The Question of the Grotesque in the Film essays

The Question of the Grotesque in the Film essays By definition, the word grotesque refers to those distorted forms that are strange, ugly, bizarre, or fantastic in their appearance (Wikipedia 1). The grotesque also refers to aspects of life that repel, horrify, and cause strong feelings of disgust or repulsion. When watching Volker Schlondrffs film The Tin Drum, the viewer is forced to look at a number of images that can easily be described as grotesque in nature. These images are often linked to sexual and consumptive acts throughout the film, but no image is more grotesque than the fantastical protagonist Oskar Matzerath, the boy who consciously decides at age three to stop growing. As Oskar leads the viewer through his familys history with the backdrop of Germanys own history before, during, and after the Third Reich, he remains a character both sympathetic and repulsive to the audience. Indeed, the film itself estranges the viewer through its grotesqueness, while at the same time containing very basic, human elements in its sto rytelling. This use of the grotesque, specifically the fantastic figure of Oskar, promotes the themes of ambiguity and estrangement throughout the film. It also raises questions about the reality of those who lived under, and in the shadows of, the Third Reich. The film begins with a shot of a woman, Oskars grandmother, in a potato field, about to hide Oskars future grandfather under her skirts in order to prevent his imminent police capture. The protagonist Oskar, who also narrates, tells the viewer, ich beginne [die Geschichte] weit vor mir (Tin Drum). Though narrated by Oskar, the storys beginning comes even before the birth of its protagonist, with the bizarre and rape-like consummation of Oskars mother Agnes. The scene does not succeed in drawing the viewer into the story; rather, it is more effective in startling the viewer and c...

Authors Start local with your book promotion

Authors Start local with your book promotion "Start Local With Your Books" - An Interview With Hattie Edmonds â€Å"Start local†. This is more than simple sound advice, it’s almost sort of a philosophy. While we were previously writing on the Reedsy blog about how internet was obliterating territorial rights and boundaries, these obviously still exist to a certain extent. â€Å"Starting local† simply is a matter of acknowledging this fact.The ability to meet people face to face or sit down for a coffee with them means your discussion will be longer remembered. The mere fact of sharing a location with someone creates a common interest, or even empathy.Author publishing has been made possible by Amazon, a company that created a way for authors to (almost) directly have access to millions of readers across the world, at almost no cost. Kobo has also insisted on this vein, offering their Kobo Writing Life authors distribution in over 150 countries. As Joanna Penn sometimes puts it: â€Å"the world is our market†.However, the step between â€Å"having access to millio ns of readers† and â€Å"actually reaching them† is an enormous one. One that can be shortened a lot, though, if those readers are close to you. Literally. This is the whole meaning behind â€Å"starting local†.Today, we’re interviewing Hattie Edmonds, a West London author, who managed to invite her mayor to her first book launch, and have Waterstones throw her a second one. She knows all about making the local approach work for discoverability.An easy one to finish: what has been the most rewarding moment in this whole adventure?Probably the call from the manager at Waterstones, who rang me six days after I had pressed the book into her hand, saying that she loved it and that Waterstones would like to give me a whole window display as well as a second launch. I was nearly sick with excitement!Thank you for your time, Hattie!What do you  personally  think about the â€Å"local approach†? Has it worked for you, or do you prefer concentrating on d iscoverability channels with a broader target market? Do lets us know your thoughts in the comments below!

Write an article with a right wing and left wing about exclusions and Assignment

Write an article with a right wing and left wing about exclusions and the summer riots - Assignment Example 42% of the students were identified as coming from low income earning families and were eligible for claim the free school meals (FSM), it was also identified that 16% of all the 11-15 students analysed were from high schools as at 2011 January. It was also identified that a proportional that was considerable in number of the 10-17 year that appeared before the courts were categorized under the SEN, the students with needs. The percentage identified was 2two third of the population sampled representing a 66% of students between 10-17 years old. Absence rates were also analysed among the 10-17 year old. The absenteeism rate was high than average as those whose attendance data was available were 9%. The rest lacked attendance data indicating a high level of absenteeism. Statistics on social exclusion were also identified and reported. Incidences were high of the social exclusions among students in the bracket of 10-17 year old. According to the statistics, 36% of the analysed students identified that they had one fixed period social exclusion during the study year of 2009. Another proportion of 6% also identified that it had at least one fixed period of exclusion during 2011. The statistics chosen for the analysis is on free school meals. It is evident that it may be the fault of these students. Another look on it is that students may also be right in rioting. From this point, the various students in these institutions are faced with challenges that the institutions are not able of effectively providing. According to Mrs. Martins a teacher at a local high school â€Å"some of the main issues of concern to the students are the issues to do with unfair treatment of the students, issues culminating from ineffective services by the teachers, poor teaching by the teachers, issues to do with poor services soffered at the various cafeterias†. An aspect like food, which is poorly

