E-bay Essay Example for Free

E-bay Essay Through the centuries, technology has changed people’s way of life, playing a main part in developments of the 21st century. There has been a change from the old economy to the new â€Å"digital† economy, such as the transition from manufacturing to service, and physical resources to knowledge resources (Human Resources Development, n. d. ). New products and services have changed many aspects of how the world works. Further, innovative kinds of trades and businesses are being available for people to utilize. One example is the availability of products and services through e-commerce. The growth of the Internet has caused venturing into e-commerce. Nowadays, the Internet is not only a means of acquiring information and leisure; the Internet has become a medium for business transactions and profit. E-commerce describes how the Internet has become a â€Å"global electronic marketplace† (Rodman, n. d. ) where people can sell and purchase items and have them shipped to their locality. There are countless of online shops selling different kinds of products to people who surf the Net. Perhaps, one of the most popular and successful ventures operating under this system is E-bay. E-Bay is one of the world’s largest online shopping portals (James, 2006), having generated incomes excess of 10 billion USD last year. The company was established during the dot com era with a unique business model of bringing shops to the homes. Based in the United States, it markets its products globally based on the bidding system and couriers the items to the customers (Hamel, n. d. ). E-bay is one of the companies that led the way for enabling websites to be transformed into business ventures (Epstein, 2004). Advertisements helped in the promotion and eventual purchase of the products of sellers. The customer has an advantage, as the price of the goods is dependent on the bidding (highest) amount and the excess of shipping costs to be borne (Hamel, n. d. ). The introduction of an online market has brought both advantages and disadvantages in businesses worldwide. These next paragraphs will elaborate on these said pros and cons. Technological innovations were developed and intended to bring a level of convenience, to make people’s lives easier. In this manner, trends that include online companies like E-bay, brought about by technology, share in this cause. The main advantage of E-bay and e-commerce is convenience. In particular, online companies such as E-bay have saved customers the hassle of going out of their homes to be able to purchase items of use. Because E-bay is accessible through the website, the website has become the endpoint of all the aspects of business. Buyers and sellers can communicate effectively through the website, as electronic communication is one of the fastest forms of communication. According to Rodman (n. d. ), the â€Å"Internet is ideal for encouraging customer communications. This helps in knowing more information and feedback from the customer. According to Huba McConnell (2003), E-bay is very fervent on this aspect, even creating a â€Å"Voice of the Customer† program. Further, all advertisements and promotions concerning the products can be placed and easily updated in the same website. Sellers, and especially buyers, are able to access it in any time of day regardless of the location of the person so there is no worry about distance and time differences (Rodman, n. d. ). All of these contribute to effective and convenient dealings. E-commerce, which includes E-bay, creates opportunities for many people with talents and skills all over the world (Human Resources Development, n. d. ). Anyone who has something to sell, as long as it condones to the terms that E-bay has created, upon the presence of an interested buyer, can profit from selling his or her item over the Internet. Despite the convenience that E-bay brings, there are also drawbacks that come with the system. Because online markets rely on the Internet, certain weaknesses of the Internet and e-commerce in general, also affect companies such as E-bay. The main reasons for failures in systems of E-bay include power failure, data corruption, disk failure and network failure (Hamel, n. d. ). These can threaten sales as E-bay has experienced in the past (Huba McConnell, 2003). There can also be problems with cost. Equipment, as well as the service and technology required to maintain the equipment can be costly. Convenience also has a price as there are certain extra â€Å"hidden† costs, (such as shipping, other taxes) that when applicable, must be arranged and paid. The fact that e-commerce has a tendency to be impersonal also has its effects. Although anyone can sell anything on E-bay, there are certain people who sell things that do not abide by E-bay terms. Moreover, buyers could not easily check if the items that they are selling are of good condition. These impersonal implications can socially have an impact because people would be more inclined to stay at home instead of interacting with others (About e-commerce, n. d. ). If more and more people will resort to online shopping, actual shops may lose returning customers and their business may be affected. Sales personnel may lose their jobs and businesses may close. Other factors such as challenges in areas of online security and identification that can lead to fraud can contribute to its limitations as well. Because the Internet does not necessarily require face-to-face transactions, many sellers with harmful intentions can take advantage of the certain level of anonymity they have and manipulate the system or mislead and trick customers. Online identification for financial transactions also poses a threat. Computer security is an issue that has been dealt with in e-business such as e-Bay. To avoid any problems, computer knowledge for understanding hardware and cyber security is of utmost importance for individuals (Hamel, n. d. ). Crimes involving illegal system access and use of computer services are also a concern. Hackers make use of their computer knowledge to gain access to others computers to get valuable information such as access to credit card accounts. Sometimes, files, passwords, programs, or processing power are stolen. An intruder may alter the data or destroy the data making it unusable and useless. A hacker writes a small password snifter that that can steal passwords and gain access to data and files (Hamel, n. . ). Despite these drawbacks, there are systems that E-bay has implemented in order to safe guard its business and the interests of its customers. Activity of employees can be recorded and this data can be used to monitor employees, such as in estimating the number of breaks an employee takes and the time they use to concentrate on work. There are Antisniff Programs used by E-Bay to detect and block a password snifter and protect the identity so that hackers are prevented and neat trading of goods and bids takes place (Hamel, n. d. ) E-bay also acts on the prevention of unauthorized use as well. E-bay makes use of data and information for this. Moreover, the use of biometric is of strategic importance in e-Bay. The fingerprint identification has been extended to identify authorized users. Iris and retina scans which use to be part of science fiction movies has now become part of sophisticated identification methods. The latest is use of magnetic card that is checked by a magnetic card reader to allow entry. To address the problems due to natural disasters or technology failure that can cause the hardware to be unusable, E-Bay provides a hot site that has an operational ready to use system. This is an expensive option, as the system is kept up to date, usually in different seismic zone. A cold site provides the infrastructure but not the processing power and data. In case of a problem, the backup system is made operational (Hamel, n. d. ). E-bay has opened many doors and lifted barriers for buyers and sellers worldwide. E-bay is constantly catering to the needs of their buyers and sellers and with the continual rise of technology and the Internet, more and more people will avail of their service.

