Ways has gender expectation changed over generations

Gender expectation generally means sets of behavior that society decide how female or males should think, act or feel. Many people get confuse about thinking that sex and gender are the same; however, Ashley Grossman, sociologist, explains â€Å"sex is biologically assigned while gender is socially constructed, socially created†. (Grossman) Therefore, gender is influenced by cultural, family, environmental, religious, educational, socioeconomic and geographical setting; in other words, it Is more nurture than nature. Many theories have been written to describe the gender role, how It Is formed.For example, The Evolutionary Psychology Theory of Gender says that different roles in reproduction places different pressures on males and females, which creates gender roles as the man being the more competitive and violent figure, while the women being more involved in nurturing activities. The Social Role Theory of Gender says that gender roles are formed by psychological gender diff erences caused by contrasting social roles of women and men. The Social Cognitive Theory of gender states that children's gender development occurs through observation and imitation of gender behavior.While my conclusions will not be based on these theories, they do help explain the formation and change of gender roles across time. Let us have a jump in the past. For more than 7000 years of human history, since agriculture and early States emerged, men were dominating the society they lived in, from the micro-world of families to the public macro-world of education and work. They have been tasked to provide for their family, from hunting and bringing home food for survival, like In our earliest days, to go to work and earn a paycheck and bringing home the bacon, like in our recent times.On the contrary, women were not even considered legal entities, persons in the legal sense. Until the end of the 19th century, an educated woman that was actually able to read books and have her own opinion, was not considerable a desirable wife. That's how strong the Institutionalizing of differentiation between women and men within society was. Even today, In some society, women are the slaves of men, completely disemboweled and vulnerable; some they must cover their faces In public or forbidden to appear outside their home without the presence of their husband.Back o 18th Century, sex role were rigid, with women assigned to be caregiver, mother. â€Å"In classic German phase, women were expected to dedicate themselves to the four KS : Creche (Church), Chuck(Cooking) ,Kinder (Children), undo Killdeer (and cloths)†. (Tier-Anna 13) This is female expectation In the past, and If a woman tried to break out of these roles , she might risk getting server disapproval. Regarding the education of women, the intellect of woman was limited by an unjustifiable restriction: the education was not objectively given to women. They were excluded from the subjects which men were trained .In the case of few people, male or female, attaining some education beyond basic reading, writing, and little math, the higher education was reserved primarily for men. Moving on the political point of view, women were not allowed to get Involve In pollute: had no right to vote, had no chance to be a governor, been changed drastically, generation over generation, more in women than men: women have come a long way; they are getting married later in life, giving birth later and they are getting more opportunities in which in the past generation were not allowed to.Likewise, men have more responsibilities in many roles which in the past were expected from women. We can list the main differences from the past in family rules, education and work. In recent years there has been a redefinition of man and woman roles in the family. The man tends to spend more time with their children, taking advantage of a working woman. Statistically though, only the time spent with children has increased from the father side. The mother, despite working, still spends the same time with her children, which is still higher that the father. Eventually, the chores are done from a person they both hire.The role of father has changes so much that there has been a rise of men's groups which feel been disadvantaged in this society where the legal system and the family court (in matters relating to access, child care and associated financial costs) is definitely in favor of women. Glen Sack shares his idea regarding to being househusband or stayed home dad (SHAD) that â€Å"Men need not fear a loss of power when they become a SHAD. While Shads are sometimes stereotyped as being at the mercy of their stronger wives' commands, in reality, I have more power in the family now than I ever did hen I was the family breadwinner† ( Sacks 266).This example shows that staying home and taking care children, which is expected to be a woman Job, not only man can do, but also been accepted from soc iety. Coming to education, women have finally gained access to all kind of education, even if there is still a margin of higher paid salary among the male gender. While there is improvement, for the social status of women in education and work participation rates, women still are experiencing conflict and differences in power in the workplace. For centuries there has been a sexual division of Jobs' rates of pay were women were paid much lower than males.This difference was Justified by the idea that men had the responsibility to support their family, whereas women tent to work less because of family commitments, childbirth and child-bearing ; therefore, occupations dominated by men tend to be more lucrative. Today a woman has access to all kind of Jobs, but because not all women want to dedicate themselves to a career, many women prefer to work part- time or accept less demanding positions. But it is only a question of choice, a woman choice. It is important to notice that change fo r women in society has led to men re- evaluating their roles.In the 21st century, a group of fathers meets regularly. Their agenda is that divorce, family law and economic crisis are reducing many males to a marginalia role within society. They feel that their situation is very similar to women in the past. Many men feel that due to divorce, unemployment and shifting of social norms, they are in an inferior position. Coupled with females outperforming males in different areas, from school grades to Job performances, some males do not feel it is an advantage to be a male.Eventually, this historic conflict about social differences between men and women has come to a point where cooperation between the two could be helpful to both. The shifting of power from a man dominance world to woman dominance world means still inequality and discrimination. Maybe equality of opportunity and outcome can be better achieved difference. In the end, the competition of a Nation depends significantly on whether and how it educates its female and male talent to maximize its competitiveness and development potential; it means that each Country should strive for gender equality.

