Historical Recount: Marco Polo and His Voyage to China Essay

In 13th and 14th centuries, many people believed that Marco polo and his family have been one of the first Europeans to visit China with a famous book The Travels of Marco Polo that had been written by a writer called Rustichello. The most appealing thing about Marco Polo is that Marco and his father were not explores. Marco Polo was born in 1254 in Venice, Italy. He grew into a wealthy merchant family and had an education, which would have prepared him for a career in business. Marco learned basic literacy skills, arithmetic, book- keeping, and the basic theology of the Latin Church. He also had an intimate knowledge of French and Italian. In 1260, Marco Polo’s father and uncle, Nicolo and Maffeo Polo traded regularly with Orient. They had spent a lot of time in Constantinople, Crimea and around the Balkans. When Marco was six years old, his father and uncle set out on their trip to Far East. In 1265, they arrived at the court of Kublai Khan, the Mongol emperor who ruled over two thirds of Asia and asked them to bring 100 European priests to his court. In 1269, Nicolo and Maffeo polo returned to Venice, and they had known that Marco’s mother had died while they were on their journey. In 1271, Marco Polo joined his father and uncle’s another journey east. They passed through Armenia, Persia, Afghanistan and along the Silk Road to China. After three years, the Polos reached China. In this time, Marco’ father introduced him to Kublai Khan and certainly, the King was thoroughly engrossed in Marco’s knowledge and his behavior. So that, Marco family had got important positions at the king’s court. The Polos stayed in Kublai Khan’ court for 17 years. They had much of gold and jewels but they always worried about returning Venice. Marco Polo feared that if Kublai Khan died, he would not get his property out of the country because Kublai Khan was in late seventies. Finally, in 1292 Kublai Khan allowed Polos to come home on one condition that they accompanied Princess Kokachin whose Kublai Khanâ€⠄¢s daughter and her wedding party to Persia. After two years, the Polos arrived in Persia before continuing their journey home. In 1295, Marco Polo arrived Venice where was currently at war with Genoa. Marco was commander of a Venetian galley in the war against Genoa. After that, his ship was destroyed, so Marco was taken as a prisoner of war by the Genoese. For one year in prison, he met a writer called Rustichello of Pisa; Marco related clearly to him stories of Marco’s travels and experiences in China,  which then became a book The Travel of Marco Polo. In the summer of 1299, Marco Polo was released from prison in Genoa and returned home in Venice where he had been keeping doing business. In 1300, he married Donata Badoer and together they have three daughters. Marco Polo lived in Venice until he died of old age in 1324 at 70 of age. Although Marco Polo and his family were not the first Europeans to reach China by land, some of information in his book is a geographical reference in Asia, and it becomes useful experiences with many explorers for centuries later. The book also includes understanding about the Silk Road and Far East’s culture.

Vitamin C and Scurvy

Scurvy (N. Lat. scorbutus) is a deficiency disease that results from insufficient intake of vitamin C, which is required for correct collagen synthesis in humans. The scientific name of vitamin C, ascorbic acid, is derived from the Latin name of scurvy, scorbutus. Scurvy leads to the formation of liver spots on the skin, spongy gums, and bleeding from all mucous membranes. The spots are most abundant on the thighs and legs, and a person with the ailment looks pale, feels depressed, and is partially immobilized. In advanced scurvy there are open, suppurating wounds and loss of teeth. Scurvy was at one time common among sailors, pirates and others who were on ships that were out to sea longer than perishable fruits and vegetables could be stored and by soldiers who were similarly separated from these foods for extended periods. Scurvy treatment using Indian Gooseberry The Indian gooseberry is one of the most effective home remedies for scurvy. It is the richest source of vitamin C. Dry amla should be powdered with an equal quantity of sugar. This powder should be given in doses of one teaspoon, three times daily, with milk Scurvy treatment using Lime and Lemon The use of lime and lemon is highly beneficial in the prevention and treatment of scurvy. Being rich sources of vitamin C, lime and lemon are regarded as foods of exceptional therapeutic value. They have saved the lives of innumerable crews of ocean-going vessels from scurvy. The juice of one lime or lemon mixed in a glass of water, with a teaspoon of honey, should be taken for treating this condition Scurvy treatment using Potato Potato is regarded as an excellent food remedy for scurvy. It contains up to 17 mg of vitamin C, can be found in 100 mg of potatoes. It has been noted that scurvy in Europe has become more and more uncommon with the progress of potato cultivation and it makes its appearance only when the crop fails Prevention Scurvy can be prevented by a diet that includes certain citrus fruits such as oranges or lemons. Other good sources of vitamin C are fruits such as blackcurrants, guava, kiwi, papaya, tomatoes and strawberries. It can also be found in some vegetables, such as bell peppers, broccoli, potatoes, cabbage, spinach and paprika, as well as some pickled vegetables. Though redundant in the presence of a balanced diet, various nutritional supplements are available that provide ascorbic acid well in excess of that required to prevent scurvy,[10] and even some candies contain vitamin C.

Specialist Research Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Specialist Research Project - Essay Example The marketing entails presenting the business product to the customer, to create sales. Thus, these as features of business success, Nike invest largely in the various aspects of branding and marketing to establish customer loyalty; hence, establishing the successful; business culture and history as it possesses today. The company has strategic marketing capabilities that compliment the product and service brand accordingly for the successful engagement of the customer. Further, the subject area of cultural and historical developments relating to the company entails a listing of various structures established since the inception of the company. Thus, from these prospects of the company as a multinational operative corporation, the synthesis of the areas of branding and marketing, as well as, cultural and historical studies constitute the proposal of the research project. The proposed project will seek to explore the extent of these fashion business areas as they institute the profile of Nike Corporation. Marketing entails the set of processes and tools engaged in promoting the business success. However, in developing an identity of the product or service the business engages the area of branding remains the influential factor for consideration. Further, organizational culture developed over time also defines the success of the business venture as developed in the area of operation. Thus, in selecting a portfolio to establish and synthesis the subject areas of marketing and branding in addition to cultural and historical studies, the â€Å"Fashion Icon† Nike, remains most conveniently placed as an illustrative reference. Branding entails the culture itself, the message that permeates and regulates the processes of the business (Katz, 2004, 39). Thus, the project proposal seeks to establish the common misconceptions over the subject areas of branding and marketing as they develop a culture and

Ideal VLEs in Higher Education Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Ideal VLEs in Higher Education - Assignment Example Another region-wide problem is the support of most excellent tradition in â€Å"instructional design† (Weller, p. 33, 2007). In particular, it involves the organized growth of knowledge-giving systems, and it includes the complete expansion procedure from scrutiny of learning requirements, as well as objectives by the expansion of a delivery scheme to attain identified objectives. In addition, analysis has indicated that its basis is on an awareness of educational as well as instructional theory (Weller, p. 33, 2007). Moreover, it is an observation that educational design has been ignored due to lack of supplies and due to its anonymity. There is a common inclination in teaching to call attention to the technology-centric features with no regard for the education design development, and educational instructors do not put efforts in this respect, as they are likely to concentrate on common explanatory hypothetical forms, instead of goal-focussed forms of instant use to experts. At this point, a simple language designer’s practicum applying a state-of-the-art form of educational design is required. Teaching faculty complains about deficiency of knowledge of educational standards on the part of â€Å"educational designers, who pays attention on transmission instead of a ‘constructivist approach† (Gillespie et al, p. 78, 2007). At foundational stage the issues with e-learning are systemic instead of technical. What needed is grouping among the identified groups of interests, which are students, teachers and administrators. In addition, researchers (Gillespie et al, p. 78, 2007) have indicated that the internet has turned out to be three times less-useful for individuals with optical impairments than those without them. In the result, Virtual Learning... From this discussion it is clear that teaching faculty complains about deficiency of knowledge of educational standards on the part of â€Å"educational designers, who pays attention on transmission instead of a ‘constructivist approach†. At foundational stage the issues with e-learning are systemic instead of technical. What needed is grouping among the identified groups of interests, which are students, teachers and administrators. In addition, researchers (Gillespie et al, p. 78, 2007) have indicated that the internet has turned out to be three times less-useful for individuals with optical impairments than those without them. In the result, Virtual Learning Environments have been proven to be six times as hard to use as a result of their intricacy, as well as the belief that learning will take place in use.As the report discusses  supporters of user-focused design call attention to the need to support fine usability - at times termed universal design or design for everyone - contrasting to ease of access in remoteness. As a Virtual Learning Environment resource may be technically available, that does not indicate it will be functional. It has to be taken into consideration that Virtual Learning Environments are planned to facilitate people in learning. Usability issues in VLEs may only be temporary disturbance or irritation, although they may as well be the basis of cognitive burden, interruption on entire procedure, resulting in at least low standard of education and awfully, total dejection.

Joint Venture with X-Tech (Sweden) and Y-Tech (Albania) Assignment

Joint Venture with X-Tech (Sweden) and Y-Tech (Albania) - Assignment Example This memorandum outlines various principles of cross-cultural management, while also carrying out some cultural profiling of the two countries we are meeting, in comparison to our country. The main goal is to educate and guide Z-Tech managers, who will soon become expatriate managers, and who will need to avoid obstacles such as expatriate failure through culture shock, by improving their respective cultural intelligence (CQ). After posting these cross-cultural management paradigms to achieve optimal success for Z-Tech, the current memorandum concludes with specific recommendations. Z-Tech faces a future prospect of a successful joint venture with Albanian and Swedish companies. However, the conflict must be avoided in order to optimize results and create a win-win situation. A major organizational challenge that needs to be overcome, is conflict. Conflict occurs when members of a group or team cannot reach an agreement through common negotiation. There are many causes of conflict in the organizational environment. Conflict is negative, and effective communication embraces an aspect of positive sharing of information that reflects upon both the sender and the receiver. Only by truly communicating our plans, needs, and desires can we garner effective results. These results are often the result of a decision-making process, which is closely linked to patterns of effective communication and structural organizational theory. The importance of positive and practical decision-making cannot be over-stressed in the organizational environment. In the case of intercultural concepts, the vision or guiding principle or goal of Z-Tech should be looked at in an inclusive way. That is, the concept is inclusive to the culture in this construction, and bears communication across cultural barriers and boundaries to a greater understanding of the positive side of communication.

