Learning English

English is the most widely spoken language in the world, and has more second-language speakers than any other language. English is also the language of the Internet, and so studying, doing research, interacting with international companies and travelling is almost impossible without at least some English. It is now impossible to find a country where learning English has not become popular. You wish to travel someplace, you have to communicate. If you don't know the language of the country where you go, just try speaking English and they will understand. magine that you don't know english and you go to china and of course you don't know chinese and you need to find an address. how will you ask that address to some one ? and i can give you thousands of examples like that. Now in most of the job application the company ask about the languages you know. and all of them expect that you know english because international customers rely on English speaking employees to help them with day to day operations to interpret, translate and communicate directly with English speaking customers. Speak fluent English can improve job opportunities. There are other opportunities available for those who learn English. Learning English can improve the chances of being accepted into colleges. Learning English also can expand the ability to access news and information, much of which is generated only in English. if you are looking for an information on internet and if you are looking it in english you will find more than in your language. because english is an international language. you can find all the news , magazines, all the information you need you can find in english. as we all know music connects people to people. f you don't know english how will you understand the meaning of the song and how will you enjoy it. music is really important in life. imagine a life without music how boring will it be. no music on the radio when you are in rush? i really can't imagine a life like that . english is important for your education too. if you go to USA to study you get a better education than you will get in your country. you will mee t some new international friends and some hay if you need some think from the countries that you have friends you will solve it easily. in the end learning english is the best thing to do for your life.

