent households and help the poor to help themselves. Author: Joe Campbell Category: Social Issues Subjects: Single parent family Public welfare Poverty Language: English Full Text: The Liberals and the NDP are the parties of compassionright? Wrong! They are the parties of indulgence. Compassion and indulgence are as far apart as good and evil. One, in fact, is a virtue, the other a vice. Aristotle observed that, generally speaking, moral virtue is the mean between the extremes of excess and defect, both of which are vices. Courage, for example, is the mean between recklessness and cowardice; generosity is the mean between prodigality and parsimony. Compassion is the mean between indulgence and indifference. We are compassionate when we identify people in adversity and try to help them. We are indulgent when we pander to their weaknesses and risk harming them. Virtues and vices are habits. We acquire them through repeated practice. The Liberals and the NDP have been practicing indulgence for decades. They've become very good at it. Poverty is the issue most likely to provoke claims and counter-claims about compassion or the lack of it. The political left, whether Liberal, NDP or red Tory, prides itself on policies and practices that treat the poor compassionately. At the same time, it links the political right with attitudes, policies and practices that are indifferent, or even hostile, too The poor. Since poverty is a wide subject, I will deal with only two aspects of it: single parenthood and welfare dependency. Single-parent households, nearly all headed by women, face persistent financial challenges. Between 1975 and 1992, they were approximately five times more likely than two-parent families... Free Essays on Single Family Life Free Essays on Single Family Life Article 1 InfoTrac Web: CPI.Q.. Source: Report Newsmagazine (BC Edition), December 18 2000, vol 27 no 16, p .42. Title: Don't confuse compassion with indulgence: we should discourage the formation of single-parent households and help the poor to help themselves. Author: Joe Campbell Category: Social Issues Subjects: Single parent family Public welfare Poverty Language: English Full Text: The Liberals and the NDP are the parties of compassionright? Wrong! They are the parties of indulgence. Compassion and indulgence are as far apart as good and evil. One, in fact, is a virtue, the other a vice. Aristotle observed that, generally speaking, moral virtue is the mean between the extremes of excess and defect, both of which are vices. Courage, for example, is the mean between recklessness and cowardice; generosity is the mean between prodigality and parsimony. Compassion is the mean between indulgence and indifference. We are compassionate when we identify people in adversity and try to help them. We are indulgent when we pander to their weaknesses and risk harming them. Virtues and vices are habits. We acquire them through repeated practice. The Liberals and the NDP have been practicing indulgence for decades. They've become very good at it. Poverty is the issue most likely to provoke claims and counter-claims about compassion or the lack of it. The political left, whether Liberal, NDP or red Tory, prides itself on policies and practices that treat the poor compassionately. At the same time, it links the political right with attitudes, policies and practices that are indifferent, or even hostile, too The poor. Since poverty is a wide subject, I will deal with only two aspects of it: single parenthood and welfare dependency. Single-parent households, nearly all headed by women, face persistent financial challenges. Between 1975 and 1992, they were approximately five times more likely than two-parent families...

