Doubt: Catholic Church and Father Flynn

Decision making without concrete evidence can lead to faulty actions Leaders need to make decisions on the basis of substantiated evidence. Decisions made under other circumstances can cause the observer to doubt the legitimacy of the leader’s decision. In the play Doubt: A Parable, by John Patrick Shanley, Sister Aloysius’ mischievous mind is always looking for ways to over analyse the actions of Father Flynn. She is almost diabolical in her actions to have him removed from the school. Father Flynn, on the other hand, appears only interested in doing what is best for Donald Muller. Unfortunately, his well-intentioned actions make him vulnerable to the suspicious Sister Aloysius. Sister Aloysius’ certainty that innocent actions are harmful causes her to unfairly judge Father Flynn. Sister Aloysius unfairly judges Father Flynn's sermons and suspects his motives. At this point Sister Aloysius has only suspicions that Father Flynn could be in Doubt or knows someone that is. While speaking to Sister James, Sister Aloysius indicates her concerns about Father Flynn’s and indicates that by saying â€Å"Well, sermons come from somewhere, don't they? Is Father Flynn in Doubt, is he concerned that someone else is in Doubt? (Shanley 14). Sister Aloysius does not have any substantiated evidence of Father Flynn, as she only has her suspicions. One of her major character flaw is that she harbors a deep mistrust in her students, fellow sergman and society itself. So far, all she knew at that point was that Father Flynn grabbed a boy’s wrists, and that he was talking about Doubt in one of his sermons. Father Flynn said later on in the book that his sermons are not true stories because lies make for a better sermon. â€Å"I'm sorry, I'm not forthright, but I must be careful not to create something. I can only say I am confused, perhaps needless, about matters in St. Nicolas School,† Sister Aloysius remarks. (15) You can tell by this quote that she has some negative thoughts about the incident with Donald Muller, as she assumes that Father Flynn is having inappropriate behaviour toward Donald Muller. She is trying rephrasing it so it is less obvious of her concerns and assumptions. Sister Aloysius negatively judges Father Flynn's interest in promoting a closer relationship between the Church and the community because she feels it is an inappropriate way to interact with the students and community. But we’re not members of their family. We’re different†¦.. And they think were different. The working class people of this parish trust us to be different† (30) Sister Aloysius remarks. Sister Aloysius believes that because they are a Catholic school, they must stay true to their vows that the school believes in. She believes that the rules are in place f or a reason, and to be true to God, she must obey the oath that she took to become a Sister. Anything that challenges the operation of the school, and is out of line, she would not stand for. Therefore, she did not believe in the recommendation of changing the way things were already being run. The traditions of the Roman Catholic Church form the back bone of the rules and standards that Sister Aloysius is supporting. Father Flynn is a strong believer in the proposition that the Church should be more lenient and fun with the students, as it creates a better community of people. He makes a statement in the play that goes a little like this, â€Å"I think the message of the second Ecumenical Council was that the Church needs to take on a more familiar face. Reflect the local community. We should sing a song from the radio now and then. Take the kids out for ice cream. † (30) Father Flynn does not believe in following the rules of the Church to such a high extent that it is needed to emphasis every single rule. Unlike Sister Aloysius, he feels that having the school a more relaxed and fun environment results in creating a better learning strategy for the students. It also makes it a better environment for the teachers and student to be in because there is less stress. In result though, Sister Aloysius is against this proposition because she feels that she must abide by the rules and is more for the old school kind of method. Sister Aloysius unfairly doubts Father Flynn's explanation regarding the incident with Donald Muller because of her preconceived notions regarding his motives. â€Å"What happened in the rectory? † (32). Sister Aloysius questions. This quote states that she is clearly tired of dancing around the question, as at this point she has given up and just wants an explanation. She wants him to admit that he seduced the boy because she ‘knows’ that this is true due to her certainty. She does not believe his explanation that he was just talking to Donald in the rectory about keeping him on as an altar boy, even though he stole the wine. The needs for Father Flynn to tell her that she is right is important to her. This will put her at ease with the case and allow her to feel satisfied by her gain in authority and power. †There was alcohol on his breath when he returned from the meeting with you. † (33) Sister Aloysius remarks. She believes that Father Flynn is also guilty based on the fact that she assumes, he gave Donald Muller wine so he could seduce the boy. Believes that he did something to the boy, Sister Aloysius thinks that it is inappropriate and therefore, when he came back to class, he had his head on his desk and had alcohol on his breath. Sister James corroborates this remark by stating, â€Å"I did smell it on his breath† (33). This comment gives more certainty to Sister Aloysius and her beliefs. She does later on tell Sister Aloysius that she is going to bring Father Flynn down with or without Sister James’ help. This indicates how committed and certain she is to her stand on this critical issue. With the lack of supported evidence that Sister Aloysius has discovered concerning Father Flynn’s motives, it is unfair and unreasonable to be certain about her unquestionable justifications. She has closed her mind on all the other possibilities that could be, because of her singular mind set . If she doubts herself, she would feel unsteady and uncertain. Her hard-won knowledge would evaporate right before her and she would be vulnerable, a characteristic that she does not feel comfortable exploring†¦ just yet.

Importance of Human Capital in Economicdevelopment

The modern economists are of the view that natural resources i†¦ e forest minerals, climate, water power etc. play in important role in the economic development of an country. A country which has abundant natural resources is in position to development more rapidly than a country which is deficient in such resources. They here how ere emphasize that the presence of abundant resources is not a sufficient condition of economic growth.Physical factures they say are passive factors of economic growth. They are to be combined with human resources of a country who are active facture of economic development. Human resources of a country are the size of population rate of growth of population urban rural distribution of people and quality of population. The quality of population as measured by health standards educational levels and technology is vitally important in influencing a nation's cultural and economic progress.A country which has developed the skills and knowledge of its peopl e can exploit natural resources, build social economic and political organizations and can carry forward national development. The less developed countries of the world are now making investment in human persons for increasing their skills abilities ideals health on the job training programmers. These productive investments have a strong bearing upon increasing human capabilities which is called human capital. 2. What is human capital? Its Role in Economic Development?Human capital can be described as the skills training and health acquired through on the job training and education Michael Pakistan Park in defines it as: †The skill and knowledge of human beings. † It is also defined as: â€Å"The endowment of abilities to produce that exists in each human being. It can be increased through formal education, on the job training and improved health and psychological well being. To be more precise. If the people of a country are well educated, well nourished, skilled and h ealthy, they are said to have more human capital. 3. Human capital formation: Human capital formation as described by Professor Harrison as †the process of acquiring and increasing the number of person who have the skills, education and experience which are critical for the economic and political development of a country. †Human capital formation is the act of increasing the productive qualities of labor force by providing more education and by increasing skills, health and notarization level. According T. W. Schultz, there are five ways of developing human capital. i) Provision of health facilities which affect the life expectancy, strength, vigor and vitality of the people. (ii) Provision of on the job training which enhances the skill of labor force. (iii) Arranging education at the primary, secondary and higher levels. (iv) Study and extension programmer for the adults. (v) Provision of adequate migration facilities to families to adjust to changing job opportunities . 4. Importance of human capital: Human capital is the fundamental source of economic growth. It is a source of both increased productivity and technological advance.In fact the major difference between the developed and developing countries is the rate of progress in human capital. The under developed countries need human capital to staff new and expanding government services to introduce new system of land use and new methods of agriculture, to develop new means of communication to carry forward industrialization and to build the education system. Prof. Galbraith is right in saying that †we now get larger part of economic growth from investment in men and improvements brought about by improved men. ‘ 5. Problems of human capital formation in LDC's: The main problems of human capital formation in less developed countries (LDC's) including Pakistan in brief are as under. (i) Faster increase in population: The population of almost all developing countries of world includi ng Pakistan is increasing faster than rate of accumulation of human capital. As a result thereof, these countries are not making the satisfactory use sector expenditure on education is about 2. 5% of GDP for the last over five years. ii) Defective pattern of investment in education: In the developing countries of the world, the governments are giving priority to primary education for increasing literacy rate.Secondary education which provides critical skills needed for economic developed remains neglected. Another problem related to investment in education is that in the public and private sectors there is a mushroom growth of universities without trying to improve their standard of education. There are also mass failures at primary, secondary & higher levels of education resulting in wastage of the scarce resources of the countries. iii) More stress on the provision of building and equipments: Another major problem of investment in human capital in developing countries of the world is the politicians and administrator lay more stress on the construction of buildings and provision of equipments than on the provision of qualified staff. It has been observed that foreign qualified teachers and doctors are appointed in rural areas where there is little usefulness of them. (iv) Shortage of health and nutrition facilities: In the less developed countries of the world there is shortage of trained nurses qualified doctors medical equipment, medicines etc.The less availability of health facilities pose threat to the millions of the people living there. The people are faced with unsatisfactory sanitary conditions, polluted water, high fertility and death rates urban slums, illiteracy etc. All these deficiencies affect the health of the people reduce their life expectancy. (v) No facilities of on the job training: On the job training or in service training is very essential for improving or acquiring of new skills to the persons employed in various importance is given o n the job training for the employees.The result is that the efficiency and knowledge of the workers remains technicians etc. is therefore of utmost importance for the efficient use of human resources. (vi) Study programme for adults: Study programme for adults can also be introduced for improving literacy rate. Programme for adults was introduced in many under developed countries of the world including Pakistan for providing basic education. increasing skills farmers and small industrialists. The scheme has miserably failed as no interest was shown by the adults in getting such training. (vii) Half earted measures for promotion of employment: In most of the world the ratio of unemployed or under employed persons is very large. For increasing employment and reducing under employment proper investment in human capital is required which is visibly lacking in LDC's. The govt. of Pakistan has taken a number of steps for increasing employment opportunities in the country such as establish ment of SME Bank for the promotion of self employment at the grass root level, encouraging domestic and foreign investment for increasing employment opening of technical and vocational training centers etc. tc. (viii)No manpower planning: Due to non availability of reliable data there is little manpower planning in less developed countries of the world including of course Pakistan. As a result thereof, there is no matching of demand and supply of different types of skills. The result is that large number of skilled and highly qualified persons remain underemployed. The frustration and discontentment among the unemployed or underemployed graduate and post graduates result in brain drain from the country. It is a huge loss to resources of developing countries. ix) Neglect of agriculture education: In LDC's where agriculture is the major sector of the economy. , very little attention is paid for educating the farmers to the use of modern agricultural practices. Unless the farmers are p rovided agricultural education and training on the fields, they will not be able to raise the agricultural the outlook of the farmers. 6. IMPORTANCE OF HUMAN CAPITAL ON SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTP: In today's world production of goods and services on large scale are knowledge intensive.Knowledge can be imported and increased by making investment in education and provision of better health services to man. which is called investment in Man' or Human Capital Formation. The modern economists are of the view that a dollar invested on education bring a greater increase in national income than a dollar spent on dams, roads, bridges or other tangible capital goods. In the words of Professor, Galbraith, we now get the larger part of our industrial growth not from more capital investment but from investment in men and improvement brought about by improved men. ‘ The importance of human capital on economic and social development is now disused in brief. (i) Human Capital as a creat ive and productive resource: In all the developing countries of the world physical capital is invested in the construction of roads, dams, light and heavy industries, schools, hospitals etc. For proper investment and operation of these projects at low cost, you need the services of technicians, engineers, administrators, etc. If priority is not given to human investment and adequate resources are not invested in a man, the physical capital cannot be properly used.It will remain unutilized, underutilized, and misutilized. (ii) Rise in Marginal Efficiency of Capital: Human capital is now regarded as the most potent source of economic growth. It is a way of increasing output by increasing not the quantity of lab our but its quality. Investment in human capital improves the skills of work force and helps in raising marginal efficiency of capital. (iii) Utilization of foreign loans: The advanced countries of the world are assisting the developing countries by providing them grants, loans food supplies and technical expertise etc.The better education, the provision of knowledge, skills, expertise helps in proper utilization of foreign loans. (iv) Utilization of surplus manpower: The underdeveloped countries in general have abundance unskilled and untrained manpower. There is widespread under-employment and disguised unemployment in the urban and rural areas. The investment in right type of education, training, skill, health and nutrition sound manpower planning, on the job training programs etc. can go a long way in absorbing the surplus labor force and developing job opportunities. v) Effect on Health and Nutrition: Human capital formation also calls for investment in health and nutrition. If is a common knowledge that poverty, ill health, illiteracy and low productivity constitutes a vicious circle of poverty. If proper investment is made in health, nutrition drinking water etc. there will be improvement in the health of the people. There will be a desire of the p eople to work and increase production. The improvement in health status of the people thus helps in reducing population growth raising income and higher economic growth in the country. (vi) Social Change:Investment in human capital makes a positive contribution towards improving and brining fast changes in the economic and social life of the people of developing countries. Investment in human capital raises the general living standard of the people in less developed countries, it improves the quality of population i. e.. health and nutrition, literacy, skill, knowledge, desire to work. The surplus manpower is better mobilized and utilized for economic development. There is also a change in social climate of the people. The rate of social mobility increases. There is increased urbanization and industrialization.

