Effective Approaches in Leadership and Management Essay

The enactment of the affordable care act has significantly changed the structure of all health care. As the focus of treatment at health care facilities all across the country transitions from specialty care and acute illnesses to preventative and long term health management, many changes have taken effect that have directly affected the approach and delivery of care. One of the greatest changes is the vast amount of patients that are now seeking health care. In an attempt to keep up with these high demands, many facilities have been left scrambling to adjust their budgets, reduce excess spending, and implement more efficient means of care delivery. Nurses throughout this process have had to adapt to a work environment that is constantly being changed and restructured. As a result, decreased job satisfaction, increased incidence of compassion fatigue, and nurse to patient ratios involving higher acuity levels have all contributed to the vast nursing shortage that is being experienced today. In addition, patient satisfaction scores and Medicare reimbursement have been greatly affected as well. Despite all of the aforementioned issues, there are some facilities that are taking the extra step to recognize and promote nursing excellence by setting the standards higher in an attempt to gain Magnet status. The focus of this writing is to compare and contrast the expectations of the approaches that nurse leaders and managers may use regarding magnet status as well as discuss the approach that most identifies with the values and beliefs of this author. Magnet status, as defined by Miriam Hospital, is a designation awarded to hospitals for their creation of a â€Å"Magnet Culture†; an environment that not only supports nursing practice, but focuses on professional autonomy, decision making at the bedside, nursing involvement in determining the nursing work environment, professional education, career development and nursing leadership (Miriam Hospital, n.d.). The concept of magnet status was first conceived in the early 1980’s and was born of an inquiry as to how certain hospitals were able to retain and motivate nursing staff. This concept was identified based on the results of several research studies and documented in an article entitled â€Å"Magnet Hospitals: Attraction and Retention of Professional Nurses,† written and published in 1983 by Dr. McClure president of the American Academy of Nursing (AAN), professor at New  York University, and a member of the original task force (Hawke, 2004). Currently in the United States only six percent, or 389 hospitals, have achieved Magnet status with twenty-six of these located in California (â€Å"Magnet,† 2013, para. 2). Statistics have shown that Magnet hospitals have excellent patient satisfaction scores, safer patient environments, fewer repeat admissions, and better patient outcome overall. There are many rigorous qualifications that must be met and maintained throughout a facilities’ designation. It is imperative that nursing leadership and management work together within their defined roles to accomplish the goal of recognizing, organizing and accomplishing the tasks and to ensure the staff participation needed to achieve nursing excellence. Only by existing within these defined roles, can the most efficient and accurate results be obtained. The role of management is to identify the resources that are required to accomplish the target goal of the organization. A manager must also plan, organize and implement strategies from an organizational level that outline what is required of subordinates in order to meet the proposed goal (Huber, 2010, p. 31). It is the responsibility of the manager to ensure that policies and procedures are implemented and carried out correctly. To achieve Magnet status the nurse manager would need to survey patients and staff to define areas of weakness that would need to be addressed by staff to improve patient satisfaction. These actions can include steps to becoming more financially efficient by reducing waste, ensuring Medicare reimbursement through patient satisfaction, and nursing practices that reflect these decisions such as bedside reporting, user-friendly patient education, hourly rounding and updating whiteboards. The role of the nursing leader is to assist the nurse manager in accomplishing the organizational goals by facilitating smoother transitions through communication, guidance and assisting staff in the understanding of what the vision is, why they are being asked to do certain things, and how they relate to the larger picture. This is accomplished by establishing trust and striving toward cohesion and mutual tolerance while managing conflict (â€Å"The difference between leadership and management,† 2012, para. 2). In comparing and contrasting managers and leaders there are some points to consider. In management, many goals are established by other people and carried out by the managers within the organization. Leaders will act to develop new and fresh approaches to  problems that may exist within the organization. The leader’s instinct is to take risks and to challenge those people and ideas within an organization that may be holding it back. Managers work to accomplish the tasks and usually will continue to do whatever is necessary to get the job done without taking on too much risk or moving forward (â€Å"The difference between leadership and management,† 2012, para. 7). Magnet culture is one of empowerment, shared decision-making and accountability (Frellick, 2011, para. 8). In o rder for this vision to succeed, health care facilities must demonstrate mastery of specific core principles known as the Fourteen Forces of Magnetism which includes a high quality of nursing management, and an environment that is built upon strong participation, where nurses are recognized by the top levels of management. Another key to success is strong interdisciplinary relationships; meaning members from all departments of the health care team are able to work together; this includes nurses, physicians, pharmacists and therapists. Participatory leadership focuses on the mutual respect and involvement of all parties. It is democratic in nature and promotes shared responsibility for actions; it is this leadership style that this author most identifies with. It is of the opinion of this author that personal involvement and the inclusion of everyone is key to maintaining a working professional relationship between management and subordinates because it empowers everyone to work together to achieve a vision or goal. If employees on all levels feel that their opinions and ideas matter and are important, than they will be willing to go the extra mile to see that goals get accomplished as the organization’s visions become their visions as well. This cannot be accomplished without managers and leaders who have the ability to harness this commitment and facilitate unity between all parties involved. True success is not gained through the dictation of what is and what will be, it is gained through the understanding that if we all work together, we can be really great because we all have something to contribute and when joined together, these contributions will make us the best we can be. References Frellick, M. (2011). A Path to Nursing Excellence. Hospitals & Health Networks. Advance online publication. Retrieved from http://www.hhnmag.com/hhnmag/jsp/articledisplay.jsp?dcrpath=HHNMAG/Article/data/04APR2011/0411HHN_FEA_workforce&domain=HHNMAG Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about Magnet. (2013). Retrieved from https://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/nurse/magnet/faq.html Hawke, M. (2004, January). Magnet Status Attracts Mettle. Nursing Spectrum, 19-21. Retrieved from http://www.nsna.org/portals/0/skins/nsna/pdf/career_jan04_hawke.pdf Huber, D. L. (2010). Leadership and Nursing Care Management (4th ed.). []. Retrieved from http://pageburstls.elsevier.com/#/books/9781416059844/pages/49495303 Miriam Hospital. (n.d.). http://www.miriamhospital.org/services/nursing/magnet-hospital.html The difference between leadership and management. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.strategiesfornursemanagers.com/ce_detail/208037.cfm