A Research-Analysis on the Principles of Biomedical Ethics Essay

Introduction â€Å"The uninsured† is a term that is coined to people who don’t posses any form of insurance who primarily include paperless immigrants, minorities, children and or teenagers without insurance, employees of small businesses, people who belong on the lower part of the social strata and also a significant number of the elderly.   In effect, such a group of people suffered a lot in terms of seeking and receiving the health service that is necessary to prolong their lives. Corollary with this, are the disposition of those patients who initially have a health insurance but experience a significant degree of difficulty in terms of having the insurance company subsidize the treatment and or operation that is necessary for their health condition.   Such a problem creates an ethical dilemma on the end of the doctors, patients, insurance providers and also the courts. This research provided various medical cases, biomedical ethics theories, and a number of laws that explained how the uninsured disposition is, the personal and psychological, monetary, and legal issues that they faced. Consequently, the author provided his own interpretation of the cases and significantly relates them on the principles of biomedical ethics and justice.   The research then looked into the basic principles of biomedical ethics: beneficence, non-maleficence, justice and autonomy and other ethical theories such as Utilitarianism and Deontological Ethics, and significantly relate them to the problem of the uninsured based on the literature and cases that were presented. Background of the Problem   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Initially, insurance is something that is only made available to wealthy Americans.   On the turn of the 20th century, there have been two major changes which took effect in terms of how insurances are disseminated.   The rise of the private insurances and the government subsidized insurances has seemed to provide a temporary solution on the problem of inequality in terms of health services.   Such an initiative has caused companies to provide insurances to their employees and by 1950’s almost two thirds of the population already have insurance.   Due to the relative availability and accessibility of the population to insurance, some segment of the population were forgotten, hence the uninsured (Jost 1998, p.106).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Initiatives on the part of the government were introduced in order to solve this problem.   General welfare programs during the 20th century were also introduced in order to cater to the marginalized.   In addition, a New Deal program was also made available to the population living in the rural areas.   On the span of the 20th century, progressive and labor interests asserted the necessity of compulsory national health insurance, but such efforts were hindered by a number of significant and powerful institutions in the country such as various business interests and the medical profession in itself (Jost 1998, p.106). However, the bill that was passed on 1960 which eventually legislated on 1965 paved the way for the establishment of the Medicare and the Medicaid.   Medicare caters to the elderly which insured the hospitalization and other doctor services that are necessary; on the other hand, Medicaid emphasized on the needs of the marginalized and the disabled. The Medicare and the Medicaid resolved all conflicts between the hospitals and the government because of the assurance of monetary funds for those who are insured and the paying of services which are formerly given free or in a reduced fee.   However, critics of Medicare and Medicaid counter argued that such insurances are too costly, hence a new initiative was raised by a physician in Minnesota which is now known as the Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) (Jost 1998, 107-108).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The HMO required the consumers to pay a relatively small amount in order to cover for the former and also for his or her families. Such an idea appealed to the government, hence on 1973, the Health Organization Maintenance Act of 1973 was passed.   The managed health care proved to significantly reduce costs , and by 1995, it was estimated that 150 million Americans have their HMOs. However, conflicts between doctors and patients emerged when allegation such as doctors and HMO administrators have created some sort of incentive programs which would make the latter diminish its recommendations for certain medication, treatments, or operations. Such a case paved the way for a direct refusal for the needed medical care, treatment and operations.   In addition, complaints such as delays on the release of authorization and/or funds were also cited (Jost 1998, 109). Review of Related Literature   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Kenneth Jost (1998, p. 101-105) posed three major issues with regard to patient rights.   These are: Is it possible for manage-care health plans to make the patients choose doctors who are not included on the plan’s network of physicians? Should the manage health care plans be liable if there be any chance that malpractice is detected amongst their physicians? Is there a necessity for a stronger safeguard be imposed on the patients’ medical records and other related information? Jost emphasized that the dilemma that was brought forth due to the request of some patients to choose their own physicians has been an issue that is very difficult to resolve.   Since the primary purpose of the manage health care plans is to reduce costs, the proposal of each patient to choose their own doctors would pave the way to the further increase of fees amongst the health plans, in addition to the payment that the patient has to shoulder. Some health care plans intentionally limit the number of physicians that the patients can choose from so that referrals for treatment, medication and or operations could be regulated by the company, hence reducing costs and increasing profits.   However, some health care plans allow their consumers to apply for a Point of Service (POS) which will allow them to choose their own doctors; only for an added fee.   In relation with this are some statutory laws imposed by some 30 states for pregnant women, allowing the latter to select an obstetrician that could act as their primary health care provider (p. 101-103). The second issue was with regard to the malpractice that was conducted by in-house physicians, which on a legal perspective makes the physician alone liable to the damages done to the patient and makes the managed-care plans company exempted from the legal repercussions.   The case presented was that of Ron Henson, who died in Kaiser Permanente Hospital and later on sued HMO.   The conflict stem out due to the claim of Mrs. Henson that Kaiser controlled the costs of her husband’s treatment by limiting hospital admission in cardiac cases. The physicians who treated Mr. Henson was employed by Kaiser, hence making the latter liable to the said malpractice.   A suit was then filed against Kaiser which was then settled by the latter for 5.3 million in 1997. However, at present only the state of Texas has such laws regarding the accountability of managed care plans.   Jost also made a point by asserting that when health insurance companies will be made liable to the malpractice that could have been done by their physicians, such could further result to the increase of the fees being collected from their clients (p.103-104). The necessity of privacy and confidentiality of medical records is another important matter that Jost touched into.   The importance of disclosing medical information for the patient’s health purposes alone (Shalala, 1998 as cited from Jost 1998, p.105) and for government use for health and law enforcement has been criticized as further broadening the law for access for medical records.   The proposal set forth by Shalala has been criticized due to favoring the government to have more access to medical records, hence a possible case of invasion of privacy.   However, Shalala have emphasized that such a proposal is only a more clear interpretation of the law that currently exists. The author perceived that Jost (1998) emphasized more on the notion of Justice within the managed health care system and the relation of Autonomy on the notion of Justice. In addition, Jost was able to present a balanced view of the legal issues on managed health care system.   He provided almost all possible dimensions of the issue and allowed the reader to deduce the arguments on their own. The discussion of the laws which is relative to every state makes it difficult to address the legal issues that stem out because of medical malpractice (taking the issue of Mr. Henson for instance).   In addition with this, certain changes from the ways of the health care system defeats the primary purpose of the former which is to reduce costs and make health opportunity available and equal to all people. Such a dilemma between the right to choose or autonomy and the statutory laws which serves as the backbone of most managed health care system becomes very hard to reconcile.   In addition with this, the matters of privacy are something that is in conflict with the principle of autonomy and the greater good (i.e. the principle of utilitarianism). Keith Epstein (2002) has presented the issues of uninsured patients which normally are comprised of young adults (p. 524) and minorities (p.529).   Epstein touched three major issues in which is comprised of the question weather the United States can afford health insurance for all; if Medicare should cover the prescribed medicines for the marginalized senior people; and if small businesses could band together to apply for the insurance of their employees in order to reduce its costs. The fist issue was addressed by Epstein by arguing that since the passing of the Balance Budget Act of 1997, there has been a huge cut back on medical costs.   Medicare has cut on reimbursement and some states have also cut on Medicaid payments.   However, Young (President of the Health Insurance Association of America) as cited from Epstein, claimed that America can do afford insurance for all if it only has the will power.   Young emphasized that the uninsured has already been subsidized due to the increase of costs in insurance payments and also for hospital services because initially, these insurance companies and hospitals are adding up their costs in order to cover for uninsured patients. Solutions in subsidizing the uninsured in terms of taxes are also one of the solutions that he presented (p. 526).   The issue in subsidizing the marginalized seniors’ drug prescription has also been tackled as could be resolved by having the government subsidize a certain percentage of the price by those seniors of having the salary cap of less than $13,000.   However, part of the issue is the lack of funds or the possible soar of the taxes in order to subsidize such a change. The third issue is with regard to the passing of a bill which would allow small companies across states to band together in order to apply for insurance for their employees and consequently to reduce costs.   Such an idea according to Lehnhard, (Blue Cross Senior Vice President) would only provide temporary savings on the end of these small companies because since the associations will not be regulated by the state rules, it is possible that such companies would engage in discriminatory underwriting.   An example that was given is that there might be some cases wherein the program would encourage health people from joining, and unhealthy people from not joining (p.530). The author perceived that Epstein’s essay touched on the use of the existing law in order to apply the principle of justice as fairness.   It could be seen, that the relevance of the law has been the foundation of the arguments which normally appear in conflict with various perceived implications due to the desire to alter the law in order to cater for those percentage of the population who are relatively incapable of securing their health concerns and problems.   The perceived attempts to make the lives of the uninsured relatively better in order to bring forth justice in the form of a fair medical and health treatment has been argued to be a cause that is far fetched because of political will power, unequal allocation of funds and lack of trust to human goodwill. A more recent article which emphasized the relevance of the law in order to cater to the needs of the uninsured is those of Owcharenko (2006).  