German Threat Was the End to Splendid Isolation

The Growing German threat was the most important reason for Britain ending its policy of Splendid Isolation. How far do you agree? At first examination it would seem that it was not actually the fear of Germany that prompted Britain to end their policy of splendid isolation if we take into consideration that this of fear of Germany only really came to fruition in about 1905. However it was before this that Britain had broken its so named policy of ‘Splendid Isolation’ by signing an alliance with japan in 1902 and then going on to form an entente with the French in 1904.Certainly there are indeed other reasons other than the emerging German threat that might have forced their hand, such as the emergence of alliance’s all around the globe which had begun to upset the balance of power (Franco Russian) this may have left Britain feeling pushed into a corner somewhat so that they felt that they had no other choice but to join an alliance so it was not left behind as it s own level of relative power decreased.Furthermore with the decrease of Britain’s level of relative power (it was easily being led by the US) but most notably Germany, the fact that a state as new as Germany could grow at such a rate made the British sit up and take note. And when in 1905 during the first Moroccan crisis it was the German’s who attempted to test the new bonds between the French and the British it demonstrated not only to Britain but to the world that the German’s wanted to carve out their own chunk of glory and they were not about to let anyone stand in their way.It was indeed between the years 1906-14 when the Anglo-German naval race was to take place. It was during this time that Germany drastically increased size of its navy, however this navy was only ever meant for short term purposes. Looking at it now it is obvious why the level of British Paranoia may be reaching breaking point at this time as a fleet of short range boats began to mass on her border, it demonstrated once again that the Germans were determined to become one of the great powers.It could however be argued that this naval race was nothing more than an inconvenience towards the British as they in the end emphatically managed to build substantially more ships than the Germans. But it was to show once again that the German’s were without a doubt an up and coming nation and one that Britain must watch carefully and so it was here that the first feelings of fear of Germany were beginning to be felt. Moreover it was understood that the German’s did not actually ever want a war with the British and that the only reason for the assing of this fleet was as I have already said to inconvenience the British and indeed provide a certain amount of leverage over them in terms of international affairs and agreements, this began to scare Britain, so much so that Britain it would seem began to move even more out of the idea of ‘Splendid Isolationâ⠂¬â„¢ when, in 1912 it came to a series of military agreements with the French and actually handed over control of the Mediterranean which actually included the main route to India for the British (The Suez canal).Although these agreements were not intended as a military alliance some historians have seen it as such, but there is no mistaking that it was definitely a move away from the policy of ‘Splendid Isolation’ that Britain had previously adopted, and it would also seem to be because of the fear of the every growing in power Germans. As Germany grew in power Britain began to realise that if it came to war that the only way in which Germany could be defeated is if Britain herself became involved with yet another alliance and so in 1907 it did this with Russia, thus forming the triple entente.I believe that if it was not for increasing aggression of the German’s then Britain would most probably have never had to forge this alliance which once again brought it forward out of its formerly adopted policy of ‘Splendid Isolation’. Although the fear of Germany was undoubtedly important another important factor in regard to the dropping of the policy of ‘Splendid isolation’ is the dropping of Britain’s level of relative power and also trade.The fact that other countries (USA and Germany in particular) were growing exponentially gave Britain cause for concern and she knew that sooner or later she would lose her empire if she did not act, if she continued to operate this policy of splendid isolation then not only in time would her empire collapse around her, therefore severing any trade routes she may have had with them, but the other powers would also continue to grow until eventually they are considerably stronger than her and Britain alone would be no match for Germany.Another important factor that we need to consider in all of this is of course the influence that the Boer war may have had on Britain’s f oreign policy. And when Britain eventually did emerge from that war in 1902 she emerged victorious but it had come at a cost and that cost was a great deal of pride. Although that they had in essence been victorious it is not to be forgotten that they had beaten some lowly people, not the great powers that they had defeated in the past.Britain had to pour huge amounts of resources into this war and this was to come at a massive cost as it was to leave her extremely vulnerable in other places around the world, not least in India. Moreover this links back to the fear of Germany because it was in actual fact the German’s who were angry at Britain for fighting the Boer’s, Indeed this helped to start the path of sour relations with Germany. Not only this but Britain’s industrial power was coming under increasing levels of threat, and although they still ruled the seas it was only a matter of time before it was caught on that front also.The seas became a contentious i ssue for Britain and around 1902 they realised that they would no longer be able to uphold a two power naval standard and the fear of Russia factored into this. The fact was that if Russia and Germany or Russia and France (Franco-Russian alliance) were to attack Britain at sea then her navy would be crushed. She was severely concerned about this fact and so sought the aforementioned alliance with Japan that would help her to hopefully keep both the Russian’s and the German’s at bay.It is clear that fear of Russian along with fear of the German’s was extremely high on the list of priorities of the change in direction of British foreign policy, which in the end culminated with their withdrawal from their so called ‘Policy of Splendid isolation’. Therefore I believe that although Britain’s fear of the growth of German power was significantly important in regard to them ending their policy of ‘Splendid Isolation’ it is not the sole r eason but is the most important.The fact that they had been badly bruised by emerging with their ‘bad victory’ in the Boer war and the fact that they could no longer bear the financial strain of keeping a two power standard navy also meant that they had to drop that policy. And although it was indeed before the intervention of the German actions that the 1902 alliance with Japan and the 1904 entente with France, it is clear that the impact of the German‘s was also extremely important if not more so than the Boer war, the fear of Russia and the fear of losing trade and the routes to India.

Final Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Final - Coursework Example In order to determine the feasibility of a project and to allow for comparisons between those that are mutually exclusive several very useful and highly recognised techniques are available. They include: I. Net present value (NPV) II. Internal rate of return (IRR) III. Accounting Rate of Return (ARR); and IV. Simple payback There are three (3) machines that the firm is considering as an investment. They are the Alumier which it currently uses; Big EZ and Cial. The objective of evaluating these investments is to determine which would be more beneficial to the firm. Evaluating Capital Budgeting Tools The NPV, IRR, ARR and simple payback. The advantages and disadvantages of using these methods are noted weaknesses and the relevant calculations to aid in the decision process are noted. Net Present Value (NPV) The net present value takes the time value of money into account and so the cash flows are discounted over the useful life of the asset. A NPV of zero means that the cash flow from the project would be sufficient to repay the initial investment only but would not contribute anything extra. A NPV that is less than zero (negative) would indicate that the funds generated from the project cannot generate sufficient funds to repay the initial investment and therefore should not be undertaken. On the other hand a positive NPV indicates that the project would be able to repay the initial investment and also allow some returns to shareholders (Brigham and Ehrhardt 2005). A positive NPV therefore means that the project under consideration is a worthwhile investment and should be undertaken. This method is very popular but has a number of shortcomings. Titman et al (2011) indicates that in case of capital rationing the NPV is not the deal method as choosing the projects with the highest profitability but not the highest NPV overall when compared to a number of smaller projects. Additionally some of the budget may be left unused. The formula for calculating the NPV is: N PV = CF0 + ((CF1/(1 +

