Book of Negroes Essay

As an old woman, Aminata Diallo is brought to London, England, in 1802, by abolitionists who are petitioning to end the slave trade. As she awaits an audience with King George, she recounts her remarkable life on paper, beginning with her life in Bayo, in western Africa, prior to being abducted from her family at age 11, seeing the death of her mother and father, and being marched in a coffle of captives to the coast along with others from her village. Chekura, a boy of similar age who assists the slave catchers, is at the last minute abducted himself and forced to join Aminata on the slave ship. Despite suffering humiliation, witnessing atrocities, enduring squalor and languishing in starvation, Aminata survives the passage to America because she is able to apply the knowledge and skills passed on to her by her parents, especially the ability to â€Å"catch† babies and to understand some African languages. In South Carolina, Aminata is auctioned off to an indigo plantation, along with a man from her village who has lost his senses during the ocean crossing. She learns the language of the â€Å"buckra† through the teachings of Georgia, an American-born slave, as well as from Mamed, the overseer of the plantation. Daily, Aminata must navigate the new dangers of disease and the eye of the plantation master while she searches for a way to return to her homeland. As she carries Chekura’s child, she is warned that Master Appleby could take it away at any time. Sure enough, at ten months, Aminata’s son, Mamadu, is sold by Appleby and Chekura also disappears. Stricken with grief, Aminata falls into a depression and refuses to work on the plantation. Appleby sells her to Solomon Lindo, the indigo inspector of the region, and she departs for a new life in Charles Town where Lindo promises to treat her as a â€Å"servant† rather than as a â€Å"slave† in that she works for wage and pays rent to Lindo. During rioting in New York City that coincides with the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, Aminata is presented with an opportunity to escape and does so, while Lindo is forced to flee back to the Carolinas. Aminata quickly makes new friends and connections and supports herself by catching babies and working at a tavern, all the while helping others by teaching them how to read and write. Following the surrender of the British, former slaves who have worked for one year or more behind the lines for the British are offered asylum in Nova Scotia. These people’s names are recorded in a ledger called The Book of Negroes, penned in part by Aminata because of her knowledge of many languages. Aminata and Chekura reunite and are given passage aboard the ship Joseph, but Appleby returns for one final act of vengeance against Aminata: he makes a claim to her, separating her from Chekura once more. While Chekura continues to Nova Scotia, Aminata must stand trial, and it is Solomon Lindo who ends up setting her free. Aminata lands in Shelburne, Nova Scotia, on the last Loyalist ship, and she has to use her talents as a baby catcher, reader and teacher once again to survive, for the sake of herself and her unborn child, as she prepares for the journey to reunite with Chekura in Annapolis Royal. However, her inquiries come up empty. May, their three-year-old child, is abducted by the Witherspoons, a white couple who had befriended Aminata, and Aminata returns to a life without hope. When the opportunity arises for Aminata to cross the ocean again to begin a colony in Sierra Leone, Africa, she is shocked to learn of Chekura’s death and decides to make the journey to her homeland. The struggle to maintain the colony of Freetown under the control of the Sierra Leone Company is complicated by its proximity to Bance Island and the slave trade. Relations with the local Temne are strained, and tempers flare when slave coffles are marched directly in front of Freetown. Longing to see her beloved Bayo village, Aminata agrees to travel back to Bance Island to secure passage into the interior. However, one month into her journey inland, she learns of the betrayal that she is to be sold back into slavery; she flees for days until she finds sanctuary in a village. Realizing that she will never return to her true home, she leaves for London to join the abolitionists to end slavery. She writes an account of her life that is shared in Parliament, and she meets with King George III and Queen Charlotte Sophia. Because of the attention from the newspapers, Aminata’s long-lost daughter, May, finds her after an eighteen-year separation and takes care of her in her old age as the struggle to end slavery continues in Parliament.

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Perform Research Steven Harking Professional Communications/GAUGES 7/24/14 Lori Thomas Professional Communications What exactly is self-marketing? Before we can properly understand what this means, first we must take a look at the current conditions in the Job-market. Over the years, it has grown increasingly competitive. Marketing methods are constantly being enhanced and improved in an effort to reach consumers.Every year, millions of undergraduate and graduate students enter the workforce to compete with more experienced workers in our country. Not only are they competing with more skilled errors in our country, but now with a globalizes market, they are competing with workers who live overseas as well. This is where Self-marketing comes into play. Another way of thinking about self-marketing is personal-branding.Self-marketing uses certain branding tools to create a positive desired image around you the employee rather than a specific product. Using these tools effectively can he lp separate yourself from thousands of other potential candidates and employees by allowing you to: highlighting your experiences, networking with employers, and alluding profiles where you can show off examples of your work. Social Networking sites, blobs, and professional conferences, are specific examples of platforms you can use to help accomplish this.Backbone is a great place to start. Most of us already use Backbone and so you already are somewhat familiar with their protocols. Something I have done is created a page where I can market my research on health too larger audience. It is called Health Over Wealth and on this page, I share articles about how to live healthy. These articles can range from things like the science Enid a good night's rest, all the way to ideas for vegetable and fruit smoothies.It is easy to create your own page, it is free, and it can be used as a great self-marketing tool. Instead off focus on health like I have done, you can use it as a portfolio o f sorts to showcase your strengths and assets as a potential employee towards the industry of your preference! Chances are you already have a good amount of friends of Backbone. Any one of those friends has friends of their own who you have not met yet. When your friends like your page they will see your page on their walls.Also, for example if you are at a Job fair and are handing out resumes, you can communicate to the different employers there that you have a profile on Backbone that showcases your strengths in more detail. Internet marketing is a big deal and a valued skill to many employers these days. If you can successfully market yourself, then a company will trust you to market their products on these same types of platforms. Another great tool to use that I actually learned in my first year at ITT is Linked In. Employers are well aware of Linked In and actively search for employees on this site.In fact, Linked In can be more useful to you then Backbone because while Backbo ne has many different uses, Linked In is more specific in its use as primarily a Job marketing tool. Something I really like about Linked In is that you can meet and network with many individuals all over the world that are in your industry and learn from them. You can check out their pages and see how they are marketing themselves and draw from those techniques. You can find a senior vice president from a multi-million dollar company and see how they brand themselves!

Approaches to Physical Education in Schools Essay

Physical activity is a broad term to describe movement of the body that uses energy. Unless otherwise stated, taking part in Sport and physical activity is defined as â€Å"All forms of physical activities which, through casual or organised participation, aim at expressing or improving physical fitness and mental well-being, forming social relationships or obtaining results in competition at all levels. † Physical inactivity is regarded a serious, nationwide problem. Its extent poses as a public health challenge for reducing the national burden of unnecessary illness and premature death. Starting activity from an early age and throughout childhood helps an important input to healthy growth and development. There is strong and growing evidence that regular physical activity reduces the risk of suffering from various common disorders. Evidence shows regular physical activity in childhood and adolescence improves strength and endurance, helps build healthy bones and muscles, helps control weight, reduces anxiety and stress, increases self-esteem, and may improve blood pressure and cholesterol levels. There are also many psychosocial aspects of physical activity, such as having the opportunity for social interaction and support (Hughes, Casal, Leon 1986), experiencing increased feelings of self-efficacy (Simons et al. 1985; Hughes, Casal, Leon 1986), and experiencing relief from daily stressors (Bahrke and Morgan 1978), may help improve mental health status in some people. http://www. cdc. gov/nccdphp/sgr/pdf/chap4. pdf If a child has positive experiences with physical activity at a young age it may help set the foundations for being regularly active throughout life. This would mean not just about teaching children how to play sports, there is the wider proposal in terms of their lives, like giving them aspirations, something to aim for and how they can achieve their goals. Parents and carers are important social influencers upon children and young peoples’ lifestyle choices. Hendry, Shucksmith, Love and Glendinning (1993, pg. 59) state that â€Å"Two major elements appear to be dirctly related to attraction towards and avoidance of sport participation: parents as role models and parental encouragement, expectations and support†. Physical activity promotion is a high component of many government policy statements and commitments in the UK. These include those produced by the Department of Health and other departments such as the Department or Transport, the Department of Culture. The Department of Health’s ‘Saving Lives: Our Healthier Nation’ is an action plan for tackling poor health and improving the health of everyone in England. The Government has recognised the negative economic and social consequences of physical inactivity. In December 2002, the Government published ‘Game Plan’, a strategy for delivering its sport and physical activity objectives. Game Plan’ set a national agenda: to increase and widen the base of participation in sport, to target success in international sport and to promote any reform necessary for the strategy to be delivered. ‘Game Plan’ sets the target of 70% of the population to be reasonably active 5 x 30 minutes per week by 2020. (http://www. sportengland. org/national-framework-for-sport. pdf) The White Paper also agrees that physical activity is a key aid to good health and an important factor in preventing heart disease, stroke and other chronic disease. This document is the 2004 Government Public Health White Paper published by the department of health. It forms the foundation [2004] of public health policy. The White Paper sets out the key principles for supporting the public to make healthier lifestylechoices.   Physical activity is one of six priorities identified in the white paper and actions to promote physical activity are xamined in several chapters; (‘Health in the consumer society’, ‘Children and young people, ‘Local communities leading for health’, ‘Work and health’, and ‘Health promoting NHS’). Everybody knows that Government and individuals alone cannot make progress on healthier choices. Progress depends on effective partnerships across communities, including local government, the NHS, business, advertisers, retailers, the voluntary sector, communities, and the media. The NHS Plan was produced and set out plans for investment in and reform of the NHS. It included the commitment to develop ‘local action to tackle obesity and physical activity, informed by advice from the Health Development Agency on what works’ (Department of Health,2001 The effectiveness of public health interventions for increasing physical activity among adults: a review of reviews) The Department of Culture media and sport (DCMS) encourages greater sport participation. Its strategy ‘A Sporting Future for All’ recognises sport as a â€Å"powerful tool for social, educational and physical wellbeing†. Published in 2000, this document sets out New Labour’s vision for sport including; sport in education, sport in the community, sporting excellence and the modernisation of sporting organisations. The Department for Transport, Local Government and Regions DTLR, formerly the Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions, DETR, aims to make it easier and safer for people to walk and cycle, therefore reducing the amount of cars. The Department of Culture Media and Sport Department for Education and Skills (DfES, formerly the Department for Education and Employment, DfEE) launched a joint ‘National Healthy Schools Standard’ in 1999 with DH which consists of ten central themes; physical activity is one of these. Source: adapted from NAO, Tackling Obesity in England (Health benefits of physical activity,2001) One of the government main concerns and well known agendas is to control the raising levels of child obesity. Rates of obesity have dramatically increased in England over the last decade. If no action is taken, one-in-five children aged 2-15 in England will be obese by 2010. (Obesity guidance for healthy schools coordinators and their partners) There is a need for the departments to involve other partners at national and local levels to help develop and implement solid strategies for prevention, which include adults as well as young people. At national levels, this is taking place already, and departments should develop joint objectives and performance targets relating o aspects of physical activity and diet to ensure that this progress is combined. At the local level, health authorities are well located to start these activities by developing Health. They could provide more Improvement Programmes that involve a wide range of other partners in schemes to increase cycling, walking and physical recreation and to improve diet, such as increased consumption of fruit and vegetables, and the knowl edge for a healthy diet. Chief Medical Officer Sir Liam Donaldson said: ‘Higher levels of physical activity among children and young people, together with much healthier eating patterns, are the key to averting the potential catastrophic effects of the obesity epidemic which is beginning to emerge. ‘ (Stars back school sports bid to fight obesity 2004) There is a substantial amount of cross-department work in the areas that are central to addressing the rising levels of obesity. Much of this is targeted at schoolchildren. This addresses a section of the population for which obesity is becoming an increasing problem. The NHS aims to halt the rise in obesity among children in the region by 2010. National and regional activities and programmes are already in place to help tackle obesity such as the ‘five a day scheme’, regulation on food promotion and advertising to children, national weight loss guidance and physical activity programmes and work with the food industry on portion size and labelling. Other Government departments have an influence through school education and the promotion of healthy eating. Many schools now provide a healthy eating plan, abolishing foods such as chocolate and crisps on sale in the canteen. The focus of such strategies should be to make it easier for the public to make healthy choices. Such strategies require funding for implementation, but should ultimately lead to a reduction in the costs to the NHS from obesity related ill health. (http://www. iotf. org/childhood/) Schools are seen as being in the front line in the battle against what has been called â€Å"the biggest public health threat of the 21st century† – obesity. (http://news. bbc. co. k/1/hi/education/3751305. stm) The potential of Physical Education to help contribute to health enhancing behaviour has been long acknowledged. Schools have a key role and are in a significant position in helping pupils to reach the recommended daily level of physical activity, both by providing them with suitable activity opportunities and also by helping them to acquire the skills, understanding a nd confidence to pursue activity outside of the school. PE and school sport is an entitlement for all pupils whatever their own particular needs, preference or circumstance. The national curriculum for PE is not prescriptive and provides flexibility that schools can exercise when providing activities so that the needs of all pupils can be catered for. A key role of physical education is to ‘maintain, and if possible improve the health and physique of the children’ (Issues in Physical Education 2000) Three government departments – DH, DfEE (now DfES) and DETR (now DTLR) have set up the School Travel Advisory Group in 1998 as a forum for debate and coordination. They published guidance for local authorities on building a safe environment to encourage more children to walk or cycle to school. To help the promotion of sport and physical activity in schools the National Healthy Schools Target developed by DH/DfEE sets an ‘expectation’ that pupils should have at least 2 hours physical activity each week. A recent poll that Sport England undertook shows that only 1 in 5 primary schools currently meet the 2 hours target. The national PE, School Sport and Club Links strategy was launched by the Prime Minister in October 2002. Its overall objective is to enhance the take-up of sporting opportunities by 5 to 16-year-olds. The PESSCL strategy has set targets to increase the amount of Physical Education and sport young people do. â€Å"The ambitious target is to increase the percentage of schoolchildren who spend a minimum of two hours a week on high-quality PE and school sport within and beyond the curriculum to 75 per cent by 2006 and 85 per cent by 2008. (childhood obesity 2003) It is also trying to bridge the gaps between school and community sport, opening up schools out of hours to provide additional sports opportunities for all children. A recent campaign that Gordon Brown has proposed is that he wants all school children to get the chance to do five hours of sport a week. Currently children under 16 are required to do two hours a week within the national curriculum.