Essays --

Though the definition of feasibility studies varies in every source, most of its defining characteristics can be found in Blanchard’s System Engineering and Analysis textbook [1]. The general goal of a feasibility study is to evaluate whether the proposed system concept is designed within the cost, schedule, and technical risk constraints that can work for the stakeholders needs. The feasibility study’s second function is to illustrate the possibility of acquiring potential solutions [2]. The third goal of feasibility is to draw out quantitative or semi-quantitative assessments, and finally, it identifies alternative technological approaches [1]. Feasibility studies may include exploration of alternative conceptual designs, operational functions, system components, and technology choices, in case the system’s components and concepts were indistinct; and its immediate consequences may include risk analysis of requirements [2]. The study is vital in the overall pro cess on team communication and initial evaluation should be done during the conceptual design process. Following the exampl...

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry

In 2014, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Eric Betzig and William Moerner who, working separately, laid the foundation for SMLM. In essence, this method relies on the possibility to turn the fluorescence of individual molecules on and off. Scientists image the same area multiple times, allowing only a few interspersed molecules to glow each time. By superimposing these images, a dense super-image can be resolved at the nanolevel. With the development of this technique, Betzig and Moerner were able to overcome Abbe's diffraction limit, allowing for the production of high resolution images that, before SMLM, had not been possible. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, Ernst Abbe and Lord Rayleigh formulated what is commonly known as the â€Å"diffraction limit† for microscopy. Roughly speaking, this limit states that it is impossible to resolve two elements of a structure that are closer to each other than about half the wavelength (?) in the lateral (x, y) plane and even further apart in the longitudinal (z) plane. Another consequence of the same diffraction limit is that it is not possible to focus a laser beam to a spot of smaller dimension than about ?/2. In the case of light (optical) microscopy, an important tool for the imaging of biological structures, this means that two objects within a distance between 400/2 = 200 nm (far blue) and 700/2 = 350 nm (far red) cannot be resolved. Although this is no real limitation for electron microscopy, in which the wavelength is orders of magnitude smaller, this method is very difficult to use on living cells. For instance, the length-scale of the E. coli cell is about 1,000 nm (1 ?m) which is larger than, but of similar magnitude, as the diffraction limit. This explains why, prior to the development of SMLM, it was difficult to image details of the internal structures of living bacteria. Perhaps this may be the reason why bacteria are considered to be â€Å"primitive† organisms with little internal structure. With single-molecule localization, more precise structures of bacteria and other small-scale entities, e.g. individual viruses, can be resolved.In SMLM, the photochemical properties of fluorescent proteins are exploited to induce a weakly emissive or non-emissive â€Å"dark† state. From the dark state, very small populations of fluorophores are returned to an emissive state by shining a weak light pulse that activates only a fraction of the fluorophores present. These fluorophores are excited and detected by glowing until they are bleached, at which point the procedure is repeated on a new subgroup of fluorophores. In order to be identified, however, the emission profile must exhibit minimal overlap in each image. The centroid position of each identified molecule is statistically fitted, often to a Gaussian function, and with a level of precision scaling with the number of detected photons. By imaging and fitting single emitters to a sub-diffraction limited area over thousands of single images, enough data is generated to create a composite reconstruction of all identified emitters. Single-molecule localization is a broad category consisting of specific techniques, such as STORM, PALM, and GSDIM, that operate using the conceptually similar procedure outlined above. The main difference between these types is the exact fluorophore chemistry used to turn the fluorescence of individual molecules on and off. The real breakthrough in single-molecule localization occurred in 2006, when Betzig and colleagues coupled fluorescent proteins to the membrane enveloping the lysosome, the cell's recycling station. By activating only a fraction of the proteins at a time and superimposing the individual images, Betzig ended up with a super-resolution image of the lysosome membrane. Its resolution was far better than Abbe's diffraction limit of 0.2 ?m, a barrier that previous microscopy techniques could not bypass. Since the ground-breaking discovery, SMLM has allowed organelles and single molecules