Summary of the article The RAND Health Insurance Experiment, Three Case Study

Summary of the article The RAND Health Insurance Experiment, Three Decades Later - Case Study Example Consequently, examining potential threats to validity using the results would increase uncertainty. In addition to these threats, there is no systematic reexamination of the original data, and core findings from the RAND experiment. Incompleteness of the publicly available health data also prohibits the replication of the original RAND results. Differential participation could also lead to bias in the experiment, as there was higher participation among those covered by more comprehensive plans than those in lower comprehensive plans. Consequently, results cannot be reported with confidence. The authors attempt to answer the question by presenting the main findings of the experiment in a manner similar to the way they would be presented today. This makes the findings accessible to current readers. They also reexamine the validity of the experimental treatment effects, and address the potential of differential study participation and differential reporting outcomes across experimental treatments. In addition, they consider the RANDS estimates, and contrast between how the elasticity was originally estimated and its subsequent application. They finally caution against summarizing the experimental treatment effects from nonlinear health insurance contracts using single price elasticity. The results of the experiment indicated that an insurance plan that offers a lower coinsurance rate leads to more health utilization, compared to a plan that requires an individual to pay more to access the services. The 95% plan, for example, records a lower level of health spending, while the free care plan records more health spending. Therefore, individuals who spend more on health seek less treatment, than those who spend less on medical insurance. Patients seeking medical attention, and then returning to their homes also posed a higher percentage compared to those spending their nights in

Patriot Act Essay Example for Free

Patriot Act Essay To paraphrase Benjamin Franklin, a country that is willing to sacrifice civil liberties for safety deserves neither. In the aftermath of September 11, the United States has found itself living that prophetic statement: the country is neither safe nor free. Politicians played on the fears of the American public after the terrorist attack and stole the most basic and trusted of American freedoms: the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Prior to the Patriot Act, anyone arrested by American law enforcement was guaranteed to be charged or released within 48 hours. Then, under the speedy trial provisions of the U. S. Constitution, those who were charged were guaranteed that their cases would progress. This is not so since September 11. This is not the first time in American history that persons living within the United States have been held indefinitely during times of war. Japanese-Americans from southern California were taken to so-called â€Å"detention camps† after the attack on Pearl Harbor in World War II. The crime is that we have not learned the lessons of history, that we apologize and in some cases make restitution for the same thing we are now repeating at Guantanimo Bay and in other places around the world. The biggest tragedy of the Patriot Act and the methods used by federal law enforcement in the wake of September 11 is that none of these actions would have prevented the terrorist attacks. Instead, these methodologies encourage people to be more secretive and less open. The only way the attack on the World Trade Center could have been avoided would have been for there to have been a better exchange of information. Perhaps it is a sign that American education is lacking, or evidence that those in power will always seek to increase their power, but the reality is the Patriot Act has not done anything to discourage international terrorism or increase American safety. We have, in fact, sacrificed our freedom and in return lost both it and our safety.