Organizational Behavior (OB) Final Paper Research

Organizational Behavior (OB) Final - Research Paper Example As Hughes, Ginnett, Curphy (2012) say that even adherents or subordinators have energy to influence their pioneers. Yet, the current circumstances and possibilities influence the power of pioneers and adherents. As per Fiedlers Contingency Model, each individual has a certain style of authority that easily falls into place. A few styles concentrate on creating an association with their subordinates and other appear undertaking focused and manage assignment first than an individual. One needs to check which style suits the best in the given circumstance. There is nobody best style dependably. It changes with the current situations. Here, there is another term LPC (Least Preferred Co-specialist) that clarifies about the representatives who have worked with. You scale them on a bipolar scale against qualities like cordial unpleasant, tolerating dismissing, and exhausting intriguing et cetera. You include the score; if your aggregate is high it implies you are a relationship-arranged pio neer. On the off chance that it is low then you are an undertaking focused pioneer. The intriguing variable exists in the rating. The scale does not clarify anything about you LPCs but rather your own particular manner of driving. Normally errand situated pioneers accept their LPCS low and contrarily. Be that as it may, relationship situated pioneers consider their LPCs hopefully. In NAB Duffy had an undertaking focused leadership style who considered his subordinates as low LPCs. At the point when Gentilin attempted to determine the issues, he needed to leave the spot. Duffy had a fantastic impact on his manager, Gary Dillion. It is pass that Duffy had power and impact as a pioneer. Duffy together with his seniors turned the whole place easygoing to him. Nobody set out to meddle in his matters which he did concede in the court. Duffy created an all around built system for the execution of his evil practices. He brought his

Probation, Parole, and Intermediate Sanctions Essay - 1

Probation, Parole, and Intermediate Sanctions - Essay Example The essay "Probation, Parole, and Intermediate Sanctions" talks about the varieties of avenues for reducing crime rates and promoting correctional initiatives and rehabilitation of criminals. Probation, parole, and intermediate sanctions are some of the avenues through which these objectives can be achieved. The system ensures efficient supervision through â€Å"boot camps that place offenders in quasi-military settings, electronic monitoring, and house arrests†. There is a high number of violation of conditions of intermediate sanctions, leading to the revocation of the sanctions into imprisonment. Parole is, on the other hand, a supervisory provision over a convict who has been released from prison before the expiry of the imprisonment period. One similarity of the three approaches is the provision for supervision of the convicts. The systems are however different with respect to their level of supervision and terms of approach. While probation involves basic supervision tha t is overwhelmed, parole is more closely monitored and intermediate sanctions are strictly monitored with the aid of equipment and facilities. Based on the features of the approaches, intermediary sanctions is the best because its supervision is the most effective as aided by facilities and monitored environments. One of the diversities identified within the correctional processes is the level of strictness in the application. Supervision in probation is, for example, basic, intensified in parole, and extremely strict in intermediary sanctions.

An investigation of the role that the Libyan government and civil Essay

An investigation of the role that the Libyan government and civil society organization can play in facilitating the humanitarian activities of the Libyan red crescent - Essay Example The research is based on the challenges that are faced by LRC or Libyan Red Crescent in terms of providing quality service to all those victims who are affected. The Libyan Red Crescent in the recent years has been deprived of many such facilities that were provided by the civil society organizations. This in turn has resulted into more serious issues for LRC as they are finding it difficult to maintain their humanitarian activities. This study would be focused towards identifying the key issues along with the probable solutions so that the organization can achieve the stage of sustainability in its business operations. The Libyan Red Crescent organization was incorporated in the year 1957 and it comprised of 34 branches in total across Libya. The Libyan government and even the civil society organization of Libya have made the operations of this voluntary aid organization LRC worsen due to lack of support and negligence on their behalf. The primary functions of this organization have greatly been affected due to the unavailability of resources and support that was required to be extended by the Libyan Government. The research study would not be based on the total LRC organization but it would focus majorly on one branch that is Zintan branch. This branch is selected mainly because the researcher is the indigene of the town so it would enable the researcher to gather more appropriate information about the challenges faced by the organization. The major aim of this research study is to identify the possible solutions that would help the organization to enhance their activities by means of leveraging the civil society as well as Libyan government.

Online Schooling Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Online Schooling - Essay Example Teachers, parents, and educators have tried to address such issues where their students get bullied by others to an extent of affecting their school performance and finally, the idea of online learning has been taken to enhance a student’s comfort and peace of learning. Also, the teachers claimed that they finally found a solution to what had been disturbing them for a very long time. Pre-college studies refer to those students aiming to join kindergarten, secondary or primary studies and are in need to study on the website. In order to fulfill the high-quality education programs, the online schools saw it wise to prepare students right from kindergartens. The program has is developed to offer an engaging and innovative way to inspire young minds of ages between three to five years so as to provide high-caliber for individualized learning options. In conclusion, education has truly changed people to the digital world. With the invention of technology in today’s culture, it has become accessible and widespread that the nation has got more advantages from it with few setbacks. But all in all, with technology, comes the digital world and improved living standards. By these, Postman meant that technology neither adds nor subtracts anything, but it tends to improve the ecology. Technology has a lot in it some of which may be good and others not even considerable. He noted that it will be wise to put into consideration the required type of technology, the importance it has to the society or the targeted group and whether the benefits can outweigh the risks.

Can the fund by IMF save the world economy Essay

Can the fund by IMF save the world economy - Essay Example The functions of the IMF are quite broad and it ranges from enhancing monetary cooperation between nations to maintaining an acceptable level of balance of payment. Other functions include promoting stability of exchange rate, ensuring smooth flow of capital and providing funds to nations. Providing financial assistance is one of the major functions of the IMF so that problems relating to balance of payment can be reduced (Weiss, â€Å"International Monetary Fund: Background and Issues for Congress†). Monitoring the fiscal and monetary functions of nations under its membership and technical advice are also functions of the IMF. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the role of IMF in helping to protect the world economy. The paper is divided into five main sections. The chapter of literature review focuses on the key economic theories in explaining the role of the IMF. The methodology chapter briefly discusses the methods of conducting this essay and the section on results provides empirical verification of the ways in which the countries has performed with the help of the funds provided by the IMF. Historically, the mechanism of working of IMF is rooted in the Keynesian macroeconomics. The IMF is essentially a monetary organization that focused on the monetary help to adjust balance of payment of a country. The works of Friedman (1950 cited in Davidson 64) regarding floating exchange rates and monetarism had influenced the functioning of the IMF. Keynes was one of the founding fathers of the IMF and he had applied his countercyclical monetary and fiscal policies to combat unemployment and recessions. However, over the years the functioning of the IMF had changed dramatically with the evolution of the new classical macroeconomic ideas. The proponents of the Keynesian and the post Keynesian theories had suggested that uncontrolled flow of capital makes countries highly vulnerable to events like banking crisis and