Ã‚   Owcharenko provided three major recommendations in which the government could do to solve the growing number of uninsured population in the country. The first is to offer the uninsured â€Å"direct subsidies in the form of a refundable tax credit, to lower-income working individuals and families for the purchase of private health care coverage† (p. 95).   Owcharenko emphasized that enormous tax breaks are normally given by the government to those high-earning individuals, rather than to those who have relatively lower incomes. The tax exclusion also provides more generous health care coverage to those individuals belonging in big companies. In addition with this, those people who don’t have any health coverage at all does not enjoy any tax break at all, thus they are left with no choice rather than to use after-tax dollars to purchase their insurance.   Owcharenko emphasized that if a new and robust system of individual health tax credits will be given to low-income families, these people will have the buying power to secure their own private insurance rather than opt to rely to Medicaid which is relatively spread on a small number of population. The Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) that was enacted on 2003 was perceived by Owcharenko as a good program for the government because it allowed people to â€Å"purchased a high-deductible insurance plan to establish a tax-preferred savings account that allows carryover of unspent funds† (Owvahrenko, 2006, p. 96).  Ã‚  Ã‚   This plan however needs certain changes in order to function more proficiently.   Owcharenko focused on the use of the flexible spending account (FSA) and the health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs) such according to her would allow patients to exercise more autonomy on choosing their heath care.   Such a step would allow the patients to gain more control on determining the amounts which they want to contribute and significantly decide how they wanted to apply these funds.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The recommendation is for the government to allow federal contributions to be used in order to improve the health status of every state.   Consequently, the state should be able to provide a feedback on the effectiveness of their reforms by â€Å"reducing the number of the uninsured, improving access, and remaining fiscally visible†.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The author perceived that the recommendations of Owcharenko (2006) touched on the notion of justice, fairness, and beneficence.   In relation with this, the perception of the author in making the insurance reforms unique in every state will significantly help a lot in terms of reaching a huge number of the uninsured population.   Since the focus of the health reforms will be focused primarily on the individuals on every state, it is more likely that even the people who do not belong on the financial caps that are subsidized under Medicaid will be considered as well.   The marginalized on the other hand will also be given a fair and immediate treatment towards health.   The research of Young et al (2004) focused on the life saving health care of undocumented children.   Undocumented children are offsprings of paperless immigrants which consequently forms a huge percentage of the population for the uninsured.   Undocumented children often times did not have an access to health services as they don’t have any contact to any insurance other than the Emergency Medicaid that was given by the Federal Government in 1986. However, the Emergency Medicaid could only be used in severe cases wherein a patient experiences severe amount of pain (p.1316).   In addition, Medicaid can only pay for a portion of the hospitalization costs, which is why some hospitals needed to seek support either from various organizations or individuals or from the country of the immigrant himself. Such an attempt of some hospitals although noble, may prove to further increase the costs of the treatment because of the delay of the latter.   Young et al. claimed that such prolonging could result to a long-term morbidity and a high risk of death (p. 1318).   Young emphasized that immigrants served a relevant part of the society.   They do jobs that could highly affect a huge number of the population if by any case they acquire communicable diseases. In relation with this, failure to immunize their children and treat their sicknesses could also result to a significant impact in the society. Young et al. touched on the principles of beneficence and non maleficence on his paper.   Both sides of the issues are presented (i.e. why the government cannot subsidize the health care of the undocumented children versus the effects that it could bring in the society).  Ã‚   Young et al explained the aid that the Emergency Medicaid has provided to the undocumented children and the other options that the hospitals can do in any case that the hospital cannot fully subsidize a child on expensive treatments and operations.   The principle of beneficence was clearly presented on this part.   On the other hand, the principle of maleficence could be seen as further attempts of the government to give improve the health status of the immigrants’ children are made.   McLaughlin et al (1999) touched on the role of nurse case managers in terms of providing solutions to the ethical dilemmas that were brought forth of the uninsured.   Case management as defined by The Case Management Society of America (CSMA) as a â€Å"collaborative process which plans, implements, coordinates, monitors, evaluates options and services to meet the individual’s health needs through communication and available resources to promote quality cost effective outcomes† (p.51).   The role of the nurse care manager is highly important because he or she acts as an advocate to raise funds; also, he or she acts as a facilitator as well in order to weigh treatment options for the patient and the family. The case of Natalie M involves the problem of dealing with her family that later on paved the way for her to be rejected in most of subacute or skilled nursing units.   Conflicts with the family as to weather to put Natalie on a subacute nursing units or take care of her at home poses a problem as well that the nurse manager has to deal with. The nurse care manager solved the issue by having Natalie participate in the decision process and make sure that the decision of Natalie is not a mere reflection of her family or guardian. The case of Natalie M. is a clear representation of the strict adherence of the nurse case managers on the principles of autonomy, principle of veracity, the principle of beneficence and avoided paternalism.  Ã‚   The article clearly laid out the process as to how particular treatment options are arrived into by discussing it with the guardian of Natalie and Natalie herself. Similarly, the nurse care manager make sure that the decision was a true reflection of the desires of Natalie, and corollary with this, the principle of beneficence was reflected in the steps of the nurse care manager to do make sure that whatever options that Natalie would take, it would be safe and would significantly help her improve her condition.   Tunzi (2004) has emphasized the case of the sluggish economy and the budget deficits that significantly affects the disposition of the uninsured.   According to the statistics, the uninsured comprises of 23 million male, 20 million female, in which 21 million are white, 13 million are Hispanic, 7 million are black, and 2 million are Asian or Pacific Islander (p.1357).    The major implication of being an uninsured is primarily characterized by worse cases of illnesses because of the failure to regularly check with the doctor, or failure to seek care until the illness is already terminal.   In relation with this, Tunzi also emphasized that majority of the uninsured are children and most likely they are more prone to poorer health or may die prematurely.   Hence, according to Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) 2002 report (as cited in Tunzi, 2004, p. 1358) that the lives of children will be made longer and their long term development would be significantly improved if they are covered with insurance. To solve this problem, the IOM has ensured a Broadbased Health Insurance Strategy which caters to preventive services, outpatient prescription drugs, and specialized mental health care, in addition to general ambulatory and hospital medical care (p.1359).   In addition, the Bush Administration has also launched the expansion of the Community Center System; however, the author perceived that such a program is not sufficient enough due to certain limitations that it posed.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The article of Tunzi (2004) touched on the principles of beneficence and justice.   The attempts to cover for the health of the uninsured and the expansion of government services and NGO’s are significant factors that are ethical in its very nature.   The issue of the caste system that is very imminent on hospitals is the issue that was tacked by Romano (2002).   There are certain hospitals that are viewed as practicing the so-called boutique medicine wherein they require their patients to pay an annual membership fee in order to gain access to the services of their hospital. However,   Ã‚  Lois Snyder, director of the Center for Ethics and Professionalism at the 115,000-member American College of Physicians-American Society of Internal Medicine as cited from Romano (2002, p.5) have reiterated that such ways of some hospitals are certainly against the their manuals.   Snyder emphasized that indiscriminate perception should be applied regardless if the patient is insured or uninsured.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Such a step of certain hospitals to intentionally reject patients on the name of profit is something that violates the principle of beneficence and also it is a violation of the basic principles of the deontological ethics’ claim that man should never be used as a means to an end. Dateline NBC (2005) has presented a case of a child who suffered from a ferry boat accident who’s got his legs amputated.   The child has no insurance and the father has no idea where to get the money to pay for the hospital bills.   On this case, the government nor any NGO did not helped the child; hence the father was forced to take the option of selling their house.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   This case provided by dateline NBC, is relatively short and is made primarily for popular reading.   However, such a case would make one see how the government or the hospital for that matter did not take any advocacy steps in order to help the said family.   Analysis The article of Jost (1998) provides a clear picture of the conflict between various principles of biomedical ethics.   As the author have stated on previous paragraphs, the principle of Justice and Autonomy appears to be in conflict when discussing legal issues and keeping up with the notion of equality on health care services.   In addition, the idea of the greater good or the principle of utilitarianism appears to be in conflict as well with the laws against invasion of privacy. On the first issue that Jost presented, the principle of autonomy would normally state that it should really be the case that patients should be provided with the choice to have a physician of their own preference.   Since, man by nature as argued by the Kant as rational, then it necessarily follows that they should really be making their own choices.   However, it should be taken into consideration as well that legal contracts or agreements impinge this basic right of man for order and in some cases for social equality.   Tracing back in its philosophical roots, the very notion of the statutory laws emerged from the desire of man to engage himself into a social contract (i.e. Hobbes, Rousseau, Mill) in order to lift himself in the state of nature which is primarily characterized by the lack of order and domination of the strongest. Relating this to the conflict of the law (i.e. imposed by managed health care) and the principle of autonomy (i.e. the right of patients to choose their own doctors) simply makes sense.   If taken for instance that every patient lets say Xs that is enrolled on a managed health care, lets say A is given the opportunity to chose their own doctors, then A would cease to be a managed health care system at all since its very purpose which is to reduce costs will be defeated. In addition, inequality in terms of health care services will again stem out because relatively rich people will get the degree of health service that they prefer.   