Case Analysis Essay Example for Free

Case Analysis Essay Strategic Human Resource Management Unit 1 What is Strategic Management, and why is it critical to the success of an organization in meeting its goals and mission? Strategic management is setting priorities and goals within a business. It’s used with upper management to strengthen a company and prepare for future outcomes. Making a product that is highly profitable and easy for customers to use and benefit from is the main focus of Apple, Inc. The organization of Apple, Inc. started in the 1970’s and has been very profitable since. In 1978 they sold the Apple II and made billions of dollars from the product in less than three years. Between 1983 and 1984 Apple, Inc. lost sales and have fell into a crisis because of the slow processor speed and the compatible software. During this time it was hard for the organization due to competition. The problem Apple Inc. was facing at this time is other companies have found easier and faster ways for people to use the different products other than Apple, Inc. , during the 1985-1993 Apple, Inc. turned global, thus making sales up to 1 billion and was the most profitable PC Company in the world. Being able to turn any company global in an organization is very profitable, most people like new products. The beginning of 1993-1997 Apple Inc. starting playing a role in K-12 grade helping out the school systems with education with the product and this helped them out tremendously. By 2008 Apple Inc. started charging premium prices on their product knowing that with their name would be sold all over the nation. They also came out with the iPod roughly selling over 150 of them. This was giving the customer portable music and other exiting things and they still sell to this day. Today Apple, Inc. is one of the top rated organizations for iPhones, iPods, iPads, computer systems and much more. The only problem with Apple, Inc. now in this day in age is the competition. There are a lot more companies that are coming out with the same product just a different name. For example, the Kindle Fire is the same thing as the iPad, just a different name brand. A lot of people are purchasing the competitors product instead of the Apple name brand product. The reason behind this is that people would rather pay $200. 00 dollars for a Kindle Fire verses $500. 0 for the Apple iPad. Apple, Inc. needs to lower prices for their products so more and more people with purchase them. In years to come this is a critical problem that Apple, Inc. faces, to be successful in any organization you have to think like the customers. Majority of the customers are going to try and same money and buy the generic brand verses the name brand product. What Apple needs to do is, if they start seei ng a drop in profit they would need to start lowering prices down to match their main competitors so that more people will purchase their product. One of the main problems in 2013 is Apple iPad verses Amazon Kindle Fire. â€Å"The Amazon Kindle Fire has been called a potential iPad-killer by the media† states (Nations, D). The Amazon Kindle Fire is $199 and can do everything the Apple iPad and do. They are very similar and it’s making the customer purchase the Kindle Fire instead. When looking at both products â€Å"Instead of looking at the Kindle Fire verses the iPad in a direct match up of features, which would be about like comparing a Ford Escort to a Mercedes, (Nations, D). This is a great example of not only just the Amazon Kindle Fire verses Apple iPad, its everyday life. From the groceries that customers buy at the store to clothing lines at a local mall. Everything has a generic name and lower price and most of the top name brands are sold and get good profit but a lot of people are trying to save money for more important things like their children’s college or a vacation for the family, or just trying to get by with bills. So this would be a good example of why the Kindle Fire is being called the iPad-killer, because more likely people will purchase the Kindle for the lower price. Some of the advantages of the Kindle Fire is the low cost and being able to use the amazon app store to purchase games, books, movies and much more. Some advantages of the iPad is it’s faster, has more storage and dual face cameras on the iPad 2. Both of the products use full-color back-lit displays so both of them will have problems in direct sunlight. Both of them are good but the main concern is the price. To stay successful you have to look at your main competitors products and come out with bigger and better things to catch the customer’s eye. With doing this the product needs to be reasonably priced and affordable to the public. Otherwise the customers will go for the cheaper one to save costs. A good example of this is looking deeper into strategic management and why it is important. Strategic management is all about change, and facing challenging situations in the work place. Being able to except the change and work through it, and make important decisions and implement appropriate strategies. Some other examples of strategic management are resource limitations, changing environment, matching competitors, and improved decision making. Resource limitations is being able to deal with limited resources of money. A lot of business go through this and Apple Inc. went through it back in 1983-1984 Apple, Inc. was in a crisis and had to make important changes to make more profit. Matching competitors is very important, a business could go down in profit if other companies come out with a similar product. Improved decision making is very important due to change in a product or being able to come out with a new product. Strategic management is setting priorities and goals within a business. It’s used with upper management to strengthen a company and prepare for future outcomes. References Nations, Daniel, ed. The Amazon Kindle Fire vs the Apple iPad. N. p. , n. d. Web. 5 May 2013. lt;http://ipad. about. com/od/Tablet_Computers_eReaders/a/The-Amazon-Kindle-Fire-Vs-The-Apple-Ipad. htm Sind, M. , amp; Yoffie, D. B. (February, 2008) Apple, Inc. (Case Study) Retrieved from Harvard Business Online website