Regulatory Barriers And Legislative Actions Health And Social Care Essay

The Healthy People 2010 includes ends of eliminate wellness disparities among sections of different populations ( U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, 2005 ) . Surveies have shown that rural countries experience more wellness disparities such as both morbidity, mortality, and with insurance coverage ( Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2009 ) . Age is besides an of import factor that contributes to healthcare barriers such as homebound position and transit affairs. The aged have systematically accounted for about 50 % of all health care expenditures in the United States ( Cousineau, 2010a ) . As the demand for the wellness attention additions, there will be fewer health care workers for attention bringing. If the current tendencies continue, the spread between supply and demand of rural doctor and nurses will be even larger than in urban countries ( Cousineau, 2010b ) . Given the continued growing of chronic unwellne ss in our society and the detonation of new health-related engineerings, surgical techniques and drugs ( Cousineau, 2010c ) , inquiries of how, or if telemedicine can cut down costs or better entree must be address in order to see it as a feasible solution for the drawn-out health care bringing in the United State.IssuesIn malice of the progresss of medical engineering and wellness information sciences that have improved the ability for telemedicine to supply entree to a spectrum of attention, insurance companies and funders continue to eschew the issue of reimbursement for telemedicine services. Indeed, though there has been great promise of telemedicine development really small advancement has really been achieved. The primary challenges continue to be limited reimbursement, licensure, and patient privateness ( Matusitz & A ; Breen, 2007 ) . Since Senate Bill 1665 enacted the â€Å" Telemedicine Delivery Act of 1996 † which imposed legion demand regulating the bringing of h ealth care via telemedicine, several related policies such as HR3030 and HR3200 have besides been introduced to Congress to supply low-cost telemedicine services with ordinances. However, they are all still pending and have been unable to continue. Since there is no direct opposition disputing telemedicine-related policies, this paper will concentrate on discoursing the regulative barriers and legislative actions forestalling them from come oning. With respect to the limited research grounds and expertness in telemedicine, this paper will besides analyse the recent Congressional proposal HR 1601 by sing the quality and wellness results of telemedicine system. Last, it will discourse the impact of Healthcare Reform on telemedicine and my recommendation for future waies.Regulative Barriers and Legislative ActionsLicensurePresently each province regulates its ain pattern of medical specialty. This is a jurisdictional right that is recognized by the Supreme Court. For this ground, most healthcare professionals are licensed on a state-by-state footing. Telemedicine hence is besides geographically regulated by single provinces. Many legal issues originate when a â€Å" pattern † is done via a telecommunication nexus across different province lines. Each province they cross into can enforce a demand on the supplier to keep a full medical licence before seeing their out-of-state patients via telemedicine engineerings. It is hard and dearly-won for healthcare practicians to keep and keeping multiple licences, particularly those in the rural countries where the healthcare demand is non stable ( Cousineau, 2010b ) . For this ground, many merely choose to restrict their pattern to a individual province. In 1996, the Federation of State Medical BoardsA developed theoretical account statute law which allows a province to supply and administrate a limited telemedicine licence. This limited licence permits wellness practicians to pattern in different provinces via telemedicine engineerings, but non physically. Conversely, the American Medical Association decided to follow a policy that requires a full and unrestricted licence in order for a doctor to pattern telemedicine across province lines ( Nickelson, 1998 ) . Beyond licensure issues, while interstate telemedicine patterns could better entree to our current health care systems, it besides raises inquiries about malpractice and struggle of jurisprudence. Presently each province develops its ain malpractice insurance evaluation and most malpractice insurance does non use in instances outside of the province. On the other manus the suppliers of each province are besides concerned about how to exercise legal power over such malpractice claim against other suppliers from out of province who may non be capable to the legal power of the administrative regulative organic structures. Although a national licensure theoretical account for telemedicine seems like a logical solution, it is improbable to get the better of the political and constitutional issues in one measure. A regional geographic attack affecting province medical insurance companies to clear up coverage bounds and develop new policies might be more executable. For illustration, based on telemedicine activities from the Governor ‘s Associations and Councils in the yesteryear, Cwiek et Al found that the Southern Governors ‘ Association and the Western Governors ‘ Association demonstrated a important degree of leading in the country of telemedicine. They have proven to better entree to healthcare and medical specializers and cut down medical costs by traveling information alternatively of people ( Cwiek, Rafiq, Qamar, Tobey, & A ; Merrell, 2007 ) .ReimbursementIn 1997, both the House and the Senate passed HR2015 – Balanced Budget Act. It enabled partial Medicare reimbursement f or Telemedicine services. However, professional audience was the lone service allowed by the measure and the payment had to be shared among assorted parties with really rigorous ordinances. In 2000, Congress passed appropriations measure HR 5661, the Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Benefits Improvement and Protection Act, which significantly revised Medicare ordinances for reimbursement for Telemedicine services ( The American Telemedicine Association, 2010 ) . The Healthcare Financing Administration extended Medicare coverage to medical visits, audiences, mental wellness services, and pharmacologic monitoring of patients populating in the rural country. Further, it extended payment rates to suppliers which were similar to that paid without the usage of telemedicine. Medicare besides pays a installation fee for per telemedicine session. However, obstructions remain because the reimbursement is normally allowed for directed physical communicating merely, such as face-to-face audiences. Besides, the opposition of reimbursement from the private insurance companies continues with non-feasible ordinances ( Matusitz & A ; Breen, 2007 ) .Limited research grounds on Telemedicine and HR1601HR1601 was introduced to the Congress by Jefferson in 2007 and it was referred to Committee for consideration of telemedicine service facilitation ( Thomas Library of Congress, 2007 ) . The end of this measure is to bespeak grants to put up telemedicine services in a spectrum of assorted healthcare systems including nursing place and public clinics. Rather than proposing the solution or overall support mechanism in the long term the purpose of this measure is to bespeak support for telemedicine pilot undertakings and bring forth research grounds. HR1601 would guarantee that the Office for the Advancement of Telemedicine in the Health Resources and Services Administration ( HRSA ) would supervise and organize pilot surveies with related federal bureaus of medical underserved populations in both urban and rural country, with the assistance of grants. HRSA would do recommendation harmonizing to their rating of whether these undertakings consequences in addition of entree and quality of attention, publicity of patient independency, lessening wellness disparities, and betterment of cost effectivity ( Prinz, Cramer, & A ; Englund, 2008 ) .QualityThe quality of telemedicine services has the most direct impact on the likeliness of go throughing policies of support. In order to present the optimum telemedicine service the quality of the telemedicine system needs to be reliable, user friendly and cosmopolitan in order to incorporate into assorted computerized system. Standardized counsel should be implemented so the telemedicine system can efficaciously and accurately pass on with bing computerized system in the infirmary and place wellness bureaus. The challenge lays in the complexness of telemedicine engineering, including hardware and package mutual exclusiveness, syste m integrating complexness, and communicating troubles due to low velocity digital lines ( Prinz, et al. , 2008 ) . Information could be lost while meeting communicating troubles and equipment failures which would earnestly impact the dependability of telemedicine service suppliers, particularly private place wellness bureaus in the rural country.Health resultUse of Telemedicine engineering ( such as picture cameras and supervising devices ) in the Home Care puting additions entree to healthcare bringing by leting direct communicating between patients and wellness practicians beyond geographic and temporal boundaries. There is increasing grounds demoing that that telemedicine is associated with the positive result of self-management and conformity in chronic unwellness such as cardiovascular diseases and diabetes ( Artinian, 2007 ; Chumbler, et al. , 2005 ) . On the other manus, some argue that this grounds is non quantifiable because of the use of assorted telemedicine engineerings in different disease countries. The deficiency of thorough clinical tests might be the ground that holds back reimbursement organisation and promotion of telemedicine uses ( Prinz, et al. , 2008 ) . Some grounds even shows that using telemedicine services contributes no difference in patients ‘ wellness result but a greater cost comparison to other healthcare bringing methods ( Bowles & A ; Baugh, 2007 ) , therefore corrupting the necessity to reimburse a more dearly-won healthcare bringing method.The Impact of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act & A ; Patient Protection and Affordable Care ActBased on the belief that wellness information engineering and electronic medical records are indispensable for the transmutation of telemedicine health care bringing, the federal authorities utilized the commissariats of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 ( ARRA ) to authorise about $ 38 billion in funding for wellness information engineering substructure over the foll owing 6 old ages. The inside informations about how this support will be utilized are written in the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health ( HITECH ) subdivision in the ARRA. The largest part of this support is targeted at incentive payments by Medicare and Medicaid to eligible suppliers for the execution of wellness information engineerings. Specifically, in order to be qualified for these inducements the health care suppliers must follow a certification for the electronic medical record system and exhibit the practical usage ( Cline, 2010 ) . In March 2009 President Obama signed HR 3590, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act ( PPACA ) into jurisprudence. ThisA important wellness attention reform jurisprudence allows advanced payment and service bringing theoretical account to better entree, quality of health care, and cut down plan cost to persons, written specifically in Section 3021 ( Government Relations Staff, 2010 ) . A New Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation will back up primary attention practicians on flying telemedicine application in chronic attention direction. It will implement telemedicine plan in infirmaries, accountable attention organisations, and independency at place for distant patient monitoring. This jurisprudence encourages wellness information engineering and electronic medical records acceptance to ease attention coordination. It besides allows each province to utilize the new Medicaid â€Å" Health Home † plan to progress chronic attention.RecommendationsOverall, I believe that the Telemedicine can increase entree and cut down cost in the long tally with the support of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act & A ; Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. There is no uncertainty that the Telemedicine is capable of transforming our health care bringing system in both positive and negative waies, nevertheless, I believe that the pros outweigh the cons. It is notable that most of the up to day of the month pilot research surveies mentioned supra have made positive impacts on the entree of healthcare bringing. Inadequate and unequal coverage for telemedicine service earnestly delayed the execution of cost-saving and quality-improvement solutions, and constrained the entree and picks in assorted forte services in rural countries. Current expanded Medicare coverage for Telemedicine is in procedure of work outing this issue, but specifically I think Congress should besides widen Medicare coverage to medical services using â€Å" store-and-forward † t elemedicine ( for illustration direction and showing for diabetic related retinopathy ) , and to suppliers whose services are otherwise covered for Medicare. I besides recommend a more aggressive plan for pull offing the demands and costs of chronic patients who are presently homebound or are potentially at hazard to be administered into a infirmary or nursing place. Thousands of veteran patients are profiting from place wellness telemedicine plan to organize their attention. The US Veteran Affairs have found that their patients follow the usage of these devices easy and are really satisfied with their attention coordination service ( US Department of Veterans Affairs, 2009 ) . Therefore, Congress should advance Home Telemedicine and include it in the reimbursement component to cover the costs of related devices and engineering. Most provinces ‘ Medicaid already covered some telemedicine services. It can be optimize by back uping primary attention doctors to suit telemedicine services, maximise the usage of picture and telecommunication to cut down patients ‘ travelling, and increase â€Å" store-and-forward † engineering uses such as sharing medical images for diagnosing. The current rural wellness plan should prolong the operation of high-velocity cyberspace entree and wireless connexion within all eligible wellness installations to accomplish efficiency and cost-effectiveness. Congress should besides set up a licensing board to promote interstate medical licensure cooperation by geographic zone. Finally, I believe that with effectual execution, wellness practicians and patients can get the better of the challenges limited the development and success of telemedicine.

Reporting Practices and Ethics Paper Essay

Financial management is very crucial in today’s health care financial procedures. It is one the most important aspects of the financial health care. There are many assessments made- based the financial records and the business transactions that occur within the health care organization. It is crucial the financial records are kept up- to -date and they follow specific guidelines. The books kept up- to- date and in order, this will show the amount of money being brought into the organization for profit and the amount of money the organization has lost in profit. One thing that may cause the honesty of the organization to be on the brinks is the organization financial management and the correctness of the financial books. This paper is about information that will address financial reporting practices and ethics. It will address four financial management functions, summaries that accept accounting principles by generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). It will also give an example from an article that has reflected ethical standards of conduct and financial reporting. The basic four components of financial management are planning, controlling, organizing and directing and decision making. The preparation is responsibility for financial management to recognize the purposes of the health care organization. The planning step is to â€Å"set directions and allocates resources, the organizing step brings people and material resources together in working condition, the leading step inspires people to best utilize these resources, and the controlling step checks that the right things happen, in the right way, and at the right time† (Lombardi, Schermerhorn, & Kramer, 2007,). Controlling is the process of the financial management to ensure that each department of the organization are going by the procedures that was decided. The financial manager should have the reports available to study the most recent financial reports. The reports will help to select what department needs the most consideration to keep the organization going. Organizing and directing is the responsibility of the financial manager to decide in what way to make use of the funds of the organizations most efficiently. Resources such as assets will help the manager to ensure the goals of the healthcare organizations are accomplished. Directing is an everyday job provided that control and support. The final step in the element in financial management is decision making. Planning, organizing, and controlling is a correspondence with the decision making process. The choices will be by the financial manager based on evaluation, analysis and information. Generally accepted accounting principles is a set of financial recommendations used for financial accounting. The recommendations are for preparing financial statements and for setting standards for organizations accountants. According to Baker (2011), â€Å" One of the requirements of GAAP is that unrestricted fund balances be separated from restricted fund balances on the statements, so you see two appropriate line items (restricted and unrestricted) in the fund balance section† (p. 108). GAAP are the rules of accounting. Those guidelines are to arrange the reporting of financial statements that will include the cash flow statements, income statements, and the balance sheet. With the reply of these responsibilities, the Organization of Managing Bookkeepers declared principles of moral conduct for employees of managing bookkeeping and financial management. The principles take account for confidentiality, integrity, and competence. A person must maintain knowledge and the necessary skills is what includes competence. They must always maintain their professional responsibilities and duties in accordance with related rules, technical standards, and regulations. Confidentiality when one should not disclose confidential information, such as health records except when given the right authority to do so. Integrity has the responsibility not to engage in activities that would affect prejudgment, favors that will influence their actions and decision making. According to† Ethical Standards† (n. d),â€Å"Specialists of managing bookkeeping and monetarist managing partake an commitment to the community, their line of work, the institute they work for and themselves, to uphold the utmost principles of decent manner. Hewlett-Packard Company CEO, Mark Hurd turn out to be mixed up in the workplace. According to (Healthfield, 2012), â€Å"Mr. Hurd had failed to disclose a close personal relationship he had with a contractor that constituted a conflict of interest† . †Mr. Hurd also â€Å"failed to maintain accurate expense reports, and misused company assets. † This is an example that reflect ethical standards of conduct a nd financial reporting practices. Practicing accuracy end honesty will help continue the capacity to never misuse the financial systems, and abide by the laws laid out by GAAP. Organizations are providing their employees with the necessary training that will equip them as well as sustain the reporting practices operational but at the time use the similar procedures and show them new procedures. Fraud and abuse is something everyone know when being ethical. By using the GAAP guidelines, keeping the organizational ethics and policies would be free from abuse and fraud. By following the guidelines that comes from the GAAP, they can help prevent fraud and abuse from happening in the health care organization itself. These guidelines are there to help the organization benefit so they will always be ready in case there may come a time when they have to show their financial documents to a third party. Therefore in conclusion, it a major responsibility in financial reporting practices and ethics. Financial managers should implement the four elements of financial management in their reports to avoid fraud, abuse and the risk of breaking ethics. Managers should know how to plan, control, organize and directing and decision making. They should always incorporate the GAAP rules and regulations in order to avoid unethical rulings.

