Single European Payment Area Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Single European Payment Area - Essay Example The Single Euro Payment System an electronic payment system in the euro zone countries. The banking industry in the European Union came up with the idea having the first Single Euro Payment Area products launched in January 2008. The Single Euro Payment Area, simply called SEPA, is an electronic system that eases the electronic payment all across the Euro zone by the use of credit cards, debit cards, bank transfer or direct debit. The electronic system will make it easy for tourist from and within the European Union, access their money as if they are in their domestic country (Anamaria and Ghiba, 2). The Single Euro Payment Area is highly supported by the EC and ECB. This is because of its significance to financial institutions and their client. The European Payment Commission, which represents the European banking industry, the European Central Bank and the European Commission all have a common vision and goals in the execution of the SEPA. The European Payment Commission uses the industry’s self-regulations to improve and promote the Single Euro Payment Area. This is done by defining common positions for core payment services within a competitive market place. The EPC is also accountable for providing strategic guidance for standardization and provide or in some cases formulate the best practices and support while monitoring the implementations of made decisions (Anamaria and Ghiba, 2). The EPC has fabricated new product schemes for direct debts and credit transfers and a structured framework for payment cards. The EPC represent the whole European financial industry as the members are from banking associations and banks from the EU member states. This assures that all the credit institution, regardless of its size, within the European market has a say in the implementation process of SEPA. The European Central Bank played a substantial role in the implementation of

A newspaper invites young people to write articles about television Coursework

A newspaper invites young people to write articles about television programmes they either loathe or love. Write the piece you would send to the newspaper - Coursework Example You can tell which series it is from the opening sequence. Actually I can tell what series it is from the extent of Chandler’s physical decline. He starts out quite fit and degenerates into an increasingly zombified, staring-eyed mess. Apparently he had to fight some addiction demons in real life. My theory is that working with this bunch gradually eroded his sanity. I only watch Friends because it provides the ideal opportunity for venting all my pent-up frustrations about life. For me this programme has all the charms of an emotional punchbag. I look at the smug, silly faces and enjoy an imaginary workout in the boxing ring with each one in turn. Except Chandler. Something worries me about Chandler. It is a fact that every viewer on the planet, unfortunately, has a soft spot for one of the six characters. It’s a kind of post-modern Rorschach test. The one you identify with reveals your true nature. I never did see the attraction of Friends, and even now, almost a decade after the last series gasped its way onto our screens, I don’t get it. I mean look at the stereotypical gender roles. The girls are all mad: Rachel is sex-mad, Monica is neurotic and has issues with food, issues with hygiene, issues with men, and a seriously weird relationship with her brother. And Phoebe. Well, Phoebe is the poster girl for cloud-cuckoo land. â€Å"Smelly cat, smelly cat†¦You smell like something dead†¦Ã¢â‚¬  What was that all about? I hope the producers are insured against all the law suits that are bound to follow from children thinking that this is acceptable behaviour in an adult human being. And the boys are not much better. Would you go out with any of them? The show has a formula that is repeated ad nauseam until finally the characters just show up on the set and the dialogue writes itself. In fact it is so predictable that a ten year old could write it and nobody would be any the wiser. Joey and Chandler have little boy-games in their flat, while Rachel

