Universal Children’s Day

Universal Children’s Day The United Nations' (UN) Universal Children's Day, which was established in 1954, is celebrated on November 20 each year to promote international togetherness and awareness among children worldwide. UNICEF, the United Nations Children's Fund, promotes and coordinates this special day, which also works towards improving children's welfare. What do people do? Many schools and other educational institutions make a special effort to inform children of their rights according to the Declaration of the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.Teachers stimulate their pupils to think about the differences between themselves and others and explain the idea of â€Å"rights†. In countries where the rights of children are generally well-respected, teachers may draw attention to situations in countries where this is not the case. In some areas UNICEF holds events to draw particular attention to children's rights. These may be to stim ulate interest in the media around the world or to start nationwide campaigns, for instance on the importance of immunizations or breastfeeding.Many countries, including Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, hold Universal Children's Day events on November 20 to mark the anniversaries of the Declaration of the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. However, other countries hold events on different dates, such as the fourth Wednesday in October (Australia) and November 14 (India). Universal Children's Day is not observed in the United States, although a similar observance, National Child's Day, is held on the first Sunday in June. Public life Universal Children's Day is a global observance and not a public holiday.Survey Saturday, Nov. 20, is Universal Children’s Day, as declared by the United Nations, and a new survey of children illuminates the wants and needs of kids living in poverty. The  Small Voices, Big Dreams  survey questioned ch ildren ages 10 to 12 in 30 countries throughout Africa, Asia and the Americas. Conducted by  ChildFund Alliance, which is comprised of global child development organizations, the survey found that one in three children goes to bed hungry at least once a week; more than 25% spend half of every day working, including household chores and other work but not counting school or homework.Importance It was established in 1954 to protect children working long hours in dangerous circumstances and allow all children access to an education. The  UN General Assembly  recommended that all countries should establish a Universal Children's Day on an â€Å"appropriate† day. Celebration Children's Day  is celebrated on various days in many places around the world, Ecuador, Czech Republic, Albania, Armenia, Angola, Mongolia, Ukraine, Vietnam celebrate it on June 1 Sweden, Sri Lanka, El Salvador, Guatemala celebrate it on October 1

Approaches to Psychology Essay

The psychoanalytic approach was started and developed mainly in Europe between 1900 and 1939 by Sigmund Freud, a Viennese doctor who specialized in neurology. As a doctor, he became interested in the field of hysteria – the manifestation of physical symptoms without physical causes – and became convinced that unconscious mental causes were responsible, and could be responsible for all mental disorders and even our personality. He created the theory of personality, and based his ideas upon intensive case studies of a considerable range of patients, especially his infamous study on â€Å"Little Hans†, a young boy who Freud carried out psychoanalysis upon. Bowlby (1946) applied Freud’s theories when he used psychoanalysis on a large group of children with various ages on a study of habitual delinquency. The central emphasis is on dynamic, biological processes especially those taking place in the unconscious mind, and involves the idea of psychic determinism, i. e. Freudian slips. Freud said that we all have instinctual drives – wishes, desires, needs, or demands, which are hidden and suppressed from the consciousness because society disapproves of their open expression. Freud proposes three main components of the mind; the id, the ego and the superego. The id operates on the pleasure principle and its goal is immediate gratification and reduction of tension caused by irrational impulses. The ego operates on the reality principle, and controls the id in its reaction with the world. The superego operates on the idealisation principle, with norms and values of society being internalised. According to this approach, we all undergo psychosexual stages – oral, anal, phallic, latency and genital – which gradually motivate the individual to focus on the libido, and can be linked with the Oedipus complex. The libido is described as ‘psychic energy’ behind primary drives of hunger, aggression, sex and irrational impulses. Fixation at any of these stages can lead to behaviour in our adulthood reflecting earlier stages of our childhood, which are caused by unresolved conflicts. For example, fixation at the oral stage can cause adult behaviour that is centred on the mouth (eating, smoking, etc. ) The purpose of psychoanalysis was as a therapy to treat mental disorder by means of treating the unconscious mind. The methods that Freud used for investigating the unconsciousness were by means of case studies, and deep analysis and interpretation. Free association involves the uninhibited expression of thought association, no matter how bizarre or embarrassing, from the client to the analyst. Dream analysis involves the analyst attempting to decode the symbols and unravel the hidden meaning (the latent content) of a dream from the dreamer’s report (the manifest content). Freud used his theory to explain a number of topics. He explained that the development of personality came from fixations or defence mechanisms, and that aggression was caused by hydraulic drives and displacement. Abnormality was seen as the consequence of early traumas and repression, which subsequently could impair our moral and gender development, the latter being the result of the Oedipus complex. The psychoanalytic approach has been greatly influential within psychology, in areas such as psychotherapy and developmental theories, and also beyond in art, literature and other sciences, some 100 years since Freud first developed his ideas. His theory has had some experimental support in certain areas, such as repression and fixation. Freud introduced the world to the concept of the unconscious, and regarded his case studies like ‘Little Hans’ and ‘Anna O’ as firm empirical support for his theory. He thought his belief in determinism and detailed collection of data were scientific, yet many psychologists today argue that his theories and ideas are too biological, that is that they rely too much on the influence of basic instincts and physical drives. Most of Freud’s ideas and concepts came from only a handful of results on the study of children. Freud could have allowed his own prejudices to shape his analysis, leading to no objective measures. His close interventions and feedback to the child’s family could have changed the child’s behaviour and that of its family. Psychoanalysis lacks rigorous empirical support, especially regarding normal development, and leads to reductionism, i. e. it reduces human activity to a basic set of structures, which can’t account for behaviour. Freud’s ideas have been accused of being irrefutable, and are therefore theoretically unscientific. Another approach to psychology is the behaviourist approach, which concentrates on the theory of learning and behavioural therapy, and tries to explain behaviour in terms of its relation to environmental events (stimuli), rather than any innate factors. The view that behaviour should be the sole subject matter of psychology was first advanced by the American psychologist John B. Watson in the early 1900s. His position came to be called behaviourism. He believed that psychologists could not afford to â€Å"speculate† upon the unobservable inner workings of the mind, since they are too private to be studied scientifically. For the behaviourist, much of their research focuses on objectively observable behaviour, rather than any internal process. The approach proposes that behaviour is radical, and that it is caused and maintained in this way.

Problems Encountered Essay

It should be noted that flaws in every activity held within the organizations capacity is inevitable. As an organization covered and recognized under the jurisdiction of LNU, the Association of Political Science Students is expected to conduct and deliver activities consistent with that of the University or in consonance with its own personal interest. Provided however, that it will not disrupt the principles from which this University was founded. As the organization directs its activities, several problems erupted which hindered the same to deliver what is known as â€Å"best†. Problems in Performance, Preparation, Consistency and Criticisms existed. Problems encountered: 1) Performance Lack of cooperation and incompetence were encountered. For instance, annually, the Leyte Normal University as a whole celebrates its Founding Anniversary. The APSS, as an organization of, and in line with the celebration of the latter, conducted an exhibit labeled â€Å"Political Jungle†. During the conduct of the same, the APSS failed to deliver (although not entirely) what was being portrayed in the exhibit which resulted to criticisms not only by students but the Deans and teachers as well. With realization of failure, the APSS, specifically the committees involved felt drastic loss, low-morale and degraded at some point. 2) Preparation Lack of participation and readiness were encountered. To be more specific, the problems were encountered during when the APSS conducted a Lecture-Forum regarding the controversy on the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea). During the preparation of said event, the organizers due to lack of authority, if not, laziness failed to foster participation and cooperation amongst the Political Science Students needed in order to better realize the success of the event. With that occurrence, the organizers (committees) involved had trouble with all aspect in the preparation of the event, that is to say, the over-all appearance of the venue, logistics, etc. 3) Consistency and Criticisms Problem in the conformity of thoughts was encountered. It is common in every organization to argue on what concept to use whenever the latter conducts its activities provided that conformity is achieved. However, during the last activity held by the organization, that is, an exhibit entitled â€Å"Political Jungle†, the concept used was concluded by the majority of First year students independent of the higher years. Which eventually resulted to perplexity on the part of the former considering the fact that, the concept used to aid the event was poorly conceptualized – â€Å"The Naked Jungle of the Political Animals†. It left the activity and the APSS itself vulnerable to criticisms and confusion on the part of the individuals visiting the exhibit- – and it did.

Humanities Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Humanities - Essay Example When the Babylonians of Semitic origins invaded Mesopotamia near the end of 2000 BC, as the civilization reached its imperial turning point, these ancient Amorites bore significance on the aspect of science through the belief of over sixty thousand gods. Babylonian priests discerned much about the stars and other heavenly bodies and profoundly believed beyond mere embodiment that every planet was a god – Jupiter being Marduk, the god of war, Mars pertaining to Nergal or the god of death for instance, as well as the sun that was also known as Shamash (Babylonian). Religion thus enabled Babylonians to earn recognition in the field of astronomy and astrology which helped establish the twelve zodiac signs on which most cultures to this day depend, accepting the possibility that man’s destiny can be governed by the stars and the planets (Babylonian). In the similar manner, the Egyptian history had documented a belief system which shaped the early minds to materialize cultura l and architectural insights into physical structures crafted according to the religion which regarded truth in life after death. Hence, Egyptians have since managed to live with a burial custom that bathed and embalmed corpses, widely known as ‘mummies’ which were then entombed in pyramids – a tradition thought to prepare the dead for life in another dimension (Resurrection).

