Big Data Free Essays

The breadth of center’s MEMO inventory that encompasses all wireless phone brands is unmatched in the wireless accessory industry. 1. 2 Executive Summary This document represents the artifacts collected for the Customer Cell Phone Accessories Purchase Project at Accessories Fulfillment Center (AFC) located in Houston, TX. We will write a custom essay sample on Big Data or any similar topic only for you Order Now AFC needs to have a program that will engage its customer to get satisfactorily business experience. The purpose of this project is to develop a high level data flow design from the customer entering into the website to the successful purchase. Our mission is to create value. We want to deliver a service where customers can find and discover all cell phone needs that they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices. Every client has their own highly complex fulfillment and logistics challenges and we are here to help increase operating income, leverage return on investment, improve market agility, and achieve higher levels of customer service. We believe that our customer This paper will highlight the data elements needed to support such a program as well as the contracts and sub-entities that come into play. It will focus initially on the interactions required between our customers and systems as well as the methods they may use to make these purchases. Next it will discuss the data elements that deed to be considered in these transactions. We will provide a fully attributed Entity Relationship Diagram (RED) showing the entities, primary and foreign keys, as well as the individual data attributes needed by each entity. We will also cover the contracts held between these entities. A Data Flow Diagram (DVD) will also be provided to depict the flow of data through the systems and the work / processing performed by the system. This will cover the logical design of the system. Finally, we will discuss our decision analysis with a matrix of potential solutions and the final decision we landed on. . 3 Problem statement Many companies and institutions have lack of designed web based application that can help and offer better service to customers employees and administers. As AFC Houston, it’s official site of AFC web Just shows the basic information of the company and the variety of product. If customers need to buy accessories from AFC, they have to drive to AFC or make phone call to AFC. As we can see the AFC web is not customized and ineffectively to increase sale. So the main problem is the company needs an online shopping system in which can show office web information and has unction’s such as product lookup, customer registration, product ordering and online payment. With the new system, AFC can create value and offer customer a better shopping experience. 1. 4 Assumption There are two assumptions we assume for establishing AFC online shopping system: 1 . It is common for company to use network technology to digitize system of information management. 2. The customer prefers to use online shopping system to achieve the purchasing activity. Online Shopping System Requirement Analysis 2. 1 Requirement Definition E-commerce makes our shopping experiences more convenience, fast and versification. AFC online shop system not only needs to have the basic functions of identify the AFC online shopping system flow in Figure 1 . Then we define the functional requirements and non-functional requirements. 3 AFC online shopping system flow 2. 2. 1 Functional Requirement According to the characteristic of AFC online shopping system’s basic process, we define some essential components for system function. 1 Only the membership can use the function of shopping cart. Product’s information needs a classification to user’s search. 3 Shopping cart needs serial number. Members can inquire the order. Considering these components, the main functions of the AFC online shopping system are embodied in the operation of providing, saving, updating and inquiring which include member information management, product information m anagement, shopping cart management, order management and payment method. The figure 2 shows the frame of system function module. 4 System Function Module We can conclude more functional requirement in detail from the diagram above. ) Member Register and Login Before new user puts the products into the cart, the system will guide the user to sign up the new account† part. New user has to fill in the information such as surname, password, Email address, phone number. The existing member then needs to enter the correct surname and password. The system will check the data and authorize the member to log in. B) Modify Member’s Information User can modify their registration information after log in which includes surname, c) Administrator User Administrator is a special user; it can manage normal account, classify the products and deal with order. ) Browse the product All the guest and member can browse the products. E) Manage shopping cart Add products into shopping cart Br owse the shopping cart Member can see the list of shopping item includes quantity, serial number, and total price in their own shopping cart. Delete the products Edit the quantity of product Clear the shopping cart f) Order processing System will generate the order after member go to check in shopping cart. The system provide the function of inquire order to members after they complete the purchasing activity. ) Payment Method The system will allow member pay the product by Credit [Debit card payment or Papal. 2. 1. 2 Non-functional requirement a) Operational management The system should run on any PC, tablet Pc, mobile phone which can be connected to internet. MISSES 6 – Final Project The system should always be monitored by one of the administer during it’s working time. B) Security No members can access any other member’s personal information and purchase record. All the personal information filled in AFC web Just can be seen by registrants himself and the ad minister who has been authorized. The information should be protected during transmission by Secure Sockets Layer(SSL) software, which encrypts information member input. C) Cultural and Political All content included on AFC site, such as text, graphics, logos, button icons and images is the property of AFC ‘s content suppliers and protected by the United States and international copyright laws. Customer satisfaction is Oaf’s goal. All the question and complaint that the system received will be deal within 48 hours. 3. Orders are guaranteed to ship within 1-2 days. The Entity Relationship Diagram helps us better to understand our data stored into the database. Each entity table specified is on the basis of requirements needed to fulfill our Customer Online Shopping System. For instance, Product_Detail entity table represents the information that needs to store for every new product, it can be updated or deleted. Same with Member_Detail entity table, it is required to store data for every new customer willing to become member of the company. The Member entity table represents data that is unique for every member of the company, ‘e surname and password. The Cart_lutes entity table represents the number of different products that a customer wants to have in his shopping cart. The Shopping Cart entity table has all the information of various products kept in the cart y the customer. It is nothing but the shopping bag with all the purchase details in it. Payment entity table takes cares of the payment required to make by the customer for the purchase from the company. And 7 Order_Detail table shows the details of the purchase made by the customer. A customer can directly inquire the status of his purchase made from the company. Each attributes in the table includes the details required will be stored each entity. The following is the explanation of primary keys, foreign keys and cardinality of relationship of each entity table: ) Member Primary Key: – User_ID User can be of two types, either returning previous customer or guest. Previous customer has their information available in system so they Just need to put their surname and password but for new customer we required to have all the basic information. Therefore, there is relationship between Member and Member Detail. B) Member_Detail Primary Key: – Member_old Foreign Key: – User_old. New customers willing to be member of the company need their data to be entered. There is relationship between Member and Member_Detail and I:M relationship tit product. C) Product_Detail Primary Key: – Product_old All the wears and tears of the product need to be stored in this table. There is I:M relationship with Member and M:N relationship with Cart_lutes. D) Cart_lutes Primary Key: – Correlate_old Foreign Key: – Product_old. Product_Detail. E) Outcroppings Primary Key: – Cart_old Foreign Key: – Member_old, Correlate_old 8 There is I:M relationship with Cart_lutes table, 1:1 relationship with payment and relationship with Member Detail. This table contains all the details of product that a customer is willing to buy. F) Payment Primary Key: – Payment_old. There would be 1:1 relationship between payment and Cart_late and also after successful verification of the payment, there is 1:1 relationship with the Order_Detail. G) Order_Detail Primary Key: – Order_old. There is 1:1 relationship with the payment and M:l with Member. A member can directly inquire for the status of his purchase with the order_old. The Entity Relationship Diagram for Customer Online Shopping system of Accessory Fulfillment Center is shown below in figure 3. 