Stress Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Stress - Essay Example Stress can be explained as bodily reaction of certain agents. Stress is a response state and that its induction depends on the mediation of some appraising, perceiving, or interpreting mechanism. Also stress is defined as "a psychological and physiological response to events that upset our personal balance in some way. These events or demands are known as stressors" (Stress Management 2007). Certain universally adequate stimuli may be expected to lead to stress more rapidly than others, as, for example, cutting off the air supply. The main types of stress are physiological, psychological, and social. Also, it is possible to mention acute and episodic acute stress, chronic and traumatic types of stress (Stress Management 2007). This should lead to a stress state in all persons, with little variation in the rate of its development. However, any less severe stimulation, and particularly where the effectiveness of the stimulation is dependent on prior conditioning (as in the case of social stimuli), will give rise to response patterns that vary greatly from person to person and may induce anxiety or stress much more rapidly in one person than another. The main symptoms of stress are frustration, conflicts, pressure, emotional disorders, aggressiveness or passivity, memory problems and loss of objectivity, anxiety and depression, etc. The main causes of stress are health-related problems such as temperature and heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes, tautological disorders and illnesses, headaches and inc reasing alcohol use, etc. In other words, there may be specific as well as general causes of distinct stress-related disease patterns. Systemic stress is concerned primarily with the disturbances of tissue systems, psychological stress with cognitive factors leading to the evaluation of threat, and social stress with the disruption of a social unit or system (Davis et al 72). While many believe the three types of stress are related, the nature of this relationship is far from clear. Critics admit that: 'the nature and severity of the stress disorder could depend on at least three factors: (1) the formal characteristics of the environmental demands, (2) the quality of the emotional response generated by the demands, and (3) the processes of coping mobilized by the stressful commerce. (Davis 127). The kind of situation which arouses a stress response in a particular individual must be related to significant events in that person's life (Stress Management 2007). Stress reduction techniques involve humor and self talk, crying and diet. The best techniques to cope with stress are rest and psychical exercises, effective anger management and analysis of the problems. In severe cases, psychologists use tranquilising drugs to treat stress and reduce its negative effects. Treatment may be viewed in these terms as assistance in the effort to reestablish the optimal level of integration which had to be sacrificed for a more tenable level of maintenance. Stress has a negative and harmful impact on human life and performance, and for this reason it is important for an individual to foresee and reduce the amount and impact of stress-related factors on our life. Works Cited Stress management. (n.d.). Davis, M.,

Why Did Henry Viii Closed Dow the Monasteris Essay Example for Free

Why Did Henry Viii Closed Dow the Monasteris Essay In the 1500’s the king of England was Henry VIII. He had already broken up with the Catholic Church and the Pop. He had made himself head of the Church of England. Also he had divorced with Catherine of Aragon and marred Anna Boleyn. His lifestyle was extravagant and he was also worried that he could be attacked by the Catholic countries of Europe. Under these circumstances he decided to close down the monasteries for the following reasons: * He was greedy and needed more money for his extravagant lifestyle. * He needed lots of money to be prepared in case of a war with enemies * He needed to make sure the nobles of England supported him. * The monasteries had a lot of treasures and valuable parts and land * Monks and nuns lived a sinful life. Hennery VIII did not want to be unpopular to his people, for closing the monasteries, so he needed to justify his actions. For this reason he ordered his minister Thomas Cromwell to send inspectors to report how holy was the life of monks / nuns and how wealthy the monasteries were. The reports said that the monks and nuns were living a sinful life. Using the reports he managed to justify closing down the monasteries. He seized the wealth and the land of the monasteries for his needs (extravagant lifestyle, in case of war). To keep the nobles loyal to him, he gave them money and land. Finally this helped him to break one more link of the Pope with his people. Henry the VIII by closing the monasteries managed to solve his problems and to keep as many people as he could.

Near-Drowning in Pediatric Patients Essay -- Nursing, Health Care

Introduction There are an estimated 8,000 deaths per year in the United States from drowning. Near-drowning occurs anywhere from 2-20 times more frequently (for estimated 16,000-160,000 events per year)7. The definitions for drowning and near-drowning have for the longest time been very confusing to understand. Recent health officials have attempted to resolve some of this confusion by redefining drowning as â€Å"the process of experiencing respiratory insufficiency or difficulty following a submersion or immersion in a body of liquid.† Near-drowning has also been redefined as â€Å"survival from a drowning event which involved impaired consciousness or water inhalation for 24 hours or more†2. Both near drowning and near-drowning occur when someone experiences a submersion event. A submersion event is when someone, in this case a pediatric patient, experiences an unexpected submersion in water. When an unexpected submersion, regardless of water type (salt or fresh) occurs, the ind ividual experiences breath hold, panic, and a struggle to resurface1. Humans, naturally, can only hold their breath for a short period of time. This prolonged breath hold results in hypoxia and eventually leads to involuntary gasping. As the individual attempts to gasp for air they sometimes aspirate7. This paper will attempt to look at the clinical presentation of a near-drowning patient who has suffered from a submersion event. Research It was previously thought that the type of water aspirated posed a serious threat to the patient and drastically increased their chance of mortality. In particular, salt water was thought to be one of the more potent types of water to aspirate due to it’s tonicity. This previous thought that salt water was more harmful to... ...01. 4. Oehmichen, M, Hennig, R, and Meissner, C (2007). Near-drowning and clinical laboratory changes. Legal Medicine;10:1-5. 5. Gregorakos, L, Markou, N, Psalida, V, Kanakaki, M, Alexopoulou, A, Sotiriou, E, Damianos, A, Myrianthefs, P (2009). Near-drowning: clinical course of lung injury in adults. Acute Lung Injury;187:93-97. 6. Beeck, EF, Branche, CM, Szpilman, D, Modell, JH, and Bierens, JJ (2005). A new definition of drowning: towards documentation and prevention of a global public health problem. World Health Organization;83(11):853-856. 7. Ender, PT, and Dolan, MJ (1997). Pneumonia Associated with Near-Drowning. Clinical Infectious Diseases;25:896-907. 8. Leroy, P, Smismans, A, and Seute, T (2006). Invasive pulmonary and central nervous system aspergillosis after near-drowning of a child: case report and review of literature. Pediatrics;118(2):509-513.

