The impact of the euro on money and bond markets

The paper provides an analysis of the euro area money and bond markets and their infrastructure since the introduction of the euro. Significant development in terms of integration took place in both markets in general to a various degree for the different segments. However, there remain room for further integration after the first year of Stage III of EMU notably regarding the bond market which lags behind in terms of liquidity, market completeness and overall size compared to the US corporate bond market. Analysis of the barriers to integration, which do not seem to be specific to these markets but apply more generally to euro securities infrastructure, identifies fields where further action is required. This covers (i) the lack of availability of cross-border settlement on a DVP basis, (ii) the lack of standardised legal documentation for repos, (iii) the lack of common practices concerning settlement procedures, (iv) the lack or harmonisation of collateralisation processes between national central banks and interbank operations, (v) the heterogeneity in fiscal and accounting procedures and, (vi) the need for a clearing house.money market, bond market, securities market, financial market integration, euro area, monetary policy.

Methods for engineering symbolic human behaviour models for activity recognition

This work investigates the ability of symbolic models to encode context information that is later used for generating probabilistic models for activity recognition. The contributions of the work are as follows: it shows that it is possible to successfully use symbolic models for activity recognition; it provides a modelling toolkit that contains patterns for reducing the model complexity; it proposes a structured development process for building and evaluating computational causal behaviour models

Gestão de reclamações na europcar: um caso de estudo

A presente tese tem como âmbito de estudo a gestão de serviços e, especificamente, a gestão de reclamações e relações com os clientes. Desta forma, pretende-se neste estudo analisar as áreas de satisfação do cliente, reclamação e recuperação do serviço, procurando responder à questão: Como é que a alteração do processo do departamento de gestão de reclamações pode aumentar o desempenho do relacionamento da empresa com o cliente? Pretende-se, neste estudo de caso, realizar uma análise de forma a reestruturar a me-todologia de gestão de reclamações da empresa de aluguer de curta duração de veículos automóveis (rent-a-car) Europcar Portugal, com o objetivo de otimizar o desempenho da mesma, através de tempos de resposta eficazes, satisfação e consequente fidelização dos clientes. Quanto à metodologia, este estudo de caso pretendeu desenvolver um quadro con-ceptual de ajuda aos investigadores e gestores com vista a capturar contingências relativas ao cliente e à interação da empresa com este. Será apresentada uma visão de cocriação de valor através do relacionamento entre o cliente e a empresa. A base teórica utilizada por este estudo foi a metodologia de investigação de estudo de caso simples. Após a revisão da literatura pertinente e a análise da empresa em estudo, chegámos a algumas ações que deviam ser implementadas no departamento de gestão de reclamações, a fim de melhorar o desempenho desta. De uma forma geral, aferimos a possibilidade de tipificar alguns processos; julgamos, sobretudo, importante clarificar e delinear o relaci-onamento entre o cliente e a empresa. Relativamente a implicações práticas, este estudo sugere uma forma alternativa de cocriação de valor, voltada para uma lógica de serviço baseada nas relações comerciais entre o cliente e a empresa. Assim, torna-se necessário que o cliente esteja em conformidade e compreenda os procedimentos da empresa, bem como que esta se mostre empenhada em satisfazer as necessidades e perspetivas do cliente através do feedback por este disposto. Consideramos relevante ressaltar que, num cenário de mercado muito competitivo, as empresas necessitam cada vez mais de conhecer mais plenamente os seus clientes, a fim de criar e manter com estes um bom relacionamento. Isto traduz-se exequível através de um sistema de gestão de reclamações eficiente. As reclamações são consideradas elementos fundamentais neste estudo, pois fornecem informação e feedback por parte cliente, indis-pensáveis à cadeia de valor. Tradicionalmente, o valor tem sido visto como um resultado e não como um pro-cesso de cocriação mútuo e concomitante. Desta forma, socorremo-nos de uma nova lógica dominante de serviço, a Service-Dominant Logic (S-D Logic), introduzindo-a numa multi-nacional, bem como um novo modelo de gestão de relações e de reclamações, o Customer-Compliance Business Model (CCBM).The main reason of this thesis is to study the scope of management services and, spe-cifically, claims management and customer relations. Thus, this study aims to analyze the areas of customer satisfaction, service recovery and complaint, seeking to answer the question: How the change of process in the claim management department can increase the performance of the company's relationship with the customer? It's intended, in this case study, to conduct a review of the claim management depart-ment of the company of motor vehicles short term rental (rent-a-car) Europcar Portugal, in order to restructure the methodology of claims approach, aiming to optimize its performance through effective response times, satisfaction and subsequent loyalty. Regarding methodology, this case study intended to develop a conceptual framework to help researchers and managers in order to capture contingencies related to customer and interaction with this company. It will be presented a vision of value co-creation through the relationship between the customer and the company. The theoretical basis used in this case study was the methodology of simple case study research. After reviewing the relevant literature and the analysis of the company under study, we have reached some actions that should be implemented in the department of complaints management in order to improve his performance. Overall, we see the possibility of standard-ize some processes; we think that is important to clarify and delineate the relationship between the customer and the company. For practical implications, this study suggests an alternative form of value co-creation, a logic-oriented service based on trade relations between the customer and the company. Thus, it becomes necessary that the customer is in compliance and understand company’s procedures, and that the Company proves committed to meeting the needs and perspectives of the client through the feedback provided. We consider relevant to note that in a very competi-tive market scenario, companies increasingly need to more fully understand their customers in order to create and maintain a good relationship with them. This translates achievable through a system of management claims efficiently. Claims are considered key elements in this study because they provide information and feedback from customer, indispensable to the value chain. Traditionally, the value has been seen as a result and not as a process of mutual co-creation and co. Thus, we support ourselves with a new dominant logic of service, the Service-Dominant Logic (SD Logic), introducing it into a multinational as well as a new model of relationship management and complaints, the Customer-Business Compliance Model (CCBM)