Dhaka Stock Exchange Collapse of 2010â€2011 Essay

Dhaka Stock Exchange (Generally known as DSE) is the main stock exchange of Bangladesh. It is located in Motijheel at the heart of the Dhaka city. It was incorporated in 1954. Dhaka stock exchange is the first stock exchange of the country. As of 18 August 2010, the Dhaka Stock Exchange had over 750 listed companies with a combined market capitalization of $50.28 billion. 1.1 History First incorporated as East Pakistan Stock Exchange Association Ltd in 28 April 1954 and started formal trading in 1956. It was renamed as East Pakistan Stock Exchange Ltd in 23 June 1962. Again renamed as Dacca Stock Exchange Ltd in 13 May 1964. After the liberation war in 1971 the trading was discontinued for five years. In 1976 trading restarted in Bangladesh, on 16 September 1986 DSE was started. The formula for calculating DSE all share price index was changed according to IFC on 1 November 1993. The automated trading was initiated in 10 August 1998 and started on 1 January 2001. Central Depository System was initiated in 24 January 2004. As of November 16, 2009, the benchmark index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) crossed 4000 points for the first time, setting another new high at 4148 points. In 2010, the index crossed 8500 points and finally crashed in the first quarter of 2011. 1.2 Formation Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) is a public limited company. It is formed and managed under Company Act 1994, Security and Exchange Commission Act 1993, Security and Exchange Commission Regulation 1994, and Security Exchange (Inside Trading) regulation 1994. The issued capital of this company is Tk.  500,000 which is divided up to 250 shares each pricing Tk. 2000. No individual or firm can buy more than one share. According to stock market rule only members can participate in the floor and can buy shares for himself or his clients. At present it has 238 members. Market capitalization of the Dhaka Stock Exchange reached nearly $9 billion in September 2007 and $27.4 billion on Dec 9, 2009. 1.3 Management The management and operation of Dhaka Stock Exchange is entrusted on a 25 members Board of Director. Among them 12 are elected from DSE members, another 12 are selected from different trade bodies and relevant organizations. The CEO is the 25th ex-officio member of the board. The following organizations are currently holding positions in DSE Board: Bangladesh Bank ICB President of Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh President of Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industries President of Metropolitan Chambers of Commerce and Industries Professor of Finance Department of Dhaka University President of DCCI (Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry) 1.4 Trading time The Dhaka Stock Exchange is open for trading Sunday through Thursday between 10:30am – 2:30pm BST, with the exception of holidays declared by the Exchange in advance. In the month of Ramadan, the exchange is open for trading between 10:30am – 1:30pm BST. 2. Previous major crash – Stock market crash in 1996 The number of BO account holders in 1996 was only 300,000 and most of them were new in the market. At that time it was not easy for investors to detect the fake shares from the genuine ones. Because during the crash of 1996, paper shares used to be sold in front of DSE.There was no automated trading system, surveillance was not strong enough, and there were no circuit breakers as well as international protection. From 1991 to the end of 1995, DSE General Index price gained by 139.3 per cent and reached 834 point. But  in 1996, the market experienced a dramatic change and pushed the price index up by 337 percent. DSE General Index recorded a high growth from July and stood at 3648.7 points on 5th November 1996. Besides, Chittagong Stock Exchange experienced the same change and grew by 258 percent. Chittagong Stock Exchange index increased from 409 to 1157 points in 1996 within a one year’s time. But the steps taken by the government did not work. The index lost over 233 points on November 6, 1996. After the bubble burst, DGEN index dropped to its lowest point and stood at 957 in April 1997. It stood at around the same point, where it was 10 months before and DSE General Price Index lost almost 70 percent from its highest point in November 1996. Then the index continued to decrease for the next 7 years until April 2004. During this long period, DGEN Index seldom crossed 1000 point. In short this can be described by using a graphical presentation. Figure 1. Scenario of Share price index points of Dhaka Stock Exchange 3. Cause of market crush in 2010-2011 The stock market crashed again in 2010-2011. The major causes are as follows- 3.1 Margin Calls & Illiquidity crisis When investors pay a part of future market contracting by cash or selected instruments in an account with a broker which is called Margin. To make sure obligations of investor when contract expired, more Margins is necessary if value of the contract decreases. The process is called Margin call. On â€Å"Black Monday†, price movement of future contracts created record amount of Margin calls for firms which were about 10 times the average size. Collected payments are paid to investors whose position had gained. Some investors lost their ability to enter new positions due to Margin calls and some needing to extend credit to make the payment. As investors were unable to pay margins, brokers placed emergency margin calls with exposed options positions which were assumed to be liquidated due to failure of meeting margin calls. It occurred repeatedly which possibly made selling pressure in the market and markets were not able to handle these sell orders. 3.2 Program Trading Summit Financial Advisors has stated that many analysts accused program trading, especially portfolio insurance as a major reason for the crash. In this trading, computers automatically order large stocks trades when certain market trends prevailed. Analysts blamed that the program trading blindly sold stocks when prices declined on 19th October. 3.3 Derivative Securities Investors not only invested in actual stock market but also in index options and futures markets. Option and future market are called derivatives as the value derives due to change of stock prices. The Brady Commission which was commissioned to examine the reasons of the crash found that the failure of stock mar-kets and derivatives markets to operate in sync was an important factor that contributed to the severity of the crash. 3.4 Role of market regulators and their employees The role of SEC to control & monitor capital market, working in favor of manipulators, approving unethical proposal and issuing wrong directives which lead to unexpected market conditions deteriorated the image of SEC. Investigation report mentioned some names of corrupt employees of the market regulators who were directly or indirectly responsible in the market manipulation. There is a job overlapping between SEC and exchanges. Such as, DSE & SEC both organizations have surveillance department for the same job but there is no co-ordination. Listing committee of DSE & CSE examines listing application of company but SEC doesn’t do it properly and approve it. Placement of Mutual fund & IPO at a price lower than the market value has become a new method of bribery for powerful employees of regulators. There is another accusation that these senior level employees received placement by using other`s name which is very difficult to identify. The report admits that SEC doesn’t have enough employees for example; qualified accountant, financial analyst and researcher to control and monitor the market. Rahman & Moazzem (2011) identified in their study that Dhaka stock exchange is becoming more volatile but the regulators are unable to defend it. They also suggested increasing manpower and quality of professionals in SEC. 3.5 Demutualization of Exchanges There are both elected & nominated members in DSE and CSE. Basically, elected members run the administration due to less interest & relation of nominated members. As a result, the players of the capital market act as controllers. Meanwhile, controllers are inactive during unethical activities due to conflict of interest. In the investigation report it was said that different stake holders of capital market and civil society support & demand for demutualization of exchanges. The meaning of Demutualization is separating controlling functions from controller’s functions, empowering controller and taking decisions without being motivated by the market players. 3.6 Investment of bank in the capital market In 2009 & 10 banks and financial institutions invested huge amount of deposit money in the stock market. As a result share prices sky rocketed until December 2010. When Bangladesh Bank restricted more than 10 percent investment of deposited money, increased CRR and SLR ratio, created liquidity crisis and market crashed. 3.7 Pre-IPO & IPO process Investigation committee considered that due to Pre-IPO & IPO manipulation share prices sky rocketed and that is the main reason for the share market crash. Manipulators illegally & unethically created a Kerb market in Pre-IPO stage. Without recommendation by the listing committee application for IPO was accepted. SEC did not examine abnormal asset revaluation and indicative price. As a result in Pre-IPO or IPO stage placement process and placement trade Kerb market overvalued share prices. This eventually generated liquidity crisis in the capital market. 3.8 Uniform face value of share During the meeting between investigation committee and different stake holders of share market, a most important reason for abnormal climbing of index was indicated to uniform face value of share at Taka 10. Splitting share does not change revenue or asset of a company and should not affect the share price. But Small investors showed their utmost inter-est to buy split share with their small investment and consequently pushed the price up. Up to 62 listed companies split their shares in 2009 & 2010. So, it  abnormally increased liquidity of the market and brought notable change in market capitalization. Investigation report shows that MC increased 655% of companies those adopted share uniform and MC increased only 46% of those that did not adopt. From July 2009 to December 2010 the role of total MC were 81.5% of companies which adopted share uniform and only18.5% those that did not adopt. 3.9 Placement trade / Kerb market Before issuing IPO, Issue manager or Issuer Company sell shares to their nominated person and that is called Private placement or pre-IPO placement. Private placement is risky because it doesn’t have accounting discloser. In the developed countries there are some fixed rules but in Bangladesh SEC didn’t have proper rules for it. As a result some manipulators used it as a tool of price manipulation. Investigation committee found that in most of the cases placement was offered at less than the IPO price. Though aim of public offering is participation of public but placement doesn’t make sure it. Eight companies issued convertible preference share in 2009 & 10 in which average 69% went for placement. So, participation of the public was hindered and that created placement trade or Kerb market. Some companies distributed 50-90 percent of their paid up capital in private placement. However, when a company raises too much paid up capital through private placement, the number of free-floating shares decreased. That’s why the difference between demand & supply push share prices up. Moreover, non-listed companies created liquidity crisis as huge investment was stuck up with these companies. Placement created new process of trading outside of the share market and that is illegal. By taking chance of placement many small companies raised capital from illiterate and un-informed investors with their artificial financial reports. 3.10 Omnibus account Investigation report found Omnibus accounts of ICB and merchant banks as another major reason behind the stock market debacle. Every branch of merchant bank operates only one omnibus account. There could be 3-10 thousands BO Accounts under the omnibus account which are not under the surveillance of SEC. So, information of individual accounts and its transaction are kept only with merchant banks. As investigation reports  shows that this kind of account made a lot of illegal transactions. It publishes name of 30 big players including ICB for a lot of suspicious transactions and says most manipulators traded from the omnibus accounts. It was also reported at least Taka 2.5 billion has been traded from hidden or omnibus accounts. 3.11 Asset revaluation & Rumor By taking chance of weak asset revaluation method companies have overvalued their asset. In this process dishonest auditors generated artificial audit reports. So, calculating of NAV on overvalued asset indicates wrong signal. Some companies issued Bonus shares against unrealized gain of revalued asset price which is a faulty accounting practice. There is rule to maintain provision against â€Å"deferred tax† during asset revaluation to pay tax in future, but companies are not following it. Investigation reports pointed some companies which got NAV more than 100% to 3,472% after asset revaluation. 3.12 Book building method It’s a procedure of determining price of IPO at which it is offered. The fair price is determined by the demand of a security from institutional investors and their indicative price. The main aim of introducing this method in Bangladesh stock market was to attract more firms for enlisting in the stock exchanges through fair share pricing. However, it was found as an instrument of manipulating market prices. Investigation report reveals that during the price discovery/bidding stage investors manipulated share prices for placement with too high price. High price was maintained only for the lock-in period and then investors offloaded their shares. As a result they pulled out a lot of profit within a short period and after that the share price did not increase. In this process corrupted Issuer and issue manager manipulated the price. 3.13 Serial and artificial trading Some manipulators created artificial active trading environment among themselves through bulk transaction and increased share prices. Moreover serial trading and price manipulation by many buy-sell orders through different accounts and broker houses which overheated the market. 3.14 Issue of Right and preference share Right Share is issued at a discount price to existing shareholders. SEC took 4/5 months to take the decision of right issue proposal which is mysterious. Meanwhile companies inform the market about Right issuance and increased the share price. Moreover, issuance of Right share increase number of share which should decrease share price but it did not hap-pen. Investing in Preference share is safe to get a fixed percentage of profit. To make the share attractive companies keep an opportunity to convert it and in that case it is called Convertible Preference Share. Companies issued preference share for only 2-3 months even for 1 month which is not common in other countries. The faults with convertible preference share were its time period (short), convertible process and private placement. Investigation committee found that SEC did not have proper guidelines for Right and Preference Share issuance. 3.15 Suspicious transaction of top players Investigation report reveals some names of individual and institutional investors as top buyers and sellers during abnormal increase and decrease of index in different time periods. The transactions of these investors were suspicious and affected the market heavily and liable for abnormal rise and fall. 3.16 Block placement There was a lot of suspicious block trading of mutual funds. Some investors got enormous amount of placement time to time. 3.17 Direct listing With the approval of SEC few companies have been directly listed in the stock exchange. These companies come to the market with inflated share prices. Investigation report mentioned that indicative prices of these companies were determined even 58 times more than EPS and 9 times of NAV. Though share prices of these types of directly listed companies have been artificially determined, but SEC or exchanges did not investigate the reason of abnormal price. 4. Impact of the crash Bangladeshi stock market experienced through inefficient and irrational fluctuation of DGEN Index in the year 1996 and 2011 . During 2010, the bullish market turned bearish with the exchange losing 1,800 points between December 2010 and January 2011. DGEN Index climbed at point 8918.51 on December 05, 2010 which was overvalued in all aspect. Then the market crashed at point 4877 in November 2011. Figure 3: Daily DGEN index of January, 2011 Figure 4: Showing the Movement of DSE General Index from June- ’10 to May- ‘11 Impacts of the crash were: As a result of the market crash, millions of investors have been rendered bankrupt. Because of free fall of share prices, Investors came out in the street again and started protesting against free fall of share prices and chanted slogans against market regulators. Random objects like wood and papers were set on fire in front of the DSE office in Motijheel. Investors came out in the street with processions and demonstrated against free fall of Share index in both bourses as well as suspension of trading. Investors from different parts of the country such as, Chittagong, Comilla, Narsingdi, Narayanganj and Jessore brought out processions and clashed with law en-forces in some places as well. Investors blamed the speculators and regulators for the bubble that finally burst. Economy faced liquidity crisis. Authoritites and government took steps to handle the crisis. But stock market of Bangladesh had already got the adjective of â€Å"the worst stock market in the world†. And an o ngoing market turmoil is still going on. 5. Measures taken to stabilize the stock market Since the collapse of the market in December 2010, a number of initiatives were undertaken by Ministry of Finance (MoF), Security and Exchange Commission (SEC), Bangladesh Bank, Government and Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE)/ Chittagong Stock Exchange (CSE) to stabilize the market. 5.1 Steps taken by government- The government took a number of measures to inject money in the market. This included Tk. 600 crore worth of funds distributed to the state-owned banks and Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB), and formation of a mutual fund titled Bangladesh Fund with an initial resource of Tk. 1,500 crore. Under the national budget of FY2011-12, government announced a number of incentives to recover the capital market situation. Some of these were re-introduction of tax rebate facilities, tax-free facilities for mutual funds, time extension for non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs) to adjust their investment in stock market (revised timeline is December 2013), and adjustment of single borrower exposure limit by the commercial banks (revised timeline is December 2013). All these budgetary measures have direct and indirect implications for raising fund for the ailing capital market. A probe committee was created by the government to identify the reasons, people and solution regarding the prob lem of the stock market. The Probe Committee and the MOF came up with a list of 36-point measures which were to be implemented in three phases (i.e. immediate, short and medium-term). 5.2 Steps taken by SEC- Security & Exchange Commissions applied a lot of directives to keep the market under control in 2010. SEC changed directive of margin loan ratio by increasing it from 1:0.5 to 1:1 on 13th December and later it was again hiked to 1:1.5 & 1:2 because of free fall of share prices. Actions were taken against persons found guilty for their fraudulent activities, investigation of allegations against the SEC officials who indulged in market manipulation, examination of assets of some of the companies alleged to have been involved in illegal trading, and initiation to probe allegations against several companies was also done. Criminal investigation against a number of companies and persons which was supposed to be carried out by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) was started but without much visible progress. SEC under its new management has also prepared a 29-point work plan. Of these, eight activities were identified as ‘top urgent’, three as ‘urgent’, 14 as ‘short term tasks’ and four as ‘medium term tasks’. The MoF along with SEC and other stakeholders prepared the much-hyped Market Rejuvenation Package. This 21-point package focuses on greater participation of banks and other financial institutions in the stock market, besides setting up a ‘special scheme’ to provide support to small investors who lost their capital. 5.3 Steps taken by Bangladesh Bank- Bangladesh Bank pushed money into the market as liquidity support. Banks have reportedly kept buying shares despite suffering from liquidity crises themselves, and not selling any shares. 6. Outlook for the future To protect the share market of Bangladesh, the regulatory body should take some effective measures. It should introduce some monitoring systems to protect the price manipulations of the share. Provisions should be made to provide all the financial data to the investors so that they can get a proper idea about the company. The market should be free from fake certificates. The government should offer income tax rebate on the income of share market and encourage the banks and non banking institutions to come to the market directly. Some incentives package for the investors like getting financing at a low cost has to be offered to bring back the investors in the market. Market stabilization fund must be introduced so that it can help to meet up with crisis situation. Since Bangladesh is heading toward the developing nation, capital market can be the engine of growth for its economy if market becomes structured and efficient. Around the world well reputed stock markets like – New York Stock Exchange, London Stock Exchange, Shanghai Stock Exchange, Tokyo Stock Exchange, Australian Securities Exchange, Dubai Stock Exchange and so on, are regulated and running efficiently that provides significant contribution to their individual economy. Because, stock market is knowledge based game rather than a place of gambling; there must be rational win-lose situation always. But Bangladeshi stock market experienced through inefficient and irrational fluctuation of DGEN Index in the year 1996 and 2011 which resembles the place of gambling. To sum up, from our study, we have found that, there are problems like – Big Gap between the Demand and Supply of stock, extraordinary over pricing of stock, market manipulation, lack of knowledge about the stoc k market mechanism among the general investors, price distortion, inefficient regulations, political unrest, etc. These caused the steepest downward fall of DGEN Index in the financial year 2011.  As a result, about millions of investors lost their capital which turned them empty within few months. Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) of Bangladesh and government should take the short term and long term initiatives to stabilize the market. They should encourage more public limited companies to offer more share to meet the current demands. Income tax rebate, Injection of Market Stabilization Fund, Mandatory holding certain percentage of share among the board of directors, short term incentives packages should be introduced to get back the confidence among the existing investors. Regulatory bodies of Bangladesh stock market must educate the current and potential investors about the market mechanism and provide them the accurate information so that investors trade their shares carefully. Unless, appropiate corrective measures are well formulated and implemented, Bangladeshi stock market will be facing this irrational downward again in the near future. 7. ARAMIT from 2010- 2013 From the graph we see that, before the crash market price was above tk 450. And in the time of market crash from December 2010- January’11, the price of aramit started to fall and reached tk 436 at the end of January 2011. After that the market fluctuated and hit its lowest of tk 192.6 on february 2012. The current market price as of 24th February,2013 is tk 216. Profit Status: Based on Annualized EPS of 2012 (Q3): Basic Current Price Earning Ratio (P/E) (Based on Continuing operation) 12.65 Based on audited EPS of 2011 Current Price Earning Ratio (P/E) (Based on Continuing Operation) 15.15 Reference : 1. http://www.cpd.org.bd/pub_attach/WP95.pdf 2. http://publications.theseus.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/47195/saha_sangit.pdf?sequence=1 3. http://www.dsebd.org/displayCompany.php?name=ARAMIT 4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Bangladesh_share_market_scam 5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dhaka_Stock_Exchange 6. http://www.similarsites.com/goto/bdstock.com?pos=2&s=10