Deception Point Page 86

â€Å"What did you just say?† Gabrielle demanded. The guard's fist stopped in midair. â€Å"I said the senator was glad I let you in earlier. You were right. It was no problem at all.† â€Å"You and the senator talked about that?† Gabrielle sounded surprised. â€Å"Yeah. So what?† â€Å"No, I just didn't think†¦ â€Å" â€Å"Actually, it was kind of weird. The senator needed a couple of seconds to even remember you'd been in there. I think the boys were tossing back a few.† â€Å"When did you two talk, Owen?† â€Å"Right after you left. Is something wrong?† A momentary silence. â€Å"No†¦ no. Nothing. Look, now that I think of it, let's not bother the senator this instant. I'll keep trying his house line, and if I don't have any luck, I'll call you back and you can knock.† The guard rolled his eyes. â€Å"Whatever you say, Ms. Ashe.† â€Å"Thanks, Owen. Sorry to bother you.† â€Å"No problem.† The guard hung up, flopped back in his chair, and went to sleep. Alone in her office, Gabrielle stood motionless for several seconds before hanging up the phone. Sexton knows I was inside his apartment†¦ and he never mentioned it to me? Tonight's ethereal strangeness was getting murkier. Gabrielle flashed on the senator's phone call to her while she was at ABC. The senator had stunned her with his unprovoked admission that he was meeting with space companies and accepting money. His honesty had brought her back to him. Shamed her even. His confession now seemed one hell of a lot less noble. Soft money, Sexton had said. Perfectly legal. Suddenly, all the vague misgivings Gabrielle had ever felt about Senator Sexton seemed to resurface all at once. Outside, the taxi was honking. 103 The bridge of the Goya was a Plexiglas cube situated two levels above the main deck. From here Rachel had a 360-degree view of the surrounding darkened sea, an unnerving vista she looked at only once before blocking it out and turning her attention to the matter at hand. Having sent Tolland and Corky to find Xavia, Rachel prepared to contact Pickering. She'd promised the director she would call him when they arrived, and she was eager to know what he had learned in his meeting with Marjorie Tench. The Goya's SHINCOM 2100 digital communications system was a platform with which Rachel was familiar enough. She knew if she kept her call short, her communication should be secure. Dialing Pickering's private number, she waited, clutching the SHINCOM 2100 receiver to her ear and waiting. She expected Pickering to pick up on the first ring. But the line just kept ringing. Six rings. Seven. Eight†¦ Rachel gazed out at the darkened ocean, her inability to reach the director doing nothing to quell her uneasiness about being at sea. Nine rings. Ten rings. Pick up! She paced, waiting. What was going on? Pickering carried his phone with him at all times, and he had expressly told Rachel to call him. After fifteen rings, she hung up. With growing apprehension, she picked up the SHINCOM receiver and dialed again. Four rings. Five rings. Where is he? Finally, the connection clicked open. Rachel felt a surge of relief, but it was short-lived. There was no one on the line. Only silence. â€Å"Hello,† she prompted. â€Å"Director?† Three quick clicks. â€Å"Hello?† Rachel said. A burst of electronic static shattered the line, blasting in Rachel's ear. She yanked the receiver away from her head in pain. The static abruptly stopped. Now she could hear a series of rapidly oscillating tones that pulsed in half-second intervals. Rachel's confusion quickly gave way to realization. And then fear. â€Å"Shit!† Wheeling back to the controls on the bridge, she slammed the receiver down in its cradle, severing the connection. For several moments she stood terrified, wondering if she'd hung up in time. Amidships, two decks below, the Goya's hydrolab was an expansive work space segmented by long counters and islands packed to the gills with electronic gear-bottom profilers, current analyzers, wet sinks, fume hoods, a walk-in specimen cooler, PCs, and a stack of organizer crates for research data and the spare electronics to keep everything running. When Tolland and Corky entered, the Goya's onboard geologist, Xavia, was reclining in front of a blaring television. She didn't even turn around. â€Å"Did you guys run out of beer money?† she called over her shoulder, apparently thinking some of her crew had returned. â€Å"Xavia,† Tolland said. â€Å"It's Mike.† The geologist spun, swallowing part of a prepackaged sandwich she was eating. â€Å"Mike?† she stammered, clearly stunned to see him. She stood up, turned down the television, and came over, still chewing. â€Å"I thought some of the guys had come back from bar-hopping. What are you doing here?† Xavia was heavyset and dark-skinned, with a sharp voice and a surly air about her. She motioned to the television, which was broadcasting replays of Tolland's on-site meteorite documentary. â€Å"You sure didn't hang around on the ice shelf very long, did you?† Something came up, Tolland thought. â€Å"Xavia, I'm sure you recognize Corky Marlinson.† Xavia nodded. â€Å"An honor, sir.† Corky was eyeing the sandwich in her hand. â€Å"That looks good.† Xavia gave him an odd look. â€Å"I got your message,† Tolland said to Xavia. â€Å"You said I made a mistake in my presentation? I want to talk to you about it.† The geologist stared at him and let out a shrill laugh. â€Å"That's why you're back? Oh, Mike, for God's sake, I told you, it was nothing. I was just pulling your chain. NASA obviously gave you some old data. Inconsequential. Seriously, only three or four marine geologists in the world might have noticed the oversight!† Tolland held his breath. â€Å"This oversight. Does it by any chance have anything to do with chondrules?† Xavia's face went blank with shock. â€Å"My God. One of those geologists called you already?† Tolland slumped. The chondrules. He looked at Corky and then back to the marine geologist. â€Å"Xavia, I need to know everything you can tell me about these chondrules. What was the mistake I made?† Xavia stared at him, apparently now sensing he was dead serious. â€Å"Mike, it's really nothing. I read a small article in a trade journal a while back. But I don't understand why you're so worried about this.† Tolland sighed. â€Å"Xavia, as strange as this may sound, the less you know tonight, the better. All I'm asking is for you to tell us what you know about chondrules, and then we'll need you to examine a rock sample for us.† Xavia looked mystified and vaguely perturbed to be out of the loop. â€Å"Fine, let me get you that article. It's in my office.† She set her sandwich down and headed for the door. Corky called after her. â€Å"Can I finish that?† Xavia paused, sounding incredulous. â€Å"You want to finish my sandwich?† â€Å"Well, I just thought if you-â€Å" â€Å"Get your own damn sandwich.† Xavia left. Tolland chuckled, motioning across the lab toward a specimen cooler. â€Å"Bottom shelf, Corky. Between the sambuca and squid sacs.† Outside on deck, Rachel descended the steep stairway from the bridge and strode toward the chopper pad. The Coast Guard pilot was dozing but sat up when Rachel rapped on the cockpit. â€Å"Done already?† he asked. â€Å"That was fast.† Rachel shook her head, on edge. â€Å"Can you run both surface and air radar?† â€Å"Sure. Ten-mile radius.† â€Å"Turn it on, please.† Looking puzzled, the pilot threw a couple of switches and the radar screen lit up. The sweep arm spun lazy circles.

