Information Systems Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Information Systems - Essay Example The payroll information system will have information on the name, monthly salaries and hourly rates of employees. Hourly rates will also be required to facilitate the payment of overtime wages. Additional information such as location, department, employee identification number, and the date of employment would also be added to the system. This system would be updated with information received from the human resources department relating to recruitment of staff at Recruit 4 U three locations as well as separation of staff due to retirement, resignation, redundancies and involuntary termination. The payroll system would be set up to calculate taxes for each employee and would be paid over to the government on their behalf. At the end of each pay period the necessary information would be collected from various locations and this along with the information from head office will be used to run the payroll. Pay slips will be generated for each employee, indicating their gross pay, deductio ns – statutory and otherwise, and their net pay at the end of each pay period. Cheques consisting of the net pay would either be drawn for each employee or sent to their respective bank accounts if feasible. Additionally, a cheque would be drawn for the government in relation to total tax deducted from the employees pay for the period. The relevant entry from this module of the accounting information system would be used to make an entry into the financial accounts of Recruit 4 U.

History of Retail Industry Essay Example for Free

History of Retail Industry Essay Department stores were gradually introduced which gave customers a chance to choose between brands and products at one location. From JC Penney founded in 1902, to Piggly Wiggly in 1916 who was the first to offer checkout lines and self service. In 1961, Target was founded with Wal-Mart in 1962 and Kohls right behind them in 1963. It wasn’t long and Best Buy, Kmart, TJ Maxx, Costco, and many more retail stores opened their doors to the industry of shopping. It didn’t take long for the retail industry to take off and attract consumers of all kinds with the convenience of shopping and with it ame an experience as well. From department stores to grocery stores they transformed their ways of selling to gives customers not only the products they want but the atmosphere that was appealing. With Wal-Mart opening its doors in 1962 it made the 1960s the revolution in the world of retail. Today, retail industry is booming, yes with the recession it hurt some of the smaller businesses but for the most part they have stayed afloat. We did lose some big retail businesses in 2008 such as Linens N Things, Mervyns and Circuit City. With this being said, the retail industry needs to make stakeholders understand the role in the industry to help protect and improve their reputation as well as build the confidence in consumers. Corporate stakeholders have to be more than a moral responsibility to the company. They need to be a part of much more from how much consumers spend to supporting key policy issues and in the end will change the shareholder value. Social, Economic, and Political Setting The retail industry does a lot for the social and economic setting. Wal-Mart alone does a great deal for the communities where their stores are located. Not only do they provide jobs for around 1. 5 million people, they also have competitive pricing to help local economies. Their competitive pricing brings in more than 312 billion dollars. So not only is Wal-Mart a thriving company they believe in a family work culture as well as supporting their local communities. Many retail stores leave a big footprint in their communities and worldwide. They rally around charities and do their part to put a stamp on the map. On the other hand, most in the retail industry try to keep business and politics separate which seems to be the safest position to take. Some retail businesses like Wal-Mart and Coca Cola are open to their affiliation with the Republican Party and seems to help their image with the traditional consumers but most do not want to take a chance of offending their customer base. Domestic and International Ethics Starbucks who opened their doors in 1971 to forty-one year later they have become a global company with more than 19,000 stores in 60 different countries. They have made the Ethicsphere Institute’s World most Ethical Company List for six straight years. They introduced the Ethical Coffee sourcing program in 2001 to help farms in Central and South America improve their crops while remaining environmentally aware. They helped local nurseries plant over 200,000 seedlings to restore natural forest cover as well as decreasing the use of herbicides and chemical fertilizers with farmers. They also helped train farmers to help reduce the use of carbon by replacing more than 200,000 trees. Ecological and Natural Resources The retail industry has regulations made by the Environmental Protection Agency that they have to comply by to meet regulatory obligations as well as helping reduce environmental impacts such as waste management, product selection and construction of new facilities. Retail businesses may have state regulations to comply by as well as Federal regulations. Many in the retail industry are