AMERICAN HISTORY SINCE 1865 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

AMERICAN HISTORY SINCE 1865 - Essay Example Americans have had many successes in this regard, having been responsible, in most cases, in being able to effect the deposing of regimes and rulers through various means, among then covert acts to achieve their ends, and making use of a wide array of figures in public American life, including business people, spies, government people, politicians, and military leaders. Tracing the history of American action, Kinzer notes that American action goes back to the deposing of the Hawaiian monarchy, and the actions that led to the effective annexation of the Philippines, Puerto Rico and Cuba during the so-called Spanish-American War. These initial successes led to the emboldening of the American effort and the extension of is interventions southwards of the American continent, making use of its intervention powers to depose the leaders of Honduras and Nicaragua via successful coup detats. When the Cold War with the Soviet Union kicked into high gear, on the other hand, American interventio ns in country affairs took on the flavor of an ideological and power struggle to one-up the Communist enemy in a global power struggle, with the United States identified as instigating the collapse of Chilean, Iranian and Guatemalan democratic institutions on the one hand, and the downfall of the president of South Vietnam in a successful assassination effort. Post Cold War, the US has been identified as having played a big hand in overthrowing existing regimes in Iraq, Grenada, Afghanistan, and Panama via invasion exercises (Kinzer 2006). Tactical differences in the interventions of the United States in general and the Central Intelligence Agency in particular during the Imperial Era and during the Cold War Era involved either instigating and leading regime change wholesale, or in providing ammunition either financially or materially or both, to existing rebellions and underground anti-establishment groups to foment dissent and catapult the dissenting parties to power, at the

What does the state of the British media tell us about society in Essay

What does the state of the British media tell us about society in Britain - Essay Example In the world of today, media has become as necessary as food and clothing. As per Shakeel (2013) â€Å"It has played significant role in strengthening the society. Media is considered as "mirror" of the modern society, infect, it is the media which shapes our lives. The media of a certain country is a true mirror for portraying the cultural values and issue happening in a country. British media is of high standard and report on many issue which gives the public an image of British society. The sections like art, sports, entertainment, health and education. Britain being a cosmopolitan country does have a cultural and social mannerism different to other countries. British Media mostly present political and news and information on Royal family. According to Negrine(1991,pg.12-30) â€Å"The value of "political communication" in the dictionary of useful, catch-all phrases to describe the relationship between mass media and politics comes at a price in precision†. Although, the me dia does not reflect much on the life of common men it does give out what is British society is like. The nature of British media The British media has its own peculiarities and in Europe, Britain falls third to Germany and Estonia regarding the total number of newspaper published. Also the British Press market is the second largest in Europe with regard to newspaper circulation. The frequency of British newspaper is divided as weekly, daily and Sunday newspaper. The media of Britain greatly cover economic and political news. The media has the function of public enlightenment. The celebrity gossip and sports is a major portion in British media. The British media is also extensively interested in royal affairs. Unlike other countries, Britain has a regulated media. According to Enders(2011) â€Å"Until now, Britain has regulated commercial media far more tightly than the BBC and you argue that it is time for a change†. The British media has been a bit conservative in compariso n to other media in Western countries. The country always had to keep the royal status of the country. However, the British news papers are information rich and same goes with television media. However, politics is a major topic area for British media. Apart from this entertainment and sports get lot of media attention. Crime, sex and stories of human interests are also a part of the British media. According to (Gonzalez) The British national press provides a variety of political views, interests and levels of education. The British media does give out certain ideas as follows about their society Britain as a class conscious society British media has been one which shows class segregation and it has been partial to different classes. The media always represented the royal families and celebrities as the wealthiest and influential. The upper class was shown as the well bred and cultured people. The media has consistently showcased royal families as the ideal British people. The upper class is shown to be intelligent and sophisticated. (Thorpe) â€Å"But class-warfare, whether waged by politicians or the media, merely diverts attention from those living in deprivation†. The upper class is shown to hardworking, wall mannered and decent. The media has always shown upper class people in a positive manner and hence we can see that the British society is class conscious. Class discrimination is highly visible from the fact that the media as television or newspaper is consistently publishing or broadcasting news related to royal families an

Summary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 137

Summary - Essay Example There was discrimination even for federal jobs thus blacks could not join the military (Lewis, 1997). To ensure that all the whites supported him in his fight against the blacks, films and newspapers circulated propagandas about the blacks’ ignorance and the cruelty of the black men for instance black men are portrayed as rapists for raping their bosses white women in the south where they were slaves. This led to the formation of Ku Klux Klan that hanged and burnt the black men in public (Lewis, 1997). The increment of stereotyping blacks was rampant and the blacks tried their best to fight for equal rights. During World War 1, America joined the war to help the allies thus blacks joined the army. The black troop fought with honor to prove that they were better than the white soldiers were. In France, the white Americans continued discriminating and stereotyping the black troops and they gave warning to the French soldiers that the black troops were ignorant and lusted for white women and if they welcomed them they would rape their women (Lewis, 1997). The French soldiers discounted these accusations and the soldiers won the war in their favor. After the war, black troops were honored with medals but that was not enough as they only agreed to fight for America to ensure they earn equal rights. The black troops organized other blacks and formed organizations then moved to the north and in New York; they formed more organizations to ensure segregation ended (Lewis, 1997). Since some of the blacks in the organization were intelligent, they joined other philosophers in the verge of identifying their true roots from Africa. Knowing their culture and their ancestors was key in the struggle for equality although they claimed that race was not important in the provision of equal rights but they had to stand as African-American race to ensure discrimination of their race ended. The next step according to this chapter was to end the

Talent leadership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Talent leadership - Essay Example gh performance talent leadership is attained by using the critical roles in talent leadership aiming at success, and in this part experience matters a lot. Members are skilled with the following attributes; good relations with other team members, able to compel clear vision and goals well coordinated roles and relationship, with good accountability. The team tends to have a positive atmosphere, effective methods of communications, good in making the decision, and leaders participate fully. The graph below represents the leadership performance on the y-axis and the leadership potential on the x-axis. Combination of both axis helps in explaining the high performance in an organization when following the leadership talents to maintain his performance. High performance model in an organization is talent leadership. They are much effective where the members have a set goal and knowing their purpose. Leadership talents form the basis of the high performance in an organization or a business . On the other hand, experience contributes a lot in maintaining the performance. In this model, it is a proper to state that, the level of talent leadership in the organization is high, and skills to this are also highly considered since the organization need to prosper and maintain the highest performance from its competitors. In my model, there are more skilled executives from the lower grounds as compared to other models. For instance, a model may only consider Performance of talent leadership in high levels and put less regard on the lower part of it.

Why kids attract towards animation and 3d animated films Essay

Why kids attract towards animation and 3d animated films - Essay Example Bentrancourt and Chassot (2008, p. 3) highlight that the fundamental reason why kids are attracted towards animated films is due to the visualizations they create, which helps in overall understanding of situations. Further, it is claimed that animations are very helpful for kids because they enhance memory of the animated information which later aids to advance comprehension of various situations depicted by the animations. Therefore, it is observed that animations are attractive to children because they create memorization and comprehension of whatever subject they illustrate. Moreover, kids are attracted to animations and 3d animated films because they are funny and entertaining to watch. Therefore, they are very appealing, humorous, motivating and most often capture children’s attention. In their tender age and little comprehension abilities, kids get bored when watching television, hence, they are usually inclined to watch more fun and entertaining programs than TV programs, which are mostly in the form of animations (Shanghai Jianghong Gifts, 2008). For example, if children were doing their homework at home and an adult was watching news, they are likely not to develop any interest in the TV. However, if the channel is changed to a cartoon program, the kids will lose interest in the homework and will be motivated to watch TV. This proves that kids are attracted towards animated films because they are fun and entertaining to watch. In addition, kids are attracted to animation films because animations use space in representing elements in their relations. In this case, animations create characters that kids are able to relate to and themes which make character differences and this attracts them to watch animated films. Therefore, when kids watch animated films, they also develop favourite characters who might be good in the film. Hence, this will give the

First Person Singular Essay Example for Free

First Person Singular Essay As children we spent most of our lives exploring and learning new things with the help of our parents. There are some memories very vague but others that we will remember for the rest of our lives. These memorable moments could be the simplest to most complex things but as children they were a big deal to us. A childhood journey that I find extraordinarily memorable was the time I went to England with my parents because I traveled across the globe and I experienced different adventures. The time I went to England was a memory I will treasure forever because it was the first time I traveled to a different continent. I was in fifth grade when we underwent this trip which made me the coolest kid in class so that really made the trip important to me. We arrived at the airport to find out that my dad needed a VISA since he was not a citizen of the US, this forced us to delay our trip and fly to New York for 3 days. After that issue was resolved we finally flew to England. The flight took about 8 hours. During the flight we ate dinner and breakfast on the plane, I recall the food not being that great especially being a picky child. We also had to sleep on the plane which can be very uncomfortable for more than an hour. I also remember having to share the minuscule bathroom with my mom to brush our teeth. Following the lengthy flight we finally reached our destination, England. Clearly, traveling to another continent is a memory I will never forget. Another reason I will cherish this trip throughout my life is because we encountered new adventures. The country seemed pretty similar to the United States but as we were getting onto the car my dad entered what he thought was the passenger seat but came to see it was really the drivers seat. Not only are the steering wheels on the opposite sides of the car but they drive on the opposite side of the road as well. We stayed at my dad’s friend’s house while our stay. This house had 4 stories including the basement, this was new to me because in Florida you only see 2 story houses most of the time. The food was a very big obstacle for me because I was not used to the food prepared in the house. The woman of the house made us a traditional English dinner which quite honestly was not to my liking. It was a large sausage with mashed potatoes and vegetables. As a fifth grader I would have preferred McDonald’s. We didn’t have an itinerary for what we wanted to do so we just did random things the city of London had to offer. While in London I saw men completely painted like statues but would randomly move and scare you half to death, that was enjoyable. Then we reached â€Å"The Eye†, the biggest ferris wheel in the world that you can see all of London from the top. Sadly I wasn’t able to ride it because it takes 45 minutes to go all around and we didn’t have enough time for that. But I did get to visit Big Ben and the Buckingham Palace. I also rode a train for the first time. This train went extremely fast and it even had a full bathroom right in the middle, it felt like it was taken out of â€Å"Back to the Future.† The last thing we did on our trip was go to a Robin Hood museum in the city of Nottingham that showed us his story. Evidently, the adventures we underwent contributed to this special memory. Given these experiences, my trip to England will be a souvenir to the journeys in my childhood because I traveled across the globe and I experienced different adventures. Many more mementoes will be added to the list as time goes on but as of now that trip was one of the most influential expeditions I have had.

