Visit a museum or gallery exhibition or attend a theater, dance, or Essay

Visit a museum or gallery exhibition or attend a theater, dance, or musical performance - Essay Example There was something about the fact that they were elevated above my typical line of vision. Craning my neck, I enjoyed the slow natural rotation of each of the mobiles. Some of the shapes conveyed a sense of whimsy while others had a more threatening feel. After many minutes, I was ready to move on, until I notice how the light played on each of the mobiles and the resulting shadows that were cast upon the walls of the circular room. The shadows created by the lighting installation gave an entirely different dimension to the mobile installation. As the mobiles rotates freely, the shadows cast upon the walls displayed a motion that seemed to be more active than the perceived motion of the mobile. The slightest rotation of the mobile would send a shadow racing across the wall. In addition to this, the shadows were constantly transforming in shape and sharpness. Due to the play of the lighting and the three dimensional construction of the mobiles, some shadows were crisp edged and dark while others, cast from the same mobile resembled amorphous grey smudges. The constant interplay of shadows of different value created movement and action that belied the slowly rotating mobiles mounted above my head. The second exhibition I attended was the Matisse Cutouts in the next room. For the last fifteen years of his life, Matisse rediscovered his passion and creativity by constructing colorful paper cutouts and displaying them on the walls of his studio. Matisse has suffered several personal setbacks that had left him physically and mentally exhausted. He no longer felt inspired to create as a result. While resting, he began to work with the idea of cutting into color to create paper shapes that melded the ideas of painting, drawing and sculpture. The resulting work is interesting to behold, not just because the shapes are beautiful, but also because the scale of the paper cutouts is massive. The most interesting of the

Growth Hormone In Tooth Development Health And Social Care Essay

Growth Hormone In Tooth Development Health And Social Care Essay Tooth development is the process where teeth are formed from the developing tooth bud, growing and maturing until it erupts into the mouth. This process is known as odontogenesis. There are several stages to odontogenesis which include the development of the tooth bud and the formation of hard tissue (Thesleff 2006). Within this paper, I will be discussing whether growth hormone has an effect on the development of the tooth bud and formation of hard tissue (in particular enamel and dentine formation). Growth hormone (GH) is produced by the pituitary gland, which is stimulated or inhibited by growth hormone releasing hormone (GHRH) and somatostatin respectively in the hypothalamus. GH stimulates the liver, for the production of insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) (Laron et al citied by Laron Z. 2001); this has an effect on bones (particularly long bones) and muscles and other tissue growth. Gotz el al (2006) says that IGFs are growth factors controlling pre- and post natal development and growth processes. Furthermore, IGF-1 and GH are able to induce bone morpogenic proteins (BMP) messenger RNA (mRNA), in particular BMP-2 and 4 mRNA(Li et al 1998). The study that was carried out showed that GH and IGF-1 increased the production of BMP-2 mRNA by up to 5-fold and BMP-4 mRNA by up to 4-fold. In the developing tooth bud, there are four main stages; these include: the bud stage, the cap stage, the bell stage and crown stage. Figure 1: A schematic drawing of the bud stage the arrow shows the formation of the tooth bud (tb) within the dental lamina (dl) where dental mesenchyme (dm) has condensed around the tooth bud (Adapted from Joseph et al 1994) dl dm The bud stage is the tooth bud appearance, however, there is no arrangement of the cells figure 1 illustrates this stage showing that this stage is just a group of cells by the dental lamina. Li and colleagues (1998) carried out a study which showed that BMP-4 mRNA was present in the dental epithelium during this stage until the cap stage. This suggests that BMP-4 is needed for the cells so that they are able to combine and form the dental papilla from this unorganised arrangement. In addition to this, GH and its receptor was reported to be involved in allow process like induction, epithelial-mesenchymal interactions, cellular proliferation (Zhang et al 