Canada’s Recreational Parks

â€Å"The capacity to use leisure rightly is the basis of a man's whole life.† This observation by Aristotle clearly proves the significance that it holds in our time. Previously, when the struggle for food and shelter took most of a man's time, the ability to use leisure rightly had less significance. Over time there has been a vast change in thinking with regards to the usefulness of leisure, especially pertaining to issues concerned with land use and outdoor recreation resources. Hence, this essay will present a case study on Algonquin Provincial Park, which will draw on aspects of the workings of leisure and/or tourism and how various theories such as Distance Decay, the ‘Ellis Curve', the theories of Valene Smith and Doxey, give an insightful meaning to the planning and management of sustainable ecosystems. In Canada, the emergence of parks, especially national and provincial parks, plays an integral role in our consideration of outdoor recreation resources. Public awareness with regards to this importance has enabled the public to â€Å"recognize more clearly a collective responsibility for the management of our environment and preservation of its values.† Also, with the technology that has become increasingly available to use, our abilities to alter the landscape have left very little lands to preserve in their natural beauty. Therefore, the conservation or preservation of resource-based parks should be implemented before all opportunities disappear permanently. As well, providing leisure opportunities enables us to fulfill our objectives of the best possible standard of living for every individual. In relation to this point there is a growing acceptance the â€Å"nature sanctuaries of solitude and repose where people can find re-creation of body and spirit are essential to provide a change from the pace and demands of modern civilization.† Thus, the provision of suitable land for outdoor living should deserve consideration in competing land uses. It is already agreed upon the notion that we must provision land for outdoor recreation as a necessary public service; but the question now remains how to maintain the demand for such services when faced with a dwindling supply (available land) and an increasing demand (rising population, rising income/quality of life = increasing discretionary income = availability of more leisure time). This leads us to the objectives of the necessity and objectives of our (Ontario) provincial park system. The basic reasons for establishing provincial parks have remained essentially fluid over time. â€Å"Protection, recreation, heritage appreciation, and tourism are the objectives of the current provincial park system.† These were the same reasons evoked in the late 1800's for setting aside the first provincial parks in Ontario. As a general description, in Ontario, the parks tend to be fragmented and multilayered. This means that at the provincial level of parks and outdoor recreation there are â€Å"at least 15 provincial departments, agencies, or commissions are actively engaged in parks and open space programs.† The parks are essentially used by many groups and individuals to satisfy a great number of recreational needs. Therefore, a given park may be multi layered(administered at several governmental levels) and multi purpose in nature. Recently, with respect to the objectives of provincial parks, the policy has taken an economic outlook towards its managements. For instance, according to the official mandate of Ontario Parks is â€Å"to protect, plan, develop, and manage Ontario's system of provincial parks while improving their self reliance.† Thus, the objective of creating and managing these parks is to â€Å"improve services to increase revenues, and, inturn, to sustain other parks.† This shows a marked difference in the nature of recreation perceived by park developers. By this we mean that the nature of the park itself has changed from one that was once for conservation and recreation to that of financial stability. For example, from excerpts from the Ontario Parks Objectives, the business objectives include the objective of â€Å"operating more like a business and improving customer service and market our products and services†¦Ã¢â‚¬  as goals. Their business plan includes, among others, objectives to create â€Å"a special purpose account for retaining and managing park revenues (fees, licences, permits, rentals) to be developed. It will improve customer service, maximize revenues and make park operations more efficient and accountable.† As this shows, the very basic existence of Ontario Parks has changed from one that provided outdoor recreation opportunities to every man, woman and child, to that of a corporate enterprise, trying to maximize profit in a monopolized marketplace. This is how recreation has changed over the time frame of the development of the parks to the present day policies and initiatives undertaken by the province which manages these parks. Algonquin Park is Ontario's first Provincial Park and is located in the region of ‘Near North' in Ontario. The essence of Algonquin is its vast Interior of maple hills, rocky ridges, spruce bogs, and thousands of lakes, ponds and streams. More than 250 bird species have been recorded in the park. Many southern and overseas birders make special trips to Algonquin just to see northern specialties such as the Gray Jay and the Spruce Grouse, not to mention the rich variety of warblers or Algonquin's most famous bird of all – the Common Loon, found nesting on just about every lake. Hence, a practical casestudy to examine, is that of Algonquin Park. Algonquin Park was established in 1893 due to the growing concerns at the time. These issues revolved around the wood supply and climate that were being threatened by massive clearing of forests. The person responsible for the parks first lands reserves was Robert Phipps, who was strongly influenced by the public and senior civil servants of Ontario. Phipps believed that it was imperative to stop settlement and land clearing activities in this part of Ontario. He stated that â€Å"when covered with extensive woods the principal heights of land forms reservoirs which supply the sources of numerous rivers, give moisture to the numerous small lakes and watercourses†¦below them, and preserve throughout the whole country a fertility, invariably much impaired when the forests are removed.† Robert Phipps enlisted the help of Alexander Kirkwood, who advised a commission that the objectives of establishing the first provincial park should be to â€Å"1)preserve the headwaters of the park river systems, 2) to preserve the native forests, 3) to protect birds, fish, game and fur bearing animals, 4) to provide an area for forest experimentation, 5) to serve as a ‘health resort and pleasure ground for the benefit, advantage and enjoyment of the people of the province.† As well, the chairman of the Royal Commission on Game and Fish, that the provincial government had been forced to set up, by the public, was convinced that Ontario's fish and wildlife were in the process of being eliminated. Therefore it was recommended the â€Å"formation of a provincial game park as the best means of restocking the province† with wildlife should be created. These powerful influences ensured that the park would be created and maintained. Therefore, by establishing the park in 1893, it not only tended to stop logging but to establish a wildlife sanctuary, and by excluding agriculture, â€Å"to protect the headwaters of the five major rivers which flow from the park.† The original name was â€Å"Algonquin National Park†, but it was in fact always under Ontario's jurisdiction. The name was officially changed to Algonquin Provincial Park in 1913. It was named to honour the Algonquin-speaking first nation people and to date covers more than 7725 square kilometres of forest, lakes, and rivers. As the park has changed and evolved since its creation, so to have the policies concerning Algonquin. The construction of the railroad across Algonquin after the park was created, was used primarily for logging purposes. It was constructed between the years 1894 and 1896. However, the completion of the railway had a great effect on the recreational use of the new park, for it was now accessible for the first time to everyone. For the next 40 years, the people using the park for purposes like lodges, youth camp, could only be accessed by train. Some predicted that the multi purpose uses for the park (logging, recreation) would soon run into complications. After the construction of Highway 60 from 1933 to 1936, an alternative to the railroad provided even greater access to the park's facilities. More than 3600 automobiles entered the park's gate during the highway's first full year of operation, and soon campgrounds had been established at popular sites. At the same time, this more convenient means of access to Algonquin made the demise of the railroad just a question of time. The increasing conflict between logging and recreation finally came true – the late 1960s were a time of great public controversy and debate about the role of logging in Algonquin. Most believed that the logging was unacceptable with the wilderness park they wanted. This lead to the Algonquin Park Committee designed to present and implement official policy guidelines with regards to the management of Algonquin provincial park. The report created was called the Algonquin Master Plan. It addressed the contemporary issues/problems that were facing the park and the solutions recommended by park planners to rectify the situation. The Algonquin Park Master Plan was released by the Ontario government in 1974. It was also decided to review the effectiveness of this plan's policy every five years and to suggest better ways to improve the park during these times. These periodic public reviews and modifications would not take away the main focus of the plan. As stated earlier, the plan was prepared by the Ontario government in an attempt to resolve the many â€Å"conflicting demands being placed on the Park, and to set out rational guidelines for Algonquin's future use and development in the face of pressures that can only become stronger in the years to come.