System Analysis and Design 251 Assignment Essay - 2

System Analysis and Design 251 Assignment - Essay Example d information processing provides an insufficient decision support for designing new classes and activities which would meet the the club members’ fitness goals and increase the club’s revenue. For instance, there is no easy way for the management to know which class is most popular among the members and which class contributes the most to the overall revenue generated by the club. To summarize, the current manual club management system is unable to provide an insight into the intricate financial queries that can ascertain the financial costs and identify areas of club’s financial growth. Fitness Club needs an automated information system that ensures information is stored and presented in an organized manner. Furthermore it eases the management routine tasks pertaining to the financial aspects of the organization. Since the main users of the management system are the manager and the administrators, they are the main data inputs sources of the system. The Director, Instructor and Members can not alter the state of data managed by the system. They only get their schedule information or financial reports (generated by the system) through the Administrator/Manager. The system has two active users; the Manager and Administrator, who can alter the state of data. A third passive user is the website visitor, who only views the information the site automatically displays from the company’s data store that the system

Path of the Stars Essay Example for Free

Path of the Stars Essay The song â€Å"Stars† from the musicale Les Miserables is sung by Inspector Javert near the end of Act I when he realized that it was Jean Valjean whom he had helped escape from the group of Thenardier. Inspector Javert is a rather curious character. A good characterization of him is well laid-out in the novel. However, in the musicale version, only snippets of Javert’s personality can be gleamed when observed carefully. â€Å"Stars† may not be one of the internationally renowned songs from musicale like â€Å"I Dreamed a Dream† and â€Å"On My Own†, but it offers a good insight into the way Inspector Javert sees himself as a law-enforcement agent, law-breakers like Jean Valjean, and his obsession, bordering on madness, in the pursuit of law-breakers, especially Jean Valjean, to face justice. Javert’s sees himself as one of the stars, â€Å"filling the darkness with order and light †¦sentinels, silent and sure, keeping watch in the night. † He sees himself as an unobtrusive individual in society keeping the order and standing as a vanguard of peace always on the watch. He is always there to maintain the peace in society. He believes that each of us, like the stars, knows his proper place and function in society and those who stray from their fixed and sure paths, law-breakers and fugitives, â€Å"must pay the price† and face justice. Law-breakers are stars that have lost their way, men who have deviated from their roles in society. They flee in the dark for they are out of graces in the eyes of God, according to Javert. As a sacred duty, Javert has taken it into himself, swearing by the stars, that he would not rest until these fugitives are brought to face justice. This duty is his role in society; his course and aim in the skies as one of the stars, â€Å"and so it must be, for so it is written. † If we follow Javert’s philosophy that all men in society are but stars with fixed path in the skies and those stars that fall from their paths â€Å"fall in flame,† this same philosophy gives us an idea of how hard Javert could be even to himself. If and when Javert, as a star in the sky, deviates from his fixed path he, as well, must pay the price. This insight into the thinking of Javert’s gives as a dark foreboding of what may happen in case he fails in his pursuit of Jean Valjean (as the case would be in Act II). Javert may not be one of the most amiable characters in the musicale Les Miserables but he gives us a good picture of a segment of our society today. People who tend to be fanatical and rigid in their views are epitomized by Javert. I am not a good authority to pass judgment on people like Javert. To some extents I agree with Javert that each of us has a role in society and when we falter we should pay the consequences. But I do not agree in the rigid application of justice as espoused by Javert. I believe that when a person commits a wrong we must temper our judgment by hearing out the reasons of the offender, assuming good-naturedly that he committed such offense unintentionally. I believe in justice with compassion. Justice, after all, has always been depicted as a lady blindfolded so that she may hear and weight with her heart the arguments laid before her.