Depend on business plans you analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Depend on business plans you analysis - Essay Example Scottish Enterprise Business plan and the AMREF Business plan are the two online sources that were obtained. The AMREF Business plan was written for the period between October 2011 and September 2014 while the Scottish Enterprise was written for the period between 2012 and 2015. The outline given in class is different from the two online documents that I obtained. The financial analysis is the only similar element in the business plans of the textbook, and the two online sources. However, there are varied differences with the Scottish Enterprise and AMREF business plans. The business plan by the Scottish Enterprise business plan has the Chairman and chief executive’s foreword. It also contains the economic challenges facing the company and the globally competitive companies, sectors and business environment. A financial summary, performance evaluation and delivering a low carbon economy are contained in the document. This plan focuses the long-term goals of the company while a ddressing the immediate challenges the company faces in the current economic times On the other hand, AMREF has an executive summary that has a description of the companies plan. An introduction, values, and mission of the company follow the executive summary. The strategic fundraising, strategic directions, partnership descriptions, management of the business planning process, monitoring, evaluation and costing are the elements in the plan. The style used in business plan writing is the official recommended style of writing. In the two online sources, they capture background information about the company. It also contains the business details of the company, products, and services, and financial analysis of the company. The two plans were written using first pronoun with no references cited. A solid business plan must be written in first-person, in official format, and in cases where information is outsourced, it should be well referenced. The details of a business plan are critica l. The presentation of the business plan should be considered. It should be flawless, well organized, and arranged in a systematic way. If the plan is to be submitted to a group of donors or investors interested in a company, the plan should be convincing (Pinson, 20). This means that it should have a title page with the company’s name, current date and the implementation period of the plan. The content in a business plan will always vary. The executive summary follows the title page (DeThomas, 11). It should contain the basic business of the company, the company’s immediate and forecasted success. It should also contain the company’s products and services, their intended market and the sales potential in these areas. It should also contain brief information of the finances required to implement the plan and the competitive advantage of the company (DeThomas, 11). A management plan is a plan showing the employees that should be involved in the implementation of the plan. The suitable persons to help in the implementation process should have a set of skills and experience. The Human Resource management should recommend this skills and requirements. The management plan should have well outlined ways showing the sales and marketing required, production of goods, and the financial administration. Every segment in the plan should have adequate allocated time (Pinson, 25). A business plan should contain a market research analysis. It contains details

Permit Processing on Mercer Island Essay Example for Free

Permit Processing on Mercer Island Essay The rapidly increasing population and land use is one of the significant yet phenomenal challenges in today’s public administration. Accompanied by the spatial utilization and maintenance is the urban planning and management as one of the functionalities of city administrators in dealing with the simultaneous increase of land use, wherein various types of uses demands a particular place within the city limits. Relevantly, the expansive modality of business districts or areas must be complemented with a system or process as a procedure in obtaining of permits to operate a business is necessary and required. Thus, the system or process is needed to ensure the systematic flow of urban zoning. In this regard, the city administration must work on how permit processing would respond to the aspectual needs of the population without hampering the sustainable community development. Dealing with urban-community issues tackles various considerations in the processing of business permits, such as organizational functions of city administration must be streamlined through conduct of dialogues and campaigns in the implementation processes. This procedure is one of the components in public administration where urban-community issues must be resolved. In Mercer Island, the city manager have studied the situation in permit processing and found the significant action of implementing the system or process that is meeting both administrative functions of the city government and the demands of the residents. The implementing programs of permit processing in Mercer Island could have found the breakthrough of a procedure in public administration. This paper will account the discussion of multifaceted issues that significantly drawn the decisiveness of city managers in administering Mercer Island’s public administration programs. Methodology The result of the case study, entitled: ‘Permit Processing on Mercer Island’, conducted by Judith Noble as her Master’s Degree thesis at the Graduate School of Public Affairs at the University of Washington and published by The Electronic Hallway in 1996 will be the derivative of the literature review, taking into account the issues, actors and organizational forces that have been depicted in the public administration of Mercer Island. Likewise, additional literatures will revalidate the presentation or exhibition of data reflective of the conducted case study. Literature Review City overview: history and township Mercer Island was named after the Mercer Brothers who explored the place while on food gathering and subsequently first established a non-native settlement at the north-west side of the island in 1870s. The settlement has thoroughly expanded to the north-east side of the island and known as the East Seattle where became famous of the Calkins Hotel as a landmark of commercial land use in 1889 (Mercer Island Historical Society, 2006). In 1908, the East Seattle have grown with residential and business population, wherein the urbanization was largely developed from 1930s towards 1940s when a floating bridge was built that reached towards its state of Washington as the nearby area of commerce (City Government of Mercer Island, 2008) Presently, Mercer Island is a highly urbanized city being established from the 1960 incorporation and 1970 merging of north-western and eastern municipalities that has been fully developed as a business district of Seattle with 23, 894 population (US Census Bureau, 2007). Brief background of the issues As manifested by the continuously growing population and developing commercial zones, the city administration of Mercer Island has employed its ways and means in the processing of business permits. In 1996, the Mercer Island’s City Manager Paul Lanspery was persevered to act on the result of a report that has been commissioned and studied the status of community development. As cited, the tremendous increase of land use has been attributed to the establishment of businesses, in which even residential areas diversify into commercial use. The situation could become a perennial problem to the majority of the residents as well as the natural environment may soon marginalize and disintegrate by the potential pollution (Noble, 1996). On the other hand, Lanspery was worried of the â€Å"systems thinking† of the city administration, wherein the processing of business permit application must be reviewed in order to assess the public administration and accountability of the city government and its employees, as there were â€Å"pressure groups† from the residents that advocates the call in preserving the city from further commercial development. The personal, organizational and external forces  Reflecting on the report on community development and through the conducted on-site observation, Lanspery was motivated by his personal beliefs on â€Å"continuous improvement† (Noble, 1996). It may be interpreted that Lanspery’s personal belief could be an â€Å"internal motivating force†; reclaiming â€Å"continuous improvement† of Mercer Island is achieving sustainable development in the community. Based on the conducted on-site survey, Lanspery has brought the organizational accountability of the city government to objectively see and find the perspective of Mercer Island amidst its commercial diversification. The land use of the residents must be coupled with responsibilities in nurturing and protecting the environment. Hence, the city government must actualize the administration of public interest to preserve the natural habitation of the island without hampering the on-going business activities of the city. It may be summarized that Lanspery’s personal belief of continuous improvement retains the organizational accountability of the city government as the external force in implementing sustainable means, instead of sustaining an intensive â€Å"environmental change† that in fact deface the natural beauty of Mercer Island. To cite, preserving Mercer Island culture and natural environment is a challenge to its city government in improving sustainable business operation and administering of its investors in a participatory process, adhering efficiency, quality and commitment (Noble, 1996). The environment and public administration According to the case study, the topography of Mercer Island is not suitable for high-rise buildings and definitely limited to horizontal construction. On the other hand, the windy atmosphere of the Island is susceptible to fire-igniting materials, like the fire tragedy in 1889 that burned-flat the fire-prone Calkins Hotel. The topography of Mercer Island has been critically considered in the implementing guidelines of the city government, as a response to mitigate environmental risks and preservation of the environment from potential threats of commercial abuse. The public administration has organized a team of diverse technical expertise that composes the building department personnel who will evaluate the application of permits for residential and business or commercial land use. To cite, the government has likewise regulated a countless permit application for construction of small structure and land use projects, taking into account an estimated of 70 percent from the total 1,300 permits being issued yearly (Noble, 1996). The public administration in the issuance of permits was consistent in the implementation of environmental protection programs and risk mitigating measures, such as to cite the intensive evaluation and qualification procedures on application of mechanical permits for installing furnace pipes, plumbing, hot tub and lawn sprinkler systems, electrical wiring, and even burglar security and fire alarms. Part of the revenue collection campaigns were also managed by the city government on penalties and fines from illegal permit fixers, violators of health and safety guidelines, and other proceeds from residential construction permits acquisition (Noble, 1996). Nature of policy system and processes of policy and decision making It may be reflected that the decentralization of local government units or city governments have been enacted as part of streamlining the Federal bureaucracy system, devolving the powers of the local government executives in executing the municipal or city programs and projects. In which case, the city government of Mercer Island is spearheaded by the executive function of the Mayor, the legislative power of the city council and the city manager who is mandated to act in administering the township development. The enactment of land use policies were outlined in the â€Å"check and balance† configuration of area implementation. Specifically, the city manager headed the tangible implementing procedure of the Department of community Development that enjoined the technical maintenance, engineering and the public safety programs. Part of a functional public administration and transparent decision making process is the conduct of public dialogues that has been initiated by the City Council, expediting the legislative process and synergy among the council membership. To cite, the legislative function of the city council reaches out the public concern in terms of interpreting the city codes and ordinances. The city council has even organized citizen boards and commissions to enable a transparent and community-participatory undertaking of relevant issues on land use and the city government’s public administration functions, like the creation and establishment of the Building Board of Appeals that act as a quasi-judicial body, examining and interpreting the technical description, meaning and implementation of the â€Å"building code† as the ethical parameter in the land use policies. Leadership, management and administrative ethics It may be found that what has been highlighted in the case study is the decisiveness of Paul Lanspery, being the city manager, who persevered the undertaking of necessary public administration processes and fully utilizing the organizational elements of the city government. The overall representation of the case study [according to the literature review] has also found Lanspery’s ideals, having the personal beliefs of continuous improvement of Mercer Island. The personal beliefs could be perceived to have influenced the systems thinking, character-values and governance. Lanspery’s position as part of the â€Å"politico-persona† in the executive function of the City Mayor’s Office, wherein city management emanated its mandate or functions, has contributed to â€Å"streamline the system†. Based on the case study, it may be recalled that organizational dysfunction has threatened to be a problem of the City Council in implementing the ordinances or enforcement of the building code and policies on land use. As cited, such problems pertain to be the (1) deficiency in coordinating with departments which the city government has established non-substantive change, (2) failure in completing inspections and its technical evaluation results, (3) discrepancy in applying the technical standards of the building code and engineering guidelines (Noble, 1996). To cite and quote Mercer Island’s City Councilor Fred Jarrett, â€Å"reliability and consistency in dealing with the processing of permits is required for changing a cedar roof to tile for one home but not for another† (Noble, 1996). Meaning, making reliable and consistent the â€Å"way of leadership† may require the need of change in the system and processes on how the permit application would be more beneficial and contributory to a decisive public accountability and administration, specifically on sustaining the judicious utilization of the landholdings in Mercer Island. Post activities and findings  The assumption to office of Paul Lanspery as Mercer Island’s City Manager has significantly shown with substantial change in the functions of various departments directly involve in the processing of business and residential permits, land use, public safety and order and the city’s environmental maintenance programs. As a city manager, Lanspery has implemented the organizational system on reporting, evaluation procedures, ethical standards, quality values, effectiveness and efficiency. The implementation of service-value-oriented ethics was the first and foremost organizational procedure employed by Lanspery. The action-oriented response through holding of regular meetings among the personnel of each department was aimed to improving and developing the responsible and accountable execution of task of every working personnel, in which adherent to creating good governance that shall harmonize the public administration. Lanspery has also introduced the â€Å"strategic component† of leadership accountability, wherein department managers were directed to participate in â€Å"visioning exercises† that would visualize the sustainable needs of the community and specifically to preserve the socio-economic life of Mercer Island from threatening effects of commercial land use. A synergy of public administration has been conceptualized to harmonize the fiscal management of every department. Strategic budget planning, monitoring and auditing system were also established to enable the efficient performance of the city government in its revenue collection and budgeting, and financing of community projects that focuses on improving the socio-economic life of the community. Meanwhile, the judicious implementation of permit processing is complemented with social and judicial sanctions to ensure the importance of law enforcement in mitigating the unlawful land use, being deterrent to commercial abuse of Mercer Island’s economic resources and environment. At this point in time, the case study has accounted the decisive managerial skill of Lanspery who enabled the â€Å"political will† of an area manager that prevented the vulnerable exploits of Mercer Island. Through that decisive and dedicated public administration has streamlined the organizational set-up of Mercer Island’s Department of Community Development (DCD), manifesting a more accountable city government. Conclusion Public administration could be the ethical standard in managing public accountability. The processes and ethics in public administration is a continuing challenge in the dispensation of the local government units and its local executives. Indeed, the political will of the local executive is necessary to supplant the weaknesses and flaws with transparent and good governance. Like Lanspery who have visualized the needs of Mercer Island has not submitted to the disguise of commercial development but reclaims the vision for sustainability. In Lanspery’s oath of office has transpired the vision, mission and goal of the city government as an organization that sustains the socio-economic life of Mercer Island. The collection of revenue from permit processing application, approval and issuances could have been substantial to the coffer of the city government yet vulnerable to irregularities and corruption. The case study on Mercer Island’s city management depicts the broad understanding of ethics in public administration, enabling effective implementation of key policy programs that accounts the majority interest of the population and its environment. It may be then concluded that public accountability must manifest an unwavering leadership in local governance, whereas devolution of power from the national government must promote the local participation of people towards sustainable development of communities.