9 Entity Relationship Diagram Logical design: Process Modeling (DVD) DVD is a graphical representation of the flow of data through an information system. Based on the functional requirement and RED, the processes and entity of AFC online shopping system is clear. We draw the context diagram and DVD level O diagram for our system. The context diagram defines how the computer system interacts with it’s environment. In AFC case, external entities are the customer who will need the various services from the system, and the administration office who will manage and request the reports. The figure 4 shows how AFC online system interacts with guest, member and administer. Context Diagram The level O diagram shows all the processes at the first level of numbering, the data stores, external entities, and data flow among them. We define 3 external entities, 8 processes and 5 data stores. The system data flow starts from the customer browses AFC web and register the membership. Next the customer will choose the product to shopping cart then pay the product which will generate the order. Each order will have a unique number for customer to track the order activities. The number will also help administer to manage the order. Administer is external entities who will do he background work such as manage the membership and deal with the order. The figure 5 and 6 will show each process event and the integrated level O DVD. DVD Fragment 1 Figure 6 Decision Analysis In order to measure how beneficial or practical an information system will be to an organization, we consider conduct feasibility analysis on the AFC online shopping system. The feasibility analysis is an evaluation and analysis of the potential of a proposed project which is based on extensive investigation and research to support the process of decision making. This part will elaborate the feasibility analysis from How to cite Big Data, Papers Big data Free Essays Data† was only realized after the scanners were multi-dimensional software were made broadly installed. One could say that the data were the available. Twenty-five years ago, Big Data genre- â€Å"exhaust fumes† resulting from the primary use of dated by PUC point-of-sale scanners changed the The scanners to eliminate the costs of price marking face of marketing in the consumer packaged goods Oust as today, Big Data are often defined to be data (CUP) industry by causing marketing spending to that are a by-product of the use of a computer to tilt ominously in favor of price discounts and away solve an operational problem). We will write a custom essay sample on Big data or any similar topic only for you Order Now Cent years, from advertising. Today, real-time digital Big Data generated by From the Analog Audit to Digital Scanning: the Internet offer the ostensible benefits of pro- The Impact on Short-term Marketing Strategies viding consumers with an easy way to find the Before the advent of scanner data, CUP marketers lowest price for any product while also arming had to rely on bi-monthly manual audits of stores marketers with dramatically expanded advertising to understand the trends in their brand sales and optimization capabilities. Arrest share at retail (See Figure 1). The data were Marketers would be wise, however, to heed the sessions of history and recognize that for all the not available until six weeks after the end of the bi-month period. Benefits Big Data afford, they also come with per- Then, suddenly, retailers and manufacturers had ‘Is that may not be as readily apparent. Ultimately, timely access to weekly (and even daily) scanner real-time digital Big Data must be us ed correctly if data. The granularity of these new data clearly they are to have a positive impact on brand health revealed the substantial impact of short-term mar- and improve marketing return on investment (ROI) kiting tactics, including temporary price reductions tooth today and in the future. Supported by newspaper advertisements (which communicated the price) along with prominent in- HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE store merchandising support-?often in the form of How the Availability of Data Has end-aisle displays (See Figure 2). Transformed Markets Though auditing data showed a relatively stable Back in the sass, the motivation for retailers to bi-monthly sales trend, weekly scanner data clearly invest $1 50,000 to equip a typical supermarket with revealed the large and volatile sales increases that PUC scanners was not the value of the data they occurred when newspaper feature advertisements would obtain but rather the cost savings from not announced price reductions and in-store merchant- having to price mark each of the hundreds of thou- dosing support was implemented. Armed with this sands items on stores’ shelves. With scanners, it was type of granular information, retailers were able to necessary only to display each SKU (stock-keeping pressure manufacturers for more trade-promotion unit’s) price via a sign at the shelf because the check- dollars, and manufacturers-?as a result of the out cash register obtained the price for each undivided- tillers’ pressure along with their own desire for all item by looking up the item’s PUC code in the a short-term sales lift-?willingly increased their store’s PUC/price file as the item was scanned. With this advent of these new data sources, CUP marketing Business often looked quite stable underwent a fundamental marketing shift from advertising to price discounting. Bimonthly Brand Sales 50 Today, software giant SAP GAG reports that the average CUP manufacturer spends fully 67 percent of its marketing budget on trade promotion and 10 percent on direct- $ Millions to-consumer promotions (mainly cents-off coupons), whereas less than 23 percent is 20 spent on branding advertising. With so 10 much being spent on retailer incentives that, in turn, then are used to temporarily Jan-Feb. Mar-Par May-June reduce price, the concern that resonates July-Gauge through the industry is that brand equity Figurer Market Information in CUP Before Scanners: Brand Sales Measured by Bimonthly Manual Store Audits is being eroded as consumers become â€Å"trained† to buy on the basis of price discounts alone. That’s an unhealthy situation for any brand. Big Data in the Digital World: but weekly scanner data revealed to retailers and manufacturers the huge short- term impact of trade promotions. 70 % Volume Sold (Newspaper/Display/Price Discount) Dollar Sales -10 Jan 12 Jan 19 Jan 26 How to cite Big data, Papers

English Literature Blood Brothers Essay Example For Students

English Literature Blood Brothers Essay Explain how a key extract from the play Blood Brothers by Willy Russell might be staged and explain the role of the chosen character in this part of the play.  Blood Brothers was written by Willy Russell, who was born in Whiston on the outskirts of Liverpool in 1947. The play Blood Brothers was first performed in a secondary school in Fazakerly, a suburb of Liverpool in 1982. On the first night it was performed in front of four hundred pupils, there were minimal props, scenery and music, but over the years it has been developed onto Broadway in 1993. It has been translated into at least ten different languages and is performed regularly all over the world. The play is set throughout the 60s, 70s and 80s with the main themes brought out towards the end of this period. Russells intentions in the play and the portrayal, reflects the idea of social differences. The social class differences are projected vastly throughout the play and the question of, Is a working class resident able to break free of their working class arises. Mickey and Edward are the key characters in the play and are both twins however they are unaware of this fact. This is because when the mother (Mrs Johnstone) gave birth to twins, she would have 9 children and this would have proved almost impossible to provide for all, therefore she decided to give one of the twins to her employer, Mrs Lyons. As a result, Edward goes off with Mrs Lyons and lives a good medium class life; this is a vast contrast with Mickeys life. The two extracts from Blood Brothers which I have studied explore the idea of the two brothers uniting and becoming friends. However, they are still unaware at this point that they are not only siblings, but twins. One thing they do discover is their mutual days of birth, and due to this they become Blood Brothers, hence the title of the play. In the second scene the two have grown up; Edward has returned from university, and still has not yet matured. In contrast to Mickey who has matured and even has a job, however as Edward returns, Mickey is made redundant. The first extract in my opinion is more effective because it is the very first time that the brothers meet, and realise they have the same birth date. At this point the audience are in suspense, wondering whether the two will realise that they are brothers.  