Project procurement and risk management

Project procurement and risk management PROJECT PROCUREMENT AND RÄ °SK INTRODUCTION The management of the processes of purchasing or acquiring the services ,products or results needed from outside the project team to perform the work is defined as project procurement management or the processes to purchase/acquire products, services and results from outside the project. The main actors are†The Buyer† and the†The Seller† and central is the contractual obligations and regulations.Central is also how the purchasing process within the project is structured, with formal approvals and routines[16].In procurement process we have to consider the Business aspect,financial aspect,routines,instructions,investment aspect,subcontracting and every step in procurement will need its own tools Risk analysis,Investment calculus,vendor evaluation,quality assurance,specification determination,contract forms. 1. SPECIFICATION OF PLACE AND SIZE OF THE PROJECT. 1.1 NEW PROJECT OF GW For the first and second assignment, our company hasnt had any specific project. We only made the scope analysis, management plan, policy, stakeholder analysis, organizational chart within the subjects of Project Management, Quality, Human Resources, and Communication Management.(1,2) For the third assignment, The Company GW has a current project, which is now on going. We have been ordered to make a solar thermal power plant to the area of desert of Arizona, United States. The ordered is made by the United State Government. There should be installed a solar thermal power plant to be built in 5 years. The target of this plant is to generate 275MW energy per year. The energy gained from the solar power, will be used in order to meet the electricity need of the towns that are the closest ones to the solar power. According to the assumption, if 1 average roof is capable to be built 20 solar panels on it, it is expected that this amount of solar energy will meet the electricity needs of approximately 40000 building such as home, school, businesses, and public buildings. The usage of renewable energy will definitely provide the United State Government to make a reasonable profit. Since it doesnt cause any pollution, there will be generated a new perspective for environ mental aspects, and it will repay its installation cost in a short period of time. 2. MAKE A STAKEHOLDER ANALYSÄ °S FOR YOUR PROJECT 2.1 STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS When we were making the scope analysis of GW, in Assignment I, we already mentioned that, stakeholders are any group, party, organization or people, that somehow plays a role within the whole project. They affect or are affected by the actions that the organization performs. Stakeholder analysis identifies the stakeholders and their interests, defines their roles and related responsibilities and specifies whether, and to what extent, their expectations are treated as requirement in the project [3,4,5]. 3. AN INVESTIGATION OF THE AREA OF DESERT OF ARIZONA IN MIND DUE TO RESOURCES (MAPS AND GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION) As we have discussed in our scope analysis, as The Company of GW, our main objective is to set up high quality and efficient solar power plants with a reasonable cost. Since we are also aware of keeping the harmonious balance of energy, one of our aims is also to compensate the energy need by providing the environmental protection to keep the earth green. In order to have a high efficient plant with a high quality, it is quite crucial to pay attention at which the installation will be done. Because the available resources play the most important role, after setting up a plant, in terms of efficiency. Efficiency for a plant can be found by the formula; desired output / required input. This formula can also be explained verbally; the highest efficiency we can get from a plan is 100% that is equal to 1 for this formula, which is impossible to obtain for the real life since we cannot have the ideal conditions. But in order to increase the efficiency to approach to zero, by a simple mathematics, we can say that, we need to keep the output higher as much as we can, while decreasing the input value. How we can decrease the required input value to nearly zero is by utilizing the natural resources as well as we can, which is the solar energy for our case. Therefore, it is very important to build up new plants to the regions, where there can be found high temperature and more sunny days available. Therefore, deserts take the first place in the ranking, when it needs to make a prioritizing. There is also one advantage that deserts can be used as a land for solar power systems, because there is no need any environmental impact such as lake (as it is needed for hydroelectric dams), or coal plants. There are also many advantages to install the plants in the United States as the land; * United States is the leader for the power research and development. * It is one of only two countries in the world that has the largest scale of solar power. * Since Arizona is located in the southwest of US, the feature of warm and sunny climate makes the desert of Arizona more favorable location for solar power. * This solar power plant not only reserved by the people live around it, but also affects some other people by rebates and tax credits. As it is also explained in the website of Department of Energy of United States ; â€Å"Specific federal and state tax laws permit private companies and homeowners to credit the purchase price of their solar power systems against their annual income tax payment.