Balanced Scorecard Development

Abstract The balanced scorecard was introduced in 1992 as a performance measurement tool and has developed now to form a strategic management system. This paper uses eight articles, identified in Figure 1 along with extra materials to track and analyse developments in the design and implementation. The paper shows examples of the scorecard in practice and concludes that developments have been beneficial overall. It also highlights problems encountered along the way and further areas for improvement.For years managers have used financial measures to monitor performance however a study carried out in 1990 led to the development of the first generation balanced scorecard (BSC); a strategic planning and management system. By including financial and operational measures,it solved the issue that managers were beginning to reject financial measures during the 1980s and 1990s (Letza, 1996). The BSC originated analysing four perspectives; customer, internal, learning and financial,with focus driven by four questions shown in Figure 2.The BSC encouraged managers to focus on few critical measures to prevent complexity and information overload, however ensured several areas were looked at simultaneously as organisations became more complex (Kaplan & Norton, 1992). Choice around the measures allows adaptability and flexibility when using the model. This is vital in order to keep up with global competition and the ever changing environment. Companies must acknowledge this flexibility and as their strategy changes, so must the measures to stay in line with overall aims. The introduction of the BSC coincided with the recession in the 1980’s and 1990’s.Therefore companies will have been more enthusiastic about performance measurement and seen this as a good way to track progress towards strategy, growth and profit. Today, 20 years on, the core perspectives have stayed with the individual measures being adapted and perspectives added depending on the companyâ€℠¢s strategic goals. The BSC has evolved from a performance measurement tool enforced by few, to a strategic management tool used worldwide; with the main developments being ‘driven primarily by observed weaknesses in the design process rather than in the architecture of the original idea’ (Cobbold&Lawrie, 2002).Financial measures were satisfactory for the industrial era however adapting to change in skills and competencies allowed the scorecard to produce ‘richer and more relevant information about activities they are managing than is provided by financial measures alone’ (Cobbold&Lawrie, 2002). No individual measure produces adequate information to plan. When planning a journey, the objective is to get from one point to another with lots of dials producing information on the likelihood of succeeding. The fuel gage alone doesn't set the scene however collectively the measures allow a judgements and decisions to be made.For example, to increase the likelihoo d of success you may add more oil or fuel. In business with the objective to boost sales you may increase quality and therefore sales. Introducing operational measures to performance measurement, allows these factors be monitored as the drivers of future financial performance. As the number of measures is limited, companies must identify the factors that are key performance drivers in order to achieve successful implementation. With the first generation scorecard, very little was known about the implementation of the BSC.This meant companies were not gaining the full effects of improved performance. ‘What you measure is what you get’ (Kaplan ;Norton, 1992). Therefore if you measure things that have no influence, directly or indirectly to profitability and growth then it will be impossible to improve. Hence the measures must be in line with a company’s strategic objectives. Kaplan and Nortonintroduced the four processes for managing strategy shown in Figure 3 to e mphasise the need for the BSC to be linked to strategy, but there was no clarity to the importance and effect of this.Many would have good measures in place such as customer satisfaction but would not analyse this further to improve profitability, therefore a wasted opportunity as there was no real vision of making it happen. The design however, was taken on successfully by many companies as it brought everything together in one clear report. Words were kept minimal and visual aids were used to represent and explain measures. This proved effective as few words paint huge pictures, and people are designed to accept pictures and often remember these better.The BSC also looks at the whole organisation as opposed to separate departments therefore bringing all silos together. Many organisations have individual cultures within each silo and therefore departments are often driven towards targets at departmental level as opposed to overall corporate objectives. Therefore it is crucial that all measures are monitored to ensure that the targets are met through the right objectives, and not at the