The Skeletal System Essay examples -- Basic Pathology

The skeletal system includes the osseous tissues of the body and the connective tissues that stabilize or interconnect the individual bones. The bone is a dynamic tissue. Throughout the lifespan, bone adjusts to the physiologic and mechanical demands placed on it by the processes of growth and remodeling. Bone serves the organism at multiple levels: As a system, bones permit the organism to locomote effectively and to maintain posture by bearing loads without deformation, by providing rigid attachment sites for muscles and acting as a system of levers to amplify small movements. As an organ, bones protect the viscera and house the hemopoietic tissue (red marrow). As a tissue, bones serve as a reservoir of readily mobilizable calcium, an ion vital for many metabolic processes including cell motility, excitability, secretion, phagocytosis, intermediary metabolism, respiration, and reproduction. Bones (or osseous material) serve a number of diverse purposes in the human anatomy. In addition to providing structure, leverage, protection, and support for the organs of the body, bones also house marrow, which produces blood cells. Within the bones are also stored the calcium deposits which the body may access, via resorption, when needed. Additionally, bones detoxify the system, by removing heavy metals, such as lead and arsenic, as well as other toxins, from the bloodstream. The skeletal system provides structural support for the entire body. Individual bones or groups of bones provide a framework for the attachment of soft tissue and organs. Delicate tissues and organs are often surrounded by skeletal elements. The ribs protect the heart and lungs, the skull encloses the brain, the vertebrae shield the spinal cord, and the pelvis ... ...& J.W. Heath, Wheater ¡Ã‚ ¦s functional Histology, 4th edition, Churchill-Livingstone, New York, 2000, pp. 175-192. Johnson, Michael D. Human Biology: Concepts and Current Issues, Benjamin Cummings, San Francisco, 2001. Khosla, S., Kumar, V., Ramzi, S.C., Robbins, S.L. 1992. Basic Pathology, 5th edition. Philadelphia: W.B. Saunders Co. Manolagas, Starvros C. 2000. Birth and Death of Bone Cells: Basic Regulatory Mechanisms and Implications for the Pathogenesis and Treatment of Oteoporosis, Endocrine Reviews, 21(2): 115-137. Martin, B. 1993. Aging and strength of bone as a structural material, Calcified Tissue International, 53 (suppl.): S34-S40. Martini, Frederic. Fundamentals of Anatomy and Physiology, Prentice Hall, New Jersey, 1989. Raisz, Lawrence G. 1999. Physiology and Pathophysiology of Bone Remodeling, Clinical Chemistry, 45:8(B): 1353-1358.

Anthropology: Human and Natural Selection

The chapter 2 in the textbook â€Å"Cultural Anthropology† mentions about the reflection in culture of nonhuman primates onto human’s one. In this chapter, I really impress about the idea â€Å"natural selection†. â€Å"Natural selection is the process by which organism better adapt to the environment reproduce more effectively compared with less well-adapted forms†(â€Å"The evolution of humanity and culture†) The â€Å"natural selection†, for me, is the best explanation for the difference between our modern humans and nonhuman primates. From the beginning, every nonhuman species, including humans, had a common root.However, because of the difference sources of food, they changed their body structures (teeth, intestine) to adapt to their dietary needs. For example, frugivores eat fruits, so their big front teeth make them easily bite foods. On the other hand, folivores have the very strong chewing teeth to help them break leaves into small p ieces, easily to digest because of their richness of cellulose chemical. In the article â€Å"Ancient Genes and Modern Health† written by S. Boyd Eaton and Melvin Konner, they also talk about the concept of â€Å"natural selection† in another way.They discuss about the change in height of ancient human compared to modern humans. According to them, the height of humans changed because of the decrease of protein intake in their dietary pattern. About 30,000 years ago, the average height of men is about 5’9 (177. 1cm), women 5’5 (166. 5cm); compared to modern human nowadays, men average 5’8 (174. 4cm), women 5’4 (163. 4cm). In my opinion, this decrease in height is also a kind of â€Å"natural selection†. Before, human food mostly obtained by foraging. All foods were absolutely savage. They contained higher protein.The more agriculture developed, the less the protein intake in the animal meat was. Therefore, humans obtained less daily pr otein than before. After generations, the human genes tend to â€Å"evolute† to adapt to the new daily protein needs. The new genes made human body structures get smaller. As the result, with smaller bodies, humans needed less protein to maintain the daily activities. In this case, â€Å"natural selection† represents as a primary role in human body form. Next, another idea which I really like is the female role in the ancient sociality.As I mentioned earlier, when human didn’t know anything about agriculture, their food were mostly obtained by foraging. Most women went garaging, while men went hunting. However, because of the limit of hunting weapons, the hunting foods were not enough for the whole sociality. Therefore, women, who the ones gave majority of food, had power in the community. I think by the time women got power, the world was more peaceful. No war, no death, no tear. I believe that the world would be much better in the future if women, again, have the power, have a strong influence in the politic manner on the world.