Android The Most Popular Mobile Platform Computer Science Essay

Android The Most Popular Mobile Platform Computer Science Essay Introduction Mobile development platform is a technology that enables mobile developers to create of production and processes that support present and future development of mobile applications. In the assignment, I will compare three of the leading mobile development platforms in the market which is Android, BlackBerry, and Java ME with analyses on the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for each of the different platforms. Android SDK Android is the most popular mobile platform in the world. Android delivers a complete set of software for mobile devices; an operating system, middleware and key mobile applications. (Android Overview, Open Handset Alliance 2010) In 2005, Google acquired the startup company Android Inc. to start the development of Android platform for mobile. The Android SDK was first release in November 2007. Google announced the availability of Android SDK Candidate 1.0. Google offers a comprehensive software development kits with a variety of packages that are available a la carte under the Android SDK Manager. In October 2008, Android is an open source and Google releases the code under Apache License. (Android Overview, Open Handset Alliance 2010) STRENGTHS Google Google is one of the most well known technology company in the world. Android is backed up by Google in collaboration with Open Handset Alliance. Most of the potential partners, venders and developers will believe that Google will give more attention and credibility on Android OS compare to other mobile OS because of the brand. Device Unlike the Apples IOS where you have the only one option for hardware supplier which is Apple Inc. The Android OS is open source and it is compatible with most of the devices such as Samsung, HTC, Sony and etc. This will provides consumers wider choices from which manufacturer to choose to buy their devices. Open source The Android OS is built from a Linux based using JAVA language for the programming. Most of the developers, especially freelancer they will choose to develop mobile application by using Android where we can get the information and source code easily. This makes developers to create many free Apps for Android market (Currently known as Goggle Play Store). (Android SWOT analysis, Arun Kumar 2012) WEAKNESSES Multimedia Support Android Multimedia Support is less unlike the Apple which has centralized in iTunes application and marketplace. Android does not have a central source of multimedia material. Upgrading of OS reliance on mobile manufacturers When Google releases a new version of Android OS, it has to wait for the mobile manufacturer to make a compatibility test and modify the code to make sure it works properly on their hardware configuration. Least of security- Since Android Application development is open source, so it was always prone to external threats like malwares. OPPORTUNITIES Compatibility Android OS not only compatible with mobile, it also compatible for tablet PC and e-book reader. There have been several release of Android tablets over last few months from computer machine manufacturer such as HP, ASUS, Dell and ACER. Developing Countries Google has a huge opportunity to develop inexpensive devices using the Android platform in developing countries. (Hylander 2010). Android also has high potential growth in Asia and Africa Countries and it has triggered up the sales of smart phones and tablet PCs. Developer friendly Android give the opportunities to developers to develop advance application and earn some revenue from the sales of application and advertising. THREATS Competitive There were many competitors in the market are going to fight with Android for their share of the market. For example, Symbian, RIM, iOS and Windows. System Crashed Downloading of application from un-trusted website may make the operating system crash or affect other application in the smart phone. Androids cheaper initialize installation in low cost mobile phone which will affects the buyer compared to other platform such as iOS in IPhone. BlackBerry BlackBerry is a brand of wireless handheld devices and services developed by Canadian telecommunications company Research In Motion (RIM).(RIM 2012) The first BlackBerry device, an email pager, was released in 1999. (Davis, Jim January 20,1999) Most of the BlackBerry devices are well known in their send and receive push email and instant messages ability especially the BlackBerry Messenger service. They are also designed to function the devices as personal digital assistants, gaming devices and so on. STRENGTHS BlackBerry is a recognition brand of mobile development platform. BlackBerry Messenger allows their users to text unlimited with no extra cost. Several types of form-factors available in BlackBerry mobile phones such as small keyboard, large keyboard, flip phone, candy bar and no keyboard. BlackBerry is an encrypted military-grade security platform, with 100% market share at FBI, CIA, White House, Congress, Department of Defense, major consultancies and major investment banks. BlackBerry is the only one platform approved for use in US national security agencies. (Raman885 November 2011) WEAKNESSES BlackBerry has a poor applications store experience which is not able to install on all devices. Most of the applications which are available for iOS and android devices are not going to be available for blackberry mobile platform. BlackBerry is a business oriented phone, most of the fun application available for other markets but not for blackberry devices. There were two different operating systems between touch screen devices and non-touch screen devices. OPPORTUNITIES BlackBerry Partners Fund is used to make applications are downloadable from independent companies which might be help to gain more market share. BlackBerry World is the most profitable mobile application store for developers. BlackBerry has the ability to perform synchronization of email, calendar and contact with compatible servers. THREATS The main threat facing by BlackBerry is their competitors which include iOS of Apple, Android platform of Google, Windows Phone from Microsoft and other mobile development platforms. JAVA ME JAVA ME also known as Java platform Micro Edition. Java ME provides a flexible environment for application running on mobile and embedded devices such as personal digital assistants and mobile phones. STRENGTHS Java ME is offering flexible environment for multiple mobile application. Java ME included the object-oriented programming features make large programs easier to write. Java ME is an open sources platform for mobile development. WEAKNESSES It is not a complete development platform but just a virtual machine. JAVA ME only limited to embedded and small devices such as mobile phones. Java ME is only mostly open source whereas android is completely open sources. OPPORTUNITIES It enables developer to build sophisticated applications for multiple applications with confidence. The most popular and widely accepted development platform for wireless devices from leading phones manufactures. THREATS Android development platform is the main threats for Java ME platform especially the user interface android support touch screen smart phones. Most of the developers may choose Android instead of Java ME as the platform because of the number of users of android OS phone are increasing. Conclusion The most ideal platform that I choose is Android mobile development platform. First of all,