Political Scandal - Power and Visibility in the Media Era Literature review

Political Scandal - Power and Visibility in the Media Era - Literature review Example In contemporary politics and wider society, the story of a reputation or career undone by the publication of a scandal is familiar, but a key question is whether or not this phenomenon should be left to the tabloid journalists. I am inclined to agree with Thompson that the field deserves serious study. He was writing in the aftermath of the Bill Clinton sex scandal, and given the huge implication of that affair on American confidence in the President, and the way in which it gripped the attention of readers and watchers worldwide, the presence of the political scandal as a cultural phenomenon is worthy of study. Thompson acknowledges that for many academics, scandal constitutes ‘the froth of social and political life’ (2009, p.5), and can obscure the ‘real’ political and social events – the things really worthy of study. As he goes on to argue, scandal is one of these events, and should be considered ‘a social phenomenon in its own right’ (2000, p.6). From this solid starting point, Thompson embarks on a survey which ranges widely chronologically, if not, and this is to be regretted, geographically, and raises important questions about the role of media outlets in shaping contemporary political and public debate, and the changes in communication media that have brought scandals to the forefront on political life. What could have dissolved into an encyclopaedic treatment of notable political scandals ends up as a tight and thoughtful analysis, as the author undertakes a thorough analysis of the nature and importance of political scandals, and develops some theories as to their consequences. In the first three chapters he deals with the nature of scandal, and for the duration of the work he analyses scandal as a phenomenon and tries to explain their prevalence. In doing so, Thompson is to be commended for the wide range of sources used. His research was clearly exhaustive, covering not only traditional print media, bu t also biographies and autobiographies of key players in scandals, and television broadcasts, committee reports, and historical works. His scholarship is formidable and evident throughout. Thompson openly concedes that his account is limited, by and large, to scandals in the Anglo-American world, but gives little justification for this. He certainly remains within his area of expertise at all times, but this study could have benefited from parallels drawn between scandals in the UK and America and those which have unfolded elsewhere. Certainly, the Anglo-American political scene seems peculiarly susceptible to political scandal, perhaps because of the nature of its intrusive media. However, the second part of this book, in which Thompson develops an analytical framework and reflects on the issues raised, would have benefited from some comparisons with scandals elsewhere. Perhaps the role of scandal in post-war Italian political instability, or its role in discrediting some African p residents, would have been pertinent subjects for further exploration. Nevertheless, within the parameters he sets for himself, Thompson produces an effective and comprehensive work, and the framework he sets out for classifying, identifying and theorising about political scandal could doubtless be applied beyond the Anglo-American experience. Thompson traces back the etymological origins of ‘scandal’ to its Judaeo-Christian roots, and carries it through to its first appearances in English in the 16th

Reflection on christianity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Reflection on christianity - Essay Example Loving the Lord God with all the heart, mind and soul is expounded in the law given to Moses where people are supposed to honor God first and foremost. Making graven images for people to worship is an act of dishonor to the God who made all things therefore, God commanded against it. Moreover, God teaches the people not to dishonor Him with their words but to praise Him with their lips instead and also to follow his footsteps, resting on the The second greatest commandment on the other hand encompasses the other commandments in the Law of Moses. It instructs the people how they are supposed to show their love and respect to each other by not murdering, slandering, nor committing adultery. The commandments do not just mention respecting people but it also tells them to regard what they own with respect by not coveting their neighbor’s house, wife, menservants and maidservants as well as his other belongings. Since undoubtedly, everyone would want to be loved, the second commandment simply says to love other people as one would love

'Self-determination is irrelevant in the 21st Century'. Discuss Essay

'Self-determination is irrelevant in the 21st Century'. Discuss - Essay Example It is accordingly, protected by various international human rights bodies that ensure all people get their rights. This concept has evolved during the 20th century following secessionist movements during and after World War I and II allowing for decolonization of countries from the 1960's onwards. The start of the famous European colonization of the Americas started around 1940's following the Spanish expedition headed by Christopher Columbus5. This followed a conquest that was featured by large-scale exploration, migration and eventually colonization in order to take full advantage of the resources in those foreign countries. Rebellions were the first characteristics of the determination to self-rule that was witnessed in the mid 1770's. Because of the explicit invocations of natural law, the natural right of man and the absence of consent from the people who were being governed, people began to revolt against colonial rule6. In the United Stated Declaration of Independence, the pro motion of the notion that the will of the people is supreme made significant contributions to the aspect of self-determination. These and some other notions are what led to the acceptance of the principle of self-determination. ... These treaties both held that people had a right to freely pursue their economic and political interests following self-determination. Previously, self-determination was considered a political principle with no legal effect. But following WW2, self-determination became a legal principle and a right in International Law. And because of its adoption by several treaties and charters it received worldwide recognition under International Law. The concept of self-determination is thus still relevant because of the number of cases in the International Court of Justice that have received ruling in favor of the concept of self-determination. Self-determination has thus achieved the status of erga omnes which requires the rest of the international community to respect it. Other jurists and scholars have also argued that the principle of self-determination has acquired the status of jus cogens making it the superior rule of international law. As such, the rest of the community has the mandate t o strictly obey it at all times and in all circumstances in their relations with each other. However, the UN Charter10 had no provisions for the enforcement of the right to self-determination outside the context of decolonization. It simply provided that countries be allowed to govern themselves but it did not provide other stipulations for how this was to take place. This allowed the legal doctrine of uti possidetis juris11 to thrive. This meant that old administrative boundaries became the international boundaries without taking into consideration the linguistic, ethical and cultural boundaries that had previously existed. Despite the fact that people of one culture were torn apart by international boundaries, nations succeeded in freeing themselves from colonial rule.

Strengths and weaknesses of Rolls Royce Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Strengths and weaknesses of Rolls Royce - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that Rolls Royce has been a pioneer in the motor car market for over 100 years. It continues to set the standard for motor cars in the industry. Financial ratios help to analyze the financial health of a company. Gross profit margin is an indicator of how %age of a sales dollar is left after the payment of the goods has been made. It is the actual markup on the goods sold. It is better for the company if it has a higher gross profit margin. Rolls Royce gross profit margin has been stable for the past 5 years. There hasn’t been much change in the gross profit margin of the company. This means that with respect to each unit of the product the margin has been consistent and hence the company has been effectively maintaining the process of manufacturing of goods. Operating profit margin indicates the profit margin after payment is made for goods as well as its fixed expenses and other variables. This again has been stable for Rolls Royce with no sharp changes. This means that company understands its business very well and is very effective in managing it. The company has knows how to efficiently manage the various processes of its business. Net Profit margin is the actual measure of a company’s financial success. Net profit margin indicates how profitable the company is. Therefore, higher the net profit margin more profitable the company is. Rolls Royce’s performance with respect to net profit margin has been very inconsistent over the past 5 years.