taking great strides to help impact the environment. There are four areas that highly impact the environment. One is the choice of raw materials for clothing has big impacts on the environment. Cotton is known for its rigorous use of water and pesticides and the so called natural dyes that rely on the harvest of millions of insects to reach the â€Å"natural†color. The second is manufacturing. Textile dyeing and finishing mills can be high producers of water pollution and carbon dioxide emissions and by improving their mills to reduce water, energy and chemical use can really reduce the footprint of their global supply chain. The third is transportation which unfortunately manufacturers and retailers are on other ends of the globe which any mode of transportation sends some sort of pollution into the environment. The last impact is consumer care which many consumers may not even be aware of how a few simple steps can help reduce environmental impacts tremendously. One is washing in cold water and air drying if possible. Dry cleaning is another risk to the environment due to the chemical that is used to clean the clothes called perchloroethylene which has been known to cause many health effects with exposure to this in high levels. So it is not just the retail businesses that can help make changes to better our environment it also falls on the shoulders of designers to use fabrics that don’t require dry cleaning and to the consumers that purchase to make choices that help the environment. Clean by Design launched their program in 2009 to help reduce the environmental impacts by using buying power of multinational corporations by improving processes in the environment to reducing emissions and waste. It is astonishing to see by 2011 that Target, Wal-Mart, Gap, Levis, Hamp;M, Nike and Li amp; Fung are all participating in this program and hopefully they corporations will continue to get in board and the list will continue to grow. Social Issues In today’s lively and unstable business world of retail industry they are always faced with social issues such as customer choices, brutal competitors, complex global economy and the use of the internet. Retailers are constantly trying to find new ways to make their business more profitable and ways to get more shoppers through their doors. Retail industry has caught on to engaging with society and the consumers on a personal level. They are adapting and changing to the environment around them and constantly developing new ways to serve their customers with trust and brand loyalty. Just like Timberland Company did in 2008 by making a â€Å"nutrition label† on their shoe box to show the environmental impact it has from beginning to delivery of the shoe. The company did this in hopes of giving consumers the information they need to make environmentally smart decisions on buying. Not only did Timberland Company do this they also comprised their shoe box that is made up of 100 percent recycled post-consumer waste fiber, no chemical glues and only soy-based inks to print labels. Timberland is just one of many retail stores that take a stand on social issues. Target is another big business in the business industry that comes to mind. From opening its doors in 1988, Target has always tried to be a step above in the industry with the competitive edge logos to their reputation for low prices and offering organic foods in their superstores. They always try to maintain their mission statement which reads, to make Target your preferred shopping destination in all channels by delivering outstanding value, continuous innovation and exceptional guest experiences by consistently fulfilling our Expect More. Pay Less.  ® brand promise. They not only cater to the consumers they are extremely involved with schools and the communities that surround them. They are partnered with St. Jude which is a huge plus for them and provide disaster relief and are always raising funds for our country’s children. Another company that has taking great strides to make their place in this economy just as their mission statement says to â€Å"Inspire and nurture the human spirit – one person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time. Rating of the industry’s overall social responsiveness I believe the retail industry for the most part is trying to take the right steps to make a difference in the economy and help insure the environment is first priority. Over the years we have seen so many big corporations leave footprints in the global economy as well as making the appropriate changes to better the community and environment we live in. References Retail. (2010). Retrieved from http://www. ceres. org/roadmap-assessment/sector-analyses/retail Wal-Mart. (2012, December 9). History timeline. Retrieved from http://corporate. walmart. com/our-story/heritage/history-timeline https://corporate. target. com/about/history/Target-through-the-years (2012, March). In Starbucks Ethical Coffee Sourcing and Farmer Report. Retrieved November 8, 2012, from http://assets. starbucks. com/assets/6e52b26a7602471dbff32c9e66e685e3. pdf Clean by design. (n. d. ). Retrieved from http://www. nrdc. org/international/cleanbydesign The evolution of retailing. (2009, 12). Retrieved from http://www. kpmg. com/CN/en/IssuesAndInsights/ArticlesPublications/Documents/Evolution-retailing-o-200912. pdf Ken, A. (2012, March 31). Wal-mart company.