Explain how a key extract from the play Blood Brothers by Willy Russell might be staged and explain the role of the chosen character in this part of the play. Blood Brothers was written by Willy Russell, who was born in Whiston on the outskirts of Liverpool in 1947. The play Blood Brothers was first performed in a secondary school in Fazakerly, a suburb of Liverpool in 1982. On the first night it was performed in front of four hundred pupils, there were minimal props, scenery and music, but over the years it has been developed onto Broadway in 1993. It has been translated into at least ten different languages and is performed regularly all over the world. The play is set throughout the 60s, 70s and 80s with the main themes brought out towards the end of this period. Russells intentions in the play and the portrayal, reflects the idea of social differences. The social class differences are projected vastly throughout the play and the question of, Is a working class resident able to break free of their working class arises. Mickey and Edward are the key characters in the play and are both twins however they are unaware of this fact. This is because when the mother (Mrs Johnstone) gave birth to twins, she would have 9 children and this would have proved almost impossible to provide for all, therefore she decided to give one of the twins to her employer, Mrs Lyons. As a result, Edward goes off with Mrs Lyons and lives a good medium class life; this is a vast contrast with Mickeys life. .udb5fbfe06331fa8afcaab4cb44656b54 , .udb5fbfe06331fa8afcaab4cb44656b54 .postImageUrl , .udb5fbfe06331fa8afcaab4cb44656b54 .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .udb5fbfe06331fa8afcaab4cb44656b54 , .udb5fbfe06331fa8afcaab4cb44656b54:hover , .udb5fbfe06331fa8afcaab4cb44656b54:visited , .udb5fbfe06331fa8afcaab4cb44656b54:active { border:0!important; } .udb5fbfe06331fa8afcaab4cb44656b54 .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .udb5fbfe06331fa8afcaab4cb44656b54 { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .udb5fbfe06331fa8afcaab4cb44656b54:active , .udb5fbfe06331fa8afcaab4cb44656b54:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .udb5fbfe06331fa8afcaab4cb44656b54 .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .udb5fbfe06331fa8afcaab4cb44656b54 .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .udb5fbfe06331fa8afcaab4cb44656b54 .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .udb5fbfe06331fa8afcaab4cb44656b54 .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .udb5fbfe06331fa8afcaab4cb44656b54:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .udb5fbfe06331fa8afcaab4cb44656b54 .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .udb5fbfe06331fa8afcaab4cb44656b54 .udb5fbfe06331fa8afcaab4cb44656b54-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .udb5fbfe06331fa8afcaab4cb44656b54:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Brave New World Essay PromptsThe two extracts from Blood Brothers which I have studied explore the idea of the two brothers uniting and becoming friends. However, they are still unaware at this point that they are not only siblings, but twins. One thing they do discover is their mutual days of birth, and due to this they become Blood Brothers, hence the title of the play. In the second scene the two have grown up; Edward has returned from university, and still has not yet matured. In contrast to Mickey who has matured and even has a job, however as Edward returns, Mickey is made redundant. The first extract in my opinion is more effective because it is the very first time that the brothers meet, and realise they have the same birth date. At this point the audience are in suspense, wondering whether the two will realise that they are brothers.

Suicide bombing an Example by

Suicide bombing Introduction Suicide bombing is believed to be one of the ultimate acts of terrorism. It is horrific in its results, and the act of bombing itself doesnt choose who it kills. It kills all, adults, man and woman, children, and the saddest thing is that it kills the innocent. Need essay sample on "Suicide bombing" topic? We will write a custom essay sample specifically for you Proceed The propagation of suicide bombing nowadays has been increasing, especially in the Arab world where it seems that peace will not reign there for years or so. That area of the world has been a battleground of ideas, arms and ideologies alike. Yet, suicide bombing is closely connected with Islamic extremist willing to give up there lives by blowing themselves up for a cause they only can relate to. As the clash between ideologies expands, the war continually expands also. More fighters are recruited on both sides of the campaign, and suicide bombers as well. People Very Often Tell EssayLab professionals:How much do I have to pay someone to write my assignment online?Essay writer professionals advise:Follow Essaylab Writing ServiceBuy College Papers Blog Post Writers Best Writing Services Cheap Custom Writing Service We pose the question why do suicide bomber exist? This paper aims to answer this question that has perplexed thousands of individuals around the world asking why do they do that? What makes them tick? Part of the answer can be linked to what the Islamic world calls the Jihad or the holy war. People give up their lives by killing another in order to gain entry into eternal life. To some, this idea may seem to be twisted, but to them, it is their key to heaven. But the fact remains the same, suicide bombers exist, and people live in absolute terror due to the possibility that their peaceful way of life can be shattered by a man strapped with powerful bombs around his body, ready to die and take along with him hundreds of life. A Suicide Attack To gain an overview of suicide bombers and bombing, we take the definition of a suicide attack as defined by www.wikipedia.org. It defines a suicide attack as an attack in which the attacker (attacker being either an individual or a group) intends to kill others and intends to die in the process of doing so. Suicide attack in the strictest sense means the attacker dies by the attack itself, for example in an explosion or crash caused by the attacker. The term is sometimes loosely applied to an incident in which the intention of the attacker is not clear though he is almost sure to die by the defense or retaliation of the attacked party. A suicide attack is carried out by suicide bombers. What makes these individual bombers? One of the major causes why these bombers exist is because of the existence of terrorist organizations which recruit young men and women, teach them how to make bombs and inculcate in their minds that it is all right to kill infidels who are enemies of Allah, to die in defense of their country or for the realization of their twisted ideas or beliefs. As explained, Terrorist organizations call upon their members to take part in suicide attacks under different banners and slogans. Sometimes it is done on behalf of God and religion, sometimes on behalf of the nation, and many times as an act of revenge or deterrence against a more powerful adversary. Islamic fundamentalist organizations such as Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, al Qaeda, and Hezbollah invoke God and interpret the Koran in a way that fits their political and operational needs. (www.pbs.org) A Suicide Bomber Suicide bombers each have different ideas and philosophies why they take on the path of killing themselves with bombs. Some may be attributed to poverty wherein they were neglected by their government in terms of providing their basic needs; in turn they retaliate by bombing their governments office building and agencies taking with them government employees lives. Another reason could be the fact that, according to a Pentagon report, a bomber does his duty in service to God by suicide bombing. The Pentagon report explains that the bombers secure salvation and the pleasure of Paradise. He earns a degree of financial security and a place for his family in Paradise. He defends his faith and takes his place in a long line of martyrs to be memorialized as a valorous fighter. And finally, because of the manner of his death, he is assured that he will find favor with Allah. Another reason comes out from fact that some individuals do not like foreign occupation or invasion of their country. So in defiance to the new rulers, they kill themselves to convey their political opinions, and to serve as examples to others not to bow down or follow foreign rule. Whatever the form of suicide bombing, or whatever was used to carry out this intention, suicide bombers have in mind the idea of self-sacrifice, and thus they view these acts of terrorism as positive and serve the greater good of their ideologies. Suicide bombing takes a form wherein the lives of few victims are sacrifice in order to attain the extremists purpose. This would exemplify Niccolo Machiavellis the end justifies the means. In contemporary times, the identities of suicide bomber are not only confined within the nationalities of the Arab world. Suicide bombers now exist in Europe and Asia, as well as the United Asia. The nationalities of these terrorists are not only of Middle Eastern races but are composed now of different nationalities outside Arab countries. Some of them are British, Americans, and Africans of Middle Eastern descent. There has been also a growing number nowadays of female