President Speech Essay Example for Free

President Speech Essay While working on this project, I have attained immense knowledge and experience has been very interesting. I am thankful to my computer teacher who has guided me and given me the outlines related to the topic and also the assistance provided by my friends. I am very thankful to my parents for their help. I therefore acknowledge the fact that without their help this project would not have been completed. Cricket has always been like a religion for this country. It is seen as more than just a game. The players are considered as demigods and literally worshipped. The Twenty20 format of cricket created history. After the Twenty20 format of cricket was introduced to the world, cricket has just been overflowing out of everyones ears, its all about cricket. Indian Premier Leagues origin is quite interesting. It all started when Lalit Modi, the Vice President of the Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) envisioned the Indian Premier League. It is created along the lines of club football in Europe, specifically the English Premier League. IPL has been launched in response to the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL) launched by Zee Group. The DLF Indian Premier League is an amazing occurrence in whole of cricket history. The Indian Cricket Board approved it a few months back. It is seen as a very good opportunity as far as the entertainment industry is concerned. The format of Twenty20 cricket has emerged as a phenomenon after the Twenty20 World Cup was won by India and since then people have been totally immersed into it. There is no doubt where the Indian Premier League is headed, as far as viewership and profits for  everyone associated with it is concerned. The  2012 Indian Premier League  season, abbreviated as  IPL 5  or the  IPL 2012  or the  DLF IPL 2012  (owing to title sponsorship reasons), was the fifth season of the  Indian Premier League, initiated by the  Board of Control for Cricket in India  (BCCI)  in 2007 with the  first season played in 2008. The tournament began on 4 April and ended on 27 May 2012  Kolkata Knight Riders  were the winning team, beating defending champions  Chennai Super Kings  by five wickets in the final. This season the number of teams in the league went from ten to nine with the termination of  Kochi Tuskers Kerala. Despite a slow start, IPL 5 earned a higher cumulative viewership than any previous edition of the IPL. [7]  The cumulative reach for 74 IPL 5 matches was recorded at 163 million against 162 million for 73 matches in IPL 4, and the final match had a higher reach than any previous final. This edition of the IPL has been the most competitive with 19 matches in which team won in the last over and 6 matches in which team won by a margin of less than 10 runs. Near the end of the season, the season faced various hurdles including a spot fixing case, which allegedly included 5 players caught on a sting operation carried on by a local news channel. The top three teams of the tournament (Kolkata Knight Riders,  Chennai Super Kings  and  Delhi Daredevils) will represent India in the  2012 Champions League Twenty20. The Fair Play Award was won by  Rajasthan Royals, while  Kings XI Punjab  batsman  Mandeep Singh  was named the tournaments Rising Star and Kolkata Knight Riders bowler  Sunil Narine  was Player of the Season. The final between the defending two-time champions  Chennai Super Kings  and the first-time finalists  Kolkata Knight Riders  was held at the  M. A. Chidambaram Stadium,  Chennaion May 27, 2012. While the Super Kings retained their team from the Qualifier, a hamstring injury to Knight Riders medium-pace bowler  Lakshmipathy Balaji  resulted the inclusion of  Australian  Brett Lee  and this inclusion of another foreign player required the Knight Riders to leave out their former captain and wicket-keeper batsman  Brendon McCullum  ofNew Zealand  to maintain the cap of 4 foreign players. Wicket-keeper batsman  Manvinder Bisla  was brought in to replace  Brendon McCullum. After Super Kings captain  Mahendra Singh Dhoni  won the toss and elected to bat first, openers  Murali Vijay  and  Mike Hussey  put on an opening partnership of 87 until Vijay was dismissed for 42 (from 32 balls) in the 11th over. Mike Hussey was joined by IPLs leading run scorer  Suresh Raina  and they scored at a brisk rate to reach 160 when Hussey was dismissed in the eighteenth over for 54 (from 43 balls). Suresh Raina  who had scored an imposing 73 (from 38 balls) with five  sixes  was dismissed off the last ball as Chennai reached a formidable total of 190. In reply, the Knight Riders lost their captain  Gautam Gambhir  cheaply for 2 in the first over. However, they recovered as  Manvinder Bisla  (89 from 48 balls) and  Jacques Kallis  (69 from 49 balls) added 136 for the second wicket. Soon after Bislas dismissal in the 15th over, the Knight Riders lost wickets at regular intervals and after Kallis was caught out by  Ravindra Jadeja  off the bowling of  Ben Hilfenhaus  at 18. overs, the Knight Riders required 16 runs from the last 7 balls. Shakib Al Hasan  appeared to have been caught by  Murali Vijay  off the very next delivery from Hilfenhaus but it happened to be a  no-ball  and amid the celebrations, Shakib Al Hasan had completed two runs and retained the strike and hit a  four  the very next ball. Needing 9 runs to win from the last over,   Manoj Tiwary  hit consecutive  fours  to secure victory for the Knight Riders. [31]  Manvinder Bisla was declared Man of the Match for his 89 from 48 balls which included five sixes and eight fours. Overall, 22453  runs  were scored at an  average  of 26. 2 with an overall  run rate  of 7. 82. 857  wickets  fell in the whole of the tournament. Both the amount of runs and the amount of wickets are the most that has occurred in one tournament out of all five  IPL  tournaments. During the course of this tournament, pace bowlers took 531 wickets with an average of 27. 20 and average run rate of 7. 81 whereas spinners took 241 wickets at an average of 31. 35 and average run rate of 7. 41. Overall, 6 centuries were scored. IPL 2008  and  IPL 2011  also had the same amount of  centuries. In this tournament, 96 fifties were scored, which was the most in any edition of the IPL. This edition also saw 1911 fours, 2 fours less than previous edition of  2011 Indian Premier League. 731 sixes were also scored, which was another record for a season. On the other hand, this edition had only 2 instances in which a single bowler took 5 wicket haul within his quota of 4 overs as per the rules of  Twenty20 cricket. The 2012 season of Indian Premier League (IPL) will be the fifth season of IPL since its inauguration in 2007. IPL 5 is going to start on 4th April and will continue till 27th May 2012. The finals of ipl 2012 would be held in Chepauk, the home ground of Chennai Super Kings who will also be defending their title this year. Kochi Tuskers Kerala franchisee has been terminated by BCCI. KTK has filed a petition in the court but has not received any respite from the court. IPL 2012 will be played among just nine teams this time. Daredevils sign Ross Taylor IPL 5 latest news is New Zealand Captain Ross Taylor has been traded by Rajasthan Royals to Delhi Daredevils ahead of IPL 2012. Taylor is Delhi’s second big signing of the season after they acquired Kevin Pietersen from the Deccan Chargers. Rajasthan Royals had bought Taylor for USD 1 million at the IPL Player Auction 2011. The Kiwi played 12 matches for the Royals, scoring 181 runs at an average of 36. 20 and a strike-rate of 119. 07. Levi replaces Symonds in MI Mumbai Indians, the Champions League 2011 champions, today signed T20 sensation Richard Levi as a replacement for former Australian batsman Andrew Symonds, for the fifth edition of Indian Premier League 2012. Expressing eagerness to join the ranks of Captain Sachin Tendulkar and Harbhajan Singh, Levi said, â€Å"I am honoured to have Mumbai Indians management interest in my services. I have heard from friends around that Mumbai Indians is like an extended family where team shares a great bond and entrust upon youngsters. Beyond, Sachin Tendulkar has been my childhood hero and it would be exciting to share the dressing room with him. † PWI to play IPL 5 ;amp; Sourav Ganguly to take all Decisions as Captain? The BCCI-Sahara saga finally looks to come to some kind of conclusion, with BCCI President N. Srinivasan saying earlier in the day, that: â€Å"we do appreciate what Sahara has done. They might have felt aggrieved and did not get what they wanted from the IPL.    Finally, Subrata Roy, came out on a News Channel and confirmed, whatever may happen Pune Warriors will surely play the IPL ;amp; he says Sourav Ganguly will take all the final calls about it. He said, by no means, Sahara wanted the players to miss out on cricket and hence PWI team will surly play the IPL and all decisions about it, will be taken by Sourav Ganguly himself. Also, Sahara Boss con firmed that Sourav Ganguly will be the captain of the PWI team ;amp; all cricketing decisions of the team will be taken by him. CHENNAI SUPER KINGS Chennai Super Kings  (often abbreviated as  CSK) is a franchise  cricket team  based in  Chennai, Tamil Nadu that plays in the  Indian Premier League. Founded in 2008, the team is currently captained by  Mahendra Singh Dhoni  and coached by  Stephen Fleming, a former New Zealand cricketer. The teams home ground is the  M. A. Chidambaram Stadium  (often referred to as  Chepauk) located in  Chennai. Chennai Super Kings is the most successful team in the  Indian Premier League  team so far. The team has won the IPL title twice in succession (2010  and  2011) and reached the play-offs every season. They were also the first Indian team to have won the  Champions League Twenty20. The leading run-scorer of the side is  Suresh Raina, while the leading wicket-taker isRavichandran Ashwin. The brand value of Chennai Super Kings in 2012 was estimated at  US$75. 13  million, making them the most valuable franchise in the IPL. The Chennai Super Kings are one of the nine teams of the  Indian Premier League. They are the most successful and consistent team in IPL history. Their captain is the current Indian skipper,Mahendra Singh Dhoni. The franchise is currently owned by  India Cements, who paid $91 million to acquire the rights to the franchise for 10 years in 2008. [10]  N. Srinivasan, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of India Cements Ltd. , is the de facto owner of the Chennai Super Kings, by means of his position within the company. He is also the President of the  BCCI. Krishnamachari Srikkanth, former captain of the  Indian cricket team  and the current Chairman of the National Selection Committee, was the brand ambassador for the franchise until the end of season three when his 3-year contract expired, and former Indian opener  V. B. Chandrasekhar  is the Chief Selector. [11]  To gather more support from local fans, actor  Vijay  and actress  Nayantarawere also appointed as ambassadors, but both have been subsequently removed. In the 2012 players auction, Super Kings bought  Ravindra Jadeja, for a whopping $2 million (9. 