Sesame Street’s Big Bird and Shakespeare’s Caliban :: Tempest essays

Sesame Street’s Big Bird and Shakespeare’s Caliban â€Å"Caliban...takes shape beneath the arc of wonder that moves throughout the play between â€Å"creatures† and â€Å"mankind,† between animate beings in general and their realization in the form of humanity. Is he man or fish? creature or person?" (Lupton, 3). â€Å"Although in The Tempest the word creature appears nowhere in conjunction with Caliban himself, his character is everywhere hedged in and held up by the politic-theological category of the creaturely" (Lupton, 3). "A freckled whelp, hag-born " (1.2.285). "Legged like a man, and his fins like arms! " (2.2.31-32). "I shall laugh myself to death at this puppy-headed monster" (2.2.146-147). "A howling monster, a drunken monster" (2.2.179). "This is as strange thing as e’er I looked on" (5.1.292-293). "He is as disproportioned in his manners /As in his shape" (5.1.294-295). He is a poetic paradigm. When performed properly, he can take an audience from tears of laughter to tears of sorrow within a few paragraphs. Caliban is an actor’s dream, a scholar’s vision. Sighted as being both the missing link, but also portrayed in adaptations as more human than Prospero, Caliban is commentary, character and caricature. However, there is a question that plagues authors, directors, actors, and stressed out, indignant English professors: What is Caliban? Many books, articles, updates, adaptations, and arguments tackle this question. Together we will confront these demons, I will lead you down a path, present arguments, ideas, my own bias, but in the end leave you to answer the daunting question of Shakespeare’s man-monster: Four pictures taken from different productions and different collections of The Tempest illustrate how diverse Caliban is. Each one has a unique view of who or, more precisely, what Caliban is. They progress in an order, from pure beast, through something less to someone almost resembling a man. The pictures lead us on a progression from something entirely bestial to something else entirely. The first image demonstrates the best description of Caliban, a creature that slightly resembles a man and slightly does not. Throughout Shakespeare's text, no character refers to Caliban as a man. The other characters describe him as the indescribable. As Alonso says, "This is a strange thing as e'er I / looked on (5.1.292-293)." One of the most common terms used in The Tempest to acknowledge Caliban is moon-calf. The Oxford English Dictionary defines moon-calf as "A misshapen birth, a monstrosity.

Mini Case Starbucks Essay

1.How did Starbucks create its uniqueness in the first place? Starbucks create its uniqueness by offering premium coffee beans, thus creating an amazing image. Every store is a unique place with a wide range of products and a special homely ambience, emphasized by relaxing music and comfortable seating furniture. Other than that, customers can use the free wireless hotspot or just visit with friends. The high quality of the products connected with a fair price attracts many coffee lovers. Starbucks also offer a wide range of products for example 30 different blends of coffee and first supplier of beverages â€Å"to-go†. The special flavor of the coffee beans in every Starbucks reflect the high standard of quality by providing high quality beverages and food, combined with superior customer service in a friendly and welcoming environment. They can create unique experience among their customer, thus will increase their loyalty level. 2.Was Starbucks’s uniqueness a VRIO resource? Did it help Starbucks gain and sustain a competitive advantage? Why or why not?  YES Valuable : Starbucks is competence in creating a unique customer experience the world over. This is becaue they are not only paying for a cup of coffee or tea but also can enjoy the good ambience. Rare : The Starbucks possess the resource or can or can perform the capability in the same unique way. It also on the path to competitive advantage when it possesses a valuable resource that is also rare. Starbucks build its initial sign through barista and through its ambience where music and comfortable chairs and sofas cannot be find in other places. Costly to imitate : Their potential competitors seems like hard to produce the same idea as what they do. They might able to open a coffee house business but with no baristas and other uniqueness. Organized to capture value : Starbucks have an effective organizational  structure and coordinating systems to fully exploit the competitive potential of its resources and capabilities. So, Starbucks has gain and sustained competitive advantage. 3. Why and how did Starbucks lose its uniqueness? Starbucks lose its uniqueness when baristas used to grind beans throughout the day whenever a new pot of coffee had to be brewed which was at least every eight minutes. Many baristas began to grind all of the day’s coffee beans in the morning and store the rest of the day. Baristas now use push-button machines to make espresso drinks. That stores no longer smell like coffee and that every store looks cookie-cutter. 4.How is Starbucks attempting to re-create its uniqueness? Do you think it will be successful? Why or Why not?  Starbucks attempting to re-create its uniqueness by introduced many new products such as instant coffee. These new products undercut the integrity of the Starbucks brand for coffee purists. They also challenged the baristas who had to wrestle with an ever-more-complicated menu of drinks. With over half of customers customizing their drinks, baristas hired for their social skills and passion for coffee, no longer had time to dialogue with customers. The brand experience declined as waiting times increased. Moreover, the price premium for a Starbucks coffee seemed less justifiable for grab and go customers as McDonald’s and Dunkin Donuts improved their coffee offerings at much lower prices. Second, the early adopters who valued the club-like atmosphere of relaxing over a quality cup of coffee found themselves in a minority. To grow, Starbucks increasingly appealed to grab and go customers for whom service meant speed of order delivery rather than recognition by and conversation with a barista. Starbucks introduced new store formats like Express to try to cater to this second segment without undermining the first. As a result, Starbucks is successful in creating their uniqueness because since then they are able to increase their outlets for more than 18000 stores around the world in 2013. 5.Explain Starbucks’s ups and downs using (a) strategic activity systems and (b) the dynamic capabilities perspectives. What implications can you draw? (a) Strategic activity systems is the conceptualization of a firm as a network of interconnected activities. – grinding beans – second home – friendly service – relaxed atmosphere – beverages ( desserts, sandwiches), books, music – more than 30 blends of coffee (b) Dynamic capabilities perspective is a model that emphasizes a firm’s ability to modify and leverage its resource base in a way that enables it to gain and sustain competitive advantage in a constantly changing environment. The implications can we draw from this is :- (i) Starbucks forgot what made it unique (ii) Intangible resources were forgotten (iii) Lost appeal that made it special, its unique culture 6.What recommendations would you give Howard Schultz? Support your arguments.