Field Project :: essays research papers

Field Project   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  To start off my discussion about inequality in the world I asked my sister four questions. 1) What is your American Dream? 2) Do you think there is an exit for children who live in poverty? 3) What is your idea of â€Å"makin it†? 4) As a citizen what do you feel you can do to help? I wanted to get an idea of her overall thought before telling her the brutal truth if she doesn’t already know.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Answers: 1) My American Dream is the quote â€Å" Happiness is positive cash flow†. It symbolizes having a good job that provides me with plenty of money so I can have most of what I want. With a lot of work and perseverance, I think it would be possible to provide your children with a better life than you had. 2) The majority of children who live in poverty will remain in poverty. The way you are brought up is the way you’re going to stay. 3) My idea of â€Å"makin it† is to become successful and happy. 4) As a citizen and as my job I feed the children everyday and make sure they eat and that they are happy. I asked her to explain to me what she does everyday.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  My name is Suzanne Michelle Boily and I am a Food Service Manager for the Board of Education. I work in Williamsburg Green point, Brooklyn. Previously, I worked in the South Bronx in District 7 at PS 29. I work in the school’s cafeteria. I was the only white girl in the area. When I first got the job I was very intimidated to be the minority. The children screamed to me â€Å"Hey whitey what are you doing here†. After a couple of months of getting used to it the children offered me to walk me to my car when school was out because they new it was dangerous. There used to be all kinds of pornography flyers left on my car. The neighborhood is called the projects. There were many open fields with rats running around and I always saw packs of stray dogs in the neighborhood. The children in school sometimes, which was usually never, came to school; they would drop out or come stoned. They didn’t care about school; they would just come into eat as fa r as I saw. I asked, Could anyone off the streets come in and eat?