72  crore), the bid which turned out to be the biggest draw in the players auction for the fifth edition of the Indian Premier League. [39]  They also bought out the contract of  Tim Southee  who was signed as a replacement player in the previous season. The Super Kings started their IPL 2012 campaign with a 8-wicket loss to  Mumbai Indians  in the tournament opener in Chennai. CSK were bundled out for 112 before  Richard Levi  struck a fifty for the visiting team to setup the victory. [40]Ravindra Jadeja  came up with a brilliant all-round performance (48 off 29, 5/16) to help his team to a resounding 74-run win over  Deccan Chargers  in their second home game. In their first away game of the season, the Super Kings lost toDelhi Daredevils  in by 8 wickets after another poor show by the batsmen. Their win against  Royal Challengers Bangalore  was made possible by  Albie Morkel, who smashed 28 runs from the 19th over bowled by  Virat Kohli, and Jadeja who hit a boundary off the last ball of the match to see his side chase down the target of 206. South African  Francois du Plessis  was adjudged Man of the match for his innings of 71. At  Pune, after restricting the Super Kings to 155,Jesse Ryder  and  Steve Smith  took the  Pune Warriors  home with four balls to spare to hand a third defeat to CSK in five games. However they beat the same opponents at home by 13 runs after du Plessis and  Subramaniam Badrinathscored fifties in the first innings. du Plessis struck another half-century (73 off 52) to take Chennai to their second consecutive win. Their next game, which was supposed to be played at  Bangalore  against the Royal Challengers, was washed out without a ball bowled due to rain. They suffered a shock home defeat against  Kings XI Punjab  as they failed to chase the target of 157. KXIPs  Mandeep Singh  was awarded the Man of the match for his resilient 56. They lost another home game by 5 wickets to  Kolkata Knight Riders  whose run chase was anchored by skipper  Gautam Gambhirs half-century. Chennai got back to winning ways with a 10-run win over the struggling  Deccan Chargers  despite a belligerent knock by the Chargers vice-captain  Cameron White. The Super Kings then lost to Mumbai Indians off the last ball of the match. Dwayne Smith, who was playing his first match of the season for Mumbai, hit 14 runs off the last three balls bowled by  Ben Hilfenhaus  to take his team to a dramatic victory. The loss severely dented CSKs chances of progressing to the Playoffs. In another thrilling match, Chennai beat Rajasthan Royals by four wickets mainly due to cameos by Albie Morkel and  Anirudha Srikkanth, both scoring unbeaten six-ball 18. In their last home match of the league stage, Chennai comprehensively beat the Delhi Daredevils by nine wickets. Against Kolkata Knight Riders, needing five to win on the last ball for CSK,  Dwayne Bravo  smashed a six over long-on off the bowling of  Rajat Bhatia  to take them to a thrilling 5-wicket win. Needing a win to assure their place in the Playoffs, they lost to  Kings XI Punjabby 7 wickets at  Dharamsala  in their last league match. However Royal Challengers Bangalore and Chennai Super Kings, both ended up with 17 points from 16 games, but the latter managed to get the fourth spot on the points table due to a better  net run rate. The team played  Mumbai Indians  in the Eliminator at  Bangalore. After losing two wickets early, Hussey and Badrinath stitched a crucial 94-run third wicket partnership to take the team to a respectable position. Then skipper  MS Dhoniand Dwayne Bravo scored 73 runs in the last five overs to set up a score of 187/5 in 20 overs. Mumbai in their run-chase got off to a flying start before a dramatic batting collapse. CSK spinners Ashwin and Jakati picked up one wicket each and bowled seven economical overs between them that proved decisive in the context of the match. CSK won the match by 38 runs and Dhoni was given the Man of the Match for his 51* (20). The win took them to the second Qualifier at  Chennai, a match against  Delhi Daredevils  to decide who plays in the final. Daredevils won the toss and put Chennai into bat and this decision backfired. Opener  Murali Vijay, who had a quiet season until then, came to his own striking a century (113 runs from 60 deliveries, 15 fours and four sixes) to take his team to a mammoth 222/5. The bowlers backed up the good batting by bowling tight line and length and picking up wickets at regular intervals. OnlyMahela Jayawardene  showed some resistance for Delhi with a knock of 55 but to see his team lose by 86 runs. The big win booked CSKs place in the final at their home ground Chennai against the  Kolkata Knight Riders. This was the fourth time in five seasons, that CSK had made it to the final of the IPL. Chennai elected to bat in the final and the batsmen backed the decision with another stellar show. After a solid opening partnership between Hussey and Vijay,Suresh Raina  played his best innings of the season scoring an unbeaten 38-ball 73. Chennai went on to make 190/3 in 20 overs. Kolkata lost the big wicket of their skipper Gambhir in the first over of the run-chase. Then  Manvinder Bisla, who was playing his first game in two weeks, took on the bowlers single-handedly and scored 89 from 48 balls. Batting at three,  Jacques Kallis  not only scored 69 (49) but also put up a crucial second-wicket stand of 136 runs with Bisla. However, the game swung CSKs way after KKR lost four wickets in as many overs. After the fall of Kallis in the 19th over, KKR needed 16 runs to win from 7 balls. KKR went on to win the game by five wickets with two balls to spare thanks to two consecutive boundaries from  Manoj Tiwary  in the last over. The Knight Riders secured their maiden IPL title with this win and Bisla won the Man of the Match award. Suresh Raina finished as Chennais leading run scorer with 441 runs and Dwayne Bravo lead the bowling tables with 14 wickets. Chennai Super Kings (CSK), founded in 2008, is owned by India Cements. Their home ground is M. A. Chidambaram Stadium, also known as Chepauk by many. The present coach of CSK is Stephen Fleming and Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni is the captain of team. CSK has been the most successful team in the Indian Premier League, winning the title twice. They reached the final in the first season of the IPL before losing out to Rajasthan Royals. Some of the important players of CSK are Dhoni, Ravindra Jadeja, Suresh Raina, Doug Bollinger, George Bailey, Nuwan Kulasekara, and Michael Hussey. Squad: MS Dhoni (c amp; wk), Murali Vijay, Srikkanth Anirudha, Ravichandran Ashwin, Subramaniam Badrinath, George Bailey, Doug Bollinger, Dwayne Bravo, Faf du Plessis, Ben Hilfenhaus, Michael Hussey, Ravindra Jadeja, Shadab Jakati, Joginder Sharma, Suraj Randiv, Nuwan Kulasekara, Yo Mahesh, Albie Morkel, Abhinav Mukund, Suresh Raina, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Scott Styris, Sudeep Tyagi, Kuthethurshri Vasudevadas and Ganapathi Vignesh. DECCAN CHARGERS Deccan Chargers  known in short as  DC  is a cricket franchise based in the city of  Hyderabad  in the  Indian Premier League. They, after finishing last in the  first season  of the  IPL, won the  second season  held in  South Africa  in 2009, under the captaincy of former Australian  wicket-keeper  batsman  Adam Gilchrist. Gilchrist was the captain of the team for the first three seasons of the  IPL. From the fourth season,  Kumar Sangakkara  has been leading the team and  Cameron White  has been playing as his deputy. The team is coached by  Darren Lehmann, former Australian cricketer. The Deccan Chargers franchise is owned by the  Deccan Chronicle  Holdings Limited. The media group acquired the franchise for an amount of USD 107 million on 24 January 2008. [2]  The Chargers logo is a charging  bull. From the 2009 season, the team changed the colour of the jersey (from beige and black to sparkling silver and blue) and the logo (from gold and red to white and blue). There is no  Icon Player  for the team as the former captain  V. V. S. Laxman  rejected the offer to be an icon player in order to free funds and enable the franchise to buy amp; encourage younger players. In  2012 Indian Premier League, Chargers named new fielding coach  Trevor Penney  replacing  Mike Young. New signings amp; Tradings In the trading window which opened in December, Chargers have traded off  Kevin Pietersen,  Harmeet Singh  ,  Pragyan Ojha  to  Delhi Daredevils,  Kings XI Punjab,  Mumbai Indians  respectively. During player auctions Chargers had tried to bid  Ravindra Jadeja  for entire $2m but eventually lost in tie breaker. Later they acquired following players- Players Acquired-  Daniel Harris   $70,000  Darren Bravo   $100,000  Parthiv Patel   $650,000 After post auction team acquired following uncapped players  TP Sudhindra,  Tanmay Srivastava,  Biplab Samantray, Akshath Reddy owing to their strong domestic performances. Contracts Boughtout-  Michael Lumb,  Jaydev Shah, Ishan Malhotra Performance- The performance of the chargers was poor and finished a lowly 8th out of the 9 teams. The performance of players such as  Shikhar Dhawan,  Cameron White  and  Dale Steyn  were outstanding, but did not get much support from the other players. Their fielding was really poor resulting in many dropped catches and losing many games. After their miserable run in IPL 2012, the owners of Deccan Chargers are looking to sell all or part of the franchise and have appointed an investment banker to search for prospective buyers. Deccan Chronicle Holdings Limited, the owner of the franchise are considering selling their stake and are looking for buyers for the same. Now Deccan Chagers will want to start rebuilding their squad my adding Pakistan players who are eligible to play IPL from next year. Retaining their only key pace bowling spear-head Dale Steyn for the 2013 Auction will be ideal if Deccan Chargers want to build a strong team in the future. Performance Deccan Chargers failed to perform in IPL 2012, with narrow losses and continuous defeats, Deccan Chagers failed to gain any rhythm in 2012. Dale Steyn,  Cameron White, and  Shikar Dhawan  where the only players who helped Deccan win the matches. Team weakness was the bowling and fielding department, with  Ishant Sherma  being ruled out due to injury, he proved to be a big loss. Deccan ended up coming 8th place out of nine teams, most of the league they were coming last place with only 9 points on the table and winning only 4 games out of the 15 games that they played (one match was rained out). Deccan need to do many things over the next year to upgrade their team and be more strong. Deccan Chargers came into the IPL 2012 being characterised by named underdogs, and they are yet to keep that name. Deccan Chargers is owned by The Deccan Chronicles. They have three home grounds Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, ACA-VDCA Stadium and Barabati Stadium. The present coach of DC is former Australian cricketer Darren Lehmann. Kumar Sangakkara is the captain of the side and Cameron White is the vice-captain. The star players of DC are Darren Bravo, Daniel Christian, JP Duminy, Ishant Sharma, Dale Steyn, Amit Mishra and Parthiv Patel. In 2008, they came last in the points table. However, in the next season of IPL they came back strong and lifted the trophy. They haven’t been much impressive after that. In the last season, they were 7th in the league standings. Squad: Kumar Sangakkara (c amp; wk), Jean-Paul Duminy, Daniel Christian, Cameron White, Darren Bravo, Shikhar Dhawan, Parthiv Patel (wk), Dale Steyn, Ishant Sharma, Amit Mishra, Manpreet Gony, Daniel Harris, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, Bharat Chipli, Ishank Jaggi, Chris Lynn, Ashish Reddy, Anand Rajan, Ankit Sharma, Tekkami Atchuta Rao, Akash Bhandari, Kedar Devdhar, Tanmay Mishra, Veer Pratap Singh, Syed Quadri, Dwaraka Ravi Teja, Akshath Reddy, Biplab Samantray,Sneha Kishore,Sunny Sohal, Tanmay Srivastava, TP Sudhindra, Rusty Theron and Arjun Yadav. RAJASTHAN ROYALS Rajasthan Royals  (Hindi:   ) is an  Indian Premier League  franchise based in the city of the  Jaipur. It is currently captained by former Indian captain  Rahul Dravid. They won the inaugural edition of the  Indian Premier League  under the captaincy of former Australian spin-legend  Shane Warne. In 2010, they were terminated by the  BCCI  for a brief period for violations in terms of agreement but were allowed to play in the league soon after the Board lost the case in the  Supreme Court. The Rajasthan Royals franchise is owned and chaired by  Manoj Badale. Other investors include  Ryan Tkalcevic,  Lachlan Murdoch,  Sir. Aditya S Chellaram  and  Suresh Chellaram. The Group acquired the franchise for $67 million. Incidentally, this was the least expensive franchise in the  Indian Premier League  and probably the least fancied team in the league at the beginning of the tournament. Bollywood actress and  Celebrity Big Brother  winner  Shilpa Shettyand her business partner (now husband) Raj Kundra paid approximately US $15. 4 million for a 11. 7% stake before the start of IPL 2 in early 2009, therefore valuing the team at $130 million. It made a pre-tax profit of $7. 