American Government - Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

American Government - - Research Paper Example The U.S. subsequent involvement in Afghanistan may go down as one of the most controversial policy decisions in American history (Ginsberg, Lowi, and Weir). Indeed, there are a number of complex questions involved when determining the moral and political justifications behind the policy in Afghanistan. This essay functions to considers the United States policy in Afghanistan in relation to factors and issues affecting the topic, the current status of the topic, and future concerns of the policy. One of the main justifications of the United States involvement in Afghanistan is the belief that Al Qaeda’s attack on the United States violated the "just war" theory. The just war theory explains that only government led groups can lead an attack, but they must do so for a just cause. It’s been said that Al Qaeda broke the just war theory because they attacked civilians with no cause. Furthermore, the attack on the Pentagon, one could argue, was a government driven attack. The subsequent war represents the American response to the threat. There is no doubt that the American response had its economic and strategic interests, but the essential reason for the America’s actions following September 11 many believe is for the defense of freedom (Bennis). Supporters of the war in Afghanistan believe in the progress that can be made in defending freedom and democracy anywhere in the world. Indeed, freedom became after September 11 an all-purpose explanation for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The wars conducted by the United States were justified as a response to the terrorist attacks which aimed the basic liberties of the American society. Freedom was soon perceived as an American good that must be promoted everywhere and the United States was seen as having the moral duty of promoting democracy throughout the world. While it is yet to be seen if the attempted change in the political system of Afghanistan represents progress, supporters of the war beli eve that democracy in the Middle East will eventually lead to progress. Even as the war policy in Afghanistan was initially justified as a means of national security, the United States’ longevity and continued presence many argue has proved to be problematic. While the war policy might have started along well-justified measures, it’s argued that it now carries a toll on the American population (Rashid). Within this spectrum of understanding there are a number of points policy opponents have raised. One important reason that individuals must consider is peoples’ safety here at home. While the War on Terrorism has been sold as fighting the terrorist abroad so they must not be fought at home, this seems a somewhat specious concept. Military recruiting is down. Young people do not want to join the Armed Forces when it is quite clear they could die in Afghanistan. This shortage results in fewer qualified members of the armed forces, and leaves fewer in America to pro tect against terrorism and attack. There have already been reported over 2,600 coalition force member deaths. That includes 2,463 Americans. Almost 18,000 military personnel have been wounded during the war, and thousands of Iraqis and insurgents have also died during the fighting (BBC 2009). This human cost may be the most difficult consequence of the war to bear. Innocent people did die on September 11th and nobody deserves the pain and agony of the terrorist’s terrible actions, but now it’

Project Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 10

Project Management - Essay Example The wildly important in the front row in mind is establishing an insurance company. Insurance company is an institution that focusses on insuring people on losses or damages. However, one can also insure himself or herself for any damage to oneself. It can be either death insurance or accident insurance. The insurance company will have other programs to help the needy. Hence, apart from insurance services, the company will have to work with institutions that have programs to help the needy. There are many options of who I would want to be in the future. Every person has a dream to be someone or somebody later. I prefer to be a great entrepreneur. An entrepreneur is an individual who identifies a business opportunity and gathers necessary goods and services to establish a business. Great people in the world have their dignity earned through their exceptional entrepreneurial skills. For example, Bill Gates, Edward Buffett and Carlos Slim gain their publicity due to the great entrepreneurship skills they have. Project management is the process of controlling certain activities that are essential towards achieving individual set goals. Project management is essential in aiding achievement of objectives. It gives a clear outline of how to carry out work to achieve the set objective. However, project management aids in avoiding time wastage, misuse of resources and helps in analyzing SWOT analysis. It is vital to have a goal in life. It helps in avoiding unnecessary activities. Project management is essential in helping achieve set goals. A goal is in association with a plan. Hence, failing to have a plan is planning to

A Mythical Roadmap of the Movie Cars Essay Example for Free