to be resolved with an order of magnitude better resolution (with a localization accuracy of about 10 nm), in multiple color channels, and in 2D as well as 3D. Single-molecule microscopy allows quantification of the number of proteins within biological assemblies and characterization of protein spatial distribution, permitting the determination of protein stoichiometry and distribution in signaling complexes. For instance, for the ?2 adrenergic receptors, SMLM was used to show that the receptors are partially organized in mini-clusters only in cardiomyocytes but not in any other cell lines, and that these oligomers are not lipid raft related but rather depend on actin cytoskeleton integrity. Most importantly, the results of this study were different from those obtained from a similar report which used near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM), demonstrating the better precision of SMLM over other techniques. An additional important aspect of SMLM is that it can be used with other imaging techniques to elucidate receptor complex structures. In one study by Nan et al. (2013), the powerful sensitivity of FRET imaging to detect receptor proximity was combined with the capability of SMLM to obtain direct visualization of receptor oligomers in studying RAF, a strategic protein involved in RAS signaling. By means of cluster analysis, Nan and colleagues were able to show how RAF exists between an inactive monomeric state in the cytosol and a multimeric condition at the cell membrane when activated. The results from single-molecule localization confirmed the importance of dimer and oligomer formation in RAF signaling, even though the precise biological role of these different multimeric states is yet to be determined.The better definition of biological structures in the nanometer range as a result of SMLM has had most relevance in the field of neuroscience, where the morphology of neurons composed of dendritic spines and synapses is not suitable for confocal microscopy. For example, Dani et al. (2010) used single-molecule microscopy to image presynaptic and postsynaptic scaffolding proteins in the glomeruli of the mouse olfactory bulb to show distinct punctate patterns that were not resolved by conventional fluorescence imaging. Lastly, the high resolution of SMLM has enabled a deeper understanding of chromosome organization and genome mapping. Wang et al. (2011) determined the distribution of nucleoid-associated proteins in live E. coli cells, while Baday et al. (2012) were able to label 91 out of a total of 107 reference sites on a 180 kb human BAC gene with a 100 bp resolution. DNA mapping with such resolution offers the potential to uncover genetic variance and to facilitate medical diagnosis in genetic diseases. Nonetheless, there are a few challenges that come with single-molecule microscopy, namely errors in detection efficiency and localization uncertainty. Since using fluorescent proteins as labels involves the complications associated with protein expression, errors in this step (e.g. misfolding, incomplete maturation, etc.) can lead to the production of label molecules that are not fluorescent. This can directly affect counting studies, as the number of counted molecules can be underestimated. However, it is possible to use the obtained count (after correcting for blinking artifacts) for the counting. In one study that involved identification of protein complex stoichiometry by counting photobleaching steps, Renz et al. (2012) accounted for errors in detection efficiency using a binomial model, which was found to provide accurate results. Incorporating detection efficiency into a model for the ratio between monomers and dimers can also rectify efficiency errors. In terms of localization uncertainty, each photon from the emitter molecule provides a sample of the point spread function (PSF) from the molecule. Based on these samples, single molecule localization algorithms provide an estimate for the position of the fluorescent molecule. This estimate is prone to uncertainties, especially due to limited sampling (i.e. the limited number of photons obtained from the molecule). By ensuring that the imaged molecules within a frame are spatially separated enough so that the localization algorithms can correctly identify them, however, it is possible to minimize the effect of localization uncertainty on counting measures. Despite its potential shortcomings, single-molecule localization enables high resolution imaging on the scale of nanometers, which defies Abbe's diffraction limit of 0.2 ?m. SMLM has been used to elucidate specific cell structures, as in Betzig's visualization of the lysosome membrane, and receptor complexes, as in the case of RAF. The technique has also been used to refute results of similar studies that used different imaging protocols, as shown when determining the specific location of ?2 adrenergic receptors. Overall, SMLM has ushered in a new era of high resolution imaging that not only allows for accurate insight into individual cell and protein structure, but also enables identification of abnormalities in cellular processes that ultimately manifest as genetic diseases.