Electronic Bill Payment in Canada

1-Introduction: In today’s evolutionary world, where technology keeps on revolutionizing our everyday tasks, electronic bill presentment and payment offer a whole new billing process by offering online and real time presentment of bills and payment choices. It offers great advantages and significantly improves customer care and customer relationship management. We will cover the information found in an electronic bill, followed by the process of a bill presentment. We will briefly compare traditional paper-based bills and electronic bills.And then, we will expose the different parties involved in an electronic bill presentment and payment, followed by the different evolution phases. The advantages and the risks associated with the adopting the EBPP or not. Finally we will see the different users of EBPP in Canada. Electronic transactions will gradually become the principal method for both consumers and companies to pay their bills. The main business driver is the important cos t reduction for billers from reducing manual work and paper, but it must also present an advantage to customers in order to be successful.For now, customers who have become accustomed to internet banking are the prime candidates for EBPP. On July 8, 2004, EPO Inc (Canada Post’s epost) acquired Webdox, the only other bill delivery service in Canada. Together they will provide Canadians with a single EBPP service that will be one of the most advanced of its kind in the world. Figure: Billing Process Stages 2-Definitions: Instead of the hassle of having to make physical payments, electronic payments are payments made online. They are made through the financial institution’s website.Electronic Billing is the electronic delivery and presentation of bills, invoices, and related information sent by a company to its customers. Instead of receiving paper bills through the mail, and then writing out and sending a check, bills can be received by e-mail, or accessed through the bi ller’s website. It is also known as Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment, or EBPP, which is a model based on business-to-consumer. Electronic Invoice Presentment and Payment, or EIPP, is the equivalent for a business-to-business payment, however, we won’t be overing it in this paper. The Electronic Bill Presentment & Payment (EBPP) model enables customers of banks and billing companies to use the internet or the phone to conveniently remit payments as well as access their billing information. It was created in the United-States by the Council for Electronic Billing and Payment (CEBP) of the National Automated Clearing House Association (NACHA) The biggest and most obvious difference between EBPP systems and the traditional method of bill payment, is that of technology.Rather than receiving a bill through the mail, writing out and sending a check, consumers receive their bills in an email, or are prompted to visit a website to view and pay their bills 3-Content Creat ion and Bill Design: There are several types of information in an electronic bill, most of which are the same you would find in a traditional paper bill. First, it identifies the customer, or their authorized agent, in order to link this particular bill to the biller’s account receivable processes.It includes the name and address, the account number with the Biller (or any other information that the biller has determined to identify its customers like an ID number, username, or phone number), and the time period for the bill ( a week, or a month, or a year). Second, it states the amount due from the customer, as well as any details explaining new charges over the billing period if there are any; for example, long distance phone bills contain details of each call and other specific charges included in the amount due. Third, it specifies the date when the total amount is due.Fourth, it includes a period-to-period reconciliation of activity since the last bill or statement was p roduced, so that the customer is able to compare the differences. Fifth, it specifies the disclosure information from Biller to Customer, so that the Customer is advised of the disclosure policy of the biller. Sixth, the customer can view his previous bills and account activity history from prior billing cycles. The electronic bill is also an opportunity for advertising (which the biller controls) that help in cross selling and marketing the biller’s product and services.Finally, customer care contact information is available in case a customer needs help or guidance. The term Bill Summary is generally used to encompass the essential items : Name, Amount due and due date. The term Bill Detail is used to include any of the remaining items, which a Biller may elect to send to its customers 4-Presentment of the Bill – Process: Transitioning from Paper-Based to Electronic Formats There are five different methods of porting the printed documents and their information conten t to an online form that can be utilized by EBPP: 1. Conversion to PDF format . Rasterization to GIF, JPG or PNG formats 3. Recomposition into HTML or XML 4. Conversion to normal HTML or XML 5. Translation to highly formatted HTML or XML Each of these methods has advantages and disadvantages. Depending on the application, the organization will decide which method to use. i)Content Creation and Deployment: In the bill-presentment stage, the primary steps of content authoring and deployment are essential. The steps include creation of the content, content reviews, approving the content, modification of the content and lastly, the deployment of the content.Exhibit 1, illustrates the process involved in the content creation and deployment phase. The policies and procedures involved in the content creation and deployment require responsibilities to be designated to certain individuals to further ensure that all aspects of the web page are well maintained. Developing an internal style gui de would serve to provide the page layout, design elements and maintain consistency in terms of the look and feel of the web pages. The style guide would also facilitate the system by providing information on how to link one page to other pages. The creation of the web page (presentment) is rather straightforward.The true challenges arise when facing a number of issues, namely the maintenance of the web page in terms of the content of information and errors/breakdowns and up to date modifications (could be daily), as well as the configuration of the access network on which the web page is based. ii)Notification Notification about the invoice can be delivered to the customer (bill payer) in a variety