suicide bomber as compared to male terrorists. An observation by Clara Beyler, a writer, describes why women are more frequently involved in suicide attacks in the Middle East. She explains that women have channeled the frustration stemming from their role in society into ruthless behavior. This can demonstrate strength and power in societies where women have a submissive role. That women have become more involved in suicide bombings makes it more difficult to profile a suicide bomber. From events that unfolded throughout the world related to the increase in the number of suicide bombings, one can arrive to the conclusion that more and more innocent people will die, and the chaos in the parts of the Middle East may spread across Europe and Asia, and create problems throughout the world. If world leaders will continue to resort to the use of arms and conflict to settle differences in ideas, ideologies or beliefs, more and more individuals also will be enticed to be suicide bombers just to express their own ideas, ideologies or beliefs. This would become a cycle, and will not end unless leaders will look for peaceful means to solve these problems. Otherwise, there would be an eventuality that, sooner or later, peace will cease to exist forever. Conclusion Yoram Schweitzer, author of the book The Globalization of Terror: The Al Qaeda Challenge and the Response of the International Community wrote that in the fight against terrorism of all forms, it is important to understand who or what our enemy is. We can only fight against this horror if we understand its causes and motivations. What motivates a person to lash out in this violent, inhumane way? That is something that all of us -- mental health professionals, politicians, and common people -- need to understand, so that we can address the issues more honestly, prevent more violence, and find ways to work towards lasting peace. Therefore, if we need to end this violence of suicide bombings brought about by these notorious bombers, we need to understand the causes that drives these individuals to commit these crimes. In this way, we can, as a united society, make necessary precautions and preventive measures to deter suicide bombings to be committed at or near our very homes. Emphasis should be put also on ways to assess the psychology and behaviors of these suicide bombers so that we can detect at the earliest possible time symptoms in a person who has a tendency to be a suicide bomber in the future. But more importantly, there is a need to foster a sense of peace in every action that a person does, so that when conflict arise the use of arms or suicide bombings would not be the immediate resort individuals will use. The resort to peace should be the primary consideration always. References: Suicide Attack. Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. 5 March 2007 Suicide Bombers, Why they do it, and what does Islam say about their actions. Suicide Terrorism: Historical Background and Risks for the Future.

Christmas Truce of 1914 in World War I

Christmas Truce of 1914 in World War I The 1914 Christmas Truce occurred December 24 to 25 (in some places December 24 through January 1), 1914, during the first year of World War I (1914 to 1918). After five months of bloody fighting on the Western Front, peace descended over the trenches during the Christmas season of 1914. Though not endorsed by the high command, a series of informal truces occurred that saw troops on both sides celebrate together and enjoy singing and sporting events.   Background With the beginning of World War I in August 1914, Germany commenced the Schlieffen Plan. Updated in 1906, this plan called for German forces to move through Belgium with the intention of encircling French troops along the Franco-German border and winning a fast and decisive victory. With France knocked out of the war, men could be shifted east for a campaign against Russia. Put into motion, the first stages of the plan achieved success during the Battle of the Frontiers and the German cause was further enhanced by a stunning triumph over the Russians at Tannenberg in late-August. In Belgium, the Germans drove back the small Belgian Army and beat the French at the Battle of Charleroi as well as the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) at Mons. A Bloody Autumn Falling back to the south, the BEF and French finally were able to halt the German advance at the First Battle of the Marne in early September. Stymied, the Germans retreated behind the Aisne River. Counterattacking at the First Battle of the Aisne, the Allies failed to dislodge the Germans and took heavy losses. Stalemated on this front, both sides began the Race to the Sea as they sought to outflank each other. Marching north and west, they stretched the front to the English Channel. As both sides fought for the upper hand, they clashed in Picardy, Albert, and Artois. Ultimately reaching the coast, the Western Front became a continuous line reaching to the Swiss frontier. For the British, the year concluded with the bloody First Battle of Ypres in Flanders where they sustained over 50,000 casualties. Peace on the Front After the heavy fighting of the late summer and fall of 1914, one of the mythic events of World War I occurred. The 1914 Christmas Truce began on Christmas Eve along the British and German lines around Ypres, Belgium. While it took hold in some areas manned by the French and Belgians, it was not as widespread as these nations viewed the Germans as invaders. Along the 27 miles of front manned by the British Expeditionary Force, Christmas Eve 1914 began as a normal day with firing on both sides. While in some areas firing began to slacken through the afternoon, in others it continued at its regular pace. This impulse to celebrate the holiday season amid the landscape of war has been traced to several theories. Among these was the fact that the war was only four months old and the level of animosity between the ranks was not as high as it would be later in the war. This was complemented by a sense of shared discomfort as the early trenches lacked amenities and were prone to flooding. Also, the landscape, aside from the newly dug trenches, still appeared relatively normal, with fields and intact villages all of which contributed to introducing a degree of civilization to the proceedings. Private Mullard of the London Rifle Brigade wrote home, we heard a band in the German trenches, but our artillery spoilt the effect by dropping a couple of shells right in the centre of them. Despite this, Mullard was surprised at sunset to see, trees stuck on top of the [German] trenches, lit up with candles, and all of the men sitting on top of the trenches. So, of course, we got out of ours and passed a few remarks, inviting each other to come over and have a drink and a smoke, but we did not like to trust each other at first. The Sides Meet The initial force behind the Christmas Truce came from the Germans. In most cases, this began with the singing of carols and the appearance of Christmas trees along the trenches. Curious, Allied troops, who had been inundated with propaganda depicting the Germans as barbarians, began to join in the singing which led to both sides reaching out to communicate. From these first hesitant contacts informal ceasefires were arranged between units. As the lines in many places were only 30 to 70 yards apart, some fraternization between individuals had taken place prior to Christmas, but never on a large scale. For the most part, both sides returned to their trenches later on Christmas Eve. The following morning, Christmas was celebrated in full, with men visiting across the lines and gifts of food and tobacco being exchanged. In several places, games of soccer were organized, though these tended to be mass kick abouts rather than formal matches. Private Ernie Williams of the 6th Cheshires reported, I should think there were about a couple of hundred taking part...There was no sort of ill-will between us. Amid the music and sports, both sides frequently joined together for large Christmas dinners. Unhappy Generals While the lower ranks were celebrating in the trenches, the high commands were both livid and concerned. General Sir John French, commanding the BEF, issued stern orders against fraternizing with the enemy. For the Germans, whose army possessed a long history of intense discipline, the outbreak of popular will among their soldiery was cause for worry and most stories of the truce were suppressed back in Germany. Though a hard line was taken officially, many generals took a relaxed approach seeing the truce as an opportunity to improve and re-supply their trenches, as well as scout out the enemys position. Back to Fighting For the most part, the Christmas Truce only lasted for Christmas Eve and Day, though in some areas it was extended through Boxing Day and New Years. As it ended, both sides decided on signals for the recommencement of hostilities. Reluctantly returning to war, the bonds forged at Christmas slowly eroded as units rotated out and the fighting became more ferocious. The truce had largely worked due to a mutual feeling that the war would be decided at another place and time, most likely by someone else. As the war went on, the events of Christmas 1914 became increasing surreal to those who had not been there.

