Examine how Valvular heart valve disease has caused a major problem worldwide The WritePass Journal

Examine how Valvular heart valve disease has caused a major problem worldwide Introduction: Examine how Valvular heart valve disease has caused a major problem worldwide Introduction:Definition:Cellular sources:Biomaterials:Sterilization methods:Pre-clinical trials:Biomechanical culture:Commercialized products:Challenges:Conclusion:REFERENCES:Related Introduction: Valvular heart valve disease caused a major problem worldwide, result in increasing rate of morbidity and mortality (Rashid et al., 2004). Each of the four valves of heart can be affected by dysfunction (Mol et al., 2009). The common solution is the replacement of diseased valves either mechanical or bioprostheses. However, they are associated with shortcoming. Patients with mechanical valves are associated with long term of anticoagulation therapy which leads in higher risk of complications (Hjortnaes et al., 2009).   Bioprosthetic valves are less durable, enable to grow and repair and lead to calcification. Moreover, they are associated with reoperation especially with young patients. None of these valves are capable to restore native valves functions.   To overcome replacement shortage of heart valve, in the mid of 1980s in the USA, tissue engineering concept was proposed as alternative solution and has the capability to produce autologous heart valves (Matsumura, 2003). Definition: Tissue engineering of heart valves is manipulation of biological molecules and cells for the purpose of creating new structures capable of metabolic activity. (Vesely, 2005). Approaches: Worldwide, two main approaches have been used to achieve the desirable and clinical needs of heart valves; regeneration and repopulation (Vesely, 2005). In the first approach, decellularized xenograft (ECM proteins; collagen or fibrin) or allograft served as valve biological scaffold, mixed with autologous cells (myofibroblast and endothelial) has been seeded in vitro (Mendelson and Schoen, 2006), (Neuenschwander, 2004). However, limitations of this approach are; the construct lack the ability to grow, long term mechanical properties could alter physical properties of the native valves and a possibility of disease transmission (Neuenschwander, 2004). Moreover, inflammatory reaction due to ECM proteins used may deteriorate the scaffold result in biomechanical damage (Mendelson and Schoen, 2006). A biodegradable synthetic scaffold is the traditional approach in which cells of a specific phenotype are transplanted onto a bioresorbable scaffold in the shape of heart valves (Vesely, 2005).These biocompatible materials offer several advantages; Due to degradation products, they have neither side effects nor immunogenic reactions.   They are harmless and easy to handle. At the site of implantation, the remaining autologous living structures after complete biodegradation of the scaffolds have the ability to remodel, to adapt and to grow (Neuenschwander, 2004). The danger of the transmission of new infections and immunogenic reactions is minor as a result of utilization of autologous cells which lead to identical bioengineered tissues to host cells (Neuenschwander, 2004). Extracellular matrix material is formed by the cells after attachment and the polymer scaffold degrades (Fuchs et al., 2001). As shown in (Shinoka et al., 1995) mixed cell population of endothelial cells and from ovine arteries were isolated and separated from each other by fluorescence-activated cell sorting. An acetylated low-density lipoprotein marker was used to label endothelial cells. Myofibroblasts were seeded onto polyglycolic acid scaffolds which then seeded with endothelial cells. Before new tissues being regenerated, the degrading scaffold cannot tolerate pressures of the left ventricle (Vesely, 2005). Therefore, the constructs were implanted in sheep in place of the native right posterior leaflet of the pulmonary valve.   This approach results in trivial pulmonary regurgitation in autografts but moderate in allografts and doesn’t show stenosis (Shinoka et al., 1995). Repopulation is the less popular approach. Complex structure (collagen) is fabricated by manipulating biological molecules.   Prior to implanting, cleaning off the porcine aortic valve from cells is required, and leaving intact the connective tissue matrix. Then, the acellular matrix of the patients cells is repopulated, stimulated and thus result in creating a living tissue resemble to the native tissue (Vesely, 2005). Cellular sources: In tissue engineered valve applications, mesenchymal stem cells and differentiated tissue-specific cells (including circulating endothelial progenitor cells or smooth muscle cells) are the two main types used. They are harvested from either patients or experimental animals (Vesely, 2005). Stem cells along with the appropriate matrix are expected to provide a broader source of either autologous or allogenic cell lines once differentiated to the proper end point. Thus, they are beneficial for therapeutic use in the cardiovascular field (Vesely, 2005). Animals’ tissues such as canine and pigs are conducting in a research with variability in successful implantation.   