Challenges Faced By Medical Laboratories Information Technology Essay

Challenges Faced By Medical Laboratories Information Technology Essay Healthcare is always a top priority within any collection of individuals, whether it is the workforce, schools, churches, communities, states, countries etc. This is because mortality rates are directly affected by the level of healthcare available, and effective productivity is dependent on good health and high mortality rates. Developed nations tend to invest large sums of money into healthcare, in order to prevent most ailments before they become epidemics, however, due to lack of emphasis on the importance of healthcare, African nations suffer from low mortality rates caused by lack of proper laboratory procedures and equipment, to test and accurately diagnose problems ahead of time. Even though we are now in a highly advanced technological era, Nigerian hospitals still conduct tests, data collection, and calculations manually, leaving a huge opening for errors which could lead to wrong diagnosis and in turn, wrong treatment. As we humans become ever increasingly dependent on computer technology in our daily lives, it then would be appropriate to utilize technological solutions to problems conventional methods prove inefficient at. These problems can be solved with the use of a properly configured software system to manage all administrative tasks in the laboratories. The most effective use of technology to solve to these issues would be carried out using open source software popularly known as a Laboratory Information System (L.I.M.S). The model of this work seeks to provide an application which will enable vital functionalities such as proper documentation and storage of patient information, patient specimen/sample tracking, and most important, patient test results. In the light of the above, the proposed system applies the web application development approach in its information architecture and processing, however this system will run on a local machine as opposed to running on a remote server over the internet. Consequently at completion of this work, the end product should be a Laboratory information management system which handles activities in the lab from the entry of a patient to the laboratory to the generating of a test result or Laboratory report. BACKGROUND OF STUDY The study for the development of the laboratory information management system uses a medical laboratory facility: Bakor Medical laboratory as its case study. Investigations indicate that the following steps or procedures are undertaken in the process of getting tested in the medical laboratory. On entry into the laboratory a document known as the Patient Investigation form. This form holds information such as the Patients name, age sex, on filling this form the patient is then billed. The patient Investigation form is then transferred to a second laboratory attendant who then uses the information retrieved from the aforementioned form to fill the laboratory request book. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM In recent times, due to increase in population, there is constant pressure on providers of various services to provide innovative methods of dispensing a sizable amount of services to great amount of people in the shortest possible time. Consequently, organizations are constantly resorting to technological solutions to meet up with the ever increasing demand for quality and speedy service delivery and with virtually everything in our day to day lives being technologically driven, should there not be a scenario where paper documentation is completely annihilated from medical laboratories?, where a system is adopted in which patient records and data are properly stored such as to enable features such as patient/visitor history tracker, where a returning patients history can aid the laboratory in deducing what type of test a visitor would request for, statistical reports generation where useful statistical information is inferred based on test results e.g whether or not there is an incr ease or decrease of new HIV infections, should there not be a software/application where other stakeholders in the health-care delivery processes such as doctors and pharmacists have access to laboratory generated information to aid in their health-care administration?, should the retrieval of patient test records be slow and cumbersome?, why must results be entered directly on the result document, therefore a backup copy is unavailable. Questions such as these will serve as a guide to the development of a robust system than manages various tasks in the medical laboratory. 1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS Based on the statement of the problems above the research question for this study are: How will the development of a laboratory information management System greatly increase the laboratorys efficiency? OBJECTIVE OF STUDY To design a robust Laboratory information System that will efficiently aid in the running of the laboratory facility To hold and provide timely information about each visitor to the laboratory To reduce the need to hire staff through the proper application of technological solutions therefore cutting cost. With a proper functioning and comprehensively designed application, Laboratory tasks such the following can be achieved: SAMPLES MANAGEMENT A LIMS can automate the management of samples. An organization can configure its analytical parameters and calculations into the LIMS before implementing the software in the laboratory. After sample registration, the system can print barcodes which it can scan at the end of the analysis when loading results into the LIMS. The system can check the completed results, automatically validating those which comply with specifications; and reporting (but not validating) out-of-specification results. A LIMS may release or retain lots and batches, according to a laboratorys specifications and calculations. Once results come available for the labs clients or owners, they can extract them in  PDF, XML  or spreadsheet files from the LIMS interface. (Note that moving insufficient data to a spreadsheet may lose the traceability of changes). LABORATORY USERS One may configure a LIMS for use by an unlimited  number of users. Each user owns an interface, protected by security mechanisms such as a login and a password. Users may have customized interfaces. A laboratory manager might have full access to all of a LIMS functions, whereas technicians might have access only to functionality needed for their individual work-tasks. ADMINISTRATIVE TASKS AUTOMATION As of 2009  LIMS implementations can manage laboratory sampling, consumables sampling schedule and financial (invoices). SCOPE OF STUDY Bakor Medical centre has various departments and sections based on the issue at hand to be dealt with; however this study focuses mainly on the lab processes, including data collection and management. This study takes the patient from the moment of entry into the medical centre, filling forms, up till the moment the test is taken, from that point onwards the study will focus on the methods used by the laboratory attendant to collect and store data, through recording of findings and submission of results This study will also concentrate on data backup and retrieval methods and will highlight potential errors and problems that could be encountered if the entire process was carried out manually instead of using a well configured computer application. SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY The Computer based Laboratory information management System is quite desirable as it will benefit the laboratory in the area of repetitive task automation. It will serve as an assistant to the medical laboratory scientist. It will also benefit patients as they will be able to retrieve record from previous visits to the laboratory. LIMITATIONS OF STUDY The limitations of this study include: Inability to obtain actual test result document, as this goes against medical ethics for a third party to view Laboratory specimen or test results. Unavailability of qualified laboratory scientist at the study locations to properly explain terms and laboratory procedures. LITERATURE REVIEW From tasting urine to microscopy to molecular testing, the sophistication of diagnostic techniques has come a long way and continues to develop at breakneck speed. The history of the laboratory is the story of medicines evolution from empirical to experimental techniques and proves that the clinical lab is the true source of medical authority. Three distinct periods in the history of medicine are associated with three different places and therefore different methods of determining diagnosis: From the middle ages to the 18th century, bedside medicine was prevalent; then between 1794 and 1848 came hospital medicine; and from that time forward, laboratory medicine has served as medicines lodestar. The laboratorys contribution to modern medicine has only recently been recognized by historians as something more than the addition of another resource to medical science and is now being appreciated as the seat of medicine, where clinicians account for what they observe in their patients. The first medical diagnoses made by humans were based on what ancient physicians could observe with their eyes and ears, which sometimes also included the examination of human specimens. The ancient Greeks attributed all disease to disorders of bodily fluids called humors, and during the late medieval period, doctors routinely performed uroscopy. Later, the microscope revealed not only the cellular structure of human tissue, but also the organisms that cause disease. More sophisticated diagnostic tools and techniques such as the thermometer for measuring temperature and the stethoscope for measuring heart rate were not in widespread use until the end of the 19th century. The clinical laboratory would not become a standard fixture of medicine until the beginning of the 20th century. Ancient diagnostic methods In ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, the earliest physicians made diagnoses and recommended treatments based primarily on observation of clinical symptoms. Palpation and auscultation were also used. Physicians were able to describe dysfunctions of the digestive tract, heart and circulation, the liver and spleen, and menstrual disturbances; unfortunately, this empiric medicine was reserved for royalty and the wealthy. Other less-than-scientific methods of diagnosis used in treating the middle and lower classes included divination through ritual sacrifice to predict the outcome of illness. Usually a sheep would be killed before the statue of a god. Its liver was examined for malformations or peculiarities; the shape of the lobes and the orientation of the common duct were then used to predict the fate of the patient. Ancient physicians also began the practice of examining patient specimens. The oldest