American Indians Today Essay Example for Free

American Indians Today Essay The Native Americans were the primary citizens of America long before white men set on foot in the area. When the Europeans conquered the American soil, an estimated 10 million Indians composed the Population of America. It is situated at the north of the country, present-day Mexico. According to history scholars, the Native Americans were believed to settle in the country approximately 20,000 to 30,000 years ago. (nativeamericans) The Native Americans were able to get into the country through the land-bridge situated from the northeastern Siberia into Alaska. The primary Indian cultures in North America is classified into Sandia, discovered in 15000 BC, Clovis in 12000 BC and Folsom in 8000 BC. The identification of the Native Americans should not be misguidedly understood as the Indians of Asia since the term was coined by Christopher Columbus when he mistakenly believe the Native Americans as part of the islands of America as part of the Indies in Asia. (nativeamericans) When the Europeans arrived in the country, the Native Americans welcomed them graciously and considered it a marvel to see white men. Considering also the technologies the European brought, the Native Americans were impressed with their conquering guests. However, as the Europeans started to degrade the forests inhabited by the Native Americans, the Native Americans realized the real intention of the Europeans that has consequently disturbed the balance in their nature. Aside from the natural resources employed by the European conquerors, even the Native Americans were seen as a commodity for manpower and labor. (Berkhofers) The Native Americans began to attribute the Europeans into soulless creatures that were in their territory to destruct their natural environment. Not only did the Europeans abuse the environment, they also brought diseases that were infectious to the Native Americans. This eventually led to several uprising of the Native Indians. (Berkhofers)The Europeans were accustomed to conquests, so the Native Americans responded against the Indian Wars and the Indian Removal Act which enabled the Europeans to have ownership of the country. It was a great disadvantage for the Native Americans because of their number, lack of weapons and unwillingness to cooperate even at their own expense. In a final blow against the Native Americans, U. S cavalrymen massacred Indian warriors, women and children in 1890. (â€Å"Native America: Portrait of the People†; Thomas) For many years, many have believed that the Native Americans are extinct cultures. That is why many American Indians are advocating their right to be known as a culture which fought hard and survived whatever they have experienced in their own native land. Many American Indians are still trying to establish their own identity in a country that has become to be white men populated. American Indians Today. (2017, May 29).