† The Master Plan's official goal for Algonquin is to â€Å"provided continuing opportunities for a diversity of low intensity recreational experiences, within the constraint of the contribution of the Park to the economic life of the region.† What this essentially implied is that logging would continue to operate within the park's boundaries, but that it would be managed in such a way that the â€Å"feel† of wilderness is not destroyed by either logging or recreational activities. The main features from the Master Plan remain unchanged. Some of the highlights from the Master Plan include that the park is divided into zones each with different allowed uses. Logging, for example, is permitted only in the recreation-utilization, or about 57% of the park's total area. Other zones include wilderness zones, development zones, nature reserve zones, and historical zones. Another feature of the Plan was the cancellation of the existing timber licences held by some twenty logging companies, and the creation of a Crown agency called the Algonquin Forestry Authority. It now carries out all logging and forest management in the park in accordance with comprehensive regulations administered by the Ministry of Natural Resources. The Authority sells the wood to the mills which were formerly supplied by the private companies. In another attempt to control the logging practices of the forest, the provincial government has created a planning process called Lands for Life which states that â€Å"logging companies will manage our public land and will have rights to it for up to 100 years at a time. Logging companies have openly stated that they do not want any new protected areas to come out of Lands for Life and they want to log in existing parks like Algonquin.† The third area where the Plan introduced far-reaching changes was that of recreation in the park interior. In an effort to preserve those qualitites shown by studies and questionnaires to be sought after by the vast majority of interior users, the Plan called for regulations such as banned motor boats from most lakes, limiting the number of canoeists, limiting the size of interior camping parties, and banning disposable cans and bottles in the park interior. Another area under intense scrutiny was that of the park's perimeter. The committee recommended the provision of additional intensive recreation facilities outside the boundaries of Algonquin park. Basically, the committee had in mind the establishment of additional facilities in order to takes some of the pressure off Algonquin. The park, in their terms, had reached its carrying capacity due to overuse. The natural solution is to establish satellite parks. Another issue relates to that of concessions and the committee commented on this by stating that the â€Å"proposed expansion of the park facilities to meet the anticipated demand is going to be expensive from capital cost and from operating and research expenses. It is appropriate that the park users should pay a fair share of the costs through users' fees such as entrance and camping fees. The balance of the costs could properly be borne by the general revenues of the province.† Many of these provisions continue to be refined and modified particularly in response to periodic public reviews of the Master Plan. Thus new issues that deal with human interaction through outdoor recreation and the stability of the park are continuously brought up. The decisions by the park planners with respect to the issues facing the park could not have all been foreseen. They believe that the park, though growing and facing new changes with respect to its needs for outdoor recreation, serves â€Å"its original purpose as well as many of the interests currently are being expressed by the various elements within society today.† Taking into consideration the objectives and aims of the Ontario Provincial Government to ensure the protection and future developmental process of the Algonquin Park, one can apply certain theories. A theory which applies to the Algonquin Provincial Park is the issue of Distance Decay. Distance Decay states the further away a place is from a community, there will be a significantly lower the number of visitors. With reference to the Distance Function Graph, the percentage of users of the Algonquin Provincial Park before infrastructure improvements the slope of the curve had a steady outward decrease. However, with the improvements of the infrastructure such as the establishment of Highway 60, the slope of the curve has changed. The inferred increase in the slope of the curve means that the park has become more accessible and hence an increase in the number of visitors. In 1997, more than 8.5 million people enjoyed provincial parks and as many as 2,400 people attended public wolf howling sessions in Algonquin in a day. And with the further improvements of the park, these numbers are expected to increase. The expected increase of users is a concern of Ontario Parks hence a limitation of visitors was established. The Distance Decay function, however, is tied to the theory of Valene Smith, Hosts and Guests, 1977. Smith classifies the type of tourist and their adaptations to local norms. In the past the Algonquin Park has mainly attracted the ‘Explorer' type of tourist, limited in numbers but who accepts fully the environment. However, an argument can be put forward that the type of tourist to Algonquin has shifted to the ‘Incipient Mass' type tourist. Reasoning for this classification is because there is now a steady flow of tourist to the park, but mainly because the tourists now seek Western amenities. These amenities are the presence of newly established restaurants, lodging and designated walking trails. The Algonquin Park, in some sense, is moving towards a McDonalization of Tourism, in which vacations are controlled as to the number of people allowed into the park and predictable with respect to the areas visitors are allowed to visit. The natural concept of going to Algonquin to experience nature first hand, is therefore somewhat lost by the adding of museums and the creation of a tourism bubble. There is nothing real anymore. Like Disney theme parks, fakes ( ‘simulacra') are more real than ‘the real'. The tourism experience becomes one of ‘tourism consumerism', a concept of Post-Tourism. Therefore, there is no ‘authentic' tourist experience because the post-tourist realize that they are play a game. The experience of going to Algonquin to watch the birds or to see the wolves is in a controlled atmosphere – it is not the ‘real thing' – but rather an assimilation of what the tourists expect to see when visiting Algonquin. In conclusion, the ‘Ellis Curve' helps to visually summarize the concepts and effects of tourism on Algonquin Provincial Park. Before Algonquin Provincial Park was established in 1893, the placement of Algonquin along the ‘Ellis Curve' can be arguably placed in the ‘A' quadrant. The reasoning for this placement is because, the tourism effects were more favourable to the environment – more Explorer type tourist- and to the economy, wherein there was the presence of private logging companies. After 1893, the placement of Algonquin was now closer towards the â€Å"B† quadrant. The tourism effect became less favourable towards the environment and more favourable for the economy. The improved infrastructure created an increase in users, a shift in the type of tourist – Incipient Mass – and an increase presence of logging companies, all of which placed concerns about the carrying capacity of Algonquin Park. However, through the new objectives of the Provincial Government in levying user fees of campgrounds, the consolidation of logging under Crown supervision to deal with the issue of the carrying capacity, the placement of Algonquin could be placed back in Quadrant ‘A'. Striking a balance between the recreational aspect of the park and the economic functions of logging has been the primary focus of Ontario Parks. The step towards the concept of McDonaldization of Tourism can be seen as a form of alternative tourism in which monetary concerns to fund educational programs and the preservation of the ecosystem by limiting human impact, is seen as the better of the two evils. Finally, with drawn reference to the work of Doxey, The Irritation Index of Tourism, my personal opinion is that the present environmental policies in place have established a level of apathy, wherein the attitude of tourist (the public) and host (park operators) is a moderate acceptance and support of tourism and is a positive step towards fulfilling â€Å"the capacity to use leisure rightly as the basis of man's whole life.†