Management and Quality Control

Chatammour Henderson Marketing Management Seminar 640 February 25, 2012 Asterand Memorandum: â€Å"What is the ultimate goal of Asterand’s quality control initiative? † Asterand clearly did not have an effective quality control system in process prior to accepting its contract with Amgen to supply human tissue samples.Although Asterand is a new supplier to the biopharmaceutical and pharmaceutical industry, it will need to immediately establish quality control methods that will allow them to process orders correctly and deliver the final product to the standards and requirements of the procuring company. This will demonstrate Asterand’s ability to provide consistent and reliable human-tissue samples that meet the rigorous regulatory standards that the FDA places on all biotechnology and pharmaceutical products.As indicated in the case study, Asterand failed to meet Amgen’s quality standards on four occasions with different reasons. Asterand’s quality control challenges did not begin with Amgen. Asterand also faced challenges with implementing standardized protocols for storage and data collection across laboratories and hospitals, organizing and storing samples over long periods, and meeting the stringent regulatory requirements for clinical testing.It is imperative that Asterand addresses these challenges in order to stay in business and to expand the company. Human-tissue sampling is a new and innovative process that can be rejected by its target consumers if it does not have good quality control methods. Asterand’s ultimate goal of the quality control initiative is to be well received in the niche human-tissue sample market so that the company can increase sales growth, secure financing, attract investors and ultimately expand its operations.