Corporate Finance - Real Options - Application of options Essay

Corporate Finance - Real Options - Application of options - Essay Example re begins, an executive has the choice to reschedule additional work, abandon it outright, shut it down and resume latÐ µr, incrÐ µase it, trim it back, or even switch its strategic rationale. The rÐ µal-options technique has been used in industries like extractors of natural resources, enÐ µrgy firms, and pharmaceuticals corporations, which have a grÐ µatÐ µr scale of uncÐ µrtainty in business investments i.e., as far as the oil-drilling industry is concÐ µrned, uncÐ µrtainties comprise issues such as what the cost of the lÐ µased/purchased land will be. How large the oil resÐ µrves would be? What is the appropriate price for the lÐ µase on the resÐ µrve? Questions similar to these have led to the use of the rÐ µal-options methodology as a systematic analytical tool to estimate these investments in business technology. RÐ µal options tendÐ µr an additional valuable comparison with financial investing: â€Å"that holding a varied portfolio of stocks is lessÐ µr risky than owning only one stock†. Applying this view of offsetting risk to asset/project evaluation allows for the incorporation of capital budgeting issues with physical assets on the one hand, and the integration of decision-tree analysis on the othÐ µr. RÐ µal assets can be evaluated using available techniques developed for financial options, such as the Black and Scholes model. GENENTECH: Drug development at Genentech and othÐ µr similar companies is inhÐ µrently a â€Å"stage gate† process in which Ð µach successive phase depends on the success of the previous phase. Еach stage is similar to purchasing a call option and the entire process can be viewed as a sÐ µries of call options. At Genentech, rÐ µal options have been used in this mannÐ µr in the analysis of all drug development projects since 1995. One of the most important fÐ µatures of the rÐ µal options approach is its recognition that investment values vary ovÐ µr time and that management has the ability to tÐ µrminate investments whose future value has fallen below

Translational methods from basal instruction to a differentiated Essay

Translational methods from basal instruction to a differentiated pedagogical system - Essay Example There is a movement underway in many school systems to complete the transition away from basal reading programs and more towards systems of instruction that facilitate an organic growth of reading-comprehension based on texts written to be read. Most purely basal texts are written for the purpose of teaching reading, which creates a separation from the reality of what people read, why they read it, and the natural flow of literature. Basal and purely literature-based reading instruction programs assume that acquiring reading fluency depends upon the comprehension and and exercising of individual, component skills that combine mechanistically to create an understanding of written language.This technological perspective can be challenged by more recent, reliable theoretical models of literacy holistic education that denies the validity of skill components. The purpose of reading and the context of the passage must be included in the education process. Dissatisfaction with basal program s has mounted in recent years, in part due to this consideration for the purposes behind reading. Basal stories sections may in some cases contain unrealistic linguistic characters to demonstrate various aspects of the component education process. (CELT, 1998) In response to these concerns from parents and educators, curriculum publishers, state departments of education, and school districts themselves have begun the institution of sweeping reforms in reading/literacy teaching programs. A principle objective is the development of literature-based systems that rely on texts written with the intent of reading; which could easily be found outside a classroom; rather than basals that exist only for reading classroom use. Further investigation is required to determine to what extent this new concept truly alters the face of literacy education, towards a determination of the best way to transition away from basal. Newer theories that question the basis of basal instruction dispense with t he grade-level restrictions that actively prevent some teachers from using texts designated for higher grades. Literature-based programs permit texts as long as they contribute to the interests of readers or are relevant to a particular academic topic. The goal is a new kind of literature program that draws on a the classroom as a community. Teachers and students using literature-based programs choose from a greater selection of actual, unadapted texts as they would appear outside a classroom. A purely basal approach, based on a mechanistic theory may not allow for the leaps of intuition that are necessary for true, fluent comprehension, should the students be subjected to a laundry list of abstractions. Some researchers make the argument that the basal texts themselves should never have been utilized as the entire reading program. In essence, they have always been - since the earliest days of the McGuffey Readers, a workbook/textbook for reading. The dominance of basal-trained read ers has prompted much of the investigation into the efficacy of such programs, and ways to transition beyond them. (Shannon & Goodman, 1994) DIFFERENTIATED INSTRUCTION It is apparent to most all educators that not all students think alike. From this knowledge, differentiated instruction strategies facilitate an approach to teaching and learning that opens multiple options for students in the acquisition of information and a thorough comprehension of ideas. Differentiated instruction is a pedagogical theory resulting from the premise of varied instructional approaches incorporated into the classroom to meet the needs of diverse students; both in terms of communal/cultural origin and neurobiological aptitudes. (Tomlinson, 2001). These ideas become a viable alternative to meta-literary classroom-only texts typified under Basal Instruction. This is the method that seeks to verify that the learning the student receives is an individual match for that students level of achievement, in ter ms of readiness levels, progress,

Leading educational change Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Leading educational change - Essay Example When dealing with school leadership in the Australian context, it is important for the articles by Gurr et al, (2005) and Dinham (2007) to be considered so that a better perspective of the issue under discussion can be achieved. While one would state that there are some areas of agreement between these two articles, especially touching on the various aspects of leadership, how these leadership styles are applied has been found to have some divergence. It is a fact that in Australia, there has developed a vast body of research that has confirmed that the teacher in a classroom has a profound influence on the performance of his or her students. In the abovementioned two articles, there is general agreement that it is important to find out how the quality of teaching and learning can be influenced and improved through the development of good leadership skills among the teachers in the classroom. In both articles, it is stated that educational leadership is of principle importance when d etermining the quality of teaching and learning and as a result has a pertinent influence on the achievement of the students involved. ... It is often essential for the teacher to ensure that they have undergone some kind of leadership training so that they can be better able to handle diverse and unique situations in their classrooms. He further states that it is often necessary for the teacher or school leader to realise that each and every one of their students is unique in many ways and that the behaviour of students should not be categorised in general terms. What one student may be able to understand over a short period of time does not apply to another student who might not be capable of understand over the same time. This means that in order for the teacher to be effective in their classroom, it is often necessary for him to ensure that he treats each of his students in the most flexible way he can in order to cultivate their unique capabilities. Gurr et al (2005) are also of this opinion although they go even further by stating that teachers have to do a self-examination to determine whether they have the neces sary qualities that will enable them to become effective leaders so that they can be able to not only strengthen these qualities, but also work towards ensuring that they have acquired those qualities which are most essential in helping in the academic performance of their students. The two articles adopted different methodologies and these have been manifested in the divergent outcomes that resulted from the studies they conducted. Dinham, for instance, chose to pursue two types of research sites with the aim of studying how leadership had an effect in determining the exceptional student outcomes. The first of these was the conducting of studying on departments, which were responsible for the teaching of subjects in secondary schools for

MEDICARE AND MEDICAID Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

MEDICARE AND MEDICAID - Essay Example a preparation for large scale roll out of the reforms, the Centre for Medicare and Medicaid services as well as the Childrens Health Insurance Program were launched to test the models (Guterman et al 2010). According to Stevens (2003), providing incentives for health care providers will create a financial interest for health care providers, thus motivating them to provide efficient and high quality care. The patients on the other hand will enjoy the benefit of access to high quality care services at a low cost. This will play a major role in improving the overall health of the society. Coordination of care across different settings and providers enables efficient provision of medical care. This is because providers can be able to access vital data relating to the patient and the clients medical history hence providing a more comprehensive care to the client (Riegelman & Kirkwood 2015). This also informs the provider of the types of medication that the patient s allergic to enabling them to make proper prescriptions. Inefficiency and wastefulness in the U.S. government are uncontrolled. The national government does an excess of things that would be been exceptional if done by people or organizations in the private sector, or by local governments. Succeeding in taking out waste and controlling government spending requires reducing the size and extent of the role of the government in health care services provision. The general improvement of the health of the citizens ensures that there are reduced instances of health issues and hazards in the society (Publishing 2010). By offering health care providers incentive to provide better health services, the patients will benefit from high quality care hence acquiring maximum returns from the finances used in healthcare (Preker & Langenbrunner 2005). This reform will enable payment of the providers subject to their performance in the provision of quality health care. This will allow providers to offer continued care to

M6A1-Question 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

M6A1-Question 2 - Essay Example sition to identify the three needs that prevails among the organizational employees, then it would give the leaders a perfect opportunity to determine various ways in which the organizational employees can be motivated. In most cases, organizational employees tend to look upon their organizational leaders in order to depict what they best see. This means that the effective leaders should at least empower other organizational members who will be in a position to make use of the power given to them by furthering the vision of the leaders (McClelland, 2008). Leaders who tend to be driven by the urge of power in most cases they fail to misinterpret it for egoism. This aspect is seen as a positive move because in most cases, they still have the ability of maintaining social relationships in their organizations and with their workers (Passmore, 2010). Alternatively, the aspect of ignoring power related concerns when it comes to organizational operations and activities might end up being negative for both the organizational employees and the organizational leaders. In most cases, ignorance of power related concerns especially in the organization mostly leads to tension and bad blood between organizational employees and the leaders. Advising these types of leaders on how best they can handle their power would be one of the cautions to offer to such leaders. Alternatively, engaging in leadership seminars is also important in such cases. During the seminars, the leaders would be given the best advice on how to control their organizational powe rs (Schemerhon, 2011). Very few aspects tend to be more important when it comes to human activities as compared to the aspect of power and leadership in the organization. In as much as power tends to be important generally, the main risk that comes with it is the increased or the excessive power, which a person has. The importance of power is when the leaders can bring out a success story from a weak business plan. This implies that

Self-Designed Coaching Course of Independent Training for Industrial Research Paper