of ways. The most common method used is notification through e-mails. The customer receives an e-mail notifying them of the account balance or amount due. However, this method is limited in terms of its graphical presentation and potential.A more effective method of notifying the consume r of their invoice is to send the URL (link of the website) that contains the invoice in order to overcome the limitations of e-mailing the invoice. The latest trend however in the notification aspect of a bill is via mobile phones and personal digital assistants (PDAs). Instead of e-mailing the customer, the biller may establish a database for the client’s phone numbers and send them text messages stating the amount due, the due date of the bill as well as any additional information the biller finds necessary to provide.In the traditional case of paper-based bills, notification is done through mailing the actual invoice to the customer/client. iii)Bill Presentment: Under EBPP, bill presentment is the stage where the biller/consolidator delivers a copy of the actual bill to the customer/client in an electronically generated format. The bill may be presented with complete details of the invoice or as a summary of the details, depending on the extent and intensity of the detail s involved. Through bill presentment, the biller is able to communicate more effectively with the clients being billed.The reason why interaction between the biller and the clients is enhanced is due to the ability of the biller to guide the customers to the areas of interest as well as study or better understand the client’s preferences and trends. Electronic bill presentment may also assist the biller by improving brand loyalty by providing the clients with a well developed a compelling experience. Aspects concerning marketing and advertising can also be addressed by monitoring and controlling the space of the web page surrounding the area of the invoice.Additional aspects may be provided by making information about pending orders, past payments as well as pending payments available. iv)Electronic Payment and Posting: This presents the last stage involved in EBPP. The Billers as well as the consolidators are required to provide the customers with various forms of payments i n order to provide the customer with flexibility. Payments may be set to be made automatically or at the discretion of the customer. The types of payments may include: †¢Direct debit from accounts †¢One-time payments †¢Check payments Online payments/ Electronic funds transfers †¢Bank cards/ Credit card payments. Customers are also provided with the choice of making multiple payments to a single provider or one combined payment for multiple services to the consolidator (such as epost). The concept of â€Å"Posting† highlights the documentation of the information on when the bill was paid, how the payment was made and the amount of the payment made for the services. Such information is then updated to the biller’s accounts-receivables systems. 5-Comparison of Paper-Based and Electronic SolutionsExhibits 2 and 3 show the comparison between the paper based billing cycle and the electronic billing cycle. In both billing cycles (electronic and paper based ), the creation of the bill goes through the same stages: Data collection, Mediation, Rating and Content creation and bill design. In the stage of bill design and creation however, the bill is only formatted when it’s a paper based one, and printed when it’s an electronic bill. The main difference between the two cycles is at the stage of the Presentment of the bill.In the case of a paper based payment, after the bill is formatted, there is notification by regular mail and then the bill is presented. In the case of the electronic billing cycle, there is notification by internet and then there’s an extra stage where the bill is converted onto a Web-friendly format, this is referred to as the Transition to Electronic stage. Finally, the bill is presented either by Web or printed and the check is sent to the biller if it’s a paper based bill, or the payment could be executed immediately and electronically in the case of an electronic bill. – Parties I nvolved: Billers, bankers, aggregators and consolidators implementing EBPP can play various roles in the overall EBPP process. Once roles are defined, it is easier to identify which model (aggregator, biller-direct or e-mail based) is most appropriate for the client's EBPP strategy. Billers may also implement more than one model in order to best serve their clients. Because the industry is continuously changing and redefining, the options and opportunities for EBPP will continue to expand.There are several parties involved in the EBPP process: The biller payment provider, or BPP, is the biller’s bank that receive payment and provides account receivable information. It is an agent of the biller that accepts remittance informatio on behalf of the biller. The bill service provider, or BSP, provides EBPP services to the biller like posting bill details, consolidating bills and delivering them to the customer service provider, or providing bill summary ditribution. The customer se rvice provider, or CSP, as it names implies, provides the customer with an interface for bill presentment.It enrolls them, enables presentment and provides customer care and support. They are contacted directly by the customer to help with a payment or receive general assistance and answer questions. The Consolidator is a biller service provider that aggregates all the customer’s bills from multiple billers in one central website. An example of a consolidator is Canada’s epost where the customer securely accesses the website to both view and pay his/her bills. It is advantageous in that the customers can view and pay all their bills at once. 7- Evolution Phases:The fast paced development of the Internet (World Wide Web) has enabled the establishment of an environment where companies and customers have direct and immediate forms of communication. This made way to more effective and efficient methods to undertake transactions between two or more parties. Services such as Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment (EBPP) were bound to take place. The end result was replacing paper mail bills with electronic documents that served the same purpose, only in a more efficient light. In 1999, Canada post implemented the world’s first electronic post office, epost.This put Canada in the forefront of the Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment market. By providing a free and universally available service, epost dominated the e-billing market and provided solutions to many Canadians. By 2002, the e-billing market was split between epost and Webdoxs, epost’s main competitor at the time. In July 2004, epost increased its market share through its acquisition of webdoxs. This made epost Canada’s main EBPP service provider and by the end of 2004, epost secured 1. 