5 million in 2009. Faced with the daunting task of winning all their remaining matches for having any chance of making the playoffs, Rajasthan Royals would fancy a facile victory when they take on the struggling Pune Warriors in an IPL match here on Sunday. Royals are lying sixth with 12 points from 13 matches and have to win the remaining three to keep their playoff hopes alive. On the other hand, Pune are at the eighth position with only eight points in kitty from 14 matches, close defeats against Delhi Daredevils and Chennai Super kings hurting them the most. Add to this the leadership crisis that the team is facing due to an off-colour skipper Sourav Ganguly. He rested himself last night but promised to be back for this game despite team owner Subrata Roys claims that Ganguly would play a mentors role from next season. Royals, on the other hand, have no such worries and have an inspirational leader in Rahul Dravid. They have played good cricket against fancied rivals but have been guilty of frittering away opportunities. They might have the edge against the Pune but a victory here would not be enough as they will have to win all remaining three and pray that the other results also go in their favour. The hosts would like to start afresh from this juncture and make full use of every opportunity. For the past couple of matches, they could find the right team composition and earned two good victories but rain played spoilsport for them in the crucial match against Chennai Super Kings. The recent failure of Ajinkya Rahane has hurt them but Australian all-rounder Shane Watson has looked in top form. Dravid has been in good nick as well but the rest did not play to expectations at least in the last match. Shane Warne  and  Rahul Dravidare a study in contrast. One is known for his flamboyant lifestyle, outspoken ways and a devil-may-care attitude; the other is disciplined, soft-spoken and a perfect role model. For Rajasthan Royals, the most important story of IPL V could well be the transition from Warnes leadership to Dravids captaincy . In fact, for a few youngsters who have known only Warnes ways in the past four years, this could well be a culture shock. Rajasthan Royals, once again, do not boast of too many big guns, at least in the T20 format . However, they have the habit of throwing up heroes. If Yusuf Pathan, Ravinder Jadeja and Shane Watson owe most of their fame to the Royals jersey in the inaugural edition of the IPL, Johan Bothas prowess with the bat was a revelation last year. Warne had gone by his instincts in promoting Botha up the order, and it paid off handsomely. As Dravid steps into the Australian spin legends shoes, he would be aware that he is inheriting an enviable legacy. For starters, Dravid would have to pick his men carefully and not go by reputation or past record. He has coach Monty Desai and technical director Zubin Bharucha to help him out, two men who have little to show apart from their IPL stint under Warnes shadow. Talking about the players, the addition of Sreesanth in the ranks will boost the bowling, but then the pacer has been recuperating from a toe injury. He says he is fit for action, but then he hasnt played for the past six months. Expect him to be rusty. Also expect him to pull in the crowds with his maverick ways. Sreesanth could well keep Royals in the news, just like Warne did. At the other end, Shaun Tait would be hurling down some fireballs. Dravid and Botha would once again be expected to hold the batting steady. Dravid, of course, faces the biggest test. He would be hoping to do a Warne and lead this team to the podium. Or atleast finish in the top-four . Rajasthan Royals (RR) is a Rajasthan based franchise in the Indian Premier League (IPL), co-owned by Bollywood star Shilpa Shetty and businessman Raj Kundra in partnership with Emerging Media. The team is currently captained by Rahul Dravid who will be coaching the team. Dravid replaces Australian spin legend Shane Warne who announced retirement from the IPL last season. The Indian legend will also be the mentor of the team. The Rajasthan franchise lead by Warne took the IPL by storm when it won the first edition in 2008 when it beat the current champions Chennai Super Kings in a thrilling final. The official theme of the team is  Halla Bol  and the official mascot is a lion named Moochu. The home of the team is Sawai Mansingh Stadium. Many domestic players can be added to the Royals squad by the selection committee in a fin al camp under the team management of Rajasthan Royals Squad: Rahul Dravid (c), Pankaj Singh, Aakash Chopra, Abhishek Raut, Aditya Dole, Ajinkya Rahane, Amit Paunikar, Ashok Menaria, Deepak Chahar, Dishant Yagnik, Faiz Fazal, Nayan Doshi, Pinal Shah, Samad Fallah, Siddharth Trivedi, Stuart Binny, Amit Singh, Dinesh Salunkhe, Swapnil Asnodkar, Sumit Narwal, Ankeet Chavan, Sreesanth, Shane Watson, Johan Botha, Paul Collingwood, Shaun Tait, Brad Hodge, Kevon Cooper, Dinesh Chandimal, Brad Hogg, Owais Shah DELHI DAREDEVILS Delhi Daredevils  (Hindi:   ) is the  Delhi  franchise of the  Indian Premier League  in cricket. The franchise is owned by the  GMR Group. Founded in 2008, the team is currently captained by  Virender Sehwag  and coached by former South African cricketer  Eric Simons. They play all their home matches at the historic  Feroz Shah Kotla Ground. Due to the disbanding of  Kochi Tuskers Kerala, each team will play the remaining eight teams twice, once at home and once away. Therefore each team will play an extended season of 16 matches. Bollywood  superstar  Akshay Kumar  was the brand ambassador of the team during the 2008 Season but opted not to return for the 2009 season due to a busy schedule. However, Akshay was seen at a few of the teams games cheering them on. Famous  Bollywood  playback singer  Kailash Kher  has sung the team anthem Khel Front Foot Pe a. k. a. Play on the front foot or play aggressively. It is played at every Delhi Daredevils match. Delhi Daredevils launched their new anthem Munday Dilli Ke on 5 March 2012 on the social networking site  YouTube. [4] Virender Sehwag  has been accorded the icon player status in the Delhi Daredevils team and was also the captain of the side during the first two seasons. However, he resigned and passed on the leadership to his opening partnerGautam Gambhir  for the 2010 season. But after Gambhir left the team for  Kolkata Knight Riders  in the fourth edition,Sehwag was once again given the duty to captain the team. Since the start of the  IPL  in 2008 many international players such as  Glenn McGrath,  AB de Villiers,  Tillakaratne Dilshan,  David Warner,  Andrew McDonald,  Daniel Vettori,  Farveez Maharoof,  Dirk Nannes  and  Aaron Finch  have donned the cap for the Daredevils. The team also included Indian players like  Dinesh Karthik  and  Yo Mahesh. Ending the league matches in a superb and commendable way,  Delhi Daredevils  was the first team to get into the playoffs. Being in the top position in the tally table, the team played their first playoff match against second placed Kolkata Knight Riders on May 22. But when their fabulous performance was much needed in the Qualifier 1 match, the team players faltered slightly and their opponent Kolkata team took the advantage of the situation to make their way into the final. However, being in the top position, Delhi will get another opportunity to make their way into the final on May 25, 2012. Tomorrow Qualifier 2 match of the playoffs will be played between Delhi Daredevils and Chennai Super Kings, the winner of yesterday’s Eliminator match. This match will be played at MA Chidambaram Stadium,  Chennai from 8. 00 pm onwards. With a number of explosive batsmen in the team, Delhi Daredevils is strong enough to clash down the moral of the rival bowlers but unfortunately this strategy did not work last night. Throughout the group matches, the team players proved them as the most consistent team and what they have missed last night, they will surely look for grabbing that tomorrow. While analyzing the last match, there were a number of mistakes in Shewag’s team. Firstly, for low and slow wicket, this team appeared in the cricket field with only four medium pacers and one spinner. Secondly, the final order of eleven players needed a revision when they lost some early wickets. Ross Taylor should have come up at 5 and later Jayawardena admitted this mistake. However, after giving such an impressive performance throughout the league, along with all IPL viewers, Delhi boys are also hoping to play in the final and for that they have to overcome all the previous mistakes in tomorrow’s match to wipe out Chennai Super kings from this IPL 2012. Captain Virender Shewag and David Warner make a powerful opening partnership to raise fire in the field and they have to do so tomorrow. Chennai bowlers will for these two big wickets followed by middle order batsmen, Jayawardena, Ojha, Taylor and Negi. At time Pathan appears as an explosive all-rounder to give a big boost to the team score. To ensure their position in the final, Delhi batsmen have to make a 200+ challenging score against Chennai. On the other hand, Morne Morkel is the gem of the bowling squad. He is one of the leading wicket takers in this season with 25 wickets from 16 league matches. He along with Negi, Yadav and Pathan has to do the rest of the work by taking regular wickets. If all these factors work properly, then it is very tough to restrict Delhi. Also Delhi is a favorite tomorrow because of its formidable performance level and the consistency that this team maintained throughout the season. Contrary to this prediction, the western bookies predicted that there is 47% chance for Delhi to get a victory. Bookies such as William Hill, Paf, Bwin and Bet365 are offering 1/1 odds whereas Bet-at-home is offering 4/5 on a Delhi victory. Their home ground is Feroz Shah Kotla. The present coach of Delhi is Eric Simons and the captain is Indian opener Virender Sehwag. The star players of the side are Irfan Pathan, Mahela Jayawardene, Kevin Pietersen, Ross Taylor, David Warner, Umesh Yadav, Matthew Wade, Varun Aaron, and Ajit Agarkar apart from Sehwag. DD has been consistent in their performance. They reached semi-finals in the first two seasons of the Indian Premier League (IPL). However, they started declining since the third season of IPL. They managed to win only four out of 14 matches in the last IPL season. Squad: Virender Sehwag (c), David Warner, Venugopal Rao, Aaron Finch, Mahela Jayawardene, Glenn Maxwell, Varun Aaron, Ajit Agarkar, Doug Bracewell,   Naman Ojha, Andre Russell, Aavishkar Salvi, Ross Taylor, Roelof van der Merwe, Vikas Mishra,   Tejashwi Yadav, Umesh Yadav, Manprit Juneja, Puneet Bisht, Robin Bist, Gulam Bodi and Unmukt Chand. PUNE WARRIORS Pune Warriors India  is a franchise  cricket team  that plays in the  Indian Premier League (IPL)  representing the city of  Pune,  Maharashtra. The team is one of two new franchisees added to the Indian Premier League (IPL) for the  2011 season, alongside the  Kochi Tuskers Kerala. On 21 March 2010, Sahara Adventure Sports Limited made the winning bid of $370 million (approximately Rs 1900 crore) for the Pune franchise. The bid is the highest bid by any company in the short history of IPL. Sourav Ganguly,the former captain of Pune warriors India, serves as the mentor of the team. Former South African pacer  Allan Donald  is the bowling coach of the team. The teams home ground is the newly-constructed  Subrata Roy Sahara Stadium  in Pune. During the 2010 franchise auction for two new  Indian Premier League  teams,  Subrata Roy  of  Sahara Group  purchased the Pune IPL team. Pune and Kochi joined the current eight teams from the fourth season of IPL to be held in 2011. On March 22, 2010 Sahara group bought Pune IPL team for  1,702 crore. The  Videocon  Group lost the bid for the Pune IPL Team. The team logo has a spear wielding warrior riding a stallion,with the teams name next to it. [3]  The team colour is Turquoise blue and Silver [2012 Season]. .[4]  They kept their name Sahara Pune Warriors but later changed it to Pune Warriors India . TVS Motors  is the principal sponsor for the Pune Warriors India who have also signed  Adidas  as their official apparel sponsor for the upcoming season of  IPL.