The author thinks that in order for the managed health care system to live on its purpose and prevent their customers to further increase their costs, they should be able to shift their perspective from profit to quality and humanitarian service.   The insurance industry is accountable for hundreds or even millions and billions of lives, and no amount of money could ever replace a life that is lost because of malpractice.   The essay by Epstein (2002) which tackles the law as one of the major vehicles in order to change the existing disposition of the uninsured has been seen by the research as something that is significantly related to the notion of justice and fairness.   The notion of justice is directly related to the laws that are imposed by the state.   However, since justice is only a result of human convention which is also partly dependent on the culture and the demands of the society, then it necessarily follows that it is imperfect. The essay of Epstein which emphasizes on the capacity of the government to insure majority of the citizens, most specially those who didn’t have the capacity of doing such; subsidizing the medicines of the marginalized seniors and associating small enterprises in order to afford the insurance of their employees is something that could be interpreted as a result to put more justice in the existing laws.   However, the author, basing the arguments from Epstein could significantly assert that such proved to be far fetched due to certain factors such as the political will, the inappropriate allocation of government funds and the lack of trust on human goodwill.    The political will as perceived by the author is the initiative on the end of the government to significantly allocate a percentage of the taxes that it collects for the uninsured.   In relation with this is the political will as well to help the marginalized, the immigrants and the children to acquire the insurance necessary in order to secure their health.   Corollary with this is the government’s investment on war versus the immediate need of its citizens’ health.   A proper allocation of the national budget is seen by the author as one of the primary solution to the huge number of the uninsured. The notion of the human goodwill as emphasized by Immanuel Kant is something that could be significantly related to the assumptions of discriminatory underwritings that could stem out from the associations of small companies across the border in order to provide insurance for their employees.   Kant asserted that man is inherently good and the author believes it to be so.   The mere premise that these small companies wanted to provide insurance for their employees is a valid reason enough to deduce that the former has a genuine concern on the plight of the latter.   Owcharenko (2006) presented her recommendations which are majority in a form of law changes and reforms in order to cater for the uninsured.   The author agreed with Owcharenko on her perspective that the best way to reach out and cater to the needs of the uninsured is to make national reforms in terms of the laws that governs every state.   Although the author perceived that advocacy on the part of the hospitals to solicit funds as a significant solution as well; the reforms on the laws would be able to cater on a relatively huge number of population. The principle of utilitarianism and beneficence in addition to the principles of justice could be seen as the core ethical foundation of the recommendations of Owcharenko.   The necessity of extending the health reforms to majority of the population is in conjunction with the principle of utilitarianism which is the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people.   In addition, the principle of duty of the Deontological Ethics could be applied as well. The basis of the morality of a certain act is significantly related to the â€Å"duty† that each person has.   This duty is perceived by Kant as something that is absolute or on his own terms â€Å"unibversalizable†.   In relating this to the government, the author perceived that part of the duty of the government is to assure that every individual regardless of social status and income will have the same access to health medications and treatments.   The notion of duty is significantly related to the justice that ideally should always be existing in a certain society.   Young et al (2004) has tackled the importance of the health of the undocumented children in the American society.   In order to present this, two principles from the ethics of principlism was touched- beneficence and maleficence.   The principle of beneficence asserts the relevance of thinking who benefits from one’s actions and in what such manner.   The principle of maleficence emphasizes on the notion of not harming any person or party.   The principle of beneficence was clearly applied on the disposition of the undocumented children and the principle of maleficence was applied on the existing laws for and against undocumented children. Due to the principle of non-harm, attempts on the end of the hospitals and the government to be more sympathetic, and more humanitarian to the undocumented children were executed.   Also, the principle of utilitarianism could be significantly related on the case of the undocumented children as well.   It could be noted that Young et al. has emphasized that these children and their parents served a significant part of the society.   Hence, their poor health could also affect the entire population.   Taking the principle of utilitarianism and its maxim which is â€Å"the greatest amount of happiness for the greatest number of people†, one could significantly deduce that the health of the paperless immigrants and their children could also translate to an overall increase of utility on the entire state.   The case of Natalie M. on the writings of McLaughlin et al (1999) presents the principles of autonomy, veracity, beneficence and avoided paternalism.   In certain cases wherein the patient has the mental capacity to decide for herself, the nurse case manager makes sure that the autonomy of the individual is emphasized.   Similar to the essay of Epstein (2002), the emphasis on the rationality of the individual is always taken into consideration. The notion of the â€Å"truth† is another ethical principle that is necessary for those patients who are under a care of a certain guardian or who has a family who is very picky and difficult to deal with in terms of negotiating treatment options.   The importance of arriving on the true desires of the patient is directly related on the principle of autonomy.   This would then make sure that paternalism will be avoided, although the nurse care manager also makes sure that such a decision that the hospital will arrive at is relatively the best step in order to improve the disposition of the patient, hence beneficence.   Tunzi (2004) has made a direct correlation on the principles of beneficence and justice.   By presenting various solutions on the case of the uninsured through government and non-government initiatives, it is evident that attempts to provide equal opportunity in terms of health services are attempted to be provided in almost all people regardless of their status in the society. Such a step could be seen as would present a great benefit on the end of the uninsured, hence beneficence.   Upholding profit versus the necessity of the human life is the case that was presented by Romano (2002).   The practice of so called boutique hospitals is something that is against the principles of Deontological Ethics which claimed that man should never be used as a means to an end. This means that if the hospital for instance rejects the admission of an uninsured patient because the latter does not have enough finances to pay, then it necessarily follows that profit is seen as the most relevant factor for the hospital and not really to save lives.  Ã‚   Then man or the patient for that matter would only be seen as an instrument for profit and not really the ‘end’ purpose of the hospital in itself.   The case of presented by Dateline NBC (2005) would show that there are really cases wherein besides of the efforts and the claims presented by the hospitals, NGOs and the government, there are still a lot of cases wherein the uninsured is being left out.    The case of the child who got his legs amputated which later on made his father decide to sell the house is something that could be prevented only if advocacy steps on the part of the hospital or the government was implemented.   The debt and or the decrease of the quality of life that this family might suffer after this crisis could also directly impact how the child will continue his healing process and or adapt to the new change that recently happened in his life.   Conclusion   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   â€Å"The uninsured† is a term that is coined to people who don’t posses any form of insurance who primarily include paperless immigrants, minorities, children and or teenagers without insurance, employees of small businesses, people who belong on the lower part of the social strata and also a significant number of the elderly.   In effect, such a group of people suffered a lot in terms of seeking and receiving the health service that is necessary to prolong their lives.   Corollary with this, are the disposition of those patients who initially have a health insurance but experience a significant degree of difficulty in terms of having the insurance company subsidize the treatment and or operation that is necessary for their health condition.   Such a problem creates an ethical dilemma on the end of the doctors, patients, insurance providers and also the courts. In comprehending and analyzing the eight articles that was presented on this research, the author have deduced that the health care industry of the country is facing a huge dilemma most specially in distributing fairness in terms of the allocation of health services that is due not only to every American citizen but also to other races who lives in the country as well.   Such a growing injustice in the health industry has been attempted to be solved many times starting from the nurse advocates, the hospitals, non-government organizations and also the government as well. However, even though more than seven decades has passed since the necessity of insurance was perceived, the government still is quite slow in terms of providing solutions to the health problems of its citizens.   The budget deficit has been blamed due to the lack of monetary support, however, it is very evident that the government’s finances were clearly improperly allocated to certain war endeavors which a number of critics have argued to be null on the first place.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The ethical dilemmas that stem out due to the lack of funds, legalities, concern for profit (of insurance companies) are directly affecting the marginalized, the children, the minorities, and the senior people.   The author perceived that a reevaluation of the priorities of every significant institution which played an important role on the health of the citizens are relevant in order to set things on a right path and establish justice and fairness which has been the primary purpose on the first place of establishing a social contract, a government and the set of statutory laws which supposed to make the life of man better and in order. Literature Cited Carter L (2002). A Primer to Ethical Analysis.   Office of Public Policy and Ethics Institute for Molecular Bioscience. Dateline NBC (2005). â€Å"Americans and the American health industry†. Quill Magazine, 4. Epstein K (2002).   Covering the Uninsured: The Issues. The CQ Researcher (12) (23) 523-526. Jost K (1998). Patient’s Rights: The Issues. The CQ Researcher (8) (5) 101-109. Mc Laughlin K et al (1999). Ethical Dilemmas in Critical Care:Nurse Case Managers’ Perspective. Crit Care Nurs 22 (3) 51–64. Owcharenko N (2006). Reducing the Number of Uninsured. Health Care 95-97. Romano M (2002). If you have to ask, you can’t afford it.   Modern Healthcare (32) (12) p17, 1p, 2c. Tunzi M (2004). The Uninsured. American Family Physician, (69) (6) 1357-1360. Young J. et al (2004). Providing Life-Saving Health Care to Undocumented Children: Controversies and Ethical Issues.   PEDIATRICS, (114) (5) 1316-1320.