Gaining And Maintaining Airworthiness Engineering Essay

Gaining And Maintaining Airworthiness Engineering Essay Aircraft design process involved in varied disciplines such as aerodynamics, structures, flight mechanics etc. Therefore, for an aircraft to become operational it is essential to demonstrate that the construction and design of the aircraft can comply with the requirements applicable and such verification and validation evidence required to be delegated to the relevant authorities. This report introduces Airworthiness and provides the reader the framework involved in gaining airworthiness and how to maintain it subsequently. Introduction Consideration of airworthiness policies has its origins since the early days of military flying. But aircraft design data has been recorded prior to 1910 for balloons and the Royal Aircraft Factory has produced a design requirement document in 1916. The Aerial Navigation Act that is sanction by the Home Office in 1911 to ban flying in populated areas is an early example of safety regulation. Airworthiness Department has been established decade later by the Royal Aircraft Factory (as part of the Air Ministry), which is the beginning of procedures for company design approvals and approved data. Aircraft airworthiness means compliance with applicable aviation authorities regulations that defines the minimum safety level of the aircraft, of the passengers transported and the over flown territories. When designed and built according to applicable requirements, When operated within its intended environment and within its quantified and declared limitations, And maintained in accordance with procedures acceptable to the responsible Authority. The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) Regulation 216/2008, Article 5, 2(c) defines the airworthiness as; Each aircraft shall be issued with an individual certificate of airworthiness when it is shown that it conforms to the type design approved in its type-certificate and that relevant documentation, inspections and tests demonstrate the aircraft is in condition for safe operation The Airworthiness is a collective responsibility of operators, authorities, manufactures and maintenance organisations. An airworthy aircraft is one where the likelihood of any incident or accident as a result of malfunction, performance or handling of the aircraft is kept to acceptable levels. The only real measure of airworthiness in use is given by tracking and analyzing incidents and accidents. The remaining sections will discuss the essence of Gaining and Maintaining Airworthiness. Figure 01: Airworthiness Collective Responsibilities Implementation of Airworthiness Authority (EASA) confidence that the design of a product complies with the applicable requirements based on Certification of the organisation (IR 21 DOA) Certification of the design of products (CS 25 TC) DO Approval According to European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), Design Organisation Approval (DOA) requirements Implementing Rule (IR) part 21 (published as annex to European Commission Regulation (EC) No 1702/2003) includes procedural requirements applicable either to the industry (Section A) or to the Competent Authorities (Section B) but Part 21 does not include provisions to delegate EASA authority and / or signature to individuals. Certification of aircraft and related products, parts and appliances, and of design and production organisations Organisations must demonstrate following key elements in order to obtain DO Approval. Design Assurance System Handbook Right People Terms of Approval Obligations of the holder Figure 02 DOA Key Elements Design Organisation Approval (DOA) Organisation Structure Following diagram illustrates a simplified organisation structure demonstrating the essential elements in an aircraft design and manufacturing organisation. Figure 03: Design Organisation Structure Chief Executive Officer (CEO): Responsible for appropriate functioning of the work place by ensuring availability of required resources. Designated Certification Specialist (DCS): Airworthiness specialist nominated for a given discipline (ATA or Sub-ATA level or for Approved Manuals) to carry out the certification tasks, in particular to manage the compliance demonstration activities for their domain. Part of the airworthiness function and act under the control of Product Integrity. Certification Manager (CM) Certification panel leaders for their area of competence, Participate in the development of new certification strategies The CM is the interface with Aviation Authorities at panel level for primary TC, foreign certification / validation activities and for allocated major changes. Chief Airworthiness Engineer (CAE) Responsible for leading and coordinating the certification and airworthiness activities for the programme. Supported by a team usually called the CAE team composed of: A Type Certification Manger (TCM) An Individual Aircraft Certification Manager (IACM) A Continued Airworthiness Manager (CAM) Type Certification Type certification is the process demonstrating that the design of an aircraft complies with the applicable aviation requirements. Certification process could be a new type certificate new aircraft (ex. Airbus A380), Amended Type certification model or derivative (ex: Airbus A350 1000) and significant major changes to the type design (ex. A330-200 Passenger to Freighter) To grant and EASA Type Certificate, aircraft manufacture shall obtain first a DOA (Design Organisation Approval) covering the relevant product (aircraft type) and also shall demonstrate its capability to design, certify and ensure the continued airworthiness of its products in accordance with the certification specification (CS-25) and Environmental protection (CS-34, CS-36) requirements. To manufacture and release to service series aircraft, manufacture must then obtain a POA (Production Organisation Approval) and establish relationship between DOA POA. Flight Test Flight testing process could be potentially very risky and extremely expensive due to unforeseen problem s result in loss of life (both crew and people on the ground) and damage to the aircraft. Due to this reasons modern flight testing is one of the most safety conscious operations. Typically there are two types of flight test programs, military and commercial. There is a significant difference between military and commercial flight testing where commercial test programs are carried out to certify the aircraft meets all required safety and performance requirements where as military programs involved in aircraft manufactures designing and building aircraft to government contracts to meet specific mission capabilities. Initiation of flight test preparations for both commercial and military aircraft commence well before the aircraft is ready to fly, although due to the fact that the government is funding the military projects, involvement of military flight testing is commence much ear ly-on in the design and testing process. Historical Data Analysis According to historical evidence, operational and airframe related risk of a serious accident causes is approximately one per million flight hours but failure problems occurred by aircraft systems problems is about 10 percent of this total amount. Therefore, it is reasonable to argue that systems faults should not allowed serious accidents and it is therefore possible for a new design to change the probability of such a serious accident not to be greater than one per ten million flight hours (1 x 10-7). But it is not possible to identify whether the target can be met until all the aircraft systems has been numerically collectively analysed. Due to this reason its assumed that there are about 100 potential failure conditions present arbitrarily which could prevent safe flight and landing of the aircraft. By sharing out equally the target allowable risk (x 10-7) equally among these conditions risk allocation result in not greater than 1 x 10-9 to each. Therefore the upper risk limit for failure conditions would be 1 x 10-9 for each hour of flight which approximates probability value for the term Extremely Improbable. Analytic techniques Various analytical techniques have been developed in line with the above topic to assist Airworthiness Authority and the applicant to carry out a safety analysis, which could benefit systematic qualitative analysis. This technique also important for analyst to perform quantitative assessment when required. The Advisory Material Joint (AMJ) identifies both qualitative and quantitative analytical approaches which could used to support JAA personal or assist applicant to determine the compliance with the requirement. And it also provides guidance for determining if or when a particular analysis to be conducted. The intended requirement of the analytical tools is supplement but not to replace operational and engineering judgement. Legal Issues To have a basic understanding of the legal requirement is vital for aviation professionals such as pilots, mechanics, air traffic controllers and executives. National and international laws or regulations regulate all aspects of civil air transportation. To ensure the effectiveness of the legal framework and enforceability of safety aspects, the following basic groups of regulations have been developed. Airworthiness Regulations to define: Applicable procedures, and Minimum safety, technical and performance requirements to be realised and maintain in the aircraft design. Ex: EASA Part 21 (aircraft certification procedures), Part M and Part 145 (aircraft maintenance) CS-25 (design code for large aircraft) Operational regulations: to define the basic rules air traffic has to follow and the minimum requirements for certain kinds of operations, for the aircraft and the person or the organisation. Ex: EU-OPS1 Commercial Air Transportation After an accident there is two main investigations (technical legal proceedings) will be conducted. Legal proceedings consist with; Civil proceedings which involved in civil claims for damages by victims and/or their relatives, Commercial proceedings which involved in claims for damages by customer and/or its insurer (Aircraft repair / loss, Reduction in aircraft residual value, Loss of revenue) and finally Criminal prosecution, in case of death / serious injury, in certain jurisdictions (ex: France, Germany). Continued Airworthiness According to ICAO Doc No 9760-2001 continued Airworthiness defined as The processes that ensure, at any time in its life, an aircraft complies with the technical conditions fixed to the issue of the Certificate of Airworthiness and is in a condition for safe operation. And recommends Contracting states are required to have a system that ensures aircraft are in a condition for safe operation. F. Florio (2006) stated that safety is the most important thing which has to be ensuring every time in every flight operations and all the airplanes must be in an air worthy state which is suitable for fly. In other words all the aircrafts must achieve and perform all the procedures in the Airworthiness Directive manuals. Furthermore, Florio (2006) also mentioned that continued airworthiness can be rely on two factors Organisation operators Maintenance Maintenance Maintenance can be explained as alterations, inspections, replacements of parts of the aircraft. This can be done by taking a record entry for each event such as replacement of LRUs (Line replacement units). According to Florio (2006), Maintenance refers to as preventive maintenance, alterations and repairs and introduction of airworthiness directive and also he stated that airworthiness is rely on the maintenance programmes , which also establish the replacement of time change items , the overhaul engines, propellers and various parts of appliances. Florio mentioned that as the part of the product type certifications of aircraft airworthiness authorities requires instructions for continued airworthiness thus these instructions can be identified as the fundamental tools of the maintenance because they are the basic maintenance programmes. These maintenance programmes must cater the requirements of operational and maintenance standards. According to EASA Maintenance programme; Every aircraft shall be maintained in accordance with the maintenance programmes approved by the competent authority, which shall be periodically reviewed and amended accordingly. The maintenance programme and any subsequent amendments shall be approved by the competent authority The maintenance programmes must establish compliance with; Instructions for continuing airworthiness issued by the type certificate and the supplementary type certificate holder Instructions issued by the complement authority Instructions issued by the owner or the operator and approved by the competent authority. Repairs Repair process involves different organisations where, when the products are not with aircraft manufacture, continuing airworthiness is governed by the state of registry or the responsibilities are spread out in organisations. Part 21A subpart M states the repair procedural requirements for certification. Under Part 21 subpart M: Elimination of damage (21A.431 b) Unrepaired damages (21A.445 a) Out of Part 21 subpart M Replacement without design activity (21A.431c) Repairs design from an approved manual (GM 21A.431 a) Following diagrams illustrates the Airbus repairing process. Figure 04: Airbus Repairing Process The Structure Repair Manual (SRM) describes general repair practices, materials and typical repairs, allowed damages, which are considered applicable to standard repairs. Its approved by aircraft manufacture under DOR privilege. Modifications Changes made to a particular aircraft after the issue of the airworthiness certificate is a modification. This could include changes to the structures, systems, powerplants, propellers etc Furthermore, substitution of one type for another also considered as a modification. Any modification requires approval from the Civil Aviation Authority directly or via an approved organisation. During a design modification, details of the change must be given to the authority at early stage where then the modification is classified as minor or major medication according to the nature of the investigation. If the outcome of an investigation requires amendments to the Certificate of Airworthiness or Flight Manual, authority may require following major modification procedures. Incidents and Accidents Flight safety experts believe that series of events leads to incidents and accidents. Accidents During the operation of an aircraft, result in occurrence associated with a person being fatally or seriously injured from the time any person boards to the aircraft with intention of flight until the time all persons disembarked. Incidents Other than accidents incidents also occurrences which relate to the operation of the aircraft or could affect the safety of its operation. Aging Aircraft Civil Aviation authority has defined Aging aircrafts as An operational aircraft approaching the end of its design life assumptions (Alder P. 2005). Aging aircraft can also be called as an older aircraft as well. Since the aircraft are manufacture to provide long lasting services for so many years, all the aircraft must be in an airworthy state and have to be safe to fly. Thus maintenance programmes must be carried out to maintain the aircraft and also aircraft must be operated according to the manufacturers recommendation. Florio F. (2006) stated that, older aircraft require additional care and the maintenance programmes must be carried out in a more specific way than the recently manufactured aircraft. And also he stated that due to the fatigue, accidental damage and also due to the environmental deterioration more inspection in the components of the structure must require in maintenance programmes. So to maintain airworthiness in older aircrafts manufacturers of the flight has to provide operators with the specific programs. In older aircrafts normally each of the aeroplane components have to undergo some of the repairs, overhauls, inspection maintenance, preventive maintenance and some replacements of components of the aircraft. Maintenance records have to be update regularly by the operator. Florio F. (2006) states that between operator of the aircraft, manufacturer and also the authority there should be an open communication system. Furthermore he states that once a problem occur the operator or the owner of the aircraft must inform it to the manufacturer and then manufacturer has to prepare the recommendations and has to update the appropriate programmes of continued air worthiness. After examination of those maintenance programmes the authorities will approve those. Role of the Regulator Airworthiness programmes consist of three main roles. Regulator Implementer Investigator Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR) are examples for the regulation authorities. These authorities generate and distribute the regulations for aircraft operations for aviation industry. Civil Aviation Authority is the UKs independent specialist regulator. Their main responsibility is to provide world leading air safety environment in the aviation industry. Aircraft licensing, maintenance of specific airworthiness management systems and economic regulations, consumer protection, policies for airspace and setting up national safety standards can be taken as key role of CAA. Regulators involved in few or many roles as follows: Setting up the civil aviation standards and ensure they are achieved. Regulates and encourages airlines, airports and national air traffic services economic activities etc Manages the principal travel protection scheme. Ensure the airspace is a common place for all users by bringing civil and military interests together. Advise the government on aviation issues. Represents consumer interests Conduct scientific and economic research. Provide specialist services by producing statistical data. Conclusion Recommendation Aircraft airworthiness means compliance with applicable aviation authorities regulations that defines the minimum safety level of the aircraft, of the passengers transported and the over flown territories and when designed and built according to applicable requirements, when operated within its intended environment and within its quantified and declared limitations and maintained in accordance with procedures acceptable to the responsible Authority. Therefore, The Airworthiness is a collective responsibility of operators, authorities, manufactures and maintenance organisations.