1997). The study was able to show that GH was present at embryonic day 17/18 in the rat, which represents the bud stage of odontogenesis in the rat. However, a study conducted by Zhang and colleagues (1992) brought up a very important point. This being that the pituitary gland is still forming when tooth bud formation occurs. Thus, if the gland is still forming, GH would not be able to play a role during the bud stage. Therefore, it is possible that a GH-like molecule might be involved during the bud stage; however, it has not been confirmed. The cap stage is when ectomesenchymal cells combine and become the dental papilla. Additionally, the tooth bud begins to grow around the ectomesenchymal cells, combine producing a cap appearance and becomes the dental (or enamel) organ. Eventually the dental papilla will produce dentine (and pulp) and the enamel organ will produce enamel. It is shown that during the cap stage numerous cells of the dental epithelium and mesenchyme were intensely immunoreactive for GH (Zhang et al 1997). This suggests that GH is involved in the formation of the enamel organ and dental papilla, which are needed to form enamel and dentine respectively. Furthermore, studies (Joseph et al 1994) found out that GH receptors were Figure 2: A schematic drawing of the late cap stage showing the dental follicle (df) containing the dental/enamel organ and dental papilla (dp). The dental/enamel organ is starting to differentiate into the outer dental epithelium (ode) and inner dental epithelium (ide). (Adapted fro m Joseph et al 1994) dp expressed in the epithelium (where the enamel organ is located) and also in ectomesenchymal cells (where the dental papilla is located). Thus, showing that the receptors for GH are present indicating that GH is able to activate the receptors which are needed to activate the cells. This evidence both support the idea that GH is needed for the differentiation of ectomesenchymal cells to form the dental papilla and dental organ. Figure Figure 3: A schematic drawing of the bell stage: Differentiation of the dental/enamel organ and dental papilla (dp) occurs. The enamel oragn differentiates into the outer dental epithelium (ode), inner dental epithelium (ide), stellate reticulum (sr) and stellate intermedium (si). The dental papilla differentiates into the outer and central mesenchymal cells of the dental/enamel organ. The bell stage (named because the dental organ is shaped as a bell) is when histodifferentiation and morphodifferentiation of the dental papilla and enamel organ take place. Joseph and his colleagues (1994) showed that in the early period of the bell stage, there is growth of the dental organ, as cubical inner epithelium differentiates into columnar cells. Additionally, immunoreacitivity for GH receptor/binding protein found that the outer and inner enamel epithelium and stratum intermedium were positive, signifying that the growth hormone receptor is involved in the differentiation of the enamel organ. This in turn allows the inner enamel epithelium to differentiate into ameoblasts, outer enamel epithelium to provide a protective barrier during enamel production and finally, stratum intermedium is needed for enamel production to occur. However, the dental papilla and stellate reticulum were negative for immunoreactivity of GH receptor/binding protein. This suggests that dental papil la does not need GH to differentiate nor does the stellate reticulum which is needed as support for enamel production. The tables below (table 1 and 2) summarises the immunoreactivity expression of growth hormone at various stages of tooth development, including the bud and cap stage. It is clearly shown that in the stages for developing tooth germ, GH, its receptor and binding protein are expressed in various cells throughout the stages. Table : Immunoreactivity expressed in the epithelium of a embryonic rat mandible showing the presence of GH, GH receptor and GH binding protein during embryonic day 17, 16, 20/21 and post natal day 9. The results are recorded show the intensity of the expression: +++ STRONG, ++ MODERATE, + MILD +/- EQUIVOCAL (Zhang et al 1997) Table 2: Immunoreactivity expressed in the mesenchyme of a embryonic rat mandible showing the presence of GH, GH receptor and GH binding protein during embryonic day 17, 16, 20/21 and post natal day 9. The results are recorded show the intensity of the expression: +++ STRONG, ++ MODERATE, + MILD +/- EQUIVOCAL (Zhang et al 1997)The finally stage of the developing tooth bud is the crown (or maturation) stage. This is when the hard tissue (enamel and dentine) start to develop. Thus, the inner enamel epithelial cells start to change shape and differentiate into ameloblasts and the dental papilla changes in both size and shape and differentiate into odontoblasts to form dentine. This leads to the two processes commonly known as amelogenesis (formation of enamel) and dentinogenesis (formation of dentine). Symons et al (2000) showed that there immunoreactivity of the IGF-1 receptor present during the maturation of the ameloblasts. Thus, it indicates that IGF-1 (via its receptor) is involved during amelogenesis. This shows that IGF-1 is needed for the ameloblasts to remove organic material and water (Nanci et al 1987), with increased flux of calcium and phosphate ions (Borke et al 1993) Caviedes-Bucheli et al (2009) study was investigating real time PCR in mouse pulp cultures. The found out that IGF-1 can enhance the mineralisation of enamel ( dentine). The way it was able to do this was by inducing expressions of specific genes (Caton et al 2005) In addition to is, Caton et al (2005) was investigating the effect that IGF-1 would have on tooth development in vitro. The results showed that the samples treated with IGF-1 had an increased enamel extracellular matrix, when compared to the control samples. This shows that there is increased enamel and dentine when IGF-1 was present, indicating that IGF-1 has a positive effect on the enamel and dentine formation. The majority of the studies show the presence of GH and its receptor within cells. Smid and colleagues (2007) carried out an experiment when mouse molar teeth had a GH deficiency. The results shows that when there is a deficiency the crown dimensions were affected as the total crown area and the mesiodistal width at the cement-enamel junction (CEJ) was significantly smaller, when compared to when GH was present. This indicates that GH is needed to ensure growth of the tooth enamel and dentine, and when there is a deficiency, it affected the size of molar teeth. Crown formation is finished when the inner enamel epithelium and outer enamel epithelium forms a double layers of HERS. This starts to proliferate apically and starts root morphogenesis. Yamashiro et al (2003) found out that BMP-2, -3, -4 and -7 were expressed during root formation and was associated with the differentiation of hard tissues. In particular, BMP-4 and -7 were expressed in ameloblasts which indicate that they are needed for formation of enamel. Furthermore, expression of BMP-4 was also noted in cementoblasts which is needed for the production of primary acellular cementum and secondary cellular cementum (where acellular cementum is found on the cervical third and middle of the roots and attaches to principle fibres in the periodontal ligament and cellular cementum is located on the apical third of the root Cho Grant 2000 citied in Yamashiro et al 2003). The purpose of the cementum, which is a thin layer of mineralised tissue, is to attach the periodontal ligament in the gingiva to the surface of the root (Smid et al 2004) One of the final stages of tooth development is the eruption of the tooth. Studies were carried out on rat incisor teeth which showed that when the incisor tooth erupted, IGF-1 was expressed in the odontoblasts and ameloblasts, as well as its receptor (Joseph et al 1993, 1994, 1996 citied in Fukunaga et al 2008). Thus the evidence suggests that IGF-1 is needed during the final stages of the amelogenesis and dentinogenesis. A major limitation within the researching of the papers was the fact that experiments and studies were carried out on rat teeth. Thus, there teeth are not the same to human teeth. Moreover, a small proportion of the papers were based on human teeth, were the study was carried out on teeth belonging to people with a defect (for example Fukunaga et al 2008 had their study carried out on a patient with leprechaunism). However, from researching the papers, it is evident that GH or GH-like molecules (like IGF-1 and BMP 2 and 4) are present within the different stages of odontogenesis, depicts the lack of information relating to human teeth. Evidence has shown that expression during various stages of tooth development. Furthermore, when there is a deficiency of GH, there are changes within the tooth structure when erupted. Thus, I can conclude that GH does play a role in tooth development, in particular during the tooth germ stages, amelogenesis and dentinogenesis. However, more research n eeds to be conducted to clearly show GH expression and its role in human teeth during its development pre and postnatal.