Herodotus and the Scythians

The accounts of Scythia in Herodotus’ The Histories are organized in concurrence with the timeline of the Persian invasion of Scythia, led by King Darius, where as the invasion progresses Herodotus repeatedly digresses about the history of Scythia until the Persians and Scythians meet, at which point the apparent essence of the accounts of Scythia in The Histories, the Persian invasion, is concluded. Although Herodotus’ description of Scythia seems to be a byproduct of the accounts of King Darius, it is nonetheless thorough. Along with detailed descriptions of the origins of Scythia, as well as its diverse populace, Herodotus seems determined to write extensively on the geography of Scythia. Concerning the veracity of Herodotus’ accounts on Scythia, there is no effort to provide one point of view as fact, but instead he provides many possibilities and then gives input on which he believes to be most accurate. Because of this, there is little evidence supporting Herodotus having a Greek anti-†barbarian† bias. In fact, as Herodotus is considered by many to be the â€Å"proto-historian†, his work is not easily weighed against the efforts of those that followed. Rather, the stories Herodotus relates weaves a fuller more comprehensive picture of the time than later histories. This unschooled effort should not be construed to suggest a bias, but a rich and new writing style undiluted by the socratic method to follow in later years. Herodotus describes three possibilities for the origin of the Scythian nation. The first possibility described is the position of Scythian people who state that, â€Å"theirs is the youngest of all nations. †? As claimed by the Scythians, the first man born on Scythian soil was descendant from the daughter of the Borysthenes River and Zeus. This man, Targitaos, had three sons whose descendants were that of the first three tribes of Scythia. Herodotus clearly states he does not see much merit in this claim, but acknowledges that this is what the Scythians believe, â€Å"†¦ though that does not sound credible to me. Nevertheless, that is their claim. †? Because Herodotus acknowledges the position of the Scythians and does so politely, the idea that he has an anti-†Barbarian† bias is further diminished. His commentary disregarding the Scythian claims should not be construed as a bias, because it is not forced upon the reader. It is simply an his opinion that is completely up for discussion. This same idea applies to the next possibility of the origin of Scythia, because, although Herodotus does not necessarily believe it, he leaves open for discussion. The second possibility for the origin of Scythia described by Herodotus is according to the Hellenes. The Hellenes believed that Herakles, or Hercules, came to the land of Scythia before the Scythians and as he was heading through the land he came upon a woman who was half woman and half serpent. This woman and Herakles had three sons together and, at the request of Herakles, when they became men any of the three who could draw Herakles’ bow and wear his belt would stay in the future land of Scythia, whereas any of the three who could not do these things must leave.? The youngest of the sons, Scythes, was the only one who achieved this task and, â€Å"the descendants of Scythes son of Herakles have succeeded ever since to the kingship of the Scythians. † ? The third possibility of the origin of the Scythian nation discussed in The Histories is the one preferred by Herodotus. It says that the Scythians were originally from Asia, but because of conflict with other Asian inhabitants they left Asia and settled in was what to become Scythia. At that time Scythia is said to have been inhabited by Cimmerians, but when the Cimmerians learned of the approach of the large Scythian army they either fled or killed themselves. Herodotus believes this to be the most viable possibility of Scythian origin because there is remnants of Cimmerian ruins within Scythia.? After discussing the origin of the Scythian nation, Herodotus goes on to discuss the differences in the people who inhabit Scythia, based on there region. According to Herodotus the easternmost Scythians, know as the Greek Scythians, practice the same basic tenants of Scythian culture besides the fact that they grow grain, onion, garlic, lentils, and millet for sustenance. To the northeast of the Greek Scythians are the Scythian plowmen who, â€Å"grow grain not for their own consumption, but for sale. ? East of the plowmen are the Scythian farmers and southeast of the farmers are the Scythian nomads. The nomads do not farm, but instead live a nomadic lifestyle of hunting. Further east, across the Gerros River are the Royal Scythians. The Royal Scythians are considered to be the most noble of the Scythians and, â€Å"consider the rest of the Scythians their slaves. †? To the north of the Scythians, from west to east, are Neurians, the Maneaters, and the Black Cloaks.? Although Herodotus spends a lot of time discussing the different peoples of Scythia, most of the information given is in the form of stories or very detailed arbitrary aspects of Scythian culture, which does not have a central theme. One aspect of Herodotus’ accounts of Scythia that does have a central theme and is extensively discussed is the geography of Scythia and more specifically, the rivers of Scythia. It is clear that Herodotus was impressed by the rivers of Scythia and was eager to convey information about these rivers to his readers. He discusses each river that flows through Scythia territory, from west to east and credits the rivers for being the most important natural resources of the Scythians.? It is hard to say what information Herodotus deemed most important to know about the Scythians. Discussion on the customs of the Scythians is vast, but largely arbitrary, while remarkable emphasis is placed on the geographical tenants of the area of Scythia. Though, throughout Herodotus’ accounts of Scythia one aspect is largely consistent and that is his determination to provide multiple points of view regardless of the source. There is no real attempt to provide evidence on the veracity of what is being said, besides his commentary, but there is also no bias. Notes 1. Herodotus, â€Å"The Histories,† in Landmark Herodotus, ed. Robert B. Strassler (New York: Pantheon Books, 2007), 282. 2. Herodotus, 282. 3. Herodotus, 284-285. 4. Herodotus, 285. 5. Herodotus, 286-287. 6. Herodotus, 289. 7. Herodotus, 291. 8. Herodotus, 298. 9. Herodotus, 301-306. Bibliography Herodotus. â€Å"The Histories. † In Landmark Herodotus, edited by Robert B. Strassler, 282-306. New York: Pantheon Books, 2007.

Australian Healthcare System Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Australian Healthcare System - Essay Example ,2012).Regardless of the fact that the Australian government has been endeavoring to tackle this issue and has commissioned multidisciplinary teams to regions dwelt by the Aborigines ,disparities in health still persist because of economic, social, geographical, biological and cultural influences .The objective of this paper is presentation of a critical analysis of the present Australian Indigenous health care system, its past background and pressing issues that require immediate address (Kronenfeld,2009). The phrase Indigenous Australians means numerous Aboriginal together with Torres Strait Islander groups representing no less than 2.4 percent of Australia’s total population (Turale & Miller,2008).Significant gaps are present between the well-being and health of Indigenous Australians and the non-Indigenous ones (Department t of Health,2014;Australian Institute of Health and Welfare,2010;Department of Human Services,2014; Turale & Miller,2008 & Australian Government,2014).Thus, for example and as will be elaborated at length in following segments of this paper, by 2008,Indigeneous Australians’ life expectancy was on average lower than that of their non-Indigenous counterparts (Cerasa,2011).Furthermore, infant mortality amongst Indigenous populations is much high in comparison to the entire Australian population (Cerasa,2011).The absurdity in this case is that Australia has been ranked among countries with the lowest infant mortality by the Organisation for Economic Coo peration and Development(OECD) whereas the truth is that the number is particularly high for Indigenous Australians (Ceras,2011,& OECD,2014). Even though the Australian government seems to be trying hard to tackle these inequalities, Indigenous Australians’ healthcare programs are extremely splintered having no individually cohesive system set up to enhance Indigenous healthcare proactively (Willis, et al, 2012). At present ,the Office for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander

Malala Yousafzai and Her Leadership Style Assignment

Malala Yousafzai and Her Leadership Style - Assignment Example The author of the paper tells that Malala Yousafzai was nominated for the Nobel peace prize in 2013 and 2014, winning it in the latter year, and becoming the youngest noble winner. In her push in promoting education for the girl child, she has exhibited several leadership styles. The three main leadership styles are discussed to better understand her style and her influence on the society. Malala Yousafzai can be seen practicing both participative and laissez-faire style of leadership as she is involved in promoting girls education through social media and other news channels. She is actively involved in the process, and she takes every opportunity she gets to pass across the message. Democratic or Participative leadership seeks to obtain cooperation of workers in achieving organizational goals by allowing them to participate in decision-making. It does not relieve the leader of his decision-making responsibilities of his power over subordinates, but it requires that he recognise sub ordinates as capable of contributing positively to decision making. Laissez Faire Style (Free Reign) does not depend on the leader to provide external motivation but, the workers motivate themselves based on their needs, wants and desires. They are given goals and left on their own to achieve them. The leader assumes the role of a group member. Her actions portray her as a strong-willed woman who does not relent on her goal no matter what challenges come her way. She faced death threats from the Taliban but she did not give up on her mission to advocate the girl child education. She wrote a blog on the issue without fear of the threat she had received. This resulted in an attempted assassination that failed. She recovered from the injuries sustained with increased vigour to promote girls education on every platform she had.