Experiences with Mini Implants Among Paediatric Patients

Experiences with Mini Implants Among Paediatric Patients EXPERIENCE OF PEDIATRIC PATIENTS WITH MINI IMPLANTS UNDER GOING ORTHODONTIC TREATMENT ABSTRACT Objectives: Mini-implants are gaining achievement in orthodontics procedures as they provide maximum anchorage. The study is planned to evaluate different experiences with mini implants among pediatric patients. Methods: This study was done among 86 patients with a mean age of 14Â ±23 years. All the participants were interviewed with the help of a questionnaire containing information as experience during treatment with mini implants, acceptance rate of mini implants, complications faced during procedure and satisfactory results with the treatment. Visual analogue scale (VAS) was used to record pain parameters. The data was analyzed by SPSS 16.0 software. Nonparametric test was applied to obtain the median of VAS scores. Results: Most of the patients face problems with mini implants during mastication of food (28.2%) and speech (23.6%). It also leads to poor oral hygiene in 16.4% of the subjects. The highest VAS scores were traced from the period of one to twenty hour i.e. (33.7 to 40.2). It was observed that most of the subjects get adopted to the mini implants in 5 to 10 days. Conclusions: It is safe and sound to use mini-implants as an orthodontic anchorage device among patients undergoing orthodontic treatment. Mini implants are unquestionably accessory tools for treatment of orthodontists and ought to be utilized in selected cases demanding greatest anchorage. Keywords: Mini-implants, Orthodontics, Pediatric patients. INTRODUCTION Orthodontic procedure is recommended for aesthetics and proper functioning of teeth. Patients look for orthodontic treatment mainly for aesthetic motives but orthodontists normally advise orthodontic treatment to patients for function purposes.1 Orthodontic treatment takes a longer duration in alignment of dentition that leads to dissatisfaction among the patients. So, numbers of techniques have been introduced to assist in the reduction of duration of the treatment.2 Temporary anchorage devices and surgical corticotomies have been discovered for lesser-duration treatment. Reducing the period of treatment with effective techniques, increases the acceptability among patients to accept the orthodontic procedure. 3-4 The usage of temporary anchorage devices (TADs) also recognized as mini-implants can accelerate the treatment in a number of cases.5 Temporary anchorage device or mini implants momentarily fixed to bone for the principle of providing orthodontic anchorage by supporting the teeth, which is subsequently removed after use.6 Mini implants produce skeletal anchorage and have been successfully proven in the treatment of cases with varying degrees of complications, if their placement is correctly positioned. Additional concern is to maintain oral hygiene around the TAD by the patient.7-8 Currently, mini-implants have gained significant status as they provide greatest anchorage in conditions involving orthodontic movements that require maximum control.9 Considering the insertion sites, mini-implants can be fixed in the cortical region of the alveolar bone of mandibular molar; in the median or paramedian sagittal area of the maxillary hard palate; and in the zygomatic bone for orthodontic corrections.10 Height and anatomic structures of the bone determine the length, shape and thickness of mini implants.11 Despite the scientifically advancement in mini-implant use, still there are some limitations of surgical risk with some patients that leads to unwillingness in accepting these devices.12 The present study is done to determine different experiences with mini implants among pediatric patients. METHODOLOGY This epidemiological study was done among patients undergoing orthodontic treatment in the Department of Pedodontics from April to December 2014 in Karad Institute of Dental Sciences. Prior to collection of data, ethical approval was obtained from the Institute and informed consent was taken from all the participants or their guardians. All the willing participants in whom mini implants were fixed were included in the survey and participants with cleft lip and palate and with medical problems were excluded. A pre-tested survey was done among a 10 subjects in order to make sure the level of validity. In this survey, all the participants or their guardians were interviewed with the help of a questionnaire containing information as experience during treatment with mini implants, acceptance rate of mini implants, tolerance, complications faced during procedure and satisfactory results with the treatment. Every subject was asked to complete a questionnaire with eight sections from 1 to 8 according to severity of discomfort with visual analogue scale (VAS). Discomfort level was noted at different intervals of time. The data was analyzed by SPSS 16.0 software. Nonparametric test was applied to obtain the median of VAS scores. RESULTS The total study sample was 86 whom mini implant was fixed with orthodontic appliances. The participants were categorized as boys (41) girls (45) with a mean age of 14Â ±23 years. After fixing the mini implant, most of the patients showed satisfactory results with time (86.4%). In the present study, the most disagreeable feeling experienced was due to the pressure of mini implants on teeth surface (42.6%) followed by the time of insertion when the implant is placed in the bone (36.5%). Few subjects feel unpleasantness at the time of removal of implant (20.9%) as shown in Graph 1. Graph 2 showed that most of the patients face problems with mini implants during mastication of food (28.2%) and speech (23.6%). It also leads to poor oral hygiene in 16.4% of the subjects. It causes injuries in 10.6% of the participants. Less number of participants showed its relation to poor aesthetics (6.5%). The highest VAS scores were traced from the period of one hour to twenty hour i.e. (33.7 to 40.2). After this time the scores declined as 15.7 after one week, 8.2 after two week and 2.3 after one month (Graph 3). After the placement of mini-implant, the immediate effect noticed by the patients is the pressure on tooth surface (31.3%) followed by pressure on mini implants (26.5%). Some felt discomfort in the jaw bone (18.7%) and hard palate (14.6%) as mentioned in Graph 4. It was observed that most of the subjects get adopted to the mini implants in 5 to 10 days i.e. 37.4%, followed by 29.6% in 10 to 15 days. Less than twenty percent get used to within five days. Few participants showed normal response with implants after 15 days as showd in Graph 5. DISCUSSION Anchorage is the resistance to unwanted movement of tooth. The increased use of temporary anchorage devices (mini implants) has developed to decrease the risks of patient compliance in the wish of providing supplementary outcomes.13 They also provide increased flexibility in supporting the tooth movements with conventional appliance mechanics.14 The level of pain after placement of mini implant was seen maximum from one to twenty hours and the peak declined after one week. The result of the present study was similar with study done by Kuroda et al., 2007. This drop in pain level could be brought by the restraint of supporting soft tissues.15 Regarding the most disagreeable experience with mini implants felt by patients was pressure of implant followed by its placement. However Bustamante et al showed that numbness from the anesthetic was mentioned by 20%, pressure from mini implant fixation by 40% and too lengthy procedure was mentioned by 10% of patients. The fact behind the pressure of mini implant is perfectly understandable as it was a new procedure and unknown for the patients. It had been suggested by the orthodontist with the aim of facilitating the orthodontic treatment. Even after consenting to the procedure, patients felt some psychological discomfort, even though no pain had been said.16 When the experience of mini implants was observed, mastication and speaking problems were commonly seen in the participants. But Bustamante et al showed that oral hygiene difficulties were mentioned by 40%, mastication difficulties by 10%, psychological pain by 10%. In spite of the huge contribution of these mini implants, they pose complexities related to surgical procedures, and discomfort level to the patients. Notwithstanding these barriers, patients should be inform in advance that surgical procedures are simple are performed under local anesthetic. In addition, procedure efficiency is improved and time is shortened.17 The study showed that most of the patients adapted to these mini implants 5 to 15 days, as the pain subsides with time and structures supporting implant get stabilized with implant. The time required to adapting to mini implants, ranged from 5 to 15 days. Bustamante et al in their study mentioned that patients required around ten days to get used to implants. Sixty percent were entirely adapted by third day after surgery, whereas others required a longer duration of time.16 CONCLUSIONS The study showed that most of the participants were satisfied with mini implants as it accelerates the treatment. Mostly discomfort level was noted by the pressure of mini implant. Later on it also leads to chewing, speaking and hygiene problems. The peak level of pain was from one hour to one day and most of the subjects get used to the implants within 20 days. Mini implants are unquestionably accessory tools for treatment of orthodontists and ought to be utilized in selected cases demanding greatest anchorage. 1

Portrait Of A Man Trying To Hang On :: Essays Papers

Portrait Of A Man Trying To Hang On Wade Whitehouse is a man who is frightened to death of following in his father's footsteps, yet he follows them exactly. His violent temper and alcoholism are giant neon signs of how much he is like his father Glen and how closely related their actions are. Wade and his brother Rolfe lived with a violent and destructive man whose behavior was both mentally and physically threatening to his sons. Their father had successfully destroyed them in a long process that began when they were young boys, as they stood and watched him strike their mother. These boys grew up with only feelings of fear and loathing toward their father. Rolfe is the son who in a sense escapes and tells this story as the narrator. Wade, on the other hand, is captured by the violence and alcoholism and acts in the same manners as his father before him. Wade and his father anesthetize their pain through alcoholism which Rolfe manages to just barely escape. We see Wade as a drunk, abusive, and overall sad father, ex-husband and sheriff who has lost control of his life. He is a very complex character from a small town that becomes mentally ill as time goes by. Is this due to his alcoholism? Does everything stem from his alcoholism and the fact that his father was mentally and physically abusive to both him and his brother? Is alcoholism Wade’s affliction? Or is it the devastating and lingering effects of the child abuse he grew up with? There are many things in Wade’s life that might have driven him to become an alcoholic. For example his actions have cost him his marriage to Lillian, his daughter Jill doesn’t want to live with him, he is a sheriff in a small town with little crime, his mother dies and his father is hard to cope with in his old age, and his girlfriend Margie only stands by him until finally she too has had enough. These seem like common occurrences in the life of many Americans today, yet these are the things that lead people to alcoholism. Wade is being held down by more baggage than most have. In a quest to assert himself, Wade strikes out against those who are most important in his life and is faced with the disrespect of the town.