Mesenchymal stem cells for TE of ECM scaffolds have been obtained from canine tissues. Also, due to presence of type 1 and IV collagen and fibronectin, ECM from pig’s tissues showed ability to grow to a single layer (Rashid et al., 2004). In most approaches, veins (saphenous vein) or peripheral arteries (radial artery, mammary artery) are efficient sources of cells. Mixed vascular cell populations give rise to myofibroblast and endothelial cells lines. myofibroplasts derived from arteries show decreased proliferation in monolayer culture and ECM formation when cultivated on three dimensional structure compared to cells obtained from veins (Neuenschwander, 2004). Another promising alternative source of heart valves can be derived from progenitor cells derived from peripheral blood and bone marrow cells (mesenchymal stem cells). MSC can be differentiated into different tissues, are easy to obtain, shows high proliferating capacity in vitro and faster growing than vascular derived cells. They produce well developed ECM after cultivation under bio-mimetic conditions (Neuenschwander, 2004). Biomaterials: There are two principal choices of scaffold; naturally or synthetic polymeric scaffolds. Exogenous ECM scaffolds are required to provide mechanical support until the target newly tissue is formed and become stable. Designing is based on the target cells population needed to implant at the injury or diseased sites. In vivo, they are degraded alongside the implanted functionally tissues grow and organize their matrix structure (Kim et al., 2010). Non-toxic, biodegradable and biocompatible scaffolds serve as a temporary matrix for the seeded cells due to their own a highly porous microstructure that supply nutrients required for growth and necessary for waste removal. They possess structural integrity to withstand in vitro and in vivo loading. The most widely used in HVE are polyglycolic acid (PGA), polylactic acid (PLA) and their copolymers (PGLA). PGA is highly resorbable, linear, a highly crystalline and have a high melting point. PLA reduce the rate of hydrolysis and have limited water uptake. In all of that, to facilitate tissue growth, growth factors are integrated in the scaffold. However, a number of disadvantages must be overcome; slow or incomplete degradation that cause inflammation, limited nutrients and oxygen delivery to deep cells and fibrosis (scar) occupied the space formed after scaffold degradation (Mendelson and Schoen, 2006). Natural scaffold composed of decellularized xenograft or allograft tissue or ECM components such as collagen or fibrin (Mendelson and Schoen, 2006). Fibrin gel scaffold can be designed into a valve structure to form a biodegradable, autologous scaffold.   Blood is the source of fibrin gel and mould into autologous manner to work against immunogenicity. Seeding cells into fibrin scaffold results in good tissue development with viable fibroblast. However, fibrin scaffold would lack mechanical strength (Knight, 2004). Furthermore, in a process similar to the contraction of a wound healing, cells entrapped in collagen gels compact the gel, improve their property and increase density (Mendelson and Schoen, 2006). But, any scaffold made from collagen alone would like to degenerate very quickly due to in vivo forces affected heart valves (Knight, 2004). Moreover, hyaluronan is a glycosaminoglycan polymer with a repeating disaccharide structure and being used as biocompatible material ECM scaffold. It imparts viscoelastic properties and applies pressure that gives tissues compressive resistance (Vesely, 2005). Sterilization methods: Several methods are used to sterile materials utilized in process of seeding and tissue harvesting. 1) Dry heat sterilization in which items are placed in an oven for one hour at 160T to be sterilized by dry heat. 2) Moist heat sterilization is used to autoclave objects and solutions not suitable for dry heat sterilization for 20 minutes at 121 T, 15 pounds per square inch (psi). 3) 0.2ptm filters are used to sterilize solutions not suitable for autoclaving (Knight, 2004). Pre-clinical trials: Animal model is an essential part of biomedical research to approve tissue engineered devices by FDA in order to carry on clinical trials. Using animal tissues as sources relies on many factors; cost, ethical considerations, availability and the nature of the tested tissue. In Zilla study (Zilla et al., 1994), baboons were used to study the proliferation of seeding (endothelial cells) EC on polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) grafts. Compared to the control of unseeded graft, seeded graft showed persistent confluent EC layer through time with the aid of fibrin glue enriched with RGD (Zilla et al., 1994). Due to similar anatomy and physiology to that of humans, pigs have been used widely for experimental study. Also, they are cooperative without general anesthesia. They are capable of rabid growth so limiting the time required for TE construct (Rashid et al., 2004). Biodegradable polyglycolic acid (PGA) scaffold was treated by sodium hydroxide and modified seeded bovine SMC and EC were used by Niklason and co-workers in after 24 days of implantation in swine model. Ovine and caprine are also models to study TE due to large size and easy access to the carotid artery in the long neck. They can be used for long term study because adult animal can’t grow (Rashid et al., 2004). In a number of researches, sheep model was used widely but ordained for failure as a result of exuberant fibrotic response to implants (Vesely, 2005). Compared to humans, implants grow rapidly with fibrotic tissue in sheep (Schoen, 2011). In preclinical testing, the choice of animal model is a challenge owing to immunologic considerations (Mendelson and Schoen, 2006). Biomechanical culture: Various parameters determine the optimal conditioning protocols; the scaffold, the magnitude and types of mechanical cues, the sensitivity of cell to the used scaffolds. Bioreactors in TEHV have been developed to improve tissue formation, organization and functions and to stimulate dynamic mechanical of the TEHV. Moreover, to mimic native excitation-contraction coupling, electrical stimulation has been used. Additionally, to mimic the diastolic phase of the cardiac cycle, a diastolic pulse duplicator bioreactor has been developed which result in dynamic tissue straining (Sacks et al., 2009). Commercialized products: In October 2000, CE Mark approved use of the CryoLife Synergraft. It was similar to decellularization matrix approach by removing cellular antigens using extraction and dissolution. It was expected to sound mechanically as acellular matrix. Unfortunately, complications related to stenosis, inflammation and valve rupture result in death and thus withdrew from the market (Vesely, 2005). Challenges: Till date, no EHV constructs have been commercialized. Before translation of the construct to patients, numerous steps must be considered and assured laboratory.   For example; ethical issues, safety, efficacy and quality of the product should be evaluated. Additionally, medical devices interactions results such as; thrombosis, infection and inflammation will have to be accepted. There is a need to develop tools to monitor the fate of transplanted and endogenous cells, biomarkers to evaluate the patients variability to implantation. in all of that, suitable approach is required that ensure efficiency and safety (Schoen, 2011). Conclusion: Three main issues determine the success of tissue engineered heart valve; 1) sources of cells, 2) the (matrix) scaffold that serves as a guiding structure and determines the three dimensional shapes of tissue development and cell attachment and 3) the optimal culturing condition for cell growth. State of art of TEHV today is still on research, significant challenges must be solved before start in clinical application. REFERENCES: FUCHS, J. R., NASSERI, B. A. VACANTI, J. P. 2001. Tissue engineering: a 21st century solution to surgical reconstruction. The Annals of thoracic surgery, 72, 577-591. HJORTNAES, J., BOUTEN, C. V. C., VAN HERWERDEN, L. A., GRUNDEMAN, P. F. KLUIN, J. 2009. Translating autologous heart valve tissue engineering from bench to bed. Tissue Engineering Part B: Reviews, 15, 307-317. KIM, B. S., PARK, I. K., HOSHIBA, T., JIANG, H. L., CHOI, Y. J., AKAIKE, T. CHO, C. S. 2010. Design of artificial extracellular matrices for tissue engineering. Progress in Polymer Science. KNIGHT, R. L. 2004. Development of methods for the tissue engineering of cardiac valves using mesenchymal stem cells. MATSUMURA, G. 2003. Successful application of tissue engineered vascular autografts: clinical experience. Biomaterials, 24, 2303-2308. MENDELSON, K. SCHOEN, F. J. 2006. Heart Valve Tissue Engineering: Concepts, Approaches, Progress, and Challenges. Annals of Biomedical Engineering, 34, 1799-1819. MOL, A., SMITS, A. I. P. M., BOUTEN, C. V. C. BAAIJENS, F. 2009. Tissue engineering of heart valves: advances and current challenges. Expert Review of Medical Devices, 6, 259-275. NEUENSCHWANDER, S. 2004. Heart valve tissue engineering. Transplant Immunology, 12, 359-365. RASHID, S. T., SALACINSKI, H. J., HAMILTON, G. SEIFALIAN, A. M. 2004. The use of animal models in developing the discipline of cardiovascular tissue engineering: a review. Biomaterials, 25, 1627-1637. SACKS, M. S., SCHOEN, F. J. MAYER JR, J. E. 2009. Bioengineering challenges for heart valve tissue engineering. Annual Review of Biomedical Engineering, 11, 289-313. SCHOEN, F. J. 2011. Heart valve tissue engineering: quo vadis? Current Opinion in Biotechnology. SHINOKA, T., BREUER, C. K., TANEL, R. E., ZUND, G., MIURA, T., MA, P. X., LANGER, R., VACANTI, J. P. MAYER, J. E. 1995. Tissue engineering heart valves: valve leaflet replacement study in a lamb model. The Annals of thoracic surgery, 60, S513-S516. VESELY, I. 2005. Heart valve tissue engineering. Circulation research, 97, 743. ZILLA, P., PREISS, P., GROSCURGH, P., Rà ¶SEMEIER, F., DEUTSCH, M., ODELL, J., HEIDINGER, C., FASOL, R. VON OPPELL, U. 1994. In vitro-lined endothelium: initial integrity and ultrastructural events. Surgery, 116, 524-534.