Relationship between Student Diet and Academic Performance

Relationship between Student Diet and Academic Performance 1.0  Ã‚   Introduction For many young adults joining university, it is a time of substantial change in social, economic and environmental surroundings.1 Currently, there is increasing advocacy for an emphasis on healthy lifestyle behaviours for student populations.2 Researchers have established that academic attainment plays a key role in an individual’s future health, wealth and social outcomes.3, 4 Providing this, academic achievement must be considered by public health decision makers aiming to improve health across the lifespan.5 A balanced and nutritious diet means it is adapted to special individual needs to reach optimal health, that is it supplies optimal levels of nutrients to maintain healthy function.6 Diet quality is a composite measure of scoring food patterns, with a focus on whole food intake.7 The objective is to maintain a high diet quality, through consuming the correct amounts of the food groups from relevant dietary guidelines. Assessment of dietary patterns can allow unfavourable intakes to be identified.8 Poor diet quality introduces nutritional inadequacies and is a significant predictor of poorer health status.9 While the connections between health and education are widely accepted, the mechanisms that contribute to this relationship remain poorly understood. Scholars propose that health behaviours contribute towards cognitive function and maintaining a productive work day.10, 11 The main goal for university students is academic attainment, yet despite this, a high proportion of students report engaging in poor health behaviours during the study period.12 Australian university students are consuming less than the recommended intake of fruit and vegetables, and have a high intake of convenience foods.12, 13 To ensure students are provided best opportunity for success, it is important to understand the determinants of academic performance. It is suggested that the type and variety of foods an individual consumes has an important influence on academic outcomes.14 Diet quality has an association with academic performance, though the isolated effects are yet to be fully explored.15 The scores gen erated may be able to determine areas that can be improved to increase academic performance. There are several variables which affect diet quality and this review will focus on four major themes which emerge repeatedly throughout the literature. These themes are: overall diet quality, eating patterns and behaviours, fruit and vegetable intake and convenience food intake. In order to understand how diet quality is linked to academic performance, the literature was searched for relevant articles released in the last ten years. An analysis of terms identified the key words of: â€Å"student†, â€Å"university student†, â€Å"diet quality†, â€Å"health behaviour†, â€Å"eating pattern†, â€Å"academic performance† and â€Å"academic achievement†. These were used across the electronic data bases of Cochrane library, Web of science, Pubmed, CINAHL and Scopus. Although preference was given to recent articles involving university students, the final search was expanded to incorporate sources of all years, as well as children and adolescent population groups. The aim of this review is to critique current literature between diet quality and university student academic performance. Furthermore, it will assess current measures of diet quality, and the significance of other factors that contribute towards overall diet quality. 2.0  Ã‚   Diet quality Diet is a key behavioral risk factor that can be modified to have an impact on health.16 Free living people consume whole foods, which contain both nutrient and non-nutrient substances.17 Dietary patterns have synergistic effects, which provide insights beyond the role of nutrients and single foods.18 For researchers, it can be difficult to quantify the diet, and any established values should only be used as an approximation. Diet quality is a composite measure of diet in its entirety, and involves the relationships between food groups.7, 8 This qualitative perspective is an alternative approach to provide more detailed dietary information. It can give an indication to the types of food people consume, and therefore where the nutrients are derived from. Diet quality encompasses the central areas of dietary variety, balance, adequacy, and moderation.19 These have been found to contribute to a nutritious diet and can give a greater understanding of dietary habits. Variety and balance involve the consumption of a range of options from the food groups, according to proportionality. Adequacy is attaining the recommended energy intakes to meet nutrient requirements, whilst moderation is regulating the intake of certain foods to prevent harmful effects on health (including convenience foods that are high in sugar and fat).20 It is widely recognised that a high quality diet should be safe, able to promote optimal development and reduce the risk of nutritional inadequacies.6, 21 Diet quality describes how well an individual’s diet conforms to dietary recommendations, and this differs according to country. Australia employs the ‘Eat for Health’ guidelines,6 which were developed through extensive research to provide information on the types and amounts of foods needed to promote health and wellbeing as well as reduce the risk of diet-related conditions. The food groups in the ‘Eat for health’ guidelines consist of: Vegetables and legumesFruitLean meats and poultry, fish, eggs, tofu, nuts and seeds, legumes/beansGrain (cereal) foods, mostly wholegrain and/or high cereal fibre varietiesLow fat milk, yoghurt, cheese and/or alternatives, mostly reduced fat. 2.1 Measuring diet quality The main tools used to measure diet quality are surveys and questionnaires.19 These are useful for time management, easily sorting data, are relatively simple to design and can be used on a large sample. The questions developed should be well thought out, and it is also necessary to define serving sizes and how often foods are consumed (such as once weekly). The chosen tool needs to consider recall bias, and the respondent’s level of literacy skills. A number of dietary indices have been developed, tested and validated to reflect various aspects of diet quality.7, 17 They are based on existing knowledge of optimal dietary patterns and provide a clear nutritional benchmark. The indices vary in design from simple tools measuring adherence to dietary recommendations, to intricate analyses of macronutrient and micronutrient intakes. The main diet quality indices have scored food patterns in terms of alignment with key dietary recommendations and diversity of healthy choices within core food groups.7 Food-based indices of diet quality are important, as they retain the complexity of foods and permit assessments of single, as well as grouped nutrient components. The dietary indices which are best translated to the Australian guidelines are the Diet Quality Index International (DGI-I), Healthy Eating Index (HEI) and the Dietary Guideline Index (DGI). These are all validated tools