Describe a place in which you are both familiar and interested Essay

Describe a place in which you are both familiar and interested - Essay Example Shah Jahan loved his wife Mumtaj Mahal so much, but was grief-stricken at her death during child birth. He wanted to keep her memory alive till eternity and so built the beautiful Taj which stands as India’s pride attracting tourists from far and near to revel in its beauty. The exotic Taj is situated in the lush green plains of Agra, behind which runs the sacred river Yamuna. It is made of huge slabs of creamy white marble and is studded with thousands of semi-precious stones. The pathway leading up to the monument is flanked by tall palm trees which act as a border to a moat of crystal clear water spurted out from dancing fountains. It has an impressive circular dome with four minarets, one in each corner. The structure is so impressive that it makes the beholder stare at it in awe before making an entrance. The arched entrance has a huge and heavily crafted wooden door with shiny brass door-knobs. It leads into a massive hall filled with archways and has a high ceiling which is intricately carved with patterns of flowering plants that adorn it, enhancing its magnificence. Right in the centre of the hall are the cold marble tombs of Shah Jahan and his beloved wife Mumtaj Mahal that are covered with floral patterns and embellished with precious stones which are a deep blue. An Octagonal screen made from perforated marble called â€Å"Jalis† form the border surrounding the two cenotaphs in the centre chamber. Each of these Jalis was carved with intricate and exquisite designs from a single slab of marble and allows not only air to circulate but also sunlight which scatters beautiful patterns over the cenotaphs. The eight faces of the jalis are decorated with flowering plants like lilies and poppies intrinsically embedded with colorful gemstones such as agate, sandstone and carnelian. From the centre of the dome, above the cenotaphs in the mausoleum, hangs a beautifully

Examine the Treatment of Women and Minortities in Corportations Essay

Examine the Treatment of Women and Minortities in Corportations - Essay Example But, despite these changes, many in the world in positions of power do not have the patience or adaptability to accept the fact that woman can play a leading role, and so discrimination has become a normal experience for women. This paper examines how females are treated in companies as they have now become a threat to the continued economic and political ascendancy of men. Table of content Introduction 4 Public policies 6 Public policies about women and minorities 7 Role of corporations in affecting public policies about women and minorities 8 Programs run by the corporation that helps in affecting women and minorities 10 Mission statements for how women shall be treated in corporations 11 Conclusion 12 Examine the Treatment of Women and Minorities in Corporations Introduction Women in America face different opportunities, types and levels of treatment, and cultural acceptance and norms than a century ago. Women a hundred years ago were not expected to have full and free civic and c ultural participation, and were expected to ultimately deserve domestic tasks, have and raise offspring. Social norms constructed women as passive and frail, and not as competent to achieve strongly or intellectual all that men could. Men were supposed to be breadwinners, strong John Wayne figures with unquestioned authority over the home and over children. Though this was always an idealized view of the world, and ignored micro-conflicts going on in the culture at all times (especially since the feminist movement is as old as the 19th century), certainly these archetypes and schema are still important to cultural formation today. Changing role of women today Counterintuitively, despite obvious cultural and social changes, family responsibilities have not modified much in today's society. Women might be in the workplace more often, but the conventional responsibilities of women are still dominant. They are still the very compassionate provider and nurturer of infants and children, t he comforter for the weeping young offspring and the feminine existence of the household. While the husband's job has diversified into more domestic chores such as cooking, cleaning, attending PTA meetings, and going to soccer games, they still overwhelmingly are considered to have the role as head of the household, not its manager. Women have picked up more economic labor, but this has not been met by men picking up commensurate domestic labor (Hochschild, 1990). This is of course increasingly at odds with a world where women can often out-earn their male counterparts and are often more educated and qualified. Can women truly "be like the man", in terms of domestic authority, economic power, etc.? Arguably, yes. Women are increasingly capable of managing money, handling home improvement projects, and being single parents and sole breadwinners. Women aren’t likely to become as physically strong as men, but that has never been a truly important consideration in an industrializ ed society. Women are increasingly capable of thinking like men, but still being in a somewhat subordinate period and having different gender norms and construction have made it unlikely that women will be like men in terms of lived experiences, values and

Personal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 3

Personal - Essay Example For the next three hours, we tried to fix the ATV, while finding some hospitality nearby. Suddenly, as we were driving the ATV broke down as it the bump. No one knew what events were going to happen next. One of my friends was diabetic so we knew that we did not have much time. My friend tried to fix the ATV with many futile attempts. To make matters worse, couldn’t walk, and instead had to shuffle around from a  seated position. In order to gain some relief from the heat, we decided to spray themselves with their truck’ fire extinguishers. Thankfully, we got relief for a few seconds, then developed extremely painful open wounds across their skin from the blasts. The next day people started dying.  He couldn’t get a phone signal before his battery died, and he fell over when he tried to leave his car. He decided to stick with the vehicle, as it would be easier for rescuers to spot. It didn’t take long for him to become thirsty, so he went for the only available liquid—his car’s windshield fluid. However, knowing that he was d iabetic we knew we had no other choice. His lack of insulin was really a problem because we could not afford to lose him. The ATV exploded as my friends watched in vain.   Suddenly, we saw a bunch of men emerging from a view. We began to throw our hands in frenzy asking for attention. It was a very bad decision for many reasons because the men were pirates, kidnapping and stealing things to make money. They tied us up and took to their own cave and demanded us to call our parents to ask for ransom. With type 2 diabetes, we begged our friend to receive some treatment. However, they abductors were pretty much heartless and did not even give us some food/water. With our hands tied down, we tried to get out but it was not working. Our hope was completely dissolved as we thought our fate was sealed. We tried t signaling with his foil blanket, and lit fires at night with

Long run economic growth and development Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Long run economic growth and development - Essay Example This paper presents a modern comprehensive analysis of the models of growth, explores main drivers of growth, and discover the mechanism of the influence of the financial liberalization on the long-term economic development of a country. The long term economic growth and development for any country or region in the world is an important subject for all students of sociology, economics and even history since economic development affects all systems that can be found in a political entity. Even in recent years, countries such as Japan that had been destroyed by the ravages of the Second World War and had little to go on in terms of natural resources were able to become economic giants and global economic players. However, such developments could not be emulated by other countries in Latin America and Africa for a multitude of reasons. It seems that labour, economic production output as well as national saving levels are all drivers of economic growth but the overall factor which produces these variables in different quantities is government policy and the economic system that is in place in a given country. A country may follow the practice of becoming more liberal in financial terms and having less stringent controls on the way in which entrepreneurs acquire capital but this does not necessarily mean that economic growth will happen the way the government wants it to happen. Financial liberalization has several advantages and disadvantages which are directly connected with the needs of developing countries.

My Life Stage Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

My Life Stage - Essay Example Personally, as a student of 21 years and in a foreign country, can be considered to be in this phase following migration to a new country that is away from home and following attempts to take a job away from their parents. The above shows my attempts, according to Levinson, to establish independence away from my parents and away from my comfort zone, in which emotional, attitudinal, and physical attachment as new relationships are established. As a student studying abroad, this phase is evident as parents and all familial ties are left in the mother nation as one seeks independence a classic application in real life. In addition, Levinson talks of the transitional stage, where one makes choices in his or her own life that may alter their means of living although not drastically. This is considered a transition as one makes choices for himself aside from parental decisions that have been made since childhood. As a foreign student, am left me in a position to make crucial life-changing decisions for myself as opposed to living with the parents, who tend to make all the important decisions. In conclusion, as a 21-year-old student my life clearly illustrates the Levinson model quite well due to severance of dependency and attachment on familial basis, as well as decision-making. As a result, the Levinson perspective evidences one as a young adult in the transitional phase from dependence to

A Jury of Her Peers Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

A Jury of Her Peers - Essay Example Throughout the story, Glaspell clearly depicts how men in those times regarded women as remarks thick with chauvinist undertones are exchanged between the male characters. For instance, while conducting the investigation in the Wright's abode, the county attorney asked Mrs. Peters, the sheriff's wife, to keep an eye for anything that maybe helpful in revealing the real motive for Mr. Wright's brutal murder. To this, Mr. Hale quickly asserts, "would the women know a clue if they did, come upon it" Another example is when the three men overheard Mrs. Hale's query about the quilt, an important evidence missed by the men that would ultimately uncover Mrs. Wright's motive. Mrs. Hale asks, "Do you suppose she was going to quilt it or just knot it" Upon hearing this, the sheriff threw up his hands in incredulity then remarks, "They wonder whether she was going to quilt it or just knot it!" and, "There was a laugh for the ways of women." In light of the chauvinist banter, it becomes evident how the men openly mock the women. These points intend to open the eyes of readers to the reality as to how the society perceives women's ways and undertakings. There is an implication that the society highly values only the activities engaged in by men like their work s. On the other hand, women's activities such as the household chores are given minimal economic significance. These go to show how the chauvinist society distinguishes "women matters" as trivial, thus, of relatively less importance as compared to "men matters." People, even women themselves, fail to realize that women, just like the men, possess the ability and power to contribute to a cause, although in a different manner. As illustrated in Glaspell's story, it is actually Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters, being the way they are, who solved the mystery unbeknownst to the men. With their sensitivity to details and common distressing experiences, they have shed light to Mrs. Wright's real motive for taking her husband's life. Social Pressures on Women Based on Mrs. Hale's recollection, Mrs. Wright, the once vivacious lad "used to wear pretty clothes and be lively-when she was Minnie Foster." When this description is juxtaposed with Mr. Hale's image of Mrs. Wright "pleatin' at her apron", the readers are given the idea on the immense change undergone from Minnie Foster, the pretty lady who gleefully sings in the choir down to Mrs. Wright, the lifeless woman who suffered much from her husband's masculine oppression. All it takes is marriage to an oppressive man. It is then revealed that Mrs. Wright murders her husband for killing the bird, her only source of hope that serves as her constant reminder of what her life used to be. Such scenario depicts how the society imposed social pressures on women, especially those who are married. Married women, as if placed in uniform boxes, are packaged by the patriarchal society as obedient wives who readily do their husbands' every bidding. In fulfilling their domestic roles, what becomes central is that they tend to their families' needs primarily. In a way, these result in women developing an ambiguous self-image, which as Mrs. Peter's describes, "as if