Effects Conflicts On Growth And Development Of Businesses Politics Essay

Effects Conflicts On Growth And Development Of Businesses Politics Essay Conflict is an open clash between two opposing groups (or individuals). Conflict is actual or perceived opposition of needs, values and interests, Conflict has serious implications for development in countries affected by it, not only in terms of the difficulty of implementing development policies, but also because it leads to more poverty and lower growth, which are very serious root causes of conflict. Conflict between the Mamprusi and Kusasi ethnic groups is long-standing over some decades and has resulted in sporadic and recurrent outbreaks of serious violence resulting in destruction of property and death on many occasions. Indeed the Bawku conflict brought into play a complex matrix of structural and contingent factors that makes the disaggregating of the events particularly difficult. Hostilities between the Kusasi and Mamprusi is probably as old as the state of Mamprugu itself, since the town of Pusiga, less than ten miles distant from Bawku, was one of the first stopping places for the band of invaders who established the Mamprusi Kingdom. Most recently, in December 2001, violence broke out following a dispute between a Kusasi and a Mamprusi at a lotto kiosk in the Sabongari section of the town. Subsequent tit-for-tat attacks led to at least 29 deaths and 36 serious injuries in the month of December alone. The area in which the conflict occurred is ethnically heterogeneous and has one of the lowest income (80% living in extreme poverty) and literacy (26.3% of adults functionally literate) rates in the country. It is a relatively densely populated area with over 100 residents per kilometer. There is relatively strong religious (66%) and ethnic (64%) attachment by the populace. Voter consciousness is high and party affiliation (NDC, NPP and PNC) strong with 2000 voter registration figures of 95 per cent. (Source:2000 population and housing reports) Additionally simmering disputes over the Bawku skin have persisted for years. A number of the protagonists have been brought before the courts, but to date no credible insights have been gained into the motivation for and execution of the attacks. A frequently cited study by Christian Lund provides further information concerning the history of conflict in recent decades, including overlapping issues of land ownership, ethnicity, chieftaincy an d others, including the unresolved issue of the Bawku skin (signifying entitlement to the throne); The skin is the symbol of chiefly authority in northern Ghana, equivalent to the stool in the south. It symbolizes the chieftaincy and the throne. When a chief is enskinned, he is seated on the skin of an ox sacrificed for the occasion. In normal parlance, chiefs who are forced to abdicate are de-stooled, not de-skinned. Bawku has a long history as a flashpoint town in Ghana. In 2001, at least 28 people were killed there when factions clashed in another battle apparently sparked by a relatively small crime, the destruction of a small shop. The international human rights group Amnesty International has expressed concern about the lack of political will to solve the crisis. The group said in a statement that the failure to resolve the conflict stems from a game of hurt no one in order to win all votes. An interview with the business community in Bawku revealed that some businessmen and women from Bawku have re-located their businesses to other parts of the region notably Bolgatanga and Zebilla. While some traders felt secure doing business in Bawku, others said they did not, citing the general insecurity and the decline in commercial activities as their reasons. The decline in business is further reflected in the assemblys revenue mobilization.   It collected 507.2 million cedis as against an estimated revenue target of 749.3 million cedis at the end of December 2001. The District Co-ordinating Director, Mr. Ibrahim Alhassan attributed the assemblys plight to looting of its coffers by revenue collectors in the wake of the conflict last December. Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) seeking to bring peace to the area have been organising seminars, dialogues and brokered peace accords endorsed by the two main factions, the Kusasis and Mamprusis. This years United Nations (UN) day for peace and reconciliation was specially dedicated to Bawku to get the people to appreciate the need for peace the area. Advocates for peace in the area have suggested the combination of extensive military tactics to retrieve arms and diplomacy and education to bringing lasting peace to the area. 1.2 STUDY AREA INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW OF THE MUNICIPALITY LOCATION AND SIZE Bawku Municipality is one of the nine districts and municipalities in the Upper East Region of Ghana. It is located approximately between latitudes 11o 111 and 10o 401North and longitude 0o 181W and 0o 61E in the north-eastern corner of the region. The municipality has a total land area of about 1215.05 sq km. It shares boundaries with Burkina Faso, the Republic of Togo, Bawku West District and Garu Tempane District to the north, east, west and south respectively. The Bawku Municipal Assembly was established by LI 1738, 2004. LEADERSHIP OF THE ASSEMBLY Hon. A. A. Awuni Presiding Member Hon. MusahAbdulai Municipal Chief Executive Mr. P. K. Kuupol Municipal Coordinating Director LOCAL ENVIRONMENT LAND COVERAGE AREA The Municipality has a total land area of about 1215.05 sq km. CLIMATIC CONDITIONS As with the whole of the Upper East Region, Bawku Municipality is part of the interior continental climatic zone of the country characterized by pronounced dry and wet seasons. The two seasons are influenced by two oscillating air masses. First is the warm, dusty and dry harmattan air mass which blows from the north easterly direction across the whole municipality from the Sahara Desert. During the period of its influence (late November early March) rainfall is entirely absent, vapour pressure is very low (less than 10 mm) and relative humidity rarely exceeds 20% during the day but may rise to 60% during the nights and early mornings. Temperatures are usually modest at this time of the year by tropical standards (26 0c 28 0c). May to October marks the wet season. During this period, the whole of the West African sub-region including Bawku Municipality is under the influence of a deep tropical maritime air mass. This air mass together with rising conviction currents, provide the Municipality with rains. The total rainfall amounts to averagely 800m per annum. A striking characteristic of the rainfall worth noting is the extreme variability and reliability both between and within seasons. Another striking characteristic is the large quantity of rain water normally lost through evapo-transpiration from open water surfaces. An estimate of the volume of rain water loss varies from 1.55mm to 1.65mm per annum. POPULATION CHARACTERISTICS The estimated total population of Bawku Municipality is 205,849. Its population density is 169 persons per square kilometer. The population of the Municipality constitutes about twenty percent of the Upper East Regions population and 0.99 percent of the Nations population. The population is 20 percent urban and 80 percent rural. The dependency ratio is 1:1:25. About 55 percent of the population is outside the working group which constitutes a stress on the working population. Household sizes in the Municipality are fairly large like it pertains in most parts of the country. According to the 2000 population census report, on the average there are seven persons per household. Though these large households could mean availability of labour, it has some financial implication in terms of feeding, healthcare, education, clothing etc.The large number of household therefore constitute economic burden. POPULATION GROWTH RATE The population growth rate of the Municipality is 1.1. ETHNIC GROUPINGS The predominant tribes in the Municipality are Kusasis, Mamprusis, Bissas and Moshies with Kusasis forming the majority followed by Mamprusis. However, there are quite a number of migrants from other parts of the country, especially the south (most of whom are civil servants) and the neighbouring countries like Togo and Burkina Faso. Ethnic heterogeneity has had implications for harmony in the Municipality. In the very recent past, there have been sporadic violent ethnic clashes between the Kusasis and Mamprusis. It is expected however, that inter-marriages among the diverse ethnic groupings will provide the impetus for peaceful co-existence. The predominant languages spoken in the municipality are Kusal, Mampruli, Bissa and Moli. There are however quite a number of other languages spoken in the Municipality including Hausa, Ga, Gurune, and Twi. EDUCATION Education and literacy provide the opportunity for individuals to participate in a wider job market. In the Municipality, the standard of education is generally low as compared to that of the nation as a whole. Though the Municipality has seen a lot of interventions in the construct ion of new school buildings, many schools are still accommodated in dilapidated structures with some children still receiving lessons under tress and unclouded pavilions. Senior High School (SHS):- The Municipality has two (2) SHS, one Technical Institute, a Vocational Institute, Teacher Training College and a Nurses Training College. These institutions are opened to not only the Bawku Municipality but to the whole of Upper East Region and beyond. HEALTH The Municipal Health Management Team (MHMT) is headed by the Municipal Director of Health Services, assisted by Medical Assistants, Senior Nurses and Technical staff. Health care in the Municipality is provided through hospitals, health Centres, CHPS Centres and private clinics. 1.3 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM Conflicts are seen as a serious problem in our Ghanaian community and the world at large. The predominant types of conflicts in Ghana are so-called Chieftaincy Conflicts, which are centred on the chieftaincy institution. Relatively, the institution has survived the impositions of both the colonial and the post-colonial regimes that have included them within the boundaries of the modern states (see Nukunya (1992, 77-78). A country that has experienced many major developmental programmes undoubtedly is contingent on peace and stability. However, regardless of all this serious conflict-free campaigns, the bawku municipality in the upper east region of Ghana is still saddled with series of conflicts which posses so many threats on life and properties. People have ascertained that the root cause of the conflict lies on the fact that dubious and unscrupulous people in the area want to use the unsecured nature of the area to intentionally cause fear and panic in other to rob people off their properties. Secondly others are Also of the view that the conflicts dwells largely on chieftaincy. Notwithstanding, others still ascertain that their differences in political ideologies, farmlands, celebration of festivals, the unable ness on the part of the Mamprusis to have their damba festival celebrated and as well perform the funeral of the late Naba Calipha among others are the cause of the conflict in the municipality which leaves in its wake hunger and poverty. Generally, Chieftaincy disputes erupt when there are two or more rival claimants to a vacant à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾stoolà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸ or à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾skinà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸, the symbols of kingship or chieftaincy in the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾traditionalà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸ state. The rival claimants to such traditional authority may either belong to different ethnic groups or to different lineages of the founding family. These are exacerbated by direct as well as discreet political interventions in chieftaincy affairs. For instance, when governments support loyal claimants to chieftaincy positions against less amenable ones has led to tensions between traditional rulers and government officials on the one hand, and between rival claimants to chieftaincy positions on the other hand. So too have attempts by wealthy pretenders to gain the position on the basis of wealth and influence in society. Currently, it is estimated that there are over 100 chieftaincy conflicts in Ghana, centred on ethnicity, succ ession to traditional political office and the struggle over land (Tsikata and Seini, 2004; 25). In Ghana, the struggle to become a Chief may turn violent: when the historical, political, economic and social circumstances around the establishment of the chieftaincy institution in a traditional state become contested; when the rules of succession become unclear; when successive national governments and political parties support one group against the other in a bid to serve their own parochial political interest; and when there are small and light weapons available to the factions in the dispute. However, though chieftaincy conflicts are largely localized (as the disputes occur within the boundaries of the traditional state), and the associated violence hardly spills over into neighbouring traditional states, the conflicts social, political and economic ripples become felt beyond the conflict zone. Conflict has serious implications on development in countries affected by it, not only in terms of the difficulty of implementing development policies, but also because it leads to more poverty and lower growth, loss of lives, damage to properties, displacement of families, slows down development, among others. The puzzling question remains as to the effects, consequences, and what should be done to eliminate or mitigate the impact of it in our societies these days. It is against this background that the researcher seeks to determine the root cause and its effects on life, property and suggest ways of bringing peaceful resolution and settlement in the conflict prone areas in the Bawku municipality. 1.4 Objectives and Aims This study is about how chieftaincy conflicts can impact on the peace and socio-economic development and growth of businesses, Individuals, localities and countries. GENERAL OBJECTIVE The main objective is to examine the effects of conflicts on the growth and development of businesses in the Bawku Municipality as well as to make recommendations to policy makers on the way forward. SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES: To examine the effects of the chieftaincy conflict on economic activities (commerce, agriculture and industry). To examine the effects of the violence on livelihoods of people: seen in terms of the household poverty and employment opportunities. Governance in terms of revenue collection and expenditure on security. To determine the effects of the conflicts on health and education. To make recommendations on how the conflict can be resolved/managed peacefully on a permanent basis. 1.5 RESEARCH QUESTION Is chieftaincy a possible cause of the conflict in the bawku municipality? Does ownership of farmlands form part of the causes of the conflict in the municipality? 1.6 Significance of the Study My research on the effects of the Bawku chieftaincy conflict seeks to present empirical evidence that communal violence negatively affects the socio-economic development of local communities where they take place. This research will investigate the effects of the perennial violence in Bawku on the ability of the Municipal Assembly, the Local Council and the people of the area as a whole to mobilize resources to improve their well being. Apart from contributing to the knowledge base on effects of conflict, this research will provide a basis for policy making towards resolving and managing communal (ethnic and chieftaincy) conflicts 1.7 SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE STUDY: This research is expected to cover a period of one year and the associated limitations will be: Financial constraints/difficulties to be able to cover the required people and place. Inadequate and not straightforward answers or response from respondents is eminent or likely. Risky to venture into homes of respondents who were/are badly affected as it reminds them of their unfortunate and unplanned past memories. Answers/response will not be objective as respondents are/will be giving responses to favour their faction at the expense of the other faction. LITERATURE REVIEW 2. 0 Conflict has serious implications for development in countries affected by it, not Only in terms of the difficulty of implementing development policies, but also because it Leads to more poverty and lower growth, which are very serious root causes of conflict. Chronic conflicts continue to exist and to devastate the lives and economies of the People in the affected countries (and, to a lesser extent, on non-conflict-affected Countries). Naturally, this has created a precarious and unpredictable Environment that has not been conducive to fostering economic activities. Ongoing incidents of violence since 2008 seem to indicate similarly localised and minor disputes can become the basis for inter-group conflict on a larger scale. There are quite a few published works on the effects of conflicts on development in Ghana in general, but none on the effects of the Bawku chieftaincy conflict on the growth and development of businesses in the bawku Municipality. Recent literature on conflicts in Ghana has concentrated on the inter-ethnic and intra ethnic conflicts, since these are the dominant causes of conflicts in the country. A governance deficiencyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸ has been cited by some of these works as the cause of the recurring ethnic and communal violence in many parts of Ghana. (Akwetey, 1996: Lund, 2003: Jonsoon, 2007). Akwetey for instance argues that the absence of adequate democratic institutions is to blame for the recurring violence. Avenues for expressing interest and demands are non-existent. Christian Lund (2003), in an analysis of the longstanding ethno-political conflict between the Kusasi and the Mamprusi in Bawku, has argued that the politicisation of the Bawku conflict has affected government efforts to resolve the conflict. He asserts that a wide range of political- including party-political- and economic competition over chieftaincy, land, markets, names of places and other issues are cut to fit the ethnic distinction as conflicts over rights and prerogatives are rekindled accounting for the perennial violence. According to Julia Jonsson (2007), in a crises working on Traditional leadership and ethnic conflicts in Northern Ghana, asserts that the link between development and conflict in the region, exist on different practical levels: In the actors discourse in the socio-economic grievances they perceive as important in the causation of the conflict, through the effects of the fighting. She concludes that conflicts have disrupted the development of the region: destroyed its resources and development projects. Moreover, according to Kusimi, et al. (2006), in a paper on conflicts in Northern Ghana, have expressed the view that violent clashes in that part of the country affect economic development (destruction of farms and produce; prevents cultivation of lands; disrupt economic activities; discourage investment, labour flow and tourism) (see also Brukum, 2007). They also assert that conflicts in the region affect educational levels and divert governments attention from tackling pressing national issues relating to development, to restoring peace and order. In an article on the Guinea Fowl War of 1994 in the Northern Region, Emmy Toonen (1999) asserts that the conflict affected inter-ethnic co-operation in the region. Though the situation has improved, she claims that the Konkomba are still too afraid to enter Tamale, the regional capital where the Dagomba are the majority. She also claims that medical and educational facilities in the region were also affected. Security has a direct impact on the levels of investment. The violence associated with the chieftaincy conflict in the Bawku municipality affects investments in the different sectors of the municipal economy. I present the data on the effects, sector by sector. Agriculture: The violence resulting from the chieftaincy conflict adversely affects production, marketing and investment in agriculture, the dominant economic activity in the Bawku municipality. During outbreak of violence in the Municipality, farmers, especially those engaged in the cultivation of perishable foodstuffs such as watermelons and onions suffer heavy losses. Watermelons and onions are cultivated by irrigation and need constant tendering. When violence breaks out, most farmers are forced to abandon their crops because they fear being either attacked or because of the curfew instituted by the government/security apparatus. Furthermore, the transportation networks are also disrupted during violent clashes and farmers are unable to transport their foodstuff to the market places. These results in the foodstuffs getting rotten on the farms, the markets are deprived of these produce, scarcity sets in while their prices soar in the Municipality and the country as a whole. Commerce: Commerce, the second most important economic activity in the Bawku municipality, has also been negatively affected by the chieftaincy conflict. The officials from the Municipal Assembly asserted that, commercial activities as a whole is negatively affected by the perennial violence in the Municipality. The Assembly finds it very difficult to attract potential investors. Such activities as looting, robbery and the general lawlessness, which bring businesses to a standstill during violent clashes, scare away potential investors. The officials also cited the out migration of business people to other parts of the country as a direct effect of the perennial violence in the Municipality. Restricted movement, disruptions in businesses, the loss of capital through burning of houses and shops, and limited and selective business transactions (this means that people will normally not do business with members of the other side, this limits the market available to each trader) were all cited by various respondents as effects of the violence which are disincentives to business in the Municipality. Amidst these chaos and confusions and the general instability in the municipality pragmatic efforts have been put in place to take of the problem of which a few of those as have been kept in place by the central government and the leadership of the municipality are as seen below; A number of security measures have been put in place to respond to the perennial violence from the chieftaincy conflict and to reassure people to go about their normal daily lives without fear. Some of these measures include the stationing of a rapid response Air-Borne Force and a significantly larger police force in the Municipality. These measures mean that central government and the municipal authorities have had to channel more resources into maintaining the military and police presence. The Municipal Assembly spends GH ¢25037 every month on the Air-Borne Forces (source; municipal chief executive). In addition, the municipal assembly pays their communication, health, and fuel bills. Some other steps towards mitigating this conflict and its influence in our society, businesses and the world at as suggested by (source; Emmanuel bombande-executive member of wanepb) are as follows; (a) the need for effective dialogue by the various stakeholders; (b) the equal distribution of farmlands and other resources; (c) the rightful à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾ownersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸ should be allowed to occupy the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¾Skinà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸; (d) political parties should stop interfering in the chieftaincy conflict; (e) the Regional House of Chiefs or the National House of Chiefs are the appropriate authorities to resolve the conflict; and (f) the need for education and understanding. Some pessimists who enjoy pleasure in war argue that the conflict cannot be resolved and suggested that the two sides should be allowed to fight until one faction emerges victorious and asserts dominance 3.0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY INTRODUCTION The researcher will base his methodology on the following: Population of the area Sampling design Sampling techniques Data collection techniques Population of the area The estimated total population of Bawku Municipality is 205,849. Its population density is 169 persons per square kilometer. The population of the Municipality constitutes about twenty percent of the Upper East Regions population and 0.99 percent of the Nations population. The population is 20 percent urban and 80 percent rural. The dependency ratio is 1:1:25. About 55 percent of the population is outside the working group which constitutes a stress on the working population. Household sizes in the Municipality are fairly large like it pertains in most parts of the country. According to the 2000 population census report, on the average there are seven persons per household. Though these large households could mean availability of labour, it has some financial implication in terms of feeding, healthcare, education, clothing etc.The large number of household therefore constitute economic burden. POPULATION GROWTH RATE The population growth rate of the Municipality is 1.1. Sampling design The researcher will use an interview process and personal observation in gathering the information. Interview is a personal or one on one interaction between an interviewer and his targeted respondents on an issue where the interviewer has a predetermined motive whereas observation is the personal foresight of how things will go like. Sampling techniques The researcher will use simple random sampling where respondents from both factions will have equal chance of being selected for questioning. Data collection techniques The researcher will use the primary data in gathering his information. With the primary data, the researcher gathers his information through personal encounter and observation of the situation.