Dsm-Iv Criteria for Anorexia Nervosa

Anorexia Nervosa DSM-IV Criteria for Anorexia Nervosa A) Refusal to maintain body weight at or above a minimally normal weight for age and height. Weight loss leading to maintenance of body weight less than 85% of that expected; or failure to make weight gain during period of growth leading to body weight less than 85% of that expected. B) Intense fear of gaining weight or becoming fat even though under -weight. C) Disturbance in the way one’s body weight or shape is experienced undue influence of body weight on self -evaluation or denial of the seriousness of the current low body weight. DSM-IV) The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual contains 3 eating disorders Anorexia Nervosa Bulimia Nervosa and Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified. Although Anorexia Nervosa (AN) will be the focus of this report it is worth noting the 3 disorders are very similar and in fact Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified is the name given to the disorder when only 1 criterion for AN is missing f or example if a patients weight loss is still in the normal range despite significant weight loss or if a patient still menstruates.Bulimia Nervosa is when the patient excessively over-eats and purges but does not experience significant weight loss. (Franco 2012) Main Symptoms The main symptom is extreme thinness that has no medical cause and usually a pre-occupation with food. AN seems like a physical illness when in fact it is a psychological one. Heart-rhythm disturbances digestive abnormalities bone density loss anemia and hormonal and electrolyte imbalances are the most common physical symptoms and in severe cases organ failure can lead to death.The patient will very rarely present to the Doctor for treatment alone due to denial of having a problem being an intrinsic part of the illness. Young patients will often be taken to the Doctor by a concerned parent with the usual symptoms being a sudden withdrawal from family or friends and a lack of interest in formerly enjoyed activi ties as well as significant weight loss. (Phillips 2010)Bulimia and AN go hand in hand with many overlapping symptoms such as disordered thinking. Up to 50% of patients with AN develop bulimia and a smaller percentage of patients who are initially bulimic develop AN. † (Franco) AN sufferers have an extremely distorted perception of themselves. Where others may see a once beautiful girl wasting away the patient may perceive that she is succeeding at looking after herself and has enormous self -control that others lack. (Watters 2010) Men or boys who have AN tend to have other psychological problems while women and girls are more likely to be perfectionist and displeased with their bodies. Dryden-Edwards 2012) Bio-Psycho-Social Factors AN is the most obvious physically but attempting to treat just the biological symptoms will have little long term effect. Studies suggest social factors are what cause AN and indeed AN is little known in non-industrialised countries that do not su bscribe to a Hollywood ideal of beauty which is easy to see is unattainable by the average person due to the unrealness of it. Not even the celebrities look like their on-screen personas in real life thanks to photo shopping and professional make-up artists.It’s good to see Australian teen magazines are helping their target audience develop a healthy body image by having something called â€Å"a reality check alert†. If the magazine is sent a celeb picture that has already been re-touched they will print a little disclaimer next to it reminding their readers it’s not natural. A healthy body image is the first step to preventing AN and Bulimia. Edward Shorter a medical historian working today believes that illnesses like AN â€Å"are a culturally agreed-upon expression of internal distress’.Richard Gordon writes in Eating Disorders-Anatomy of a Social Epidemic â€Å"Individuals with pre-existing mood or anxiety disorders or a whole host of under-lying ps ychopathologies or developmental vulnerabilities histories of sexual abuse or familial concerns with weight control may be pre-disposed to adopting such culturally sanctioned behaviours as modes of managing unbearable levels of distress. † (Watters 2010) This means that social factors are probably the most important aspect of why this particular illness developed but the propensity to develop a culturally specific disorder came from psychological issues.This does not make the illness any less real or deserving of medical care just that practitioners need to develop a care plan based on a holistic approach and recognise that the starvation is secondary to psychological issues. The quotes are not meant to downplay the role body image has in the illness but there may be more at stake than poor body image that the sufferer has poorly defined feelings of inadequacy that find a culturally recognised home in AN. AN has the highest incidence of suicide than any other mental illness an d sufferers are 32 more times likely than average to commit suicide. Butterfly Foundation) Past Treatment Anorexia-type symptoms began presenting to doctors in adolescent girls during the 1850’s at the height of the Hysteria epidemic. At first it was a strange manifestation of the well -known women’s illness (well known at the time-it has disappeared from the medical canon today) but by 1860 it was becoming common for young women to starve themselves. In 1873 the model for AN that we would recognise today became well known but with the name Hysterical Anorexia.Treatment was usually hospitalisation with Doctors reporting being perplexed that their patients did not seem to want to get well. Treatments in the 1970’s tended to conform to the medical model with enforced hospitalisation and force feeding. (Watters 2010) Today’s Treatment Today individual and family counselling is just as important as nutrition education. Many sufferers display perfectionist ten dancies so Cognitive Behavioral Therapy seems to be the most effective treatment in helping sufferers understand their irrational thought patterns.The average patient suffers from AN for 7 years and while 5% of the population may have AN at any time the illness has a 15%-20% mortality rate (Butterfly Foundation) which makes it the highest mortality rate of any mental illness so early detection and treatment is essential for a positive prognosis. Significant Behaviours One of the hardest behaviours for family and friends of sufferers to understand or come to terms with is the patients preoccupation with food but refusal to eat it.The sufferer shows signs of being compulsive when it comes to food working out how many calories each portion of food contains and devising a diet and slavishly sticking to it and punishing themselves if they eat too much for example an unplanned piece of birthday cake. AN sufferers are often addicted to exercise and will exercise up to 6 hours a day. AN suf feres necessarily have to lie to family and friends about their behaviour and this can create another level of strain on the patient as they are often high achievers and â€Å"good girls† and in fact sufferers redominately come from the middle and upper socio-economic classes and more often than not have high levels of academic success. (Dryden-Edwards 2012) Personal Qualities and Professional Skills As a case worker one needs to be prepared to work with family and friends of your client in a way that you may feel conflicts with confidentiality issues. The important thing is keeping your client alive while helping her find a psychiatrist or psychologist who can help her get to the bottom of the underlying issues.A lot of patience will be required on a personal level and if you feel the impulse to grab your client and shake her and cry â€Å"why won’t you eat dammit† perhaps a little research won’t go astray. The otherside to that is not to become too emot ionally involved. Hopefully her family and friends are a strong support but otherwise find out about support groups for your client but beware the â€Å"pro-ana† groups’ that are trying to turn an illness that claims many beautiful young people and turn it into a lifestyle choice. 1225 words References and Bibliography â€Å"Mum Please Help† Phillips Karen Webster Irina MD.Clearview Books 2010. â€Å"Crazy like us- The Globalization of the American Psyche† Watters Ethan. Free Press 2010 â€Å"Case Studies in Abnormal Psychology† Oltmanns Thomas F. Neale John M. Davison Gerald C. John Wiley & Sons 2003 â€Å"Anorexia Nervosa† Dryden Edwards Roxanne MD http:www. medicinet. com Retrieved 10/11/2012 â€Å"Eating Disorders† Franco Kathleen N. http: www. clevelandclinicmeded. com Retrieved 10/11/2012 â€Å"DSM-IV Diagnostic Criteria for Anorexia Nervosa† Taken from DSM-IV http: www. medicalcriteria. com Created 3/7/2005 Retrieved 10/ 11/2012 www. butterfly foundation. com Site dedicated to education about Anorexia