Scientific Inventions On Human Life

Scientific Inventions On Human Life What is scientific invention? According to me scientific invention is a machine or device or a scientific technique which either helps or completely solves humans problems that he or she face in daily life. According to www.businessdictionary.com invention is: New scientific or  technical  idea, and the  means  of its embodiment or accomplishment. To be patentable, an invention must be  novel, have  utility, and be non-obvious. To be called an invention, an idea only  needs  to be proven as workable. But to be called an innovation, it must also be replicable at an  economical  cost, and must satisfy a specific need. Thats why only a few inventions  lead  to  innovations  because not all of them are economically feasible. And according to Wikipedia scientific invention is An  invention  is a unique or novel  device, method, composition or process. It may be an improvement upon a machine or product, or a new process for creating an object or a result. An invention that achieves a completely unique function or result may be a radical breakthrough. Such works are  novel  and  not obvious  to  others skilled in the same field. These definitions are enough to tell us or are enough to make us understand the meaning of scientific inventions but the question is why we need scientific inventions? Sometimes, the things They say, the laws They make, the way the world spins doesnt make any sense at all Which is exactly why you have to ask Why? and keep on asking until you get the TRUTH   à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Ã‚  Joe Kelly,  Douglas Fredericks and the House of They And that is exactly why we need inventions to find the truth behind the things we do not understand. And we need inventions to help us understand that truth and help us use it to our own benefit. Like scientists discovered electricity by inventing different inventions and then they used electricity to their own benefit now the entire world is using electricity. The effect of scientific inventions on human life is huge. So huge that it is difficult to comprehend it but I will try and explain a little in my essay. Inventions have changed our lives it has revolutionized every aspect of our life. if we look at our means of communication then we will see that first we used to communicate with letters, but then telegram was invented which was a faster way to communicate but not fast enough then telephone was invented which made our lives easier and made us communicate with our loved ones so easily and made it made possible for us to communicate with someone who is miles away from us. And now days it is even possible to video chat with anyone on any part of the world and this entire have been made possible due to the scientific inventions. Then with the progress of science and its inventions the means of travel have also changed in the early times people have to travel through horse and camels and they completed their journey in months even in yea rs but due to development in scientific inventions it is now possible to travel distances of thousands of miles in hours or days. Due to scientific inventions we were able to find answer to our question which we thought we can never answer, like people used to say that humans cannot fly but due to the advancements of scientific inventions we can now fly in the air with the help of an airplane. In our daily life we use a lot of scientific inventions, like television, fridge, fans, laptops, mobile phones, micro wave Owens, tube light, cars, bikes, and many more of scientific inventions they have made our life more luxurious and made our work more easy and less time consuming it has granted us to do things in minutes which we did in days, months even its has completely changed our lifestyles and altogether our lives they are a blessing on us. Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.   à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Ã‚  Pablo Picasso Due to scientific inventions cure of many diseases have been found which were thought incurable in earlier times. The life expectance has increased drastically in earlier times many people died of disease which are now extinct due to new techniques and invention invented by scientists. In new types of drugs are invented to cure the incurable diseases vaccines have made many disease extinct. Doctor uses many kinds of inventions to diagnose patients diseases. This has made it easy for them to t find out what is wrong with their patient. Doctor use inventions like x-ray machines, USG machines, angiography machines, laparoscopic devices and monitors, CT scan machines, MRI machines, digital thermometer, digital blood pressure machines, blood sugar measuring devices, Stethoscopes, torches, laryngoscopes, otoscope and many more. If these inventions were not available to them they might not be able to diagnose some disease or might diagnoses it in correctly and the patient may die but these inventions have made it possible to look up all kind of diseases in human body and also have made it possible to cure it and because of some scientific inventions now surgeries of tumors which were in operatable are now operate able. And due to these inventions surgeries of hrs have decreased to minutes and with minimum side affect. Engineers have made up dams to prevent floods which also help in producing electricity and provide water to agricultural land. Due to scientific inventions now it is possible to save ourselves from natural disaster as inventions have been invented which predict the natural disasters before they have happened. And can be used to save many people from natural disasters. Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.   à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Ã‚  Arthur C. Clarke,  Profiles of the Future: An Inquiry into the Limits of the Possible Arthur C. Clarke is absolutely correct because scientific inventions have done the unimaginable it has enabled us to go to the moon which we thought was impossible and now due to scientific invention we final seen moon closely enough to understand it and can go in space and wander in it. Computer is the most amazing invention of all time it has made everyones life easy it has finished gaps between people by internet it has made all the knowledge known to man open to everyone in the world through internet it has solved so many problems of people that it is difficult to write them all I know theres a proverb which that says To err is human, but a human error is nothing to what a computer can do if it tries.   à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Ã‚  Agatha Christie,  Halloween Party Electricity the biggest invention of all time and the most important invention of all time. Now a days almost everything runs on electricity. Electricity has brightened our nights and given us cold winds in summers. It has made us to communicate with each other by telephones and it has completely changed our life. Scientific inventions have also revolutionized factories it has increased their production as machines produce more than human they get more work done than humans in a specific time. Now machines are available which make a product in more efficient way which is less time consuming and less money consuming and is still better than before. Where scientific inventions have so many advantages there are some disadvantages too. Scientific inventions have made people so much dependent on technology and inventions that it is now very difficult for people to function or carry on with their life without these inventions like if now we have to walk to place we will have so much difficulty. Scientific inventions have made people so lazy and they have become their slave they are dependent to do everything in their life with the help of scientific inventions. Scientific inventions have made people jobless as in factories and many offices machines have taken place of humans as machines are more efficient and are money efficient too. And due to these new scientific inventions and scientific inventions have also increased pollution in our environment which have created a lot of problems, it is destroying our environment and killing our planet slowly. These scientific inventions although have made life more luxurious but have made it a lot more complex and complicated. Due to scientific inventions the noise pollution have increased, anywhere we go we will not find peace and quiet traffic has so much increased in the cities that people want to escape from the traffic and hide from it in remote areas. Due to new inventions world is facing new type of dangers which they did not even new about like genetic mutation due to nuclear reactors, fumes coming out of factories are responsible for destroying ozone and global warming. Now people are facing danger due to scientific inventions. Now new type of entertainment sources have made people useless has they waste their time on watching television all day long. Then children waste their time on video games and internet. Children instead of doing their homework or studying they waste their time on internet and video games and these technology is so expensive and people waste their money on it. Many people cannot afford it and their children want these things so they start earning money the wrong way to buy those things. Academic performance of people is decreasing because people are wasting their time watching television and internet many people are addicted to it. And this all is creating diseases and disorders such as obesity, laziness, loss of personality and it has also affected their eye sight. It has disabled us from of friendly and face to face communication chance with each other. Because of scientific inventions people do not get any kind of physical activity or exercise. Which has increased diseases such as obesity which is very common now-a-days. There are some inventions which are too complex for some people and they cannot use it so the feel inferior to others which has created gaps and jealousy between people. To make electricity, which runs most of the scientific inventions is made by exhausting fossil fuels which is killing our world slowly although scientists have found methods to make electricity by renewable sources but they are more expensive than the traditional ways which takes up many resources and is creating a lot of and all kinds of pollution in our world. The biggest and disastrous scientific inventions are weapons which have made this world a living hell. They have destroyed the peace of this world and have imposed the fear of war in every persons mind. Every day hundreds of thousands of people die due to these monstrous inventions and they are the sole reason for terrorism. Countries are wasting so much money on the research and development of weapons so the powerful may remain powerful so they can impose their command on the less powerful. Nuclear weapons have been developed to wipe out whole countries from the face of the earth. So many people died in Hiroshima and Nagasaki during world war 2because of atomic bombs, even in Pakistan so many people have died in suicide bombing. And in other incident of terrorism. People that they made these weapons to defend themselves but if there were no weapons then from what they needed defending from. On name of defense they kill and slaughter people. This is absolutely wrong. In the end I would only say that it is not the inventions but it is their use that has made them harmful if the same thing is used for good it becomes a blessing for everyone but if that thing is used for evil purposes then it becomes accurse for whole humanity some people use scientific invention for the benefit of people and the world and others use it for the destruction and evil so this does not make the invention good or bad it makes it user good or bad because when something is invented it is usually is invented for the benefit of human kind but its user may use it for evil or good like computer was invented to solve and help people with their problems but people now even use it for hacking into other peoples personal files and stealing money from people. So scientific inventions have both disadvantages and advantages but the number of advantages is so great that we can over look its disadvantages, because now these inventions have made over life so easy that now we cannot live without them we need them in every aspect of our life.