Quinte Mir

The immediate issue is that Benton-Cooper Medical Centre’s MRI clinic has been open for 6 weeks and not performing to expectations and to the promises made by their new MRI provider, Quinte MRI. With referrals to the clinic, doctors expect to receive MRI transcription reports within two days and the current backlog exceeds 14 days. As a result there is a loss of patient referrals from doctors within the hospital and surrounding community which means a loss of revenue for BCMC. Quinte MRI must determine what is causing the backlog and how to fix it.Secondary IssuesA secondary issue in the clinic is that the MR Technologist is putting in a lot of overtime even though the maximum number of patients each week is not being met. Quinte MRI personnel need to examine and analyze the interaction between the capacity, the process flow and the bottleneck and provide a resolution and action plan back to the CEO, Dr. Syed Haider within 2 days. Environmental and Root Causes Quinte MRI, an i nternational service provider specializing in medical diagnostic technologies signed an agreement in February 2002 with Benton-Cooper Medical Centre (BCMC) for the outsourcing of their MRI services.BCMC believed that they could competed successfully if they had a third MRI machine as they anticipated continued growth in this area by 15% through doctor’s referrals from the hospital and surrounding areas. BCMC also believed that they could generate enough revenue and promotional support through advertisements with local print and radio stations to be able to own their own fixed MR system and be recognized as a top rated hospital for the area. Quinte MRI promised the avenue for BCMC to be able to accomplish these goals through its service reliability and access to diagnostic equipment 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at a reasonable cost.However, these expectations are not being met and David Wright has gone to the MR Technologist, Jeff Sinclair to examine and analyze what was caus ing the backlog (bottleneck) in the operation. Jeff indicated that due to poor communication between the hospital and the clinic, mistakes were being made due to a manual process for recording information. Patients were being booked at wrong time, cancelling or not showing up, wrong tests were being requested or recorded, and patients were not being screened properly for an MRI scan.An assessment was being done when the patient came into the clinic. A patient preparation process has not been implemented in the new facility, whereas the previous MRI provider scheduled all appointments. Jeff felt that wasted time was being spent on delivering scans to the radiologist after each patient. Jeff also accounted for the fact that during May, the clinic used a Siemens unit, which took some time to get used to, however, now that the GE machine was in place (Jeff was originally trained on this machine), things were improving.David next examined the cycle time on for a 30 minute procedure. The table below shows the current cycle time of the patient, the MR Technologist and the MRI machine. 15 minutes was dedicated to patient preparation for an MRI while only 27. 5 minutes was spent in the Magnet Room. 42. 5 minutes was being spent on a 30 minute procedure. This was where the bottleneck was in the process. Staying with this current process and resources, the maximum capacity of this process can only be 8 procedures if all other inputs into this process ran smoothly (i. . no cancellations). Exhibit 1 Patient Check in until entrance into Magnet Room Minutes MR Technologist escorted the patient to the Magnet Room (asks questions to determine if any health risks/conflicts and if any patient has any metal components internally or on clothing) 59Patient – 42. 5 minutesMR Technologist – 42. 5 minutes Changing Room for patients wearing metal on their clothing (25% of patients)Magnet Room Patient Orientation and paperwork verification 127. 5 Positioning of Coil 4 MRI Scan time based on a 30 minute scheduled MRI scan)16. 5MRI Machine – 16. 5 minutes Data Entry (happened during scan)1 Printing MRI Scans (average 8 sheets at 45 seconds each)6 Patient back to reception Escort the Patient back to Front Desk 26 Changing Room 4 Monica Zimmerman, radiology department manager was pressuring Quinte MRI to hire another MR technologist to lighten Jeff’s workload and improve the process flow. David needed to review the cost of hiring an additional person to make the process flow better.He knew that the 1. Tesla MRI machine rated capacity was 2 patients per hour, however the actual scans in a day, would be based on the type of scan required. David used the 30 minute and the 1 hour procedure to determine what the potential spend per day was and what the annual spend would be. Note that any lost appointments resulted in a $700. 