Can terror ever be legitimately employed in conflict Discuss with Essay

Can terror ever be legitimately employed in conflict Discuss with reference to examples - Essay Example During World War II, both the Allies and the Axis used terror as a weapon of winning the war. Different debates have questioned the legitimacy of using terror as a weapon for ending conflicts. Terrorism is viewed to bring negative effects to a nation; this is because in attaining its main objective, the central target is the civilians (Herman 2008, p. 13). Although it brings negative impacts to a nation, sometimes use of terror benefits the nation. For instance, it can assist in the acquisition of freedom. This was the case in South Africa during the time of Apartheid. Apartheid was abolished through the use of terror. Although war is thought to be associated with vast negative effects, sometimes violence can bring positive results to a group or a nation. In this paper, I will discuss whether terror can be legitimately employed in conflicts. According to different researchers, legitimating of terror is justifiable in some cases. In extreme cases, where democratic and peaceful methods have been exhausted, it is justified and legitimate to resort to terror. In situations of suffering and repression, with a ruthless, oppressive state and no possibility of having international relief, it is necessary to resort to violence in order to defend the citizens. A state engaging and using terror in order to fight and rescue its citizens uses terror in a legitimate and justified manner (Coady 2010, p. 21). It is the function of a state to protect its people without fear; hence, if the use of terror remains the only option for the state to use in order to fight for its people, it would be interpreted as necessary and justifiable. Each person or minority group has a right in expressing discontentment in a certain issue of concern. The state has the role of representing its people and should make facilitation of this possibility. In addition, it is

Torturing terrorist by the goverment Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Torturing terrorist by the goverment - Article Example Suspects of terrorism are expected to provide the government with intelligence information on the whereabouts of their gangs, sympathizers and financiers. However, to extract this information from them always become the problem. This is because most of these suspects are under oath to protect the activities of their groups. For example, most of them opt to commit suicide rather than having to be interrogated by the authorities. Concealing this information, therefore, renders a big blow to governments counter-terrorism activities. Proposals have for this reason been forwarded encouraging governments to use more force on the suspects and this involves the application of torture to the suspects. This, however, has human rights implications besides the expected outcomes. This means that in the face of the society, the human rights organizations and the international community, torturing terrorism suspects have pros and cons. Applying torture to terrorism suspects have advantages. First, torture to terrorism suspects has not been covered in the Geneva Convention report on the treatment of prisoners of war. Further, the convention only prohibits torture in the culprits own soil. When happening in another country, torture is thus legally acceptable. Secondly, treating terrorism with diplomacy only makes the situation worse. When the dignity of the suspects is respected as proposed by humanitarian organizations the terrorists are even more encouraged to make attacks. In addition, new members have no reproach joining the terror groups. This is as opposed to a torture situation in which case even those who have the intentions of joining such groups become discouraged. This slowly weakens the group and makes it unable to conduct attacks in future. Thirdly, the fight against terrorism often requires the people to make a choice between two evils. To use torture to compel disclosure of intelligent information,

Understanding Attitudes and Behavior Essay Example for Free

Understanding Attitudes and Behavior Essay The results support three out of the four hypotheses. The subscales knowledge, affect, intended behaviour and actual behaviour have a significant correlation, that is a change in one generates changes in another. Finding that knowledge is significant could be because the participants are University students and are likely to have a greater depth of general knowledge that the norm. On the other hand having a low knowledge score could be irrelevant to the actual behaviour. This is the conclusion of Maloney et als` study. Another consideration is maybe the hypothesis is wrong; knowledge could be significant in the ecological behaviour of an individual. Maloney et al did not find a correlation but Yule and Knussen (1998) did although to a lesser degree than the other subscales. It might be that it is not the specific knowledge across the spectrum of ecological issues that prompts to action. The items used may have had no relevance in the pro environmental attitude of the participant. Breadth of knowledge may lack significance however having a general, superficial knowledge of the subject or a deep knowledge of a specific area might correlate. In psychology it is generally regarded that knowledge of a subject has no significance with actual behaviour however it is unlikely that one