WRITING PLAN FOR THE SOCIAL EFFECTS OF HURRICANCE KATRINA IN THE GULF Essay

WRITING PLAN FOR THE SOCIAL EFFECTS OF HURRICANCE KATRINA IN THE GULF REGION - Essay Example Hurricane Katrina sped up the rate of wetland destruction in the Gulf region and along the coast of Louisiana. In various areas of the Mississippi River Delta Basin, there were losses of about half of the regional land mass due to the powerful storm surge witnessed in the advent of Hurricane Katrina. Hurricane Katrina affected people in many ways, socially and otherwise. A lot of lives were lost initially, and numerous people also had their lives and daily activities disrupted. Not only did Hurricane Katrina cause damage to the coastline, the hurricane also affected plants and wildlife and in the region, and damaged a lot of buildings, businesses, homes, power lines, schools , roads and bridges. The Hurricane left hundreds of thousands of people without any way to get their homes or go to work, and it separated many from their loved ones and relatives, as well as inflicting mental and physical distress on the people who witnessed this storm and the after-effects of the hurricane. One major cause of death as a result of Hurricane Katrina was drowning. Elderly people of 75 years of age and above were the ones mostly affected by the disaster. It is notable that disaster preparedness efforts for the future should place emphasis on the evacuation and care provision for the more vulnerable populations, including people who may be in hospitals or in long-term care facilities. â€Å"Improving mortality reporting timeliness will enable response teams to provide appropriate interventions to these populations and to prepare and implement preventive measures before subsequent disasters.† (Reed, J. & Theiss, M. 2005) During the days and weeks following Hurricane Katrina, there was rapid deterioration in conditions in the gulf region. For example, New Orleans hospitals and extreme difficulties in the evacuation of their existing patients, hospitals in the downtown New Orleans area were also reportedly not admitting new patients in the days following Hurricane Katrina. † (Nossiter, Adam. 2005) In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, disaster response may have limited precision of documenting all the victims, although this is not likely to be a large difference. â€Å"It is possible that some people who died during the storm were never found or documented. Second, classifying people who were evacuated and later died from Katrina-related causes is inherently difficult, especially as regards older people who had serious preexisting medical conditions.† (Brinkley, D. 2007). After hurricane Katrina, numerous evacuees from the gulf region, were faced with staying for extended periods of time with no income, and destroyed or severely damaged homes. This group also had little or no hope of recovering their possessions, and some started to express the desires to be resettled elsewhere permanently. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, â€Å"approximately 8,000 animals were rescued and brought to temporary shelters set up at the Lamar-Dixon Ex position Center in Gonzales, Louisiana, or the Parker Coliseum at Louisiana State University. (Press Release. "Reviewing Louisiana Animal Evacuation And Rescue." Federal Emergency Management Agency. 2005.) Hurricane Katrina also significantly affected the popularity of Katrina as a name for babies. According to the Social Security Administration, â€Å"Katrina, which had ranked as the 281st female baby name in 2004, dropped down to 382nd most popular name in 2006, 600th most popular name in 2007, and 815th most popular name in 2009.† (Social Security Administration) This was a surprising turn of events, because in the past, major hurricanes like Hurricane Camille which happened in 1969, usually made the names of such

Research Term Paper- Apple iPhone Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Research Term Paper- Apple iPhone - Essay Example The company was publicly listed on the stock exchange in the year 1980 and is presently based in California USA (Datamonitor, 2006, p.6). Leadership One of the aspects that have catapulted Apple into the league of top global brands is perhaps the leadership of the organization. After suffering a setback in the later part of the 1990’s the visionary leadership of its CEO Steve Jobs helped turn the fortunes of the organization. The CEO’s statement of placing an Apple at every desktop and his policy of continuous innovation helped the company emerge as one of the most successful brands of the world. The visionary leadership has motivated the employees as well as ensured a proper diffusion of innovation across the entire organization that is perhaps the most critical success factor of the company. Economic aspects Affecting Product Economic factors like growth of economy and level of disposable income have a direct relationship with the demand of products like iPhones. High levels of disposable incomes imply greater demand for the product that is in turn again dependent on the state of economic growth. In addition to this business cycles also affect the sale of the product. However with the global economies on resurgent mode and a surge in demand for application based phones, there is a good prospect for iPhones. In addition to developed markets emerging markets like India and China also hold considerable importance for the success of the product. Financial Analysis Apple Inc is a publicly listed company whose stocks are listed and actively traded on the bourses of the NASDAQ. The latest stock price was 376.99 US dollars (Apple, 2011). The company reported a net income of approximately 14013 million dollars. The company recorded revenues of 100.32 billion US dollars with a gross margin of 39.82 percent. The net income of the company after meeting all direct as well as indirect expenses stood at 23.6 billion dollars that was way ahead of its competitor s namely Google or HP in the global market. The EPS value for its shares stood at 25.28 dollars that was marginally less than Google. The figure below depicts the financial standing of the company as well as a direct comparison with the most important competitors of the organization. Figure 1: Financials of Apple and Competitor Analysis (Source: Yahoo Finance, 2011) Marketing Environment The marketing environment of Apple Inc is governed by both internal as well as external factors. Internal factors include employees, work culture as well as organizational culture that have a significant impact on the business aspects of the organization. The visionary leadership of the CEO of the organization ensures that innovation that is the core culture of the organization is effectively diffused across the entire organization. External environmental aspects include macro environmental aspects including political, economic, sociological, technological as well as legal aspects that have a signif icant effect on the business prospects of the product in the tough and competitive global business environment. The aspect of innovation has increasingly helped the

How does stress affect the characters' s in The Descendants by Kaui Essay

How does stress affect the characters' s in The Descendants by Kaui Hart Hemmings in a few ways - Essay Example Causes of stress are not universal to everyone. What stresses one may not stress another (Kopolow 17). Therefore, stress can be defined as responding to body demands that are not specific. The basic way to respond to stress involves three stages, which includes sensitization, resistance, and lastly exhaustion. To apply this it takes self effort to manage stress. This can be done through physical practices to ease your nerves and release pressure through exercise like running. It can also be done by sharing with friends, understanding your limits, taking good care of yourself, setting aside time just to have fun as it is important as doing work, participating in various activities to avoid boredom, assigning tasks to avoid being overworked, accepting correction, and sometimes crying if it is necessary to release your stress (Hemmings 45). The effect of stress have been demonstrated in the novel The Descendants through the various characters in the book. This is clear in the main chara cter of the book, Matt, who is majorly faced by family stress. From the book, it is evident that stress has had adverse effects to most of characters including Matt himself, however, in the end it turns out to transform Matt into a likable character (Kopolow 17). The Descendants is a book that talks of a story in the palace. Matt King a land owner in Hawaii from the royalty of Hawaii. He faces stress from the accident of her wife in a boat race and later on he realizes that her wife, Joanie, has been having extramarital affairs with Brian in the process of providing a chance for friends to bid Joanie goodbye. Joanie had been responsible of the kids and after her demise, Matt is faced with the challenge of handling his children, Alex and Scottie, as a single father. The two daughters are sturbon in their own way, one is a drug addict and the other a sturbon girl that displays unpleasant messages to her friends. Despite all this causes of stress to Matt, he still manages to be dillige nt with his business and career, as well as managing and rebuilding his family. The story starts with stressing events that touch most of the characters. However, towards the end, the story manages to have a happy ending as we see the family of Matt uniting together especially after the death of Joanie, the wife to Matt and the mother to Alex and Scottie. Kaui Hemmings begins the book by introducing Matt king who narrates the entire story. He is in a hospital where his wife, Joanie, lies in a coma. She is described to be once enthusiastic, and ecstasy-seeking is in a coma at the hospital after an accident in a boat race accident. This is one of the causes of stress to Matt as it gives him worry about the health of his wife (Hemmings 45). Matt is also faced from other stresses arising from his family. Another cause of stress to Matt is his discovering that his wife had extra-marital affairs outside their wedlock. He learns that his wife was not faithful to their marriage. This makes him seek to find out the details of the mysterious lover of his wife. He seeks a solution to this family stress by sharing it with his friends as he look for the man he believes his wife loved. He does this to give the lover to his wife a chance to bid farewell to Joanie because Matt believes she will die soon. Matt is also faced with another family stress of dealing with his daughters after Joanie is dead. He poses, â€Å"Once I think I know the pattern with these girls -- fun, intimacy, fight,

Political Philosophy by Rousseau Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Political Philosophy by Rousseau - Essay Example He is free only if he can express his interest and individuality. He said, â€Å"Each man in giving himself to all, gives himself to nobody† (192). He was placing the individual in a responsible and responsive society that can create, run a government and participate in it. Collective decisions are the core of democracy, equality, liberty, fraternity. â€Å"As an ideal, the general will is, for Rousseau, a genuine universal†¦.It is the unity through which the addictive collection of wills gets its meaning,† Dyke (1969, p.23). Rousseau argues in favour of general will at every step. â€Å"The general will is the will of all when we are not thinking about our own selfish interests but about the general interest† Roberts (1997). . According to him if the laws of the land are good, it will reflect in the goodness of citizens and hence, the law is the root cause of good and bad both and so is highly significant. Especially the political, fundamental laws have to be wise and they connect the sovereign to people, one citizen to another, and connect the law to citizens. They also form the constitution of the state, which can wield power in every day life of the citizen. It is in the interest of all, it will affect all and rules all, and hence, participation of all is necessary. ... It is in the interest of all, it will affect all and rules all, and hence, participation of all is necessary. "Rousseau's theory has often been decried as too abstract and metaphysical. This is in many ways its great strength; but where it is excessively so, the accident of time is to blame" http://www.4literature.net/Jean_Jacques_Rousseau/The_Social_Contract/ He never talks of an individual without talking of collectivity. "The most basic convent, the social pact, is the agreement to come together and form a people, a collectivity"2.is "the real foundation of society," (p.59) and such general will must be "forced to be free" (64). His democracy is the most direct, extremely strong kind and it depended on the general will coming together frequently to make rules for themselves. They should identify each other and the common interests. We should remember that the states were smaller in those days. He did not want the common man to loosen his grip over the authority. "The constant will of all the members of the state is the general will; by virtue of it, they are citizens and free." He also says that liberty is impossible if the general will in majority ceases. "To renounce liberty is to renounce being a man, to surrender the rights of humanity and even it duties," he says on slavery and hence, making of law is the duty and right of the indi vidual. "This general will is supposed to represent the common good or public interest - and it is something that each individual has a hand in making. All citizens should participate - and should be committed to the general good - even if it means acting against their private or personal interests." http://www.infed.org/thinkers/et-rous.htm Even though he calls sovereignty as inalienable and