Stress Essay Example for Free

Stress Essay In closing, Stress is a very serious matter that shouldn’t be taken lightly. As stated there’s many consequences that can follow a life full of stress, being life damage, failure, and even death. On the other hand there’s ways to manage and a get threw stress periods, also being talking to others concerning this problem. Stress is common things in the everyday life of are citizens no matter the race, age, nor place of origin. It’s a serious matter that should be taken seriously by all and handled at its highest level. Live life as you want to and never let anything stop you from being who you want to be. Stress is never worth losing your life over and will never equal to the joy in life that makes life so much worth living. Situations requiring change or a response is reacted by the bodys action stress. Stress can be positive or negative. How stress is handled is called Fight or Flight. Stress can be positive by keeping one positive and ready to avoid danger. Positive stress can be good by motivating one to take that extra step or to get it over with. Negative stress is when challenges keep coming one after the other without any sort of relaxation inbetween. Feeling overworked can lead to feeling distressed. Launching into overdrive in every situation really makes an impact on the body. Stress affects the emotions, behavior, and physical health in so many ways. Stress affects the emotions where all of a sudden everything feels overwhelming, tense, and on edge. Stress can make people feel irritable and aggravated easily. Emotional stress is almost always self created. Thinking about the situation and just that situation can put strain on the nerves and brain. Other emotional symptoms of stress can be followed by impatience, lonlieness, short temper, restlessness, and moodiness. Theres always the saying dont stress yourself to death. Stress affects the behavior of a person and there actions. Someone may try and block out what is emotionally stressing them by over shopping, over working, or over exercising. Being stressed may cause someone to eat more or less, or lose or gain weight. Using alcohol, ciggarettes or drugs to release whats making you nervous instead of doing something healthy is a behavioral issue. Someone being stressed out from being in constant over drive may start neglecting responsibilites. The emotional systems of feeling irritable and on edge affects the behavior by overreacting on small situations and picking Modern life is fast paced and competitive. Ambition is thebuzzword and everyone is looking for success, money, fame and glory. Today one burns the candle at both ends to live a successful life and it results into severe stress. Stress may be defined as an anxiety syndrome due to work pressure. It also caused due to emotional, physical or mental tensions. The Fear of Failure or being left behind leads to ahectic pace of life which is detrimental to one’s physical health. The lure of money and fame also makes one work beyond one’s capacity leading to strain and stress. Modern life is pretty mechanical, it leads to lack of exercise which aggravates stress. Couch potato lifestyle or being confined to a chair leads to obesity and stress. The hectic lifestyle leads to imbalanced diets, wrong food habits and endless cups of caffeine or aerated drinks makes one more prone to stress. This in turn leads to ailments like high blood pressure, diabetes, heart problems etc. Stress can be overcome with discipline, yoga and meditation. A proper diet clubbed with regular exercise is needed to minimize the element of stress. As a result, we can conclude that we should put stress in an important position in our lives. It should be in a reasonable and a modest level. Therefore, we can be more aware of the events, the things and the people around us. Without stress, the easiness within our lives would be boring. We can not maintain easy goingness all the time. The life wouldn’t be exciting without it. The controversy of this story comes both from the religious aspect and the feminism aspects. It is commonly believed that the story is very stereotypical of the gender differences and goes against feminist perspectives. This is by far the most accepted criticism of the story however some people have a completely opposed view; although usually it is men who disagree with this. At this point I want to make an observation Christianity has incorporated Midsummer into the calendar, observing the feast day of St John the Baptist on June 24. Its thought that this is because Summer Solstice was a celebration of victory of sun and light on the longest day of the year over darkness and death. Its also the alleged date of St Johns death. Interestingly it is directly opposite the feast day of the birth of Christ. St John baptized Jesus and proclaimed him The Saviour, so this particular day is supposed to point to Jesus triumph over death). Summer Solstice is also called Litha or St. Johns Day, and in Pagan times it was an important religious event. Tribes would gather to celebrate the longest day of the year. Whole communities would participate in the celebration, paying homage to nature and the planets. Mother Earth was commemorated as The Goddess, while The God was represented as the Sun King. The festivities were filled with colour yellow for the harvest, green representing nature and blue for the sky. Some of the rituals that took place during Summer Solstice are kept alive today by modern Pagan faiths.