Pregnant Inmates

When carrying a child it is important to get the right care and right nutrition to assure mother and baby are healthy throughout the whole process. While at home, the right amount of prenatal medication and nutrients can be consumed with no doubt. There are also books and online sources you can refer to while at home to get information on whats going on with your body. Also your doctor is just a call away if you experience any issues or have any questions during your pregnancy. Now imagine you are in jail.Its understandable you should have to do the time for the crime you commited. Your unborn child however, should not have to suffer your consequences. More then 2,000 children are born behind bars each year. (7) Pregnant inmate’s access to these kinds of resources are limited. They really do not know what is in their food, it probably is not the most healthy thing you could be eating. You can not access information about your pregnancy and the best you will be able to get for medical personal is the enfermery unless they decicde it is sereve enough to take to the hospital.Nothing is really your decsion in jail, if you are unfortunate enough to have to be pregnant in jail the least they could do is treat the women better. Given what we know about prenatal care, prisons should give better care to pregnant inmates. One very important thing to worry about while being pregnant is medical care. People usually do not realize how much medical care pregnant women need. There are the vitamins, the checkups, the ultrasounds, and much more. Medical care should start even before becoming pregnant checking to see if your body is healthy enough to handle a baby inside of you.The earlier you know you are pregnant the better off the baby and mother will be. Medical conditions can form within the first month of pregnancy. If incarcerated it is not as easy to figure out if you became pregnant or not. While in jail is it manadated under the eighth amendment for inmates to r eceive adequate medical care from an infirmary in the jail or from outside sources the jail provides. A pregnant women in prision is to be given proper mecial care whether or not she decides to keep the baby.This is a law and the ACLU is working on making sure every prision is giving pregnant women the proper  medical care throughout the whole country. Choosing doctors is also something that has to be done after getting pregnant.Usually women try to find doctors they are comfortable with. Inmates do not have the choice of what doctors they want. They get what is provided by the prision whether they like it or not. This could lead to a miserable pregnancy for mom. Most women would rather be provided a doctor in jail rather then having to be brought out somewhere. They find it embarrassing being shackled and in a jumpsuit with a big pregnant belly. ( 4) Think about it. Most people do not like to stand out from a crowd.Being pregnant and in an orange jump suit in a doctor’s of fice is like being a clown in a doctor’s office considering how much you are going to stick out. Another issue while being pregnant in jail is your living conditions and the treatment you get from other inmates. Would you rather be the mothers you see on television sitting in a nice home or be the poor pregnant imates getting treated like caged animals. Inmates are defintely not going to receive the comfort most mothers would want. Your going to be living behind bars in a cold jail cell with none of the comforts you would have if you were in your own home.Sleeping is going to be a big struggle. The hard bed is not going to be the first choice for someone with a watermelon sized belly. Pregnant women should be provided extra things in their cells to just give them a little more comfort, like a better padded bed. In prision, mothers also don’t get as much time with their babies. Babies do get taken away from their mothers at certain times. Mother and child bonding time i s crucial at that newborn age. (7) If you think you are going to get treated the same in prision by your fellow inmates if your are a new mother or pregnant you are completely wrong.They will look at you different and pretty much see you as prey. Being hormonal from your pregnancy that is the last thing you want to be feeling. The feeling of being unsafe in prision can not be good at all. Women now have to worry about themselves and their babies being at risk of getting hurt. Most prisions still shackle women while they are giving birth or go outside of the prision. Restraints can make a pregnant inmate more opt to fall and if they fall the right way they could even kill their baby. (4) This is not right at all.If complications were to happen this could go very bad because it could make it harder for the doctors to get to mother. It is not fair mothers really are not going to escape at that point in time in that much pain and if choosen on pain killing drugs. Treatmant should be cha nged for pregnant inmates. Nutrition is also a huge factor when carrying a child. We can all agree that prision food is not the most healthiest thing you could be eating. They have inmates making that food and you never know what could be thrown in there that could be harmful to the mother or baby.You are going to have to be eating some what more now because of course, you are eating for two. A normal pregnant women should be eating 6-11 servings of grains, 3-4 servings of fruit, 3-5 servings of vegetables, 3-4 servings of protein, 4 servings of dairy, and ocasionally fats and oils. ( 6)While in prision, you don’t know what is going in your body. Women should have the option of eating healthier special food while pregnant, expecially those who decide they want to breast feed their child after its birth. What the mother intakes is also what the baby intakes.There is no picking your food in prision. What is on the menu is on the menu and there really is no changing it. Eating a nd doing certain things during your pregnancy can affect your child. It is known if you eat a lot of peanuts it will predispose your child to food allegies. Getting sick off of food is one thing when you’re eating for your own body but when you’re eating for two it’s a different story. You do not want to get your baby sick. Babies are at very high risk when still in the womb. You have the people out there that do not care about pregnant inmates at all.They think that if they did the crime they should do the time. That is completely understandable but why should the baby have to do the time as well? Why should the baby be put through the horrible diet and lack of care. If children are born with disablilities there is nothing they could have done about that. They were a poor innocent little person inside of someones body they were dependent on. Usually the people who say they do not care are men. Mostly men work in prision facilities. I got this statistic from cou nting men to women on a floor in the South Bay correction facitlity in Boston.Men do not understand how important things are when it comes to motherly stuff. I understand some are fathers but no father can ever give a child motherly love like a mother can. Babies get taken away many times in a prision.Pregnant women are still receiving the time and punishment about being away from their family at one the most important times in their life. Who cares if there was little tweks here and there to make it a little more comfortable or a little safer. Really you have to step back and look at the baby not the mother that did the crime. Are shackles a really big deal to someone?I do not think it is that hard to catch a pregnant women on the run. If police can not do that how would they ever catch a robber or someone who is in shape? I believe they should at somepoint make pregnant women their own jail or maybe their own wing. It is not like pregnancy is a whole new thing to society. It happe ns to most women. Any point brought up about having pregnant women be treated the same in any way can be fought and won because of the circumstances of what pregnant women are dealing with. Another question people wonder is what happens to these babies born behind bars?What happens to those 2,000 children each year? Before the 1950’s babies born behind bars would just stay in prision nurseries and be brought up by their mothers. It costs about 24,000 dollars to raise a baby in jail and when the number of women in prison increased by 832 percent between 1977 and 2007 it was to expensive to keep children in prison with their mothers. (7) Women are now forced to hand over custody of their child to a relative or the state so that baby can go into foster care. There is also a new thing that some prisons started doing.Mothers are able to keep their children in prison with them as long as their sentence is short and they are not in prison for anything violent. There is great competi tion to get into this because the numbers are limited. Prison is not an ideal place for a baby but it is better then getting ripped away from their mother at an early age. Given what we know about prenatal care, prisons should give different care to pregnant inmates. While being pregnant it is a special time for women. You can take away some things from them but it is just not fair to take everything away especially the things that could change a baby’s lifestyle later in life.People don’t realize that such a simple thing like the comfort of a comfortable bed and a blanket could make a huge difference for a pregnant woman. Some things are clear of what a pregnant women needs. For example different food plans and different vitamins and care. Prisons have to give women some things just for the fact that it’s the law. I really do not think it will kill anyone to give a little slack to someone who sadly has to be pregnant and in prison. Honestly you would never want that to be you.