known test on body fluids was done on urine in ancient times (before 400 BC). Urine was poured on the ground and observed to see whether it attracted insects. If it did, patients were diagnosed with boils. The ancient Greeks also saw the value in examining body fluids to predict disease. At around 300 BC, Hippocrates promoted the use of the mind and senses as diagnostic tools, a principle that played a large part in his reputation as the Father of Medicine. The central Hippocratic doctrine of humoral pathology attributed all disease to disorders of fluids of the body. To obtain a clear picture of disease, Hippocrates advocated a diagnostic protocol that included tasting the patients urine, listening to the lungs, and observing skin color and other outward appearances. Beyond that, the physician was to understand the patient as an individual. Hippocrates related the appearance of bubbles on the surface of urine specimens to kidney disease and chronic illness. He also related certain urine sediments and blood and pus in urine to disease. The first description of hematuria or the presence of blood in urine, by Rufus of Ephesus surfaced at around AD 50 and was attributed to the failure of kidneys to function properly in filtering the blood. Later (c. AD 180), Galen (AD 131-201), who is recognized as the founder of experimental physiology, created a system of pathology that combined Hippocrates humoral theories with the Pythagorean theory, which held that the four elements (earth, air, fire, and water), corresponded to various combinations of the physiologic qualifies of dry, cold, hot, and moist. These combinations of physiologic characteristics corresponded roughly to the four humors of the human body: hot moist = blood; hot dry = yellow bile; cold moist = phlegm; and cold dry = black bile. Galen was known for explaining everything in light of his theory and for having an explanation for everything. He also described diabetes as diarrhea of urine and noted the normal relationship between fluid intake and urine volume. His unwavering belief in his own infallibility appealed to complacency and reverence for authority. That dogmatism essentially brought innovation and discovery in European medicine to a standstill for nea rly 14 centuries. Anything relating to anatomy, physiology, and disease was simply referred back to Galen as the final authority from whom there could be no appeal. Middle Ages In medieval Europe, early Christians believed that disease was either punishment for sin or the result of witchcraft or possession. Diagnosis was superfluous. The basic therapy was prayer, penitence, and invocation of saints. Lay medicine based diagnosis on symptoms, examination, pulse, palpitation, percussion, and inspection of excreta and sometimes semen. Diagnosis by water casting (uroscopy) was practiced, and the urine flask became the emblem of medieval medicine. By AD 900, Isaac Judaeus, a Jewish physician and philosopher, had devised guidelines for the use of urine as a diagnostic aid; and under the Jerusalem Code of 1090, failure to examine the urine exposed a physician to public beatings. Patients carried their urine to physicians in decorative flasks cradled in wicker baskets, and because urine could be shipped, diagnosis at long distance was common. The first book detailing the color, density, quality, and sediment found in urine was written around this time, as well. By a round AD 1300, uroscopy became so widespread that it was at the point of near universality in European medicine. Consequently, the clinical laboratory became a standard fixture of medicine at the beginning of the 20th century; it is now an integral part of the health-care delivery process and is seen as the basis for medical diagnosis. In recent times a medical laboratory scientist (MLS), formerly known as a medical technologist (MT) or clinical laboratory scientist (CLS), functions as a medical detective, performing laboratory tests that provide physicians with information that assists them in preventing, diagnosing and treating diseases and maintaining patient wellness.   The medical laboratory scientist performs a wide variety of laboratory tests, ranging from simple dipstick urine tests to complex DNA tests that help physicians assess risk of diseases. Using test results, physicians can uncover diabetes, cancer, heart attacks, infections and many other diseases.   Medical laboratory scientists interact with physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and other members of the healthcare team to provide timely, accurate information so the patient can receive the correct medical treatment.   Medical laboratory scientists use sophisticated biomedical instruments and technology, microscopes, complex electronic equipment, computers, and methods requiring manual dexterity to perform tests on blood, body fluids, and tissue specimens. Clinical laboratory testing sections include clinical chemistry, hematology, Immunohematology (Blood Bank), immunology, microbiology and molecular diagnostics. EFFECTS OF MEDICAL LABORATORIES Medical Laboratories have played a pivotal role over the years. As stated above, in ancient times, physicians relied on various inaccurate means of disease diagnosis such as urine tasting, listening to the lungs etc. However with the advent and subsequent evolution of modern medical laboratory facilities, plus the discovery of the cellular nature of human tissue and the invention of the microscope, medical diagnosis made a tremendous leap from a 50-50 accuracy ratio to an 80% accuracy rating for laboratory based medical diagnosis. Therefore the use of medical laboratories has greatly increased the accuracy of diagnosis; hence the physician can administer the proper kind of treatment. The use of laboratories has also led to various discoveries, such as new strands of Viruses, bacteria, parasites and fungi. It also acts as a monitor for new strands of drug resistant bacteria. CHALLENGES FACED BY MEDICAL LABORATORIES The main challenges and bottle-necks encountered by medical laboratories over the years include. Inability to preserve patient samples or specimens such as blood, sputum, stool, over a long period of time for reference purposes hence making patient to specimen matching and tracking, Efficient information sharing and retrieval between the laboratory scientist and those administering treatment has been a problem. MEDICAL LABORATORIES: IMPROVEMENTS AND THE FUTURE For the efficient functioning of the diagnosis system, health-care delivery, scientific research into bacteriology and disease causing organisms, technology should be applied to automate administrative tasks, such as the visitor registration and result documentation. By making judicious use of computer software to automate and manage tasks in the laboratory there will be a dramatic increase in its efficiency. Consequently this will greatly reduce the need to recruit and pay personnel to carry out administrative duties therefore such resources can be channeled towards more important needs of the laboratory. TECHNOLOGY PLATFORM/PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE TO BE USED IN STUDY The technologies to be used in the development of this Laboratory Information Management system is an open source programming language known as PHP, together with a MYSQL driven database, a solid browser based application will be developed. PHP: PHP also known as Hypertext Pre-processor, it belongs to a class of languages known as middleware (Needham, 2006). These languages work closely with the web server to interpret the request made from the web, processes these request, interact with other programs on the server to fulfill the request and then indicates to the web server exactly what to serve to the clients browser. It is the leading web programming language for design of web applications. It possesses a language similar to C, Java or Pearl. Its uses include: retrieving user input and saving it in a database, retrieving information from a database and general data manipulation processes. THE CLIENT: Simply refers to end users of an application that connect to a remote server to carry out computational processes THE SERVER: An application known as a web server listens for requests a client makes, responds to those requests and serves out the appropriate response (Greenspan, 2002) MYSQL: Refers to an open source relational database management system with a set of programs that access and manipulate these records. (Descartes, 2003). It is a  relational database management system (RDBMS)  that runs as a server providing multi-user access to a number of databases. APACHE WEB SERVER: Apache is a web server notable for playing an important role in the initial growth of the world-wide web. It is responsible for accepting Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) request from web client (web browsers) and serving the HTTP responses along with optional data content which usually are HTML pages. These platforms are used in this research work because: There are open source meaning there are free to use and develop with without having to purchase licenses or fulfill any legal obligation to the owners of the technology. It is easy to deploy on a local machine Its hardware requirements are minimal therefore making its installation and usage less cumbersome. Developer tools and support services for the platform/technology are readily available at absolutely no cost. DATA COLLECTED FOR LABORATORY TEST Lab Investigation Form: This form is used for general patient registration and data collection. Data collected on this form include Patient Name Patient age Hospital Number Specimen Blood Specimen Sputum Stool Urea Various Swap Investigation Record Clinic Details Name of Doctor Lab Request Book: Used to record Patients data for that day. Name Lab Investigation Done Amount Time in Data Collected for lab tests Lab result book (Used for recording patients results) Patients Name Date of birth Gender Test Results Date Hospital registration Number Extra Comments SUMMARY The use of technological solutions greatly reduces costs, increase profits, save human effort and provide better services to customers/clients The use of an LIS (Laboratory information System) in the running of a medical laboratory facility greatly improves the documentation process; makes patients records retrieval a lot easier and faster, records are not lost and are kept safe via regular backup of the available data. With the use of a Laboratory information system, various kinds of data deductions, surveys and reports can be easily generated for statistical purposes such as the average percentage of persons with a certain kind of disease, Genotype or blood type etc. CONCLUSION A properly developed Medical Laboratory information system will greatly increase productivity, increase the quality of services delivered by the facility and greatly reduce the amount of man hours put into the delivering the laboratory services