To Build or Buy Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

To Build or Buy - Assignment Example The food items which are unique and entirely different from the competitor’s coffee shop would be included. There would be no sale of alcoholic beverage as the business as a theme of healthy food .There would be more of vegetable salads and fruit salads on the menu. A brand image would be created so that there would be a great impact on the consumers. A brand image would be created by giving an apt name to the coffee shop. The name would be â€Å" natura coffee shop†. This would give a touch of nature and healthy image to the business. The name of the shop is different from the Deli and can attract customer due to curiosity. It also aligns with the food sold in the coffee shop. The price of food will be reasonable as people stay away from organic food because they are expensive. The portion would be bit more and that would be a good competitive strategy to win over â€Å"Ohio Deli†. People are always gets attracted to food that deliver much more than what they pay for. As per (Miles, 2014) â€Å"Quick-service consumers, now more than ever, want to get more for their dollar, and quite often the bigger the portion the better†. The theme of the coffee shop would also be organic as we would use any synthetic decoration in the coffee shop except from the appliances. The ambience would be entirely different from â€Å"Ohio Deli†. The coffee shop would have promotional offers which would like to entertain the customer potential. The staff of the coffee shop would be young and extra polite. They would be trained to be exceptional for customer service. We also would provide food and atmosphere which is hygiene and free of pollution. A quick service will be another strategy which would keep the interest of customer in the coffee shop. Many a times customer hesitate to come back if the service is slow as the customer are employee who come for breakfast and lunch. We would introduce loyalty cards to impress the customer s

Academic Report and Financial Calculations 04031 Essay

Academic Report and Financial Calculations 04031 - Essay Example A model of the HR function and its implications were critically evaluated in light of the chosen capital investment project and trading with its Co-share. As per the evaluation of the project suitable conclusions and recommendations were provided and in addition the reflective statements were prepared. Capital budgeting is a method through which a firm decides to invest in the long term investment proposals (Baker and English, 2011). Capital budgeting can also be measured as a scheduling process which helps in deciding which investment like new machinery, new products, replacement machinery and new plants can prove to be cost effective (Phaup and Kirschner, 2010). It is used for budgeting of vital capital investments. The different techniques for calculation used in the capital budgeting process are NPV method, IRR method, payback period and profitability index method. In the capital budgeting process, there exist some non financial qualitative aspects in case of project viability (Lan, Chung, Chu and Kuo, 2003). Every organization is recognized for their surroundings and norms. It becomes necessary to gauge in order to shape the behavior of the employees in an organization. There are three stages in capital budgeting analysis including decision analysis for building knowledge, op tion pricing for establishing position and discounted cash flow for making decision regarding investment (Garcia, Contreras, Correia and Muà ±oz, 2010). In context of project valuation, it is necessary for a company to ensure that their potential projects are in order to the employee’s culture because going further than that may crash the financial factors. The study is conducted to analyze the implications of the project and their impact on human resource (HR) (Law, 2004). The implications of the project includes capital budgeting calculations to choose the profitable project, evaluation of the chosen project, ethical considerations and relating a HR function model with the

Cultural Makeup Of China Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Cultural Makeup Of China - Essay Example It is essential to outline that there is a significant set of cultural features affecting the business behavior in China. China has a record population of more than 1.3 billion citizens (Fabbi 8). Due to hardworking nature of the Chinese society, a large portion of their population is involved the daily business operations. Based on this, Chinese have been putting most their cultural business practices into use. In addition, fifty-six (56) ethnic groups are officially recognized in the country. These ethnic groups include the Han and Zhuang. The Chinese culture and civilization has been influenced by three main religious movements, which are Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism. In this sense, China’s prominent religions thus include Islam, Christianity and Buddhism (Alon 24). The country’s demographic values reveal that about 10% of China’s population lives on $1 a day (Fabbi 30). This small value has resulted into most Chinese doing their best to excel in business. 91.51% of the Chinese people belong to the Han ethnic group (Fabbi 12). Of the remaining 55 ethnic groups, only one has a population of over of 1%. This is the Zhuang ethnic group. In essence, the Han ethnic group creates the largest business oriented population in the country. In terms of religion, 2% of the country’s population is made up of Muslim while the Christian population stands between 3.2% and 5%. Additionally, Buddhism is practiced by 10% to 18% of the Chinese population. Lastly, 30% of the Chinese practice local folk religions. Since China is an atheist, it officially does not survey its people based on religion. On this regard, the Chinese culture does not consider religion to be of any effect on their respective business behaviors (Fabbi 128). The other sets of crucial Chinese cultural characteristics in business are about prosperous entertainment. A key part of China’s business culture is that evening banquets are

Leisure Dimensions Essay Example for Free

Leisure Dimensions Essay Thesis Statement: The relationship between leisure and the impacts is has on mental health, exhibits strong correlations. This subject of interest has been studied for many years and there is significant evidence to support the idea that leisure, whether it be through the use of work, play, self-care or rest (Crist, Davis Coffin, 2000) does impact positively, on ones mental health. The continued importance of leisure, as an important domain of life has been widely researched and investigated to assist in providing many concluding statements as to how individuals of today can benefit from such activities. I have focused primarily on the effects which leisure has on ones mental health, and how through the use of such leisure activities, they can restore their mental capacity and function, and partake in the same activities they used to with the same belief and confidence in themselves. The under-lying, and most essential belief in the development of occupational therapy, is maintaining the balance of work, play/leisure, self-care and rest, as these are the foundations for a healthy lifestyle Crist et al (2000). In 1977, Kielhofner termed the healthy balance of activities as â€Å"temporal adaptation†. He hypothesized that the temporal adaptation is achieved through the interrelationship among the (i) amount of time engaged in particular types of activities, (ii) participants view of the importance of the activities (iii) participants perception of competence in performing the activities and (iv) how much satisfaction they derive from their chosen activities. When studying cases of what is considered to be a healthy adaptation, the activities are assumed to provide a sense of productivity and accomplishment, which are essentially derived from the individual’s perception, Crist et al (2000). Kielhofner’s Model of Human Occupation examines how the motivation, performance and organization of occupational behaviour are exhibited in daily life. This model contains a habituation subsystem, which is made up of two components; roles and habits, which serve to maintain occupational behaviour, Crist et al (2000). According to Kielhofner (1997) habits act to organize occupational behaviour by a) regulating how time is typically used, b) influencing how one performs routines, and c) generating styles of behaviour. He goes on to explain that roles not only influence the manner and content of the interactions but also require routine tasks and dividing daily and weekly cycles into times, Crist et al (2000). The interweaving of the habits and roles in daily life consequently form routine behaviour. Opposing this, occupational dysfunction occurs when an individual has a limited capacity to choose or perform occupations. Kleiber, Larson Csikszentmihalyi (1986) observed during a study of US adults how they spend their time. It was concluded that on average, 30% of the day was spent sleeping, 10% in self-care, and 10% in instrumental activities. From those who were gainfully employed, work took up 25% of their day. The remaining 30% remains as discretionary time. While this study provides insight into occupational patterns, the perceived meaning and significance of engaging these patterns is not evident, Crist et al (2000). Crist et al (2000) stated that the work role is an occupational factor that strongly influences the balance and organization of occupational behaviour. Christiansen Baum (1997) defined work as a skill or performance in participating in socially purposeful, and productive activities, whether or not the individual receives economic compensation. These activities can take place at home, in an employment setting, school or a community. According to Kielhofner (1977), work roles, both gainful and non-gainful, create a need for the organisation of daily activities. Work activities offer the opportunity to gain a sense of satisfaction, competence and involvement and in our society; the most visible and highly valued work roles are those, which are categorized as gainful employment, Crist et al (2000). Mental health status is another factor that can influence temporal adaptation (Larson, 1990). Those individuals, who are considered to be within a healthy range regarding their mental health, are able to successfully meet the demands of their lifestyle and perform these activities. An individual, who presents a mental illness, may still be able to perform their work role, however they may display difficulty in performing a variety of tasks, which will in turn effect their competence and consequently effect the enjoyment they would usually get out of the assigned tasks, Crist et al (2000). Employment and mental health status may be related to each other when analyzing their effects on temporal adaptation; however, the types of employment and severity of the mental health problems will ultimately determine the scope of the results. Leisure benefits health by buffering people against personal stress produced by life circumstances. There are two important mediators, which determine the influence of leisure on the stress-health relationship, leisure based social support and leisure generated self-determination (Coleman and Iso-Ahola, 1993) There has been extensive evidence to suggest that stressful life circumstances induce physical and mental illness; however, this impact has been shown to be moderated by various processes including leisure participation. According to Caldwell Smith (1988), leisure is believed to have beneficial consequences for psychological well-being and health. They have also suggested that leisure activities influence health by promoting positive moods. Therefore, it can be said that leisure may help overcome loneliness and result in influencing individuals well being, (Coleman et al, 1993). Differing life events, and more so those of negative connotations such as losing a job, have been shown to lead to a higher incidence of illness such as depression (Thoits, 1983). In saying this, the social and psychological factors impacting on health is being increasingly investigated in terms of the concept of â€Å"life stress†. According to Sarason Sarason (1981), life stress can be considered a psychological state involving the cognitive appraisal of life events and of one’s inability to deal with them. An example of this is that if there was a death of an immediate family member and this could consequently cause varying levels of stress. It must however be remembered that it is due to the individuals perception of life events which have been the most vital piece of information when predicting the illness outcomes, (Coleman et al, 1993). When life problems such as the one addressed above occur, it is the natural instinct to seek support to alleviate the stress. This can occur through the use of avoidance, obtaining support and problem solving, (Coleman et al, 1993). These coping strategies are believed to moderate the impact of life problems on health in two main ways. Coleman et al, (1993) state that initially, the individual’s beliefs and dispositions may lead to an appraisal of life problems as non-threatening. And secondly, by enhancing the individuals efforts can contribute to alleviating stress that flows from these life problems before it affects health. Those who are suffering from life problems would seek help through these coping mechanisms; however, those who lives are relatively â€Å"stress free† would not benefit. In diagnostic terms this coping is referred to as an â€Å"interaction† between the life stress and the coping factor, (Coleman et al, 1993). This process can be associated with an overall effect, which is represented by â€Å"main effect† and shows that social factors do in fact influence health, regardless of the level of stress. According to Coleman et al, (1993) these coping mechanisms are therefore said to provide a buffer against severe life crises, rather than having an overall influence on health. This finding provides the conclusion that leisure impacts health by providing buffering mechanisms that come into play when life presents significant problems, (Caldwell et al, 1988). Conversely to this, the impact of leisure when life stress is low is less beneficial in the short term. However, in the long run, leisure is hypothesized to contribute to health by building health-promoting dispositions such as self-determination (Coleman et al, 1993). When analyzing the relationships between leisure participation and health, Caltabino’s study shows fascinating findings. Caltabino focused on the interactions between life stress and the participation in social, cultural and sporting activities and he concluded that they were all associated with illness symptomatology (Caldwell, 1988). From the many studies conducted surrounding the participation levels and the direct effect they have on health, it can be concluded that people participate in leisure activities to gain a sense of camaraderie which in turn leads to an ideology that they will gain social support if more severe cases of life crises should present themselves (Coleman, 1993). Furthermore, Coleman et al, (1993) states that this leisure may buffer the life stress because continual engagement in some types of leisure experiences may foster personal dispositions incorporating self-determination, including a sense of control and mastery. Caldwell (2005) addresses and interesting theory that leisure is therapeutic and contributes significantly to ones health. There is existing literature on this notion, which can further be organised into three classes of research: prevention of, coping with, and transcending negative life events. It is from here that leisure can become beneficial and help people move forward in terms of their health. Based on the work of Antonovsky (1979), the view taken here is that health is a multifaceted concept and includes not only physical well-being and psychological well-being, but also performance, self- realization and a sense of meaningfulness. When looking at the primary prevention role that leisure plays in response to one’s mental health it has been said that leisure activities may ward off poor health and behaviors before they occur (Caldwell, 2005). Ponde and Santata examined this in a study, which concluded that participation in leisure activities is a protective factor for women’s health, particularly those living in poorer conditions. In this study, the leisure activities were positively correlated with low levels of anxiety and depression among women reporting no job satisfaction and low family income (Caldwell, 2005). When looking at leisure from an occupational therapy viewpoint, this leisure promotes heath because â€Å"meaningful activity can influence social inclusiveness and encourage self-expression, therefore promoting human potential† (Passmore, 2003). From the study she completed, Passmore found that social leisure and the achievement associated with the leisure positively influenced mental health, and that mental health was most strongly predicted by leisure-related competency, self-efficacy, and self-worth (Caldwell, 2005). In addition, some work by Szabo suggests that music appreciation; watching scenery through video and humor gained through leisure, equally help by improving mood and decreasing anxiety (Caldwell, 2005). As stated by Coleman et al, (1993), the role of leisure in the stress-coping process has received considerable attention over the last decade, and Iwaksi (2001) has concluded that, â€Å"leisure can be an important buffer against stress to maintain good health†. Coleman et al, (1993), found that social support derived from leisure activity participation contributes to the reduction of stress and in doing so, promotes physical and mental health, but only for those who experience high levels of stress. Iwasaki and Mannell (2000) came up with three coping strategies; leisure palliative coping, leisure mood enhancement and leisure companionship. And more recently Iwaski (2001) compared the effects of leisure-related coping on immediate coping outcomes, mental health outcomes and psychological well being with general coping strategies (Caldwell, 2005). From his research, he found that â€Å"leisure coping, significantly predicted positive coping outcomes, mental health, and psychological well-being beyond the effects of general coping† (Caldwell, 2005). The final way in which leisure can be therapeutic is when dealing with negative life events, however this does depend on the individual and may not occur when someone has experienced a traumatic event (Caldwell, 2005). In Kleiber’s case, the participants used leisure to find new meaning to life and become reborn in a way that allows for a â€Å"fuller realization of one’s potential† (Caldwell, 2005).