What I did While Your Children Attended High School Essay -- Personal

What I did While Your Children Attended High School    My education began formally, with lunch boxes and purple ditto sheets. I was set free when I was seven -- not just from the school building, but from the notion that I could learn only what was given me to learn, when the powers-that-were deemed I should learn it. Since then, I have been the power-that-is, designing my schooling around my own interests. (The audience is much more receptive this way). That's not to say I've avoided subjects crucial to a well-rounded education, but if I wanted to spend six months studying the Arthurian cycle, I did; and if I wanted to race through algebra as fast as my calculator could compute, I did that, too. I did not take tests, I did not receive grades, I did not whittle down what I was studying until it fit into a traditional subject offered in high school.    Most colleges use high school transcripts to see what prospective students have been doing the last four years of their lives. Here is what I've been doing:    As a volunteer for the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, I worked initially in areas normally staffed by teens, but quickly moved to temporary-exhibit galleries, where touring exhibits from across the nation are featured. I've been involved in several special projects, including building exhibits for area libraries. I co-chaired the advisory committee, which oversees and guides the teen volunteer program. I also served on the activity committee, where I helped put together museum tours (Fort Worth has a unique concentration of museums, with four in a one mile radius), lock-ins, and trips to Shakespeare in the Park. Though I am now a graduate of the program, I still attend meetings as an advi... ...in the workshops was much more valuable than the contacts I made, though they, too, are sure to serve me throughout my life.    Meanwhile, I took theater classes (Shakespeare, Commedia dell'Arte, and Greek tragedy studies) and performed in several productions, including A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. My behind-the-scenes work includes properties management and soundboard operation.    I also worked with my father this summer in his furniture shop. Though I'd collaborated with him often on furniture designs and drawn many of the projected finished pieces for customers, I'd never been a part of the actual production before. My months with him were mind-expanding and helped me develop a concept of art in multiple dimensions.    . . . And everyone said I'd be missing so much if I didn't attend high school.   

Opal Koboi in Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer :: essays research papers

In the book â€Å"Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident† by Eoin Colfer there is a very intelligent pixie named Opal Koboi. She has an IQ of over 300 which means that she is a certified genius. She appears as a villain in The Arctic Incident and in The Opal Deception (third book in this series). She is the rightful owner of Koboi Labs which designs and creates the majority of the LEPrecon’s (Lower Element Police recon group) equipment. Throughout the time where she was creating all of their stuff she was making it all so she could remotely sabotage it. Opal Koboi is extremely smart. Throughout the book she is proving herself more and more intelligent. She has a plan to takeover Haven City and to do so she hires the B’wa Kell Goblin Triad to assist her. Hiring this gang was a very smart move on her part. The members of the B’wa Kell Goblin Triad are very well known as smugglers. They’ve been illegally smuggling with the mud people (what the people call humans) for the longest time. To smuggle with the mud people is a very dangerous and forbidden thing because if the mud people find a way to the underground towns of the people (basically what any mystical creature in this series call themselves) it would be destroyed. In the beginning of the book Holly Short and her partner have a run in with them and get attacked. It was a smart move because of how sneaky and sly they are. Another example of how intelligent she is, is when she was sent to a mental hospital. Towards the end of the book she is sent to a mental hospital because of her insane plot to capture Haven City. While she is there, really wanting to escape, she is able to make a clone of herself, which took her place, so she could escape. She is also a character that has very realistic problems. She is a very crazy character. After being rescued by the Brill Brothers she became both paranoid and bipolar. She also started having fits of anger. After she escaped she just kept getting crazier and crazier. Opal became so paranoid that she made rules that her pixie enforcers had to follow. There was a rule that no one could look directly at her because she thought that it would be bad for her skin.

Macbeth and its Unbelievable Lady :: Macbeth essays

Macbeth and its Unbelievable Lady      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In William Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth which character is more imaginatively created than that of Lady Macbeth? Can a lady actually think in this manner without being called insane. We examine the various dimensions of her character in this paper.    In Fools of Time: Studies in Shakespearean Tragedy, Northrop Frye shows that Lady Macbeth is the driving force behind her husband, who resolves to "get with it" in the future:    That Macbeth is being hurried into a premature act by his wife is a point unlikely to escape the most listless member of the audience, but Macbeth comes to regret the instant of fatal delay in murdering Macduff, and draws the moral that    The flighty purpose never is o'ertook Unless the deed go with it. From this moment The very firstlings of my heart shall be The firstlings of my hand.    That is, in future he will try to attain the successful ruler's spontaneous rhythm of action. (91)    In his book, On the Design of Shakespearean Tragedy, H. S. Wilson describes the role of Lady Macbeth:    It requires an extraordinary exertion of will and persuasion from Lady Macbeth to strengthen his wavering purpose. Professor Kittredge used to point out to his classes that Lady Macbeth, in urging Macbeth to act, uses the three arguments that every wife, some time or other, uses to every husband: "You promised me you'd do it!" "You'd do it if you loved me!" "If I were a man, I'd do it myself!" But Macbeth's mind is made up by her assurance that they may do it safely by fixing the guilt upon Duncan's chamberlains. (72)    In "Macbeth as the Imitation of an Action" Francis Fergusson specifies the fears within Lady Macbeth:      I do not need to remind you of the great scenes preceding the murder, in which Macbeth and his Lady pull themselves together for their desperate effort. If you think over these scenes, you will notice that the Macbeths understand the action which begins here as a competition and a stunt, against reason and against nature. Lady Macbeth fears her husband's human nature, as well as her own female nature, and therefore she fears the light of reason and the common dayllight world. As for Macbeth, he knows from the first that he is engaged in an irrational stunt: "I have no spur / To prick the sides of my intent, but only / Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself / And falls on the other.

A Remarkable Person Out of Class

A Remarkable Person Out of Class Mr. Lo is a remarkable person because of his engaging personality and his dedication to his job. Mr. Lo is the best supervisor I have ever had. He really cares about students in the cram school not just for the money. Lo is not only a supervisor but also a combination of teacher and friend for students. He always encourages students to study hard not only in class but by sending text messages. Although his cell phone is too old to send messages to everyone at one time he still sends all greeting messages to every student in holidays one by one.Mr. Lo has worked in education institution for decades therefore he knows the common problems that high school students may have. Moreover, he is a wise and reliable man so students are willing to share their personal problems with him. He always gives students useful advice and helps them solve the problems they encounter. One thing that impresses me the most is that Lo gets along with students well no matter h ow good or how poor their grades are. I think he treats some so-called â€Å"bad students† as his own son.He asks some students to live with him on weekends six months before the entering exam for university in order to make them study and motivate them. Besides, he even makes midnight snacks for the students for example fried rice, noodles†¦and so on. To sum up, Mr. Lo is a remarkable person because he does his best to help students with their school work and personal life. Moreover; he cares about all his students and treats them equally. That is to say, he is the best supervisor I have ever had.