Relationship Between Human Beings and Nature Essay

Now is the time for human beings and nature to collaborate. Normally, most people would say, â€Å"human beings always destroy nature.† It is true. However, only a few people know the truth of why human beings destroy nature. It is a huge mistake to think of nature individually. First of all, the main reason people destroy nature is to use trees as materials for paper. As everybody knows, cutting trees has been becoming a reason for global warming. In the past fifty years, the number of people increased more than ten times. Of course, ten times more paper is consumed. The number of the trees in the world has been decreasing rapidly and the environment of the world is getting worse. On the contrary, there was some good news for protected nature. For example because of advancements in the economy, distribution of electric books helped to decrease the consumption of paper. Also, people think of nature more than before. Even now, the numbers of people in the world are increasing, so to have a good relationship between human beings and nature is not easy, it probably the situation is getting worse. We have to keep changing something. When I was living in Canada, I heard the Canadians have pride in protecting the earth. For example, Canada has a lot of natural resources, but they never sell these. They think selling oil leads to the destruction of nature. They also have strict rules for themselves. It is a big violation if they hurt nature or animals. I often think about the world. Everybody knows how to collaborate with nature and how the world would change if we keep destroys. Individual power is really small, but nothing is changed if we do not change. So, now is the time for human beings and nature to collaborate.