†[6,7] 4. LIST OF ITEMS NEEDED GW needs to identify the needed goods and services. This should be identified according to GWs organization chart and procurement plan. After identifying the needed goods and services, the suppliers which will successfully fulfill the contracts and supply good and services, should be found. The suppliers should be chosen according to their technical capability, experience and human resource capability. Here is a list of needed items and services for GW: Materials Services  § Office Equipment  § Rental Cars  § Meeting Rooms  § Restaurant/Cafeteria  § Security Stuff  § Computer Services  § Cleaning Supplies  § Tax Services  § Insurance Services  § Electric Services  § Heating Services  § Air Condition Services  § Building Repair Services  § Telecommunication Services  § Transport Services  § Treatment of Office Materials Service  § Education Services (for personnel trainings)  § Scientific and Technological Services (for industrial analysis, researches)  § Food and Drink Provider Service  § Security Service Table 2: List of item needed As we see in the table, most of the services and materials are the basic needs of company. These are not changeable according to the projects. According to the project, the use of these items may change. Also the needed items list has to be renewable all the time. The departments may need new items during the projects. Then these items should be added to the list. It means that this list can change in every phase of the project but as it is mentioned before, most of these items will be kept as basic needs. If new items would be identified in later phases of projects, the list can be detailed.[8,9] 5. MAKE OR BUY DECISION The act of making choice between producing an item (in -house ) Internallay or buying it from external source (Supplier) is make-or-buy decision. Make-or-buy decisions arises usually when a company has developed a product or modified a product or having trouble with current supplier or changing demand of the product. Make-or-buy decisions also occur at the operational level. Analysis suggest the following considerations that are in favor of making a part in-house (1) * The considerations of cost * To integrate the plant operations * The Productive utalisation of excess the plant capacity * The Need of direct control over production and/or quality * The Better quality control system * To protect Proprietary technology design. * Unreliable suppliers,No competent suppliers * Desire to maintain a stable workforce (in periods of declining sales) * The too small Quality to interest a supplier * lead time Controle , warehousing and transportation, costs * Greater assurance of continious supply. * Provision of a secondary source * The Political, environmental or social reasons. Some of the factors which influence may be on the firms to buy a part externally include: * Lacklessness of expertise,Suppliers research and specialized know-how exceeds that of the buyer * Consideration of cost. * Low-volume requirements. * Facilities of limited production or insufficient capacity * Strong desire of maintaining a multiple-source policy * The Indirect managerial control considerations. * Considerations of Procurement and inventory. * Preference Brand * Those Item which are not essential to the firms strategy There are two most important points to consider in a make-or-buy decision are and the availability of production capacity the cost . Obviously, the firm who buy will compare production and purchase costs.It provide the major elements included in this comparison. Elements of the â€Å"make† analysis include: * Carrying costs. * The direct labor costs. * Factory overhead costs * Purchased material costs which is delivered * Managerial costs. * Any other costs stemming from the quality and related problems. * Increasing purchasing costs, Increasing capital costs. Cost considerations for the â€Å"buy† analysis include: * Purchasing price,and transportation costs of the items. * Ä °nspection and reception costs. * The Incremental purchasing costs. * Any of the costs which is related to quality or service. 6. RISK ANALYSÄ °S (RA) FOR SOLAR THERMAL POWER PLANT TO THE AREA OF DESERT OF ARIZONA 6.1 SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC RISK OF SOLAR THERMAL The Desert of Arizona solar boom will impact social and economic dimensions of the region. Nearby residents and visitors will face the burden of increased traffic, pollution, noise, and infrastructure that will diminish the aesthetic qualities of the desert. A fringe impact of solar parks is increased land prices caused by growing demand from private industry. Economically, solar thermal parks will produce manufacturing and construction jobs. These jobs could provide more revenue for the surrounding community, increased investment in the local economy, and a larger tax base.