Analysing The Effects Of The Earth Summits Politics Essay

Analysing The Effects Of The Earth Summits Politics Essay As early as the 1960s governments began to realise that human activity was damaging the environment. Governments around the world recognised that something had to be done, which resulted in the first international gathering about the human interaction with the environment, known as the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, which was held in Stockholm in June 1972. This was the first of several global environmental meetings and it laid the foundation for international action to protect the environment. Three major treaties were drawn up in subsequent international environmental conferences; these were the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, the Kyoto Protocol and the Copenhagen Accord. In 1992, five years after the Brundtland Report was published, the Rio Earth summit was held. It was held from the 3rd 14th June in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The aim of the Rio Earth summit was to review the Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, implemented at Stockholm on 16th June 1972 and look for more ways to work together to create a more sustainable future. The Earth summit was the largest environmental conference ever held with over 100 heads of state attending. Five agreements were drawn up during the Earth summit; The Convention on Biological Diversity, The Framework Convention on Climate Change, Principles of Forest Management, Agenda 21 and the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development. The Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, often shortened to the Rio Declaration, builds on the basic proposals set out in 1972 at the UN Conference on the Human Environment. It consisted of 27 principles designed to guide governments on ways to halt the destruction of irreplaceable natural resources and pollution of the planet (United Nations Department of Public Information, 1997) and to guide sustainable development  around the world (Towards-Sustainability, 2000). One key point of the Rio Declaration was that current development must not damage the environmental and developmental requirements of the present and future generations. Therefore, environmental protection should no longer be thought of as independent from the development of a nation. Also, nations should make a concerted effort to reduce and eliminate unsustainable patterns of production and consumption (C-FAM, 1992). As a result a great deal of research is ongoing to create alternative sources of energy to replace fossil fuels. Another key principle was that nations could explore their own resources provided that they did not cause environmental damage outside their borders and that international laws needed to be set up to compensate for damage caused by nations to areas beyond their borders. This led to the proposal that The polluter should, in principle, bear the cost of pollution (C-FAM, 1992). A further key principle of the Rio Declaration was that eradicating poverty and reducing disparities in living standards in different parts of the world are essential to achieve sustainable development (International Institute for Sustainable Development, 1997). Reducing the difference in living standards around the world is important for future sustainable development because if each nation has the same standard of living they will be more inclined to share the latest scientific findings and new technologies to protect the environment. The main message of the Rio Declaration was that nations attitudes and activities would have to be adjusted, to ensure that long term economic progress would be linked with the protection of the environment. Also, international agreements that were designed to protect the environment, while allowing the development of a nation, would have to be created. The Rio Declaration committed countries, including the UK, to be more sustainable whilst creating guidelines for a more sustainable future (Atmosphere, Climate Environment Information Programme, 2000). This has been beneficial because governments and businesses have become more eco-efficient and are creating eco-friendly products. During the Rio earth summit five agreements had been established, making it the most extensive and obliging plan of action ever accepted by the international community. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) negotiated the Kyoto Protocol treaty in the Japanese city of Kyoto in December 1997. It was originally ratified by 140 countries and it came into effect on the 16th February 2005. By 18th April 2006 168 countries had signed the Kyoto Protocol and by 3rd December 2007 this number had risen to 175. It is a legally binding international agreement imposing limits on emissions of greenhouse gases that are blamed for rising world temperatures. The gases that were considered to be greenhouse gases were carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, sulphur hexafluoride, HFCs and PFCs. Industrialised countries agreed to reduce their collective emissions of greenhouse gases by 5.2% (UNFCCC, 1997) compared to their emissions in the 1990. Through the Kyoto protocol 37 industrialised countries were set binding targets, the UK committed itself to reducing its emissions to 12.5% below its 1990 levels by 2012. The European Union agreed to reduce its emissions by 8%. The US, the worlds largest emitter of greenhouse gases (approximately 25%), had approved a 7% reduction in emissions, however in 2001 this was denounced by President George Bush stating that it would harm the economy and is flawed by the lack of restrictions on emissions by emerging economies China and India (The Guardian, 2005). Not all industrialised countries were set goals of reduced emissions, Australias greenhouse gas emissions were permitted an increase of 8% compared to their 1990 levels and Icelands emissions were allowed an increase of 10%. The commencement of the Kyoto protocol was delayed by the requirement that at least 55 countries, accounting for at least 55% of the worlds 1990 carbon dioxide emissions must ratify it. This was reached when Russia signed up on 18th November 2004, nearly seven years after the treaty was negotiated. The Kyoto Protocol established three mechanisms for nations to reduce their emissions; Joint Implementation, Clean Development Mechanism and International Emissions Trading. Joint Implementation allowed a nation that had committed itself to an emission reduction target under the Kyoto Protocol to earn emission reduction units (ERUs) when they invested in projects that reduce emissions in another country with an emission reduction target under the Kyoto Protocol. Each ERU was equivalent to one tonne of carbon dioxide, which could be used to help the investing country towards reaching their emission reduction target. This offered countries a flexible method of reducing their emissions while also helping another country to develop emission reducing technology. The Clean Development Mechanism allowed a country with an emission reduction target to earn certified emission reduction (CER) credits when they invested in projects to reduce emissions in developing countries that do not have an emission target. Each CER was equal to one tonne of carbon dioxide. Both ERUs and CERs could be sold and traded like any other commodity, encouraging governments to invest in emission reducing projects and technologies. Countries emission reduction targets are stated as assigned amounts, these were divided into assigned amount units (AAUs) to cover the 2008 2012 commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol. International Emissions Trading allowed countries with spare AAUs to sell them on an international carbon trading market. In the opinions of many climate scientists the 5% reduction in emissions from industrialised countries set out by the Kyoto Protocol does not do nearly enough, they claim that a cut of around 60% is needed to avoid the worst consequences of global warming (The Guardian, 2005). Also currently a number of countries have not met their emissions targets, so even the 5% reduction in emissions planned by the Kyoto Protocol may not be reached. Furthermore without the support of the US, who accounts for approximately 25% of the global greenhouse gases emissions, climate scientists have described the agreement as toothless and virtually obsolete (The Guardian, 2005). However it can be argued that the legally binding Kyoto Protocol has set out a framework on which future negotiations could be based (The Telegraph, 2005) and has encouraged sustainable development by creating several market mechanisms allowing emissions trading. It has also promoted sustainable development by supporting renewable energy advances and other environmentally friendly technologies. The symbolic value of the Kyoto Protocol may have been its greatest asset because to see governments attempting to work together to provide sustainable development is better than to see no attempt at all. The UNFCCC held the Copenhagen Climate Conference at the Bella Center in Copenhagen, Denmark from 8th 17th December 2009. It is often known as COP15 as it is the 15th Conference of Parties, to which nearly 200 countries attended in an attempt to find a global consensus on how to most effectively structure a post-Kyoto regulatory framework to cap greenhouse gas emission (Climatelab, 2009). The aim of the conference was to negotiate an agreement to come into effect when the commitment period of the Kyoto agreement expired in 2012. The conference resulted in the creation of the Copenhagen Accord, which called on participating countries to pledge specific actions they will undertake to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions (Pew Center on Global Climate Change, 2009); however the accord is a non-binding agreement so nations have no legal obligation to carry out these pledges. The Accord recognised that the global temperature rise should be limited to 2 °C; however this was not adopted as a target. The original draft had included targets for 2020 for industrialised countries and 2050 for global and industrialised countries, though these were omitted from the final draft of the accord. The accord included a commitment from industrialised countries to provide climate financing for developing countries of  $30bn for 2010-2012 (The EFA Group, 2009). As of 16th September 2010, 111 parties had either submitted 2020 emissions targets, submitted mitigation actions or associated themselves with the accord. The EU agreed to reduce their emissions by 20 30% compared to their 1990 levels, provided that other developed countries commit themselves to comparable emission reductions (UNFCCC, 2009). The US agreed to reduce their emissions by approximately 17% below 2005 levels. A breakdown in negotiations prevented a text that would have created a market mechanism to credit reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation from being adopted in the Accord. A problem with the Copenhagen Accord is that it allows industrialised nations to set their own emission reduction targets. The Pew Center on Global Climate Change analysed the Copenhagen Accord and found that the pledges are inadequate to achieve a 2-degree goal Pledges by developed countries would reduce their emissions 10 percent to 13 percent below BAU (business as usual) in 2020 (Pew Center on Global Climate Change, 2009). An analysis by PricewaterhouseCoopers concluded that these promises made by developed countries would only provide half of the emission reduction requirements to avoid a global temperature rise above 2 °C. The Copenhagen Accord is very different from the Kyoto Protocol as it is not a legally binding agreement and if the accord is used as a foundation to new climate change treaties, the number of countries complying with the Kyoto Protocol is like to be reduced as there is little incentive to trade carbon credits. The Accord threatens the establishment of a global carbon market due to its lack of progression towards a legally binding climate agreement. Environmental protection is always going to be challenging due to the different attitudes of nations. Many of the developed nations want environmental sustainability while developing countries want to be allowed to develop economically and socially. It is also going to be difficult due to the increasing global population and the resulting increase in consumption rates. However, in my opinion the Kyoto Protocol has been the most effective treaty designed to provide a sustainable future. This is because was a legally binding agreement that committed industrialised countries to reduce their collective emissions of greenhouse gases by a set amount (5.2%). Also, the Kyoto Protocol created market mechanisms allowing emissions trading, encouraging nations to strive to reach their emission reduction target. One of the main drawbacks of the Kyoto Protocol is that it is not backed by the US who is a major emitter of greenhouse gases. The Rio Declaration was admirable because it caused governments and businesses to change the attitudes they had toward environmental protection and led to them becoming more eco-efficient and creating eco-friendly products. Nevertheless, there were still many negative incentives offered by countries and businesses that promoted people to continue being wasteful consumers. In my opinion the least effective environmental treaty has been the Copenhagen Accord because its non-binding goals are inadequate to stop a global temperature rise of 2 °C. Also, the need to create a global carbon market has not been met.