The Four-Firm Concentration Ratio Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Four-Firm Concentration Ratio - Essay Example Eventually, the excess demand would be met and the price would again gain equilibrium. The long run plans in this situation would be undertaken to maintain minimum long-range average cost. Increasing production in the short run may increase marginal cost. Long range plans would again bring these under control. The relatively low concentration level dictates that firms make plans and take actions based on the market, as no one of them can become a price maker. The market will set the price. In the case where there are 20 firms with a four-firm CR of 80%, the firms would act differently. With fewer firms controlling a greater market share, they may be slower to react to the increase in demand. They may maximize profits by operating inefficiently. This may involve collusion either through agreements (price fixing) or a de facto situation where no producer wants to upset the pricing (Gilligan 2002). Prices would stay high until one of the firms, or an entrant, took action to fill the increased demand. Concentration in an industry or sector can be, according to Gilligan (2002), "... a reward for being successful". Firms that produce the best products at the lowest cost will naturally come to dominate a market. Barriers to entry can also result in a high concentration ratio when new entrants are barred. ... A firm that has a dominant position in a market may be a price leader. Since they control the only supply, they can set the price. This will usually result in operating inefficiently. They will produce fewer units at a higher cost and much greater price. This will maximize their profits. In a contestable market, the dominant firm will have to remain competitive even though they may have no competitors. If there are no barriers to entry, and the cost of entry is low, the dominant firm must sell at an equilibrium price to keep new entrants from competing. If they raise the price, new firms will enter the market and sell at a lower price. This will force the price back down and the new entrant will then exit the market if there are no barriers to exit. The Purpose of Anti-Trust Legislation Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, contends that, "We do not have a monopoly. We have market share" (cited in BrainyQuote 2007). In fact, the case against Microsoft was never about being a monopoly. It was about how they became and maintained a monopoly status. The original intent of anti-trust legislation, and indeed its only purpose, "is to promote economic efficiency" (Scott et al. 1998). Promoting economic efficiency dictates that the market must be a place of free competition. Collusion, coercion, and manipulation that places a competitor at a disadvantage reduces market efficiency. From the years 1990 - present, Microsoft has engaged in numerous activities whose sole purpose was to limit competition and place obstacles in the path of competitors (U.S. v. Microsoft 2002). Monopolies are not always illegal and big is not always bad. It is the collusion with vendors and suppliers in an effort to make it

Use Of Benford's Law In Fraud Investigation Essay

Use Of Benford's Law In Fraud Investigation - Essay Example it is surmised that when used appropriately and prudently, Benford’s Law presents itself as useful tool in investigating fraud, particularly in relation to accounting and auditing situations. The mathematical validation of the law and the technological advances in the recent past, which facilitate faster and easier programs for digital analysis, have enhanced the usefulness of the law in detecting fraud, as the law is increasing used by forensic accountants and auditors. The cases discussed in the course of the paper demonstrate the usefulness of the law in detecting fraud in real life situations. However, it is important to note that the detection and establishment of fraud in the legal sense of the term calls for further analysis and Benford’s law is only a facilitator in detecting fraud, albeit an effective facilitator. Given the caution in SAS No. 99 that traditional statistical methods only provide broad indications of fraud, and the increasing incidences of white-collar crimes, the usefulness and applicability of Benford’s law in fraud investigation assumes greater significance. Benford’s law, is particularly useful as it conducts â€Å"digit by digit† analysis and helps in identifying the fraud exactly, despite the huge scale and size of data.

1. From the early 1970s criminology was subject to a process of Essay

1. From the early 1970s criminology was subject to a process of radicalisation which brought both positive and negative consequences for the discipline. Discuss - Essay Example By so doing, crime has been looked at from the standpoint of demographics and patterns of any criminal activity, the socio-economic and cultural as well as the psychological perspectives of such criminal mannerisms in the context of the wider society. From the outset, perhaps it is imperative to note that the process of crime development and conceptualisation was given the much needed impetus by the conflict theory. According to Scraton (2007, p. 72), it is this ideological orientation that gave birth to the development of the other concepts during the early 1970s. A closer analysis of the conflict theory of crime reveals that it was founded on the premise that the primary or root causes of crime are both the economic and social forces that operate within any given society. In this regard, the various systems of justice and their respective laws tend to operate on behalf of powerful elites and rich persons within the society. Hence, policies that are put in place, more often than not, end up controlling the poor. Consequentially, this culminates into the imposition of standards by the criminal justice system that are construed to the establishment of benchmarks of good behaviour and morality put forward by the powerful in the society. The period from early 1970s witnessed the development of the new criminology which later came to be known as the radical criminology. Inciardi (1980, p. 58), argues that the development of radical or critical criminology stems from conflict theory of crime and is indeed its branch. On a positive rejoinder, Scrato n (2007, p. 169), holds the view that it draws its ideas from the Marxist perspective of criminology. In a nutshell, radical criminology was based on the concepts such as power, class in addition to ideology that was advanced by the Marxists during their analyses of the famous capitalist society. Perhaps it is important to note that this concept of criminology was developed initially in

The International Debt Crisis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The International Debt Crisis - Essay Example After World War 2, the Bretton Woods system was established and followed by many nations for years till is a collapse in 1971. The Bretton Woods system was related to fixed exchange rate; linked to the reserve of gold held by the country. The system operated as the value of the dollar was kept almost constant and any fluctuation in the exchange rates between the dollar and other currencies was accordingly countered by the central banks of the related countries.   If the dollar experienced a decrease in value, the central bank of the country would act so as to counter the effects of this fall in value by selling more of its own currency to decrease its value and maintain the value of the dollar to its previous level. This system functioned because of the willingness and ability of other nations to help maintain the value of the dollar. However, in 1971 when the United States experienced a fall in the value of the dollar the countries did not act to maintain the value of the dollar. ...  Finally, the Bretton Woods system was abolished in 1971 and the floating exchange rate system was introduced where the value of the dollar was allowed to fluctuate in the money market.   THE OIL PRICE HIKE AND ITS EFFECTS  The increase in the prices oil in the 1970s was massive enough to create a ruffle in the economies of many countries throughout the world. The oil-exporting nations experienced a huge capital inflow due to the increase in prices whereas the oil-importing countries (which included many developing nations) experienced noticeable capital outflow and oil inflation in their respective economies.