and are useful in various population groups.17 The indices have separate nutritional components which are combined into a single ‘overall diet quality’ score. This incorporates cut-off values or ranges for the food groups and selected dietary variables (considered to be representative of healthy eating). The DQI-I was derived from the original Diet Quality Index, and provides an effective means of cross-national comparative work for global understanding of diet quality.22 The DQI-I provides a ‘priori’ analysis (predetermined what is ‘healthy’ and ‘unhealthy’), as it incorporates both nutrient and food perspectives of the diet. The index is validated in both China and the United States, and so reflects a cross-section of cultural attributes.22 It is an in-depth measure which investigates multiple variables and gives a broad picture of diet quality. The DQI uses ranges to find more associations which broadens the information gathered and strengthens the validity of the results.23 The four aspects of a healthy diet comprise the four main categories of the DQI-I. Firstly, there are two variety components, which include the servings across food groups and the diversity within them. The adequacy components use eight food types, and indicates areas in the diet which may need to be improved, and moderation highlights areas that should be decreased (total fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, food types with empty calories). The balance component involves calculating the macronutrient ratio and fatty acid ratio. The scores for all four categories are summed, resulting in the total DQI-I score, ranging from 0 to 100 (the higher the score, the higher the diet quality).22 The HEI has been used in several studies that evaluate food consumption. It was originally based on the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, but has been adapted to other areas.24 It is similar to the DQI, with the addition of total fruit and whole fruit, plant proteins and seafood, and the moderation component includes refined grains.   Food group servings are evaluated on a per-thousand-calorie basis. The scores are calculated proportionally between 0 and 10, according to how well a food group recommendation is achieved.25 The main strength of the HEI is that it assesses diets on a given energy intake level, to characterise diet quality while controlling for diet quantity. The DGI was developed and predefined to the Australian Dietary Guidelines with an adherence to specific aspects of a healthful diet.26 However, it does not account for all aspects of diet quality, and could be beneficial if combined with other measures. The DGI consists of fifteen food components using standard adult portion sizes and the score calculation is based on regular consumption of food frequency questionnaire items. Each component contributed 0 to 10 points, where 10 indicated an optimal diet intake (meeting the recommended serves per week). The total DGI score is the sum of the thirteen items, indicating a maximum possible score of 130.27 Selecting a dietary index remains a complex matter with a large degree of subjectivity. It is important to consider whether the index is adaptable to the chosen dietary guidelines and that it fits within the constraints of the study. The specific context in which they are used should be noted when interpreting results and making comparisons. The main limitation of dietary indices is that there is no universal dietary guidelines representative of a healthful diet.7 The tools used need to consistently be revised if they are to truly reflect the latest nutrition science and policy. 3.0  Ã‚   University Students University academic performance is measured through grade point average, which incorporates the scores from all subjects during a study period.10 Identifying the factors that contribute towards academic performance has clear implications for university students. Diet quality is a health behaviour that may improve a student’s chances of furthering their academic career.15 The rate of enrolment for Australian universities is continuing to grow, with a large percentage being young adults (18 – 34 years old).28 A high proportion of students have an increase in independency, an altered support system and are perceived to be time poor.29 University can be a highly stressful environment, where health behaviours change (health may not be a high priority).1, 30 Amongst this group, there is an increased level of socio-economic disadvantage associated with the prevailing issues of food insecurity.28 This may be related to limited resources to source and prepare healthy foods, wher e individual diets decline in quality due to food insecurity.31 Food choice for university students can be influenced by their environment and can include the primary factors of: affordability, accessibility, peer influence and nutrition knowledge.32 Very few young Australians are following the dietary guidelines of consuming from the five food groups and are generally below recommended levels for fruit and vegetable serves.13 Approximately one-tenth are meeting the daily recommended serves of vegetables, and one-third are meeting recommended daily fruit serves.12 These health determinants mean that the diets of university students are quite poor and may be at risk of nutritional inadequacies. This is an issue, as it has been shown that being undernourished negatively effects academic outcomes.31 As the quality of food and drinks consumed have a significant impact on the health and wellbeing of individuals, better nutrition has a potential to improve public health outcomes. Performance management is always a concern for university administration bodies as they aim to provide the best environment for student growth and wellbeing. The food environment of a university campus should encourage students to adopt a 30healthful eating pattern.15 An institution is an effective setting for intervention, as it has the structure to bring together multiple strategies to a large group of people. A higher level of education can positively affect future health and employment opportunities.3 The development of healthy behaviors that can be continued during a student’s professional life should be strongly supported during tertiary education. 