Self-Designed Coaching Course of Independent Training for Industrial Supervision - Research Paper Example One of the most fundamental skills that can be provided to newly hired supervisors on an industrial work site is understanding how to build a positive, unified organizational culture in order to gain follower commitment to the achievement of strategic goals and imperatives. Whether a safety culture committed to zero incidents or whether a culture of ethics designed to provide human capital advantages in relation to establishing a corporate name positively linked with social responsibility, supervisors must maintain knowledge in sociological and psychological domains to facilitate more effective interpersonal relationships with a variety of internal and external stakeholders. This report describes the rationale and intention behind a proposed independent training program with an emphasis on coaching in order to provide newly-hired supervisors with the skills and attitudes necessary to become more effective leaders. Coaching, in this context, is defined as recurrent conversations betwe en organizational stakeholders emphasizing opportunities for improvement and development, â€Å"aimed at exerting a positive influence on awareness, performance, and behavior† (CCMI 2010, p.2). 2. The rationale for Undertaking Supervisory Training Coaching establishes a partnership perception between trainees and the instructor, unlocking the potential for maximizing managerial performance and establishing clarity for how to overcome behavioral barriers to effective management processes. Industrial management differs from many other business industries, as industrial workplaces require more stringent control systems to ensure compliance as a matter of reducing liabilities (safety fulfillment), to meet oftentimes inflexible deadlines for work completion, and often require the supervisor to maintain centralized, top-down authority systems that negate shared decision-making. Concurrently, the supervisor will require blended knowledge of psycho-social, human behavioral characteri stics in order to gain followership and commitment to achieving short- and long-term strategic goals. The managerial demands imposed on supervisors on an industrial worksite require that the manager is given training that will construct or enhance pre-existing knowledge regarding managerial psychology in order to facilitate the development of an appropriate, cohesive organizational culture. Under respected models of human behavior, in order to gain meaningful commitment from stakeholders, managers must establish a priority sense of social belonging and enhance self-esteem development in order to gain inherent desire to achieve the maximum of individual performance (Maslow 1998; Morris and Maisto 2005). However, at the same time, much of the tangible work conducted on an industrial site demands stringent compliance measures to remove risks from the business model and ensure strict adherence to project deadlines. This is what complicates the process of industrial supervision over that of other industries, as the supervisor must maintain diverse and flexible leadership philosophies that effectively blend autocratic management with human-centric characteristics. This is why training on an industrial worksite is so critical for newly-hired supervisors.

Do laws increase or diminish our freedom Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Do laws increase or diminish our freedom - Essay Example Enforcement of laws includes imposing a series of penalties upon those that disobey the law. The penalties usually deprive the citizen of his wealth, his liberty or his life. The severity of the punishment depends on the crime committed. According to accepted norms of humanity and justice only people who commit acts of evil should be punished and so anyone who awards similar punishment to those who are innocent or with some other vested interest in mind finds himself in conflict with law. (Andersen, 1995) The diversity and conflicts of interests among men makes it very difficult to pass a set of laws that will be accepted by everybody. There is also a possibility that a man can change his interests over a period of time. However the only need that remains constant is a man’s need for freedom. Even though individual goals may be different, the desire to have the freedom to achieve a goal can be seen in every human being. There are four elements to a person’s freedom-life, liberty, property and knowledge. ‘As long as a government restricts itself to the function of protecting the elements of freedom and as long as it apportions the taxes and other essential duties equitably, no one can justly complain about its duties’ (Andersen, 1995) history has taught mankind that the violation of another person’s rights should not go unpunished as it can deprive him of his freedom. The relationship between freedom and law is perceived in two different ways. ‘ The free market liberal regards freedom as a natural fact- perhaps definitive of the human nature- that the law protects and, where possible, enables those positioned to take advantage of their freedom. In contrast, the social-welfare liberal treats freedom as itself one among many legal constructions that enable humanity to flourish, but just as long as freedom extends to everyone equally’. (Stone, 2007) There can never be an

Sample Annotated Bibliography Essay Example for Free

Sample Annotated Bibliography Essay 1. Trossman, Susan RN (2006). Rx for Medical Marijuana? : Promoting research on and acceptance of this treatment option for patient. [Miscellaneous Article] Vol. 106 Issue 4 Page 77. AJN American Journal of Nursing. Susan promotes and publicize advances in clinical research. Her opinion and thoughts does not conflict medical science not to put her practice away but to be the face of the campaign in process improvement for legalizing marijuana use. 2. Twombly, Renee (2006). Despite Research, FDA says Marijuana has no benefit. Article Vol 98 Issue 13 Page. 888 JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute Twombly compilation of article basically explaining that certain medical authorities such FDA (Food and Drug Administrations) has not made justification that medical marijuana can fully benefited anyone that will utilize this drugs for treatment. 3. Nadelmann, Ethan (1989). Drug Prohibition in the United States: Cost, Consequences, and Alternatives. New Series, Vol. 245 No.4921 Page 939-947. Nadelmann cited serious consideration as both analytical model and a policy option for addressing the â€Å"drug problem†. Drug legalization protocol that are extremely applied can lessen the risks of legalization, drastically decrease the costs of current policies, and directly address the issues of substance abuse. 4. Herried, C., DeRei, K. (2007) intimate Debate Technique: Medicinal Use of Marijuana. Journal of College Science Teaching, 36. (4), 10-13. The authors of this paper present an outline of the debate process and how students can effectively present their sides of a controversial subject. Personal accounts in favor of legalizing marijuana for medicinal purposes are given, as well as data as to why it should not be legalized. This reference will benefit the paper because it provides real accounts from people and not just statistics. 5. Marwick, C. (1994) Change of Heart Prehaps, but Not of Legislation. The Journal of the American Medical Association, 27. (21), p 1635. The author of this article details an account made in 1993 at The National Press Club by The Surgeon General of the United States Joycelyn Elders, MD, about how â€Å"legalization of illicit drugs could lead to a significant decrease of crime†. This comment caused a stir in the political world, mainly on the con side, and shows that that this issue is not new and the government remains staunchly against fully legalizing any drug, including marijuana. This article will benefit the paper in that it provides a political account from the Surgeon General who is looked upon as someone that by all accounts should be against the legalizing of illicit drugs.

Benefits of Reading Essay Example for Free

Benefits of Reading Essay Reading maketh a man. Today, we enjoy such a wide array of reading material ranging from books, magazines, newspapers, comics and the latest e-books. However, we still do not make it a habit to read. This fact can be consolidated by a recent survey that has singled out that a majority of citizens hardly read. What a shame! Obviously, we do not realize the importance of reading. In this era of modernization, in order to become a successful person or a top-notch student, we should enrich ourselves with adequate knowledge and perspective. Instead, citizens in developed countries like Russia, China, Japan, Korea and Australia are enriching themselves with knowledge and information. Thus, it is high time that we make it a point to read. First and foremost, reading is the perfect platform for us to improve our knowledge. It is undisputable that, nowadays, the bookstores are flooded with various kinds of reading materials dealing with different subjects. By reading numerous genres of books, we are able to broaden our minds. For example, we can always flip through magazines or books to acquire knowledge and information on particular fields. Magazines like National Geographic, Popular Science, Discovery, Chips , Time and Reader’s Digest provide a colossal of information about science and the latest technologies. Those who are interested in technology will stand a golden opportunity to have a deep understanding on technology and thus helping them to get a promising job in the future. Aside from this, reading helps us to keep abreast with the latest developments in the world. One can know about the news or headlines of the world by just skimming through newspapers or surfing the Internet. People who are informative and knowledgeable are not considered as â€Å"a frog under a coconut shell†. Hence, it is true that reading enable us to widen our knowledge besides of keeping us oblivious of the latest developments in the world. In other words, â€Å"reading is the window of the world†. Furthermore, reading stands us a good stead in improving our command of languages. It has become an irrefutable fact that most of the people around the globe are not highly proficient in English which is an international language. This is because they tend to stick to their mother tongue. Sadly, they do not realize the importance of English. In order to master the language, we should cultivate the habit of reading. By reading we are introduced to a thousand and one words that are seldom applied in speaking but may come in handy when comes to writing. Persons who hardly read will not be able to do well in his essay writing as he fails to acquire the essential writing skills. On top of that, he also fails to learn some useful words that are a necessity in writing a good essay. Thus, it can be said that reading increases one’s vocabulary as well as polishing up one’s writing skills. In addition, by reading we are able to be fluent in foreign languages like Japanese, Spanis h, Italian, Mandarin, French and Arabic, just to name a few. Therefore, we will have the ability to converse with the citizens of other countries. Nevertheless, reading provides relaxation and entertainment. It is an ubiquitous phenomenon that thousands of people in the world are deriving entertainment from reading. This is because reading is the best form of entertainment and relaxation after enduring their mind-boggling work. Reading helps them to vanquish their daily stress and soothe their pressured minds. Needless to say, we do not have to burn a hole in our pockets when we are craving for entertainment. Unlike DVDs or television programs, books are the cheapest source of entertainment which only cost us up to a few dollars, perhaps the most exorbitant books will only cost up to the maximum of 50 dollars which is within the budget of a layman. On the other hand, we should not overlook the advantage of reading which is associated with unleashing our creative powers. By reading thrilling story books like The Lost Symbol, Angels and Demons, Da Vinci Code, Digital Fortress which are written by a prominent author, Dan Brown will definitely keep us thinking about the plots. When we are thinking about the plots, question marks will be popped up in the frame of our minds. Subsequently, we will have to imagine the consequences or the next scenes of the story. All these require creativity, unlike watching movies or videos, where there is little left to the imagination. This is because the scenes are already portrayed using images or pictures. It is a huge fallacy to say that watching movies is far better than reading books to unleash one’s creativity. In a nutshell, it would cost us a fortune if we do not make an effort to read. If we take a close look at people who often read, they are generally creative, it is vital that every citizen in the world picks up the habit of reading. The government should play a pivotal role in promoting the habit of reading. Several awareness campaigns should be held in arm to raise the awareness of the nations on the importance of reading besides boosting the interest of the public in reading. Most importantly, parents should encourage their children to read when they are still young.