Salman Rushdie :: essays research papers

There have been very few writers who have been dogged by controversy throughout their careers. Some have been persecuted in less enlightened times such as Mark Twain, and some have been ridiculed by the press like Edgar Allan Poe. Yet, Salman Rushdie was the first author in the free world to have been pursued from across continents and forced into hiding because of a death sentence by a foreign government. To say Salman Rushdie is a very controversial writer in today’s society would be a gross understatement. Rushdie in fact could be considered the ideal poster boy for absolute freedom of the press. It is not that Rushdie prides himself on being rebellious, he simply presents his ideas bluntly and it just so happens that his ideas address extremely volatile topics such as the Islam religion. Rushdie’s philosophy was eloquently put when he wrote, â€Å"What is freedom of expression? Without the freedom to offend, it ceases to exist.†Contrary to many great authors, Rushdie did not endure a traumatic childhood, suffer from alcohol addiction, or live with chronic depression. Instead, Rushdie actually had what many would view as a close to perfect upbringing. Rushdie was born in 1947 to a middle-class Moslem family in the great city of Bombay, India. His paternal grandfather was an Urdu poet, and his father a Cambridge educated businessman. At the age of fourteen, Rushdie was sent to Rugby School in England where he excelled in his studies. Rushdie went on to continue his studies at King's College, Cambridge, where he studied history. After graduating in 1968 he worked for a time with television in Pakistan as an actor with the theatre group at Oval House in Kennington. Then, from 1971 to 1981 Rushdie earned his living by working intermittently as a freelance advertising copywriter for Ogilvy and Mather and Charles Barker. Rushdie eventually began his literary career in 1975 when he made his debut with Grimus, a sort of fantastical science fiction novel based on the twelfth century Sufi poem â€Å"The Conference of Birds†. Grimus however received little fame and Rushdie truly broke into the literary world with his second novel Midnight’s Children, in 1981, which won him the Booker prize and international fame. This novel began his controversial persona as well. The novel is a comic allegory of Indian history that revolves around the life of its narrator, Saleem Sinai, and the one thousand children born after India’s Declaration of Independence.

