Credit Management Strategies for Small Firms

When a small firm sells goods or services to another firm, it generally grants trade credit to the buyer for these purchases. While the acade1nic and practitioner literature on credit management for large firms is voluminous, there is little in this literature which suggests appropriate credit Management strategies, given the particular characteristics of the small firm. Several characteristics of small firms can lead to advantageous credit policies which are different from larger firms. Among these are returns-to-scale problems in adopting several credit management strategies, Management which has limited expertise in finance, and restricted access to outside financing. In this paper, the effects of these differences on trade credit strategy are considered. Four areas of credit strategy are analyzed: credit investigation and risk assessment, credit-granting decisions, collections, and bearing credit risk. The paper presents and critiques trade credit policies for the small firm in each of these areas, including policy alternatives which involve the outsourcing of one or more aspects  of  credit management

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Physician Communication Skills: Results of a Survey of General/Family Practitioners in Newfoundland

Purpose: To describe the attitudes related to communication skills, confidence in using commnication skills, and use of communication skills during the physician-patient encounter among a population-based sample of family physicians. Procedures: A mailed survey, distributed to all family physicians and general practitioners currently practicing in Newfoundland. The questionnaire was designed to collect data in five general areas participant demographics, physician confidence in using specific communication strategies, perceived adequacy of time spent by physicians with their patients, physician use of specific communication strategies with the adult patients they saw in the prior week, and physician use of specific communication strategies during the closing minutes of the encounters they had with adult patients in the prior week. Main Findings: A total of 160 completed surveys was received from practicing family physicians/general practitioners in Newfoundland, yielding an adjusted response rate of 43.1%. Most of the respondents (83.8%) indicated their communication skills are as important as technical skills in terms of achieving positive patient outcomes. Between one-third and one-half of the respondents, depending on the educational level queried, rated their communications skills training as being inadequate. Fewer than 20% of the respondents rated the communications skills training they received as being excellent. Physicians indicated a need to improve their use of 8 of 13 specific communication strategies during patient encounters, and reported using few communication strategies during the closing minutes of the encounter. Interactions that occurred during a typical encounter tended to focus on biomedical versus psychosocial issues. Conclusions: Family physicians/general practitioners recognize a need to improve their commnications skills. Well-designed communications skills training programs should be implemented at multi-levels of physician training in order to improve patient satisfaction with their encounters with family/general practitioners, and to increase the likelihood of positive patient outcomes

q_T Uncertainties for W and Z Production

Analysis of semi-inclusive DIS hadroproduction suggests broadening of transverse momentum distributions at small x below 1E-3 ~ 1E-2 which can be modeled in the Collins-Soper-Sterman formalism by a modification of impact parameter dependent parton densities. We investigate these consequences for the production of electroweak bosons at the Tevatron and the LHC. If substantial small-x broadening is observed in forward Z boson production in the Tevatron Run-2, it will strongly affect the predicted q_T distributions for W and Z boson production at the LHC.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures; contribution to the XIII International Workshop on Deep Inelastic Scattering (DIS 2005

Germination and seedling growth response of Aframomum melegueta K. Schum to different pre-treatments

An experiment was carried out to check the effect of pre-treatments on germination and early seedlings growth of Aframomum melegueta at the Department of Forestry and Wildlife Management of University of Port Harcourt. The research seeks to investigate the effect of pre-germination treatment on seeds of A. melegueta. The treatments used were Hydrogen peroxide (10 minutes), Cold water (24 hours), Methylated spirit (10 minutes), warm sand at 45oC (30 minutes), Nicking and Control. The experimental design was the completely randomized design (CRD) while analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to test the effect of treatments on seeds and seedlings of A. melegueta. Result from this study indicated that in nicked seeds germination started 11days after sowing while it was 14 days after sowing in hydrogen peroxide treated seeds. Germination duration was lowest in hydrogen peroxide treated seeds (28.67 days) and highest in seeds buried in warm sand (36.33 days) while germination percentage was lowest in nicked seeds (56%) and highest in seeds soaked in cold water (92.67%). Seedlings of A. melegueta subjected to different pre-treatments displayed significant differences (P ≤ 0.05) in all growth parameters at all stages of growth. Seedlings in warm sand exhibited the greatest seedling height, collar diameter and leaf number while seeds soaked in methylated spirit displayed lowest seedling height and leaf number; and seedlings treated with hydrogen peroxide had the lowest collar diameter. It was observed that seeds of these species did not exhibit dormancy. However, to enable optimum, rapid, uniform germination and good growth, it is recommended that the seeds of A. melegueta should be pre-treated before sowing.Keywords: Aframamum melegueta, pre-treatment, germination, seedling growt

Influence of pre-germination treatments on germination and early seedlings growth of Carapa procera