4.0  Ã‚   Diet quality and academic performance There is increasing evidence that nutrition behaviours have an influence on academic performance, which in turn influences future successes.33, 34 The aim of this review is to evaluate the association between dietary quality and academic performance in university students. However, there is a limited amount of literature related to the population group of university students, which is why much of the following research relates to children and adolescents (school-aged students). Current research has established a relationship between overall diet quality and student academic achievement.14, 35-39 Nutrition and health status have a complex and multifaceted effect on cognitive function.40 It has been identified that moderate associations exist between several aspects of diet quality and student performance.14, 34, 36, 38, 39, 41-43 There are a number of factors which have a direct effect on diet quality, and therefore have been included in this review. They include a person’s habitual eating patterns, fruit and vegetable intake, and convenience food (as well as take-away food) intake. The reviewed studies compared a variety of health behaviours to determine which are most significant to student outcomes. The majority reported statistically significant outcomes between diet and academic performance, which is likely a result of the relatively large numbers of participants. The results concerning dietary components strengthened the concept that diet quality has an influence on academic performance. All included research was adjusted for the modifiable and non-modifiable factors which affect student academic performance. The studies acknowledge that the health behaviours relating to academic work are multifactorial, and involve several influencing variables.    It should be noted there were some common limitations amongst the reviewed studies. The majority of the studies were cross-sectional in design, and were not able to determine an independent association between diet quality and academic achievement. This impedes any inferences that can be made about causality. It was important that authors controlled for significant confounding factors, including attendance, economic status, social support and family background. The nature of these studies left open the possibility that other intervening variables may have been related to the observed pattern of results. 4.1 Overall diet quality Overall diet quality was found to be associated with student academic performance. Across all studies, dietary habits that were in accordance with guidelines were related to better student outcomes.14, 33, 35, 37, 39, 44-46 Furthermore, an improvement in overall diet quality score increased likelihood of an improved academic performance. Students with a high intake of ‘high quality’ nutrient-dense foods, and a low intake of ‘low quality’ nutrient poor foods, had increased odds of a favorable school performance.44 The strongest outcome would be achieved through the combined effects of meeting multiple dietary recommendations. When controlling for the key health behaviors of physical activity and weight status, diet quality was a leading contributor to academic performance.45, 47, 48 Emerging evidence indicates that diet quality may have the strongest correlation to high academic achievement, though this warrants further research. The study by Florence et al.14 on school aged Canadian children found an independent association between diet quality attributes and academic achievement. Furthermore, dietary adequacy and variety were identified as specific components of diet quality which influence academic performance. These outcomes reflect the value of consuming a diverse range of foods from the core food groups. The studies with the best depth in information conducted a full assessment of diet quality, and used a validated tool. It is difficult to make sound comparisons when studies do not use similar diet quality parameters and scoring systems. Different cultures have a diverse range of cuisines which means they differ in how diet quality scores were measured. There were also vast variations in the reporting time period for the outcome measures for frequency of food consumption and academic achievement. Poor nutritional intakes do not meet macronutrient and micronutrient requirements, and this can impede on a person’s health status. Diet quality has been shown to be important for health and wellbeing, and may be beneficial to concentration and productivity levels.37 The consistency of this association across various indicators of diet quality gives emphasis to the importance of nutrition. An improvement in diet quality may be linked to enhanced learning and outcomes beneficial to students and institutions. 4.2 Eating patterns and behaviours Specific eating patterns have an influence on academic performance, as they contribute to the overall balance of a diet. It was found that adhering to a ‘healthy’ Mediterranean style diet pattern (high in fruit, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, fish and olive oil), as well as regularly consuming three meals per day, were positively associated with academic outcomes.37, 49-52 There is evidence that suggests habitual breakfast intake, compared to a period of fasting, is moderately related with an improved school performance.50, 53-59 Through a regular eating pattern, a person is more likely to consume the recommended serves from the core food groups, which contributes to an enhanced nutritional status. Eating behaviours influence the quality of a person’s diet, and generally account for whether a person is consciously controlling what they eat. In the studies regarding university students, eating patterns described uncontrolled eating (food consumption is attached to emotions) or cognitive restriction (highly controlling food intake). Overall, the results indicate that lower levels of uncontrolled or emotional eating is associated with a higher grade point average.34 Students reporting to be strict dieters, with a high amount of restrictive practices, were found to have a lower grade point average.15 On the other hand, the use of more ‘flexible’ cognitive restriction, which still involves self-regulation of food intake, but has allowances for all types of foods, may have the best indication to improving academic achievement.34 Additionally, frequency of alcohol consumption is found to be negatively associated with self-reported attendance, motivation and academic performance.15 If students were found to be in the alcohol dependent criteria, they had an excess risk of failing during the study period.60 High alcohol intakes are correlated with other adverse health behaviours, such as sleep deprivation and an increase in discretionary food consumption.11 4.3 Fruit and vegetable intake A higher fruit and vegetable intake is another aspect of diet quality which has a positive relationship with academic performance. When the self-reported daily intake of fruit and vegetables increased, there was a relatable increase in student grade point averages.10, 33, 36, 37, 39, 41, 52, 61-64 The main message is that an adequate fruit and vegetable intake is beneficial to health, and a vital component to good diet quality. Although, results in this area are inconsistent, with a small number of studies reporting no association between consumption of fruit and vegetables and academic performance.65-67 This may be attributed to their study design, as these may have lacked sufficient power to detect certain effects. It was difficult to detect differences between students when a large proportion did not meet the initial recommendations for fruit and vegetable consumption. 4.4 Convenience foods An increased consumption of convenience or ‘take-away’ foods and beverages has a strong link to poorer academic performance. There were consistent results amongst all studies which measured these associations, as well as across all age groups. 