Clement Clarke Moore, Author of The Night Before Christmas

Clement Clarke Moore, Author of The Night Before Christmas Clement Clarke Moore was a scholar of ancient languages who is remembered today because of a poem he wrote to amuse his children. His memorable work, widely known as â€Å"The Night Before Christmas† appeared anonymously in newspapers beginning in the early 1820s, titled A Visit From St. Nicholas. Decades would pass before Moore claimed  he had written it. And over the past 150 years there have been hotly disputed claims that Moore did not really write the famous poem. If you accept that Moore was the author, then, along with Washington Irving, he helped to create the character of Santa Claus. In Moore’s poem some of the traits associated with Santa today, such as his use of eight reindeer to pull his sleigh, were established for the very first time. As the poem gained popularity over several decades in the mid-1800s, Moores depiction of Santa Claus became central to how others portrayed the character. The poem has been published countless times and the reciting of it remains a cherished Christmas tradition. Perhaps no one would be more surprised by its enduring popularity than its author, who was, during his lifetime, highly regarded as a very serious professor of difficult subjects. The Writing of A Visit From St. Nicholas According to an account Moore gave to the New York Historical Society when he was in his eighties and presented them with a hand-written manuscript of the poem, he had first written it simply to entertain his children (he was the father of six in 1822). The character of St. Nicholas was, Moore, said, inspired by an overweight New Yorker of Dutch descent who lived in his neighborhood. (Moores family estate became Manhattans present day Chelsea neighborhood.) Moore apparently had no intention of ever publishing the poem. It first appeared in print on December 23, 1823, in the Troy Sentinel, a newspaper in upstate New York. According to published accounts from the late 19th century, a daughter of a minister from Troy had stayed with Moores family a year earlier and heard a recitation of the poem. She was impressed, transcribed it, and passed it along to a friend who edited the newspaper in Troy. The poem began to appear in other newspapers every December, always appearing anonymously. About 20 years after its first publication, in 1844, Moore included it in a book of his own poems. And by that time some newspapers had credited Moore as the author. Moore presented several handwritten copies of the poem to friends and organizations, including the  copy given to the New York Historical Society. The Dispute About Authorship A claim that the poem had been written by Henry Livingston dates to the 1850s, when descendants of Livingston (who had died in 1828) asserted that Moore was wrongfully taking credit for what had become a very popular poem. The Livingston family had no documentary evidence, such as a manuscript or a newspaper clipping, to support the claim. They simply claimed their father had recited to the poem to them as early as 1808. The assertion that Moore hadn’t written the poem was generally not taken seriously. However, Don Foster, a scholar and professor at Vassar College who employs â€Å"linguistic forensics,† had claimed in 2000 that â€Å"A Night Before Christmas† was probably not written by Moore. His conclusion was widely publicized, yet it was also widely disputed. There may never be a definitive answer as to who wrote the poem. But the controversy has captured the public imagination to the extent that in 2013 a mock trial, dubbed The Trial Before Christmas, was held at the  Rensselaer County Courthouse in Troy, New York. Lawyers and scholars presented evidence arguing that either Livingston or Moore had written the poem. The evidence presented by both sides in the argument ranged from the unlikelihood that someone with Moores stern personality would have written the poem to specific notes on language and the meter of the poem (which only matches one other poem written by Moore). The Life and Career of Clement Clarke Moore Again, a reason for speculation about the authorship of the famous poem is simply because Moore was regarded as a very serious scholar. And a cheerful holiday poem about a â€Å"jolly old elf† is like nothing else he had ever written. Moore was born in New York City on July 15, 1779. His father was a scholar and a prominent citizen of New York who served as the rector of Trinity Church and the president of Columbia College. The elder Moore administered the last rites to Alexander Hamilton after he was wounded in his famous duel with Aaron Burr. Young Moore received a very good education as a boy, entered Columbia College at the age of 16, and received a degree in classical literature in 1801. He could speak Italian, French, Greek, Latin, and Hebrew. He was also a competent architect and a talented musician who enjoyed playing the organ and the violin. Deciding to follow an academic career, rather than becoming a clergyman like his father, Moore taught for decades at the Protestant Episcopal Seminary in New York City. He published a number of articles in various newspapers and magazines. He was known to oppose the policies of Thomas Jefferson, and occasionally published articles on political subjects. Moore would also publish poetry on occasion, though none of his published work was anything like â€Å"A Visit From St. Nicholas.† Scholars could argue that the difference in the writing style could mean he didn’t write the poem. Yet it’s also likely that something written simply for the enjoyment of his children would be quite different than a poem published for a general audience. Moore died in Newport, Rhode Island, on July 10, 1863. The New York Times briefly mentioned his death on July 14, 1863 without referring to the famous poem. In the following decades, however, the poem kept being reprinted, and it by the late 19th century newspapers regularly ran stories about him and the poem. According to an article, published in the Washington Evening Star on December 18, 1897, an 1859 edition of the poem published as a small book with drawings by a prominent illustrator, Felix O.C. Darley had made A Visit From St. Nicholas extremely popular just before the Civil War. Of course, since them the poem has been reprinted countless times, and recitations of it are a standard component of Christmas pageants and family gatherings.

Abortion in Society essays

Abortion in Society essays We live in a nation built on the idea of freedom, freedom of choice and freedom of expression, yet we are not free. Abortion is an ever-present choice that every woman should and does have, not based on ones financial situation, cultural background or even age; its a choice that every woman has the right to. There are too many children being abandoned and given up for adoption every day and there should be some responsibility for ones actions, the children should not have to suffer for their parents faults. An abortion is a right as an individual, the right to decide what happens with ones body and the freedom to chose their own future. Abortion is a womans right and choice. In 1973 Roe vs. Wade was a landmark trail, which led to the legalization in all states for a woman to have an abortion. It is also the womans right to privacy with this abortion, because without legal abortion women would be denied their constitutional right of privacy and liberty. If abortion were illegal it would force poor women to bear and raise children they can't afford to bring up. There would be a number of unsafe abortions in back allies, causing harm to both the baby and the mother. It would also force women to give up their dreams and stay home to bring up babies. Worst of all, it would condemn victims to rape and incest to carry and nurture the offspring of their rapist. Who would stand for something that would allow this to happen? Women shouldnt feel scared to have an abortion either. They should have to think about what is going to happen to them as they try to get an abortion, yet they do because they are picketing people outside harassing them. Some of the activists actually take it to extremes, such as bombing abortion clinics. Why would someone who believes in pro-life want to kill someone? Woman are born with rights, right to privacy and the...