Graphene Is The Future Philosophy Essay

Graphene Is The Future Philosophy Essay This report will contain a brief history of, a main body, some properties of and a main description of a material called Graphene. A super material. Within the sub categories and different pages of the report you will come to find out for yourself just how amazing and the seamlessly endless possibilities of this wonderful material. When a new material has been discovered it brings new and exciting times to the scientific and technological world. With a new material you have the opportunities to take a look back on previous unsolved problems and also bring new ones to the table. For the first time ever scientists have been able to isolate single two-dimensional atomic layers of atoms. These are one of if not the thinnest material known to man also just so happens to have the strongest bond in nature, the C-C bond. To accompany the report along the way you will find images and graphics of the super material in its varying form. Also in the report you will come across the properties of graphene and will see that in so many ways that this super material far exceeds possibly all other materials in comparison to itself. A brief description about Graphene Graphene is what we call a 2D material it derives from a single layer of graphite. Its structure is made of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb like structure similar to a chicken wire. Even though graphene is the thinnest material today it also is the strongest material today. Graphene conducts electricity as efficiently if not better than copper and has no comparison in its ability to conduct heat. Graphene is almost completely transparent giving it an already futuristic look. The way it breaks down is: Graphite = 3D material Graphene = 2D material Nanotube = 1D material Buckyball = 0D material Brief History Although graphene has been a known material since 1857 and many people have been trying to find a way to work on or produce graphene in a way that could be used commercially an answer was not forthcoming until the work of Andre Geim and Kostya Novoselov. The work that these produced in the University of Manchester in the year of 2007 was to become ground breaking when it came to the super material graphene. Almost everything had been discovered about graphene everything except the properties of the material and this intrigued Andre, who then asked a recently graduated student Kostya in 2002 to see how thin he could make a single piece of graphite by polishing it down. As they could not get thin enough slices the work continued until 2004. At first Kostya could not find a way to get thin enough slices from the graphite, Andre asked his friends and colleagues and a senior member by the name of Oleg Shklyarevskii said to Andre that the piece of tape that they used to peel of layers of graphite would have thinner layers than trying to polish it down. From there on the work on finding the properties of graphene began. Andre Geim and Kostya Novoselov went on to win the Nobel Prize in 2007 in physics for their work they achieved on graphene. Timeline of the most recent entries of grapheme 1947 Graphene first studied as a limiting case for theoretical work on graphite by Phillip Wallace 1966 First attempts to grow multilayer graphite Hess W M and Ban L L also Karu A E and Beer M 1984 Massless charge carriers in graphene pointed out theoretically by Gordon Walter Semenoff , David P. DeVincenzo and Eugene J. Mele 1987 Name graphene first mentioned by S. Mouras and co-workers 2004 Graphene isolated in free form by Andre Geim and Kostya Novoselov 2004 Observation of graphenes ambipolar field effect by Andre Geim and Kostya Novoselov 2005 Anomalous quantum hall effect detected showing massless nature of charge carriers in graphene Andre and Kostya and by Philip Kim and Yuanbo Zhang 2006 Quantum Hall effect seen at room temperature by Novoselov et. Al. 2007 The first ever detection of a single molecule adsorption event by Schedin et. al. 2008 Measurements of extremely high carrier mobility by Bolotin et. al. 2010 Andre and Kostya were awarded the Nobel prize in physics for their work on graphene. Main Body Graphene is the super material that will change the future of this world. Between its outstanding electrical and amazing mechanical properties there is just no other material that even comes remotely close to the potential this material possesses. When Andre and Konstantin revealed their work on graphene not even they could have foreseen what an impact this new and wonderful material would bring to the world. Graphene will forever shape our future. Although graphene at the moment is still not a household name it most indefinitely will be in the very near future. It will be used in almost everything from super-computers to your mobile phone, from separating water from other substances, from creating a futuristic world and to improving the properties of other widely used materials. When the world has found a way of mass producing graphene in a commercial way the world itself will change. Moores law states that computer power will double every 18 months up to and until the point where our silicon can no longer take it passed the barrier, the barrier being that silicon can only conduct electricity at a certain speed, graphene smashes that speed. If you look at the world and technology 10 years ago and think what it is like now there has been a massive change and improvement in the scientific and technological world as we know it. Graphene with its superior properties will take us even further in to the future, on its own and by improving materials and substances of today. Properties of Graphene Although just one atom thick, graphene posses outstanding mechanical, electronic, optical, thermal and chemical properties, described below.  Graphene is a one atom thick sheet made of carbon atoms, arranged in a honeycomb (hexagonal) lattice. Its height was measured to be just 0.33nm, almost one million times thinner than a human hair! Graphene is the ultimate 2-dimensional carbon molecule. Graphite, the well known 3-dimensional carbon allotrope found in our pencils, is nothing more than a stack of several graphene planes. Graphene shares its structure with two other materials which are exciting todays scientists: carbon nanotubes and fullerenes (also called bucky-balls), seen as a 1-dimension and 0-dimension rolled pieces of graphene. Electronic Properties Graphene is a great if not thee best conductor of electrons. The electrons are able to flow through graphene more easily than copper, they travel through the graphene sheet as if they carry no mass, as fast as just one hundredth that of the speed of light. The main material in computer chips today is silicon but in order to create faster and more improved computers we needed a new material to take us there. Graphene is that material Mechanical Properties To calculate the strength of graphene, scientists used a technique called Atomic Force Microscopy. By pressing graphene that was lying on top of circular wells, they measured just how far you can push graphene with a small tip without breaking it. It was found that graphene is harder than  diamond  and about 300 times harder than  steel. To put this into context, it will take the weight of an elephant balanced on a needle-point in order to break this one atom thick fabric! The tensile strength of graphene exceeds 1 TPa. Even though graphene is so robust, it is also very stretchable. You can stretch graphene up to 20% of its initial length. It is expected that graphenes mechanical properties will find applications into making a new generation of super strong composite materials and along combined with its optical properties, making flexible displays. Optical Properties Graphene, despite being the thinnest material ever made, is still visible to the naked eye. Due to its unique electronic properties, it absorbs a high 2.3% of light that passes through it, which is enough that you can see it in air (if you could manage to hold it up!). To help enhance the visibility of graphene flakes we deposit them on to silicon wafers which have a thin surface layer of silicon dioxide. Light shining on to these three-layer structures will be partially transmitted and partially reflected at each interface. This leads to complex optical interference effects such that, depending on the thickness of the silicon-dioxide layer (which we can control to a high degree of accuracy), some colours are enhanced and some are suppressed. This technique takes advantage of the same physics which causes the rainbow effect that you see when you have a thin layer of oil floating on water. In this case, the different colours correspond to longer/shorter optical path lengths that the light has had to travel through the oil film. Those above are the most common attributes of graphene but there are a few more. What you are about to read will come across as something straight out of a science fiction movie or novel, graphene can heal itself thats right heal itself, because of the fact that graphene is only one atomic layer thick it seeks out other atoms to bond to, so it grabs the other graphite atoms around it closing the gap and essentially healing itself. But it doesnt stop there as graphene is so thin it can be placed over other materials giving it a graphene coating which in turn improves the material it has been placed on top of. If you place that membrane of graphene over copper it will almost completely stop the copper rusting creating longer lasting materials. Graphene is tougher than diamond previously thought of as the hardest material on earth and 300 times stronger than steel yet is so ductile than it can bend, paving the way for a future where you can fold up your mobile phone and put it in your pocket. Graphene has also been found able to distil water making it cleaner. The uses for this could almost wipe out diseases spread where water is contaminated, creating healthier and greater living conditions. The list of properties and applications of graphene grow almost on a daily basis and bring with it new and innovative ideas to the world. Future Applications The future applications of graphene are almost limitless, because of the abundance of properties that graphene has people, science and technology will be inventing new and wonderful ways to integrate it into our world. With graphene being so thin yet so strong there are markets for it such paper thin flexible displays for televisions, watches and phones. When it comes to our computers and the chips inside them that are used control them the material that we use is silicon, but there is only so much that silicon can do and so far it can take our computers today, this is where graphene comes in. Graphene because of its amazing electrical properties it will be the material to take our computers into the future. Graphene being so thin it can be cut or crumbled into small flakes and introduced to other materials to make a composite material. If you added the graphene flakes to plastic to make a composite material that way it could be used to make a lighter and conductive material for aircraft making it effective against lightning and because of it being lighter it will also be fuel efficient. Graphene can also be introduced to other material in such a way as a bond, if you bond graphene to the likes of copper it will reduce the amount and time it takes for the copper to oxidise or rust. Thus making the copper last longer and become more efficient. Conclusion Graphene the material that can barely be seen yet will change the world in so many ways. From its unique ability to heal itself to its incredible strength down to its incomparable ability to conduct electricity. This amazing material has no boundaries. Graphene although not yet a household name in many peoples eyes will soon become a well known worldwide phenomenon. Just as everyone wants the new latest technology or gadgets on the market, people will want the new technology, materials and computers that have graphene in them. Graphene the super material has no limits to what it can achieve. With its unbelievable properties and applications in so many fields, the possibilities are endless. Graphene will change our future to cleaning up the water in Africa to making materials that are in use today become more effective and sustainable in a way that if you put a graphene, layer over copper it will reduce the amount of time it takes to oxidize and rust, making it a more efficient material. It can also be used for composite materials so if you take one material and bond it to another it makes a composite material, if you put graphene with a plastic t will create a lightweight material that can withstand lightning which would be extremely useful in aircrafts, making them lighter and more fuel efficient. Graphene has many different properties ranging from the normal to the extreme and to some that even seem straight out of a science fiction novel. Graphene is the material that will make our technology today seem like we have been using caveman techniques for the past 10 years. It is the material that will pick the world up and throw it in to a brighter and better future. Graphene is the future! à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦

Appropriate Treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD

Appropriate Treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in Education Political correctness and the constant fear of impending litigation from any number of sources has forced society to find other means through which they can control their children. Though other avenues for treatment exist, recent developments in educational and familial systems have produced a situation where children are over prescribed stimulant medications to treat Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder for educational purposes. For that reason, we must consider the appropriate treatment for ADHD in education. Four main aspects to this issue need to be discussed in order to fully understand the situation: a description of ADHD, the symptoms of ADHD, the statistical information regarding the over prescription and a description/history of stimulant use, and some possible alternatives to drug therapy. It is important to understand what ADHD is. ADHD stands for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder that was originally thought to be a form of "minimal brain dysfunction (MBD) (D’Alonzo 88)," however, it is no longer recognized as a form of MBD. "Along with these changes in classification, investigators identified behaviors related to ADHD: hyperactivity, restlessness, impulsivity, aggression, distractibility, and short attention span. These symptoms formed the three behavioral constructs inattention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity described by the American Psychiatric Association (D’Alonzo 88)." In both the professional and lay media ADHD is routinely referred to as a neurological disorder, while most experts agree that genetic-biochemical factors influence behavior somewhat, the general public tends to view this as biologically unco... ...view. 26 3 (1997): 369-381. Flick, Grad L. "Managing ADHD in the Classroom Minus Medication." The Education Digest. 63 9 (1998): 51-56. Frankenburger, William; Christie Cannon. "Effects of Ritalin on Academic Achievement from First to Fifth Grade." International Journal of Disability, Development, and Education. 46 2 (1999): 199-221. Jensen, Peter S. Lori Kettle, Margret T Roper. "Are Stimulants Overprescribed? Treatment of ADHD in Four U.S. Communitites." Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychology. 38 7 (1999): 797-804. Maynard, R.. "Omaha Pupils Given "Behavior Drugs." Washington Post 29 June 1970: A8. Read, J.S. "Ritalin: It's not the Teacher's Decision." CEC Today. 2 (1995): 14. Yehle, A.K.; Wambold, Clark. "An ADHD Success Story: Strategies for Teachers and Students." Teaching Exceptional Children. 30 (1998): 6 8-13.

A Comparison Of Henry David Thoreau And Ralph Waldo Emerson?s Beliefs E

A Comparison of Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Beliefs concerning Simplicity, the Value and Potential of Our Soul, and Our Imagination.Henry David Thoreau tests Ralph Waldo Emerson’s ideas about nature by living at Walden Pond, where he discovers that simplicity in physical aspects brings deepness to our mind, our soul to its fullest potential, and our imagination to be uplifted to change our lives. These two men believe that nature is what forces us not to depend on others’ ideas but to develop our own. Nature is ever changing so we must keep searching for explanations about human life. They feel that nature is the key to knowing all.Thoreau lives at Walden Pond to find the true meaning of life. He wants to experience things for himself. Thoreau says, "I wanted...to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion" (Thoreau 235). He takes Emerson’s advice who says, "Let us demand our own works and laws and worship" (Emerson 215). Emerson tells how modern generations live life vicariously through the stories and traditions foretold. We do not experience things for ourselves. We take what our ancestors and others before us have said and do not think twice about whether we should try things for ourselves. Emerson decides not to conform to modern ways, but to be an individual.Furthermore, in Nature, Emerson says, "Standing on the bare ground - my head bathed by the blithe air and uplifted into infin...

Richard III and Adolf Hitler :: Richard II Richard III Essays

Richard III and Adolf Hitler      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In William Shakespeare's Richard III, we see Shakespeare's interpretation of despot rule and the parallels that stem from this interpretation.   The character type of Richard has been examined and marveled for thousands of years.   From Plato's examination of despot rule in the Republic, we see the motives of what drives despot rulers.   A look at the background of Richard and how his upbringing and personal life contributed to his insecurities will help to understand why someone may become a despot.   The comparison of Adolf Hitler to that of Richard, shown by the modern motion picture Richard III, will show the rapid rise and fall of the despot and the reality of totalitarian rule.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Plato's Republic, a fascinating look at the comparison of the just soul and the unjust soul, allows one to see the philosophical motives behind despot rule.   Despot rulers are simply driven by fear.   Their anxieties and insecurities lead to a hatred that has a desire to destroy, deep-rooted in violence.   Despot rulers are also never satisfied with the power they have at any given time, thus exposing their constant fear of retaliation from their subjects.   This examination of the despot ruler by Plato clearly shows the motives by which despot rulers rule, but it fails to explain why and how these motives originate in the human mind.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In order to comprehend why such a high level of fear and insecurity can be brought about, a look at the upbringing and personal life of Richard should be brought into discussion.   One of three brothers, Richard was in constant competition of who would succeed in gaining the throne of England.  Ã‚   Richard, like his other brothers, wanted the title of king quite badly, but as time pressed on it seemed less likely that Richard would succeed in gaining the throne.   His shrewd attitude and a physical deformity, that left him nearly paralyzed, were two of the many reasons why Richard would be kept of the throne.   Richard quickly became aware of this and he therefore began his rampage to insure himself the throne.   After killing off his brothers and many others, who were eligible to succeed, Richard finally became King of England.

Allstate Insurance Company and the insurance industry and the affects of globalization and technology

Globalization and Influence on Corporations In many cases, corporations consider globalization as a matter of taking a superior business model and extending it geographically, with basic modifications, in order to exploit the firm’s economies of scale. Based on this perspective, therefore, the corporations’ key challenge is simply to decide how much to adapt the business model—how much to standardize from country to country versus how much to localize to respond to local differences (Ghemawat, 2004).Ghemawat further says that the future of the globalization process is by no means obvious since he looks the market will integrate further once economic conditions improve. However, some people argue that the process could actually shift into reverse, toward even greater economic isolation, if the experience between the two World Wars is any precedent. Amidst the complex situation that globalization possesses, Malcom Waters (1993) defines globalization as â€Å"a soc ial process in which the constraints of geography on social and cultural arrangements recede and in which people become increasingly aware that they are receding†.In addition, Waters (1995) sees the globalization continually erodes the authority of traditionally sovereign states. In this situation, he suggests that within the sense that the sovereign states have control over actions, events, and persons within their borders, he sees that the powerful states will touch their vital interests abroad. In this situation, Waters (1995) describes the processes of globalize economic as the process that gives up the exceptional power into a variety of cross borders or transnational player.These player or economical actors composes of people and institutions such as transnational business, corporations, and financial interests. In these circumstances, Waters (1995) considers globalization as one forceful global process and sees the results of global society in the growing number of mult inational companies (MNCs), international action of human rights and many others. In addition, globalization also enables the communication between people in other parts of the world.This is useful since the communication between two or more parties over the Internet may lead to business deals. Concerning globalization, this paper will discuss about an insurance company and the insurance industry and the affects of globalization and technology. To be precise, this paper will elaborate the adoption of technology on Allstate Insurance Company. 2. Information Technology as the Engine of the Global Economy In general, information technology is considered as the main engine that enables the adoption of global economy.This is true especially in relation with the globalization ideas where as corporations grew to be larger and more complex, managerial activities could no longer rely on traditional organizational methods to produce the demanded daily operational quality. Under such circumsta nces, a multinational companies (MNCs) need more integrated way of communication, a plan delegation and decisions, record and exchanging information, in order to save time and increase productivity of daily operations. To meet the needs, the use of information technology has been increasingly significant for business nowadays.Firms who lack the sensitivity to realize the benefit of this development and being the last to take advantage of the technology are lagging behind its competitors in terms of managerial efficiency and effectiveness. Computer-based Management Information System has now the ability to provide managers with: †¢ Easier ways to records, stores and process data and corporate information †¢ Strategic decision making support system, which allows managers to ask the system the ‘what if’ questions, and then receiving the most accurate response.The system has now become an integral part of decision making activities. †¢ Performance monitoring system, which will immediately alert managers if actual conditions differ materially from expected ones. No wonder if nowadays companies spend millions of dollars to provide themselves with the best and the latest design of information technology equipments. Various service providers of installing specialist software and hardware appliances for establishing information system infrastructure had make millions in benefits because increasing importance of the technology.Almost every company is now using or requiring using this important corporate resource. The need does not vary greatly by differences of corporate size, corporate stage of development, and the nature of the industry in which the firms are operating. Two companies operating in different industries, being in different stage of development and having a significantly different annual income might have similar needs of providing managers with a helpful and trustworthy information system. 3. Allstate Insurance Company 3. 1 Co rporate BackgroundAllstate is established in 1931 and became a traded company publicly in 1993. Currently, the company 40,000 employees manage assets more than US $134 billion and US $32 billion in revenue. The company, which headquartered in Northbrook, Illinois, USA, currently serves over 16 millions of customers by offering a wide range of protection and savings tools to fulfill financial security. 3. 2 IT Implementation on Allstate Insurance Company The important of having suitable information system for insurance company has driven Allstate Insurance Company to develop powerful information technology.They consider information technology (IT) as a critical area. The company reveals that they have IT team that combines technology, creativity, and expertise to fulfill the company’s needs in dealing with competitive market (Allstate Insurance Company, 2008). Concerning the IT implementation in Allstate Insurance Company, prior to 2000, the company did not employ any formal I T control framework. In order to enhance the operation, the company adopts information technology.It is the new director of internal audit who starts the implementation of information technology by introducing Control Objectives for Information and related Technology (COBIT) as the platform of IT governance for Allstate Insurance Company (ISACA, 2008). In addition, the use of COBIT especially rule out when the Sarbanes-Oxley Act was passed in the U. S. to deal with the monitoring of Allstate internal audit operations, evaluating the company’s IT governance and control, conducting benchmarks for measuring key business processes.