NURSE PRACTITIONERS CAN EFFECTIVELY INCREASE GYNECOLOGICALSCREENINGS Assignment

NURSE PRACTITIONERS CAN EFFECTIVELY INCREASE GYNECOLOGICALSCREENINGS - Assignment Example Resources should be put in place and the nurses supported to ensure that screening is embraced by as many clients as possible. Common knowledge dictates that prevention is better than cure. Screening of the reproductive system ensures efficiency in child bearing since so many complications that would have occurred are prevented. Screening will help in the early detection of chronic diseases such as cervical and breast cancer as stated by Sudha (2011). Cancer, in its advance stages, cannot be totally treated. Early detection of the disease is essential in receiving successful treatment (Sudha, 2011). In other words, patients should be thoroughly screened if they have to receive proper treatment in case they are diagnosed with any disease. Overview of the  Review of Literature Several researches have been carried out to discuss the types, benefits and challenges of gynecological screenings. It has been discovered that disease prevention which involves primary avoidance is important a nd crucial. According to Boylan (2011) there are several benefits associated with disease screenings. However, the screening processes may hampered by various factors which make counseling difficult. There are various qualitative studies that have been conducted to investigate the demand for gynecological screenings. ... Yet again, others do not opt for the exercise owing to its costs (Sudha, 2011). Some women also forego the exercise considering their busy modern lifestyles so that they have almost no time to make appointments with their gynecologists. Culture has a major influence on the way people think and behave. In many cultures, personal privacy is an important aspect – one that must be guarded at all costs especially if it concerns the exposure of genitals (Liew, 2009). In this respect, culture has influenced many to avoid screenings for gynecologic diseases. Plan for Change Going by the numerous studies conducted in respect of screenings, it is worth noting that a rise in the number of screening will help improve women’s health (Hawkins, Nichols & Robert, 2011). The project aims to encourage nurse practitioners to encourage female clients to hold on the gynecological screening services. My focus is to steer up reliable and affordable screening techniques to be embraced by the n urses so that more women may value and be able to rely on the results obtained from screening. Modern techniques of screening should be employed to increase the credibility of the results and maintain the confidence of the clients as suggested by Falvo (2004). Posters, newsletters and leaflets about gynecological screening should be issued to as many female clients as possible in a bid to educate people about the facts and myths about gynecological screening. The health information should be in languages that can be understood by all targeted groups. The expenses on the services should be reduced so that many individuals in the community can access them. Trained practitioners should be the ones administering screenings and Pap tests to prevent more