Essay on Death and Love in The Merchant of Venice -- Merchant of Venic

Death and Love in The Merchant of Venice      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Everyone loves a martyr. He's that guy who not only suffered but died for his cause, his passion, his love. Bassanio may not be the most worthy cause to die for, but in Act IV of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, Antonio is resigned to do so. In his final words before Shylock is set to extract his pound of flesh, Antonio has abandoned efforts to prevent his punishment and assures Bassanio that the deed must be done for the benefit of all. Despite the grisly and morbid nature of the procedure, Antonio has many reasons to die under such circumstances.    This is the only way out. Antonio devotedly loves a man who cannot return the affections with the same intensity. Bassanio's love which rightfully belongs to Antonio is shared with Portia, the wife. And who is to compete with the love a man has for his wife? Antonio tells Bassanio, "I am arm'd and well prepar'd," in speaking of his impending death (IV.1.264). He has known that eventually someone would have to be removed from this triangle and he is ready to be the one. In dying he need not take part in conflicts for Bassanio's affections. As the third wheel in a marriage, Antonio would be the source of strife for Portia, seeing as she would have to vie for her husband's love and eventually, the unhappiness of his marriage would cause Bassanio to resent Antonio. But dying ensures him the affections he wants without the pain and bitterness of rejection.    While Antonio is able to see the advantages of martyrdom, he must convince Bassanio that as such a gracious and extraordinary friend, he is willing, even happy to die for him. Humility, is the natural and subtle way to impress, so Antonio speaks of how he is not... ...s reassuring to Bassanio, but he also uses it to reassure himself. He is doing this because the pain of watching Bassanio with another love is unbearable. His life is wholeheartedly offered in order to spare himself the torment of observing the happy couple he will never be a part of.    Death is but a small price to pay for eternal love and admiration Antonio has to gain from Bassanio. Antonio wins when he dies. He wins the battle against Portia for Bassanio's love and he wins an escape from a long and lonely life of jealousy. The martyr is the most extreme illustration of devotion. He cannot be changed and is forever remembered for his selfless devotion.    Work Cited Shakespeare, William. The Merchant of Venice. The Riverside Shakespeare. Eds. G. Blakemore Evans and J. J. M. Tobin. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1997. 228-317.         

Criteria match – Organ Sales

The numbers grow on a daily basis and every year, thousands of Americans are dying because of the inability to get the life-saving organs in which they require to survive (Shave, 2008). Although an answer of legalizing the sale of organs may seem like a plausible solution, there are a magnitude of issues that show this may not be such a good idea. By legalizing the sale of Organs, we run the risk of increasing black market revenue and major exploitation of the poor.This provides availability for more unsafe practices and distribution of organs in an uncontrolled environment. In our current age, we have over one hundred thousand individuals waiting for a transplant with only less than fifteen thousand donors (OPT, 2014). Although legalization of organs may seem reasonable, I do not think it would be a wise choice because of exploitation, morals and the large contribution it would make to support the black market distribution of organs.Becoming an organ donor and compensation for organ s are two separate cases in which one is deceased and can no longer use their organs and where one living being is compensated for organs in which they may sibyl need to survive at a later date. The black market has had no issues in delivering services still to those desperate for organs to save their loved ones (Meeker, 2007).In 2003 an illegal kidney-procurement network was uncovered in Africa where an operation would provide the donor with six thousand dollars and middlemen were able to sell the organs for as much as one-hundred thousand dollars (Shave, 2008). In the United States, the black market for human tissue usually involves those that are about to be cremated. Falsified documents are provided and he tissue can then be sold to a research facility where infectious, diseased organs are sold by a claim that alters the cause of death or health history.In some of these trades, compensation is not even rewarded but the donor waking up in a bath tub covered in blood and ice cubes with a missing organ. Because of the desperate call to help a family member and the waiting list being so high, many Americans turn to the black market in order to get what they need. The individual may contact someone they know such as the â€Å"Body snatchers† and a worker may be misled thinking they eave a Job but are locked into a facility with an operating room where their cadavers can provide tissue for up to 90 patients (Shave, 2007).In a