33, 37, 39, 41, 47, 52, 65, 68-73   Convenience foods are highly refined, and generally rich in salt, simple sugars or saturated fats, and included: sugar sweetened beverages, confectionary items and fried foods37.Serve sizes and options for convenience and take-away foods differed between studies, and thus interpretations may be difficult to generalise. Students who frequently consumed convenience snacks were less likely to pass standardised tests, in comparison with those who consumed healthier options.69 Poor dietary habits are shown to be a significant predictor of health and weight status, which contribute towards school performance.52 Even a moderate reduction in convenience food intake may lessen the negative influence it has on academic performance.   Current recommendations advise that discretionary foods should only be included in a diet once the other food group recommendations are met, to ensure that a high proportion of a person’s energy intake is comprised of nutritious sources.6 They should only be considered in the diet in moderation, with the consumption of foods from the core food groups being the priority.   5.0  Ã‚   Conclusion The findings from this review indicate that there is a positive association between diet quality and student academic performance. Furthermore, some evidence suggests that this is a dose-response relationship, as the higher the diet quality score, the higher the effect on academic outcomes. Diet quality and variety involve food groups and how a dietary pattern aligns with national recommendations. Several variables which impact on diet quality were investigated and shown to also be associated with academic performance. A number of gaps in the literature have been identified throughout this review. Research in this area is still developing, and there are limitations of the published research investigating the relationship between diet and academic outcomes. It is yet to be determined what specific aspects of diet quality have the greatest effect on student performance. Further investigation is needed to establish if the components of overall diet quality, variety, adequacy, balance and moderation have an independent relationship with academic performance. Longitudinal research is necessary to compare these associations over time. Public health investigations should consider whether interventions aiming at promoting healthy dietary behaviours could have a positive impact on academic performance. To date, there have been no studies regarding diet quality and academic performance at Australian universities. It is unknown how dietary intake influences a university student population group, as their stage in life and lifestyle differs from other student populations. Implications from this research support the broader implementation of effective university nutrition programs that aim to improve student’s diet quality, academic performance, and, in the long term, their health. They highlight the importance of promoting good dietary patterns, especially increasing fruit and vegetable consumption, whilst decreasing convenience food intake. The cumulative effect of dietary behaviours on academic performance emphasise the importance of an improved university environment. 6.0  Ã‚   References 1  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Ruthig JC, Marrone S, Hladkyj S, Robinson-Epp N. Changes in college student health: Implications for academic performance. J Coll Stud Dev. 2011; 52: 307-20. 2  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Basch CE. Healthier Students Are Better Learners: A Missing Link in School Reforms to Close the Achievement Gap. J Sch Health. 2011; 81: 593-98. 3  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Brunello G, Fort M, Schneeweis N, Winter-Ebmer R. The Causal Effect of Education on Health: What is the Role of Health Behaviors? Health Econ. 2016; 25: 314-36. 4  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Ross CE, Chia-Ling W. The links between education and health. American Sociological Review. 1995; 60: 719-45. 5  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Li J, Powdthavee N. Does more education lead to better health habits? Evidence from the school reforms in Australia. Soc Sci Med. 2015; 127: 83-91. 6  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Australian Dietary Guidelines. Canberra: National Health and Medical Research Council, 2013. 7  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Alkerwi A. Diet quality concept. Nutrition. 2014; 30: 613-18. 8  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Wirt A, Collins CE. Diet quality What is it and does it matter? Public Health Nutr. 2009; 12: 2473-92. 9  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Pengpid S, Peltzer K. Dietary health behaviour and beliefs among university students from 26 low, middle and high income countries. Asia Pac J Clin Nutr. 2015; 24: 744-52. 10  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Wald A, Muennig PA, OConnell KA, Garber CE. Associations between healthy lifestyle behaviors and academic performance in U.S. undergraduates: A secondary analysis of the american college health associations national college health assessment ii. 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Nutr J. 2013; 12. 16  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Kourlaba G, Panagiotakos DB. Dietary quality indices and human health: A review. Maturitas. 2009; 62: 1-8. 17  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Kant AK. Indexes of overall diet quality: A review. J Am Diet Assoc. 1996; 96: 785-91. 18  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Tangney CC, Staffileno BA, Rasmussen HE. Healthy Eating: How Do We Define It and Measure It? J Nurse Pract. 2017; 13: e7-e15. 19  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Waijers PMCM, Feskens EJM, Ockà © MC. A critical review of predefined diet quality scores. Br J Nutr. 2007; 97: 219-31. 20  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Thiele S, Mensink GBM, Beitz R. Determinants of diet quality. Public Health Nutr. 2004; 7: 29-37. 21  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Jomaa LH, Hwalla NC, Zidek JM. Development of a standardized measure to assess food quality: a proof of concept. Nutr J. 2016; 15: 1-11. 22  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Kim S, Haines PS, Siega-Riz AM, Popkin BM. 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Nutrients. 2016; 8. 27  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   McNaughton SA, Ball K, Crawford D, Mishra GD. An index of diet and eating patterns is a valid measure of diet quality in an Australian population. J Nutr. 2008; 138: 86-93. 28  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Summary of the 2014 full year higher education student statistics. Canberra: Australian Department of Education and Training, 2014. 29  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Ganasegeran K, Al-Dubai SAR, Qureshi AM, Al-Abed AAAA, Am R, Aljunid SM. Social and psychological factors affecting eating habits among university students in a Malaysian medical school: A cross-sectional study. Nutr J. 2012; 11. 