[11,12] 6.2 RISK OF SOLAR THERMAL ON VEGETATION, WILDLIFE, AND WATER The Desert of Arizona is home diverse species and ecosystems, and large solar parks could be physical stressors on these desert systems. Considering the fragility, diversity, and complexity of the Desert of Arizona, large solar thermal parks could disrupt healthy ecosystems and augment pressures on already stressed species .Limited water supplies also complicate the benefits of solar thermal. 6.3 RISK OF SOLAR THERMAL ON DESERT SOIL ECOSYSTEMS: ASSESSMENT ENDPOINT The Desert of Arizona has recently caught the attention of scientists because of its ancient origins and carbon sequestration capabilities. Made up of sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic rocks. The recent scientific literature regarding carbon sequestration in deserts is both new and solar power is perceived as a ‘clean energy source, reducing carbon production while providing much-needed energy. The production capabilities in Desert of Arizona could supply with most of its energy needs. Therefore, the goal of this project is to determine whether the installation and operation of solar thermal plants will impact carbon sequestration capabilities of the Desert of Arizona ecosystem and ecosystem services to the extent that more carbon is released or inhibited from being stored than saved while utilizing solar technology.[13] 6.4 QUALITATIVE RISK ANALYSIS: POSSIBLE EFFECTS OF SOLAR THERMAL PLANTS ON THE DESERT OF ARIZONA It is clear that the desert ecosystem will be disturbed and destroyed during the installation of the Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) plants in the Desert of Arizona. However, it is unclear, and therefore our primary question for this analysis, whether the sum gain of carbon saved by building and operating new solar thermal plants rather than operating fossil fuel power plants is greater than the sum loss of carbon that occurs when the desert habitat is disturbed and destroyed, thus altering the carbon sequestration abilities of the ecosystem. We approached this analysis in both a qualitative and quantitative manner. We will first describe the descriptive analysis of the risks associated with installation and operation of the CSP plants, followed by the quantitative approach of applying a cost-benefit analysis to compare net carbon gains by using CSP plants rather than an Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (ICGG) plant, which uses â€Å"clean coal† technology.[14] 7. RA WHAT TO DO IF THE RISK OCCURS ? 7.1 CARBON LOSS DUE TO INSTALLATÄ °ON OF SOLAR THERMAL POWER PLANTS Carbon sequestration is thought to occur on a variety of levels within desert and semi-arid ecosystems. The primary stressor in this analysis is the physical destruction of the habitat that will occur with the installation of the solar collecting facilities, roads, and transmission lines or towers. While CSP plants are large, some estimate they use less land area than hydroelectric dams or coal plants. Nonetheless, existing vegetation, including the aboveground biomass and belowground plant tissue and roots will be cleared prior to installation of CSP plants. Additionally, it is assumed that biological soil crusts will be destroyed and alkaline soils will be removed during the CSP installation process, especially if land leveling, contouring, and construction of stabilizing features for high desert winds are needed. While the soil may only be displaced and later deposited in other desert areas, we assumed the stored carbon was released into the atmosphere. This may be an overstatemen t of the potential effect; however, we decided to assume the scenario causing the greatest impact given the limited available information. 7.2 LOSS OF FUTURE CARBON SEQUESTRATION WITH THE OPERATION OF SOLAR THERMAL POWER PLANTS In addition to the loss of stored carbon, the CSP facility and supporting infrastructure will likely inhibit the future sequestration of carbon across the inhabited area. Some researchers such as Schlesinger are skeptical of the high flux rates especially given the lack of information to support where the carbon is stored and whether carbon sequestration within desert biomes has increased since the Industrial Revolution. However, if these desert ecosystems do sequester large carbon pools, then large alterations of the ecosystem will likely result in the loss of future sequestration capabilities for the global carbon budget. 7.3 OTHER POTENTIAL IMPACTS AS A RESULT OF INSTALLATÄ °ON AND OPERATÄ °ON OF SOLAR THERMAL POWER PLANTS Although the majority of this analysis has characterized solar thermal as a physical stressor, CSP plants also pose chemical risks. CSP plants may use molten salts to store the thermal energy and these oxidizing salts may pose both health and ecological risks. Furthermore, impacts will occur on water supplies and resources, as water is piped from limited aquatic systems; Desert of Arizona, some of which may have declining populations; and nearby human communities. These impacts were not evaluated in this risk analysis but should be considered in a more comprehensive evaluation. 