would act to preserve the environment without some knowledge however unclear to prompt to action, especially in areas where recycling involves more effort than separating the items and putting them out for collection. Although there may be a smaller correlation with the other subscales it could be that knowledge is indeed significant but results may be forthcoming only when the inventory tackles the areas the pro-environmentalist is interested in and has a greater knowledge, e.g. a person may decide to recycle because they wish to conserve earths natural resources whereas another may do so because pollution kills. Both may recycle but for different reasons and their knowledge could be in-depth in separate but related areas. Possible behaviour needs a certain amount of knowledge to motivate but knowledge in itself does not necessarily activate behaviour. Ajzen and Fishbein concluded, from their studies, that traditional methods of attitude measurements were flawed but possibly modern attitude and behaviour measurements are also flawed. Perhaps when building the items to be used for the attitude measurement there would be a need to fit the items to particular social groups e. g. lower working class or long term unemployed may not buy environmentally friendly products as they are too expensive for a limited budget. Perhaps their contribution to recycling goes as far as reusing supermarket carriers as nappy sacks, using empty jars for home made jam, buying second hand goods, or using food scraps for humus in the garden but it is still recycling and is not included in CALECOL. Likewise a person with limited finances may have no way to get any items to a recycling point as a lot of local councils do not have collection days for recyclable goods. Their actual behaviour score would be reduced as a result of this biased slant to those that are financially able to buy environmentally friendly products. In the CALECOL Inventory (see appendix ii) there are a few items that may be irrelevant to certain areas of the population and as a result give a distorted score. For example actual behaviour subscale item 4 and intended behaviour item 9 12 mentions politics and environmental issues. Some religions actually prohibit voting for political parties and this item would affect the scoring. Transport difficulties mean taking items to be recycled is not possible for a lot of people(Item 9, actual behaviour. This Inventory is also biased towards the able bodied. Some environmentalists are disabled and unable to get out to clean up, use public transport, deliver leaflets or take items to a recycling point. This highlights the problems with measuring attitudes using inventories. The items used cannot be measured on everyone and therefore gives an unrealistic evaluation of their attitudes and the relationship to their behaviour. Age may affect the scores as most young people live at home and their actual behaviour may largely be under the control of their parents. So they may have the knowledge, strength of feeling and intention to be ecological but lack the means e. g. they will not usually decide which products to buy for the home or whether to recycle items. Age may also be a significant factor in revealing a correlation between the subscales. It would be interesting to find out if say the 18 24 age group subscales scores are significantly lower than the 36 44 age group. The evidence from this small study was that it might be as it was mostly the older members of the class that had the highest scores. This could be because as one ages one might ponder on the consequences of ones actions more. Pollution could be directly affecting their children and parents might want to make a contribution to their offsprings future environment. Another area that could be investigated is location. Do rural areas recycle more than towns or cities? What role does local social norms play in recycling behaviour? Measurement scales could be tailored to suit a particular class of individual, whether grouped by area, social class, disabled etc, to gain a more realistic measurement of their attitude. As attitudes are hypothetical constructs, theories and investigations will continue to be made. Through time, no doubt, measurement scales will grow more sophisticated in their search to accurately measure attitude components and their links with actual behaviour but without tailoring it is unlikely that all the items in an attitude inventory will apply to all participants in equal measure. REFERENCES Ajzen, I. , Fishbein, M. (1982). Understanding Attitudes and Behavior, Theoretical Implications. In J. C. Brigham, L. S. Wrightsman (ED. ), Contemporary Issues in Psychology (4th ED), pp127 137. Monterey, California, Brooks/Cole Publishing Company. Aijzen, I. , Fishbein, M. (1980). Understanding attitudes and predicting social behaviour. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. Cited in Zimbargo and Leippe, (1991). The Psychology of Attitude and Social Influence. United States of America, McGraw Hill Maloney, M. P. , Ward, M. O. Braucht, C. N. (1975). A revised scale for the measurement of ecological attitudes and knowledge. American Psychologist, 30, 787-790

Computer Information Systems :: Computers Technology Training Careers Essays