00 per scan loss, however this also could be a $700. 00 increase for unscheduled (walk-in) appointments. By looking at th e potential projected income, hiring another person was a possibility.Exhibit 2 Time – Min/Hour# performed$ scan suppliesper scan Daily RevenueBCMC chargeDaily revenue – BCMC chargeAnnual Revenue25% Tax $Income 3016145$700 $ 11,200$2,320$8,880$2,800,000$700,000$2,100,000 18145$700 $ 5,600$1,160$4,440$1,400,000$350,000$1,050,000 Alternatives and Options Criteria 1. Increase the process flow, machine capacity and change the position of the bottleneck 2. Increase revenue 3. Repair relationship and reputation with BCMC Alternative 1: (Strategic) Quinte MRI has found out that the manual process for taking appointments is creating many errors.If the system was computerized MRI test requirements could be input into the system and throughput could be maximized based on MRI procedure time required in order to maximize time slot available. Quinte MRI also realized that the MRI Technologist was performing administrative tasks that could be assigned to an assistant. By removing th ese tasks from the technologist, more time availability would become available for scheduling additional MRI tests. In order to process patients faster, a form could be developed that specifies what the patient must do prior to arrival at the MRI Clinic.Another form could be developed for when that patient arrives at the clinic that asks questions regarding health risks and indicating what restriction would prevent a patient from having an MRI. The assistant could take the patient all the way through the process until the Magnet room at which point the MR technologist would take over. There are necessary requirements that the MR technologist must do prior to completion of the scan, but the collection of the MRI scans and delivery of them back to the radiologist could be done by the assistant that is escorting the patient from the Magnet room.If we assume that most of the MRI scans are a half an hour, than patients could be scheduled every half hour in order to maximize both the capa city of the machine and the capacity of the technologist. Pros: By implementing the computer, there is more accuracy being collected for appointments and test requirements. By hiring the MR assistance, there is increased flow capacity because the technologist will handle only the MRI scans and not the administration task that were previous being done him.This takes the bottleneck out of the administrative task and aligns it to the maximum capacity of the machine thereby increasing revenue which provides the ability to hire the assistant. This would create reliability with the clinic again so that doctors will send their referrals to the clinic. Cons: A second MR technologist will not be hired and when it comes time for vacation of illness, there will be no one to step into the technologist position and ensure continuous flow.Quinte MRI would need to hire from a temporary agency in order to fulfill their requirement which means addition dollars will be spend. Alternative 2: (Tactical ) Quinte MRI could hire a second MRI Technologist to perform MRI scans alternating times with the first MRI Technologist to increase the flow and capacity of the process. This would take away the backlog and doctors could send their referrals to the clinic with a sense of reliability that the clinic will get it turnaround within 2 days. Pros:This would allow Quinte MRI to always have a back up in the event that one of the technologists is on vacation and / or ill. The increase revenue being generated due to increased MRI procedures could pay for the second MR Technologist. Cons: Based on the current practices, hiring a second technologist would alleviate some of the workload, however given that no effort has been made to correct the communication issues between the hospital/patient and the booking department, there is a strong possibility, that patients will still continue to be booked at the wrong time, cancel or just not show up.Without a procedure to hand how patients are dealt w ith from checking to magnet room, people could still be turn away due to health reasons, clothing that is not appropriate for scanning purposes. Recommendation The recommendation is to take Alternative #2 as it addresses all of the criteria by increasing the process flow, machine capacity and changes the bottle neck to the maximum machine capacity. It increases revenue and repairs the relationship and reputation with BCMC.