A Mythical Roadmap of the Movie Cars Essay The first stage of separation is the call to adventure. Followed by the refusal of the call and the crossing of a threshold. Call to Adventure: In most situations, this call becomes the subject of the story or the plot of the movie. For Lightning, he thinks his call to adventure comes over the Public Announcement System when the tie-breaking race in California is announced. While this may be the obvious choice, but I don’t think that it is. We need to look at Lightning as the potential hero and observes how he grows over the course of the journey. He doesn’t grow in skill as a driver. He ran his first race at the beginning of the movie a lot better than the race at the end. The call to adventure is not always the destination, but the road leading to the destination. The adventure is in the hero’s growth. The growth that Lightning experiences is in his ability to have and appreciate friends. As cheesy as it sounds, the call to adventure for this movie is the call to find friendship. Refusal of the Call: The refusal of the call happened during the first race when Lightning refused the help and friendship around him. Let’s admit it, Lightning was a jerk. He alienated the people who tried to help him. Three different crew chiefs quit on him during the one season he’s been racing. His arrogance at the end of the first race was so bad his entire crew quit on him. Another example of Lightnings Refusal was his initial refusal to pave the road he destroyed in Radiator Springs. It was through his paving the road that he learned the lessons of the journey. Crossing the Threshold: The symbolism of the thresholds in the movie are found in the highways that Mack and Lightning re traveling. The â€Å"Mother Road† on Route 66 is significantly more important as it is on the Mother Road that we meet the Threshold Guardian, embodied by the Sheriff. As Lightning is frantically trying to find the interstate and Mack, he speeds pas a sleepy Sheriff’s speed trap. The local sheriff begins to follow him with sirens going. Instead of stopping, Lightening goes through a chain of events throug h the forgotten town of Radiator Spring destroying the main road and other property and landing himself in jail, or the impound. This leads to the initiation phase, which can be summarized by the road of trials, the meeting with the goddess, and apotheosis. Road of Trials: The neat part of the Road of Trials step in Cars is that they are somewhat associated with an actual road, in this case, Route 66 or the Mother Road. As Lightning began to face his trails during the movie, he began by failing them. Lighting’s failure in his encounter with the threshold guardian, the Sheriff, resulted in the destruction of the road. When Doc challenged Lightning to a race, Lightning again failed due to his arrogance and lack of experience racing on dirt. The turning point on his road of trials came in the pasture where he and Mater, the local tow truck, were tipping tractors. Lightning successfully tipped all of the tractors by revving his engine. He was also successful in escaping from Frank the Combine. There, Lightning’s luck changed and he was able to fix the road, learn to race on dirt and redeem himself from his earlier failures. The Meeting with the Goddess: I had a couple of options in picking the goddess who Lightning would meet. Since Lightning is a male, I began looking at the female characters. Had the hero been a woman, I would have included the male characters in my search. One important part of identifying the Gods and Goddesses is to not get hung up on their gender but on how the character fills the role. I first went to Sally Carrera, a 2002 Porsche Carrera, as a possibility for the goddess, but I needed to remember not to confuse the romantic interest with the goddess. The goddess that Lightning has to meet needs to be associated with a trial or test that he had to pass in order to continue on his journey. The character that I identified as the goddess, was not a main character, she didn’t even have any speaking lines. The goddess was Bessie. Bessie is the name given to the road paving machine that Lightning had to drag at a snails pace to fix the road. I chose Bessie because she was the symbolic and literal obstacle that was keeping Lightning in town. To leave town, Bessie would have to be on the other end of the road with smooth pavement behind her. Lightning challenged Bessie’s role as his captor when he tried to speed up the process of fixing the road by quickly laying down the asphalt that he later had to scrape up. When Lightning was put in his place, humbled, and respectful of Bessie’s role as the goddess, he could begin to accomplish the task before him. Apotheosis: The step of apotheosis or becoming the father or god began when Lightning discovered that Doc was a retired race car. Discovering Doc’s Piston Cups and watching Doc race helped Lightning to realize that he could learn something from Doc and he quickly regretted not listening to the advice Doc previously offered. The true point of apotheosis comes during the final race when Lighting takes things learned from his time in Radiator Springs and used it to position himself for the win. This includes driving backwards using rear view mirrors and driving on the dirt infield during a spin-out that helped him take the lead. Even though he did not win the race, or the cup, as Doc had, it was Lightning’s to give up. He became the race car that Doc would be proud to know. The third and final stage of Lightning’s journey is the return, characterized by a refusal to return, the crossing of another threshold, the