José Rizal Essay Example for Free

Josà © Rizal Essay Jose left Calamba for Binan to study under the instruction of Maestro Justaniano Aquino Cruz. His days in school were full of memories and It is where he develop his skills in painting and the arts of wrestling. He was also the best student in their school. Jose surpassed all the Binan boys. It contributed for the love of independence in Jose. At that tender age, he was able to control himself. Although he was struck by homesickness but diverted the feeling of nostalgia in developing talents and focused more in his academic studies. I remember when I was in my elementary years. Sometimes, I was left alone by my parents. I just use my time by coloring books and playing with my friends. This activity helps me in identifying colors and building harmonious relationship with others. December 1871 Jose went to Calamba, his home town, where he was welcomed home by his parents, brothers, and sisters. He also spent his Christmas in Calamba. He was given a chance to celebrate with his family the Christmas on 1871. He even shared his experience in Binan. Christmas and other holidays would be merrier when we spend it with our family especially when we exchanges jokes and stories. January 1872  The Cavity Mutiny flared up, followed by the execution of Fathers Gomez, Burgos and Zamora on February 17th. Paciano was deeply affected with the execution of his friend. As a sympathy and protest against the injustice of Spanish authorities, he quit studies and went back to Calamba. This was the period when Jose’s determination to consecrate his life to combat the evil forces of his times despite of his tender age. As a Filipino, I too, is greatly affected by this event because it shows injustice and racial discrimination because Filipino priest were considered inferior and given limited assignments. They were not allowed to hold parishes. June 1872 The hero’s mother was accused and arrested on malicious charge that she aided her brother, Jose Alberto, in trying to poison Alberto’s wife. She was forced to walk on foot from Calamba to Santa Cruz. Jose Rizal experienced the injustice of the Spanish authorities. This event in his life was inculcated in his mind and opened his eyes to reality and dreamed to have equality between Filipinos and Spaniards before the law. This event shows how Spaniards manipulate justice for their own benefit. This will also leave a message to the reader not to trust anyone be June 1872 to 1873 Jose entered Ateneo Municipal. He was at first put at the tail of the class, but he was soon promoted and kept on being promoted so that at the end of one month he had attained to the rank of Emperor. At the end of the term he obtained marks of excellent in all the subjects and in the examinations. . He had reason to feel proud of his advancement; and so when he went home on vacation that year, he ran alone to see his mother in the prison and tell her the happy news. Jose shows that he can do better even when he is Second year in Ateneo (1873 to 1874) The second year, Jose had the same professor as in the previous year; but instead of lodging outside the City, he resided at No. 6 Calle Magallanes. At the end of the term he obtained a medal, and upon returning to his town, he again visited his mother in jail alone. This was three months before her release. Third year in Ateneo (1874-1875) Rizal family was happy because Dona Teodora was released from prison however, Rizal returned dissatisfied to his hometown because he only won one medal. He failed to win a medal in Spanish because his spoken Spanish was not that fluent. A Spaniard who delivered Spanish with fluency and right accentuation defeated him. He studied harder this year and regained his leadership composure and became an emperor again. Fourth Year in Ateneo (1875-1876) Rizal obtained five medals, which pleased him immensely because with them I could repay my father somewhat for his sacrifices. Last Year in Ateneo (1876-1877) Rizal was considered as â€Å"the pride of the Jesuits† because he was the most brilliant Atenean of his times.