Logoplaste

Universidade Catolica Portuguesa Faculdade de Ciencias Economicas Empresariais Corporate Strategy Unilever’s ice cream brand Portfolio Students: Maria Ines Galhardo, n? 150106011 Claudia Filipe, n? 150106026 Ricardo Lloret, n? 150106111 Joana Rodrigues dos Santos, n? 150106123 Diogo Sousa, n? 150106125 In order to draw the BCG matrix, we started by collecting some data. Based on the Datamonitor Market Report 2006 (appendix 1), we were able to calculate the total ice cream’s market value of 2008.We made the choice to do the work for the year 2008 because the present year has not already ended. Thus it was only possible to calculate estimated values for 2008. Market value: (212. 8-161)/4 = 12. 95 million per year 161 + (12. 95*2) = 186. 9 million in 2008 With the objective of studying Unilever’s principal products, we had to take into account Nestle (Unilever’s biggest competitor). We chose one equal competitor for each group of ice creams we thought were mo re important (appendix 2). Among all ice creams of Unilever, we focused on the ones that had a direct competitor in Nestle.This is why we did not choose Carte D’or or Solero, we thought that its competitors were not as obvious as the others. We assumed then that the market shares from Unilever and Nestle were the same as in 2006 (appendix 3). These values will enable us to estimate market values for each company and afterwards to calculate market shares and values for each product. We determined the division of the market in four segments: Super premium, Premium, Regular and Economy. The segments were chosen according to a price/quality ratio for each product we took into account (Appendix 4).The different market shares for each segment were estimated assuming that the super premium products would be a market niche with a small part of the market; the premium would be the most part and regular and economy would have similar market shares but smaller. Then, we estimated also p roportions for the different products we took into account. Both Unilever and Nestle have 2 different market shares since we assumed that they value different products in different segments. The percentages are Unilever Economy 20% Super premium 5% Regular 15% Premium 60%The premium segment was divided in three different products with different proportions for Unilever and Nestle. Considering that we only studied one product in some segments, we considered the whole segment share for these ones and for the regular we regarded as to have other ice creams besides Calippo that we did not include (we took them into account as â€Å"others†). 3 Unilever – Premium Viennetta 17% Cornetto 43% Magnum 40% Nestle – Premium Tarte Carolina 19% Nestle 43% Extreme 38% Trough the division of the market, we were able to attribute to each product the market share inside its own company.Splitting the different segments, we multiplied the total percentage of the segment to the shar e of each product inside this segment (Appendix 5). For the growth of each product, we assumed values based on the growth of each segment (Appendix 6). Finally, to calculate the relative market shares, we had to divide Unilever’s market share for each product by Nestle’s market share for the respective competitor (Appendix 7). 4 5 Unilever Brand Portfolio: ? Cornetto – It is a premium product that is present in most of the restaurants and cafes in Portugal.Cornetto is a cash cow and yours best seller and that is why we did not consider having a big growth rate. We assumed that this ice cream is already in the desired place in the market for Unilever. Therefore the investments are not very high and it has a big return. ? Magnum – This represents the second best product of your company, also premium and with high sales. However, it is a relatively young brand, only created in 1990, that needs a higher investment than Cornetto to establish itself in the mark et.Strong investments in new products like the temptations or limited editions like 7 sins and marketing & communication plans make this brand a star. ? Viennetta – This is a premium product only sold in restaurants and supermarkets therefore its market share isn’t very big. Although the brand is old and as a take home product it is very popular, not many people buy Viennetta because the take home ice cream market is smaller and most of the purchases are impulse. According to the case study on â€Å"Global ice cream:Nestle goes on attack†, the premium segment is growing up to 3% and since this brand is known by everybody there isn’t a great need to spend many resources on it. Occasional new flavors were added, however without great success. Still, it is a cash cow and therefore a good product because of its growth rate. ? Kids – This category integrates all the children directed products of your company, such as Perna de Pau, Super Maxi, Epa and Mi ni-Milk, which are cheap products specially directed to children with high levels of milk and calcium.It belongs to the economic segment, therefore, also according to the article mentioned above, the market growth is almost static. In this segment the competition is stronger, because Nestle makes associations with known brands such as Smarties and Kit Kat, appealing to kid’s attention. The strong 6 investment that the competitors make on this category justifies why Ola is not the leader in it, making it a Dog but still having recent investments and trying to have a bigger market share. Calippo – This product represents the water-based products on your company, it is quite old and there is little differentiation between it and its competitors because there isn’t much space to evolve and innovate, therefore people won’t see significant differences between the value of each brand. There is small investment in this brand and low