Computer Information Systems It is essential for every company to look into types of training. In the day and age that we live in technology and computer information systems are always changing. By the time people learn new information there is something else new to learn. This has been evident throughout history. There will always be the need to for companies to train employees. Many companies rely on computer information systems that work with human relations, marketing, and other essential departments in the company. For many businesses, the computer information systems have become a necessity. In order to compete and grow many companies rely on theses systems. They have proven to be great investments when successfully implemented. As a company expands its business to use computer information systems, there is a need to train staff, and in many instances hire experienced people. Even if the new staff knows all about computer information systems, it is highly recommended that other employees become familiar with the new type of business. This is important so the employees can be agile without the need to train new people. Many areas of training go along with having computer information systems. Some of these areas are web development, graphics, database management, operations management, and marketing. All of these areas are taught in various training courses. Some of the topics require vast amounts of training, such as graphics and database management. On the other hand, much of the web maintenance can be done easily and without much training. When deciding on the type of training, many factors must be taken into account. It is up to management what types of training they should use based on time, money, and many other factors. In real world cases there have been failures with the implementation of computer information systems, whether they were ERP or any other type of system. It is essential for management to take the necessary precautions and steps in order to have a successful immersion of the new system. Possible Computer Information System Training Methods There are many ways that a company can train its employees. When the decision is made that training is needed, one might chose to hire a company to come in and train the employees. This is referred to as onsite training. Many companies do this and many advantages are associated with it for example, the company keeps the employees on site and removes the need to travel.

External environment for banking industry Essay

Standard Chartered is the world’s leading emerging markets bank headquartered in London. Standard Chartered employs 30,000 people in over 500 locations in more than 50 countries in the Asia Pacific Region, South Asia, the Middle East, Africa, the United Kingdom and the Americas. It is one of the world’s most international banks, with a management team comprising 70 nationalities. Standard Chartered has been committed to Hong Kong and China for nearly 150 years. Standard Chartered Bank opened its first branch in China in 1858 and is the oldest foreign bank in the country. The Bank has operated in Hong Kong since 1859 and has been issuing Hong Kong banknotes since 1862. Standard Chartered PLC listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong in 2002. The bank is listed on both the London Stock Exchange and the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong and is in the top 25 FTSE-100 companies, by market capitalization. It serves both Consumer and Wholesale Banking customers. Consumer Banking provides credit cards, personal loans, mortgages, deposit taking and wealth management services to individuals and small to medium sized enterprises. Wholesale Banking provides corporate and institutional clients with services in trade finance, cash management, lending, custody, foreign exchange, debt capital markets and corporate finance. Standard Chartered is well-established in growth markets and aims to be the right partner for its customers. The Bank combines deep local knowledge with global capability. The Bank is trusted across its network for its standard of governance and its commitment to making a difference in the communities in which it operates. The new millennium has brought with it two of the largest acquisitions in the history of the bank with the purchase of Grindlays Bank from the ANZ Group and the acquisition of the Chase Consumer Banking operations in Hong Kong in 2000. These acquisitions demonstrate Standard Chartered firm committed to the emerging markets, where it has a strong and established presence and where it foresees future growth. With the acquisition of ANZ Banking Group, StanChart became the largest foreign bank in terms of branch network and profitability in India. The merged entity has a combined network of 61  branches and 74 ATMs across 15 cities of the country. Understanding the global, political, technological and socio-cultural segments of its environment is obviously critical to Stanchart’s success. It has acquired companies in order to consolidate its global operations; operates in 50 countries; seeks to display environmental and social responsibility; and deals with communications technology. It strives to take advantage of opportunities in the dynamic environment, the need to deal innovatively with new acquisitions, the problem of reframing the public’s view of banking and ongoing cut throat competition from other commercial banks and non banking entities. The bank therefore has to make clear the communication challenge and make clear the global nature of its operations to the wider community, governments and the population at large. Research evidence suggests that external environment affects a firm’s growth