This study was carried out at the Forest Nursery of the Department of Forest and Wildlife Management, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Port Harcourt Nigeria. It assessed the effect of pre-germination treatments on seed germination and early seedling growth performance of Carapa procera. The experiment was laid out in a completely randomized design involving analysis of variance. Duncan multiple range test (DMRT) at (P<0.05) was used for mean separation. The treatments used were: hot water soaking (5 minutes), mechanical scarification, cold water soaking (24 hours) and the control. A total of 600 seeds were used for germination (i.e. 150 seeds per treatment). Observations on germination were recorded daily for six weeks on germination emergence, duration and percentage. A total of 80 seedlings were used i.e. 20 seedlings of uniform height at two (2) leaves stage for each treatment were transplanted into polypots, Evaluation of early seedling growth was done for four months based on height, collar diameter and leaf number. Highest Germination percentage was observed in mechanically scarified seeds (94%) and lowest in control seeds (56%). Earliest emergence and duration was observed in mechanically scarified seeds (5 and 4 days respectively) and latest in control (21.67 and 29.33 days respectively). A significant effect (p ≤ 0.05) was observed in all growth parameters at all stages of growth. Mechanically scarified seeds produced the highest performance for all growth parameters studied followed by control when compared to the other pre-treatment methods. It is recommended that seeds of Carapa procera be mechanically scarified before sowing. Although other treatments can be used to enhance germination, they may not be required for seedling growth since seedlings from untreated seeds produced higher growth parameters after scarification treatment.Keywords: Carapa procera, pre-treatments, germination, early seedling growt

Effect of sowing depth on the germination and early seedling growth of Dialium guineense Willd

This study was carried out to determine the effect of different sowing depths on seed germination and seedling growth performance of Dialium guineense. The experiment was laid out in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with 5 treatments: 0, 3, 6, 9 and 12 cm sowing depths. Fifteen viable seeds were sown into 15 polypots filled with bulked forest topsoil for each treatment and this gave rise to a total of 75 seeds sown for the 5 treatments. Observation on germination was made and recorded daily for a period of 30 days after sowing (DAS). Inception of plumule emergence was observed and germination percentage calculated for each of the sowing depths (treatments). Evaluation of early seedling growth was based on height, collar diameter and leaf number. Observation on seedling growth performance commenced one month after sowing (MAS) and continued bi-weekly thereafter up to 12 weeks after sowing (WAS). Plumule emergence was earliest at 0 cm sowing depth (10 DAS) and latest at the 12 cm sowing depth (16 DAS). Germination percentage was highest (80.00%) at 3 and 6 cm sowing depths and lowest (13.33%) at 0 cm sowing depth. Highest mean seedling height and collar diameter were observed at 3cm sowing depth while the lowest mean seedling height was observed at 12 cm sowing depth at all growth stages (4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 WAS). Highest mean leaf number was observed in 3 and 6 cm sowing depths at 4 and 6 WAS and in 3 cm sowing at 8 to 12 WAS while lowest mean leaf number was observed in 12 cm sowing depth at 4 to 12 WAS. Mean seedling height did not vary significantly (p>0.05) among 3, 6 and 9 cm sowing depths at all stages of growth. Collar diameter did not vary significantly (p>0.05) among 3, 6 and 9 cm sowing depths at 4 WAS, among all the treatments, at 6 and 8 WAS, and among 6, 9 and 12 cm sowing depths at 10 and 12 WAS. Seedling growth generally decreased with increase in sowing depth. It is recommended that seeds of D. guineense should be sown at shallow depths (from 3 to 6 cm) since best germination and seedling growth were observed at the two depths.Keywords: Dialium guineense, sowing depths, germination, early seedling growt

Effect of seed source on seedling growth of Dialium guineensis (Wild)

The study investigated the effect of different seed source on seedling growth of Dialium guineensis with a view to providing the best provenances and growth medium at the Department of Forestry and Wildlife Management, University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria. The fruits used for the study were collected from three (3) mother trees consisting in Abeokuta (Ogun State), Aba (Abia State) and Choba (Rivers State). The collected fruits were extracted and subjected to germination using three growth medium namely Sharp River sand, Sawdust and Topsoil involving three replicates in A Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD). The highest mean height was recorded from Abeokuta with seed sown in topsoil which had (5.34±0.12) this was followed by Choba with seed sown in topsoil which had (5.10±0.12) and the least was recorded in Aba with seed sown in sharp sand having mean value of (3.92±0.12). The highest collar diameter was recorded from Choba with seed sown in sharp sand which had (1.84±0.56) the was followed by Aba with seed sown in sharp sand which had (1.80±0.56) the least was recorded Abeokuta with seed sown in topsoil (0.63±0.56). The highest leave number was observed from Abeokuta with seed sown in sharp sand which had (4.94±0.17) this was followed by Abeokuta with seed sown in sawdust which had (4.69±0.17), the least was recorded in Choba with seed sown in topsoil which had (4.41±0.17). the results reveals that seeds from different source demonstrated different growth performance as it was recorded that the seeds from Abeokuta performed better and sharp sand as best growth media. As a result recommendation for mass production of D. guineense within the south western zone of Nigeria. Keywords: Seed source. Growth media, seedling growth, polythene bags, Dialium guineensi