6 million registered users. However, despite the growth of the e-billing sector, the profits generated were not significant.The combined revenue of e-billing service providers, namely, epost, Innovapost and Canada post International Ltd. was $192 million in 2004, $18 million less than the previous year. Despite the substantial drop in the revenues generated by e-billing service providers the prospects for the e-billing sector remained optimistic due to the high growth potential of the e-billing sector. Canada post was aware of the fact that the average bill paying customer needed time to adapt to the new techniques provided by e-billings sector. Visa Canada's national purchasing study, â€Å"How Business Buys,† released May 2001, shows that e-commerce based billing and ordering processes will more than quadruple by 2005. Currently, e-billing accounts for only two percent of corporate billing. Benefits include reduced internal costs and reduced time consumption. † Visa Study published by Allbusiness in 2001 (http://www. allbusiness. com/public-administration/1169884-1. html) In 2005, epost approached Canada’s major financial institutions in orde r to implement the e-billing component through the financial institutions’ online banking element.Such a step would allow the banks’ clients to gain access to the same epost features (receiving, viewing, paying and storing bills online) directly from the financial institutions’ website. This in turn would enable epost to reach a larger market base of customers through the financial institutions. â€Å"Research that focused on people who bank online shows they are increasingly valuable, long-term bank customers who are more likely to invest more money and purchase additional services. These are the same customers that would be attracted to and benefit from EBPP.It’s our goal to have every Canadian banking online, receive all their critical mail online through epost. † As stated by Roger Couldrey, president and CEO of epost. By the end of 2005, epost had been integrated into many of Canada’s major financial institutions, namely Bank of Montrea l (BMO – Canada’s first bank), CIBC, Laurentian Bank, Desjardins, Royal Bank of Canada Financial Group, National Bank of Canada, Scotia Bank and Toronto Dominion Trust. By targeting Canada’s online banking customers, epost was able to effectively increase interest and use of the e-billing sector.According to statistics gathered by ComScore Media Metrics in 2004, 11 million Canadians browsed their financial institution’s website in order to access their financial information. Additionally, in 2003 Forrester Research found Canadians to be early adopters of Web-based financial services when compared to Americans. A large number of Canadians, 55 percent, used the web for banking/financial services while only 37 percent of Americans used the internet for banking services. Such statistics set the market base for epost and established the key basis for its inevitable expansion as Canada’s leading EBPP service provider.Today EBPP is one of the most utilize d concepts in North America, with a market of approximately 330 million regular users. Interest among Canadian businesses is growing at an overwhelming pace; many are discovering that it is the most cost effective method to undertake the billing aspect of conducting business. Moreover, due to the ever increasing importance of preserving the environment, the implementation of the e-billing component would contribute to the cause of saving the environment by using less paper and producing less waste. 8- Advantages of EBPP )Benefits to the corporations/implementers: The implementation of EBPP has brought about many advantages for both the companies billing and the customers getting billed. The 100+ Canadian companies, now using epost’s e-billing services, have experienced a number of advantages starting with delivering bills to their customers instantly. This saves a substantial amount of time for the billers, since the mailing and processing floats will be significantly reduced , leading to quicker payments of bills, as well as reduced Days Sales Outstanding (DSO).This means that bills will be collected faster by firms, enabling them to pay their suppliers earlier, hence enhancing the way in which business is conducted between a corporation and it’s paying clients by reducing the cash conversion period. Payments made by customers will be automatically linked to the corporation’s Accounts Receivables, providing the company with better control over its pending payments and overall cash position. Beyond the aspect of speed, the corporation’s costs of presentment will be significantly reduced, up to 80%.It would also abolish the costs of paper, printing and postage fees. With the lowest possible costs of payment processing, distribution and collection of bills, firms will be reducing their costs effectively while increasing their profits. Additionally, the costs of implementing the e-billing component are relatively little, taking into acc ount the vast cost reductions of implementing the system. Furthermore, EBPP will enable a corporation to observe its customer’s behavior, since customer needs will be apparent through the usage of the features provided.The corporation will be able to achieve customer satisfaction by placing emphasis on and enhancing the features its customers appear to be utilizing the most. The corporation will also be able to reach its customers through the â€Å"interactive† statement messages system, which can be used as a tool for marketing and advertising new features, products and/or services. Furthermore, such a system can be used to get clients registered for recurring automated payments each month/period as well as providing the option of non-recurring payments, such as a one-time bill.Taking into consideration the overall advantages provided by the implementers of EBPP, it would be safe to say that the growth potential for the e-billing sector is enormous. Up until now, ther e are approximately 100 Canadian companies implementing the system. This number is expected to grow in time due to the vast number of advantages provided by EBPP. ii)Benefits to the customer: Although most systems are designed to further benefit the company implementing them, EBPP is a tool for both the company and its clients.EBPP enables the customer