Analysis of Indias Mutual Fund Industry

Analysis of Indias Mutual Fund Industry Executive Summary The report titled â€Å"Mutual Fund† has been prepared to give an in-depth analysis of mutual fund industry in India and also a brief study of Mutual fund structure outside India. The report starts with the introduction of Mutual Fund, giving details about what Mutual Fund is all about. This has been done so to make even a layman understand what a mutual fund is. After the introduction part, there is a mention of the parties involved in mutual fund business, namely the AMC, Fund Managers, Dealers of Mutual Fund, Distributors, Investors of Mutual Fund, and the Regulators and so on. Later on, in the report, the inclusion of types of Mutual fund, gives a good knowledge of different categories of mutual fund. The categorization has been made on different measures. Almost all the measures have been included in this report. This part of report has great details of the types of mutual funds. Later part of the report contains the Mutual Fund history in India. The developments that have taken place since the start of Mutual Fund in India have been discussed in this part of the report. The history of Mutual Fund has been discussed in here under different phases. After the history part, the report discusses about the different fund performance. One of the important parts of the part is the NAV part. In this section of report, a detailed study has been done on Net Asset Value (NAV) of Mutual Fund. How the NAV is calculated, its misconception in the minds of investors, how important it is for the parties of Mutual Fund has been explained in this section of the report. Just after this section, there is a mention of Taxation in Mutual Fund. How Mutual Funds are taxed and what are the tax-free Mutual Funds available in the market has been discussed. This part has been discussed with examples, so as to make the investors understand, how they can be benefited with the buying of Mutual Funds. The different terminologies in Mutual Fund namely, SIP, SWP, ARP, AWP, etc has been discussed in this report. The last section of the report discussed about the risks involved in the mutual fund. The different methods through which the risks involved in mutual fund, has been discussed in this section. Also discussed are the advantages and disadvantages of buying a mutual fund. There has also been a comparison made between the returns that can be earned from mutual fund as compared with fixed deposit in banks, in post offices and investment in stock markets. MUTUAL FUNDS What is a Mutual Fund? A mutual fund is a vehicle to pool money from investors with a promise that the money would be invested in a particular manner, by professional managers who are expected to owner the promise. In India mutual funds are governed by the regulations of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). The basic idea behind a mutual fund is that individual investors generally lack the time, the inclination or the skills to manage their own investments. Thus, mutual funds hire professional managers to manage the investment for the benefit of their investors in return for a management fee. Then Mutual Funds came as a solution to benefit investors who had little or no idea about the working of stock market but were eager to create some money out of it. It was created for the benefit of investors who were not able to understand the complicated functioning of the stock market but had money to invest in it. The basic purpose of any mutual fund is to put the money of the investors into various scrip in the stock market by creating a portfolio (a collection of various shares) and making investors understand the benefits and drawbacks of each and every scheme. The benefit to the customers is that they can invest in various stocks, can get help from professional people and that their money is being managed by professional who have clear understanding of the market. The organization that manages the investment is the Asset Management Company (AMC). Employees of the AMC who perform this role of managing investments are the fund managers. Professional Managements Main idea behind mutual fund is that individual investors lack time and technical skills to research their choice of stock and invest in them so mutual fund hire skilled professional to manage investment of investors in return of management fee. The organization which mange this mutual funds are called Asset Management Company (AMC) And employees who perform this task are called Fund Mangers SCHEMES Portfolio Management Schemes Investors have their own preference on how they want to invest their money and how much risk they want to take. Personal treatment with which an individual investor manages their investment and how much risk they want to be decided is done by professional managers is referred as Portfolio Managements Schemes (PMS). This is normally done for investment under Rs 10 lakhs. Money in trust A mutual fund manages investment of the schemes for the benefits of the investors. Every schemes has an Investment Portfolio (portfolio statement) Account of income and expenditure (revenue Account) Account of asset and liabilities (Balance Sheet) To insure fairness in investment, SEBI regulates the expenditure that can be charged to a scheme. Who are the Parties Involved? Investors Every investor according to their financial position takes risk that is called risk profile or risk appetite. So hypothesis tells that by taking risk of loosing whole or partial money it is possible that investor would gain profit out of investment. Trustees These are the people within the mutual fund organization who are responsible ensuring that investors interest in a scheme is taken care properly. Asset Management Company AMCs manages the investment portfolio of schemes. An AMCs income come from the management fee it charges for the schemes it manages. Every AMC asset under management because cost can not be reduced below some fixed level after that it becomes viable. Distributors Distributors bring investors in mutual fund and it earns commission on each investors. It is AMC decision whether to bear cost fully on distributors or partially. On financial and physical resources distributors could be: Tier 1 who have their own franchised network reaching out to the investors all across the country. Tier 2- who are generally regional players with some reach within their region. Tier3 who are small and marginal players with limited reach. Registrar An investors holding in mutual fund schemes is typically tracked by schemes Registrar and Transfer agent. Some manages it own house and some appoint it outside. Request to invest more money or to redeem money against existing investment is done by RT. Custodian/Depository The custodian maintain the securities in which the scheme invest this ensure an outgoing independent record of the investment of the schemes Schemes and units:- Investment in company is normally represented by certain number of shares People invest in a company by acquiring its share and disinvest by selling its shares. The total outstanding shares of a company multiplied by the face value of each share, Constitute the share capital of a company. Shares are represented in a company and units are represented in a mutual fund scheme. Types of schemes Mutual fund schemes can be offered with any of a range of investment objectives each corresponding to a certain point in the risk return matrix. It can be categorized based on tenor, asset, class, position philosophy geography. Open End Schemes These are the schemes which do not have the fixed maturity. The mutual fund ensures the liquidity by announcing sale and repurchases prices for the units of an open end schemes on an ongoing basis. Investors who wish to exit from an open end scheme can offer their unit to the mutual for redemption, generally called repurchase. Similarly mutual fund can sell new units to investors who want to participate in schemes generally called sale. Additionally a mutual fund can choose to provide liquidity by listing in stock exchange, in that case investor can either trade schemes or opt for above mentioned route. Closed End Schemes These are schemes which have fixed maturity Liquidity in such case is available through listing in stock market. Trade alters change in ownership but dont change in schemes unit capital. Occasionally closed end schemes provide a re purchase option to investors. Either by a specified period or after a specified period normally up to a total limit for all investors together, or limit per investors. Such repurchase would reduce the unit capital of the schemes. Asset Class Equity schemes invest in shares. Depending upon the schemes objective investment could be, Growth stock where earning growth is expected to be attractive Momentum stock that can go up and down with line market Value stock where the fund manager is of the view that current valuation in the stock market does not reflect intrinsic value Income stock that can earn high returns through dividends. Debt or income schemes GILT schemes These invest in government securities. Apart from being the most liquid schemes in the debt market, government securities are eligible for liquidity support. Bond Schemes These schemes invest in bond securities issued by the government or any other issuer. BondSchemes can help people overcome some of the barriers to private renting posed by the requirement to pay a bond to a landlord. Bondschemes are usually set up by the local authority, a voluntary organization or by the Probation Service. All BondSchemes have the same goal: to help people who could not otherwise do so to access private rented accommodation. In achieving this goal a successful scheme will be contributing to the confidence and efficiency of the private rented sector and helping to combat homelessness by assisting homeless and potentially homeless people. Features of the 8% Savings (Taxable) Bond Scheme 2003 Junk Bond Schemes Junk bond schemes in securities that are below investment grade. High yield bonds are politically correct way of referring to junk bonds. Junk bonds can be identified through the lower grades assigned by rating services (e.g., BBB instead of AAA for the highest quality bonds). Because the possibility of default is great, junk bonds are usually considered too risky for investment by the large institutional investors (mutual funds) that provide U.S. corporations with much of their investment capital. Junk bonds are often issued by smaller, newer companies. Money Market and Liquid Schemes These schemes invest in short term debt instrument. Money Markets Instruments include: Commercial papers Commercial bills Treasury bills Government securities having an unexpired maturity up to one year Call or notice money Certificate of deposit Usance bills Permitted securities under a repo / reverse repo agreement Any other like instruments as may be permitted by RBI / SEBI from time to time. Liquid/Money market schemes: These are designed for corporate and small businessmen to use for cash or treasury management. These schemes allow them to park short-term surplus funds in the money market, so that they earn some return before they find end uses. They invest in money market instruments like call money, inter-corporate deposits and commercial paper. Their returns range from 8 to 11 per cent, depending on money market conditions. Even salaried individuals can use them in the short term, since they offer better returns than savings accounts. Some funds even offer cheque-writing facilities. Risk comes from money market volatility which also creates the possibility of gain due to a sudden increase in rates. Balanced Schemes Balanced schemes invest in both equity and debt. The debt investment ensures a basic interest income. Which fund managers hope to top up with capital gains on the investment portfolio. However loses can eat into the basic interest and the income. Big advantage of these schemes is that market risk is more palatable Capital Protected Schemes It is a kind of balanced schemes, where a part of the initial issue proceeds is invested in gilts that would mature to a value equivalent to the unit capital of the schemes. Thus the investors capital is protected. Physical Asset Technically said that mutual fund can invest in any asset whether it can be real asset, precious metals, other metals (aluminium, steel) oil and commodities. In India regulatory framework does permit investment in real asset. Schemes by Position Philosophy. Sector Funds Regulator equity funds invest in a mix of equities that are spread across different sectors so they are called diversified equity funds. Sectors funds on other hands invest in a particular sector, Like energy funds. Index Funds These funds create and replicate according to the specified index such as BSE, NSE, etc. and such position can be created by two methods It can be done by maintaining an investment portfolio that replicates the composition of a chosen index. Weight is same according to the index weight. This replicating style is called the passive investing. Investment fund are called passive funds. And funds that are not passive are called managed funds. Index schemes are also called as unmanaged schemes(since they are passive) or tracker schemes(since they track index) Another is by doing research and identifying a basket of securities and derivatives whose movement is similar to that of index. Schemes that invest in such basket are called as active index funds. Enhanced Index Funds This is a managed index funds that can beat the performance of a bench mark index by at least 0.1 % but no more than the 2% if it crosses 2.5 it is called equity mutual fund. Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) These are open end funds that trade on the exchange. ETF different from index funds in following respect A single NAV in case of open end and in case of ETF is traded in the market place. so its price keeps changing during day The AMC of an ETF does not offer sale and re purchase price of the units. Unique feature is that beside secondary market it also has primary market. Fixed Maturity Plans This eliminates the risk of capital loss by investing in a pre specified debt securities. When a series of FMP are issued for different maturities they are called serial funds. These funds can chose exclusively to invest in government securities and called Serial gilts, alternatively they can invest in non government securities in which case they become Serial Bond Schemes. Non government securities have risk of default (credit risk) which does not exist in case government securities. Schemes by Geography Country or region funds These invest in securities from a specified country or region. This is based on the fact that a particular country or region will show a higher growth or returns on the equity market. Offshore funds- these mobilize the money from investors for investment outside their country. The principle of time diversification has given rise to the concept of Systematic Investment Plan (SIP) Systematic Withdrawal Plan (SWP) Systematic Transfer Plan (STP) Systematic Investment Plan (SIP) It refers of investing constant fund regularly generally every month. When market goes up then the money invested in that period gets translated into fewer numbers units for investors and vise versa. Thus it is clear that SIP tempers with the gain or loss from the investment SIP does not offer protection from losses. If the market turns adverse then you can lose money even in SIP. SIP ensures that your acquisition cost approximate the average NAV. Therefore this investment style is also called rupee cost averaging. Value averaging ensures that investors book profit in rising market and invest in loosing market. For e.g. for ICICI bank (Open ended equity fund), monthly: Minimum Rs. 1000 + 5 post-dated cheques for a minimum of Rs. 1000 each. Systematic Withdrawal Plan (SWP) It is mirror image of SIP, under SWP investor would withdrawal constant amount periodically. The benefits are the same namely that through SWP the investor can temper gains though it does not prevent losses. For e.g . in case of ICICI bank (Open ended equity fund) SWP is a Minimum of Rs.500/- and Multiples thereof. Systematic Transfer Plan (STP) Investors exposure to different type of securities whether debt or equity should flow from their risk profile or appetite which the function of their financial position and personal disposition. It occurs in two situations On investment or disinvestment (here SIP and SWP is useful) On change in value of securities in market. In case of mutual funds such rebalancing can be achieved by systematically moving money between schemes. Mid-Cap Fund Mid cap funds are those mutual funds, which invest in small / medium sized companies. As there is no standard definition classifying companies as small or medium, each mutual fund has its own classification for small and medium sized companies. Generally, companies with a market capitalization of up to Rs 500 crore are classified as small. Those companies that have a market capitalization between Rs 500 crore and Rs 1,000 crore are classified as medium sized. Big investors like mutual funds and Foreign Institutional Investors are increasingly investing in mid caps now a day because the price of large caps has increased substantially. Small / mid sized companies tend to be under researched thus they present an opportunity to invest in a company that is yet to be identified by the market. Such companies offer higher growth potential going forward and therefore an opportunity to benefit from higher than average valuations. But mid cap funds are very volatile and tend to fall like a pack of cards in bad times. So, caution should be exercised while investing in mid cap mutual funds. Growth Option The Scheme will not declare any dividends under this option. The income earned by the scheme will remain invested in the scheme and will be reflected in the NAV. This option is suitable for investors who are not looking for current income (but who have invested with the intention of capital appreciation). Moreover, if units under this option are held as capital asset for a period of at least one year, from the date of acquisition, unit holders should get the benefit of long term capital gains tax. Dividend Option This option is suited for investors seeking income through dividend declared by the scheme. Only unit holders opting for the dividend option will receive dividends. An investor on record for the purpose of dividend distributions is an investor who is an unit holder, as of the record date. In order to be a unit holder, an investor has to be allocated units representing receipt of clear funds by the scheme. The scheme may be at the discretion of the trustee, declare annual dividends in its dividend plan subject to availability of distributable profits. Dividends will be declared on the last business day of March. If March 31st is a non business day, the previous business day will serve as the record date. Interim dividends may be declared at the discretion of the trustee. Unit holders also have the option to reinvest their dividend at the ex-dividend NAV. The trustee, in its sole discretion, may also declare interim dividends. It should be noted that actual distribution of dividends and the frequency of distribution indicated above, are provisional and will be entirely at the discretion of the trustee and depend, inter alia on the availability of distributable surplus to the extent the entire net income and realized gains are not distributed, the same will remain invested in the scheme and be reflected in the NAV. Payout Dividend As per the regulations, the fund shall dispatch to the unit holders, the dividend proceeds within 30 days of declaration of the dividend. Dividends will be payable to those unit holders whose names appear in the register of the unit holders on the date (record date). Dividends will be paid by cheque; net of taxes may be applicable. Unit holders will also have the option of direct payment of dividend to the bank account. The cheques will be drawn in the name of the sole/first holder and will be posted to the registered address of the sole/first holder as indicated in the original application form. The fund will endeavor to dispatch the dividend cheques within 30 days of the record date. To safeguard the interest of the unit holders from loss or theft of dividend cheques, investor should provide the name of their bank, branch and account number in the application form. Dividend cheques will be sent to the unit holder after incorporating such information. Reinvest Dividend Under this sub-option, unit holders may chose to reinvest all of their dividends by way of additional units of the scheme instead of receiving dividends in cash. Such additional units by way of reinvestment of dividends will be at the applicable NAV on the next day (excluding Saturday) after the record date. The dividend so reinvested shall be constructive payment of dividend to unit holders and constructive receipt of the same amount from each unit holder for reinvestment in units. Any such investment will be made by indicating in the investors original application or by providing the fund with written notice signed by all the registered holder(s) of the units and also sent to the registrar. Revocation of any such decision also must be made in writing and signed by all the registered holder(s) of the units and also sent to the registrar. The additional units issued under the sub-option â€Å"Reinvest Dividend† under option B and held as capital asset would get benefit of long-term capital gains tax if sold after being held for one year. For this purpose one year will be computed from the date when such additional units are issued. Effect of Dividend: The NAV of the unit holders in dividend option will stand reduced by the amount of dividend declared. The NAV of the growth option will remain unaffected. Mutual fund industry in India The origin of mutual fund industry in India is with the introduction of the concept of mutual fund by UTI in the year 1963. Though the growth was slow, but it accelerated from the year 1987 when non-UTI players entered the industry. In the past decade, Indian mutual fund industry had seen a dramatic improvement, both qualities wise as well as quantity wise. Before, the monopoly of the market had seen an ending phase; the Assets under Management (AUM) were Rs. 67bn. The private sector entry to the fund family raised the AUM to Rs. 470 bn in March 1993 and till April 2004; it reached the height of 1,540 bn. Putting the AUM of the Indian Mutual Funds Industry into comparison, the total of it is less than the deposits of SBI alone, constitute less than 11% of the total deposits held by the Indian banking industry. The main reason of its poor growth is that the mutual fund industry in India is new in the country. Large sections of Indian investors are yet to be intellectuated with the concept. Hence, it is the prime responsibility of all mutual fund companies, to market the product correctly abreast of selling. The mutual fund industry can be broadly put into four phases according to the development of the sector. Each phase is briefly described as under. First Phase -1964-87 Unit Trust of India (UTI) was established on 1963 by an Act of Parliament. It was set up by the Reserve Bank of India and functioned under the Regulatory and administrative control of the Reserve Bank of India. In 1978 UTI was de-linked from the RBI and the Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) took over the regulatory and administrative control in place of RBI. The first scheme launched by UTI was Unit Scheme 1964. Second phase1987_1993 (Entry of Public Sector Funds) Entry of non-UTI mutual funds. SBI Mutual Fund was the first followed by Canara bank Mutual Fund (Dec 87), Punjab National Bank Mutual Fund (Aug 89), Indian Bank Mutual Fund (Nov 89), Bank of India (Jun 90), Bank of Baroda Mutual Fund (Oct 92). LIC in 1989 and GIC in 1990. The end of 1993 marked Rs.47, 004 as assets under management. Third Phase- 1993-2003 (Entry of Private Sector Funds) With the entry of private sector funds in 1993, a new era started in the Indian mutual fund industry, giving the Indian investors a wider choice of fund families. Also, 1993 was the year in which the first Mutual Fund Regulations came into being, under which all mutual funds, except UTI were to be registered and governed. The erstwhile Kothari Pioneer (now merged with Franklin Templeton) was the first private sector mutual fund registered in July 1993. The 1993 SEBI (Mutual Fund) Regulations were substituted by a more comprehensive and revised Mutual Fund Regulations in 1996. The industry now functions under the SEBI (Mutual Fund) Regulations 1996. The number of mutual fund houses went on increasing, with many foreign mutual funds setting up funds in India and also the industry has witnessed several mergers and acquisitions. As at the end of January 2003, there were 33 mutual funds with total assets of Rs. 1, 21,805 crores. The Unit Trust of India with Rs.44,541 crores of assets under management was way ahead of other mutual funds. Fourth Phase- since February 2003 This phase had bitter experience for UTI. It was bifurcated into two separate entities. One is the Specified Undertaking of the Unit Trust of India with AUM of Rs.29, 835 crores (as on January 2003). The Specified Undertaking of Unit Trust of India, functioning under an administrator and under the rules framed by Government of India and does not come under the purview of the Mutual Fund Regulations. The second is the UTI Mutual Fund Ltd, sponsored by SBI, PNB, BOB and LIC. It is registered with SEBI and functions under the Mutual Fund Regulations. With the bifurcation of the erstwhile UTI which had in March 2000 more than Rs.76, 000 crores of AUM and with the setting up of a UTI Mutual Fund, conforming to the SEBI Mutual Fund Regulations, and with recent mergers taking place among different private sector funds, the mutual fund industry has entered its current phase of consolidation and growth. As at the end of September, 2004, there were 29 funds, which manage assets of Rs.153108 crores under 421 schemes. Performance of Mutual Funds in India Let us start the discussion of the performance of mutual funds in India from the day the concept of mutual fund took birth in India. The year was 1963. Unit Trust of India invited investors or rather to those who believed in savings, to park their money in UTI Mutual Fund. For 30 years it goaled without a single second player. Though the 1988 year saw some new mutual fund companies, but UTI remained in a monopoly position. The performance of mutual funds in India in the initial phase was not even closer to satisfactory level. People rarely understood, and of course investing was out of question. But yes, some 24 million shareholders were accustomed with guaranteed high returns by the beginning of liberalization of the industry in 1992. This good record of UTI became marketing tool for new entrants. The expectations of investors touched the sky in profitability factor. However, people were miles away from the preparedness of risks factor after the liberalization. The Assets under Management of UTI was Rs. 67bn. by the end of 1987. Let me concentrate about the performance of mutual funds in India through figures. From Rs. 67bn. the Assets Under Management rose to Rs. 470 bn. in March 1993 and the figure had a three times higher performance by April 2004. It rose as high as Rs. 1,540bn. The net asset value (NAV) of mutual funds in India declined when stock prices started falling in the year 1992. Those days, the market regulations did not allow portfolio shifts into alternative investments. There were rather no choices apart from holding the cash or to further continue investing in shares. One more thing to be noted, since only closed-end funds were floated in the market, the investors disinvested by selling at a loss in the secondary market. The performance of mutual funds in India suffered qualitatively. The 1992 stock market scandal, the losses by disinvestments and of course the lack of transparent rules in the whereabouts rocked confidence among the investors. Partly owing to a relatively weak stock market performance, mutual funds have not yet recovered, with funds trading at an average discount of 10 ­20 percent of their net asset value. The supervisory authority adopted a set of measures to create a transparent and competitive environment in mutual funds. Some of them were like relaxing investment restrictions into the market, introduction of open-ended funds, and paving the gateway for mutual funds to launch pension schemes. The measure was taken to make mutual funds the key instrument for long-term saving. The more the variety offered, the quantitative will be investors. At last to mention, as long as mutual fund companies are performing with lower risks and higher profitability within a short span of time, more and more people will be inclined to invest until and unless they are fully educated with the dos and donts of mutual funds. Drawbacks of Mutual Funds Mutual funds have their drawbacks and may not be for everyone: No Guarantees: No investment is risk free. If the entire stock market declines in value, the value of mutual fund shares will go down as well, no matter how balanced the portfolio. Investors encounter fewer risks when they invest in mutual funds than when they buy and sell stocks on their own. However, anyone who invests through a mutual fund runs the risk of losing money. Fees and commissions: All funds charge administrative fees to cover their day-to-day expenses. Some funds also charge sales commissions or loads to compensate brokers, financial consultants, or financial planners. Even if you dont use a broker or other financial adviser, you will pay a sales commission if you buy shares in a Load Fund. Taxes: During a typical year, most actively managed mutual funds sell anywhere from 20 to 70 percent of the securities in their portfolios. If your fund makes a profit on its sales, you will pay taxes on the income you receive, even if you reinvest the money you made. Management risk: When you invest in a mutual fund, you depend on the funds manager to make the right decisions regarding the fun