Media Bias and Concentration Essay -- Politics Political Television TV

Media Bias and Concentration After witnessing a hotly contested election and the massive amounts of campaigning done by both parties in effort to inform the public and reach as many voters as possible, one question still remains poignant: Where do we get our information? The myriad landscape that is the media today, can be accessed from almost anywhere, and has, in many ways, entrenched itself in American culture, replacing what used to be standard outlets of information. Television and print news have long dominated the average American household in terms of being used to access information, but new outlets, like the internet and film have grown into major ways in which people learn about what is happening in the world. The emergence of so many varied sources of information, however, and the ever-growing accessibility of unchecked information raises a different question; not so much the source of our information but rather, what is the quality of the information we are getting? Mass media has long had an influe nce on society and an in depth look at its most popular forms today would most definitely reveal several glaring inequities in the way TV networks, print media, and internet websites communicate information. Many media sources are slanted, one way or another, in their views and coverage of people and events. Everette Dennis once stated that objectivity is what sets apart American mass media from the rest of the world and is one of the most important precepts of American journalism (103). In present times, however, media that provides completely impartial analysis of the facts is either hard to find, or deemed incredible. The fact of the matter is that in a large portion of mass media outlets what is best described as obj... ...lt;http://www.consortiumnews.com/2002/111302a.html>. Population Explosion InternetNews. 2 Dec. 2004 . Posters from WWII. San Jose State University. 2 Dec. 2004 . Sinclair Broadcast Group refuses to broadcast Nightline episode on fallen soldiers. Center for Media & Democracy. 1 Dec. 2004 . Taylor, Philip M. Munitions of the mind. New York City: Manchester UP, 2003. 315-318. The Big Ten. The Nation. 2 Dec. 2004 . Top News Sites. American Press Institute. 21 Nov. 2004 . Why Not? Personal Computer Services. 2 Dec. 2004 .