PRODUCTS AND SERVICES Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

PRODUCTS AND SERVICES - Essay Example Cloon Kleen is trying to look for cost effective ways in which it can efficiently market itself and gain competitive advantage. Differentiation has immensely helped the company in retaining its customers due to the uniqueness of their products’ scent. Cloon Kleen’s has had high number of loyal customers, which is approximately 80% due to the uniqueness of their products to their customers who are majorly women of age between 25 and 50. The company has also adopted their own line of body care products due to high differentiation strategy they employee in their products. Cloon Keen uses three different perfumes to create fragrances which are of very high quality and do have authentic aroma that do not smell strange. The company uses print media which shows colored picture of their products thus promoting the products. A fashion magazine which adds value to the products by associating it with other fashion designs advertised in the same magazine. The company has adopted br anding and packaging of its kind that is very attractive to their customers. The branding is unique and very beautiful thus attracting many customers especially women who are greatly attracted by colors. The company also believes in verbal interaction with their customers that help them improve on the quality of their products through their customers’ suggestion. ... How it should Be Positioned Relative to Pertinent Competitors The company should further diversify in manufacturing more products with variety of attractive fragrance combined with beautiful packaging and marketing to gain competitive advantage. Changes Required For a Better Positioning The company should embark on thorough marketing, promotion and slightly lower the prices of their products to gain competitive advantage. The company may as well use application or use strategy by manufacturing different products for different occasions and times such as romantic scented candles for lovebirds’ gifts and cool scented products for summer seasons. Another great strategy is connecting the products with the users such as classic scented products for the rich. It is also important to design products that are consumer friendly by having consumer in mind. What Is Lifestyle Brand? A lifestyle brand is a brand that tends to symbolize itself with a particular grouping or society for marke ting purposes. This strategy should not be adopted since it may hinder other potential consumers who are not incorporated in the group shun from buying the products. Electronic Media in Promotion Electronic media such as website blogging and other social media should be used to promote and market both the company and the products due to their ability to reach many people at the shortest time possible. The firm should be able to communicate with its customers freely and persuade them to buy their products, which should be well displayed on the firm’s electronic sites. The will further receive feedback from their customers via the electronic media which they will use in improving

International developments in accounting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

International developments in accounting - Essay Example The historical development of accounting in India can be mainly traced along three period viz. before the colonial era, during the colonial era and in the postcolonial period. Pre-colonial period in India dates back to the time of Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa civilizations where the functions of commerce and trade started flourishing on a gradual scale. In these periods the accounting practice depended on a system of bookkeeping originally prevalent in Greece. Further documentary evidence of historical accounting systems can be found in the Smritis, which contained rules, and regulations of partnership dealings. With the emergence of the Chandragupta Empire the practice of accounting system earned huge focus with the works of Kautilya or Chanakya. Kautilya developed the treatise of ‘Arthashastra’, which depicted the different rules, regulations, and ethical conducts of accounting practices. However with the emergence of the British colonialists, India started becoming the ho me ground for rapid industrialization wherein the accounting systems became more scientifically treated to meet the complex industrial and trade demands (Hopwood & Chapman, 2008, pp.1399-1400). Colonial and post-colonial India became filled by many small groups of industries, which generally maintained records based on conservative and traditional practices. These industries generally did not feel the urge to maintain large sets of accounting records for business purposes and thus relied on traditional practices like ‘Single Entry Book Keeping’ (Mukherjee & Hanif, 2003, p.22.1). Traditional Accounting Systems in India The accounting systems in use in India during the traditional period were systematic and laid main focus on the receipt and payment system. Furthermore the practice of accounting was not conducted in an isolated manner but served a continuity of different periods. The period for which the accounts were developed varied along daily, weekly, bi-weekly, month ly or for annual periods. However in such systems the monetary transactions were not carried forward from one period to another. Separate heads were created for different nature of accounts maintained and strict governance was maintained depending on timing deadlines. Further for each of the separate transactions conducted a written record was mandatorily maintained which was produced on request. The person responsible for the keeping and maintenance of such accounting records also conducted separate audits to verify their authenticity (Sarkar, 2003, p.248). The practice of accountancy in Indian context can also be studied along the system of bookkeepings, which were prevalent in the accounting practices. The system of bookkeeping refers to the style of maintaining and recording of financial transactions under the separate books of accounts. Book keeping systems maintained in the Indian context contained of four different types of practices viz. Cash, Single Entry, Indian and Double Entry. The ‘Cash System’ of maintaining records of financial transactions is carried out in those concerns where sales and purchases are conducted only on the basis of cash. Here in case of credit transactions they are accounted at later periods when met in cash. Moreover the ‘Cash System’ of financial book keeping also depended on the maintaining of revenue and expenditure accounts to check the position of

Child Development and Parental Disorders Research Paper

Child Development and Parental Disorders - Research Paper Example There were three such respondents two of whom admitted to demonstration of pathological symptoms similar to that of their mentally estranged parents. There is a major implication derived from this for the study. Both the respondents who admitted to symptoms of mental disorders had high scores for psychosocial items included in the second part of the questionnaire. This proved that high degree of psychosocial trauma from childhood can trigger off psychiatric pathologies in later life while lesser degrees of it may be more benign. Conversely too, the study has proved ground for more development and research in this important field. It has revealed that a wider range of variables distributed across a broader spectrum of population can disclose more relevant correlations than is presently available. These correlations, once revealed, can lead to better understanding of how to cope with mental disorders in parents and how their children can be better shielded from their psychiatric pathology so that their development is not hampered and they do not fall victim to a vicious circle of psychologically inhibited adulthood. Genetic implication have been touched upon but not elucidated on since data available presently is not extensive enough. The4 statistical analysis conducted by the study was aband... Introduction The 'American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry' (AACAP) advocates that parental psychiatric illnesses can affect children (AACAP, 2004). Studies have proved that children with affected parents are at higher risk than those of mentally sound parents. The risk increases with both parents being mentally unsound. Studies have also proved that parents with the following disorders - bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, ADHD, schizophrenia, alcoholism, drug abuse or depression are more likely to adversely affect their children's behavioral and emotional positions (AACAP, 2004). The 'Center for Mental Health Services and Research' (CMHSR) Department of Psychiatry, University of Massachusetts Medical School, find in a 2001 study that, statistically, one-third of American women and one-fifth of American men are likely to be mentally affected. Of these, there is likelihood of 65% of the women and 52% of the men of becoming parents. Nevertheless, there have been very little corresponding studies on how incidence of parental mental illnesses and cultural and economic factors correlate to produce children's mental conditions. Thus, most of the studies conducted to this study's date - 2001 - are incidental purely on stressors such as poverty and ethnic minority status. Incidence in the Caucasoid and middle class sections of the American population has not been mapped so thoroughly. The net result is a gap in the understanding of how mental illnesses are distributed across the entire