mastery of two worlds, and the freedom to live. The next three step follow each other in very rapid succession. The refusal came when Mack and the rest of the media came to bring Lightning back to the â€Å"real† world. Lightning didn’t want to go. He had fallen for the temptress, Sally, and was ready to abandon his journey. Luckily for him, Sally told him it was okay to go and he left, returning to the world he left behind. The magic flight out of the fantastical world in this story had been combined with the crossing of the return threshold. Mack the truck carries Lightning out of Radiator Springs and onto California. The events surrounding this is discussed a little more when we talk about crossing the return threshold. During Lightning’s stay in Radiator Springs, he became more attached to the people there. It is easy to imagine that he would give up the California race if that meant he could stay with Sally and the residents of the town. The sweet ambrosia of friendship he tasted there was more powerful that the desire to have the Piston Cup. As demonstrated in the movie, there were three aspects to this rescue from without. First is how the media was notified by Doc of Lightning’s location. Second, is Mack with the media entourage barreling into town to take Lightning away. And third, Harv the agent reminds Lighting about the Race, Dinoco, and his rival Chick Hicks. Doc, Mack, Harv, and the media each helped to rescue Lightning. Reluctantly, he allows himself to be rescued and backs into Mack’s trailer for the magic flight to California. The Crossing of the Return Threshold: In the step of crossing the return threshold, we see the return of the Sheriff in his role as the threshold guardian. He and Sally stopped Lightning from leaving by siphoning his gas tank on his first night in the impound. Later, the Sheriff almost had to go after him before Sally and Lightning went on their ride to the Wheel Well. After Lightning finishes paving the road, and thus completing his road of trials, the Sheriff changes his demeanor and is ready to give Lightning a police escort to help Lightning get to the race on time. In the Sheriff’s role as the threshold guardian, he has released Lightning from â€Å"captivity† and it is now Lightning’s â€Å"refusal to return† that is keeping him there. Lightning crosses the return threshold as he takes his magical flight in Mack’s trailer. One part of crossing the return threshold is that the fantastical world, or the world forgotten, becomes forgotten again. Lightning had become a catalyst of life and energy culminating with everyone in Radiator Springs cruising under the neon lights. When Lightning had left town, Doc finally got what he originally wanted. After a tongue lashing from Sally, Doc quietly sat there as everyone left him alone. He sat there thinking about what he had done as the neon lights turned off, one by one. The world forgotten returned to its anonymity as Doc sat on the darkened road, under the traffic light’s flashing yellow signal. Perhaps the saddest moment in the movie. Master of the Two Worlds: The second to last step in the journey is when the hero becomes the master of the two worlds. This is done by finding the ultimate boon and sharing it with those around him. Since the Ultimate boon in the gift of friendship, it is shared in two situations. First, Lightning shares his friendship to the residents of Radiator Springs when he becomes the customer of all of their stores. They share their friendship back when they show up to be his pit crew. Most notably is Doc acting as the crew chief. Lightning did not show his friendship to Doc in the same manner as he did to the others until he helped King across the finish line. Another large sharing of friendship is where he arranges for Mater to take a helicopter ride over Radiator Springs. Freedom to Live: The Freedom to live is shown primarily in the epilogue after the race. Lightning has merged his two worlds together and can now freely live in the racing world but still be with his friends, especially Sally. Lightning literally puts Radiator Springs back on the map when he moves his racing headquarters to the small town. Also, Lightning becomes a new man, or car, as shown by his new paint job, inspired by the classic 1957 Chevy. In many ways, I have found this journey to be similar to that of Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh begins his journey at home as the restless king. He soon meets his helper Enkidu and the two of them go off on their adventure to the forest to defeat Humbaba. Enkidu dies. This prompts the grief stricken Gilgamesh to cross the Threshold of Adventure to seek the answer to immortality. While in the underworld/other world Gilgamesh passes many tests before he meets Utnapishtim and his wife who help him find the magical flower of everlasting life. But Gilgamesh loses the magic plant in his Peak Experience to the trickster snake who steals immortality for itself. So Gilgamesh returns home with the boon, the understanding that immortality is reserved for the gods and that he is human. He will experience death and he realizes that he must live his life and enjoy it. So he writes down his tale to spread the word to his people. As a result, Gilgamesh’s journey comes full circle just as Lightning McQueen’s had in the movie. For this reason, I have concluded that all heroes must use the phases of the journey mentioned in this paper. Though the sequence of the steps may change, they are almost always taken.