The Internal Analysis about Toll Group of Asia Essay

The Internal Analysis about Toll Group of Asia - Essay Example This study will also focus on the strength, weakness and the threats to the Toll Asia. Toll group was established in 1888 by A F Toll in Newcastle, Australia. IN 1986 the business was sold to a management led by current Managing Director Paul Little and former chairman Peter Rowsthorn and it succeeded to be listed on ASX in 1993. The company ranks 25 on Australian Stock Exchange, it has AU$ 9 billion worth of market capitalization and its annual revenue is more than AU $ 8 billion. The company has 30,000 employees in a network of 670 sites in all over Australia and in Asian region. It has the key Australian ports, railway, warehousing, road fleets and the air capacity in transport and infrastructure facilities and it has diverse customer base to catering by the best management of supply chain Toll Asia produces the renowned brands of the world; Colgate, Palmolive, Samsung, Philips, Johnson &Johnson and Yamaha. It also operates in oil and gas supply base SOPS in Singapore as well as satellite bases in Thailand and Azerbaijan to support companies busy in onshore and offshore oil and gas exploration and production. The logistic sector of Toll Asia is very important for Singapore it serves two purposes one is of industry and the other is of enabler. Logistic sector as an industry has the share of 8% in the GDP o f the company and it employees 100,000 workers. As an enable the company provides logistics outside Singapore to avoid the cost factors. Singapore offers excellent business connectivity through the strong network of business partners and investors, Toll is caters some 3,000 local and international logistics companies from the countries like US, and countries from Europe, and Asia. It brings multiplicity and classiness to their logistics capabilities, and it makes Singapore the number to attract companies from all over the world for the one-stop supply chain solutions centre for Asia. Gati (from India), PWC Logistics (from Kuwait), Cosco Logistics (from China) and CJ Global Logistics (from Korea) are taking great interest in logistic services. The Toll is the best in storage and off shoring platform getting 70% share. Moreover, it is the largest oil and gas tolls manufacture to help to soar the profit to $ 4billion in 2005. The world class infrastructure, skilled man power has helped many countries to use Singapore as the command and control centre. Strength: The integrated strategy of logistics with the smart technology to connect the services and a permanent interfacing with the consumers is the point which distinguishes Toll from others in the market place. It also provides defense logistic services. Mr. Lim Siong Guen the chairperson, Singapore Economic Development board said, "Toll's partnership with Singapore enhances our specialized logistic capabilities for the oil and gas industry. This speaks volumes of Toll's confidence in Singapore as one-stop logistics and supply chain gateway to Asia."(1) He also expressed his intention to enhance the net work of services by expanding intra Asia logistics. As Toll is operating in

Analyzing article for Derivatives Risk and Management Class Essay

Analyzing article for Derivatives Risk and Management Class - Essay Example For mothers, they might have an option to be a plain housewife or to be a working mom. For working parents with meager income, they might have an option to start a new business and leave their jobs or to continue working for a company. All of these options seem to have a thing in common: uncertainty and the need of a decision. However, decisions are not made out of thin air; they have to be carefully woven and a well thought because any wrong move would affect the success of one’s own life. The question then is how to come up with a sound decision. In business sense, there are so-called financial options that give individuals the right, not an obligation to make a business decision---usually involving capital investments. Basically, there are two types of methods. One is the traditional method, commonly used is the net present value, which solely assess the financial value of the decision therefore ignoring any economic implications. The decision involved here will be very obj ective taking into account only the discount factors, cost of capital, etc. Using this method, if the computation produces a positive net present value, the investment must be pushed through. On the contrary, the second one, which is the real options method, is a modern approach to decision making. It takes into consideration the importance of a flexible management and a dynamic working atmosphere. Thus, clearly, it does not purely focus on the financial aspect of the decision but also on its economic value. Options start to surface as they pose new opportunities. Opportunities of growth are commonly the main reason why individuals are looking out on them rather than sticking to their present condition. However, the results of these opportunities may or may not materialize in the short-run, medium-term, or long run. There are a lot of factors to be considered before considering an option hence it may take some time to come up with a final decision. First is the irreversibility of th e decision. Once a person is already at it, he/she cannot easily escape from the realms of his/her decision. Second, opportunity loss may be offset by waiting for the appropriate time to implement the action. In other words, an allowance for a delay in decision-making is provided in order to make more sound decisions. To meet these two requirements, there are these â€Å"real options† that are allows you to exercise what you want to accomplish in the future. To show a concrete example, consider a young man who recently graduated from a university with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. After finally getting out of the academe, he had in mind two options: to continue his studies in Law School or to work in the corporate world and earn money. In this case, whatever the decision is, a trade off will exist. Notice also that whatever decision he chooses, then it would be irreversible as it would mean a waste of time and money. If he goes to Law School, that mea ns he has to forego the course that he has taken up for years and enter a new realm or school of thought. Therefore, there is an opportunity cost involved here. However, there is a need to do so in order to be flexible enough to face the world waiting for him outside the academe. Financially, it would not be favorable for him to take up law because he will just be spending another years in law school both with time and

Internal Traceability And External Traceability

Internal Traceability And External Traceability Traceability itself does not make food safe. However it is a risk management tool whenever a food safety problem is concerned. Past experiences have shown that the operation of food or feed market can be jeopardized when it is impossible to trace food or feed. Seafood is a highly perishable food item, increasingly globally traded and many particular conditions have to be taken into account (Schrà ¶der, U. 2008). Therefore a comprehensive system of traceability is targeted to avoid unnecessary wider disruption in food business. According to ISO 8402:1994, traceability is defines as the ability to trace the history, application or location of an entity by means of recoded identification. Starting from 2002, all fishery products in European Union must be labeled with commercial designation of the species, the production method and the catch area or production location according to traceability Requirements for Fish (Regulation EC/2065/2001). E.U. General Food Law Regulation 178/2002 (Article 3) mentioned that traceability means the ability trace and follow a food, feed, food producing animal or substance intended to be, or expected to be incorporated into a food or feed through all stages of production, processing and distribution. Traceability is mentioned in the Food Hygiene Regulation 2009 (Regulation 10) that it should be identified as one step back from where the food came and one step forward where the food went at any specified stage in the food chain 80.5% of fishery production in Malaysia is captured whereas 94.4% of seafood in European Union is capture fisheries. Marine fish landing in Malaysia has been quit consistent around 1300 tonnes per annum (Buku Perangkaan Perikanan Tahunan, 2009; Fisheries statistic, 2011). However, there is a trend of dropping in the capture of fishery products in the European Union from 7253 tonnes in 1998 to 5148 in 2008. Hence, European Union tends to import more fish and has stringent rules and regulations on the import of seafood products. Traceability procedure may seem to be lengthy but its importance and benefits outweigh its all. The main purpose of traceability is to improve safety and quality control and this could boost import potential, market access and lead to better business management and efficiency. In food safety issue, it not only safeguards against bioterrorism, but also enables immediate recall and withdrawal when a risk or hazard is identified. Besides that, it also provides a channel for transparent and fair trading between operators. Accurate information is provided to the public so that consumers will not be misled by inaccurate label and make informed purchasing decisions. Traceability records help control authorities to perform better risk assessment (Regulation (EC) No. 178/2002 (Article 18)). Traceability also helps to increase ones market share or product value. Its importance in the implication of sustainable fishing may be unseen by the society. With traceability record, seafood business ope rators cannot make false claims and we can get rid of the false perception of plentiful seafood supply in the marine ecosystem. 