to immediately self-activate (open) their account in order for them to make recurring periodic (monthly) payments. It ultimately saves the customer the time taken to physically mail or make the payment at their financial institution, and practically eliminates the mail float by allowing the customer to make payments immediately after viewing the bill online. EBPP is also flexible in the sense that it can be implemented in many different forms providing the customer with a vast number of ways to utilize its many features.EBPP gives the customer an array of drafting options, from customer-initiated payments to automatic drafts or even s afety drafts if necessary. Customers can make the payments either through a consolidator such as epost, the corporation itself such as Rogers Telecom or through their bank such as Bank of Montreal. By giving the customer a wide range of choices, he/she can choose what they are most comfortable with in terms of security and quality of service.The number of errors made by the bill payers and the billers are also substantially reduced due to the ability of the platform to allow pre-filled customer interactive information to ensure all content collected/distributed is correct. Additionally, epost provides its registered users with the option to store their bills for up to 7 years. This allows for maximum efficiency, the customer will no longer have to pile up his/her paper bills for future reference rather, they will have their bills stored online and accessible at all times. Security wise, EBPP is rather comprehensive.In order to gain access to an account, the account number and its ma tching password are required. Furthermore, it encrypts the information transmitted from a computer to the designated server through Secure Socket Layer (SSL) technology. This reduces the chances of confidential information falling into the wrong hands. Overall, EBPP systems are usually designed to maximize security and confidentiality in order to encourage users to share their personal financial information to streamline the activities involved in making payments for desired products/services. ii)Benefits to the Environment: Although the benefits to the environment are clearly visible, translating the benefits in terms of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emission reductions would illustrate the concept in a more effective light. If Canadians were to replace 40% of their paper bills with electronic bills and only print 20% of the electronic bills, GHG emissions would be substantially reduced by 10,500 tonnes per year. Replacing 80% of the paper bills and printing only 5% of the electronic ones w ould lead to 22,000 tons of reduced GHG emissions.Such goals would serve to better preserve the environment and would reduce the amount of waste produced by a significant portion. Canadian businesses would end up saving approximately $1. 1 billion dollars in total. Doubling the implementations would lead to a $2. 2 billion reduction in expenditure by businesses increasing their overall profits while ensuring that their operations are in line with the environmental constraints of reducing waste/GHG emissions. 9-Risk Affiliated with the Adoption and Non-Adoption of EBPPBillers must take into consideration every type of billing presentment and payment the market offers today since it is their main ingredient to be successful. Therefore, billers have to offer the optimal billing presentment and payment that will bring customer satisfaction and be convenient for the biller at the same time. After the introduction of Electronic Bill Presentment and Payments (EBBP) many billers are facing a dilemma of risk due to the adoption or non-adoption of EBPP.For instance, if the biller decides to adopt EBPP, there will be potential of non-acceptance from the biller’s customers after the implementation of EBPP and that will lead to a decrease in the profit margins because of lost customers. The biller might also encounter fraud attempts especially because the bill will be electronically paid. Moreover, there might be a defect in the operational process of electronic presentment and payments such as a system freeze which will incur more costs on the behalf of the biller.Then again, if the biller decides not to implement the EBPP, the biller might be going against the market’s new trend hence this will put the company in a competitive disadvantage. Therefore, the biller will start losing market share and this will reflect negatively as a decrease in the biller’s profit margins due to lost customers. 10- Users of EBPP in Canada (Business Sectors): Most busine sses that implement EBPP provide their customers with services that require recurring payments, rather than a one-time payment (non-recurring).This implies that EBPP would be more convenient for service geared businesses that provide the customer with an ongoing service, which would require the customer to make repeated payments. Businesses operating in the following service providing sectors would greatly benefit from the implementation of EBPP, since all forms of viewing/paying the bill would be streamlined and undertaken from one location. i)Telecommunications Service Providers ii)Utilities Service Providers iii)Visa/Master Procurement cards iv)Banks and financial institutions v)Insurance providers vi)Postal Industries 11-Conclusion:Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment offers a streamlined method of payment, which is very advantageous for both the billers and their clients and notably the environment. Moreover, it considerably reduces costs and the amount of time to make a pay ment. Despite the drawbacks or risks of implementing EBPP, the benefits clearly outweigh the disadvantages. We believe that by 2015 paper bills will probably be inexistent in Canada, due to the expectations of recessions, companies will realize that they will save a lot of money by implementing the e-billing component, despite its high implementation costs.EBPP is the next trend for all businesses, and is expected to become the standard form of bill presentment and payment. 12-References: http://findarticles. com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2004_July_8? pnum=3&opg=n6098705&tag=artBody;col1 http://findarticles. com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2004_July_8/ai_n6098705 http://cebp. nacha. org/documents/ebpp-buspractices-2-1. pdf www. cdnpay. ca www. wikipedia. ca http://www. bce. ca/data/documents/responsibility/innovating_toward_a_low_carbon_canada. pdf Margaret Tan (2005). E-payment: The digital Exchange. NUS Press Kornel Teplan (2003). Electronic Bill Presentment an