expense of another. For example the production department may increase productivity leading to more sales and potentially higher profits however the quality may slack causing customer satisfaction to fall.This could cause reputational damage leading customers to go to competitors who offer higher quality. The second generation scorecard expanded on this highlighting filtering and clustering as areas of concern. This took the BSC from the measurement system to an integrated management system while still focussing on strategy and performance drivers. Often this involved relating measures to key performance indicators. The second generation scorecard introduced strategic objectives and developed causality further.This development addressed the issue of an ‘inability to link a company’s long-term strategy with its short term actions’ (Kaplan ; Norton, 1996). Add ing phrases to the four perspectivesallowed companies to select measures around their strategic vision. This selection method provided more thoroughness and made implementation clearer and more defined. Causality was included in the first generation scorecard with the four statements shown in Figure 4 but the second generation developed this by indicating relationships between the measures across the perspectives shown in Figure 5; as opposed to just vague links between the perspectives.This increased the urge to ‘prove’ links (Kaplan ; Norton, 1996). This could have been bad for companies as employees may have tried to link movements in the performance measures that weren’t related trying to show one as the causation of one another; simply to reach targets. This would be more common when financial rewards were linked to performance. Even with this is mind, the linkage model became an important part of the BSC design. Introduction of software reporting systems im proved managers’ ability to react with fast diagnosis and quick interventions when problems occurred.The early software provided by AT;T, and later by companies including IBM; used email and diary programs to fasten this process. Software caused confusion as many believed it would enable design and implementation of the BSC. However, it is performance management software to use after implementation to ensure performance information gets ‘to the right people at the right time’ (Balanced Scorecard Institute, 2013). As it allowed data to be stored, objectives could be allocated to owners and measures to objectives; allowing managers to make historical comparisons to measure performance accurately over time.It also helped communicate the information effectively and enforced more control and organisation. Some packages allow performance to be measured and tracked at departmental level, project level or the organisation as a whole. This only works if there is strategic alignment throughout the hierarchy. Organisations can then narrow down the specific areas that are underperforming in order to increase focus to improve or divest that part. Although the software has many benefits some find it ‘difficult to adapt to the needs of a growing and dynamic company’ (IBM, 2013).Hence, many prefer to use self-developed software however it sometimes lacks required functions and solutions to the cause and effect; as the specialist skills are not there to develop the program. Difficulties still arose in selecting relevant measures and target setting due to conflicting thoughts amongst management. There was also difficulty communicating the linkage model to lower level staff if they did not already have knowledge of the model. This could cause problems when trying to motivate teams as there will be different interpretations of aims and targets; therefore employees working towards different goals.The late 1990’s saw the third generation and the development of the destination statement (Figure 6) in order to achieve clarification through checking the measures, objectives and targets selected. The destination statement is a form of ‘what if’ analysis that brought the tool closer to company strategy, it's management and implementation. By estimating quantified amounts of consequences and achievementsfor a set future period; companies could easily compare actual achievements to targets and benchmark against others externally, in the case it was to stick with objectives from the linkage model.For example the destination statement would predict a rate of customer satisfaction for 3 years that you could check back against annually. This will identify under achievements, perhaps where you can enhance quality to boost satisfaction; and over achievements where you can identify what successful policies to keep. Management teams could easily relate to the statement to communicate down the hierarchy in order to gain a single interpretation, as it did not include looking at complex strategic objectives. Therefore a reversal of design as it was seen as an early stage in the process, as opposed to the final,making selection of measures and ausality easier. Companies have proven success without