Drug Discovery Process Of The Bio Pharmaceutical Industry Biology Essay

Drug Discovery Process Of The Bio Pharmaceutical Industry Biology Essay The development of new pharmaceutical products is a long, expensive and uncertain process. It takes an average of 10 to 15 years for a new drug to move from the discovery phase into the marketplace, and the average cost for the development of a new drug is approximately $800 million. Out of 6000 compounds initially screened, only 6 are selected to move onto clinical trials, and out of those 6, only 1 compound is approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the product is introduced into the market. The low success rates associated with new drug development is what makes the demand for resources at different stages of the development pipeline highly variable and very difficult to predict. Even after a drug is launched into the market, success is not guaranteed as toxic side effects may erupt when the drug is introduced to a larger sample of diverse population. This unpredictable process together with the companys annual fixed cost of Research and Development creates a major financial risk. Nevertheless, pharmaceutical firms decide to undertake this risky process because of the opportunity to develop a blockbuster drug, a drug that generates $1 billion or more each year in sales revenue for the company, and has the capacity to meet unmet medical needs of the population. Pre-Discovery To Understand the Disease Before any potential new medicine can be discovered, scientists work to understand the causes as well as other underlying factors in relation to the disease to be treated as well as possible. Target Identification (Choose a molecule to target with a drug) Once they have enough understanding of the underlying cause of a disease, pharmaceutical researchers select a target for a potential new medicine. A target is generally a single molecule, such as a gene or protein, which is involved in a particular disease. Even at this early stage in drug discovery it is critical that researchers pick a target that is drugable, i.e., one that can potentially interact with and be affected by a drug molecule. Target Validation (Test the target and confirm its role in the disease) After choosing a potential target, scientists must show that it actually is involved in the disease and can be acted upon by a drug. Target validation is crucial to help scientists avoid research paths that look promising, but ultimately lead to dead ends. Researchers demonstrate that a particular target is relevant to the disease being studied through complicated experiments in both living cells and in animal models of disease. Various stages in Drug Development Process The drug development process is highly regulated and follows a number of well-defined steps and milestones. Discovery and screening stage Emerging tools in molecular biology, cell biology and combinatorial chemistry help researchers understand diseases and identify specific targets for new drugs. Once a specific target is identified, drug development starts with the screening of a large number of compounds to find the non-toxic compounds with the desired biological effects. Typically, thousands of chemical compounds are tested in test tubes or individual cells (tissue cultures). Drug companies maintain large libraries of newly synthesized or isolated compounds. Compound from these libraries are tested for biological activity. Preclinical testing Preclinical testing involves a series of short term and long term animal and laboratory tests to generate data on if a compound is safe and worthwhile to test on people. The aim of preclinical testing is to understand what happens when the drug is metabolized, as well as to generate information about the optimal dose for the clinical trials. Animal studies provide data on the absorption, distribution and excretion of the compound. The chemical properties of the discovered compounds are studied in significant detail at this step. Steps for synthesis and purification are developed at this time. These help identify any acute toxicity issues that may arise. It usually takes 3-4 years to gather data in support of Investigational New Drug Application (IND). This application notifies the Food and Drug Authority (FDA) of the drug sponsors intent to conduct clinical research on human. In parallel with the animal studies, the company has to conduct studies to determine how to manufacture repro ducible batches over time. Clinical trials The ultimate goal of clinical trials is to determine whether the drug works well enough in patients. The trials should address: whether the risk of toxic side effects outweighs the therapeutic benefit; which dose regimen provides the best response and the least number of side effects; if the drug is better than existing treatments or not. Clinical trials are divided in three phases Phase I (PI): In Phase I trials, the candidate drug is tested in people for the first time. These studies are usually conducted with about 20 to 100 healthy volunteers. The main goal of a Phase I trial is to discover if the drug is safe for humans. Researchers look at the pharmacokinetics of a drug: How is it absorbed? How is it metabolized and excreted from the body? They also study the pharmacologics of a drug: effects of the drug on the functioning of the human body. These closely monitored trials are designed to help researchers determine what the safe dosage range is and if it should move on to further development. Phase II (PII): The goal of this phase is to evaluate the effectiveness of the drug for a particular indication and how the drug behaves in people. These studies typically include 100-500 patients with a target disease or indication, divided into several subgroups. The subgroups are administered the drug in different dosages, by different routes, and on different schedules. Efforts are made to determine the common short term side effects and other risks associated with the drug when used on human beings. Phase III (PIII): The studies in this phase are conducted over a long term and on a large sample of 1000-1500 patient volunteers. The basic aim of this phase is to generate statistically significant data, about to evaluate the risks and benefits associated with the drug. The effectiveness and safety of the drug is carefully examined and dosing regiments duly noted which will lead to the FDA and the international regulatory agencies to approve the new drug. The results from these studies are used to develop the DRUG LABEL. The Drug Discovery process has many issues like Long Lead Times and Uncertainty that are plaguing the whole process and causing disturbances/tremors along the lines of New Product Development. Literature review A stochastic programming approach for clinical trial planning in new drug development Matthew Colvin, Christos T. Maravelias Due to changing circumstances in the managed-health-care environment, the profit margins of pharmaceutical companies and the productivity of their Research and Development (RD) pipelines have started to decline; effective patent lives have been shortened, and patents provide lower barriers to entry even while active. Therefore, it is imperative for pharmaceutical companies to manage their RD pipelines more effectively to reduce the cost of developing new drugs. This is a challenging task due to the highly stochastic nature of the RD process: if a drug fails a clinical trial, its development stops and all prior investment is lost; if it passes all trials, it enters the marketplace and profits are typically significantly larger than development costs. To effectively plan the clinical trials in the pharmaceutical RD pipeline, therefore, new systematic stochastic optimization methods are necessary.The paper presents a multi-stage stochastic programming formulation for the scheduling of c linical trials in the pharmaceutical research and development (RD) pipeline. The stages correspond to time periods, i.e. the planning horizon is divided into multiple periods. Scenarios are used to account for the endogenous uncertainty (a drug either passes or fails a clinical trial) in clinical trial outcomes. Given a portfolio of potential drugs and limited resources, the model determines which clinical trials (PI, PII, PIII) to be performed in each planning period and scenario in order to maximize the expected net present value of the RD pipeline. The proposed formulation can be used to address problems of medium size and serves as a basis for the development of advanced models for the management of the pharmaceutical RD pipeline. Knowledge networking to support medical new product development Kannan Mohan, Radhika Jain, Balasubramaniam Ramesh Pharmaceutical firms depend heavily upon their ability to rapidly develop and introduce new products into the market. Product development speed directly impacts their financial bottom-line as well as their ability to satisfy unmet medical needs of patients. However, development of new medical products is complex and time-consuming. It takes anywhere between 7 and 17 years and several millions to billions of dollars to launch new medical products. Some of the factors contributing to the length, cost, and uncertainty of this process are the stringent regulatory requirements of governmental entities like the FDA requiring the maintenance of design history for every medical product to show that the products were developed as per the approved plan and with extensive clinical trials, medical products are used to treat human beings whose well-being and safety are of utmost importance. Thus, failure of the product can have serious consequences, increasing possibilities for therapeutic interv ention brought about by newer technologies and enormous investments required in research and development, and testing. This paper addresses the issue of developing an approach to seamlessly integrate fragmented knowledge using knowledge networks. Semantic knowledge networks provide the ability to describe and follow the life of a physical or conceptual artefact. These have been used as effective solutions to support knowledge integration in knowledge intensive processes in multiple domains. Motivated by their effectiveness in supporting knowledge intensive processes, the paper proposes the creation and use of knowledge networks to facilitate integration of knowledge fragments that are generated and used in medical NPD. The development of a knowledge network should be guided by the unique characteristics of the medical NPD domain. The paper also provides the background on the process of medical NPD, along with unique issues in this area. New product development process and time-to-market in the generic pharmaceutical industry Janez Prasnikar, Tina Skerlj This article presents some important factors impacting on the lead-time of new products. In particular, we find a negative relationship between the incorporation of organizational tools and techniques, such as concurrent activity management and time-to-market. Further, there is an appropriate negative relationship between the integration of new product development departments in particular phases of the new product development process and the cycle-time of those phases. Appropriate capacity management and project management also contribute to a shorter lead-time of a new product. However, there are also some particularities of generic pharmaceutical companies. The retargeted products (where an existing product is launched in a new market) have longer time-to-market than completely new products. The generic pharmaceutical industry depends very much on local market conditions and it is often easier to launch new products in already existing markets than to launch existing products in n ew markets. Further, if the active pharmaceutical ingredient is sourced externally the time-to-market is shorter. The same is true of the external sourcing of the pharmaceutical formulation. Since generic companies often build their competencies in the market rather than on the technology used, strategic alliances and early supplier involvement in the new product development are important factors of their market success. Research objectives The Biopharmaceutical industry has many a process to be deeply understood and uniquely mapped, however, I would be looking at the following for the purpose of my project To understand the Drug Discovery Process and map it with New Product Development Understand how a pharmaceutical product is produced; identify all the stages from the Pre discovery phase to the Discovery phase and from the Pre clinical phase to the Clinical Phase and map it with New Product Development Identify the sources for reducing Uncertainty in the Drug Discovery Process One of the features that restrict the smooth functioning of the Drug Discovery process is uncertainty about the drug in trail. If the drug that is being tested fails the clinical trials phase, all the investment and effort towards drug development is lost, but if it passes all the trials, it enters the marketplace and benefits the company by providing profits that are typically significantly larger than the development costs. Identify the sources for reducing Lead Time in the Drug Discovery Process Drug development in the pharmaceutical sector is a lengthy process ranging anywhere from 7 to 17 years and costs the companies billions of dollars. Thus identification of sources for reduction in lead time and appropriate application of those steps would directly influence the costs and help in launching the product quicker than usual into the market. Research methodology Interaction with Biopharmaceutical Teams working on the Drug Discovery Process at the Biological Sciences and Biological Engineers (B.S.B.E) department at Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur Secondary Research from Scientific Journals Case study approach in Business Press and Scientific Journals Chapters Introduction to the Drug Discovery Process Detailed explanation of the Drug Discovery Process Convergence with the New Product Development Literature Review Analysis of the related topic as described in Business Press and other Scientific journals. Research Objectives Research Methodology: An outline of the different approaches available for research Explanation of the different approaches and their outcomes with respect to the project Results and Discussions of the case Management Insights Relation of the Drug Discovery Process with Management concepts Conclusions and Future Research