RFID Technology Essay

RFID is a general term that is used to describe a system that transmits the identity data of an object wirelessly, using radio waves. This is sometimes referred to as contact-less technology and a typical RFID system is made up of three components: tags, readers and the host computer system. Tags – An RFID tag is a tiny radio device, it’s also referred as a transponder. The tag comprises of a simple silicon microchip attached to a small flat aerial and mounted on a substrate. The whole device can then be encapsulated in different materials (such as plastic) dependent upon its intended usage. The finished tag can be attached to an object, typically an item, box or pallet and read remotely to ascertain its identity, position or state. Different types of RDIF Tags available are passive and active, used as per the RDIF data read / write requirement. Readers – The reader, sometimes called an interrogator or scanner, sends and receives RF data to and from the tag via antennas. A reader may have multiple antennas that are responsible for sending and receiving radio waves. Host Computer – The data acquired by the readers is then passed to a host computer, which may run specialist RFID software or middleware application to filter the data and route it to the correct IS application as processed useful information. RFID can help hospitals to locate equipment more quickly, logistics providers to improve the management of moveable assets, brings efficiencies in the supply chain by tracking goods from the point of manufacture through to the retail stores, used as EZ card for toll-collections, remote car door access. Use of RFID technology can increase business productivity and reduce associated costs. Because of such potential benefits of RFID, many of the world’s major retailers have adopted RFID tagging for pallets and cases shipped into their distribution centers. To ensure that companies benefit from the advantages RFID provides it is important to understand how to adopt this technology. RDIF technology is been accepted by many retail chains like Wal-Mart, Tesco, Metro etc. For the supply chain and operations it provides increased levels of product and asset visibility. Retailers are looking at using the RFID technology to automatically receive shipments, and have greater visibility into the merchandize in the warehouse and on the store shelves. Few of the current Issues Facing RFID Adoption * Globally interoperable standardization problem: RFID has been implemented in different ways by different manufacturers; global standards are still being worked on. Because no global standards defined for RFID adoption, interoperability between applications or devices are not possible, which can significantly accelerate the adoption of RFID technology. * Environment: Working environment is another issue of RFID Usage. The first one is water and liquids which can absorb the radio energy signals and thereby limit range or prevent tag read/write operations altogether. Metals are another material that generally reflect radio frequency signals and deflect the radio waves, thus altering their path. The temperature of the tagged products also affected the readings. Another issue in cased by dense reader or dense tag environment are collision which cause poor read rates. Dense reader environment consist of several readers places in one closed area resulting same tag been read by multiple readers resulting reader collision. A dense tag environment involves tags placed too closely to each other resulting in tag collision because of overlap in electromagnetic waves generated by the tags interferes when being interrogated by the reader. Right type of tag/reader has to be used depending on the product, tagging level, and operational environment. The right fit is in many cases obtained through tests, which will increase read rates and accuracy. * Data management: Many conversations about RFID inevitably end up by high volume of data and data management issues that are expected to arise from tagging individual products especially in retail store environment. Data management is a key issue for any organization deploying RFID technology, and the robust middleware is required to handle that much amount of data and route it to the right database is most concerned. The right architecture is required to filter and translate RFID into useful information. Also it’s important to identify what useful RFID data should be collected and stored, which will enable easier data management and processing.