Corporate Governance Essay

In a commercial organisation, the board of directors is typically charged with the key responsibility for corporate governance – protecting the rights of shareholders and creditors, ensuring contractual obligations and regulatory compliance. In the public sector, the elected government is typically responsible for corporate governance, and in semi-government and statutory bodies like State Rail, Sydney Water, the Australian Broadcasting Authority, the University of NSW, etc – and in not- for-profit organisations – governments will usually mandate a body similar to a board of directors with the responsibility for corporate governance. What does corporate governance involve? In a recent article, Gomez & Korine (2005, pp. 739-752) propose that: Corporate governance can be understood as a set of contracts that defines the relationships among the three principal actors in the corporation. To simplify what this actually means, corporate governance is the set of relationships where: †¢A key stakeholder whom they refer to as the sovereign (in the case of commercial organisations this would be the shareholders; in the case of public sector agencies, the elected government; for not-for-profit organisations this is often the ‘members’ or other key stakeholders as defined by legislation) †¢sets in place a governing body (eg, board, council, senate, etc) with responsibility for overseeing the actions of the governer (management, staff, employees, volunteers, players, etc) Increasingly, societies and governments are reacting to a rapidly changing world surrounding them, and modifying the regulations affecting ‘corporate governance’ accordingly. The numbers and interests of stakeholders who are affected by the actions of organisations is expanding. Organisations are being seen to impact on: the economy the natural environment society through opportunities for work and employment conditions of work family life, etc Consequently, there are increasingly complex expectations placed on organisations of all sizes to consider and take responsibility for decisions and actions beyond simply their ‘money making’ or other purposes and goals. Corporate governance covers a large number of distinct concepts and phenomenon as we can see from the definition adopted by Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) – â€Å"Corporate governance is the system by which business corporations are directed and controlled. The corporate governance structure specifies the distribution of rights and responsibilities among different participants in the corporation, such as, the board, managers, shareholders and other stakeholders and spells out the rules and procedures for making decisions in corporate affairs. By doing this, it also provides the structure through which the company objectives are set and the means of attaining those objectives and monitoring performance†1. From this definition we see that corporate governance includes the relationship of a company to its shareholders and to society; the promotion of fairness, transparency and accountability; reference to mechanisms that are used to â€Å"gov ern† managers and to ensure that the actions taken are consistent with the interests of key stakeholder groups. The key points of interest in corporate governance therefore include issues of transparency and accountability, the legal and regulatory environment, appropriate risk management measures, information flows and the responsibility of senior management and the board of directors. Harshbarger and Holden (2004) point out that while many of the governance issues that organizations face are not new, the environment in which they confront them is more challenging than ever: State and Federal law enforcement have applied significantly increased resources and a more aggressive philosophy toward confrontation of governance lapses; the media spotlight has increased awareness among those constituents directly affected as well as the business community as a whole; shareholder proposals are taken more seriously; and the judiciary has demonstrated its willingness for a more stringent definition of good faith. As well, there are a number of factors that have brought ethical issues into sharper focus, including globalization, technology and rising competition. Van Beek and Solomon (2004) also note the ability to deliver a professional service will necessarily take place in an environment in which there is an increasing tendency towards individuality, while society as a whole becomes more global. The new realities of corporate governance show that no entity or agent is immune from fraudulent practices and have altered the way companies operate; they have re-defined the baseline for what is considered prudent conduct for businesses and executives (Dandino, 2004). CORPORATE STRATEGY Strategy can be developed at many levels – in a multi-layered organisation there may be: †¢Corporate level strategy – decisions made for the whole corporation or organisation to gain the better of adversaries or attain ends. Business unit or divisional strategy – decisions made for the business unit or division to gain the better of adversaries or attain the business units end. Functional strategies – such as marketing/finance/huma n resources/IT/technology/ operational/production/etc. strategies. There would be marketing decisions (or finance or HR decisions, etc) designed to get the better of an adversary or attain a marketing/finance, etc, end. †¢So what do we mean by ends? Other terms that are frequently used here for the same concept are goals or missions or visions. Organisations typically have (or should have) a set of goals, desired outcomes or a view of their purpose (mission), or their future achievements and positions (visions) in mind. Ideally these are clearly articulated and understood by everyone in the organisation. When these ends (goals, mission, vision) are clearly understood, then the board, management, staff and partners of the organisation are able to ‘develop’ strategy to achieve these. What is a strategic plan? A plan, whether strategic, tactical, operational, marketing, finance – or whatever – is really just a set of decisions that have been captured in some form (document, web page, PowerPoint presentation, video, etc) that set out the answer to three key questions: 1. Where are we now? 2. Where are we going? 3. How will we get there? Accordingly, a plan is formed by: †¢analysing the existing and ex pected future trends and factors affecting the organisation/business unit, etc †¢setting down clear statements of the outcomes that will help to achieve the ends that the organisation has set itself (these statements of outcomes are commonly called objectives) †¢describing some tactics and actions that will lead to achieving the outcomes ETHICS IN A GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT The dawn of a global knowledge society with information-driven economies and expansion of cross-border trade as consequences of liberalization and globalization policy is placing new demands on business organizations for more innovative approaches in business ethics at both local as well as global business environment (Nissanke and Thorbecke, 2005). This premise is consistent with Brownlie et al. (1999) who indicate that; â€Å"What is it like to think new thoughts†¦ to undo the fragile web of assumption†¦ to render new images to the familiar†¦ to look anew at the world†¦ to see the ordinary and everyday from a fresh perspective?† Many research scholars today share this view and indicate that what they took for granted, assumed, believed and worked towards has been upended by those who argue that in order to ‘get it right’ in a global business environment, organizations must rethink their business ethics approach. Sheth and Sisodia (1999) also support this hypothesis by asserting that, the context of ethics in global business environment is changing in fundamental ways. The acceptance of law-like generalizations has to be, as they suggest, â€Å"Either enhanced or modified†. The old opinion of business ethics as â€Å"an oxymoron†, or that â€Å"business organizations do not have ethics† (Laczniak and Murphy, 1993) is being re-thought. The business ethics is increasingly being called into question from various quarters (Brownlie et al., 1999) and research scholars are developing the discipline in order to challenge the ethical complacency that existed in the past. Business ethics is ultimately the ethics of power, of how to handle the power of business and how that power is acquired, increased and exercised. The need for ethics in business has never been greater, precisely because the power of business was never so manifold and as extensive as it is today (Mahoney, 1997). The term ‘ethics’ has generally been used to refer to the rules and principles of right and wrong conduct. It therefore boils down to morality and good or bad conduct. Business ethics are a set of rules that stipulate how businesses and their employees ought to behave (Aldag and Stearns, 1991). DiPiazza (2002) says â€Å"I see ethics as a mission-critical issue†¦. deeply embedded into who we are and what we do. Its just as important as our product development cycle or our distribution system†¦its about creating a culture based on integrity and respect, not a culture based on dealing with the crisis of the day†¦We speak to ourselves every day, ‘Are we doing the right things?† Sheth, Gardner and Garret (1988) opine that ethical decision-making in a business environment is very complex, and that allegedly â€Å"guilty business practitioners have quite sincerely stated that they honestly did not realize that their actions could possibly create ethical problems†. Business organizations operating at international levels often find that many countries differ in what is considered wrong or right in a business market. IN TERMS OF SONY: ETHICS Ethical business conduct and compliance with applicable laws and regulations are fundamental aspects of Sony’s corporate culture. To this end, Sony has established a Global Compliance Network comprised of the Compliance Division at the corporate headquarters, a global compliance leadership team, and regional offices around the world; adopted and implemented the Sony Group Code of Conduct; and set up Compliance Hotline systems through its Global Compliance Network — all in order to reinforce the Company’s worldwide commitment to integrity and help assure resources are available for employees to raise concerns or seek guidance about legal and ethical matters. In July 2001, Sony Corporation established the Compliance Division, charged with exercising overall control over compliance activities across the Sony Group, to emphasize the importance of business ethics and compliance with applicable laws, regulations and internal policies. The Compliance establishes compliance policies and structures for the Sony Group and performs crisis management functions. In July 2003, Sony established a regional compliance network comprised of offices in the Americas, Europe, Japan, East Asia*1 and Pan-Asia,*2 which are charged with exercising regional control over compliance activities to strengthen the compliance system throughout the Sony Group. Officers responsible for compliance in each region have the authority to issue instructions concerning compliance to Sony Group companies in their respective regions and, by cooperating with one another, are working to establish and maintain a comprehensive global compliance structure. To further reinforce global compliance efforts, a Compliance Leadership Team was formed in September 2009 as an additional component of the global compliance organization. The Compliance Leadership Team assists the Sony Corporation General Counsel and Compliance Division in identifying, developing and implementing key compliance strategies and compliance-related measures; encourages more active participation in Group-wide compliance activities from a larger group of key Sony personnel by involving not only the Regional Compliance Officers but also experienced legal/compliance personnel from Sony Group companies; and creates a global framework that by its very structure highlights the company’s compliance priorities and commitment to best practices. *1Coverage area of East Asia compliance office: Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea *2Coverage area of Pan-Asia compliance office: Southeast Asia, Middle East, Africa and Oceania *3 The Americas Office is responsible for Sony Corporation of America, the Sony Pictures Entertainment Group, and the Sony Music Entertainment Group, in addition to the Electronics Group companies in the America ’s Region. The Sony Europe, East Asia and Pan-Asia Offices are responsible for the Electronics Group companies in their respective regions. The Japan Office is responsible for Sony Corporation, the Sony Computer Entertainment Group, and Sony Financial Holdings, in addition to the Electronics Group Companies in Japan CORPORATE GOVERNANCE: Sony is committed to strong corporate governance. As a part of this effort, in 2003, Sony adopted the â€Å"Company with Committees† corporate governance system under the Companies Act of Japan. In addition to complying with the requirements of applicable governance laws and regulations, Sony has introduced its own requirements to help improve the soundness and transparency of its governance by strengthening the separation of the Directors’ function from that of management and advancing the proper functioning of the statutory committees. Under Sony’s system, the Board of Directors defines the respective areas for which each of the Corporate Executive Officers is responsible and delegates to them decision-making authority to manage the business, thereby promoting the prompt and efficient management of the Sony Group. Sony Corporation is governed by its Board of Directors, which is appointed by resolution at the shareholders’ meeting. The Board has three committees (the Nominating Committee, Audit Committee and Compensation Committee), consisting of Directors named by the Board of Directors. Corporate Executive Officers are appointed by resolution of the Board of Directors. In addition to these statutory bodies and positions, Sony has Corporate Executives who carry out business operations within designated areas. Board of Directors: Determines the fundamental management policies of the Sony Group Oversees the management of Sony Group’s business operations Appoints and dismisses the statutory committee members Appoints and dismisses Representative Corporate Executive Officers and Corporate Executive Officers Nominating Committee: Determines the content of proposals regarding the appointment/dismissal of Directors Audit Committee: Monitors the performance of duties by Directors and Corporate Executive Officers (with respect to processes in place to ensure the adequacy of the financial reporting process, to enable management to ensure the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, to ensure timely and appropriate disclosure, and to ensure compliance with applicable law, Articles of Incorporation and internal policies). Monitors the status of any other items described in the â€Å"Internal Control and Governance Framework† determined or reaffirmed by the Board of Directors in accordance with the Companies Act of Japan. As part of its monitoring, attends the Nominating Committee and Compensation Committee meetings. Oversees and evaluates the work of the independent auditor (including to evaluate the adequacy of its independence and its qualification, to propose its appointment/dismissal or non-reappointment, to approve its compensation, to evaluate the appropriateness of its audit regarding the financial results and internal control over financial reporting, and to pre-approve its engagement for any services other than audit services to be provided) Prepares the Audit Committee Review Report in which the Audit Committee expresses its opinion on the performance of duties of Directors and Corporate Executive Officers, on the Business Report and on the independent auditor’s audit procedures and results based on its review activities including review of the matters subject to the Committee’s opinion in the Audit Committee Review Report. Compensation Committee: Sets policy on the contents of individual compensation for Directors, Corporate Executive Officers, Corporate Executives and Group Executives, and determines the amount and content of individual compensation of Directors and Corporate Executive Officers in accordance with the policy Corporate Executive Officers: Make decisions regarding the execution of Sony Group business activities within the scope of the authority delegated to them by the Board of Directors Corporate Executives: Carry out business operations within designated areas, including business units, h eadquarters functions, and/or research and development, in accordance with the fundamental policies determined by the Board of Directors and the Corporate Executive Officers