7.4 QUANTITATIVE RA/ COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS The objective of this cost benefit analysis is to weigh the possible costs of building a solar thermal plant in the Desert of Arizona. The scope of this cost benefit analysis will be limited to solar thermal plants located in Desert of Arizona, and the currency used will be carbon. It is important to note that these values are estimates and the quantitative analysis is limited to carbon. In a comprehensive risk assessment, a full ecological cost benefit analysis would be conducted in order to measure the true costs of a solar thermal plant. Other parameters that would be considered include impacts on the Desert of Arizona of the region, water resources, social and economic implications and land costs. Carbon costs of construction and operation of the solar thermal plant were calculated based on a review of the primary literature. Carbon released from disruption of Desert of Arizona soil, construction of the solar thermal plant, and disruption of carbon sequestration capabilities were considered in the evaluation. [15] 8. RISK MANAGEMENT PROCESS FLOWCHART CONCLUSION In this paper we define and implement the project procurement and risk management for our green show project,we specify the place and size of our project and also analysis of stackholders were made .We also investigate the area due to resources and geographical information .A list of items like systems ,services and materials etc was made and finally we also perform make or buy decisions for the items.Both types of qualatative and quantitative risk analysis was also made.We present a risk management plane in the form of flow chart with roles and resposibilities.We come to a point that project procrutment and risk management is the most important area of project management. REFERENCES [1] http://www.jasolar.com/ [2] http://michaelbluejay.com/sri/solar.html [3] http://maps.google.com/ [4] http://news.mongabay.com/2006/0209-solar.html [5] http://news.mongabay.com/2006/0113-energy.html [6] http://news.discovery.com/tech/ten-places-harness-solar.html [7] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_plants_in_the_Mojave_Desert [8] http://xeno.ipaustralia.gov.au/tmgoods.htm [9] http://www.treasury.gov.lk/FPPFM/pfd/circulars/NPACircular11.pdf 10) http://www.enotes.com/management-encyclopedia/make-buy-decision [11] SOLAR THERMAL IN THE MOJAVE DESERT, 13 March 2009. [12] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_plants_in_the_Mojave_Desert [13] http://www.aps.com/ [14] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_Energy_Generating_Systems [15] Financing Solar Thermal Power Plants, Rainer Kistner and Henry W. Price, April 1999. [16] Erika Lecture notes

Network factors :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The shape of a network can take many different forms and these topologies can be connected by a variety of means. The differing topologies are Mesh, Bus, Ring and Star and each one will be examined and the advantages and disadvantages explored. These networks can be connected via Ethernet, Token Ring, Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI) or wireless. Each of the connection methods will also be analyzed and the differences will be explained.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The term network topology refers to the physical layout of computers, cables, and other components that make up a network. The choice of one topology over another is important for the network professional and will have an impact on the type of equipment the network needs, the capabilities of the equipment, the growth of the network and the way the network is managed. The different types of topologies each require different communication methods and these will also have an influence on the network.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The first topology to be discussed is the bus topology. It consists of devices that are connected to a common shared cable. The bus topology is the simplest and most common method of networking computers with the computers set up in a straight line. The single cable that feeds all of the computers is known as the trunk (also called backbone or segment) and connects all of the network computers in a single line. The computers communicate by addressing data to a certain computer and sending out the data onto the cable via electronic signals. The signal is sent out on the bus and only the computer whose address matches the address encoded in the original accepts the information. A disadvantage of the bus topology is that only one computer can send data at a time and this limits the number of computers that can be on the network. The more computers on the bus, the more computers will be waiting to put data on the bus and slow down network performance. Another disadvan tage is that if the trunk breaks or is becomes un-terminated, the network will cease to function since the signal will bounce. The advantage to a bus network is that if one computer on the bus fails, it will not affect the others on the bus.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A star topology has cable pieces from each computer connected to a central hub. The signals are transmitted from the sending computer through the hub to call computers on the network.