revenues, and since it is inte grated in the regular ice cream segment its growth is small or even static, thus making it a dog also. Ben & Jerry’s – This is your offer regarding the Super-Premium market segment, with high quality, high price ice creams with different flavors and colorful presentations. This brand is not yet very well-known and has a low market share because it targets a small market and it is yet in a phase of brand recognition. The company has to spend a lot of money in marketing campaigns to make the brand recognized by everyone and also in the research to find new flavors.According to the case study this market segment is expected to grow up to 6% and all this makes this brand a question mark or a problematic child. One problem for this brand in Portugal is that it is mainly sold in Ben and Jerry’s own stores, which are not many and being a recent brand it is difficult to make people know the locations of the stores. Brand Portfolio Recommendations: According to the BCG m atrix your brand portfolio is well balanced, due to you having products in the different quadrants and in different stages of the lifecycle.Magnum, Cornetto and Viennetta are very profitable brands that support the less profitable brands of your company. However, it is not recommended to drop the other brands because your company needs to be 7 present in every segment in order to compete. This will increase brand awareness and reach more customers. Having this in mind, instead of decreasing any brands, you should increase some and adjust others. ? In addition we believe that your company should include low fat products directed to people that want to enjoy ice cream but don’t want the downsides of it.By providing these low caloric and low fat products your company will be covering an important segment that are the women, that according to the Key Note (page 53) are greater ice cream consumers than man, with increasingly focus on image not only in terms of self esteem but also on professional and personal related matters. Ben & Jerry’s should create a new range of products with some versions of their best sellers in a low caloric way trying to maintain their original flavor. The other brands should adopt the same strategy and create at least one product with less calories. You should increase Ben & Jerry’s market share and brand recognition to transform this problematic child in a star product. An idea can be to create a version of their ice cream for impulse consuming, perhaps adopting a similar format to the magnum ice cream (ice cream on stick) and include this brand in the Ola selling points, thus reaching more consumers. ? Your companies’ Kids segment is not very well positioned and it is not the market leader. To change this situation it would be a good idea to arrange partnerships with other companies, such as confectionery brands and cartoon enterprises.You could create a partnership with known confectionery brands like Kinde r because it will benefit from the other company’s brand recognition with little effort and reach this market segment with better arguments to compete with Nestle. 8 ? On the other hand the company should make a research every six month to determine which are the more popular cartoons at the moment and create a new product that offers prizes related to those cartoons. The basic product should be a high calcium ice cream that changes its packaging and prizes according to the research results.By doing this you will be captivating children’s attention that most of the time is only directed to the appearance and also their parents because you are offering an ice cream that is good for the kid’s health and growth. ? To access the Portuguese market it a good idea to create a new brand that sells ice cream with the flavors of some of the better recognized typical sweets in Portugal, such as â€Å"doce d’ovos†, â€Å"arroz doce† and â€Å"pastel de nata†. This brand would be sold as a premium product in restaurants and supermarkets. Another idea to increase your brand portfolio is to create specifically 18+ products with alcoholic beverage flavors such as vodka, whisky and baileys with special focus on a regional beverage that is Oporto wine that is typically Portuguese. This product should be premium or superpremium and it should be sold not only on the usual channels such as fancy restaurants and supermarkets but also in bars and summer discos. 9 Appendixes Appendix 1 2006 Market Value Growth Market share Source: Datamonitor Market Report 2006 2011 212,8 million 5,7% (2006-2011) 53,9% 161 million 4,3%Appendix 2 Unilever Ben and Jerry's Magnum Cornetto Viennetta Calippo Kids Outros Nestle Nestle Gelataria Nestle Extreme Tarte Carolina Pirulo Kids Outros Appendix 3 Unilever Market share Market value 0,56 Nestle 0,13 186900000 104664000 24297000 10 Appendix 4 Segments Super Premium Premium Products Ben and Jerry's Magnum Cornetto Viennetta Regular Economic Calippo Ola kids Appendix 5 Unilever Market Share Amount of Sales (â‚ ¬) 5,00% 5. 233. 200 24,00% 25. 119. 360 25,80% 27. 003. 312 10,20% 10. 675. 728 5,00% 5. 233. 200 20,00% 20. 932. 800 10,00% 10. 466. 400 100,00% 104. 664. 000Ben and Jerry's Magnum Cornetto Viennetta Calippo Kids Outros Total Nestle Market share Amount of Sales (â‚ ¬) 8,00% 1. 943. 760 23,65% 5. 746. 240,5 20,90% 5. 078. 073 10,45% 2. 539. 036,5 6,00% 1. 457. 820 23,00% 5. 588. 310 8,00% 1. 943. 760 100% 24. 297. 000 Nestle Gelataria Nestle Extreme Tarte Carolina Pirulo Kids Outros Total 11 Appendix 6 Super Premium Premium Regular Economy Market Growth 6% 3% 1,50% 1,50% Source: Datamonitor Market Report 2006 Appendix 7 Relative Market share Ben and Jerry’s Magnum Cornetto Viennetta Calippo Kids Mean 0,63 1,01 1,23 0,98 0,83 0,87 0. 93 Market Growth 5,30% 2,90% 1,67% 1,90% 0,93% 1. 63% 2. 37% 12