Healthcare Communication Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Healthcare Communication - Research Paper Example The strategies to enhance healthcare communication take their basis from the basic elements that outline effective communication, encouragement that the provider incorporates and the cultural differences that have a good or bad say within the communication domains. All of these points would be discussed at length within this paper. Effective communication is always in line with the requirements of communication. This would mean that there are no hiccups experienced at any level and that there would not be difficulties in deciphering the different levels of communication which are coming through across the channels. The effective communication domains therefore look at the wholesome basis more than the individual links and this is the reason why effective communication is hailed by people from varied strata of life. Effective communication will always be able to take care of the healthcare communication tenets because it addresses problems on a one to one level and does not skip any important areas. This is the need of the hour and more so when it is concerned with saving one’s life. When one understands that how the basic elements of effective communication are bracketed differently than the rules which are outlined by the healthcare communication realms, what transpires is how much following is possible within the latter because effective communication can always be taken up as a role model within the related mix of things (Guo 2009). The need is to understand where the missing link is present and what best mechanism can be employed to make sure that anomalies are at their minimal, and if possible, nil. The difference of the basic elements of effective communication from the most basic ones of healthcare communication, once compared, should always be close to being labeled as negligible because this would in turn be a good omen for the healthcare providers and indeed the patients. Many differences would mean immense

Succesful Marriage Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Succesful Marriage - Essay Example Team work as explained by Coontz (2005) is the greatest of the factors to make a marriage successful. Team work involves doing things together and sharing all the details of the couples. It also involves sharing all the decision as well as making decisions together without one going behind the other’s back which in the end lead to lack of trust, fights and ultimate breakup. However, if the couples share all the information including secrets even the most trivial of them all, it means that in any difficulty or misunderstanding which is the likely recipe for divorce, the couples will go through it together as a team. Just like teamwork in workplaces requires contribution of all the parties involved, team work in marriage works in the same way with both partners contributing equally whether it is in time, finances or otherwise. When there are children in the marriage, teamwork is expected in raising them and this means being on the same page regarding curfews, deadlines, allowanc es and school work. Trust is the other greatest factor. Trust is different from team work in that without trust, team work is likely to fail, but a couple can last more in marriage with trust only than with team work only without trust. Trust means an in depth believe in one’s partner and especially when they are around people of the opposite sex or away from each other. What destroys most couples is lack of trust which leads to paranoia that the partner is going to leave you for another beautiful or handsome and more financially stable or younger partner. If these doubts and paranoia thoughts start entering the mind of the couples, trust starts crumbling, arguments increase, there is secret surveillance and this is the high road to divorce. Discussing insecurity issues is the best way to trust. The other most important thing is communication. Communication goes both ways if understanding and

Issue analysis paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Issue analysis paper - Essay Example The act was to be financed within the next ten years for it to be fully operational to help those who are unable to insure as depicted by the health act. As a result, millions of people will benefit from employment based insurance coverage than in the absence of Affordable Care Act (ACA).The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated the government budget and effects for the ten years. The Affordable Care Act will be financed thus delivering a devastating analysis of the inefficiencies and problematic social costs of Obamacare. The Affordable Care Act still faces opposition from Congressional Budget Office (CBO) since the key selling point of Affordable Care Act was to cover a significant number of above 30 million Americans who lacked it. As per today, the CBO is out criticizing the Affordable Care Act in America that within a decade, 6 million people will not be given health care insurance from their companies or from the employers due to Affordable Care Act (john 45). This makes the Americans to see as if the act was politically passed so as only target a certain group of Americans and segregating those who can be able to acquire the insurance coverage. The estimated expenditure of Affordable Care act will be about $2 trillion within the next 10 years meaning that there would be disruption of the United States medical system since the federal government will not be able to achieve the objectives, of providing coverage to 30 million Americans. The Congressional Budget Office maintains that within the ten years the same number of 30 million Americans will lack insurance as before since the Affordable Care Act will collapse within the next 5 years. Another opposing idea of the ACA is that the poor people will get subsidies and after they achieve certain level of compensation then the subsidy will disappear when one reaches a higher pay level. Basing their