30  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Wengreen HJ, Moncur C. Change in diet, physical activity, and body weight among young-adults during the transition from high school to college. Nutr J. 2009; 8. 31  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Abebe F, Geleto A, Sena L, Hailu C. 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Association between Unhealthful Eating Patterns and Unfavorable Overall School Performance in Children. J Am Diet Assoc. 2007; 107: 1935-43. 45  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   McIsaac JLD, Kirk SFL, Kuhle S. The association between health behaviours and academic performance in Canadian elementary school students: A cross-sectional study. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2015; 12: 14857-71. 46  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Correa-Burrows P, Burrows R, Blanco E, Reyes M, Gahagan S. Nutritional quality of diet and academic performance in Chilean students. Bull World Health Organ. 2016; 94: 185-92. 47  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Snelling A, Belson SI, Beard J, Young K. Associations between grades and physical activity and food choices: Results from YRBS from a large urban school district. Health Educ. 2015; 115: 141-51. 48  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Edwards JU, Mauch L, Winkelman MR. Relationship of Nutrition and Physical Activity Behaviors and Fitness Measures to Academic Performance for Sixth Graders in a Midwest City School District. J Sch Health. 2011; 81: 65-73. 49  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Esteban-Cornejo I, Izquierdo-Gomez R, Gomez-Martinez S, et al. Adherence to the Mediterranean diet and academic performance in youth: the UP&DOWN study. Eur J Nutr. 2016; 55: 1133-40. 50  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Acham H, Kikafunda JK, Malde MK, Oldewage-Theron WH, Egal AA. Breakfast, midday meals and academic achievement in rural primary schools in Uganda: Implications for education and school health policy. Food Nutri Res. 2012; 56. 51  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Kim HYP, Frongillo EA, Han SS, et al. Academic performance of Korean children is associated with dietary behaviours and physical status. Asia Pac J Clin Nutr. 2003; 12: 186-92. 52  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Stea TH, Torstveit MK. Association of lifestyle habits and academic achievement in Norwegian adolescents: A cross-sectional study. BMC Public Health. 2014; 14. 53  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Adolphus K, Lawton CL, Dye L. The effects of breakfast on behavior and academic performance in children and adolescents. Front Hum Neurosci. 2013; 7: 425. 54  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Boschloo A, Ouwehand C, Dekker S, et al. The Relation Between Breakfast Skipping and School Performance in Adolescents. Mind Brain EDucation. 2012; 6: 81-88. 55  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Fernà ¡ndez Morales I, Aguilar Vilas MV, Mateos Vega CJ, Martà ­nez Para MC. Relation between the breakfast quality and the academic performance in adolescents of Guadalajara (Castilla-La Mancha). Nutr Hosp. 2008; 23: 383-87. 56  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Gajre NS, Fernandez S, Balakrishna N, Vazir S. Breakfast eating habit and its influence on attention-concentration, immediate memory and school achievement. 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Three Solutions to Deforestation Essay -- environment green global war

Three Solutions to Deforestation   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  If a tree falls in the woods and no one's there to hear it, does it make a sound? Or rather, if a tree falls in the woods and no one's there to hear it, does anybody even care? This saying epitomizes the world's current view on deforestation, most notably in the Brazilian Amazon, which is known as 'The Lungs of the Earth.' Deforestation is defined as the long-term or permanent removal of forest cover, usually accompanied by burning, which is then converted to a non-forested land use. Deforestation doesn't just affect the indigenous people living in the Amazon or on a grander scale, the people of South America; rather, it arguably affects the entire world. More than 12 percent of the 2 million square miles of Brazilian Amazonian rainforest, which produces one-fifth of the earth's oxygen, has been deforested and converted to farmland or grazing for cattle (www.rainforest.org). This may not sound like that large of a problem, but as a result of deforestation, Brazil now accounts for nearly 10 percent of the world's greenhouse gases being emitted into the atmosphere. "Tropical rainforests once covered more than 14 percent of the Earth?s land area? they now amount to less than 6 percent" (Tropical Rainforest Coalition, 1996). Basically, if something isn't done soon, then the world won't have enough oxygen to support itself.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Some would argue that there is nothing that they can do or that they?re only one person. But one person can save one tree, and that?s one more tree that won?t be cut down. Some also argue that there are no solutions to deforestation when in reality there are; people just don?t realize that they?re there. Here is a list of three possible solutions that could curtail any more careless logging of the Brazilian Amazon. First, people around the world could ?buy? acres of rainforest. The Adopt-An-Acre Program, which was started by The Nature Conservancy and Earth's Birthday Project in 1990, has combined their efforts to educate children all over the country about the conservation of rainforests. Because of their diligent efforts, $5 million has been raised and 150,000 acres of rainforest saved (www.savenature.org). These facts alone show that the adoption program works, but the downside is that many underprivileged children and schools won?t be able to finance this kind of endeavor. Many people also d... ...n Amazon had been deforested. By 2000 almost 15 percent had been destroyed. This means a forest area the size of France was lost in only thirty years? (www.greenpeace.org). This illustrates how dangerous and threatening deforestation to the Brazilian Amazon truly is. Until the United States and the rest of the world comes to their senses and realizes that in their haste for wood products they?re, in reality, reducing the amount of breathable oxygen that they have, then by the year 2050, that same oxygen will be cut by one-fifth. Deforestation is the second-hand smoke of the world. Within fifty years, how breathable will our air really be? Unless people everywhere start to realize how detrimental deforestation really is, then we will leave nothing to the next generation except a tainted, asphyxiated planet. Works Cited Effects and Solutions to Deforestation. www.greenpeace.org. 3 Nov. 2001. Effects of Deforestation in Brazil. www.rainforest.org. 2 Nov. 2001. Revington, John. ?Stopping Tropical Deforestation.? New Renaissance. November 2000.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  November 3, 2001 http://www.ru.org/stopping-deforestation.htm. Adopt-An-Acre Program. www.savenature.org. 1 Nov. 2001.