2.0 Internal Traceability and External Traceability Generally, traceability can be divided into two types, which is the internal traceability and external or chain traceability. Internal traceability is the recordkeeping of a product within a particular operation, company or production facility. It relates the data about raw materials and processes to the final product before it is delivered. Many seafood processing companies have effective internal traceability systems as part of their HACCP based quality assurance systems. Internal traceability is aimed at productivity improvement and cost reduction within a production unit such as fish plant. This type of record keeping is already required throughout the seafood industry as it is essential for keeping track of inventory, purchasing and other in house accounting. External traceability refers to traceability the product outside of a business entity, in the entire supply chain. It is between companies and countries and depends on the presence of internal traceability of each entity. Therefore it is a challenge that requires the cooperation of all operators in the supply chain from farm to table. For instances, external traceability allows the tracking of a product and attributes of that product through the successive stages of the distribution chain such as from boat or fish farm to table. One step back and one step forward approach is the simplest model of external traceability. It comprises the capability to track the movement of the product forward through the supply chain to understand where it has gone, what it has gone into and what it has come into contact with. Besides, it enables to trace a product back to understand the custody chain of product, components and ingredients. Under this system, each partner in the supply chain is respons ible to record input and output data but not for information which may be several steps ahead or behind in the supply chain (Can-Trace, 2007). Tracing upstream means looking back along the supply chain towards the harvester or producer steps. Downstream looks forward towards distribution and consumption. External traceability makes use of a set of tools that aids in traceability such as identifiers, carriers (Bar code and RFIDs) and readers. As seafood supply chains become longer and convulated, there is raising demand for external traceability data by both regulators and consumers. Both internal and external traceability system had been used in European Union (EU) and Malaysia. They are used to achieve different purposes or objectives such as for food safety regulatory requirements or to ensure quality and other contractual requirements. Besides a well-developed technological infrastructure, the speed of trace-back and trace-forward (traceability) is influenced by well-functioning and well-organized competent authorities (CAs). Legistlation and the accuracy, efficiency of data exchanges and controls are vital to the functioning of the CAs. The Malaysia food safety system is characterized by its complexity and diversity with different authority entrusted with the task of ensuring food safety at different stages of the food chain such as Ministry Of Health (MOH), Department Of Fisheries (DOF) and Fishery Development Authority Of Malaysia (LKIM). C:[emailprotected] traceability systemexternal and internal.jpg Figure 1: External versus internal traceability. (Source: Petersen and Green, 2007) 3.0 Fishing Scenario in Malaysia: What Causes Malaysia to Change? The introduction of import conditions for seafood and other fishery products by European Union (EU) in year 2002 had been a wakeup call for the Malaysian authorities. In year 2005, the Directorate General of health and Consumers (D.G. Sanco) visited Malaysia after the harmonization of the EU members import condition. Among the main problems identified were (Shahridan and Nagalingam, 2011): No specific legislation was in place to ensure that fishing vessels and landings sites are in line with EU standards, No generic approval of a farm for export, those who wish to export must register with the Animal Health Quarantine Centre of the Department of Fisheries, Laboratories involved in testing were not adequately equipped and staff were not knowledgeable enough, The HACCP programme was not a prerequisite for an establishment to be proposed for the EU export list, and There was a need to implement minimum hygiene standards in processing plants, fishing vessels and landing sites. After the findings, recommendations were made to improve the situation by the next visit in 2008. In year 2008, D.G Sanco found that most of issues from the previous visit have not been addressed and concluded that all official controls put in place by the Malaysian competent authority were not equivalent to the EU requirements for import of live fish and finished products. Therefore, EU contemplated to impose a ban, which would then be gazette into a law which would be harder to reverse. This lead the Malaysian competent authority to immediately impose an unilateral export ban to the EU (Shahridan and Nagalingam, 2011). The impact of unilateral EU export ban caused huge lost to the seafood and fishery products industries and the government. Forty-five processing establishments and one freezer vessel lost their licenses or EU numbers to export to the EU immediately. Processing plants that had their shipment ready for EU and also in process had to appeal for a gestation period to fulfill those orders. The ready stock for the upcoming EU festive seasons had to be reprocessed and repacked for other countries. Half of the processing plants in the country shut down and many lost their jobs overnight (Shahridan and Nagalingam, 2011). Several improvements were implemented to meet the EU requirements. New regulations were enacted (Table 1) and the official controls put in place by the Malaysian competent authorities were reorganized (Figure 2). Details regarding traceability were discussed in detailed in the next subtopic. Table 1: New regulations enacted to improve the food safety regulations. Regulation Content Food Hygiene Regulation 2009 Health certificates need to be issued for all relevant parties involved in finished product heading for the EU. Fisheries Regulations 2009 Fishing vessels and aquaculture farms have to get quality control certification for seafood that would be processed into finished product for the EU. Lembaga Kemajuan Ikan Malaysia Regulations 2010 Hygiene and recognition of fish landing sites approved for raw material heading to the EU. MOH DOF LKIM Central competent authority Directly responsible for public health in this matter. Controls of potable water supply Competent authority directly responsible for animal health matters in this area. Competent authority for issuing the license that allows a company to carry out the activity of import/export of live fish or final product (fishing vessels). MOH DOF LKIM Middlemen/ Transporters Processing plants Sources of imported raw material Water and ice sources Aquaculture farms Fishing vessels Landing sites MOH: Ministry of Health DOF: Department Of Fisheries LKIM: Fishery Development Authority Of Malaysia Figure 2: Reorganization and detailed description of competent authorities framework. (Source: Shahridan and Nagalingam, 2011) Improvements 4.0 Chain Traceability The ability to connect incoming and outgoing goods or one-step backward and one-step forward is a prerequisite for chain traceability to show the relationship between business partners. This requires that the business partners are known to each other and able to cooperate to successfully create traceability graph. This graph is a representation of elements and relationships consisting of knowledge about a traceable unit represented as a directed graph of trace events and relationships to resources, actors and other traceable units (Tracefish, 2009). Before establishing chain traceability, one must decide on what system, method and tracing tool to be used to identify, mark and label his products. It is also necessary to be able to define business partners that are involved in the traceability. The partners should be divided into the following categories which are: suppliers (producers of raw materials, ingredients, finished products and packaging), customers (retailers) and transporters. Types of traceability system and the food supply chain will be further discussed below. 