Pharmaceutical Industry and E. Merck Ag

Historical background of the business Today Merck & Co, Inc. is one of the most recognizable companies in the pharmaceutical industry. When asked about Merck, most people think that it is and always has been a US company. However, the company’s history can be traced all the way back to the 1600’s where it was started in Darmstadt, Germany. Friedrich Jacob Merck purchased a local store in 1668 where he prepared and sold medicines. The store was called â€Å"At the sign of the Angels† and would remain in the Merck family for many generations (Merck & co. , 2000). In 1827, Heinrich Emmanuel Merck and renamed E.MERCK AG transformed the store into a drug manufacturer. The pharmacy was so successful that by 1855 E. Merck AG was selling medications worldwide. It was at this time that Merck decided to send a company officer to the United States to set up a sales office. Once in the U. S. in 1899, Heinrich’s grandson George Merck bought one hundred and fifty acres in Rahway, New Jersey. A couple of years later, in 1903, Merck started production in its new U. S. headquarters. By this time Merck was not just producing drugs, it was also starting to produce different types of chemicals and there was also a research lab.When the United States entered World War I in 1917, George Merck, fearing that Germany would win the war and take over his company, sold all of his stock to a US company named Alien Property Custodian (Merck & Co. , 2000). This ended all of Merck’s ties to Germany. After the war, George Merck regained a controlling share of the company in 1919 and from that day forward Merck has always been a publicly owned company. George Merck continued to grow the company until his death in 1926 at which time his son, George W. Merck took over. In 1926, George W.Merck decided to merge the company with Powers-Weightman-Rosengarten, which was a Philadelphia, based pharmaceutical company. In 1927 the company was officially incorporated and renamed Merck & Co. Inc. This merger gave George W. Merck the capital he needed to recruit new chemists and biologists, which lead to the discovery of vitamin B12. Vitamin B12 was a huge success, but because the war had been over for several years, new foreign companies were continually underselling Merck. With no new products in sight, George W. Merck decided to merge with a Baltimore company by the name of Sharp & Dohme, Inc.This merger was believed to have saved Merck from going under; it gave Merck new marketing facilities and a new distribution network, which it desperately needed. By the time George W. Merck died in 1957, the company had hit the one hundred million dollar mark. Not only was the dollar mark significant, George’s death marked the last time a Merck family member would ever be in control. From the 60’s on, Merck continued to raise its market share taking advantage of its research and development, which continually produced new and popular drugs every year.Today Merck employs over fifty five thousand people and produces some of the most well known pharmaceutical products on the market. With profits totaling a little fewer than six billion dollars and annual sales of over twelve and half billion dollars, Merck is considered one of the best pharmaceutical companies in the world. Products Throughout the years, Merck has made itself a reputation for developing high quality products that consumers know will work. The drugs are developed to help with all different types of problems.Some medicines are used for every day symptoms like a stuffed up nose and some are used for more serious illnesses like the treatment of HIV. Since Merck & Co. , Inc. was founded; it has always made a point to have an above average research and development program so that it could appeal to a wide variety of consumers no matter what symptoms they were trying to cure. Some of the first products ever distributed by Merck in the 1820’s were morphine, co deine and cocaine. These three products allowed Merck enough revenue to begin research on other types of products.In 1933 Merck scientists discovered vitamin B12 which was, at the time, used as a therapeutic drug. The sales from B12 alone were enough to carry Merck into the next decade. Although Merck scientists discovered cortisone, which is a steroid, and streptomycin, which is used to treat tuberculosis, the 1940’s, 50’s and 60’s were fairly slow periods for Merck. Other products such as Aldomet, which is used to treat depression, Indocin and Clinoril which are anti-inflammatory drugs, were developed but none of them had the impact on revenue that Merck was used to.It was not until the mid to late 70’s that Merck came out with some new products that really connected with consumers. It was at this time that Timoptic and Enalapril were invented. Timoptic is a hepatitis vaccine that helps with the treatment of glaucoma and Enalapril is a high blood pressu re medication. Sales from these two drugs were well over a half a billion dollars by the early 1980’s. Things only got better for Merck from the 1980’s through 2000. During this time Merck produced over twenty new drugs.Some of the more popular drugs include Cosopt, used in the treatment of glaucoma, Propecia, which is used to treat hair loss, Maxalt, which is used for migraine headaches, and Singulair, which treats cases of asthma. Although all of these medications worked out very well for Merck’s profit, there were three drugs that stood above the rest. Vasotec was a treatment for congestive heart failure and Merck’s first billion dollar a year drug. That was followed by Vioxx which is a pain medication used to treat arthritis and also a billion dollar a year seller. The most popular drug Merck ever produced was Zocor.Zocor is a cholesterol-fighting drug that was introduced in 1992. Not only was zocor a multi-billion dollar a year drug, it was one of th e most successful selling pharmaceutical drugs ever (Merck & Co. , 2000). Zocor accounted for over four billion dollars in worldwide sales in 2004 alone. With products like these and a continued dedication to research and development, Merck will be a major player in the pharmaceutical industry for many years to come. Company Locations Merck and its subsidiaries have locations all over the world. Their main headquarters is currently located in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey.Merck takes pride in being a global healthcare leader. According to their website they currently have 83,000 employees worldwide (Merck. com). In 2009, Merck merged with competitor Shering-Plough, which extended Merck’s reach into the global economy. According to Muse (2011), Merck has over 75 locations, â€Å"Drawing from its locations in 77 countries, Merck’s worldwide sales for 2009 were $27. 4 billion (Muse p. 251). † These locations stretch across the continental United States from New Je rsey to San Francisco. The worldwide locations include factories in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Japan.Merck’s revenues continue to climb with their global growth. The revenues recorded in various regions by Merck in 2012 include, â€Å" |2012 Revenues |United States | |(By Geographic Region) |$20. 4 billion | | | | | |Europe, Middle East and Africa | | |$13. billion | | | | | |Japan | | |$5. 1 billion | | | | | |Other | | |$8. billion (Merck. com). † | | | | Merck is seen as a leader on the stage of global expansion. It is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. Merck continues to grow and expand its influence in an effort to provide their vaccines and medicines across the globe. Their recent merger will allow them to test markets that they have not had experience in before, and help increase their profits globally.Style of International Business Merck has been on the forefront of International Business and is one of the leaders at adapt ing to new employees in diverse geographic locations. The company has maintained a policy of progressiveness in their workplace. According to Muse (2011) Merck is one of the leaders in this field. They have been ranked among the Top 50 Companies for Diversity and the 100 Best Corporate Citizens List (Muse p. 251). † Merck makes diversity one of their top priorities and it is well documented on their website. They have created a voice for the different diverse peoples within their company.It is a new way to maintain communication with the feelings and thoughts of various groups in different regions throughout the world. Merck calls these Global Constituency Groups. According to their website, â€Å"We've taken an innovative, global approach to our diversity strategy through the creation of Global Constituency Groups. These groups represent the diverse constituencies in our company, our customers and society, in general. The members represent different geographies, cultures and areas of expertise. Together they reflect Merck employees and customers globally†. Merck. com) With this process, Merck is able to keep up with the problems and successes within the different constituencies throughout the company. Merck’s plan to achieve diversity within their company begins from the leadership positions. Filling these positions with people mindful of diversity has allowed the company to continue to keep its place among the most diverse companies in the world. According to Merck, â€Å"Diversity and inclusion are integrated into our leadership model, and are considered an essential leadership skill for all of our employees (Merck. com). Merck preaches this diversity not only to their employees, but their suppliers as well. â€Å"At Merck, we believe that having a diverse supplier base helps us better understand and anticipate the needs of the people we serve (Merck. com). † This creates a positive culture throughout the company of acceptance an d tolerance towards others. It is a progressive policy that allows Merck to continue to flourish and it is a model style of International Business. Strategic Alliances Merck has made many strategic alliances throughout the years to help improve their products or supply them to a wider range of people.In the late 80’s Merck made an alliance with one of the biggest companies in the United States, Johnson & Johnson. According to the International Directory of Company Histories (2000), â€Å"In 1989 Merck joined with Johnson & Johnson in a venture to develop over-the-counter (OTC) versions of Merck’s prescription medications, initially for the U. S. market, later expanded to Europe and Canada (encyclopedia. com)†. This helped Merck products become more easily available to consumers throughout the world. At the time this alliance was hailed as a blockbuster deal that would create growth for both companies.This deal lasted over twenty years and was very profitable for both parties. When Merck sold their stake in the deal in 2011, they received $175 million for it. The largest alliance Merck has made recently is the acquisition, or reverse merger, of their rival Schering-Plough. The $40 billion deal was made in an effort to keep up with other companies in the pharmaceutical market, especially Pfizer. According to Singer (2009), â€Å"The merger would join pharmaceutical companies that had combined sales of $46. 9 billion last year (p. 1). † This alliance expanded Merck globally and allowed it to tap into Schering-Plough’s resources.These resources ranged from new drugs for Merck to market, to a bigger pipeline to promote their own drugs. According to Singer (2009), â€Å"The merger gives it access to successful brand-name Schering products with much longer patents, like the prescription allergy spray Nasonex. And Merck could capitalize on Schering’s investments in promising biotechnology drugs (Singer p. 1 ). † This al liance helped Merck continue to be a formidable competitor in the global pharmaceutical market. With this deal happening only a few short years ago, Merck continues to grow and utilize its new resources in the market today.Exports Merck’s exports consist of various types of pharmaceuticals. Some of their most profitable exports include Singulair, Fosamax, Nasonex, and Vytorin. Singulair is used to treat seasonal allergies like other drugs such as Claritin and Allegra. It can also be used to prevent asthma attacks. It has been very profitable for Merck in the past. Yet, sales began to dramatically fall when media reports about the disturbing side effects of Singulair began to surface. The worst of these side effects included depression and suicidal thoughts.Still, even in spite of Singulair’s profit drop, Merck continues to make large amounts of money off of the export. Nasonex and Vytorin are two products that were a result of the Merck and Schering-Plough merger. Naso nex is a nasal spray used to treat seasonal allergies in adults and children. It has proved to be a positive part of the merger, becoming one of Merck’s most profitable products. Vytorin was already part of a joint effort between Merck and Schering-Plough even before the merger. Vytorin is a combination of ezetimibe and simvastatin used to treat cholesterol levels.They created and marketed the product together. After the merger, Merck continued to sell and market Vytorin. Fosamax is another popular export of the Merck Company. It is used to treat osteoporosis and other bone diseases. Fosamax was previously one of Merck’s best selling drugs. Yet, because of patent problems, they have lost large amount of money. According to Singer (2009) â€Å"Merck’s former blockbuster bone drug Fosamax has gone generic, and in a few years the same thing will happen to its best-selling allergy and asthma drug Singulair (pg. 1 ). † These exports have been Merck’s ma in products in the past.In the future, with their recent merger, they should be able to develop new products that can help them rebound from the losses they took from products like Fosamax and Singulair. Transportation In order to effectively and efficiently deliver their products throughout the world, Merck has contracted UPS to deliver them. As of June 2011, the joint venture known as MSD has announced that it would include and take care of Merck’s logistics and distribution around the world, which till now only managed Merck’s distribution, warehousing and transportation in North America (Berman, 2011).According to Willie A. Deese, executive vice president and president, Merck Manufacturing Division,â€Å" This expanded agreement with UPS allows us to focus on our core business as a global healthcare leader that looks for innovative ways to bring our medicines and vaccines to patients in emerging markets and markets around the world† (businesswire, 2011). The collaboration, which began in early 2003 with UPS just taking care of the transportation and delivery of products over time, has extended to North American distribution, warehousing and multi-modal transportation services (businesswire, 2011).Merck now entrusted UPS with taking care of their logistics in countries like China, Brazil as well as Latin America among others. UPS also stated that it would establish proper facilities in order to store goods and vaccines so in order to ensure quicker and efficient delivery system (Berman, 2011). Merck believes that this extended partnership with UPS would result in being cost effective in the long run. Although Merck does rely on other logistic companies as well, but they rely more heavily on UPS and this current agreement will only further increase the company’s trust in the logistics firm (businesswire, 2011).Ethical Standards The code of ethics from Merck’s website (2013) states: Being a good corporate citizen means that we comply with all applicable laws, rules and regulations. Also, we serve our society, from the local communities in which we operate to the national and international levels, by supporting a number of programs, including those that improve health and promote environmental sustainability. All of our activities are guided by our corporate responsibility principle of â€Å"Helping the World Be Well†. (p. 1) Ethical Violations Merck & Co. ave developed some great products that have helped many people. They have even done some amazing humanitarian work that follows their mission of their code of ethics, which is to help the people of this world be as healthy as they can. For example, After World War II, many people who were living in Japan could not afford the Merck developed drug streptomycin (Miller & Goldman, 2003). Streptomycin was the first drug to fight tuberculosis. Merck decided to sell streptomycin at a much lower cost in Japan so it could be distributed to those who nee ded it and could not afford it at market value.Merck is also one of the nation’s largest donors to UNICEF. One of the ways that Merck has partnered with UNICEF is by donating a drug called Mectizan. Mectizan is a drug that Merck has developed to fight river blindness, and Merck has teamed up with UNICEF in order to distribute