Analysis Of The Film The Movie Get Out - 1121 Words

In America, racism as well as race relations are generally extremely sensitive subjects that are often brushed underneath the rug. Earlier this year, Jordan Peele’s Get Out graced the big screen, and left audiences with a great deal to digest. Peele’s first cinematic debut touched on the delicate topics of racism and the continuous devaluing of African American culture by â€Å"liberal† Caucasians in American suburbs. In this essay, one will explore the ways in which works written by modern political thinkers such as Nietzsche and Marx effortlessly add perspective through various theories on the difficulties brought to light in the motion picture, Get Out. The movie Get Out begins when a young interracial couple, Chris and Rose, go to meet†¦show more content†¦Conversely, Chris appears to resonate with the idea that the bourgeoisie did not necessarily free man from being bound to others, but the bourgeoisie improved conditions for individuals such as the proletariat who were destined to work underneath others. From Chris’s perspective, the symbolism of an affluent Caucasian family having colored help is a direct correlation to African Americans still being valued as second class modern proletariat citizens in the United States. Following the revelation of his girlfriend’s parents having colored help, Chris is warmly greeted by Rose’s seemingly tolerant and friendly parents. Rose’s parents try to make Chris feel at home by telling him stories of the family patriarch losing a shot at the Olympics due to Jesse Owens. Similarly, they reassured Chris that they would have voted for Obama again for a third term if they could have. The Armitages were undoubtedly trying very hard to make Chris feel comfortable and relaxed, nonetheless it left Chris and audience members alike feeling as if the Armitages were purely trying too hard. It is a commonly acknowledged notion that whenever an individual is going above and beyond to give the impression of being relatable in order to make someone feel comfortable, they are commonly hiding something. As Nietzsche put it, â€Å"To talk much about oneself may also be a means of concealing oneself,† (Nietzsche 169). Rose’s parents give the audien ce the impression that there is something bizarreShow MoreRelatedEssay on Production Report1087 Words   |  5 PagesThriller Movie, a Children’s Television Programme, A magazine or a Radio Advert. After looking at them carefully, I decided to produce an opening sequence of a Thriller Movie. The sequence had to be at least two minutes long. 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