Issues in Historic Building Conservation

Issues in Historic Building Conservation Construction Technology and Rehabilitation Referring to specific case studies this paper aims to investigate attitudes towards the preservation and restoration of historic buildings and the influences and constraints which might affect the development of such buildings. Why preserve? Many buildings are either deserted by their owners when the cost of restoration becomes too great, or demolished when the lesser expense of a new development and its saleability are of greater appeal. The future of historic buildings relies not only on the people or governing bodies that own them, but also on organizations such as English Heritage that list and protect buildings from development and raise public awareness through schemes such as the ‘Blue Plaque’ scheme (www.english-heritage.org). The relatively recent enthusiasm for television programmes about restoration have also helped heighten awareness. As Philip Wilkinson phrases it: ‘Old buildings form strong links with the past () to historians and archaeologists they are precious documents, unlocking information about the life, art, aspirations, and technology of the people who built them and used them.’ (Wilkinson: 2005, p.13) Long-term preservation can dramatically increase the economy of an area. For example, Bath and North East Somerset which is famous for its Georgian and stone buildings generates a huge revenue through tourism because of the efforts taken to conserve its rich heritage. The expense often proves a deterrent but in the case of either private land owners or council owned properties English Heritage and other such organisations such as the Funds for Historic Buildings (www.ffhb.org.uk) can provide financial aid in the form of grants, tax relief, and subsidised loans. Safety, Security and Assessment ‘The George Inn’ a mediaeval Inn, five miles south of Bath, owned by the Wadworth family, was restored in 1998 by Stansell Conservation, West Country Tiling, under the direction of Acanthus members, Ferguson Mann Architects. (http://www.buildingconservation.com/articles/george/george.htm). A major part of the building was unoccupied and unusable, and the task was to conserve and repair, then turn the pub into a small hotel with 12 bedrooms and ensuite bathrooms. Being of large timber framed structure with intricate stonework and huge stone slate roofs, the procedures had to be selected carefully. Other considerations were taken into account; such as its archaeological investigation, and adhering to the fire-safety requirements of creating hotel accommodation. The original plan depended on the creation of accommodation on the top floor of the main building: however, the provision of an alternative means of escape would have involved major interventions to the building so this plan was altered: Fire safety presented problems as the stair tower had to be protected from smoke and flames in the event of a fire. The standard solution, wired glass doors on either side of the stairs, would have had a disastrous impact on the character of the interior. The solution was to hide the fire doors in the walls so that they could not be seen when open, and to fit them with electro magnetic catches so that they would close automatically when a fire is detected. (http://www.buildingconservation.com/articles/george/george.htm). Factors to consider in the conservation of structures not only concern the building itself but also the area surrounding it. The situation of the George Inn, on the pavement of a busy main street, caused potential danger from falling stone slates and maintenance access was severely restricted. The scaffolding to the front had to be cantilevered out in a ‘complex, engineer-designed structure.’ It was therefore decided to opt for a high specification and every element of the roof covering was considered carefully. Temporary works are often needed during projects either because there is a risk that a structure might otherwise collapse or because it is necessary to remove some vital supporting member for renewal or alteration. In situations like this it is vital that the expertise of experienced architects and surveyors is sought so as to avoid unnecessary damage or alteration to the building as such mistakes can be irreparable. It is valuable to have a detailed specification for any particular project, bearing in mind that an historic building’s greatest value is the materials out of which it is made. Risk assessment and security surveys will be needed. Historic buildings can often harbour valuable treasures and can be at risk during building procedures; hence systems such as security lighting, CCTV and alarms might need installing on the site. Legislation Rehabilitation projects involve working closely with others progress depending on the reliability of contractors who could potentially go into receivership or resign. When legal matters are involved sites can often lie dormant until they are resolved. In some situations it is likely that legislative procedures will clash. For example, a fire escape on the top floor of the Inn might have impinged upon viable planning procedures for that age and type of building. More seriously, the listing of a property does not guarantee its safety. The English Heritage stipulates that the purpose of listing is to give a building ‘statutory protection against unauthorised demolition, alteration or extension.’ (www.english-heritage.org). Demolition or extensive alteration may be approved on a property if it becomes ‘de-listed’ however this usually only occurs if new evidence about the architectural or historic interest is uncovered or if extensive fire damage occurs. Decisions on the nature of works carried out on historic buildings normally depend on Listed Building Control which allows for the modification of proposals to alter or demolish the building. Sometimes planning permission can be granted and listed building co nsent refused: and unless both are approved then development cannot continue. As Michael Ross says in his publication on Planning and the Heritage: The emphasis is on conservation rather than preservation. In many cases, the two will be synonymous, but in others, the emphasis will not be on keeping the building as it is at all costs, but in ensuring that its life is guaranteed and lengthened in a way that will not destroy its special interest. That means in many cases that there will be a balance to be struck between the value of the old and the needs of the new. In others, no balance will be possible and consent will have to be refused. (Ross: 1996, p.92) If a building is not protected by law and modifications have the potential to appear unsightly or too radical in their design, then the Local Planning Authority use their discretion as to whether or not the application should be approved. In the case of Manor Farm, Over Haddon, (www.peakdistrict.org/ctte/planning/reports/2005) demolition and development of outbuildings themselves not listed but adjacent to a listed farmhouse, into office buildings and a car park was refused as the proposal was seen to seriously harm the setting and character of the listed building and the character of the Haddon conservation area. Time, Methods, and Materials Many historic buildings require consistent attention over time. For example, the Mediaeval Tithe Barn in Bradford-on-Avon was in a bad state of repair in 1914 and given to the Wiltshire Archaeological Society. Because of the war only  £400 could be spent on necessary repairs which failed to eliminate the cause of decay. (Ministry of Works, 1953). In July 1939 the Archaeological Society handed it to the Ministry of Works, and by 1975 all decaying timber in the roof trusses had been replaced, with the dangerously leaning north wall rebuilt. (Department of the Environment Ancient Monuments and Historic Buildings, 1975). Restoring a building can be a monumental task and requires sufficient research and investment in order to complete the project. Furthermore, damage limitation must be considered: if a building is undergoing structural repairs then parts such as delicate roof timbers should not be exposed to the elements any longer than absolutely necessary, otherwise further problems might occur. Suitable materials need to be used, for example, lime mortar was most commonly used in old buildings as it allowed flexibility within the structure. The modern cement mortar could be disastrous as not only is it visibly different, but it’s harder consistency would restrict the movement of a building. The cleaning and repairs of the ‘Circus’ buildings in Bath during 1987 (Tindall: 1989) recorded painstaking care over the ancient stonework and close examination of the damage caused by acid rain. Problems occurred during cold weather where repairs had to be protected with dry cotton wool which gave sufficient insulation to prevent damage. Conservation and cleaning of stonework is a delicate process, and requires the patience and expertise of skilled workers. Compared to the number of people who practise modern building methods there is a shortage of knowledgeable masons, thus, as Hunter phrases it, there is’ a gap between the trained mason and the trained conservator.’ (Hunter:1980). Furthermore, this sort of conflict between traditional and modern methods arises in the function of the historic building itself. Many traditional farm buildings are abandoned, allowed to fall into ruin or demolished because they can no longer fulfil the purpose for which th ey were built. (Brunskill:1999, p.147). Such buildings can often be redeemed by converting them to domestic use, although this poses other problems such as the requirements of roof lights, windows, bathrooms and gardens which can all impinge upon the original character of the building. Conservation and repair work requires forethought and attention to detail; qualities which are not always promoted in today‘s society. Maintaining positive attitudes towards conservation is almost as essential as the work itself, and with continued education and investment the futures of historic buildings are becoming increasingly more secure. References Brunskill, R.W., 1999, 3rd Ed., Traditional Farm Buildings of Britain and their Conservation. London: Victor Gollancz Ltd. Department of the Environment Ancient Monuments and Historic Buildings, 1975, The Medieval Tithe Barn, Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire. Edinburgh: HMSO Press. Hunter, D., 1990 , Bath Stone in Building: It’s use, repair and conservation. Bath City Council. Ross, M., 1996, Planning and the Heritage: Policy and Procedures. London: Spon Press Ministry of Works, 1953, The Mediaeval Tithe Barn. West Bromich: Joseph Wones Ltd. Tindall, L., 1989, Conservation in Bath, Four Studies (offprint from ASCHB). Vol.14. Bath City Council. Wilkinson, P., 2005, Restoration, the story continues.. Bath: English Heritage. www.buildingconservation.com/articles/george/george.htm www.english-heritage.org www.ffhb.org.uk www.peakdistrict.org/ctte/planning/reports/2005 Further Reading OrbaÃ…Å ¸lÄ ±, A., 2000, Tourists in Historic Towns: Urban Conservation and Heritage Management. London: E FN Spon. Stuchbury, H.E., 1973, Conservation and Development of the Historic Buildings of Bath. Journal of Planning and Environment Law, Jun 1973.

Analysis of Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte Essay -- Wuthering Heigh

Analysis of Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte Wuthering Heights is, in many ways, a novel of juxtaposed pairs: Catherine’s two great loves for Heathcliff and Edgar; the two ancient manors of Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange; the two families, the Earnshaws and the Lintons; Heathcliff’s conflicting passions of love and hate. Additionally, the structure of the novel divides the story into two contrasting halves. The first deals with the generation of characters represented by Catherine, Heathcliff, Hindley, Isabella, and Edgar, and the second deals with their children—young Catherine, Linton, and Hareton. Many of the same themes and ideas occur in the second half of the novel as in the first half, but they develop quite differently. While the first half ends on a note of doom and despair with Catherine’s death and Heath-cliff’s gradual descent into evil, the novel as a whole ends on a note of hope, peace, and joy, with young Catherine’s proposed marriage to Hareton Earnshaw. In the first of the chapters in this section, we witness the event that marks the di...

Goethes Faust - A Man of Un-heroic Proportions Essay -- Faust Essays

Faust: A Man of Un-heroic Proportions In Faust, Goethe builds a dramatic poem around the strengths and weaknesses of a man who under a personalized definition of a hero fails miserably. A hero is someone that humanity models themselves and their actions after, someone who can be revered by the masses as an individual of great morality and strength, a man or woman that never sacrifices his beliefs under adversity. Therefore, through his immoral actions and his unwillingness to respect others rights and privileges, Faust is determined to be a man of un-heroic proportions. It is seen early in the poem, that Faust has very strong beliefs and a tight moral code that is deeply rooted in his quest for knowledge. Sitting in his den, Faust describes his areas of instruction, "I have, alas, studied philosophy, jurisprudence and medicine, too, and, worst of all, theology with keen endeavor, through and through..." It is obvious that through his studies he has valued deep and critical thinking, however with the help of Mephisto, he would disregard his values and pursue the pleasures of the flesh. Faust's impending downward spiral reveals the greed that both Mephisto and Faust share. Mephisto's greed is evident in the hope that he will overcome Faust's morality and thus be victorious in his wager with God; also because he is the devil and that is what he does. For Faust, greed emerges because of his desire to attain physical pleasures and therefore become whole in mind, body and spirit. Faust's goal to become the ÃÅ"berminche is an understandable desire, however, the means at which he strives for those ends are irresponsible and unjust. It is through this greed that Faust with the help of Mephisto exploit others in the pursuit... ... dishonest and greedy to such a wondrous and magical location only because he admits that what he did was wrong. Attaining passage into heaven is the only accomplishment that Faust makes in order to attain hero status. Even this final accomplishment is questionable, because God would not allow a man so unworthy to accompany people who have such a high moral standard and irrefutable grace. Faust then, neither falls under the classical definition of a hero except that he was, "...favored by the gods" and he does not fit into my personal definition of a hero. For Faust is not someone whose actions should be followed, he sacrificed his beliefs under adversity and most importantly; he destroyed anyone's life if it conflicted to any aspect of his plan for superiority. Faust then, may be considered the greatest un hero to have ever attain passage into heaven.