Mectizan to anyone who needs it (Unicef, 2013). But the business strategies for Merck have not always been as ethically sound as it may appear. On September 30th 2004 the drug that Merck had created to treat arthritis and severe pain, Vioxx, was pulled off the shelves for good.The reason behind shutting down this drug was that it was found to have caused serious illnesses after long term use, including heart attacks and strokes (Kay, 2004). Vioxx was withdrawn only five years after being introduced, but in that short time had effected many, in those five years there had been over eighty million prescriptions for Vioxx (Kay, 2004). Dr David Graham, the as sociate director for science and medicine at the Office of Drug Safety, estimates that Vioxx caused between 88,000 and 139,000 heart attacks, of which thirty to forty percent have most likely died (Kay, 2004).But did Merck know of this threat before they started to market the drug? Before Merck released Vioxx in 1999 their own scientist conducted tests on Vioxx while developing it. In 1997 these scientist did a study and found that patients who were being tested on were six times more likely to have heart complications when using Vioxx compared to other arthritis drugs. But this study was never released and the data was never sent to the FDA (Culp & Isobel, 2007).Scientist also completed a VIGOR (Vioxx Gastrointestinal Outcomes Research) test on the drug and found evidence that people who take Vioxx had a five times higher chance of having a heart attack (Cahana & Mauron, 2006). In 2001 Merck scientist had another test called â€Å"meta-analysis†. The meta-analysis tested 20, 000 patients, and again showed that these patients were twice as likely to have a heart attack while taking Vioxx compared to other drugs (Culp & Isobel, 2007). Not only did Merck know about these risks and kept the results to themselves, they also trained their sales people on how to dodge the subject.In order to train the sales force who were going to be selling Vioxx to doctors, Merck developed a card game called dodgeball. The purpose of this game was to teach the sales force different ways to dodge questions asked by doctors about the effects Vioxx has on the heart (Daily, 2005). This again proves that Merck knew of these risks caused by taking Vioxx, but was trying to make sure that information was kept in house. Another instance where Merck lacked good ethical decision making is when they decided to pay Elsevier to publish a magazine for them. Elsevier is a publishing company that focuses mainly on medical and scientific literature.Merck’s marketing team decided to pay Elsevier to publish a journal called The Australiasian Journal of Bone & Joint Medicine. This journal was made to look like any other peer-reviewed medical journal but it was far from it. Merck’s marketing department handpicked the articles that they wanted to put in this journal, with the purpose of trying to control what articles were chosen to be in the journal. They took advantage of this situation by picking articles that favored Merck products and disguising this marketing scheme as a peer review journal (Grant, 2009).For instance in the second issue twenty one of the twenty nine articles spoke about Merck’s products in a favorable way, nine of them positively talking about Vioxx (Grant, 2009). Merck also had an ethical downfall when management decided to change the prices of their product. Not only was Merck paying doctors to prescribe Merck medicine when patients were in the hospital, Merck also started to give hospitals a ninety two percent discount on their medicine; with the idea that after the patient was discharged they would want to stay on the same medicine (Merck to pay whistleblower, 2008).The insurance company would pay full price for the drugs after the patient was discharged and that is where Merck would bring in their profit. An employee within Merck saw what was going on and didn’t approve. A lawsuit quickly followed and Merck ended up paying $671 million, including sixty eight million dollars to the whistleblower (Merck to pay whistleblower, 2008). Even after settling Merck did not think they were in the wrong with this pricing, as Merck to pay whistleblower (2008) reported Merck making a statement saying they â€Å"stands by its pricing strategies but is keen to resolve the dispute† (p. 2). Unfortunately for Merck, Vioxx isn’t the only drug that has caused people to question Merck’s ethical decision making when it comes to their customers. As noted above, Merck released a drug called Propecia t o the public that helped men with baldness. The problem with Propecia is that men are starting to see a great increase in sexual problems. Merck says that only one out of fifty men will see significant sexual side effects, and those side effects will disappear after you stop taking Propecia (Thornton, 2011). But that doesn’t seem to be the case.A recent study by Micheal Irving showed that ninety percent of his test patients still showed signs of sexual problems forty months after being off of Propecia (Thornton, 2011). This is where ethics will hurt Merck the most. Not only have there been hundreds of millions of dollars in fines and settlements that will be paid out, but if Merck continues to keep making unethical managerial decisions, Merck will lose the trust of their customers. Even though there is no evidence yet that Merck knew that Propecia would harm people after they stopped taking the drug, it’s hard not to think of how the Merck management decided to handle Vioxx.The financial hit is a big blow that will slow present and future projects, but money is a lot easier to gain back than trust. References Berman, J. (2011, June). UPS and Merck extend relationship with a global supply chain focus. Retrieved February 2013, from http://www. logisticsmgmt. com/article/ups_and_merck_extend_relationship_witha_ global_supply_chain_focus/ businesswire. (2011, June). UPS and Merck Expand Their Distribution and Logistics Agreement. Retrieved February 2013, from businesswire. com: http://www. businesswire. com/news/home/20110628005271/en/UPS-Merck-Expand-Distribution-Logistics-AgreementCahana, A. , & Mauron, A. (2006). The story of Vioxx—no pain and a lot of gain: ethical concerns regarding conduct of the pharmaceutical industry. Journal of anesthesia,  20(4), 348-351. doi:10. 1007/s00540-006-0432-7 Culp, D. R. , & Isobel, B. (2007, August 6). Merck and the Vioxx       debacle. Retrieved February 13, 2013 from St. Johns University,       Web site: http://www. stjohns. edu/media/3/2c0778b7593f4a178b60354abc80bad8. pdf Grant, B. (2009, April 30). Merck published fake journal. Retrieved Febuary 12, 2013 from, Web site: http://www. the-scientist. om/? articles. view/articleNo/27376/title/Merck- published-fake- journal/ Daily, M. (2005, July 18). Merck used ‘dodge ball’ on Vioxx       questions-lawyer. Retrieved February 12, 2013 from, Web site:       http://www. redorbit. com/news/general/178738/ Kay, J. ( 2004, November 22). The Vioxx scandal: Damning senate       testimony reveals drug company, government complicity. Retrieved 2013, February 9 from , Web site: http://www. wsws. org/en/articles/2004/11/viox-n22. html Merck & Co. , Inc. International Directory of Company Histories. 2000.Retrieved February 19, 2013 from Encyclopedia. com:  http://www. encyclopedia. com/doc/1G2-2843800076. html Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp. , a subsidiary of  Merck & Co. , Inc. (2009-2013). Retrieved February 18 , 2013, from http://www. merck. com/index. html Merck to pay whistleblower. (2008). TCE: The Chemical Engineer, (801), 12. Miller, C. , & Goldman, K. (2003, October, 23). Merck, aids, and       Africa. Retrieved February 2, 2013 from New York University,       Leonard N. Stern School of Business Web site: http://pages. stern. nyu. edu/~lcabral/teaching/aids. pdf Muse, L.A. (2011). Flexibility implementation to a global workforce: a case study of Merck and Company, Inc. Community, Work & Family,  14(2), 249-256. Singer, N. (March 9, 2009). Merck to Buy Schering-Plough for $41. 1 Billion. The New York Times, Retrieved from http://www. nytimes. com/2009/03/10/business/10drug. html? _r=0 February 19, 2013. Thornton, J. (2011). A Hair-Raising Side Effect. Men's Health (10544836), 26(10), 102-105. Unicef (2013). Merck & co. , inc. Retrieved January 12, 2013 from, Partners Web site       http://www. unicefusa. org/partners/corporate/merck. html Pharmaceutical Industry and E. Merck Ag Historical background of the business Today Merck & Co, Inc. is one of the most recognizable companies in the pharmaceutical industry. When asked about Merck, most people think that it is and always has been a US company. However, the company’s history can be traced all the way back to the 1600’s where it was started in Darmstadt, Germany. Friedrich Jacob Merck purchased a local store in 1668 where he prepared and sold medicines. The store was called â€Å"At the sign of the Angels† and would remain in the Merck family for many generations (Merck & co. , 2000). In 1827, Heinrich Emmanuel Merck and renamed E.MERCK AG transformed the store into a drug manufacturer. The pharmacy was so successful that by 1855 E. Merck AG was selling medications worldwide. It was at this time that Merck decided to send a company officer to the United States to set up a sales office. Once in the U. S. in 1899, Heinrich’s grandson George Merck bought one hundred and fifty acres in Rahway, New Jersey. A couple of years later, in 1903, Merck started production in its new U. S. headquarters. By this time Merck was not just producing drugs, it was also starting to produce different types of chemicals and there was also a research lab.When the United States entered World War I in 1917, George Merck, fearing that Germany would win the war and take over his company, sold all of his stock to a US company named Alien Property Custodian (Merck & Co. , 2000). This ended all of Merck’s ties to Germany. After the war, George Merck regained a controlling share of the company in 1919 and from that day forward Merck has always been a publicly owned company. George Merck continued to grow the company until his death in 1926 at which time his son, George W. Merck took over. In 1926, George W.Merck decided to merge the company with Powers-Weightman-Rosengarten, which was a Philadelphia, based pharmaceutical company. In 1927 the company was officially incorporated and renamed Merck & Co. Inc. This merger gave George W. Merck the capital he needed to recruit new chemists and biologists, which lead to the discovery of vitamin B12. Vitamin B12 was a huge success, but because the war had been over for several years, new foreign companies were continually underselling Merck. With no new products in sight, George W. Merck decided to merge with a Baltimore company by the name of Sharp & Dohme, Inc.This merger was believed to have saved Merck from going under; it gave Merck new marketing facilities and a new distribution network, which it desperately needed. By the time George W. Merck died in 1957, the company had hit the one hundred million dollar mark. Not only was the dollar mark significant, George’s death marked the last time a Merck family member would ever be in control. From the 60’s on, Merck continued to raise its market share taking advantage of its research and development, which continually produced new and popular drugs every year.Today Merck employs over fifty five thousand people and produces some of the most well known pharmaceutical products on the market. With profits totaling a little fewer than six billion dollars and annual sales of over twelve and half billion dollars, Merck is considered one of the best pharmaceutical companies in the world. Products Throughout the years, Merck has made itself a reputation for developing high quality products that consumers know will work. The drugs are developed to help with all different types of problems.Some medicines are used for every day symptoms like a stuffed up nose and some are used for more serious illnesses like the treatment of HIV. Since Merck & Co. , Inc. was founded; it has always made a point to have an above average research and development program so that it could appeal to a wide variety of consumers no matter what symptoms they were trying to cure. Some of the first products ever distributed by Merck in the 1820’s were morphine, co deine and cocaine. These three products allowed Merck enough revenue to begin research on other types of products.In 1933 Merck scientists discovered vitamin B12 which was, at the time, used as a therapeutic drug. The sales from B12 alone were enough to carry Merck into the next decade. Although Merck scientists discovered cortisone, which is a steroid, and streptomycin, which is used to treat tuberculosis, the 1940’s, 50’s and 60’s were fairly slow periods for Merck. Other products such as Aldomet, which is used to treat depression, Indocin and Clinoril which are anti-inflammatory drugs, were developed but none of them had the impact on revenue that Merck was used to.It was not until the mid to late 70’s that Merck came out with some new products that really connected with consumers. It was at this time that Timoptic and Enalapril were invented. Timoptic is a hepatitis vaccine that helps with the treatment of glaucoma and Enalapril is a high blood pressu re medication. Sales from these two drugs were well over a half a billion dollars by the early 1980’s. Things only got better for Merck from the 1980’s through 2000. During this time Merck produced over twenty new drugs.Some of the more popular drugs include Cosopt, used in the treatment of glaucoma, Propecia, which is used to treat hair loss, Maxalt, which is used for migraine headaches, and Singulair, which treats cases of asthma. Although all of these medications worked out very well for Merck’s profit, there were three drugs that stood above the rest. Vasotec was a treatment for congestive heart failure and Merck’s first billion dollar a year drug. That was followed by Vioxx which is a pain medication used to treat arthritis and also a billion dollar a year seller. The most popular drug Merck ever produced was Zocor.Zocor is a cholesterol-fighting drug that was introduced in 1992. Not only was zocor a multi-billion dollar a year drug, it was one of th e most successful selling pharmaceutical drugs ever (Merck & Co. , 2000). Zocor accounted for over four billion dollars in worldwide sales in 2004 alone. With products like these and a continued dedication to research and development, Merck will be a major player in the pharmaceutical industry for many years to come. Company Locations Merck and its subsidiaries have locations all over the world. Their main headquarters is currently located in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey.Merck takes pride in being a global healthcare leader. According to their website they currently have 83,000 employees worldwide (Merck. com). In 2009, Merck merged with competitor Shering-Plough, which extended Merck’s reach into the global economy. According to Muse (2011), Merck has over 75 locations, â€Å"Drawing from its locations in 77 countries, Merck’s worldwide sales for 2009 were $27. 4 billion (Muse p. 251). † These locations stretch across the continental United States from New Je rsey to San Francisco. The worldwide locations include factories in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Japan.Merck’s revenues continue to climb with their global growth. The revenues recorded in various regions by Merck in 2012 include, â€Å" |2012 Revenues |United States | |(By Geographic Region) |$20. 4 billion | | | | | |Europe, Middle East and Africa | | |$13. billion | | | | | |Japan | | |$5. 