Guilt and Shame in Some Thoughts Concerning Education and Robinson Crus

Guilt and Shame in Some Thoughts Concerning Education and Robinson Crusoe  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚        Ã‚  Ã‚   In Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century England, a major transition was occurring; attitudes were shifting towards a more sensibility-based perspective, in which the "warrior" mentality of earlier times was falling out of fashion, in favor of sensitive "gentlemen." Such gentlemen were expected to be morally sound, well-educated, "enlightened." Yet, despite all this, men were still expected to be masculine to be able to take control of a situation or solve a particular problem. John Locke postulated that all of this could be encouraged in young men via their education. Sadly, he found that no educational program at the time was up to the task. He argued that one of the foremost goals of education should be responsible self-government, or the ability to determine properly what to do and what not to do without an external authority commanding it. This ideal became very en vogue among sensible folk at this time many Englishmen (as well as other Europeans) wanted to be so moral ly upright that they need only answer to themselves. Locke, of course, had some thoughts on this, and those thoughts revolved chiefly around (of all things) shame. Some Thoughts Concerning Education was first published by Locke in 1693. The ideas it advocated were progressive, even by today's standards. One point he makes very clear is that physical rewards and punishments (as a system of encouraging morally-correct behavior) are ineffective in raising children to be responsible, moral adults (38 - 39). As an alternative, he suggested the following: Esteem and disgrace are, of all others, the most powerful incentives to the mind, when once it is brought to relish ... ...other is standing nearby with a scornful eye, but true self-governance is about much more than that. Locke knew this to be true, and I think it's obvious that Defoe agreed emphatically enough to base one of the most successful novels in history on very similar views.    Works Cited Bredvold, Louis I. The Natural History of Sensibility. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1962 Defoe, Daniel. Robinson Crusoe. New York: Bantam Books, 1991 ("Defoe") Defoe, Daniel. Robinson Crusoe, Norton Critical Edition. New York: W. W. Norton and Company, Inc., 1975 ("Norton") Locke, John. Some Thoughts Concerning Education, The Works of John Locke, vol. 9. London: 1823 Moore, C. Backgrounds of English Literature 1700-1760. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1953 Yolton, John W. John Locke and Education. New York: Random House, Inc., 1971   

Instant Messenger Programs Essay -- Communication Computers Internet E

Analysis of Instant Messenger Programs From telegrams to telephones, to emails and faxes, people have had a strong desire to be connected to one another. The onset of the information age has only increased that desire - to the point that people are seeking a constant connection. The introduction of instant messenger programs has allowed people to be connected and communicate in real-time. Instant messaging not only provides transfer of text messages, but peer-to-peer file sharing as well. While file transfer provides the user with increased convenience, it also increases the odds of transferring viruses, worms, and other malware. This paper will discuss the major instant messenger programs: AOL IM, .NET Messenger, ICQ, and Yahoo! Messenger. In particular it will explore the threats and security risks involved in both personal and professional use of instant messenger programs. Introduction As the name suggests, instant messaging, or IM, is the real-time delivery of a message from one user to another. Communication between any computing stations can occur as long as the appropriate version of the program is installed. Users must also be concurrently running an IM client (program) as well as be on the same IM network [7]. A conversation that occurs between two or more users is known as a session (or channel). A session can either be public, where any and all users can participate, or private, where users must be invited to participate in the session. Buddy lists, also known as contact lists, allow users to maintain communication with specific users of the same IM client and network. While each instant messaging program is unique, they all employ similar client-server architecture to send and receive m... ... [5] Gaudin, Sharon. â€Å"Norton Antivirus Attacks Instant Messaging.† www.instant-messaging.com. August 2002. [6] Grimes, Roger A. "IM Security Primer." www.secadministrator.com. May 2002. [7] Hindocha, Neal. â€Å"Instant Insecurity: Security Issues of Instant Messaging.† www.securityfocus.com. January 2003. [8] Hindocha, Neal. â€Å"Threats to Instant Messaging.† Symantec Security Response. January 2003. [9] Hu, Jim. â€Å"Worms Find Fertile Ground in IM.† www.cnetnews.com. August 2001. [10] Shinder, Thomas. â€Å"How to Block Dangerous Instant Messengers Using ISA Server.† www.windowssecurity.com. July 2002. [11] Thorsberg, Frank. â€Å"Is IM a Sieve for Corporate Secrets?† www.pcworld.com July 2002. [12] Varnosi, Robert. â€Å"The Problem with Instant Messaging Apps at Work.† www.cnet.com. August 2002