Defining the Humaniities Paper Essay

Humanities consist of humans and their ways of life starting from prehistoric to current cultural events. When one learns from past generations or civilizations one is better able to make wise decisions for the future. According to Georgia Humanities Council (2009-2013), â€Å"The humanities are stories passed from generation to generation to transmit culture. These stories are also known as our history, literature, laws, ethics, religion, philosophy, anthropology etc† (Why the Humanities Matter). This paper will be a discussion of humanities and give an insight of what humanities means as it is defined by various sources. I have chosen a cultural event from my life in which I will elaborate on to inform the reader of its importance in my own life and the culture around me. I will also show how this expression of culture and its relevant to what I know about the humanities, art, style, genius, and culture of the time period it represents. Last to be discussed is how the chosen expression of culture compares with other forms from the same time period. Humanities Defined  According to Humanities Council of Washington D. C. (n. d. ), † The Humanities are the disciplines that help us understand and define cultures, and human experience, including history, anthropology, literature, art history, ethics, philosophy and jurisprudence † (Humanities Council of Washington, D. C. – Functional Humanities). Humanities can help promote a culture or civilization’s heritage and history as well as its literature. Humanities also serve a vital role in community issues and help to promote one’s understanding of human values, traditions, issues faced by society. The term humanities according to The Congressional Act establishing the National Endowment for the Humanities includes the study as well as one’s interpretation of modern and classical languages, literature, linguistics, history, archeology, philosophy, ethics, religions, and the history, and theory of the arts (Humanities Council of Washington D. C. , n. d. ). Humanities cover a wide array of areas and time frames. Cajun Music I chose Cajun music because I have a rich cultural tie to Cajun music growing up around this musical type. I find Cajun music has a little bit of several types of music played because of its rhythms and lyrics. The first Cajun records came out in 1928, but it was not until the 1960s that the genre became well known beyond Louisiana (National Geographic Society, 1996-2012). Cajuns are known for their love of dancing, including two-stepping, and waltzing. Cajun songs with its deep emotion and rhythms that make an individual want to get up and dance goes hand-in-hand to tailor to these cultural inclinations. According to National Geographic Society (1996-2012), † Many of the songs have their origins in old Acadian and French songs, but Creole, Celtic, African, Anglo-Saxon and Amerindian influences were also picked up along the way † (Cajun Music). Many Cajun songs have lyrics in French-Acadian and include a fiddle and accordion, which gives the music its unique sound. My experiences with Cajun music stems from listening to my grandfather play the fiddle and sing in French. I was not always aware of what was said but by traditions and my culture I have learned to embrace the music and rich cultural beliefs my ancestors have laid out for me to learn from. How Cajun music tailors to my knowledge of humanities, art, style, genius, and culture of the time period it represents. When I evaluate what humanities means, I can better understand how Cajun music fits in because this type of music, which was once more localized to it its origins in Louisiana but now has a mass appeal and has become popular throughout North America and abroad. Humanities are about the arts and one’s culture. The style of modern day Cajun music displays its sounds anywhere from gospel, jazz, to rock-in-roll. Where it was once more primitive style of music and sung acapella, nowadays includes instruments, and a mixture between French and English wording. The genius of Cajun music originates from Cajun’s telling their story and intergrading their culture into the music. The cultural time period Cajun music represents would coincide with the movement from more classical music to rhythm and blues, rock-and roll, country, bluegrass, gospel, and jazz. Cajun music is a music transcending time and has evolved like all the previously mentioned styles of music. How Cajun music compares with other forms of culture from the same  time period. The evolution of Cajun music compares well to other styles of music but lack the use of technology instrumentally mostly. This type of music displays historic and modern day Cajun cultural beliefs and makes an individual want to dance. As in any art one’s location has much to do with it cultural styles. Conclusion Humanities are instrumental in understanding a civilization’s culture and learning from history to help an individual make wise decision for the future. Cajun music is the cultural even I chose because I have lived it all of my life, and it is part of my culture. References Georgia Humanities Council. (2009-2013). Georgia Humanities Council. Retrieved from http://www. georgiahumanities. org/about-us Humanities Council of Washington D. C.. (n. d. ). Defining the Humanities. Retrieved from http://www. wdchumanities. org/docs/defininghumanities. pdf National Geographic Society. (1996-2012). Nat Geo Music. Retrieved from http://worldmusic. nationalgeographic. com/view/page. basic/genre/content. genre/cajun_700.