Spider Silk: Structure, Function and Uses

Spider Silk: Structure, Function and Uses Spider silk, also known as gossamer, is a fiber spun by spiders. Spider silk is a remarkably strong. Its tensile strength is comparable to that of high-grade steel. The term silk normally refers to a wide range of continuous filaments spun by the several species of Lepidoptera and Arthropoda, used for building structures for various purposes including prey capture. Silk filaments spun by spiders and silkworms possess superior properties than other silk producing insects and more than 2500 orb weaving species existing worldwide [1 4]. Spiders have six or seven sets of glands, each producing a different fiber. These glands remained undifferentiated, early in the evolution [4 7]. The spinnerets, microscopic tubes originating from glands, are classified into major and minor ampullate. The term ampulla is used to describe the distal part of the secretary zone [8]. Unlike synthetic polymers, the biopolymers are composed of numerous monomers arranged in a strictly controlled manner [9]. M any attempts have been made in the past to harvest and convert spider silk filaments into fabric form [4, 10, 11]. Scientists have been hard at work attempting to marshal the power of spider silk for a range of medical applications-including wound-care applications; suture materials; muscle, bone, cartilage, tendon, and ligament repair scaffolds. Spider silk possesses mechanical attributes such as very high tensile strength and elasticity, making it one of the toughest fibers known to man. The problem is that spiders dont produce enough silk to render it marketable for mass human use. SPIDER WEB AND TYPES OF SPIDER SILK: Prior to the exploration of the structure and properties of spider silks, construction and design of webs have been the major area of focus. The spider webs can take a variety of forms but the most common type is the orb web. Different families of spiders like Araneus, Nephila builds orb web and other families of spiders construct tangle and sheet webs [33, 35]. Orb-web spiders invest little energy in searching for prey. It spends most of its time synthesising silk and constructing webs. An orb web has several spokes laid outward from a common origin. However, this varies amongst the various species of spiders [31]. The orb webs are often constructed with an orientation to avoid being damaged due to the air drag caused by prey capture [24]. In a three dimensional web, the energy required to stop a moving insect is dissipated mainly by breaking some of the strands. In a two dimensional orb web, it is achieved through stretching the spiral threads [29]. Due to high-energy requirement in protein synthesis, only the damaged parts of the web are reconstructed instead of the whole web. Large portions of the web are repaired through the enzyme digestion and recycling. Based on the vibrations of the strands, the spider locates the prey accurately. The orb-weaving spiders are able to synthesize as many as seven different types of silk [13-15] including dragline by drawing liquid crystalline proteins from separate gland-spinneret complex. The perfume-coated dragline helps to find their mates, swing from place to place, store food, eggs and for reproduction. Capture threads produced by the flagella form glands of Nephila Clavipes is highly compliant. Both Araneus and Nephila coat their capture threads with an aqueous solution that forms sticky droplets which enhances damping and harvests water from air [25]. Its principal function is to absorb and dissipate the kinetic energy of captured flying insects. [3]. The chemical composition of the aqueous solution of the adhesive spiral varies among the species qualitatively and quantitatively. The variation is mainly due to physical environment, diet, web recycling, and onto genetic changes in the web chemistry. SPINNING OF SPIDER SILK: Many spiders are active at night and their colorations are usually orange, brown, grey and black, to reduce the spiders visibility during day time. Silk secreting systems of spiders and insects are homologous and linked to the crural gland and cuticular secretions [6]. Cephalothorax of the spider attached to an unsegmented abdomen, which has spinnerets at the posterior end [33]. N.clavipes spider has three pairs of spinnerets namely, anterior lateral, posterior lateral and posterior median. The largest major ampullate gland secretes dragline silk protein, exits from the anterior lateral spinneret. Secretions of proximal region and the distal region together form spider silk. Proximal region secretions are rich in tyrosine residues, sulfhydryl linkages and acidophilic nature. They form core of the silk while secretions of distal zone form coating of the fiber, which lacks tyrosine and sulfur contents. A mature Nephila produces dragline silk fiber at approximately 1 cm/sec during web construction and can increase up to 10 times faster during a rapid descent [52]. Spider silk spun under water displays greater stiffness and resilience compared to silk spun naturally in air [53]. The diameter of the silk can be controlled by the valve located at the end of the duct [47]. The spiders have the ability to withstand temperature variation of up to 30oC and humidity variation of up to 70% [20]. Spiders can easily modify the spinning conditions by their moving speed, building the webs in different times in a day. Spinning speed has less influence on the diameter of the filament when compared to the temperature even though its influence on toughness. COMPOSITION OF SILK: Variability in silk spun by the spiders exists at different levels such as in inter-specific (between species), intra-specific (within same species) and intra individual levels [54]. The factors that affect variations in silk structure and properties include body dimensions, body weight, rate and temperature of reeling and spinning direction [17, 25]. Composition of silks produced by herbivorous spiders is rich in Glycine, Alanine and Serine. This type of silk can be predicted to some extent. However, the silk produced by predatory spider, cannot be predicted due to the different types of prey [40, 55]. Dietary compositions of herbivorous spiders are energy rich and poor in protein content whereas the diet of predatory spiders is more diverse and rich in protein. Competition for limited or fluctuating supplies of amino acid perhaps has resulted in the evolution of two different kinds of glands to secrete protein glues and silk fibroin. The spider produces the thr ead on a very strict energy budget using liquid crystalline polymer. STRUCTURE AND PROPERTIES: Spider silk has drawn attention from all the sections of engineering due to its superior properties when compared to existing fibrous materials such as the silkworm silk. Spider silk cannot be compared with silkworm silk. This is because spiders are difficult to raise in large numbers and their silk lacks the lustre of silkworm silk. The chemical compositions of various silks vary with the type of function they are intended to perform. In addition to the fibroin, other classes like glycoprotein , inorganic salts, sulphur containing compounds, amino acids, and ionic forms of amines are also present in the spider silk [69, 70]. Presences of these chemicals play crucial roles in identification of species, regulation of water content of the web and protection against microorganisms. Presence of 12- methyltetradecanic acid and 14-methyl hexadecanoic acid in less amounts impart antimicrobial properties to the spider silk. Wax like esters are also present in the su rface of the spider silk. Macroscopic Structure of Dragline Silk: Dragline spider silk is golden yellow in color and has circular cross section with a mean diameter of about 7 ÃŽÂ ¼m [19, 38, 54]. It lacks glue-like protein, similar to that of silkworm silk, as its associated with dragline fiber [56]. The dragline spider silk consists of semi crystalline polymeric structures with numerous small crystallites between amorphous regions. The mechanical properties of the dragline silk are highly influenced by the composition of the amino acids, insect size, diet, body temperature and drawing speed [99, 124]. The breaking strength of silk increases linearly with increasing spider weight and breaks at stress of about six times the spiders weight [47, 100, 129]. The average tensile strength of the dragline of Nephila clavipes is almost three times that of Bombyx mori (1.3 0.5 GPa, respectively). Tensile strength of spider silk reduces, when it is subjected to acidic rain and UV radiation [133]. Spider silks can u ndergo large tensile and compression deformations. The ability of spider silk to resist transverse compression is lower than that of many textile fibers like Kevlar 29, nylon 5, polyester and wool. REGENERATED SPIDER SILK PROTEIN BY ARTIFICIAL ROUTE: Forced Silking (Reeling) of Spider Silk Reeling devices have been developed for forced silking of dragline from the glands of anaesthetized Nephila clavipes [78, 115,140, 141] to reel about 3-5 mg of silk in one session. Splicing of silk genes into two different cell lines have been tried in the past using bovine mammary cells and hamster kidney cells, to produce large volumes of recombinant proteins [49, 135]. Successful sequencing of genes of the flagella form silk of tropical spider Nephila clavipes and N. madagascariensis has been achieved lately [39]. Recombinant DNA technology for microbial proteins [144, 150, 151] appears to be advantageous compared to that of chemical synthesis due to low cost, rapid preparation and absence of by-products. A team of researchers at the University of Notre Dame (Notre Dame, IN) the University of Wyoming (Laramie), and Kraig Biocraft Laboratories Inc. (Lansing, MI) have succeeded in producing transgenic silkworms. The advantage of these animals is that they can spin artificial spider silk with strength and flexibile attributes similar to those of native spider silk. Until this breakthrough, only very small quantities of artificial spider silk had been produced in the laboratories. Kraig Biocraft believed these limitations can be overcome through use of recombinant DNA. This biotechnological approach can be used to produce silk fibers with a broad range of physical properties or with predetermined properties optimized for specific biomedical or other applications. From the known sequence of the spider silk protein, genes are constructed and expressed using E. Coli as the host, which has been successfully used earlier for silkworm silk [160]. Genes of spider dragline silk have been inserted into mammary gland cells along with regulatory elements. Insertion of the genes into eggs of single cell goat has been tried. This was purposely done to produce water-soluble silk protein [154, 156, 165]. Few milligrams of genetically engineered silk like protein has been successfully produced based on the sequence of spider protein [155]. APPLICATIONS: Though availability of the dragline silk is limited, it is widely used in defence [4,] and medical [11] applications. Structural similarity and comparable properties of dragline and Kevlar [127, 180] makes it more attractive for applications where high performance, in terms of physical properties is in demand. Until World War II, spider silk was used as crossed-hairs in optical devices including microscopes, telescope and bomb guiding systems [4]. Silk strands of the web have an ability to elongate when an insect is caught, convert the preys momentum i.e. kinetic energy into heat, and dissipate about 70% of the converted energy. The web also gently rebounds so as not to catapult the insect back out. This ability to dissipate energy at very high strain rates makes spider silk suitable for body armour system and ideal for ballistic protection [131, 140]. Though biodegradability is a helpful aspect for sutures, it is as unwanted in high performance applications such as bulletproof vests. A very low glass transition temperature of -50o C to 60o C enables it to absorb sudden shocks at low atmospheric temperature and makes the spider silk suitable for parachute applications. However, super contraction in water is undesirable for use in the fabrication of parachutes [174, 175]. Earlier use of spider silk in the form of web, rather than a fiber, includes wound dressing to help blood clot and fishing nets. Spider silk protein can be used to coat the medical implants for better performance. Surgical thread, biomembranes and scaffolds for tissue engineering are the possible areas of application in biomedical and biomaterial fields. Due to low inflammatory potential of silk proteins and antithrombic nature, recombinant spider silk has potential applications in sutures for eye surgery, artificial tendon and ligaments for knee construction. Spider silk with higher safety co-efficient can be used in structural applications like elevator ropes, bridges and pillars [100]. CONCLUSION The dragline silk offers excellent physical and chemical properties that can withstand adverse and extreme conditions than many of the existing natural and synthetic fibers. Though the chemical synthesis seems to be unfruitful in many aspects, the recombination method of producing the spider silk using biological hosts proves to be a viable option for producing the spider silk in a large scale. In spite of various successful attempts made in the production of dragline silk in the laboratory scales, controlling the molecular conformation and their aggregation during the spinning for achieving properties similar to the native fiber still remains as a challenge to be addressed through future research.