and profitability over time. Changes in political, regulatory features, the strength of different nations’ economies at different times, and the emergence of new technologies are a few examples of conditions in the external environment that are affecting banks like StanChart and several other firms throughout the world whether in manufacturing or services sector. The companies in attractive environments perform better than the companies that are in less attractive environments. Therefore strategy development is about ‘fit’ i.e. identifying opportunities in the environment and building strategy matching resource capabilities to those opportunities. The resources and competences of organizations also play an important role as they explain the differences between organizations, potential uniqueness and therefore superior performance. The ‘stretch’ view argues that strategies should be built on the unique competences and resources of an organization by seeking out markets in which competences have special value or by trying to create new markets on the basis of such competences Another consideration is the stakeholders of company. Organizations have different stakeholders (shareholders, customers, employees, government) who have expectations of the organizations and may exercise considerable influence and power over the strategy to be followed As said earlier, the external environment plays an important role for banks. Most of the external factors are beyond the control of a bank. The factors such as competition; political, economical, legal, government rules and regulations influence the firm’s choice of direction and action and also affect the internal environment of a bank. The external environment influences a company’s strategic options as well as the decisions made in light of them. The firm’s understanding of the external environment is matched with knowledge about its internal environment. Matching the conditions of the two environments is the foundation the firm needs to form its strategic intent, to develop its strategic mission, and to take strategic actions in the pursuit of strategic competitiveness and above-average returns. The external environment encapsulates many different influences which makes the tasks of CEOs more difficult. Identifying the different environmental influences though makes sense, is not very much useful as the overall picture of these influences does not emerge. The second difficulty is that of the speed of change. The impact of technological changes on businesses is much faster than ever before. Technology has transformed the way in which the banking business is carried out. In addition the competitive pressures are also driving more banks to diversify their product range in response to market demands. We can broadly categorize this environment into two types: remote environment and operating environment. Remote environment: This environment consists of a set of forces that originate beyond a firm’s operating environment. This comprises of political, economic, social, technological and industrial forces which create opportunities, threats and constraints to the firm. For example macroeconomic instability in an economy characterized by chronic inflation, fiscal imbalances and periodic balance-of-payments crises also affect all the banks. Operating environment: The operating environment involves the factors that provide many of the challenges a bank is facing when attempting to attract  or acquire essential resources or when striving to profitably market its goods and services in the immediate competitive position, customer profile, reputation among suppliers and creditors and accessible labor market. The operating environment is also called the competitive or task environment. Hence by considering conditions in the operating environment business can be much more proactively planned. An organization’s external environment is shown in the figure below. The figure depicts the firm’s business area, remote environment and the operating environment cutting into an area of total external environmental impact on the firm. In the banking industry if the Reserve Bank increases the reserve requirements for the commercial banks it would affect all the banking companies in the economy. This is an operational risk. Over the past two decades, commercial banks across the globe have aggressively repositioned themselves to compete under new economic, technological, and regulatory conditions. These institutions are no longer protected by regulatory entry barriers, and are confronted with a marked transformation in telecommunications and computer technology. Banks can no longer rely on traditional banking models and therefore have invested huge amounts of resources in the search for new competitive strategies. While many of these attempts had fruitless results, the most successful strategic innovations have set a new paradigm in banking and have changed the way banks compete. The manner in which commercial banks currently underwrite their loans, finance their activities, grow their franchises, distribute their services and market their images can hardly be compared to ones that bankers adopted in 1970s. Coming to the regulatory environment, banks still do not compete in a completely unregulated environment. Regulations continue to shape banking strategies for example, in US, the federally insured deposits are the basis of community bank business strategy. The Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) loans