financial measures. Svenska Handelsbanken, while not disclosing use of the BSC; have gone over thirty years with ‘no budgets, no absolute targets, and no fixed plans' but with specific performance measures in place (Daum, 2001). More recently, in 2003 a new CEO adopted the BSC for Lloyds TSB in order to ‘show employees how their actions impact their colleagues and customers and how this, in turn, translates into our overall performance’ (Lloyds TSB, 2013). This linked objectives of 80,000 employees, emphasizing the advantage of aligning the whole organisation.By involving employees at every level in some aspect of the process generates ‘acceptance of and commitment to the concept' (War d, 2005). Implementation proved successful to drive the company towards growth and away from being sales and cost driven, which had caused them to lose their strong market position. ‘The cause and effect chain of events’ was critical for them to see that would drive the revenue up as opposed to just a target of increased sales (Ward, 2005). As Lloyds are large and have overseas staff they could have faced technical and strategic challenges including cultural conflict and difficulties selecting measures.Companies with a diverse workforce should ensure they measure things that can be influenced and changed by employees. Lloyds also highlighted the point that implementation takes time and resources to ensure thoroughness. A tight deadline imposed ‘danger of completing the task while missing the goal’ (Ward, 2005). They recognized the importance employees understanding the concept before implementation so brought in a BSC specialist, who had worked closely with Kaplan and Norton to run seminars and lectures; in order to reduce this danger.Not only do employees need to understand the concept and accept the process; they should include feedback including how many employees see it as motivational and effective. If employees do not enjoy what they are doing they will be inclined to only meet targets and not excel further. The strong focus of the scorecard encourages companies to focus on what they really need to measure as opposed to what is easy to measure; resulting in all decisions being made around the strategy. The BSC changed the way people looked at performance measurement. Previously it was seen as a method to ontrol employees but the tool encourages targets in order for employees to work towards. The idea was that employees would adapt their behaviour accordingly to reach goals; hence giving them more freedom, motivation and involvement in the process. However, some may argue that the focus has shifted too far towards operational mat ters that there is not financial involvement. Adaptability should allow those companies to change to their needs. The BSC will vary for each company depending on how dynamic the industry is and what the individual aims and strategy include.Lloyds TSB added a fifth perspective as they felt it was a key driver to the company's strategic direction. Although there are BSC failures, the advances in the design have allowed more successful implementations over the years. There is now more knowledge and literature available because more companies have adopted this management tool; but more importantly there are significant successes documented for teams to learn from. With corporate social responsibility being so highly regarded nowadays due to greater awareness and regulation, modern scorecards have seen a fifth sub-perspective introduced; environment/external.This shows the broader impact on society than is indicated through the customer perspective; hence giving more in-depth analysis. A s long as the process is carefully planned, communicated and regularly monitored it should prove successful however there is always room for improvement with the uncertainty in the ever changing environment. The scorecard, instead of providing single destination outcomes could include risk and probabilities related to various possible outcomes.In conclusion, the economic environment is only going to become more dynamic but the last twenty years has proven that continuous developments should ensure the BSC is kept up to date in order to stay a useful management tool. Figure 1 – Main Articles Used Author| Title| Daum. J| Beyond Budgeting: A Model for Performance Management and Controlling in the 21st Century? | Cobbold. I ; Lawrie. G| The Development of the Balanced Scorecard as a Strategic Management tool| Kaplan. R ; Norton. D| The balanced scorecard – measures that drive performance| Kaplan. R ; Norton.D| Transforming the Balanced Scorecard from Performance Measuremen t to Strategic Management: Part 1| Kaplan. R ; Norton. D| Using the balanced scorecard as a strategic management system| Letza. S| The design and implementation of the balanced business scorecard| Schneiderman. A| Why Balanced Scorecards Fail| Ward. A| Implementing the Balanced Scorecard at Lloyds TSB| * Full references for the articles are shown in the reference list at the end of this paper* Figure 2 – Four