Cold Pasteurization can Change the World :: science

The preservation of food is essential to maintain life and growth. Its daily intakes nourish our bodies, providing enzymes, in turn giving us energy. The ability of matter exerts radiation in its domain by means of energy in selected foods. Such rationale debates whether a development of technology creates an effective way to reduce the incidence of foodborne diseases, while treating a variety of potential problems in our food supply. An effective method of research in food irradiation illustrates substantial evidence in its safety, nutritional adequacy, and social-economic global effects. Irradiation is capable of improving the safety and quality of many foods. It is the process that emits high-energy rays passing through [food] products, virtually killing all harmful bacteria and parasites in or on the food (OCA, 1998). Yet, the food remains raw and undergoes only minor chemical changes. Foods are treated with ionizing radiation to accomplish many different goals, one being the delivery of raw meats and sprouts. There is no guarantee that raw ground beef or sprouts will be free of certain harmful bacteria. These foods provide a favourable environment for bacterial growth, whereas, the production process does not include a step to reduce these bacteria, such as cooking or pasteurization. For these foods, irradiation provides a bacteria-killing step. However, one association disagrees the issue and claims that irradiation only covers up problems that the meat and poultry industry should solve, increasing the fecal contamination that results from speeded up slaughter and decreased federal inspection. Irradiation is a ‘magic bullet’ that will enable [the company] to say that the product was ‘clean’ when it left the packing plant (OCA, 2001). The claim, more rather, lacks the key source in evidence, for even the best sanitation and standard antibacterial treatments cannot ensure safety in foods. In addition, irradiation cannot occur properly if the food is too heavily contaminated, preventing industries from using this practice as a substitution for good sanitation practices. Irradiation is not harmful in producing resistant strains of bacteria, nor does it make food radioactive. It simply reduces the amounts of bacteria in foods that may become potential illnesses in humans. Accordingly, food irradiation advocates 40 years of research showing the process to be safe, however, evidence for this assertion is missing. An article in the Nation’s Restaurant News states that detractors of irradiation paint the process as a potential health risk that has n ot been studied sufficiently (Liddle, 2001, p 60, 3p, 4c).