Analysis of Ethical Dilemma Essay

Britney, age 17, has been referred because of problems at school and a shoplifting charge. She admits to â€Å"smoking some dope† every now and then and having a drink or two with her friends. She is dressed in black with pierced ears, nose, and lip. Her appearance is disheveled and her hygiene poor. She appears to be overly thin. Britney’s parents were divorced when she was 5 years old. She has a brother who is 5 years older. They used to live with their mother in the same town as their father. Britney saw him frequently, although she says he was â€Å"always busy with work† and she could never talk to him about much of anything. Britney states that her mother was also busy but would â€Å"usually† stop and listen. She reports that her mother has a temper and is stressed all the time about money and work. She also reports that her mom and dad still fight about money and â€Å"us kids. † She feels like she is in the middle and is always being asked to choose. Britney feels caught in the middle of conflict between her parents. She interprets their being too busy for her as not being wanted by them. Britney’s rebellion serves to distract her mother and father from their fighting and to unite them as they attempt to control her behavior. It also serves to help solve the dilemma of whether she should leave home, leaving her mother alone. She distances herself by using drugs and alcohol but cannot really leave home and her mother because of her irresponsible behavior. Her brother has the role of doing well in the family, being responsible while the parents are in conflict. Through the use of their roles, the estranged family continues to function, albeit less than satisfactorily. Britney and her mother and brother recently moved to a new area, and Britney is at a new school this year. She is currently in 10th grade and has average grades. Her new friends are â€Å"different† from her old friends, but they â€Å"accept her for what she is. † Britney found acceptance in a counterculture when she felt rejection at home. With divorced parents, a distant father, overly stressed mother, and parents arguing over the kids, Britney has poor self-esteem and feels that she is the cause of some of the problems. She finds that using drugs with other kids relieves boredom, fear, and loneliness. She feels accepted and acceptable when she is using with them. The main ethical concerns presented in the dilemma with references to the ethics Britney uses cocaine when with friends. She learned that using helps her fit in—be â€Å"one of the gang. † She described a new, well-defined group of peers who â€Å"I like to hang out with and party with. † She is even supplied by a male classmate at school who impregnated her while they are high on drugs and sex. In addition, she has had some moderate school-related problems (e. g. , lateness) and a shoplifting charge. She entered a guilty plea for shoplifting. But approximately two weeks before her sentencing hearing, Britney inform the judge and her substance abuse counselor that she was pregnant and is still on drugs. Hence, the complexity of this ethical dilemma arises. This case taps into the substance abuse counselor many layers of personal and professional beliefs. However, careful reading of the case reveals a firm commitment to consider – not ignore – fetal interests within the framework of respect for the autonomy of the competent pregnant teenager. The case presented clearly relate to situations in which the pregnant teenager is deemed incompetent. Hence, the counselor needs a clear insight into the right approach to take when a medical intervention can benefit both fetus and mother, as in the case of Britney who is a teenager and is addicted to or abuses drugs. Application of human service profession theories and techniques In this analysis, I bring some issues and concepts of feminist ethics, post-modernism, and critical theory to reflect on an important child’s issue-policy approaches to pregnant teenager who is polysubstance user. Many people, including many law enforcement officials, child protection agents, and legislators, think that teenagers who use drugs during pregnancy should be punished for the harm or risks of harm they bring to their babies. I analyze this punishment approach and argue that the situation of pregnant teenager addicts does not satisfy the conditions usually articulated by philosophers to justify punishment. A punishment approach, moreover, may have sexist and racist implications and ultimately operates more to maintain a social distinction between insiders and deviants than to protect children. Most of those who criticize a punishment approach to policy for pregnant addicts call for meaningful treatment programs as an alternative. I interpret this treatment approach as a version of a feminist ethic of care. For the most part, theorizing about the ethics of care has remained at the level of ontology and epistemology, with little discussion of how the ethics of care interprets concrete moral issues differently from more traditional approaches to ethics. By conceptualizing a treatment approach to pregnant teenage addict as justified by an ethics of care, I propose to understand this ethics of care as a moral framework for social policy. Although I agree with a treatment approach to policy for pregnant teenage addicts, from a feminist point of view there are reasons to be suspicious of many aspects of typical drug treatment. Relying on Michel Foucault’s notions of disciplinary power and the operation of â€Å"confessional† discourse in therapy, I argue that treatment often operates to adjust women to dominant gender, race, and class structures and depoliticizes and individualizes their situations. Thus, I conclude by offering a distinction between two meanings of empowerment in service provision, one that remains individualizing, and one that develops social solidarity through consciousness raising and the possibility of collective action. Punishment Punitive legislation regarding pregnant addicts has been considered in more than thirty states and by the U. S. Congress. Although the testimony of legal and medical experts appears to have succeeded in preventing the passage of congressional legislation, at least eight states now include drug exposure in utero in their definition of child abuse and neglect. In several states without such laws, prosecutors have used existing drug-trafficking laws to file criminal charges against women who use cocaine or other controlled substances during pregnancy. By July 1992 at least 167 women in twenty-six states had been arrested and charged criminally because of their use of drugs during pregnancy or because of some other prenatal risk. A number of these women have been found guilty and sentenced to as many as ten years in prison. The majority of these cases have involved women of color, even though white women also use illegal drugs. The controversy that has been boiling about this punishment approach to policy for pregnant addicts appears in some of the appeals of these convictions. As of November 1992, twenty-one cases had been challenged or appealed, and all of these were dismissed or overturned (Roberts, 1991) As a result of increasing controversy over such punitive policies, some state and local governments have encouraged treatment as a complement or alternative to criminal punishment or child removal. Thus, California has enacted a law that requires drug treatment programs to give priority to pregnant women. The state of Connecticut has mandated that outreach workers seek out addicted mothers and mothers-to-be to encourage them to get treatment. In the fall of 1991, the city of New York instituted a program that allows addicted women to take their babies home after birth, provided that they enter treatment and agree to weekly visits from a social worker (Larson1991). This program and many others that emphasize treatment over punishment nevertheless retain a punitive tendency to the degree that they are coercing women to have treatment. Most prosecutors and policymakers who have pursued a punishment approach to pregnant addicts would deny that racist and sexist biases inform their practices. They claim instead that they are exercising their obligations as state agents to protect infants from harm and to hold accountable those responsible for such harms when they occur. Women who take cocaine or heroin while pregnant are wantonly and knowingly risking the lives or health of future persons and deserve to pay for such immoral harm. Punishing women who give birth to drug-affected babies serves notice to others that the state considers this a grave wrong and will thus deter such behavior. As with most punishments, the primary justifications for punitive policies toward pregnant addicts are deterrence and retribution. Neither justification, however, is well grounded. A deterrence theory of punishment relies on an assumption that people engage in some kind of cost benefit calculation before taking the actions the policies are aimed at. In some contexts this makes sense. If a city wishes to discourage illegal parking, it raises the fines and threatens to tow, and these policies usually do work to reduce infractions. The idea that a pregnant addict weighs the benefits of taking drugs against the costs of possible punishment, however, is implausible, because it assumes that it is within her power to refrain from taking drugs if she judges that the costs are too high. Many health professionals argue that punitive policies toward pregnant addicts does deter them from seeking prenatal care (Mann, 1991). Women are likely to avoid contact with healthcare providers if they believe that their drug use will be reported to state authorities who will punish them. Because drug-using pregnant women’s fetuses and babies are often at particularly high risk, they need prenatal attention even more than most. Experts claim that the harmful effects of drug use on infants can be offset, at least in part, by good prenatal care, when health professionals are aware of a woman’s drug use in a supportive nonpunitive atmosphere (Paltrow, 1990) I think that retribution is most often implicitly or explicitly the operative justification for punitive approaches to pregnant addicts. These women ought to be punished and threatened with punishment because their wrongful actions deserve sanction. Such a retributive justification for a punitive approach to pregnant addicts must assume that these women are responsible both for their drug use and for their pregnancies; if freedom is a condition for assigning responsibility, however, these are problematic assumptions. Most states where punitive policies toward pregnant addicts have been pursued do not prosecute people for drug use alone. Especially where this is so, women are essentially being punished for carrying a pregnancy to term. Such punishment must presuppose that women are responsible for being pregnant, but there are several social conditions that limit women’s choice to be or not be pregnant. Ours is still a society where women often are not really free in their sexual relations with men. Access to contraception, moreover, is not easy for many women, especially poor or young women. And, of course, even when they have it, the contraception sometimes does not work. With rapidly decreasing access to abortion for all women in the United States, but especially for young or poor women, finally, fewer and fewer women have a choice about whether to carry a pregnancy to term (Lewin, 1992). Some prosecutors and policies claim to use a punishment approach primarily as means of encouraging or forcing women into drug treatment. In line with the above arguments, one might say that a pregnant addict is morally blameworthy for harming her child only if she does not seek help in dealing with her drug use. In recent years some small steps have been taken to increase the availability of drug treatment for pregnant women, and to design programs specifically for their needs; for the most part, however, access to more than perfunctory drug treatment is limited. Most programs either do not accept pregnant women or have waiting lists that extend long beyond their due dates. Most private health insurance programs offer only partial reimbursement for treatment, and in many states Medicaid will reimburse only a portion of the cost of drug treatment. Most treatment programs are designed with men’s lives in mind, and very few have childcare options. Mandatory reporting laws or other procedures that force women into treatment, moreover, create an adversary and policing relation between healthcare providers and the women they are supposed to serve, thereby precluding the trust relationship most providers believe is necessary for effective drug therapy( Chavkin, 1991).