Conflict In Horn Of Africa Causes And Solutions History Essay

Conflict In Horn Of Africa Causes And Solutions History Essay The conflict in horn of Africa has been going on for centuries. Many people lost their lives due to the unsolved territorial problems between Ethiopia and Somalia and between Ethiopia and Eretria. As we know those countries engaged in a fierce war with each other for quit long period of time which prompted a lot of suffering among the populations of those countries. One might be asking what the cause of this conflict is and why it is so difficult to solve the disputes in a peaceful means and manner. I shall discuss and answer such questions concerning these issues in the following chapters, and I shall write about the root causes of the conflict both historically and politically. In this assignment I will concentrate merely on two countries and they are Somalia and Ethiopia. .Reason for the selection of the topic The main reason which I chose this topic is to illuminate the issue of horn of Africa (Somalia and Ethiopia), in terms of political and social problems caused by a bitter and prolonged war which, the international media, rarely cover its root causes and eventually Ill suggest some ideas which might be important if it is to solve the problem between the countries for good. Problem: What is the reason that the countries in horn of Africa (Ethiopia and Somalia) engaged a fierce war with each other? 2.0. A short background of Somalia Somalia locates in horn of Africa and many Somali people are nomads who move from place to another to get a green pasture for their animals. Somalis are homogeneous people who share same language, culture and religion Somalia. As it is the case in many African countries, Somalia is colonized by British in North Somalia and Italia in south, better known as British Somaliland, Italian Somaliland and French Somaliland (modern Djibouti). The colonizers not only divided Somalia but also annexed western part of Somalia territory (known as Ogaden) to Ethiopia while they gave south western part of Somalia territory (known as NFD) to Kenya. This divide and rule approach caused tremendous war and conflict among the neighboring nations for many years. The war in 1960,s and 1970,s between the two countries attracted the attention of the world Britain withdrew from British Somaliland in 1960 to allow its protectorate to join with Italian Somaliland and form the new state of Somalia. In 1969, a coup headed by Mohamed SIAD Barre led an authoritarian socialist rule that managed to impose a degree of stability in the country for a couple of decades. One of the main successes achieved by Siad Barre in his term was the orthography or writing of Somali language for the first in Somalia history. After the regimes collapse early in 1991, Somalia descended into chaos and factional fighting, and turmoil. In May 1991, northern clans declared an independent Republic of Somaliland that now includes the administrative regions of Awdal, Waqooyi Galbeed, Togdheer, Sanaag, and Sool. Although not recognized by the international, this region has maintained a quit stability in comparison with the south of the country and continues efforts to get recognition by establishing a constitutional democracy, including holding municipal, parliamentary, and presidential elections. 2.1. Short background of Ethiopia Ethiopia is in east-central Africa, bordered on the west by the Sudan, the east by Somalia and Djibouti, the south by Kenya, and the northeast by Eritrea. The Blue Nile rises in the northwest and flows in a great semicircle before entering the Sudan. Its chief reservoir, Lake Tana, lies in the northwest. Fascist Italy invaded Ethiopia on Oct. 3, 1935, forcing Haile Selassie into exile in May 1936. Ethiopia was annexed to Eritrea, then an Italian colony, and to Italian Somaliland, forming Italian East Africa. In 1941, British troops routed the Italians, and Haile Selassie returned to Addis Ababa. In 1952, Eritrea was incorporated into Ethiopia. On Sept. 12, 1974, Haile Selassie was deposed, the constitution suspended, and Ethiopia proclaimed a Socialist state under a collective military dictatorship called the Provisional Military Administrative Council (PMAC), also known as the Derg. U.S. aid stopped, and Cuban and Soviet aid began. Lt. Col. Mengistu Haile Mariam became head of state in 1977. During this period Ethiopia fought against Eritreans secessionists as well as Somali army. A group called the Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front seized the capital in 1991, and in May a separatist guerrilla organization, the Eritrean Peoples Liberation Front, took control of the province of Eritrea. The two groups agreed that Eritrea would have an internationally supervised referendum on independence. This election took place in April 1993 with almost unanimous support for Eritrean independence. Ethiopia accepted and recognized Eritrea as an independent state within a few days. The different nationalities in Ethiopia and how they can co-exist without a conflict was always the issue. The question of nationalities in Ethiopia has been the most contentious issue since Ethiopia took its current shape between the late 1880s and the early 1900s. The northern part of the present day Ethiopia, inhabited by the majority Abyssinians and the minority Kushitic Agews existed for over 2 Millennia in the name of the Abyssinian Kingdom with remarkable civilizations such as A xum, Lalibela and Gonder. However, Ethiopia as we know it today is the result of the internal expansion by King Minelik II of Shoa during the late 1880s until the early 1900s. The majority (70%) of the current Ethiopian population, which lives in the southern, western and eastern regions of the country became part of the present day Ethiopia only during this period of internal expansion. The majority Kushitic peoples such as Sidama, Oromo, Afar, Ogaden, etc and the Omotic peoples such as Wolayita, Gamo, Gofa, Dawuro, Konta, etc and the Nilotic peoples living in the border between Ethiopia and the Sudan all became part of the present day Ethiopia between the 1880s and early 1900s. Historical evidences suggest that the rivalry between the two colonial powers, Britain and France in the horn of Africa, during the Scramble (competition) for Africa, facilitated the rapid Abyssinian expansion towards the south, the east and the west during this period. The two colonial powers provided King Minelik II ample rifles and other war materials that other ethnic groups living in the interior lacked. Therefore the King was able to easily subdue these hitherto independent African Kushitic, Omotic and Nilotic states with in a relatively short period of time. Although these peoples were annexed over a century ago, due to lack of sustainable economic development and industrialization as well as limited urbanization, 85 % of them still live off subsistence agriculture in rural areas. The peoples of the South, the East and the West have therefore fully preserved their unique cultures, languages, histories and economic systems until today. Due to the failure of nation building arising primarily from failed economic development and successive dictatorial political systems, the country remained an amalgamation of nations and nationalities who constantly resented being part of a failed state. It is based on this reality that Ethiopians from the South, the East and the West often voice concerns about the issues of nations and nationalities in the past and current Ethiopian politics. This is often misunderstood by their Abyssinian compatriots who unwittingly or intentionally refuse to accept the diversity of the country. The new government (1991) declared the following declaration: Given the Ethiopias existing situation, the problem of nationalities can be resolved if each nationality is accorded full right to self-governance. This means that each nationality will have regional autonomy to decide on matters concerning its internal affairs. Within its environs, it has the right to determine the contents of its political, economic and social life, use its own language and elect its own leaders and administrators to head its internal organs (Leenco Latta 1999:201) Many Ethiopians argue that over mentioned declaration has never been implemented as it is and the current government continues to massacre all its opponents and civilians. 2.2. Historic enmity between Somalia and Ethiopia The historic enmity between the two countries dates back when Imam Ahmed Ibn Ibrahim better known as Ahmed Gurey/gragn who was ethnic Somali general who conquered Abyssinia (Ethiopia) in 16th century. By the summer at 1532 the Imams well armed troops had overrun almost all Ethiopia,s eastern and southern provinces, among them Dawaro, Bali, Hadeya, Ganz, waj, Fatager and Ifat. (Richard Pankhurst 2001:87) The Ethiopians were forced to ask for help from the Portuguese, who landed at the port of Massawa on February 10, 1541 in the reign of the emperor Gelawdewos . This force was led by Christopher da Gama, and included 400 musketeers and a number of artisans and other non-combatants. In response, Ahmad received 900 well-armed men from the Ottomans in Yemen to assist him. While the Portuguese expedition were victorious in most of their engagements with Ahmads forces, da Gama allowed himself to be trapped by Ahmad somewhere north of the Tekezà © River, where he was killed along with all but 140 of his troops. The survivors and Galawedos were able to join forces, and drawing on the Portuguese supplies, they attacked Ahmad on February 21, 1543 in the Battle of Wayna Daga , where their 9,000 troops managed to defeat the 15,000 soldiers under Ahmad. Ahmad was killed by a Portuguese musketeer, who was mortally wounded in avenging da Gamas death. That episode was described in the book The Ethiopians News of the coming of the Portuguese, and of their powerful military equipment, spread rapidly through northern Ethiopia. Many soldiers who sided with the Imam now abandoned him, and flocked to Lebna Dengels widow empress Sebla Wangel. Dom Christovao and his companions were able to cross the greater part of Tegray, and joined up with the Empress, and with Bahr Nagash Yeshaq, the ruler of the coastal province, without encountering any opposition. They then proceeded westwards to Dambeya, north of Lake Tana, where the confronted the Imam, who in April 1542 for first time in his career encountered an enemy well equipped with cannons. Wounded in battle he was obliged to retreat, but managed to send an urgent appeal to zebid, and promised, in