Perspectives for Balanced Scorecard Perspective| Why? | Customer| â€Å"To achieve our vision, how should we appear to our customers? | Internal Business Process| â€Å"To satisfy our shareholders and customers, what business processes must we excel at? â€Å"| Learning and Growth| â€Å"To achieve our vision, how will we sustain our ability to change and improve? â€Å"| Financial| â€Å"To succeed financially, how should we appear to our shareholders? â€Å"| Figure 3 – The Balanced Scorecard Process Adapted from – Kaplan, R. S. and Norton, D. P. , Using the balanced scorecard as a strategic management system, Harvard Business Review, January-February 1996, 75-85. Available from: http://scholar. google. co. uk [Accessed 23 February 2013]Figure 4 – First Generation Balanced Scorecard Source – Antunes. G et al. , Process improvement measures in social area organisations: A study in institutions for elderly: survey results, The TQM Journal. Available from: http://www. emeraldinsight. com [Accessed 15 February 2013] Figure 5 – Second Generation Balanced Scorecard/Linkage Model Source – Cobbold, I. C. and Lawrie, G. J. G. , 2002. The Development of the Balanced Scorecard as a Strategic Management tool, 2GC Website. Available from: http://www. 2gc. co. uk [Accessed 19 February 2013] Figure 6 – Third Generation Balance Scorecard/Destination StatementAndersen. H. , Effective quality management through third-generation balanced scorecard, International Journal of Productivity and Performance Manageme nt, Available from: http://www. emeraldinsight. com [Accessed 21 February 2013] References Andersen. H. , Effective quality management through third-generation balanced scorecard, International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Available from: http://www. emeraldinsight. com [Accessed 21 February 2013] Antunes. G et al. , Process improvement measures in social area organisations: A study in institutions for elderly: survey results, The TQM Journal.Available from: http://www. emeraldinsight. com [Accessed 15 February 2013] Balanced Scorecard Institue, 2013. The Balanced Scorecard & Technology: Strategic Performance Management Automation. U. S. Balanced Scorecard Institute. Available from: http://www. bala ncedscorecard. org/software/balancedscorecardsoftware/tabid/61/default. aspx Balanced Scorecard Institue, 2013. What is the Balanced Scorecard. U. S. Balanced Scorecard Institute. Available from: http://www. balancedscorecard. org/bscresources/aboutthebalancedscore card/ tabid/55/default. aspx Cobbold, I. C. and Lawrie, G. J. G. , 2002.The Development of the Balanced Scorecard as a Strategic Management tool, 2GC Website. Available from: http://www. 2gc. co. uk [Accessed 19 February 2013] Daum, J. H. , Beyond Budgeting: A Model for Performance Management and Controlling in the 21st Century? , Controlling & finance, July 2002. Available from: http://scholar. google. co. uk [Accessed 4 March 2013] Drury, C. , 2008. Management and Cost Accounting. 7th Edition. London: Cengage Learning. IBM, 2013. Balanced Scorecard Software. U. S. IBM. Available From: http://www-01. ibm. com/ software/analytics/cognos/balanced-scorecard-software. tml IBM, 2013. Innovation Center. U. S. IBM. Available From: http://www-01. ibm. com/software/ data/cognos/innovation-center/advisors. html Kaplan, R. S. and Norton, D. P. , The balanced scorecard – measures that drive performance, Harvard Business Review, January-February 1992, 71-79. Available from: http://schola r. google. co. uk [Accessed 21 February 2013] Kaplan, R. S. and Norton, D. P. , Transforming the Balanced Scorecard from Performance Measurement to Strategic Management: Part 1, American Accounting Association Accounting Horizons, 15 (1), 75-85. Available from: http://scholar. google. co. k [Accessed 23 February 2013] Kaplan, R. S. and Norton, D. P. , Using the balanced scorecard as a strategic management system, Harvard Business Review, January-February 1996, 75-85. Available from: http://scholar. google. co. uk [Accessed 23 February 2013] Letza, S. , 1996. The design and implementation of the balanced business scorecard. Business Process Re-engineering & Mangement Journal, 2(3), 54-76. Available from: http://www. emeraldinsight. com [Accessed 15 February 2013] Lloyds Banking Group plc, 2009. Annual Report 2008. United Kingdom: Lloyds Banking Group plc. Available from: http://www. lloydsbankinggroup. om/investors/financial_performance/ company_results. asp#2007 Lloyds Banking Group plc, 2013. Performance Management. United Kingdom. Lloyds Banking Group plc. Available from: http://www. lloydstsb-annualreport. com/businessreview/our_people/ performance_management/ Schneiderman, A. M. , Why Balanced Scorecards Fail, Journal of Strategic Performance, January 1999, 6-11. Available from: http://scholar. google. co. uk [Accessed 6 March 2013] Ward, A. , Implementing the Balanced Scorecard at Lloyds TSB, Strategic HR Review, 4 (3), 16-19. Available from : http://www. emeraldinsight. com [Accessed 28 February 2013]

What You Pawn I Will Redeem Response Paper