controlled environment, a heart procedure/operation can cost one-hundred thousand dollars, kidney operations from three thousand and the cost of the organ is not included (Forbes, 2007). Much of the upper-class individuals will have no issue providing these funds however, the lower class may struggle with figures that high. This brings up the criteria of exploitation amongst the lower class. The term exploitation can be defined s â€Å"Use or utilization, especially for profit† (Exploitation, 2014).The market for organ sales m ay be the hardest to Justify and compensation to the lower class living individuals for their organs is exploiting and in fact would better support an argument for increasing aid to the needy (Shave, 2008). The lower class simply cannot afford multiple hundred thousands of dollars for a transplant which leaves those able to receive being from a higher class (Forbes, 2007). The legalization of organs sales will not only increase traffic in the black market, but exploit the poor. Both options simply lack ethics and to put a price on a human, borderlines many limitations of morality.One could say that legalization would decrease sales and provide a safer environment for transplants however, if we compare the drug market and the legalization of marijuana with the black market, we see revenues sky rocketing for the illegal distribution of marijuana not prescribed and opens the door for those distributing illegally, to do it in a more outside manor making it easier, quicker and adding to the price off mind-altering substance. The sales of human organs for compensation should not be legalized, it will increase black market profit and availability and exploit the poor.A day worker in India was looking for day wages when he agreed to do construction work for four dollars an hour. Him, along with others were then held at gunpoint for several days and eventually taken to a hidden operating room where he and the two others remain unconscious by drugs and when they awoke, their kidneys had been removed (Shave, 2008). By legalizing organ sales, we support circumstances like these because we are taking their immoral actions ND brutality and making it legal to do so.By making organ sales legal, many could be misguided into faulty operations such as these and live on life support for the remaining number of years. Imagine how much easier it would be to produce fraudulent papers and faulty medical records in order to please the payer (Shave, 2007). By making organ sales legal, we make these situations more convenient for the desperate and in some cases could be the end of thousands of lives because the black market will always be cheaper and will always be available. It is the poor person who sells, the rich who buy and Dry.Delimitation of the Wall Street Journal mentions that â€Å"Payments eventually result in the exploitation of the individual,† (Shuttlecocks, 2001). A condition can only be exploitive if the victim is ill- informed, manipulated or coerced into believing something other than what is present (Wilkinson, 2011). The sale of Organs is pretty straight forward but if we look in terms of a struggling economy, the individual's decision is highly influenced and therefore the situation is being manipulated. Such actions could also include the compensation being considerably low in contrast to the profit.Such cases like in South Africa, individuals are compensated anywhere from six hundred to eight hundred dollars and those same organs are sold for over one-hundred thousand (Shave, 2008). Both criteria could bring arguments to consider like legalizing it would provide for safer facilities to do transplants and also, provide income for the poor. But is money more important than a life? More facilities means more tax dollars and if this means safer alternatives, than why are some of these facilities distributing illegally when it is illegal? If they find a way to do it now, imagine how much easier ND accessible it would be to the black market.Yes, legalizing organs sales may decrease the numbers on the waiting list, but what about other methods such as providing campaigns of awareness for more to become organ donors? As of today, only one third of the population is an organ donor (OPT, 2014). If every person became an organ donor this would not only eliminate numbers on the waiting list, but possibly even produce an abundance of organs that may be used later. Considering one hundred and fifty thousand people die a day, it would only take one ay to eliminate the waiting list of one hundred and twenty thousand (Wick.NODE, 2014). Legalizing organ sales has far more negative effects than that which would actually help the American people. The black market will increase revenue and grow their practices all-the-while exploiting the lower class and providing more health concerns for those who are desperate. What's at stake? Power, control and revenue. Although many would say that the legalization would decrease numbers which may hold truth, there are multiple different actions which can benefit the country that will to promote immoral behavior and unethical compensation for a living being.

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