Carrying a Heavy Load

Carrying a Heavy Load The word carry means to hold, contain, or support something and to take that something you are holding or supporting to another place. In many cases when people talk about carrying things they speak about physically carrying an object with some amount of weight from one place to another. Many times however people carry things with them throughout life that have no physical weight, weighing themselves down with the â€Å"heavy† burdens that life brings.Both Wideman and Obrien’s short stories exemplify a common theme of persevering through struggles and relieving oneself of the weight of life’s struggles. The soldiers in O’Brien’s short story â€Å"The Things They Carried† carry heavy physical loads necessary for them to survive out in war, but they also carry heavy emotional loads which will be with them for the rest of their lives if they are unable to let them go. Some things the men carry are universal, like a compress in case of fatal injuries and a two-pound poncho that can be used as a raincoat, groundsheet, or tent.Most of the men are common, low-ranking soldiers and carry a standard M-16 assault rifle and several magazines of ammunition. Several men carry grenade launchers. All men carry the figurative weight of memory and the literal weight of one another. They carry Vietnam itself, in the heavy weather and the dusty soil. The things they carry are also determined by their rank or specialty. Each mans physical burden consisted of weapons, cigarettes, C rations, and packets of Kool-Aid, and the more intangible things, such as fear and silent awe, that weigh these soldiers down.As leader, for example, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross carries the maps, the compasses, and the responsibility for his men’s lives. The medic, Rat Kiley, carries morphine, malaria tablets, and supplies for serious wounds, and the responsibility to save lives. The things they carry depend on several factors, including th e men’s priorities and their constitutions. Because the machine gunner Henry Dobbins is exceptionally large, for example, he carries extra rations; because he is superstitious, he carries his girlfriend’s pantyhose around his neck.Nervous Ted Lavender carries marijuana and tranquilizers to calm himself down, and the religious Kiowa carries an illustrated New Testament, a gift from his father. With the amount of space that the author gives to enumerating the weight of these objects, one might assume that these objects are what are really important to these soldiers, but in reality it is the incalculable weight of their burdens that truly weigh them down. The â€Å"things† of the title that O’Brien’s characters carry are both literal and figurative.While they all carry heavy physical loads, they also all carry heavy emotional loads, composed of grief, terror, love, and longing. Each man’s physical burden underscores his emotional burden. Henry Dobbins, for example, carries his girlfriend’s pantyhose and, with them, the longing for love and comfort. Similarly, Lieutenant Jimmy Cross, of the Alpha Company, carries various reminders of his love for Martha, a girl from his college in New Jersey. Cross carries her letters in his backpack and her good-luck pebble in his mouth.He carries her photographs, including one of her playing volleyball, but closer to his heart still are his memories. Lavender, one of the soldiers in the story, gets shot on his way back from going to the bathroom. That night the soldiers sit in the darkness discussing the short span between life and death in an attempt to make sense of the situation. The morning after Lavender’s death, in the steady rain, Cross crouches in his foxhole and burns Martha’s letters and two photographs.By burning the physical reminders of Martha Cross believes that he will be able to forget about his past with her, and stop fantasizing about their future. O’Brien wrote â€Å"Besides, the letters were in his head. And even now, without photographs, Lieutenant Cross could see Martha playing volleyball in her white gym shorts and yellow T-shirt. He could see her moving in the rain. † Even without the pictures and the letters he was still carrying Martha. These emotional burdens are the heaviest because they are intangibles and therefore cannot be disposed of.Physical burdens are no more than that; if necessary they can be discarded. Emotional burdens, on the other hand, must be endured. O’Brien, speaking of cowardice in particular, says, â€Å"in many respects this was the heaviest burden of all, for it could never be put down. † The soldiers know there is no easy way to rid themselves of their fears because of their abstract nature, but they dream escapist dreams of flying away in a plane and â€Å"falling higher and higher,† free of weight.Jimmy Cross tries to rid himself of intangible burdens by di sposing of tangible ones that, to him, represent intangible qualities. He does this by burning his letters from Martha. He knows, though, that this simple act cannot rid him of his memories. â€Å"He realized it was only a gesture†¦ Besides, the letters were in his head. † His love for Martha is also represented by the small pebble, which she gave him, but the easily disposable pebble, which weighs merely an ounce, represents a much heavier emotional burden that he cannot rid himself of.Though in Wideman’s short story â€Å"Newborn Thrown in Trash and Dies† a tiny baby is cast down a rubbish chute with no tools to survive, no physical load except for her own weight, she carries a heavy emotional load and reflects on what her life might have been had she lived on each floor of the tenement building where her 19-year-old mother lives. In the first paragraph of the story Wideman quickly expresses the theme of carrying burdens. Wideman writes, â€Å"Your life rolled into a ball so dense, so super heavy it would drag the universe down to hell if this tiny tiny lump of whatever didn’t dissipate as quickly as its formed.Quicker. The weight of it is what you recall some infinitesimal