Amjambo Africa! (March 2020)

In This Issue... Why participate in the Census ..p. 4 City Announces Expo Grants .....p. 6 Justice for Women.......................p. 9 Fulbright Scholar Escajeda .........p. 9 Portland Adult Ed .....................p. 11 English Classes...........................p. 14 Musician Angelikah Fahray.......p. 19https://digitalcommons.usm.maine.edu/samgen_amjambo/1023/thumbnail.jp

ADAPTING MODELS IN METAMODELS COMPOSITION PROCESSES

In Model Driven Engineering (MDE) approaches, metamodels can change after the creation of conformant models. Moreover, changes applied on one metamodel can be result of a composition process. When metamodels change, model conformity can be broken. Once the conformity is broken, the model is unuseful and it is not possible to regain the conformity with the composite metamodel.This paper presents a proposal to solve models adaptation through a Domain Speci c Language (DSL). This DSL is used by metamodelers who are the people that know the domains abstracted by several metamodels, and know how to combine those meta-models in order to generate the composite metamodel. In addition, the DSL allows metamodelers to include the solu-tion for conformant models adaptation.

Towards An Analysis Driven Approach for Adapting Enterprise Architecture Languages

Abstract: Enterprise Architecture (EA) modeling languages are increasingly used for various enterprise wide analyses. In most cases one needs to adapt EA languages to an appropriate level of detail. However such an adaptation is not straightforward. Language engineers currently deal with analysis driven language adaptation in an ad-hoc manner, adapting languages from scratch. This introduces various problems, such as a tendency to add uninteresting and/or unnecessary details to languages, while important enterprise details are not documented. Moreover, adding detail increases the complexity of languages, which in turn inhibits a language's communication capabilities. Yet experience from practice shows that architects often are communicators, next to analysts. As a result, one needs to find a balance between a model's communication and analysis capabilities. In this position paper we argue for an approach for assisting language engineers in adapting, in a controlled manner, EA languages for model-driven enterprise analyses. Furthermore, we present the key ingredients of such an approach, and use these as a starting point for a research outlook

Financial market infrastructures:Essays on liquidity, participant behaviour and information extraction

The economic analysis of financial market infrastructures has gained increasing interest. Financial market infrastructures provide the underlying network of the financial system and are critical for the smooth functioning of financial markets. The thesis includes four separate research projects unified by the notion that data from FMIs can be highly useful to gain a better understanding of system dynamics, but also offer valuable insights on financial market developments in general. The chapters rely heavily on data from TARGET2, the Eurosystem’s large-value payment system. Chapter 2 shows that a higher share of tiered payments from client banks reduces liquidity consumption by settlement banks by giving them more leeway. System designers and overseers should weigh benefits and risks of tiering carefully. Chapter 3 identifies operational outages of participants using an algorithmic approach. The developed algorithm provides a hitherto absent data set on outages that is useful for evaluating compliance with reporting requirements and risk assessment. Chapter 4 investigates changes in the collateral framework and technical aspects of collateral mobilization. A shift towards domestic channels reflects a home bias, especially during the sovereign debt crisis. Due to high inflows, culminating in the Bundesbank’s escalating TARGET2 claims, funding requirements and collateral stocks fell. Chapter 5 investigates why and how data sets on the unsecured interbank money market differ. The systematic approach highlights that different data captures cross-border loans, loans of different banking classes and recurring daily loans unevenly. The analysis is useful for developing reporting frameworks and extracting money market loans from payments data. The last chapter highlights policy implications and trends in payments