Bob Knowlton Case Study Essay Example for Free

Bob Knowlton Case Study Essay Attribution process in chapter 4 is referred to as the ways in which people come to understand the causes of their own or others’ behavior. Knowlton felt that Fester was brought in to take his position as project head. With all the questions and research analysis that Fester completed on his own, Knowlton felt betrayed since his friend and mentor Jerrod never took the time to explain to him what was happening. When Knowlton did approach Jerrod to question why Fester was there, Jerrod replied, â€Å"We’re taking him on [. ]†Jerrod also replied that, â€Å"I don’t know yet where he will finally land †¦I thought he might spend a little time with you by way of getting started. † I believe that Knowlton should have gone back to talked to Jerrod again. Knowlton should have got his point across about the way that he and his team was feeling about Fester questions the work that he and his team had completed over the last six months and how calling his home at 2 o’clock explaining how Link’s patterning problem could be solved among other things. Jerrod could have then explained that Fester was brought in to be the project head for another department. In 1996, my husband and I were transferred to Korea for one year by the Army and our two kids that were 15 months old and 3 ? months old stayed with my mother-in-law. Once we returned a year later, our kids had grown so much. However much importantly to me, my kids were calling my mother-in-law mommy and I had not prepared myself for that. In the beginning, I was very hurt as well as confused as to why my kids was calling their grandmother â€Å" mommy†, but I came to the realization that they were at that stage in life where they were just starting to talk and mommy and daddy were their first words. After about a week, I asked my mother-in-law if she wanted the kids to call her grandma or nana so they would get use to calling my husband and I mommy and daddy. Finding of Facts 2: Self-Esteem The letter that Knowlton wrote explained that he would be glad to come back later (he would only be 40 miles away) to assist if there was any problems with the past work. Recommendation/Justification Self-Esteem is defined as the extent to which an individual believes that he or she is a worthwhile and deserving individual. In Knowlton’s situation he felt that he deserved the promotion to project head because he had the knowledge, skills and ability to perform the job. However, when Fester came and started challenging the result that he and his team had determined, he lost his self-esteem as well as his self-confidence and felt as if he was worthless to Mr. Jerrod and most importantly to his team and that allowed him to make a hasty decision to leave the organization. I recommend that Knowlton fight for his position, his team and most importantly his self-esteem. I recommend that Knowlton think about the achievements and contributions that he has made to the team as well as the organization. Once Knowlton builds his self-esteem back up, I recommend that he talks with his supervisor Mr. Jerrod and express his true feeling regarding how Fester approach toward his team is being very disruptive. In the military, we are usually transferred to different duty stations every three to five years. This one particular time, I was transferred to Ft Bragg, NC and they were not aware that I was coming to be assigned to the unit. Since they were not aware that I was coming, they did not have a place for me to work so I was consider a â€Å"floater† going from section to section to help out where ever needed until they found a permanent slot for me. The first section that I worked in was the processing section. The section was running smoothly, and I was there for observation purposes only. However, the leader that I am, I could not stand by and allow the soldiers to continue to work long hours without giving suggestions that would allow them to work smarter. I saw the hesitation that they were giving so I called a meeting and explained my purpose of being in the section and also let the soldiers know that I was just there to assist. Once they realized that I was not there to take anyone’s job, and that I was there to help the section run more efficiently, the soldiers began to gravitate toward me for more suggests. After about a week, the soldiers saw the results of my suggestions and incorporated those suggestions into their daily routines in the office. The soldiers also requested that I be assigned to their section permanently without my knowledge and when it was brought to my attention I was very impressed and decided to stay in that section. Findings of Facts: Team Empowerment Bob always prided himself on the fact that the work of the lab was guided and evaluated by the group as a whole and he was fond of repeating that it was not a waste of time to include secretaries in such meetings. Recommendations/Justification: Team empowerment refers to the degree to which its members perceive the group as (1) being competent and able to accomplish work-related tasks (potency), (2) performing important and valuable tasks (meaningfulness), (3) having choice (autonomy) in how they carry out their task, and (4) experiencing a sense of importance and significance (impact) in the work performed and goals achieved. Bob was proud of the members of his team. No one thought that they were smarter than anyone else on the team; they respected each other and valued each other’s opinion. However, from the very first day that Fester arrived, he made it clear that he was not a team player. He thought that everyone should work individually on their portion of the project, come together to complete the project and that be it. Bob also stated that he valued everyone’s opinion including the secretaries. Every member of the team know that if they did not pull their weight on their particular part of the project they could depend on their team mates for assistance and again Fester was not a fan of that. I believe that Bob should have stepped in and expressed his feelings as to how he and his team worked together on everything. He should have expressed how he valued everyone’s opinion and that he was not going to let him or ever Jerrold tear them apart. If Fester still had concerns he should have taken that up with Jerrold however, it should have been a dead issue to Jerrold since Fester was not going to be in charge of the department that Bob was currently heading. At my last unit, I was the section chief for the Personnel Section. I had just completed my training about three weeks prior when another sergeant came to the section that out ranked me. When the other sergeant came, after one week of watching how my section and I conducted business she wanted to make changes. One day she just came in the office and started making changes without consulting me or our commander. When I arrived to the office and saw the changes that she had made, I asked to speak with her separately, and I respectfully told her that I didn’t appreciate her coming in and changing my section around. She began to say that the changes that she was making was how she had her section set up at her last unit and the section ran smooth once all the changes were complete. Since she outranked me, I had to tell her again, respectfully that this was not her section, and the commander had not approved any of her changes nor did he have any knowledge of any of her changes. We then went and talked with the commander and he had agreed with me that first he would make the final decision if she was going to be in charge of the section or if I was going to continue to run the section. Also, if he was going to put her in charge of the section any changes that she wanted to make still had to be approved by him first. So needless to say, she was not happy with me, however, about a month or so later we had a talk. She stated that she admired me for standing up for myself as well as my section. She then went on to apologize for trying to use her rank to intimidate me. After our discussion, we were able to work together in the section as equals.