Biotechnology patent law essays

Biotechnology patent law essays This book summarizes the monumental events of the development of biotechnology. While living in an era emerged with two technologies, biotechnology and information technology, the author pointed out an important view that sciences or technologies are not developed in a day but they need a lot of mistrials, brightness, and genius ness. It looks the term, the evolution, is adequate for using not only for the accounts of biological phenomenon but also for expression of the development of thoughts. If we glance at answers first before reading questions, everything looks so simple and obvious. Likewise, living at present, explanation about structures and mechanisms of genetics seems to be so obvious that we even could feel any other explanations are not possible. In the contrary, reality was not so. Scientist had disputed even whether DNA, which had only four components, was the material for heredity. For them, proteins composed with 20 kinds of amino acids looked more reasonable for the material. If they saw how computers operated with binary code nowadays, they could have an easy time to reach the conclusion. (I admit that this is also hindsight.) Considering many contributors for the development of biotechnology, responsibility issues also come up. Even though we are having a lot knowledges and understands given by the contributors, we should be aware of the fact that because those are not only from us or for us. Whenever we use the technologies, I think we should think about the responsibility toward society and the further development of the technology to have over out successors. Introduction: The Life of a Powerful Word When the Human Genome Project was first proposed in the mid 1980s, it evoked a great deal of skepticism. But today few skeptics remain. Four of the important lessons that molecular genomic has helped us learn. 3. The notion of a genetic program and the concept of a development program. 4. The imp...

Subordination with Adjective Clauses

Subordination with Adjective Clauses In English grammar,  coordination is a useful way of connecting ideas that are roughly equal in importance. But often we need to show that one idea in a sentence is more important than another. On these occasions, we use subordination to indicate that one part of a sentence is secondary (or subordinate) to another part. One common form of subordination is the adjective clause  (also called a relative clause)a word group that modifies a noun. Lets look at ways to create and punctuate adjective clauses. Creating Adjective Clauses Consider how the following two sentences might be combined: My father is a superstitious man.He always sets his unicorn traps at night. One option is to coordinate the two sentences: My father is a superstitious man, and he always sets his unicorn traps at night. When sentences are coordinated in this way, each main clause is given equal emphasis. But what if we want to place greater emphasis on one statement than on another? We then have the option of reducing the less important statement to an adjective clause. For example, to emphasize that father sets his unicorn traps at night, we can turn the first main clause into an adjective clause: My father, who is a superstitious man, always sets his unicorn traps at night. As shown here, the adjective clause does the job of an adjective and follows the noun that it modifiesfather. Like a main clause, an adjective clause contains a subject (in this case, who) and a verb (is). But unlike a main clause an adjective clause cant stand alone: it has to follow a noun in a main clause. For this reason, an adjective clause is considered to be subordinate to the main clause. For practice in creating adjective clauses, try some exercises in Sentence Building With Adjective Clauses.   Identifying Adjective Clauses The most common adjective clauses begin with one of these relative pronouns: who, which, and that. All three pronouns refer to a noun, but who refers only to people and which refers only to things. That may refer to either people or things. The following sentences show how these pronouns are used to begin adjective clauses: Mr. Clean, who hates rock music, smashed my electric guitar.Mr. Clean smashed my electric guitar, which had been a gift from Vera.Mr. Clean smashed the electric guitar that Vera had given me. In the first sentence, the relative pronoun who refers to Mr. Clean, the subject of the main clause. In the second and third sentences, the relative pronouns which and that refer to guitar, the object of the main clause. Punctuating Adjective Clauses These three guidelines will help you decide when to set off an adjective clause with commas: Adjective clauses beginning with that are never set off from the main clause with commas. Food that has turned green in the refrigerator should be thrown away.Adjective clauses beginning with who or which should not be set off with commas if omitting the clause would change the basic meaning of the sentence. Students who turn green should be sent to the infirmary. Because we dont mean that all students should be sent to the infirmary, the adjective clause is essential to the meaning of the sentence. For this reason, we dont set off the adjective clause with commas.Adjective clauses beginning with who or which should be set off with commas if omitting the clause would not change the basic meaning of the sentence. Last weeks pudding, which has turned green in the refrigerator, should be thrown away. Here the which clause provides added, but not essential, information, and so we set it off from the rest of the sentence with commas. Now, if youre ready for a short punctuation exercise, see  Practice in Punctuating Adjective Clauses.

Yesterday's Thinking and Organizational Disabilities Part II Assignment

Yesterday's Thinking and Organizational Disabilities Part II - Assignment Example gs, an alternative to your findings I would recommend is the need to ensure that the formation of structure to carry out implementation processes is done in such as a way that reflect the very climate and culture of the organization. This way, it will be easier for the members to incorporate well into the structure. From your post, I get the impression that Garden Way Inc. could not become the organization it wanted to become due to poor planning and lack of in-house competency development. This is because in the first place, the organization over elaborated with what it wanted to achieve by wanting to grow big overnight. As an alternative, the company could have been systematic with its approach of expansion as system thinking allows for systematic implementation of processes (Atwater and Pittman, 2006). What is more, the fact that the company depended so much on outsourcing took control out of the management, even though system thinking demands close monitoring (Senge, 2006). Compared to my own findings, I believe that if the company had depended more on the development of competencies of its in-house staff, the bankruptcy situation would not have come