“EU Design’s Rise in the Apparel and Fashion Industry Essay

Current Management Style EU Design’s management style was founded in a very small business environment. There was little standardization of individual tasks. In a small business, everyone on staff is expected to be involved in all day-to-day business activities. This creates a very informal relationship between workers and management. In addition to the small business aspect, EU Design is in a creative industry. Many of the people in this industry are not trained or educated in formal business practices. A creative mindset takes precedence over the structure of the business. For EU Design, quality of product is not an issue at the present time. The company is ISO 9000 certified with SA8000 accreditation. However, growing into a larger company requires a more formal management style to ensure this quality is kept up to standard. EU Design needs to develop a mission statement and corporate vision for the employees to have a common goal as a move toward a more formal management style. Without a defined mission statement, employees will have their own ideas of the company’s goals. Once a mission statement and business strategy is established, EU Design needs to identify which performance metric is most essential to the continued growth of the company. Balanced Scorecard While financials such as return on capital and cash flow are imperative to the sustainability of a company, customer-related metrics such as quality and timeliness of delivery are of upmost importance to keep the clients who will provide the profit. Customer feedback and surveys will provide the measurement of the value being created for clients. This will help EU Design’s management focus more on what the client’s actual needs are instead of focusing on what they perceive customer needs to be. An example of the balanced scorecard would resemble the exhibit below: Objectives Measures Financial perspective – Increasing profitability and revenue – Return on assets -Increased sales revenue – Profit ratio Customer perspective – Customer loyalty – Attaining new customers – Orders from current customers – Orders from new customers Internal perspective – Adherence to schedule – Customer driven products – Productivity – Ratio of actual delivery times to planned schedule – Ratio of on time deliveries – Number of new collections and designs added Learning and Growth perspective – Increased communication within the company – Increased education of employees – Number of monthly meetings held – Total budget for education courses – Number of employees attending courses Internal inadequacies need to be pinpointed for optimal efficiency. Formal procedures and work practices should be established and documented. This will highlight aspects such as time management, efficiencies, and employee competency. This will allow management to keep abreast of the working environment and augment employee stability. Fashion trends come and go very quickly, and being able to recognize what is trending and the ability to supply quickly is imperative to success. Management must track trends and concentrate on key suppliers that are providing the product for current trends, and all employee efforts must be directed toward this goal. Establishment of clear-cut goals and procedures is necessary to achieve  this. Formalization of management needs to begin from the top down. Berardi is too involved in day-to-day activities and cannot see the big picture of the company. He is functioning as an account manager and sales representative rather than performing duties of a CEO. He may not be able to make difficult decisions to cut or grow a particular segment because of his close involvement. Berardi needs to bring an employee up to take over his accounts so he can concentrate on his role of CEO. A new organizational structure would resemble the Exhibit 1. There needs to be standardization of communication between the two offices to ensure that all client information and requirements are shared and understood. Regular videoconference meetings with the staff of both offices can be implemented. Given the time difference one office would have to come in very early or the other office would stay late. This may be difficult but should be adhered to so all employees are receiving the same information. This could be tried on a monthly basis. These meetings would help to create a more cohesive environment between New York and Hong Kong. This would also give the Hong Kong office a chance to provide requested feedback to New York. As a supplement, an online open forum for questions from one office can be posted and answered by the other office when it opens. Incentive Systems Currently there is no formal incentive system. Many of the rewards are based on Berardi’s perception of employee performance. If he does not have the opportunity to have direct communication with all employees, it is a possibility that he is not able to appropriately assess individual performances. The employees themselves felt that â€Å"above-standard performance was not always noted.† This sometimes resulted in sub-optimal achievements being recognized while the employee going the extra mile was getting passed over. A new incentive system must include a formal evaluation method of employee performance. In order to evaluate, official job descriptions must be written to use as a benchmark. These descriptions give the employees the framework within which to efficiently perform their duties. The employee’s immediate supervisor must complete this evaluation. This is the person who has direct observance of day-to-day activities. Having the formal evaluation takes out the personal bias of the supervisors. Semiannual reviews will keep employees apprised of their performance and management  expectations. This will benefit both the company and the employees by keeping them both focused on a common goal. To encourage the employees to be sales oriented, a commission system could be introduced. Since company money is already directed toward training courses and classes, offering employees sales training courses will give them the opportunity to take advantage of the new commission system. If funds are limited and an official sales manager cannot be hired, then the classes would be the most efficient way to educate employees. These classes would be directed toward the Junior Merchandisers. The current duties for this position would fit best with the new sales system. Although hiring office managers would be beneficial, in the present financial climate this may not be feasible. However, one employee in each location needs to be responsible for office operations. Both offices have an accountant on staff that report directly to Berardi. This person could take on the role of office manager. Since the accountant would be the most business-minded person, he or she would be most qualified to monitor the costs and inefficiencies within the office. Overall EU Design’s growth has been slow and steady, as evidenced by a five-year gross margin increase of almost 300 percent. This growth has necessitated a change in management style. If Berardi acknowledges that changes need to happen, the implementation should happen rather smoothly.