are a mandatory for all banks (in India, priority sector credit is mandatory for all commercial banks, this would be dealt in detail in subsequent pages). Investment decisions of every bank are influenced by capital regulations. The system of multiple regulators can affect the choice  of organizational form of banking companies. While most banks are regulated by the RBI (Reserve Bank of India), some are under dual control of government and RBI. In India, all banks are subject to RBI’s regulation but the framework is not uniform in the sense that public sector banks, cooperative banks, and private banks are governed by significant differences and not all of them have access to the payments system. The Department of Company Affairs (DCA) regulates the deposit taking activities of non-banking non- financial companies and also some activities of Non Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs). SEBI regulates the capital markets and supervises stock exchanges, mutual funds, securities dealers and brokers, merchant bankers, credit rating agencies and venture capital funds. Companies in the insurance sector are regulated by IRDA. Banks are permitted to be involved in insurance activity through joint ventures/equity participation/selling agency type arrangements. Thus, the object of regulation itself is susceptible to some overlap. Several scandals in banks have led regulators to make increased informational demands on banks. As banking markets grow more concentrated, anti-trust laws may increasingly limit the scale and scope of bank mergers. At a minimum, regulation is simply a fixed cost that must be borne by banks, which does not influence a bank’s behavior. At the other extreme, and perhaps in a more realistic situation, regulation can significantly affect banks’ strategic choices and influence competition in financial markets. Innovations introduced in the markets are often driven by, and in some cases succeed exclusively because of the prevailing regulatory environment. Similarly, commercial banks’ competitive strategies are shaped by both new technologies, and the limitations of technology. Retail banking had traditionally been built around the paper-based payments, but IT has created new strategic possibilities for it. Electronic delivery of banking services can reduce a bank’s overhead costs to a great extent. However abandoning bank branches can also give rise to disastrous strategic costs. New technologies have a led to a great transformation in the risk management practices of commercial banks, but application of such techniques may also create some unforeseen new risks. After generations of technological stasis  in the banking industry, the ongoing rapid pace of technological change has made â€Å"strategic innovation† a viable competitive strategy for banks.

To Kill A Mockingbird Stock Market Analysis - 907 Words

The story To Kill A Mockingbird is about a lawyer named Atticus defending a black man named Tom Robinson in a poor country full of racism. His kids Scout and Jem are being taking care of by a black lady named Calpurnia. Atticus want’s everyone to be treated equally. Harper Lee, author of To Kill A Mockingbird, gives the reader a gist of the 1930’s in many ways using real life situations. Harper Lee describes life during the 1930’s by comparing Maycomb to the Stock Market. In the book To Kill A Mockingbird Harper Lee shows how Atticus is not worried about money even tho he and his town is poor. Harper Lee shows this when Mr.Cunningham a poor white man in Maycomb paid Atticus with wood. Atticus took it with no questions or complaints. The†¦show more content†¦Tom Robinson case was similar because he was falsely accused of raping a poor white lady just as those 9 boys were falsely accused of raping 2 white women. Mob leaders threatened to break out the nine boys in Scottsboro, Alabama and take them if the sheriff refused to let them get them like Attics did with Tom. In Harper Lees story, the Old Sarum Bunch threatens Atticus at the jailhouse because they want Tom Robinson handed over to them but Attics refuses. Tom Robinson was found guilty even though he was not guilty. Atticus proved that he was innocent, but since the county was prejudice the Judge put Tom on a jury death penalty. Atticus was trying so hard to defend Tom, but his county didn’t like Atticus taking up for tom which caused Bob Ewell to spit in his face. In the Scottsboro case the 9 boys was proved innocent but since the judge was prejudiced the kids were put into prison just like Tom Robinson in To Kill A Mockingbird. With the cases being alike with the men the women were alike to because they were actually raped by white men but tried to cover it up by blaming it on a black man because the women knew that the men and boys were going to be put into prison. Moreover it shows how people in the 1930’s acted towards white lawyers defending a black man. Harper Lee also shows how everyone is Separate yet Equal. In the story black and white people arent as equal as they should be. This is said because in the 1930’s was when blacksShow MoreRelatedKill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee Essay3689 Words   |  15 PagesWhat it Means to Kill a Mocking Bird: an in depth analysis of the morals in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird Subject: Category 1 Test Session: May 2016 Sami Aranki Diploma Charter Oak High School Word count of essay: 3,384 Table of Contents Content Page Number Abstract