A Computerized Payroll System

Abstract 1. 0Introduction1-1 1. 1Statement of the Problem 1-1 1. 2Current state of the Technology 1-2-1-4 1. 3Objectives 1-5 1. 3. 1General Problem 1-5 1. 3. 2Specific Problem 1-5 – 1-6 1. 3. 3General Objectives1-6 1. 3. 4Specific Objectives 1-6 – 1-7 1. 3. 5Scope and Limitations 1-7 – 1-9 2. 0Theoretical Framework2-1 2. 1Introduction 2-1 2. 2Database Management 2-2 2. 3Information System2-2 2. 4Transaction Processing System2-3 2. 5Computer2-3 2. 5. 1Hardware2-3 2. 5. 2Software2-4 2. 5. 3Microsoft Access2-4 2. 5. 4Microsoft Word2-4 3. A Computerized Payroll System for Arias Garments 3-1 3. 1. Introduction 3-1 3. 2 System Design Specification 3-1 3. 3 System Development Life Cycle Diagram 3-2 – 3-4 3. 3. 1. System Planning 3-2 3. 3. 2. System Analysis 3-3 3. 3. 3. System Design 3-3 3. 3. 4. System Implementation3-4 3. 3. 5. System Maintenance 3-4 Data Flow Diagram of Regular Employees (Current System) 3-5 Data Flow Diagram of Contractual Employees (Current System) 3-6 3. 3 Proposed Data Diagram 3-7- 3-8 3. 4 Entity Relationship Diagram 3-9 3. 5 Input Specification 3-10- 3-12 Data Structure of Database: Personal Data 3-10 Data Structure of Database: Regular payroll3-10-3-11 Data Structure of Database: Formula for Regular 3-10 Data Structure of Database: Contractual Payroll3-11-3-12 Data Structure of Database: Formula for Contractual 3-12 Data Structure of Database: Deductions 3-12 4. 0. Performance Analysis 4-1 4. 1. Introduction 4-1 4. 2. Experimental 4. 3. Data Gathering Procedures and Output4-2 4. 3. 1. Interview 4-2 4. 3. 2. Observation4-2 – 4-3 4. 4. Research Method 4-3 4. 4. 1. Internet 4-3- 4-4 4. 4. 2. Library 4-4 5. 0. Conclusion 5-1 5. 1. Recommendation 5-1-5-2 Appendices Appendix A (work schedule) Appendix B (Certification and letter) Appendix C (transcript of interview) Appendix D (sample forms and reports) Appendix E (expenses) Appendix f (screen shots) 1. 0 Introduction 1. 1Statement of the Problem Not so long ago, all payrolls used to be calculated manually without any help from the computer. Professional’s accountants invested a lot of time and energy into keeping track of all employee data, files and information, calculating monthly salaries, benefits and taxes. And they did this all by keeping numerous files filled with track records for each and every person employed. Nowadays, however, thing are for more simple than they used to be. Because technology is always dedicated to making thing easier and better, quite a wide variety of computerized payroll system is available to save us from this tedious task. Now instead of keeping dozens of files and spending in less hours calculating, all you have to do is get a payroll software system and let it do the nasty work. The computerized payroll system saves time and money easy to use and practical. Manual payroll system is performed entirely by hand and can result in payroll errors and usually slow process. Nowadays business establishment on corporation must use modern technologies to make their tasks easier and faster, technologies that will help people to solve complex problems. Businesses needs advance system that saves time and also secure. Most of company now uses computerized payroll system. A computerized payroll system will not only resolve difficult problems but also it will provide fast process and accurate calculation of the salary. 1. 2Current State of the Technology Transaction processing systems offer enterprises the means to rapidly process transactions to ensure the smooth flow of data and the progression of processes throughout the enterprise. Managing a payroll system manually is a tedious job. Hours worked, taxes, and government deduction are calculated y hand, error in computation can occur as a result. Making sure that each employee is paid accordingly and on time is a management responsibility that should be carefully planned and executed. Failure to manage a payroll effectively may cause many problems for the company and its employees. It could mean loss of money, integrity, and trust between both parties. Oftentimes, it takes many hours of work and manpower to get the job done. In certain cases, effective payroll management is compromised by the lack of an effective system. Most companies may have enough manpower and resources. However, with an effective information technology, managing a payroll will be simpler, cost-effective, timely and reliable. One of the companies that use manual payroll system is the Arias Garments. It was established last September 18, 1994 at #88 Bargy. Latag, Lipa City, under the management of Mr. Alex Arias together with his wife Mrs. Anita Carol Katigbak. It started with only forty machines and ten employees. The capital of Arias Garments is Php 500,000. 00. By 1996, Arias Garments became the subcontractor of Champan Garments. Champan Garments produce and transport products like Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Tommy, and Hilfinger. As of now, Arias Garments have 176 machines and 100 employees (40 regular and 60 contractual). 8:00AM is the time-in of employees, 4:00PM is the time out, and they consider 8:15AM as late. Employees who are late or either log-out earlier than 4:00PM will have a deduction on their wages (deduction is 0. 61 per minutes late or under time). First offense, for late and employees who under time, will be given warning, second and third offense is suspension and fourth offense is termination. Manufacturing is their main business, their product lines are: Jeans, Skirts, and shorts for maternity, infants, and kinds. Their clients are from different countries: Japan, UK, Hongkong, China, and Taiwan. Arias Garments is not allowed to sell or manufacture product here in Philippines, because this is an agreement between Arias and Champan Garments. They also have regular and contractual employee, when it comes to salary it is still the same, Php293. 0 is the salary rate per day. Regular employees have government benefits (SSS, PagIbig, and Phil health). Arias Garments is a minimum wage earner that’s why they are paying the minimum amount on the government deduction. PagIbig deduction is Php100. 00 per month, since weekly is the cut-off period Php100. 00 will be divided by four because there are four weeks in a month; Php25. 00 is the deduction per cut-off period on PagIbig. In PhilHealth, Php50. 00 is the per month, so per cut-off period is Php12. 50. Regarding with SSS deduction the Compliance Officer is provided a table of deduction given by SSS. Since employees are minimum wage earner they have to pay Php133. 30 month or Php33. 33 per cut-off period. Contractual employees don’t have benefits; it means they don’t have to pay government deduction. Employees of Arias Garments are not paying taxes, because they are minimum wage earner and do not receive allowance from the company, therefore they are zero rated or tax free. Regarding to holiday, employees who work during holiday will have a double pay. Regular employees who worked, one year and above have a vacation leave ( policy regarding to leave olicy is written at the back part at appendix ___? ) They used daily time card to monitor the attendance of employees and every Thursday is their cut-off period. Accounting Process is managed by the Compliance Officer namely, Mrs. Korina Navarro. She manually computes every day the employee’s wages and necessary deductions, she spent three hours a day to finish and update the employee’s wages. By looking th rough the time card she manages to compute the days worked of 100 employees’s that causes inaccurate and delay computation of the weekly salary. Reports for SSS, PagIbig, and Phil health will be prepared by the Compliance Officer that consume most of her time in a day. Because of huge number of Arias Garments employees, the Compliance Officer encounter different problem like slow transaction and inaccurate computation of wages and deductions, inaccurate report generation and ineffective creation of pay slip. 1. 3Objectives 1. 3. 1General Problem How to design, develop and improve the current payroll system of Arias Garments? 1. 3. 2Specific Problem †¢How to add and update the employee’s record faster? Based on interview the Compliance Officer takes more of her time on adding and updating employee’s record. Because of big number of Arias Garments employee, it causes inaccurate input on adding and updating data. †¢How to make accurate computations of the employee’s payroll? Based on the interview conducted, the Compliance Officer of Arias Garments computes the employee’s salary includes certain deductions (SSS, Phil Health and PagIbig) and necessary leave, absence, holiday pay, and under time that are carefully considered for the computations of the net pay manually. Exchanging and inaccurate results usually happened. Arias Garments create their pay slip manually also, in this case the compliance officer has to look at the table all over again to verify each of the employee’s salary and write it down on a pay slip to formalized the wage slow transaction and inaccurate pay slip is the often result. †¢How to minimize the time preparing the weekly employee reports? Based on observation the compliance officer is the only one who prepares the weekly employee reports that consume most of her time in a day. Arias Garments monitoring system is executed manually, therefore generating reports consume more time. 1. 3. 3General objectives This study aims to improve the current payroll system of Arias Garments by developing and designing a computerized payroll. 1. 3. 4Specific Objectives Specifically, the study aims: †¢To develop an Information Module that will contain personal information of employees. This module will improve the procedures of adding and updating files and record of employees of Arias Garments through the use of computerized payroll information module, which will minimize the time in adding and updating processes. †¢To develop a transaction module that will compute the wages and deductions such as PagIbig, SSS, Phil Health, and absence. This module will automatically compute necessary government deductions needed in providing weekly wages. This will serve as a guide in computing wages. This will also contain a print-out salary and deductions of the employees. This will automatically print-out the computed salary of employees in a computerized pay slip. †¢To develop a report generation module, that will generate weekly reports to be use by the Compliance Officer. The proposed system will also contain the report generation module which will offer faster way of creating weekly reports. This module will generate reports easier than Microsoft Excel. . 3. 5Scope and Limitations The system will focus mainly on transaction of calculating employee’s wages by using Microsoft Access. It will guarantee maintenance of employee’s personal records and transaction. The proposed system will be using Microsoft Access. The system has a data base that stores all the employees record needed in payroll computation. Thi s includes the personal data of every employee, government deductions and other deductions. Computation for contractual and regular employees will be separated. The Computerized Payroll System will contain the major following major module: †¢Information Module This module contains the personal information about the employees of the Arias Garments. In this module Compliance Officer can add, delete, edit and update easily the information about employees. †¢Transaction Module This module is for the computation of the employee’s payroll for their weekly wages. Computation on deduction such SSS, PagIbig, PhilHealth, late and under time will automatically computed and deducted in this module. †¢Report Generation Module This module will generate weekly reports such as employees payslip, SSS, PagIbig, and PhilHealth Contribution. The Compliance Officer can view or print-out the needed reports. This will help the management in a faster salary distribution for the employees. This study will not involve the use of other electronic devices such as swiping machines, barcode readers, touch screen and programmable keyboard due to the lack of financial capability of the proponents to buy such equipments and Arias Garments does not consider those devices at present time due to their budget allocation. Time-in and time-out of the employees will not be included in the system. Employees will still use the daily time card to monitor their attendance. Compliance Officer will just transfer the employee attendance by typing in to the system. User name and user password is not provided on the system. Financial calculation is not included in the system; only employees can be calculated in the system. Furthermore, the system would be limited only for creation of pay slips, generation of reports and record keeping. The system will not include accounting process such computation of debit, credit, and cash on hand. The system is designed in such a manner that Compliance Officer with minimal computer knowledge will be able to learn and later master all the procedures provided. Therefore, it will not be necessary to hire additional staff. 2. 0Theoretical Framework 2. Introduction A theoretical framework is a collection of interrelated concepts, like a theory but not necessarily so well worked-out. A theoretical framework guides your research, determining what things you will measure, and what statistical relationships you will look for. Theoretical frameworks are obviously critical in deductive, theory-testing sorts of studies. In those kinds of studies, the theoretical framework must be very specific and well-thought out. Surprisingly, theoretical frameworks are also important in exploratory studies, where you really don't know much about what is going on, and are trying to learn more. There are two reasons why theoretical frameworks are important here. First, no matter how little you think you know about a topic, and how unbiased you think you are, it is impossible for a human being not to have preconceived notions, even if they are of a very general nature. A theoretical framework is a collection of interrelated concepts, like a theory but not necessarily so well worked-out. A theoretical framework guides your research, determining what things you will measure, and what statistical relationships you will look for. 2. 2Database Management A Database Management System (DBMS) is a set of computer programs that controls the creation, maintenance, and the use of a database. It allows organizations to place control of database development in the hands of database administrators (DBAs) and other specialists. A DBMS is a system software package that helps the use of integrated collection of data records and files known as databases. It allows different user application programs to easily access the same database. DBMSs may use any of a variety of database models, such as the network model or relational model. In large systems, a DBMS allows users and other software to store and retrieve data in a structured. 