fraction of when you stumble and crawl through your worst days on earth. † Here the newborn speaks about burdens and mishaps that come about in life. She explains to the reader that she will not be able to receive much of a life but that people would have nothing to live for if they did not forget about the struggles and problems that were flashed before their eyes before they were born into this world. The rest of the short story tells a complete play-by-play of the flash of life she had before she was brought into the world.Each floor represents another stage or point in her short life. The floors of this story disguise the days of life, and the newborn that will have no chance to experience them explains the days of life perfectly in these words; â€Å"I believe all floors are not equally interesting. Less reason to notice some then others. Equality would become boring, predictable. Though we may slight some and rattle on about others, that does not change the fact that each floor exists and the life on it is real, whether we pause to notice or not. †People cannot have a good day everyday or everyday would become boring and predictable. In many instances of life people are put into situations such as the war that the soldiers in â€Å"The Things They Carried†, that they have no control over, and that they could not even begin to explain to people for the mere fact that the situation that they are in no one should ever have to think about let alone experience. On the other end of the spectrum good days and good experiences are most often remembered and reminisced about for the rest of peoples lives, which they should be.The thing that people don’t realize is that very often people carry around the burden s of their pasts and the bad days that they have had which make the rest of their lives less enjoyable. After the war, the psychological burdens the men carried during the war will continue to define them. Those who survive will carry guilt, grief, and confusion, although the heavy backpack filled with tools to survive will be gone. In both stories the characters carried emotional burdens, the soldiers carried fear and hope as well as the newborn baby.The soldiers hoped to see another day, and were scared that the opportunity might not come. They had lived lives before the war and feared that they might never get the opportunity to live happily with their loved ones again so they carried belongings of their loved ones physically trying to keep their loved ones close and not forgotten. The same holds true with the newborn girl. She never gets the opportunity to experience her family, or to even establish a connection with anyone before she dies. Still she fantasizes about what it mig ht have been like, what might have happen.The emotional burdens of fear of death seem to be unbearable for the soldiers mainly because they know that they are losing the opportunity of life. The newborn however doesn’t seem bitter about dying, she feels sympathy for the mother who put her in the trash and accepts her life as being â€Å"how it is,† as she doesn’t know any better. All in all the characters of both the stories carry their emotional loads till death, or until they go back home which even then the psychological affects of the war will still haunt them until they learn to let them go.So as the newborn surrenders to her death she lets go of her emotional burdens floor by floor never looking back, so to should the soldiers realize that their days are numbered and tomorrow is never promised so just as Wideman wrote at the end of his second paragraphs about how people try to forget the flash of their life that occurs before they are born people should al so try to forget the bad days and the burdens of life as they happen and, â€Å"live your life as if it hasn’t happened before, as if the tape has not been punched full of holes, the die cast. †

Assimilation and Nationalism Free Essay Example, 13250 words

The Berbers in North Africa has been suffering linguistic imperialism through the systematic control of their language both by the West and by the Arab majority through the process of Arabisation. But what distinguishes imperialism to other kinds of subordination in all forms of the language is that there is a greater attempt to appropriate the psyche and the cultural practices of the colonized. Africa has become a place of rapid colonization since the scramble for Africa by various imperial countries due to vast economic promises and little resistance from multi-ethnic and linguistic communities. As the spirit of nationalism was more relaxed, it helped the French to divide and rule or for the British Company at first to indirectly rule the masses through their tribal leaders in most cases. Post independent Africa drew these instances of multi-ethnic separations of the African people that had given rise to colonization in Africa in the first place. This, till today, remains a big i ssue for political leaders to enhance African nationalism and not give much importance to ethnic claims to their independent heritage. Thus sometimes multiple ethnicity and nationalism seem opposing forces that have become another serious issue in the context of the Berbers. We will write a custom essay sample on Assimilation and Nationalism or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now North Africa comprises the countries of Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia, and Western Sahara. Close relations in culture and linguistics also make Eritrea and Ethiopia a part of North Africa. North Africa is generally included in common definitions with the Middle East due to similarities in religion and culture. My object of study is the Berbers of Northwest Africa. While Northeast Africa had been home to the Egyptians, Ethiopians and the Nubians, they were in constant contact with the Berbers. The Muslim-Arab conquest of the 7th century spread Arab culture and language, though the Berber and the Arabic languages are distantly related, both being members of the Afro-Asiatic family.