Impact of Taxation on Dividends

Impact of Taxation on Dividends Abstract: This research paper attempts to analyze the different tax systems and their impact on the dividend distributions. It is explained that the dividend payout is monotonically distributed across tax regimes as the firms in double taxation (classical) system have significantly lower payouts than companies in the partial-imputation system, while companies in the full imputation system pay the highest payouts. Our results hold when the other fundamental determinants of dividends are held through Lintnerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s model and the actual payout ratio. Overall, it is reported that the type of dividend tax system affect the dividend payout. Introduction: The tax burden on dividends depends on corporate and personal income tax systems. In a classical system, the total tax is the sum of the corporation tax, the effective capital gains tax and the tax on dividends. Typically the tax on dividends exceeds the gains tax creating an incentive to reduce dividends. In an imputation system on the other hand, the total tax is given by the corporation tax plus the effective gains tax plus the reduced dividend tax. If the reduction in the tax on dividend is large enough to make reduced tax dividend lower than the effective capital gains tax, an incentive to increase dividends is created. Understanding the impact of taxes on dividend policy is important for both academicians and practitioners. From academic perspective, the relevance of taxation will highlight the extent to which companies consider the after tax return of their shareholders and how any tax reform will affect the firmà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s dividend payouts. For practitioners, knowing how taxation affects dividends is also of considerable interest. Since shareholders are taxed differently, if stock prices reflect the tax status of one particular group of investors, other groups can take advantage of these differences by, namely trading around the ex-dividend dates to capture/avoid dividends. Moreover, understanding the impact of dividend taxation will be important for fund managers and analysts as changes in tax codes could affect the net returns and the relative pricing of securities. Most countries around the world adopt different systems of taxing dividends. Some follow a classical tax system where corporate income is treated differently from personal income in terms of statutory tax rate and deduction rules, others use some level of integration between corporate and personal income. The important distinction between these two different systems is the taxation of dividends. Countries that follow the classical system separate shareholders income from the income of their corporations. As a result the same unit of earning in the company is taxed twice when it is paid as dividend: first at the corporate level and then at the personal level; a disadvantage known as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“double taxationà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?. In contrast, countries that follow a more integrated system usually have a full or partial relieve from dividend tax in consideration of the fact that the same unit of earning has been taxed at the corporate level. In Pakistan, the system of double taxation (cla ssical system) is implemented i.e. the dividends are taxed on corporate level and then the same unit of earning is taxed at shareholder level. Background More than forty years ago, Miller and Modigliani (1961) showed that, after some assumptions, such as complete and perfect capital markets, a firmà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s dividend policy does not affect its value. While this theory has highlighted the five main factors that could affect dividends, namely signalling, agency costs, behavioral (catering and mental accounting) and taxation, the empirical evidence provided to-date on such effects is mixed, (Allen and Michaely (2006) and Graham (2003). In particular, while in theory taxation is expected to prevent companies from paying dividends, most previous empirical studies have shown that taxation plays a minor role in dividend decision (e.g. Brav et al., (2005), Fama and French (2001), Julio and Ikenberry (2005). Therefore it is not clear why companies still pay dividends despite their heavy tax burden. In this paper, the dividend tax systems is analyzed and test the hypotheses that, in countries where the tax burden on dividends is high, companies pay low dividends. Although dividends may have a tax disadvantage, previous studies show that shareholders react positively to dividend increases and negatively to dividend decreases (e.g. Michealy, Thaley and Womack (1995). Long (1978) provides evidence that in dual class shares, investors favor cash dividend over stock dividend stocks. The tax disadvantage of dividends and yet their popularity challenges the traditional policy of payout policy. Blackà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s (1976) dividend puzzle discusses the weaknesses of the finance theory in answering the simple question, why firms subject to a classical tax system to pay dividends? Some studies explain dividends away from taxes. For example Lintner (1956) in his classical study, shows that firms adopt a subjective target payout policy by decreasing dividends very slowly and hardly ever cut them. Models based on information asymmetry suggest that dividend changes provide information about the firmà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s future cash flows (Bhattacharya (19 79) and Miller and Rock (1985) or about the firmà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s cost of capital and/or maturity stage (Grullon, Michaely and Swaminathon (2002), Grullon and Michaely (2000). From the agency theory perspective, dividends provide a disciplining tool to reduce agency costs (Easterbrook (1984) and Jensen (1986). Behavioral finance theory suggests that dividends are paid in part to accommodate certain biases in individuals such as market sentiment (Baker and Wurgler (2004) or self control, mental accounting and regret avoidance (Shefrin and Statman (1984). Taxation moel suggests that if dividends are taxed at a higher rate than capital gains, firms should prefer to retain earnings or buy back shares (e.g. Auerbach (1979), Bradford (1981) , Auerbach and Hasset (2003), Lasfer (1996). Literature Review: To assess the impact of dividend tax on investment and financial policy of the firm, the literature has followed three basic approaches. The first approach is to examine the relation between the risk-adjusted pretax rate of return and dividend yield. If dividend tax is relevant and if dividends are taxed at a higher rate than capital gain, than pretax return should increase in proportion to dividend yield to compensate for dividend tax disadvantage. Black and Scholes (1974), Gordon and Bradford (1980), and Miller and Scholes (1982) did not find evidence that the tax differential between dividends and capital gain have an impact on pretax returns, while Lintzenburger and Ramaswamy (1979) find evidence to the contrary. The second approach is to examine the ex-dividend behavior of stock prices. Absent dividend tax, the value of a stock should fall by the full amount of the dividend on the ex-dividend day. Elton and Gruber (1970) provide evidence that US stock prices fall by less than th e full amount of the dividends on the ex-dividend day. Poterba and Summers (1985) and Lasfer (1996) show similar results. Other studies did not find evidence that the tax differential between dividends and capital gains have an impact on the ex-dividend behavior, for example, Hearth and Rimbey (1993), Lakonishok and Vermaelen (1983). The third approach is to employ event study analysis. Changes in tax laws provide a natural experiment for investigating the impact of dividend tax on investment and financial decision. Poterba and Summers (1985) show that higher dividend tax is associated with lower investment and dividends. Poterba (2004) study shows that the tax disadvantage relative to capital gains has a negative effect on dividend payment. Blouin et al. (2004) study the impact of the 2003 tax reduction in the US and find dramatic increase in the regular dividends and the special dividends after enactment and a decline in the share repurchases. Chetty and Saez (2004) report on incr ease in the fraction of dividend payers following the 2003 dividend tax reduction. In Pakistan the system of double taxation is implemented on dividends, its comparison with countries implying other system of taxations is studied. Objectives: The objectives of this research paper are to find out the impact of taxation on dividend policy and its impact on the financial and investment decision of the firms. Research Question: Is the dividend payout ratio of firms in full or partial integration system higher than the dividend payout ratio of firms in double taxation system? Theoretical Framework: Dividend Payout Taxation (Independent Variable) (Independent Variable) (Dependent Variable) Hypotheses: H1: Dividend payout ratio is higher in full and partial integration systems than in classical system of taxation. H2: Dividend payout ratio is NOT higher in full and partial integration systems than in classical system of taxation. Hypotheses Testing: Unlike the full integration system, the classical system carries with it a disadvantage of double taxation. If tax on dividends has an impact on the financial policy of the firm, then firms in classical system will lower or avoid dividends as much as they can, while firms in full integration systems will not have to lower their dividends. Thus the hypothesis H1 is expected to be true. System No. of Firm Observations Net Tax Rate on Dividend (%)* Payout Ratio =DPS/EPS* Classical System 18 50% 0.32 Partial 15 42% 0.45 Full 17 35% 0.47 * = Subject to 10% level of significance Research Methodology: Population: Population includes observations that have been collected randomly from firms in 6 countries representing all the three types of taxation systems. Sample: It includes 50 observations, i.e. data has been collected randomly from 50 firms representing all the three taxation systems. Sources of Data Collection: The annual OECD tax database Corporate and Individual Taxes, A Worldwide Summary, Price Waterhouse Conclusions: The dividend payout policy of companies was analyzed that applies different tax systems with regard to dividends. It is found that companies located in countries that apply double taxation system (classical tax system) to have less dividend payout than do companies located in countries that try to partially avoid double taxation. In general, tax effect measured by the type of dividend tax treatment has a strong effect on the size of dividend payout.