Essay --

World War II had many events that changed the world we live in today. There were two major events which were the Holocaust and dropping two atomic drops on the Japanese civilians. They both were reasoning with mass killing and also, mass caulsitaites. Holocaust was Adolf Hitler way to eliminate the enemy. World War II saw new military technology such as the atomic bomb. As a result of creating the atomic bomb, many countries raced to be the first to have it. The United States wanted to end the war as quickly as possible and believed dropping the atomic bomb was the best way to accomplish this. The men involved in these outrageous events justified there actions. Henry L. Stimson was the U.S Secretary of War and help with the decision to drop the atomic bomb. Rudolf Hoss was a Nazi solider in a concentration camp during the Holocaust. â€Å"Memoirs† by Rudolf Hoss and â€Å"The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb† by Henry L. Stimson give us some insight on what was going on at that time. Rudolf Hoss reconciled his role in the mass annihilation of Jews by racial superiority and anti-Semitism, while Henry L. Stimson reconciled his role in dropping the atomic bomb by claiming it was the best way to save as many American lives as possible. Henry L. Stimson result in dropping of the atomic bomb on Nagasaki and Hiroshima in 1945 is a very controversial issue. The Japanese were known to be determined soldiers, and why dropping the bombs was the right choice when saving American lives. Stimson reconcile this choice because defeating the japanese would require lots of time, the lives of thousands of soldiers and numerous resources. Stimson states â€Å"the allies would be faced with the enormous task of destroying an armed force of five million men and five ... ...how that he was not anti-semitic but that is not the case. He still treats them like every other prisoner because he feels empowered to do so. Hitler was this high ranking officer who gave Germany an enemy that everybody could hate. Atomic bombed getting dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima in 1945 and the Holocaust were both huge events that happened during World War II. They both had massive death tolls. â€Å"Memoirs† by Rudolf Hoss and â€Å"The Decision to Use the Atomic Bomb† by Henry L. Stimson give us some insight on what was going on at that time. Rudolf Hoss and Henry L. Stimson both justified their actin during these events. Stimson reconciled his role in dropping the atomic drop to end the war early and to save as many Americans as possible. Hoss rationalizes his action in killing the massive amount of Jewish people were racial superiority and German nationalism.

The Killer Disease

The importance of database management is high since it decides the importance of different results obtained in the past for improving results in future and thus it can be seen that improvement of quality is dependant in part on the quality and application of databases within the organization. One of the leading reasons for death in United States is cardiovascular disease and according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention the leading reason for death in the country is acute myocardial infarction. According to available figures, this results in 40 percent of all deaths. In general about 900,000 patients are diagnosed with the disease and about 225,000 of them die. One of the saddest points about the whole issue is that of them 125,000 pass away before receiving any medical care. These unfortunate incidents led to the formation of a core team for acute myocardial infarction by the Joint Commission for the Accreditation of Health Care Practitioners the recommendations of this committee were adopted into practice by Meridian Health. This hospital established a cardiac care process for this in 2004 which developed a process for the improvement of care. The attempt was to look into two specific measures against AMI and this was to administer aspirin and a beta blocker to the patients at the time of their admission to the hospital when they were suspected to be having AMI. (Quinn; Mannion, 2005) The implementation of this process took a little time and in December 2004, the second group of congestive heart failure process improvement team started implementing the decision. This was with the assistance of the information technology department and the compliance was with the decision to use angiotensin converting enzyme, otherwise called ACE inhibitors, or angiotensin receptor blockers or ARB and thus evaluate or at least document the left ventricular function in the treatment of congestive heart failure. The first results of using AMI beta blockers at the hospital were positive and there was an increase of 10 percent within the first two months of use and to 14 percent by the third month. Except for the months of February and March, the compliance with the instructions has been 100 percent with the instructions. During those two months, the physician who had written the initial orders for treatment had not used the established method of using the system of referring to the information technology concerned. If the method had been used, it is estimated by the doctors, mortality would have gone down by around 50 percent which makes a total of 50 lives during an eighteen month period in a hospital with 500 beds. (Quinn; Mannion, 2005) This clearly states that proper maintenance of records and ensuring that patients are treated in the accepted method leads to reduction of deaths. The assurance of quality is a process and the process of quality control is checking that assurance of quality has been maintained. For all data entry, quality assurance has to depend on good standards and procedures backed up by properly configured data entry methods. The main reason for the assurance of good data is data management. Checks are generally carried out through audit of the data against the central data base that exists. Generally all data is now in a single storage with back up copies, and so it is not such a difficult task to check the data against each other. Yet, the question of audit is left to especially trained persons. (Santoro, 1999) The situation today is that databases have become much easier to manage with modern computers and the entire business and healthcare activities concentrate on proper data storage. The earlier systems of storage of data in files are gone and the modern systems are much easier. There are many systems attached to databases for healthcare enterprises including database management, data warehousing and object oriented concepts for databases. Along with this is the importance of quality management, for the data has to be of the highest quality. There is a tradition of having different systems and files for different units even within the same business, and this also leads to quality problems for the data of the total enterprise. (Johns, 2002) There are also systems that are written in common languages like Microsoft Access and that is a part of the common software Microsoft Office. The reason for this is that the basic system has been designed by a doctor though the final system was written by a consultant. This has helped in required changes to the system on many occasions over a relatively short period of two years. The database system, however, keeps a track of all requirements from patients like test results, physiological parameters etc. keeps noting changes in the patient which can be seen graphically and even alerts the attending staff about the screening tests, due preventive care and educational sessions. (McLaughlin; Kaluzny, 1999) It can be seen clearly that management of database is very important and in the case of medical organizations, this also leads to improvement in services, or quality in many cases. The question next comes to as to how one can develop plans that do not end up in a file on the bookshelf to collect dust over long periods. The first step is to make the plans interesting enough and simple enough so that they can be understood by the ordinary man. For this purpose, there are many systems and the entire system of decision making can be simplified through viewing it as a sort of a decision tree with branches going to the right and the left. In Japanese, this system is called Hoshin, which is based on a tree. The methods are to develop, communicate, and implement strategic initiatives in a manner that will have the flexibility and acceptability throughout the organization for which the plans are being made. In many cases it will be seen that the objectives of the top management do not seem to be the same as the objectives of the departmental heads or related to their activities. This is one of the fundamental beliefs in Hoshin planning and it assumes that no decisions of seniors will be accepted by the juniors without questioning of the decisions. The important part of seniors proceeding in the manner of Hoshin is to ensure that juniors understand and support the plan that is being made by the seniors. (Chapter 8 – Hoshin Planning and Chapter 9 – The Culture of Lean Production) Often the mistakes come as the end goals are taken to be the same as the means to achieve the goals. The end goals are positions where the organization has to reach and those cannot be compromised since they are correct descriptions of the achievements to be reached. The means to reach those goals can be different and there may be many paths to reach the same end. An example will make this clear and let us say that for an individual the objective is to collect an entry for a prestigious show. One of the sources can be to win a contest where the prizes are entry tickets to the show, and an individual may feel that those must be won to get an entry. At the same time, one has to remember that the objective is to be present at the show and not win the contest. Even if the person loses in the contest, there are other methods through which one can reach that concert. When the person fails to win the contest then the person should try to find another method of reaching the concert. On the other hand, the end goals have to be achieved and for this purpose fresh courage have to be built and that involves meeting new persons, learn and grow and contribute to the organization. For this purpose, even if the original path is blocked, then other methods must be found. (Pavlina, 2005) Thus it is important to review all plans regularly for them to be successful. When the method of Hoshin was first reviewed then it was learnt that a bi-monthly 2 hr review was scheduled. This was to ensure that the plans that were made were not to lie on the shelf, but be utilized. The plans can also be viewed as a part of the check in process. The steps in the cycle according to Hoshin includes vision, 1 year plan, deployment of the individual and alignment of the plan, execution or process management, diagnosis on a monthly basis and finally an annual diagnosis. However the entire process according to Hoshin is a cycle and the steps have to come one after the other – there is no beginning or end. Chapter 8 – Hoshin Planning and Chapter 9 – The Culture of Lean Production) This is a process that is realized by modern management and changes have to be made according to this process of thought. Even for healthcare, there is no end or beginning. In the case of hospitals, new methods are being developed to improve communications with patients and this will result in higher levels and quality of patient care. There are many methods of getting in touch with patients and that can help improve the no-show rate of any facilities and this is also the most expensive of patient care issues. For this purpose, the patients have to be reminded of appointments which are scheduled within a few days. This is a method that provides patients with information that are not easily available otherwise or would require additional staff for the activity of outbound calling. There are self service applications which improve on methods of reaching the patients from the offices of the medical providers. There are now systems which make it easy for the patients to get the lab test results and the ability to refill prescriptions at anytime, anywhere and there are methods of providing information at all times. This is also a responsibility for the hospitals and improves their relationship with the customers and utilizes their resources better. (INI Solutions for Government Healthcare Automating essential processes that support quality patient care) to achieve this, one would require the proper utilization of information that is with them. There are some organizations which claim to have solutions for this purpose also. When the volume of transactions for an organization grows, it is difficult to make changes that are required, and even levels of service that are promised by medical institutions are not provided. The situation becomes worse with a continuous inflow of new information which has to be stored. (WellPoint Health Networks gains higher ROI and benefits from customer satisfaction) This is a problem of continued increase in database and managing it and maintaining it at the same quality levels. The problem requires much faster processing of information and that can be done only by modern methods. The solution for many organizations where previous information is the decider for future action ensures that the concerned organization has quality and proper database management.