return for renewed Turkish aid, to become a vassal of the Ottoman emperor, Suleiman II. The Turks responded by immediately providing him with ten fields-guns and 700 well-armed soldiers. Thus greatly strengthened he succeeded in defeating the Portugu ese in August, when Dom Christovao was captured and beheaded. (Richard Pankhurst 2001:92) In Ethiopia the damage which [Ahmad] Gragn did has never been forgotten, wrote Paul B. Henze. Every Christian highlander still hears tales of Gragn in his childhood. Haile Selassie referred to him in his memoirs 2.3. Ogaden history The Ogaden is contentious territory between Ethiopia and Somalia and it is inhabited by ethnic Somalis. The occupied/annexed Somali territory inside Ethiopia lies between Oromia (Ethiopian region inhibited by Ethnic Oromo) to the West, Afar land to the Northwest, the Republic of Djibouti to the north, and Kenya to the south and The Somali Republic to the east. Somali agro-pastorals people with a single language, culture, and socio-economic structure inhabit the Ogaden territory. As a fact in many other African countries, the European imperial powers demarcated borders between Somalia and Ethiopia and the border between Somalia and Kenya without taking the political and social divisions into consideration. Imperial partition scattered the Somali people, for example, among five sovereign states. Fellow Somalis were now to be found in British Somaliland, Italian Somaliland, French Somaliland, Ethiopia and Kenya. (Alex Thomson, 2000: 13) The Ogaden Somali people were free and independent until colonial powers from overseas came to Africa and started arming the Abyssinian chiefs in the north of present day Ethiopia. The Abyssinians using the arms and expertise provided by the colonialists captured Harar in 1884 and started raiding Ogaden Somali villages in that area, killing civilians. The Ogaden Somalis resisted vehemently the encroachment of the Abyssinian expansionists and succeeded in halting their advance. Even though the Abyssinian military campaign to conquer the rest of the Somali territory failed, the colonial powers recognized its claim over the Ogaden Somaliland and signed treaties with them. In 1935, Italy invaded Abyssinia (Todays Ethiopia) and captured it along with the Ogaden and the territories of other nations in the area. Then the British defeated Italy in the Horn of Africa in 1941, and it administered the Ogaden for eight years until it transferred the first part of the Ogaden (Jigjiga area) to Ethiopia (the Abyssinians) for the first time. The next parts were transferred in 1954 and 1956. Thus, Ethiopia gained the control over the Ogaden without the knowledge or consent of the Ogaden Somalis. From that time onward, successive Ethiopian regimes mercilessly suppressed the Ogaden people and whenever the liberation movements seriously weakened and threatened Ethiopian colonialism, a foreign power directly intervened to re-establish its colonial rule over the Ogaden. Ethiopia since the beginning of this century and up to now has been characterized by one nation using the powers of state to subjugate and exploit all the other nations within that artificial system. For almost one century, the Abyssinians are abusing the concept of sovereignty and statehood to deprive the rights of other people living under the rule of the artificial state of Ethiopia. The historical reality of the process that resulted in its creation also continued to influence the Ethiopian governments interaction with and perception by these peoples. Ethiopian Governments, past and present, are perceived as alien by these people.(Leenco Lata, 1999: 41) It is historically clear that those suppressed nations inside Ethiopia among them Somalis (Ogaden) have always been struggling to be independent from Ethiopia one day. Ethiopia is a state founded on colonial doctrine and bases its rule on the use of force and emergency measures for oppressing the majority of the people and exploiting them. Ethiopia claims that African borders inherited from colonialism should be left intact and it inherited the Ogaden territory from the colonial powers. At the same time, Ethiopia is boasting to be the only African state that was never colonized. This means that Ethiopia has been a participating partner with the colonial powers that divided Africa among themselves but has never relinquished its colonial possessions. To maintain such a colonial state, the rulers had to build a massive military machine and embark on forcefully maintaining one of the most vicious authoritarian rules in the third world. The resultant resistance from the people and the inevitable taxing of material and moral resources of the oppressing elite became Ethiopia Achilles hill and brought about the downfall of its successive regimes. The relentless resistance of the colonized nations and the consequential resource drainage brought down both the rules of Haille Sellassie and the military Junta of Mengistu. The war between Somalia and Ethiopia over Ogaden region in 1964 on the one hand publicized the conflict and brought that cause to the regional and international arenas (Mohamed Abdi, 2007:60) 2.4. Ogaden war 1977 1980 In 1960 northern Somalia got independence from Britain and joined with southern Somalia to form the new state of Somalia. Successive Somali governments objected to the demarcation of the 1,000-mile border with Ethiopia, which was drawn by colonial powers. In 1964, the two countries fought a war over the Ogaden region of eastern Ethiopia, which is home to mainly ethnic Somalis. In 1977 a big war again erupted between Ethiopia and Somalia over Ogaden Territory. By the beginning of the war, the Somali National Army (SNA) was only 35,000-men strong and was vastly outnumbered by the Ethiopian army. However, throughout the 1970s, Somalia was receiving large amounts of Soviet military aid. The SNA had three times the tank force of Ethiopia, as well as a larger air force. By the summer 0f 1977 the Somali victory on the ground was unquestionable, but at the same time the Ethiopian were making headway on the diplomatic front (Mohamed Abdi, 2007:89) 2.5. Soviet and Egyptian role In addition to previous Russian fund and arms support to Somalia, Egypt sent millions of dollars in arms to Somalia, established military training and sent experts to Somalia due to Egypts longstanding policy of securing the Nile River flow by destabilizing Ethiopia. Even as Somalia gained military strength, Ethiopia grew weaker. In September 1974, Emperor Haile Selassie had been overthrown by the Derg.The Derg military dictatorship that came to power in Ethiopia following the ousting of Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia. (The military council), marking a period of turmoil. The Derg quickly fell into internal conflict to determine who would have primacy. Meanwhile, various anti-Derg as well as separatist movements began throughout the country. The regional balance of power now favored Somalia. One of the separatist groups seeking to take advantage of the chaos was the pro-Somalia Western Somali Liberation Front Western Somali Liberation Front (WSLf). The Western Somali Liberation Front was a separatist rebel group fighting in eastern Ethiopia to create an independent state. It played a major role in the Ogaden War of 1977-78 assisting the invading Somali Army. (WSLF) operating in the Somali-inhabited Ogaden area, which by late 1975 had struck numerous government outposts. From 1976 to 1977, Somalia supplied arms and other aid to the WSLF. 2.6. Ethiopia and soviet relationship Mengistu Haile Mariam was the most prominent officer of the Derg, the military junta that governed Ethiopia from 1974 to 1987, and the President of the Peoples Democratic Republic of Ethiopia from 1987 to 1991 as head of state on 11 February, 1977. However, the country remained in chaos as the military attempted to suppress its civilian opponents. Despite the violence, the Soviet Union, which had been closely observing developments, came to believe that Ethiopia was developing into a genuine Marxist-Leninist state and that it was in Soviet interests to aid the new regime. They thus secretly approached Mengistu with offers of aid that he accepted. Ethiopia closed the U.S. military mission and the communications center in April 1977. In June 1977, Mengistu accused Somalia of infiltrating SNA soldiers into the Somali area to fight alongside the WSLF. Despite considerable evidence to the contrary, Barre insisted that no such thing was occurring, but that SNA volunteers were being allowed to help the WSLF. Somalia decided to make a decisive move and invaded the Ogaden in 13 July 1977. Jijiga is a city in eastern Ethiopia and the capital of the Somali Region of that country and locates in the Jijiga Zone approximately 80 km east of Harar and 60 km west of the border with the Republic of Somalia; this city has been inflicted heavy casualties on assaulting forces. The Ethiopian Air Force is the air arm of the Military of Ethiopia and is tasked with protecting the air space, providing support to the ground forces as well as assisting during national emergencies. Air superiority is the dominance in the air power of one sides air forces over the other sides during a military campaign. It is defined in the NATO Glossary as That degree of dominance in the air battle of one force over another that permits the conduct of operations by the former and its related land, sea, and air forces at a given time The USSR, finding itself supplying both sides of a war, attempted to mediate a ceasefire. When their efforts failed, the Soviets abandoned Somalia. All aid to Siad Barres regime was halted, while arms shipments to Ethiopia were increased. Plus Soviet advisors flooded into the country along with around 15,000 from Cuba. The greatest single victory of the SNA-WSLF was a second assault on Jijiga in mid-September, in which the demoralized Ethiopian troops withdrew from the town. The local defenders were no match for the assaulting Somalis and the Ethiopian military was forced to withdraw past the strategic strongpoint of the Marda Pass, halfway between Jijiga and Harar. By September Ethiopia was forced to admit that it controlled only about 10% of the Ogaden and that the Ethiopian defenders had been pushed back into the non-Somali areas of Harerge, Bale, and Sidamo Province However, the Somalis were unable to press their advantage because of the high level of attrition among its tank battalions, constant Ethiopian air attacks on their supply lines, and the onset of the rainy season, which made the dirt roads unusable. During