1 billion | | | | | |Other | | |$8. billion (Merck. com). † | | | | Merck is seen as a leader on the stage of global expansion. It is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. Merck continues to grow and expand its influence in an effort to provide their vaccines and medicines across the globe. Their recent merger will allow them to test markets that they have not had experience in before, and help increase their profits globally.Style of International Business Merck has been on the forefront of International Business and is one of the leaders at adapt ing to new employees in diverse geographic locations. The company has maintained a policy of progressiveness in their workplace. According to Muse (2011) Merck is one of the leaders in this field. They have been ranked among the Top 50 Companies for Diversity and the 100 Best Corporate Citizens List (Muse p. 251). † Merck makes diversity one of their top priorities and it is well documented on their website. They have created a voice for the different diverse peoples within their company.It is a new way to maintain communication with the feelings and thoughts of various groups in different regions throughout the world. Merck calls these Global Constituency Groups. According to their website, â€Å"We've taken an innovative, global approach to our diversity strategy through the creation of Global Constituency Groups. These groups represent the diverse constituencies in our company, our customers and society, in general. The members represent different geographies, cultures and areas of expertise. Together they reflect Merck employees and customers globally†. Merck. com) With this process, Merck is able to keep up with the problems and successes within the different constituencies throughout the company. Merck’s plan to achieve diversity within their company begins from the leadership positions. Filling these positions with people mindful of diversity has allowed the company to continue to keep its place among the most diverse companies in the world. According to Merck, â€Å"Diversity and inclusion are integrated into our leadership model, and are considered an essential leadership skill for all of our employees (Merck. com). Merck preaches this diversity not only to their employees, but their suppliers as well. â€Å"At Merck, we believe that having a diverse supplier base helps us better understand and anticipate the needs of the people we serve (Merck. com). † This creates a positive culture throughout the company of acceptance an d tolerance towards others. It is a progressive policy that allows Merck to continue to flourish and it is a model style of International Business. Strategic Alliances Merck has made many strategic alliances throughout the years to help improve their products or supply them to a wider range of people.In the late 80’s Merck made an alliance with one of the biggest companies in the United States, Johnson & Johnson. According to the International Directory of Company Histories (2000), â€Å"In 1989 Merck joined with Johnson & Johnson in a venture to develop over-the-counter (OTC) versions of Merck’s prescription medications, initially for the U. S. market, later expanded to Europe and Canada (encyclopedia. com)†. This helped Merck products become more easily available to consumers throughout the world. At the time this alliance was hailed as a blockbuster deal that would create growth for both companies.This deal lasted over twenty years and was very profitable for both parties. When Merck sold their stake in the deal in 2011, they received $175 million for it. The largest alliance Merck has made recently is the acquisition, or reverse merger, of their rival Schering-Plough. The $40 billion deal was made in an effort to keep up with other companies in the pharmaceutical market, especially Pfizer. According to Singer (2009), â€Å"The merger would join pharmaceutical companies that had combined sales of $46. 9 billion last year (p. 1). † This alliance expanded Merck globally and allowed it to tap into Schering-Plough’s resources.These resources ranged from new drugs for Merck to market, to a bigger pipeline to promote their own drugs. According to Singer (2009), â€Å"The merger gives it access to successful brand-name Schering products with much longer patents, like the prescription allergy spray Nasonex. And Merck could capitalize on Schering’s investments in promising biotechnology drugs (Singer p. 1 ). † This al liance helped Merck continue to be a formidable competitor in the global pharmaceutical market. With this deal happening only a few short years ago, Merck continues to grow and utilize its new resources in the market today.Exports Merck’s exports consist of various types of pharmaceuticals. Some of their most profitable exports include Singulair, Fosamax, Nasonex, and Vytorin. Singulair is used to treat seasonal allergies like other drugs such as Claritin and Allegra. It can also be used to prevent asthma attacks. It has been very profitable for Merck in the past. Yet, sales began to dramatically fall when media reports about the disturbing side effects of Singulair began to surface. The worst of these side effects included depression and suicidal thoughts.Still, even in spite of Singulair’s profit drop, Merck continues to make large amounts of money off of the export. Nasonex and Vytorin are two products that were a result of the Merck and Schering-Plough merger. Naso nex is a nasal spray used to treat seasonal allergies in adults and children. It has proved to be a positive part of the merger, becoming one of Merck’s most profitable products. Vytorin was already part of a joint effort between Merck and Schering-Plough even before the merger. Vytorin is a combination of ezetimibe and simvastatin used to treat cholesterol levels.They created and marketed the product together. After the merger, Merck continued to sell and market Vytorin. Fosamax is another popular export of the Merck Company. It is used to treat osteoporosis and other bone diseases. Fosamax was previously one of Merck’s best selling drugs. Yet, because of patent problems, they have lost large amount of money. According to Singer (2009) â€Å"Merck’s former blockbuster bone drug Fosamax has gone generic, and in a few years the same thing will happen to its best-selling allergy and asthma drug Singulair (pg. 1 ). † These exports have been Merck’s ma in products in the past.In the future, with their recent merger, they should be able to develop new products that can help them rebound from the losses they took from products like Fosamax and Singulair. Transportation In order to effectively and efficiently deliver their products throughout the world, Merck has contracted UPS to deliver them. As of June 2011, the joint venture known as MSD has announced that it would include and take care of Merck’s logistics and distribution around the world, which till now only managed Merck’s distribution, warehousing and transportation in North America (Berman, 2011).According to Willie A. Deese, executive vice president and president, Merck Manufacturing Division,â€Å" This expanded agreement with UPS allows us to focus on our core business as a global healthcare leader that looks for innovative ways to bring our medicines and vaccines to patients in emerging markets and markets around the world† (businesswire, 2011). The collaboration, which began in early 2003 with UPS just taking care of the transportation and delivery of products over time, has extended to North American distribution, warehousing and multi-modal transportation services (businesswire, 2011).Merck now entrusted UPS with taking care of their logistics in countries like China, Brazil as well as Latin America among others. UPS also stated that it would establish proper facilities in order to store goods and vaccines so in order to ensure quicker and efficient delivery system (Berman, 2011). Merck believes that this extended partnership with UPS would result in being cost effective in the long run. Although Merck does rely on other logistic companies as well, but they rely more heavily on UPS and this current agreement will only further increase the company’s trust in the logistics firm (businesswire, 2011).Ethical Standards The code of ethics from Merck’s website (2013) states: Being a good corporate citizen means that we comply with all applicable laws, rules and regulations. Also, we serve our society, from the local communities in which we operate to the national and international levels, by supporting a number of programs, including those that improve health and promote environmental sustainability. All of our activities are guided by our corporate responsibility principle of â€Å"Helping the World Be Well†. (p. 1) Ethical Violations Merck & Co. ave developed some great products that have helped many people. They have even done some amazing humanitarian work that follows their mission of their code of ethics, which is to help the people of this world be as healthy as they can. For example, After World War II, many people who were living in Japan could not afford the Merck developed drug streptomycin (Miller & Goldman, 2003). Streptomycin was the first drug to fight tuberculosis. Merck decided to sell streptomycin at a much lower cost in Japan so it could be distributed to those who nee ded it and could not afford it at market value.Merck is also one of the nation’s largest donors to UNICEF. One of the ways that Merck has partnered with UNICEF is by donating a drug called Mectizan. Mectizan is a drug that Merck has developed to fight river blindness, and Merck has teamed up with UNICEF in order to distribute Mectizan to anyone who needs it (Unicef, 2013). But the business strategies for Merck have not always been as ethically sound as it may appear. On September 30th 2004 the drug that Merck had created to treat arthritis and severe pain, Vioxx, was pulled off the shelves for good.The reason behind shutting down this drug was that it was found to have caused serious illnesses after long term use, including heart attacks and strokes (Kay, 2004). Vioxx was withdrawn only five years after being introduced, but in that short time had effected many, in those five years there had been over eighty million prescriptions for Vioxx (Kay, 2004). Dr David Graham, the as sociate director for science and medicine at the Office of Drug Safety, estimates that Vioxx caused between 88,000 and 139,000 heart attacks, of which thirty to forty percent have most likely died (Kay, 2004).But did Merck know of this threat before they started to market the drug? Before Merck released Vioxx in 1999 their own scientist conducted tests on Vioxx while developing it. In 1997 these scientist did a study and found that patients who were being tested on were six times more likely to have heart complications when using Vioxx compared to other arthritis drugs. But this study was never released and the data was never sent to the FDA (Culp & Isobel, 2007).Scientist also completed a VIGOR (Vioxx Gastrointestinal Outcomes Research) test on the drug and found evidence that people who take Vioxx had a five times higher chance of having a heart attack (Cahana & Mauron, 2006). In 2001 Merck scientist had another test called â€Å"meta-analysis†. The meta-analysis tested 20, 000 patients, and again showed that these patients were twice as likely to have a heart attack while taking Vioxx compared to other drugs (Culp & Isobel, 2007). Not only did Merck know about these risks and kept the results to themselves, they also trained their sales people on how to dodge the subject.In order to train the sales force who were going to be selling Vioxx to doctors, Merck developed a card game called dodgeball. The purpose of this game was to teach the sales force different ways to dodge questions asked by doctors about the effects Vioxx has on the heart (Daily, 2005). This again proves that Merck knew of these risks caused by taking Vioxx, but was trying to make sure that information was kept in house. Another instance where Merck lacked good ethical decision making is when they decided to pay Elsevier to publish a magazine for them. Elsevier is a publishing company that focuses mainly on medical and scientific literature.Merck’s marketing team decided to pay Elsevier to publish a journal called The Australiasian Journal of Bone & Joint Medicine. This journal was made to look like any other peer-reviewed medical journal but it was far from it. Merck’s marketing department handpicked the articles that they wanted to put in this journal, with the purpose of trying to control what articles were chosen to be in the journal. They took advantage of this situation by picking articles that favored Merck products and disguising this marketing scheme as a peer review journal (Grant, 2009).For instance in the second issue twenty one of the twenty nine articles spoke about Merck’s products in a favorable way, nine of them positively talking about Vioxx (Grant, 2009). Merck also had an ethical downfall when management decided to change the prices of their product. Not only was Merck paying doctors to prescribe Merck medicine when patients were in the hospital, Merck also started to give hospitals a ninety two percent discount on their medicine; with the idea that after the patient was discharged they would want to stay on the same medicine (Merck to pay whistleblower, 2008).The insurance company would pay full price for the drugs after the patient was discharged and that is where Merck would bring in their profit. An employee within Merck saw what was going on and didn’t approve. A lawsuit quickly followed and Merck ended up paying $671 million, including sixty eight million dollars to the whistleblower (Merck to pay whistleblower, 2008). Even after settling Merck did not think they were in the wrong with this pricing, as Merck to pay whistleblower (2008) reported Merck making a statement saying they â€Å"stands by its pricing strategies but is keen to resolve the dispute† (p. 2). Unfortunately for Merck, Vioxx isn’t the only drug that has caused people to question Merck’s ethical decision making when it comes to their customers. As noted above, Merck released a drug called Propecia t o the public that helped men with baldness. The problem with Propecia is that men are starting to see a great increase in sexual problems. Merck says that only one out of fifty men will see significant sexual side effects, and those side effects will disappear after you stop taking Propecia (Thornton, 2011). But that doesn’t seem to be the case.A recent study by Micheal Irving showed that ninety percent of his test patients still showed signs of sexual problems forty months after being off of Propecia (Thornton, 2011). This is where ethics will hurt Merck the most. Not only have there been hundreds of millions of dollars in fines and settlements that will be paid out, but if Merck continues to keep making unethical managerial decisions, Merck will lose the trust of their customers. Even though there is no evidence yet that Merck knew that Propecia would harm people after they stopped taking the drug, it’s hard not to think of how the Merck management decided to handle Vioxx.The financial hit is a big blow that will slow present and future projects, but money is a lot easier to gain back than trust. References Berman, J. (2011, June). UPS and Merck extend relationship with a global supply chain focus. Retrieved February 2013, from http://www. logisticsmgmt. com/article/ups_and_merck_extend_relationship_witha_ global_supply_chain_focus/ businesswire. (2011, June). UPS and Merck Expand Their Distribution and Logistics Agreement. Retrieved February 2013, from businesswire. com: http://www. businesswire. com/news/home/20110628005271/en/UPS-Merck-Expand-Distribution-Logistics-AgreementCahana, A. , & Mauron, A. (2006). The story of Vioxx—no pain and a lot of gain: ethical concerns regarding conduct of the pharmaceutical industry. Journal of anesthesia,  20(4), 348-351. doi:10. 1007/s00540-006-0432-7 Culp, D. R. , & Isobel, B. (2007, August 6). Merck and the Vioxx       debacle. Retrieved February 13, 2013 from St. Johns University,       Web site: http://www. stjohns. edu/media/3/2c0778b7593f4a178b60354abc80bad8. pdf Grant, B. (2009, April 30). Merck published fake journal. Retrieved Febuary 12, 2013 from, Web site: http://www. the-scientist. om/? articles. view/articleNo/27376/title/Merck- published-fake- journal/ Daily, M. (2005, July 18). Merck used ‘dodge ball’ on Vioxx       questions-lawyer. Retrieved February 12, 2013 from, Web site:       http://www. redorbit. com/news/general/178738/ Kay, J. ( 2004, November 22). The Vioxx scandal: Damning senate       testimony reveals drug company, government complicity. Retrieved 2013, February 9 from , Web site: http://www. wsws. org/en/articles/2004/11/viox-n22. html Merck & Co. , Inc. International Directory of Company Histories. 2000.Retrieved February 19, 2013 from Encyclopedia. com:  http://www. encyclopedia. com/doc/1G2-2843800076. html Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp. , a subsidiary of  Merck & Co. , Inc. (2009-2013). Retrieved February 18 , 2013, from http://www. merck. com/index. html Merck to pay whistleblower. (2008). TCE: The Chemical Engineer, (801), 12. Miller, C. , & Goldman, K. (2003, October, 23). Merck, aids, and       Africa. Retrieved February 2, 2013 from New York University,       Leonard N. Stern School of Business Web site: http://pages. stern. nyu. edu/~lcabral/teaching/aids. pdf Muse, L.A. (2011). Flexibility implementation to a global workforce: a case study of Merck and Company, Inc. Community, Work & Family,  14(2), 249-256. Singer, N. (March 9, 2009). Merck to Buy Schering-Plough for $41. 1 Billion. The New York Times, Retrieved from http://www. nytimes. com/2009/03/10/business/10drug. html? _r=0 February 19, 2013. Thornton, J. (2011). A Hair-Raising Side Effect. Men's Health (10544836), 26(10), 102-105. Unicef (2013). Merck & co. , inc. Retrieved January 12, 2013 from, Partners Web site       http://www. unicefusa. org/partners/corporate/merck. html