2. 3Information System Information Systems (IS) is an academic/professional discipline bridging the business field and the well-defined computer science field that is evolving toward a new scientific area of study. An information systems discipline therefore is supported by the theoretical foundations of information and computations such that learned scholars have unique opportunities to explore the academics of various business models as well as related algorithmic processes within a computer science discipline. . 4 Transaction Processing System A Transaction Processing System (TPS) is a type of information system that collects, stores, modifies and retrieves the data transactions of an enterprise. A transaction is any event that passes the ACID test in which data is generated or modified before storage in an information system. Transaction processing systems offer enterprises the me ans to rapidly process transactions to ensure the smooth flow of data and the progression of processes throughout the enterprise. 2. Computer A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem. 2. 5. 1Hardware Computer hardware refers to the physical parts of a computer and related devices. Internal hardware devices include motherboards, hard drives, and RAM. External hardware devices include monitors, keyboards, mice, printers, and scanners. The internal hardware parts of a computer are often referred to as components, while external hardware devices are usually called peripherals. Together, they all fall under the category of computer hardware. Software, on the other hand, consists of the programs and applications that run on computers. Because software runs on computer hardware, software programs often have system requirements that list the minimum hardware required for the software to run. 2. 5. 2Software Computer software, or just software, is a collection of computer programs and related data that provide the instructions telling a computer what to do and how to do it. We can also say software refers to one or more computer programs and data held in the storage of the computer for some purposes. In other words software is a set of programs, procedures, algorithms and its documentation. 2. 5. 3Microsoft Access Microsoft Access is the database application from the Microsoft Office Suite of applications. It is a powerful personal database and data manipulation tool that is also widely used in many small businesses. Database consists of tables, their relationship to one another, queries, reports, forms. Macros and filters. 2. 5. 4Microsoft Word Word includes templates to design documents used routinely in office environments such as sales letters, mailing label formats and invoices. A program to type text. 3. 0A Computerized Payroll System for Arias Garments 3. 1Introduction The proposed system will be using Microsoft Access for the database. The system will have a data base that stores all the employee records needed in payroll computation. This includes information of every employee and government deductions. The system have a information, transaction and report generation module. The proposed system is designed only for the use of Arias Garments which is located at #88 Brgy. Latag, Lipa City. The system would be limited only for the creation of pay slips, generation of reports and record keeping. 3. 2System Design Specification The proposed system is determined to eliminate all the problems encountered in using the manual operations in the payroll system. The primary goal of the proponents is to develop a computerized system that will help the user reduce the burden of time processing of payroll with integrity and accuracy. The proponents used System development Life Cycle, because it is systematic and has an orderly approach in analyzing the projects. The first step is System Planning, second is system analysis, third is system design, fourth is system implementation and last is system support. The system was developed in order to solve the problems of the current payroll of Arias Garments. System development Life Cycle System Planning The planning phase includes several elements such as identification of objectives, assessment of resources, scanning the environment, determination and evaluation of alternative sources of action toward the achievement of objectives. The proponents did the initial investigation as what solution is necessary in order to improve the current manual payroll system of the Arias Garments. The proponents gather information through interviews, and observation of the current payroll system of Arias Garments. This study aims to design, develop and improved the current manual payroll system of Arias Garments to lessen the time being consumed in computing salaries and generating all necessary reports. System Analysis The purpose is to analyze the Arias Garments problem or situation and then to define the requirements for new or improved payroll system. The proponents worked with the Compliance Officer of Arias Garments in order to better understand how they managed their current payroll system and how proponents can provide the best alternative solution. System design The scope of a system design remains the single payroll system application from system analysis. The purposed is to design a computerized technical solution that meets the payroll system requirements as specified in system analysis. Proponents used the best solution that they devised in the system analysis phase. Proponents provide effective input to information like the formula, field name and type. Proponents used techniques of a good form and screen design. System Implementation The purposed of the system implementation is defined by the technology related components of the payroll system application. The purpose is to construct and or assemble the technical components and deliver the new improved payroll system into operation. The system is carefully tested to make sure that there are no errors. The proponents turn the system design into credible working system using Microsoft Access. System Maintenance The purposed of the system maintenance is to sustain and support the system for the remainder of its useful life. The proponents will use a proof implementation review process to monitor, evaluate and modify the system as needed. The proponents will keep in touch with the payroll officers for them to communicate with each other about the installed payroll system program. If ever those errors are encountered, the proponents will do all of the necessary corrections the soonest possible time. This phase will continue as long as the system is in use. 3. 3Proposed Data Flow Diagram of Arias Garments The proposed system was developed in order to solve the problems of the current manual payroll of Arias Garments. The system will monitor the time-in and time-out of the employees and calculate hours worked in payroll transaction. Employee’s records and files will be kept in a secured database for necessary updating and deletion purposes. The system will also generate weekly reports and computerized pay slip for every employee. 3. 4Entity Relationship Diagram Entity Relationship Diagram is use to identify the relationships between each table from database. Each table has a primary key that connect the table to another table to know if it is connected to other tables. 3. Input Specification Data Structure of Database: Personal Data Data Structure of Database: Regular Payroll Data Structure of Database: Formula Regular Payroll Data Structure of Database: Contractual Payroll Data Structure of Database: Formula Contractual Payroll Data Structure of Database: Deductions 3. 6Output Specification Data Structure of Database: Personal Data Data Structure of Database: Regular Payroll Data Structure of Database: Formula Regular Payroll Data Structure of Database: Contractual Payroll Data Structure of Database: Formula Contractual Payroll Data Structure of Database: Deductions 4. 0Performance Analysis 4. 1Introduction Performance analysis involves gathering formal and informal data to help customers and sponsors define and achieve their goals. Performance analysis uncovers several perspectives on a problem or opportunity, determining any and all drivers towards or barriers to successful performance, and proposing a solution system based on what is discovered. Based on interview and observation the solution for the problem encountered by Arias Garments is to improve their current payroll system. 4. 2Experimental The experimental method is the only method of research that can truly test hypotheses concerning cause-and-effect relationships. It represents the most valid approach to the solution of educational problems, both practical and theoretical, and to the advancement of education. The proponents use Microsoft Excel to determine the difference with Microsoft Access. Proponents found out that Microsoft Access is easy to use and more advance when it comes to features. By browsing the Microsoft Access proponents became more familiar on it and they can now make a Computerized Payroll System for Arias Garments. 4. 3Data Gathering Procedures and Output In data gathering, the proponents used different procedures and techniques that became the first touch of defining problems encountered by Arias Garments. The proponents set an interview with the Compliance Officer in order to gather facts. The second technique is observation, as to clearly understand and support the conducted interview. Library and internet is also use. 4. 3. 1Interview Interview is a technique used to gather information about the subject of the study. Relevant set of questions were prepared for the Compliance Officer, Mrs Korina Navarro in order to gather information on how they manage their current Payroll System. The transcript of interview is on the back page at apendex____? 4. 3. 2Observation Observation is very effective information gathering. In able to understand clearly the problem of the current system or to know what solutions should be made, observation is one technique that should be practiced. Observation is performed by the proponents in order to know and understand the daily transaction of Arias Garments. Based on the observation conducted, computation and deductions are done manually in their current payroll by the Compliance Officer. Often, results are slow transaction and inaccurate computation of salary. 4. 4Research Method Can be defined as the search for knowledge, or as any systematic investigation, with an open mind, to establish facts, solve new or existing problems, prove new ideas, or develop new theories. 4. 4. 1Internet The proponents used internet because, internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet Protocol Suite to serve billions of information. It is a network of networks that consists of millions of private, public, academic, business, and government networks, of local to global scope, that are linked by a broad array of electronic, wireless and optical networking technologies. Throughout the development of the system and documentation particularly in chapter 2, 3, and 4, the proponents use goggle, yahoo, Wikipedia as search engine for defining terms like theoretical framework, database management, transaction processing system, information system, computer, hardware, software, Microsoft Access and word for chapter 2 and the different phases of system development life cycle for chapter 3. Data gathering, interview, observation, research method, internet and library for chapter 4. The following website that we have research are: References: [http://www. estpricecomputers. co. uk/glossary/transaction-processing-systems. htm] [http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Information_system] [http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Computer] [http://www. google. com. ph] 4. 3. 2 Library It means the collection itself, the building or room that houses such a collection. The proponents conducted library research at STI College Lipa Library. Information was gathered by the proponents fr om different thesis about payroll system like â€Å"A Computerized Payroll System for the office of the City Veterinarian and Agriculture services and some other books like Database Processing and MS Office ’97. Screen Shot No. : 1 Screen Name: Welcome Screen Shot No. : 2 Description: Arias Garments Logo’s Screen Shot No. : 3 Description: all modules Screen Shot No. : 4 Description: this is Information form, can add, delete and update employees record. Screen Shot No. : 5 Description: Form for the computation of regular employee’s salary. Screen Shot No. : 6 Description: Form for the computation of contractual employee’s salary Screen Shot No. : 7 Description: Reports Screen Shot No. 8 Description: Payslip ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Words are not enough to express the depth of gratitude for those special people who unselfishly shared their time, helping hands, words of encouragement and most of all love, which contributed to the fulfillment of this endeavor. Coming from our heart with all sincerity we wish to thank the following: Engr. Ramon P. Flores IV, Dean and our instructor in research and development for the concern, comments, hel pful advice and encouragement to finish this study. Arias Garments, especially to Ms. Korina Navarro the Compliance Officer, for allowing us to conduct interview and providing the information and written document for pursuing this study. Ms. Thelma Sarmiento and Ms. Daisy Oracion, IT instructors for their worthy suggestion and sharing knowledge for fulfilment of our system. Mr. Antonio Fernandez BSBM Head, for giving us some suggestion and moral support for the fulfillment of this study. Ms. Isabelita Socias, STI Lipa Librarian for allowing us to use the library. Mr. Leonardo Babol III, giving us the permission you use the permission STI Computer Laboratory. Mr. Lloyd Wendell Aguilar, for guiding us when we are using computers in the Computer Laboratory. Friends and Classmates, for encouragement and support. Beloved Parents, for their all-out love, concern and understanding, moral and financial support which contributed significantly in the accomplishment and fulfilment of the study. And to Almighty God, for never-ceasing guidance in helping us to overcome all of our day-today difficulties and for not leaving us in time of hardship. Thank you very much. Proponents: Ms. Arnalyn S. Arellano Ms. Marry Ann A. Adona Ms. Christine Rose R. Arellano BIBLIOGRAPHY Books: [1997]Microsoft Office ‘97 System Technology Institute PHP and SQL Web Development (3rd Edition) Luke Welling and Laura Thomson Unpublished Thesis: [CAV 2004]Vergara, Carmen A. A computerized Payroll System for the Office of the City of Veterinarian and Agriculture March 2004 World Wide Web: Http://www. goggle. com. ph] Http://www. Transaction-processing-system. htm] [Http://www. wikepedia. org/wiki/computer]