4.1 Paper-based and electronic systems Identification, marking and labelling Paper based system and electronic system are examples of traceability system used throughout the food supply chain. The purpose of both systems is to provide information, recording and linking of the particular food from farm to fork. Most traceability system adopted by companies utilizes the mixture of paper and electronic systems. The key factor in determining the type of traceability system depends on the size of the company. In both European Union (EU) and Malaysian perspectives, there is no definite and singular system to be employed throughout the food supply chain. In EU General Food Law, Article 18 states that the system must simply guarantee a link supplier-product and a link customer-product which allows providing the essential information to the competent authorities upon their request. The same goes for the Malaysia, whereby Regulation 10 in Food Hygiene Regulation 2009 states that a food traceability system shall be provided to be able to identify one step back and one step forward at any specified stage from production to distribution. Although there are differences in approaching traceability and major structural differences between the chains for different types of fish, products and varies among countries, there is also a degree of commonality in information requirements by the respective law and regulations. These information requirements can be categorized as (Tracefish, 2009): Each food business has to collect and record information and make it available to the competent authorities upon request and to other food business operators for the purpose of product withdrawal or recall. Information on the nature of the food and the operations involved is required for particular purposes and must be available to the appropriate authorities. Commercially desirable information on the nature of the food and the operations can be requested by food business for reasons such as, Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP), ethical, environmental, quality assurance records, raw material or product standards and specifications. Paper traceability system is widespread and is the oldest system used throughout the supply chain. Most companies in both EU and Malaysian, who are making small profit and producing limited quantity of products, utilise this system as it is cheap and changes can be easily made. However, its disadvantages are manually intensive, reliant on correct procedural operations, trace-back of information is time consuming and difficult and records are not easily reviewed. A paper traceability system also requires a lot of storage space. Electronic traceability consists of bar code systems and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) systems. Bar code systems are widely used and are well established in the food industry in both EU and Malaysia. It is inexpensive to implement and use. EAN.UCC system (European Article Number and Uniform Code Council) are the most widely used across EU. The more recent RFID technology uses tags that send identification codes electronically to a receiver when passing through a reading area. RFID identifiers consist of a surface/chip, which can be attached onto or implanted into any surface to provide encoded information of identity. One of the major advantage of RFID is that it is able to scan the whole pallet in seconds while passing through a reader area as many tags can be read simultaneously even when not in-line of sight which is the disadvantage of bar codes. However, RFID is less widely used technology in EU when compared to bar code technology as it is expensive. Thus far, the usage of RFID technology in Malaysia has not been introduced in tracking seafood product. However, RFID technology had been introduced in government-run livestock tracking programme which is funded by the veterinary Department of Malaysias Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-based industries to control disease outbreaks among livestock (RFIDNews, 2009). One major advantage of electronic traceability systems is their ability to handle large amounts of information in a precise manner. Records and reports regarding traceability can be retraced in a short amount of time. Figure 2: Example of bar code (left) and RFID tag (right). In EU, all establishments handling food of animal origin must be approved by the national authority. Establishments here included abattoirs/slaughterhouses, cutting plants, processors etc. All foods produced by the approved establishments must carry an EU identification mark, indicating the approval number. Under Regulation EC 1907/90, identification marks are required for all other products of animal origin except for eggs. This legislation came into force in January 1, 2006 to ensure traceability for products of animal origin. The mark must be in oval shape, legible, indelible and clearly visible for inspection. The first part of the approval number is a two-letter national code (UK for United Kingdom), indicating the country in which the food was produced, followed by a site-specific approval number and ending with the abbreviation (EC) for European Commission (Reily, 2009). This kind of regulation however is not implemented in Malaysia. C:[emailprotected] traceability systemEUeuidentificationmark.jpg Figure 3: EU identification mark comprising country code (UK), establishment code (AZ020), European Commission indication (EC). 4.2 Traceability in fish catching In both EU and in Malaysia, information on vessel name, fishing trip number, time of catch, quantity in haul, batch size, landing area and fishing area are required to be recorded. The method of record keeping could be paper or electronic, depending on individual company. The only difference between EU and Malaysia is that the existence of a central database system for foods in EU (TraceFood) for tracking the movement of products. This allows information to be recorded and registered in each link. In Malaysia, information is managed manually; each organization has their own way of keeping and transferring information. In EU nations, fish are sorted on board according to species and iced in boxes. Each box is labeled with information on fish species, catch, date, vessel name or number and a unique box number, readable as ordinary numbers and in the form of a bar code. The information is registered in a computer onboard the vessel and the data are transmitted via a mobile phone to a computer at the next step in the chain, the collector. This enables the collector to receive all information from the vessel before it enters the harbor. At the collector, each specied of fish is sorted according to size, keeping the fish from each catch date separated to enable fish to be traced according to the same vessel with the same catch date. At the collectors stage, information about the collector name, fish size/weight and a new box number registered at the computer adding this new information to the database (Frederiksen and Gram, 2004). This kind of technology is not implemented in Malaysia due to its high im plementation cost and training cost to the fishermen. Nevertheless, ongoing effort is being conducted by the Malaysian authorities to improve the traceability in both fish catching and aquaculture farms. The introduction of import conditions for seafood and other fishery products by EU in year 2002 was a wakeup call to Malaysian authorities. To enforce traceability in fish catching, all fishermen need to get comply regulations in Fisheries Act 1985 :(i) Fishing license (ii) Fishing vessel permit/license (iii) Permanent marking of ID on fishing vessel. In aquaculture farms, Malaysian Aquaculture Farm Certification Scheme (SPLAM) was introduced which incorporated traceability principles. SPLAM is managed by Department Of Fisheries (DOF) which emphasizes in the implementation of HACCP at source. It is a voluntary scheme to encourage Good Aquaculture Practice to ensure the safety, quality, consistency and competitiveness of the products based on criteria, guidelines and standards determined by DOF. Aquaculture entrepreneurs have to fulfil c ertain requirements and criteria set by the DOF Malaysia, make an application, undergo a review audit and final approval before their farm can be awarded the certificate and logo (Department of Fisheries Malaysia, 2011). 4.3 Traceability in fish processing plant The information generated from the stage of fish being catches on vessel until reaches the end consumer are transmitted from one link to the next unit. In fish processing plant, the raw material received to be processed from its own fishing vessels. The information that may obtain from catching and from production stage are shown in the Table 2. The freshness of fish and fishery products are important along the processing as these products are perishable commodity. It needs to be evaluated frequently. There are several evaluation methods could be chosen from, which included microbiological methods, biochemical and chemical methods, physical methods as well as sensory methods. Table 2: Information registered or generated in fish processing stage. Information from catching Information from production Vessel name Fishing trip number Fishing area Fish species Units per catching day Condition of fish Weight of fish Ratio of ice to fish Other parameters Name of product Origin of raw material Plant number Authorisation number (especially for EU perspective) Product number or code Production date or lot number Best before date Product weight Temperature Quality and processing parameters Sensory evaluation results Microbiological results In Europe, since the European Union (EU) Regulation 178/2002 requires mandatory traceability for all food and feed products in EU countries, there is a comprehensive and complete traceability system implemented in the region. In the fish processing plant, several batches of raw materials may be processed into different finished product in one day. Different batches of raw materials came from different vessels, and graded mechanically. The graded raw materials will be distributed into different containers or tanks according to size. Each container labelled with a grade ID. These graded fishes are ready to be processed, which is also known as in-feed batches. The in-feed batch ID carries the information which able to be tracked back from final product. The information are carried between links of batch number, grade ID and in-feed batch ID, or even final products. The processing manufacturers must also able to identify whom they provide their products to. For Malaysia perspective, the traceability in fish processing plant is adopted from ISO 22005, Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP), Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) and Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures (SSOP). ISO 22005 described a traceability system is influenced by regulations, product characteristics and customer expectations within a feed and food chain. The manufacture company should identify the product or ingredients used, the raw materials suppliers and finished products customers, flows of materials, manufacturing process history and other related information. These information shall be recorded as documentation for traceability data. Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) is aimed to determine whether there is any food safety hazards that are likely to occur on the fish and fishery product processed through the analysis and control of biological, chemical and physical hazards from the raw material, to processing, distribution and consumption of the finished product. At the same time, the hazard analysis is to identify possible preventive steps that may be applied to control those hazards. The general records that required to make included name and location of the processor or importer, date and time of the activity that record reflects, signature or initials of the person performing the operation and identity of the product and its production code. These records should be done at the time that it is observed. All records as well as all plans and procedures required should be available for official review and copying at reasonable time periods, usually 1 year from the processing date for refrigerated p roducts and 2 years for frozen, preserved or shelf-stable products. Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) certification scheme aimed to assist manufactures of food products and food related products to provide assurance to consumers that the products are manufactured in a hygienic manner and the best practices in manufacturing accordingly. GMP is one of the pre-requisite programmes (PRP) required to established prior implementation of HACCP. Records are made along the manufacture process show all the steps required by the defined procedures and instructions were taken to achieve the expected quantity and quality. The documentation may divide into quality manual, operating procedures and support documentation. Support documentation will be the significant element for traceability system. It records how the manufacture company carries out and details of their processing process on materials, procedures, operations and finished products. These records may enable the complete manufacture process of a batch to be traced are retained in a comprehensible and ac cessible form. Meanwhile, Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures (SSOP) emphasize on the sanitation aspect for a fictional seafood company processing a cooked ready-to-eat seafood product. There are several steps in this operating procedure and several records had been made accordingly. Daily Sanitation Control Record is the main document that used in seafood processing monitoring, such as in safety of processing water and ice, condition and cleanliness of food contact surfaces (included utensils, gloves and outer garments), prevention of cross-contamination, protection of food, food-packaging material and food-contact surfaces from adulteration, labelling, storage, employees health and hygiene, toilet facilities as well as pest control. Other documents are included municipal water bill and periodic sanitation record, building plumbing inspection report and periodic sanitation control record. These records will be reviewed and kept on file for two years. 4.4 Traceability during Fish and Seafood Products Transportation and Storage In EU perspective, information needed to be kept during fish transportation and storage includes the name and address of supplier, quantity, batch number and the nature of the supplied fish and seafood products. Other information such as areas and dates of harvesting, location and the date of processing and packaging are also necessary. A more detailed description of the products is recommended such as pre-packed or bulk products, processed or raw fish and seafood products. The conditions of the transportation means should be recorded specifically. This includes the temperature, humidity and the atmosphere of the transport vehicles, length and conditions of handling and also the duration of transportation and storage. The location where the products are stored and the date by which the products should be used are needed to be recorded. Meanwhile, the name and address of the customer (wholesaler or retailer), quantity, batch number and the nature of the fish and seafood products that were delivered to the customer and the date of transaction or delivery should also be recorded. Whereas in Malaysia, basic information such as the name and address of the supplier, quantity and batch number are recorded. Registration and validation of the cold chain maintenance is required. Record keeping of the temperature and time control, GMP records such as the personnel and sanitation is also required. In general, the information recorded in the transportation in Malaysia is similar to the information recorded in EU. 4.5 Traceability in Retailer The record keeping of retailer in EU and Malaysia shares the commonality. The retailer should have the record on the information of the producers name, product name and quantity, pallet number, carriers name, shipment number and also wholesalers name and address. RFID system and bar code can be used upon the arrival of the products and these systems aid in the traceability of the food products. Besides, the temperature and hygiene of storage conditions of the products upon receiving; date and places of arrival should also be recorded. Types of boxes or container used and the weight of the fish and seafood products should also be recorded. In addition, the retailer should have the record on the origin of the products. In general, the commercial documents for these highly perishable products are usually kept for the period of 6 months after the manufactured date or delivery. The legislation of handling and processing of fish and fish products for export to EU are controlled by the Fisheries (Quality Control of Fish for Export to the European Union) Regulations 2009 under Fisheries Act 1985 together Food Export (Issuance of Health Certificate for Export of Fish and Fish Products to the European Union) Regulations 2009 and Food Hygiene Regulations 2009. 4.6 Information available to customers It is important that there is information available about the seafood products sell in the market for consumers. This is to enhance consumer confidence and by confirming the foods that they consume are safe as well as free from any contamination or diseases. Besides, it is also to strengthen the food safety by increase the effectiveness of product recall during the emergency case such as food poisoning. Information on traceability system enables consumers to avoid specific seafood easily due to the allergenicity, food intolerance or even lifestyle choice (ICTSD. 2006). For consumers, traceability system provides a more controllable condition in food chain which meant to deliver a safer and higher quality of food. Thus, traceability system may be an effective system that provides information about the whole process of product, from the production to the distribution among consumers by providing the consumers information of the origin for that particular product and give consumers a gr eater choice in deciding whether to buy or not. Basic information such as species of seafood product, origin of product and suppliers is needed on the package of products as well as Halal certification/ authentication especially in country like Malaysia. With this information, consumers will feel safer in that they will be able to see the detailed information about the origin country and also the farm of the seafood products. Due to the undeveloped and inappropriate management of traceability system, Malaysia is still practicing conventional and manual record keeping. Thus, more detailed information about the product is not available to customers in the market. In developed countries like EU, there are tools to identify the trade and logistics items such as EAN.UCC system. Every item will be given one unique number, and the number will give identity to the products and consists of information concerning the products. Besides, it is capable in providing the locations where the products are assigned and ensure the efficient flow of products. Through the system, information related to the products can be passed from one stage to another until to the end, which is to the consumers. The information available to consumers are such as fish species (Trade/ Latin name), catching area, catching date, production me