Shakespeares Macbeth - The Character Flaw :: GCSE English Literature Coursework

Character Flaw of Macbeth Everyone who is mortal has at least one flaw. Some flaws are more serious than others. For example, some people have addictions to gambling, while other people can not remember to put milk away after they use it. After a while though, a person's flaws come back to haunt them.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The tragedy MacBeth is no exception to this rule. In it, many of the characters die. The reason is that they have a flaw that eventually leads to their downfall. Not every character is deserving of his fate though. Some characters have a minor flaw that should not lead to their death. Others, however, have a major flaw that eventually leads to their death.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   MacBeth kills the first Thane of Cawdor for trying to lead a revolution against England. His fatal flaw was that he was, according to Ross, "a disloyal traitor". The thane of Cawdor was greedy and wanted the throne of England for himself. As a result, he was murdered. His murder was not really disheartening, though, because the Thane of Cawdor deserved his fate. He was leading a battle in which many lost their lives for the sake of greed, and deserved to die because of his flaw. Duncan was the King of England, and was murdered by MacBeth. He was murdered because in order for MacBeth to fulfill his plan and become king, Duncan would have to die. Duncan's fatal flaw was that he was too trusting. For example, he thought that none of his friends could really be enemies. If Duncan was more careful about his safety at MacBeth's castle, he may have had a chance to survive. However, Duncan's flaw was not something so horrible that he should die beca use of it.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Most people need to trust each other more, and just because one person did, he should not have to die for it. MacBeth's former best friend, Banquo, was also killed by MacBeth. Banquo was killed because he knew too much about the murder of Duncan. That was not his fatal flaw, though. Banquo's fatal flaw was that, although he knew that MacBeth killed Duncan, he really did not do anything about it.   Banquo had many opportunities to tell someone such as MacDuff

Statement of Purpose Santosh G Vattam MS

Statement of purpose Santosh G Vattam MS, Embedded Systems (CIS), May 2012 Research Interest I am a Master of Science and Engineering student majoring in Embedded Systems from University of Pennsylvania, graduating in May 2012. I am interested in embedded systems modeling and model based code generation. This interest has developed thanks to my research project with Prof. Insup Lee as well as the Embedded and Cyber Physical Systems and the Principles of Embedded Computation courses I took at Penn with Prof. Insup Lee and Prof. Rajeev Alur respectively.The Embedded and CPS course involved modeling and implementation of a pacemaker, while the Principles of Embedded Computation course provided the much needed theoritical foundation for developing embedded system models and verifying and validating thus developed models. Research projects In Jan 2011, I started working on the Medical Device Dongle(MDD) Project with Prof. Insup Lee. The idea was to make patient monitoring, patient centric rather than device centric by developing a standards-based interface for medical device interoperability.We decided to use the existing device interoperability standard – IEEE11073-PHD with slight modications. I implemented the rst prototype of the IEEE11073 Manager and Agent state machines. We later encountered the problem of providing a medium for using the services of the MDD and thus we designed and implemented an interface to sit on top of the MDD. We have since presented our work at the Wireless Health Conference 2011, San Diego, CA and at Embedded Software Week Android competition, Taipei, Taiwan. We shall also be presenting at the International Health Informatics Symposium, Miami, FL in Jan 2012.Prior to this, I have worked on the Coverage Analysis of RTEMS(Real Time Executive for Multiprocessor Systems) as part of Google Summer of Code 2009 and mentored another student in 2010 for the same project. This project was my rst step into the embedded world. I wrote tes t cases to validate that every single line of object code generated was executed. I worked on the RTEMS-core codebase and in 2010 I mentored a student to work on the extended codebase. Research focus I would like to focus my research on model based code generation and validating the conformation of code to the model on which it was based.This is a problem that I have come across while working on the MDD project. We have based our