that time, the Ethiopian government managed to raise a giant militia force in its 100,000s and integrated it into the regular fighting force. Also, since the Ethiopian army was a client of U.S weapons, hasty acclimatization to the new Warsaw-pact bloc weaponry took place. From October 1977 until January 1978, the SNA-WSLF forces attempted to capture Harar, where 40,000 Ethiopians backed by Soviet-supplied artillery. Artillery is a military Combat Arms which employs any apparatus, machine, an assortment of tools or instruments, a system or systems used as weapons for the discharge of large projectiles in combat as a major contribution of fire power within the overall military capability of an armed force And Armored fighting vehicle The Ethiopians had regrouped with 1500 Soviet advisors and 11,000 Cuban soldiers. Though it reached the city outskirts by November, the Somali force was too exhausted to take the city and was eventually forced to retreat outside and await an Ethiopian counterattack. The expected Ethiopian-Cuban attack occurred in early February. However, it was accompanied by a second attack that the Somalis were not expecting. A column of Ethiopian and Cuban troops crossed northeast into the highlands between Jijiga and the border with Somalia, bypassing the SNA-WSLF force defending the Marda Pass. The attackers were thus able to assault from two directions in a pincer action, allowing the re-capturing of Jijiga in only two days while killing 3,000 defenders. The Somali defense collapsed and every major Ethiopian town was recaptured in the following weeks. Recognizing that his position was untenable, Siad Barre ordered the SNA to retreat back into Somalia on 9 March 1978. The last significant Somali unit left Ethiopia on 15 March 1978, marking the end of the war. 3.0. Somali state collapse and shift of balance of power in horn of Africa Already in 1980s many rebels supported by Ethiopian government were aiming to oust the former president of Somalia Mohamed said Barre. By the end of the 1980s, armed opposition to Barres government, fully operational in the northern regions, had spread to the central and southern regions. Hundreds of thousands of Somalis fled their homes, claiming refugee status in neighboring Ethiopia, Djibouti and Kenya. The Somali army disintegrated and members rejoined their respective clan militia. Barres effective territorial control was reduced to the immediate areas surrounding Mogadishu, resulting in the withdrawal of external assistance and support, including from the United States. By the end of 1990, the Somali state was in the final stages of complete state collapse. In the first week of December 1990, Barre declared a state of emergency as USC forces advanced toward Mogadishu. In January 1991, armed opposition factions removed Barre out of power, resulting in the complete collapse of th e central government. State collapse in Somalia had become a fact of life in the region. Ethiopia and Somalia both saw the end of dictatorial rule in 1991. But whereas Ethiopia had picked itself up and reconfigured its political landscape, Somalias clan based political dynamics had consistently worked against the re-establishment of a central government. Somalia was fragmented, but by the late 1990s some of its fragments, Notably Somaliland and Punt land in the northwest and northeast of the country respectively, had established their own administrations that fulfilled most of the functions of government As one can imagine the losses and repercussions of the civil war was almost irretrievable. The human cost was terrible. Thousands of civilians were killed and wounded, and at least half a million fled their homes seeking across the border in Ethiopia and in the republic of Djibouti. Thousands of refugees eventually found refuge in Canada, Britain, Scandinavia, Italy and the USA (Ioan Lewis, 2008:71). 3.1. The rise of warlords and the rise of ICU and Ethiopian intervention with economical support from USA With the collapse of the state in January 1991, Somalia became the first country in modern history to become stateless. Consequently, lawlessness became rampant in the country and criminal militias and gangs terrorized the population. A little over a year after the Somali state collapsed, violent confrontations developed between two competing factions in Mogadishu which finally led to one of them using food as a weapon against vulnerable population in southwestern region of the country in Baidoa. Farmers in the region were unable to cultivate their fields due to the fear caused by gangs and with warlords blocking food shipments to the region thousands of people began to slowly waste away. By the time the news media took note of the problem an awful famine was in full swing and tens of thousands of people were deliberately condemned to death through starvation. The United Nations which had a small contingent of peace-keepers was unable to clear bandits off the roads in order to delive r food aid to those who need it. Life conditions became so bad that the first President Bush was moved to act and ordered thousands of American troops to enter Somalia in order to open the roads so emergency food aid can urgently get through to the people. The troops were able to accomplish this task with relative ease and as a result tens of thousands of lives were saved. By contrast, rebuilding Somalias government from scratch was more difficult, even under the best of circumstances, but the US/UN force had ill-defined mandate and got bad advice regarding the causes of Somalias disintegration. American/UN agenda of rebuilding the government was incoherent and led to a failure in which 18 American soldiers were killed by the militias of one of the warlords of Mogadishu. By then a new American President, Clinton, was so shaken by this singular event that he decided to evacuate US forces from Somalia. Other nations who had contributed troops to the campaign and the UN followed and So malia was left to the warlords. The terror of Warlords became the order of the day since 1995 and several attempts to form a national government failed. A most promising effort in this regard was in the neighboring state of Djibouti where representatives of nearly all Somali civil society groups were invited in 1999 excluding warlords. The conference successfully led to the establishment of a Transitional National Government (TNG). However, the Ethiopian government which had supported many of the warlords, particularly Mr. Abdullahi Yusuf, and supplied them with weapons over the years was not happy about the prospect of a civic administration and worked against it from the start. The combination of Ethiopian sabotage and Somali leaders incompetence destroyed this precious chance. At one point the Ethiopian Foreign Minister told the TNGs Foreign Affair chief that Ethiopia will be able to support the Somali government on the condition that their ally, Mr. Yusuf, was appointed as prime minister. The Ethiopian minister was not pleased when he was told that the responsibility to appoint and confirm the PM rested with the president and parliament. In the meantime, Ethiopia used its diplomatic influence in Africa and elsewhere to call for yet another Somali reconciliation conference with the pretext of forming an inclusive government while it continued to supply the warlords with weapons. The proposal was accepted by the Intergovernmental Agency on development (IGAD) and there started another reconciliation process in which the mediators (Kenya and Ethiopia) openly favored and supported the warlords. After two years of negotiations the conference was brought to a conclusion without any reconciliation among Somalis. The Ethiopian government successfully attained its goals of wasting the remaining time of the TNGs tenure, enabled the warlords to appoint more than two-thirds of the members of parliament, and finally succeeded in having its clients selected as president and prime minister. American policy, during the long two years of negotiations in Kenya, was characterized by tacit support for warlords domination of the conference. In the main, the US representatives in Kenya watched the process from the sidelines and seemed they did not like the quality of the output in the form of the Transitional Federal Government (TFG). For nearly two years after the formation of the TFG the American government remained disinterested in the affairs of the TFG. Instead it financed the formation of so called anti-terror alliance which consisted of the very warlords who have killed the population for over a decade. Americas objective in supporting the warlords was to find and arrest three people accused of being involved in the attacks on US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 and who were presumed to be hiding somewhere in southern Somalia. The warlords contract with the CIA also included capturing or killing those who were considered radical Islamists. Americas warlord projec t backfired as the majority of Mogadishus population sided with the Muslim leaders and rooted the warlords out. American policy makers panicked with the formation of the Union of Islamic Courts (UICs) and the liberation of Mogadishu and surrounding region from the tyranny of the warlords. Shortly after UICs took over Mogadishu senior American policy makers began to speak about the internationally legitimate government of Somalia and actively used Americas diplomatic and other resources to bestow respect on what it previously considered week operation. Meanwhile, Ethiopia activated its propaganda machine and accused the courts of trying to establish a fundamentalist regime which it claimed will endanger its security despite the fact that Somalia did not have an army. It immediately gave a protection force for its client Somali government holed in the regional center of Baidoa. As the Courts spread their reach into most parts of southern Somalia, Ethiopia increased its troop presence in Baidoa into several thousand heavily armed units. The US government encouraged this invasion and used its diplomatic muscle to shield Ethiopia from international criticism. The united American-Ethiopian propaganda machine completed the demonization of the courts as a fundamentalist organization in cahoots with Al Qaida. This joint effort led to US government sponsoring a resolution at the Security Council, 1725, which mandated the deployment of an African Union force in Somalia aimed at protecting the TFG and stabilizing the country. Other countries in the Security Council insisted and prevailed that those countries who share