The main challenges and opportunities with expanding the sonic and Essay

The main challenges and opportunities with expanding the sonic and compositional potential of the piano - Essay Example Paddles, knobs, and notes may reduce its popularity and acceptability among pianists as well as from the audiences. It will help to increase the creativity of performers, composers and will satisfy the aesthetic senses of the audiences. The electronic implication in the piano and extra functionality is not easy to be fitted on the same keyboard. Their operations require extra switches and knobs that would pose an irritating hindrance in the instrument’s smooth play. Kim earlier attempt to produce new harmonics from the existing object on a piano became fail. However, the most important task for the project is to make a blend from a running piano with the sampler creating pleasantly coherent interfaces. It is also important to contain the economic aspect of the new piano in order to get acceptance from people. The electronic and computer interventions will surely increase the cost of the piano. Furthermore, it will be a real challenge to limit the size of the piano. Kim and Kate are also working to develop travel version of PNOSCAN for easy handling. The assemblage of the PNOSCAN in a piano is a laborious work of hours, and it is needed to be more simplified and easy. They want that the pianist should have access to the extended sounds produced from the super piano without any rearrangement in the keys of the piano. Also, three separate patches suggested by Kate are to be placed on the same keyboard that may hinder the free operation of the instrument and interact with the sounds in order to produce sound beyond its sonic abilities.

The challenges facing the deployment and use of IT for the development Literature review

The challenges facing the deployment and use of IT for the development of public sector in Saudi Arabia - Literature review Example Majority of the people have expressed disbelief in the Saudi Arabia’s capability to transform the government towards accountability and transparency; the e-government could offer a solution in the country that is faced with deep rooted bureaucracy (Al-Jboori, Gharaibeh and Sahraoui 2006, p6). There are a number of challenges that the government of Saudi Arabia face in the deployment and implementation of IT in the public sector and they include; (a) government transformation and reform, (b) e-Citizen participation, (c) citizen access, security and privacy, (d) management of the e-government program, (e) evaluation, transparency, accountability, (f) soft and cultural barriers, and (g) the interoperability of the e-government platforms (Al-Jboori, Gharaibeh and Sahraoui 2006, p11). The rationale for the project is to identify the major obstacles or challenges that face the government of Saudi Arabia in the deployment and use of IT in the development of the public sector. Saudi A rabia is among the developing nations and the risks that are associated with the deployment of IT differ from those in the developed nations; these risks are associated with organizational and cultural factors (International Resources Management Association 2002, p36). Aim To analyze the level of IT development in Saudi Arabia To establish the level to which IT is applied in the public sector in Saudi Arabia To identify the main challenges in the deployment and the use of IT in the development of the public sector. To come up with tangible methods that can be used to alleviate these challenges. Tasks Research data is usually categorized as secondary and primary data. Primary data is developed by the researcher through the use of the data gathering techniques and secondary data is usually generated by others and it includes case materials, manual database, computer database, government departments, public organizations, and data-sets. There are a number of approaches that are used to collect data. The nature of the variables and the research questions determine the choice of the strategy for the collection of data (DeMatteo, Festinger and Marczyk 2010, n.p.). Preliminary preparations and obtaining Permissions Preliminary analysis of the public sector will be done; the preliminary analysis will be in the form of a pilot study. The analysis will entail finding suitable places (the places presumed to offer the required information) and in this case is the public sector. The number of respondents for this research is 50 people and they will be chosen randomly from the different sections of the public sector. These people have to be directly involved with issues concerning IT. Since the public sector is diverse, there are some institutions that restrict the collection of research data. A written consent or permission will have to be obtained from these institutions in the public sector. Data Collection For this research, both the primary and secondary will provide u seful information regarding the public sector in Saudi Arabia. The primary data will be collected from the researcher and the secondary data will be collected from the publications made by the government departments and in particular the department that is responsible for IT. Another important primary and