design on the IEEE11073 architecture but there are no open implementations of it through which we can verify our implementation. There are certain validation tools but these just analyze the packet structure of the 11073 packets but not the ow of these packets within the network of devices. I am partly tackling this problem through my Masters thesis by writing test cases to validate the exchange of the right packets. This method, however, does not provide insight into the internal state ow of the code. I would like to study, n depth, the ways of validating code to the state model. I believe that by pursuing a PhD I shall not only gain the necessary skill set to tackle this problem, but also the insight of looking at unstructured data and obtaining structured information from it. Prof Insup Lee and his team at the PRECISE Center work on model based design and validation in the medical device domain. I have been working with Prof. Insup Lee and his team for close to a year now on the MDD project. I believe that the environment and the expertise at the PRECISE Center will provide me with the encouragement and the academic stimulus to excel at my research. Statement of Purpose Santosh G Vattam MS Statement of purpose Santosh G Vattam MS, Embedded Systems (CIS), May 2012 Research Interest I am a Master of Science and Engineering student majoring in Embedded Systems from University of Pennsylvania, graduating in May 2012. I am interested in embedded systems modeling and model based code generation. This interest has developed thanks to my research project with Prof. Insup Lee as well as the Embedded and Cyber Physical Systems and the Principles of Embedded Computation courses I took at Penn with Prof. Insup Lee and Prof. Rajeev Alur respectively.The Embedded and CPS course involved modeling and implementation of a pacemaker, while the Principles of Embedded Computation course provided the much needed theoritical foundation for developing embedded system models and verifying and validating thus developed models. Research projects In Jan 2011, I started working on the Medical Device Dongle(MDD) Project with Prof. Insup Lee. The idea was to make patient monitoring, patient centric rather than device centric by developing a standards-based interface for medical device interoperability.We decided to use the existing device interoperability standard – IEEE11073-PHD with slight modications. I implemented the rst prototype of the IEEE11073 Manager and Agent state machines. We later encountered the problem of providing a medium for using the services of the MDD and thus we designed and implemented an interface to sit on top of the MDD. We have since presented our work at the Wireless Health Conference 2011, San Diego, CA and at Embedded Software Week Android competition, Taipei, Taiwan. We shall also be presenting at the International Health Informatics Symposium, Miami, FL in Jan 2012.Prior to this, I have worked on the Coverage Analysis of RTEMS(Real Time Executive for Multiprocessor Systems) as part of Google Summer of Code 2009 and mentored another student in 2010 for the same project. This project was my rst step into the embedded world. I wrote tes t cases to validate that every single line of object code generated was executed. I worked on the RTEMS-core codebase and in 2010 I mentored a student to work on the extended codebase. Research focus I would like to focus my research on model based code generation and validating the conformation of code to the model on which it was based.This is a problem that I have come across while working on the MDD project. We have based our design on the IEEE11073 architecture but there are no open implementations of it through which we can verify our implementation. There are certain validation tools but these just analyze the packet structure of the 11073 packets but not the ow of these packets within the network of devices. I am partly tackling this problem through my Masters thesis by writing test cases to validate the exchange of the right packets. This method, however, does not provide insight into the internal state ow of the code. I would like to study, n depth, the ways of validating code to the state model. I believe that by pursuing a PhD I shall not only gain the necessary skill set to tackle this problem, but also the insight of looking at unstructured data and obtaining structured information from it. Prof Insup Lee and his team at the PRECISE Center work on model based design and validation in the medical device domain. I have been working with Prof. Insup Lee and his team for close to a year now on the MDD project. I believe that the environment and the expertise at the PRECISE Center will provide me with the encouragement and the academic stimulus to excel at my research.