â€Å"What You Pawn I Will Redeem† (Response Paper) â€Å"What You Pawn I Will Redeem† by Sherman Alexie is the story of the mission of the humorous character of Jackson Jackson. Jackson Jackson is a homeless Spokane Indian in search of money to repurchase the regalia that was stolen from his grandmother about 50 years ago. He embarks on a journey to collect 999 dollars, the amount of money the pawnbroker is willing to sell the regalia for. Throughout this journey, the humorous character of Jackson Jackson unravels to reveal a man of culture.Although Jackson has left Spokane to attend college in Seattle, his Indian culture remains an important part of him. He constantly speaks of his Indian beliefs, ways, and customs. In the opening sentence, Jackson immediately acknowledges that he is Indian and differentiates his race from â€Å"hungry white folks† (8). As the story progresses, he uses many other statements to distinguish his race; he explains that Indians â₠¬Å"don’t want to be perfect, because only God is perfect† (11). This distinctive Indian belief is used to prove that the regalia indeed belonged to his grandmother.Jackson’s culture also proves to play a substantial part in his decisions in regards to the money he needs for the regalia. Whenever he happens to gather a bit of money, it is always squandered almost immediately after, due to Jackson’s over-abundant sense of generosity. After winning one hundred dollars from a lottery ticket, he gives a fifth of it to Mary, the cashier in the Korean grocery store. At first, Mary refuses, but Jackson insists that it is, yet again, â€Å"an Indian thing† (18). His cultural sharing tendency also leads him to spend the remaining eighty dollars on whiskey shots for everyone at the bar.One can say that his decision was driven by alcoholism as well as ignorance, but the sense of family among those of his own race also impacted him when he decided that â€Å"[h e] and his cousins [were] going to be drinking eighty shots† (18). Clearly, Jackson’s Indian nationality not only distinguishes him from the white people of Seattle, but also makes a large impact on his actions and his decisions. Nevertheless, Jackson is not solely defined by his title of â€Å"a Spokane Indian. † Although his culture drives many of his actions, redemption also plays an important role in making up Jackson’s character.At first glance, the short story is about a man striving to repurchase his grandmother’s old regalia. However, if one looks deeper, the regalia may symbolize redemption, hence the name, â€Å"What You Pawn I Will Redeem. † Jackson’s hidden objective is to bring his grandmother back to life, or at least redeem some part of her. By redeeming a part of his grandmother, he is able to redeem a part of his home in India. Jackson’s longing to redeem his home in India also contributes to the theme of a lack of a place to belong. Jackson can be considered homeless both physically and symbolically.Because he does not have the financial means to provide shelter for himself, he is physically homeless. Jackson is also homeless symbolically, for he cannot find a home in society. He flunks out of his college, losing a place in the campus, and he ruins his attempts at marriage, losing his partner in life. In the beginning of the story, Jackson holds a place in the community of the homeless Indians, and he considers them â€Å"[his] teammates, [his] defenders, [his] posse† (9). However, he soon finds that one member of the group, Rose of Sharon, has left and hitchhiked back to Toppenship to live with her sister on the reservation.Later, he realizes that another member of his group, Junior, has also left and hitchhiked down to Portland, Oregon. When Jackson visits the Indian bar and befriends Honey Boy and Irene, he finds that at the end of the night, they too have disappeared. Finally, the Aleut cousins, also homeless Indians, disappear as well, said to have either drowned or disappeared north. Jackson’s status of a loner in society is further solidified as one by one, his â€Å"posse† (9) disappears. In conclusion, Alexie’s short story illustrates a cultural character looking for redemption, as well as a home.

North Korea Research Paper

North Korea North Korea is a country that is ruled by a dictator and has a communist government. A communist government rules all the land and gives the same amount of money and supplies to all the people in the country. â€Å"Daily Necessities were obtained from the Public Distribution System (PDS)† (95,Hassig). The PDS shut down in 1995 because foreign aid was cut off expect for Pyongyang, the capital city. In rural areas, a lot of the children were born as â€Å"no-count† meaning that when they were born they weren’t counted as part of the existing society and didn’t have supplies given to them.North Korea was once a unified country with South Korea until September 9, 1948 when it became a separate country. From 1910 to 1945 Japan had ruled all of Korea. â€Å"After World War II from 1939 to 1945 Russia controlled what is right now North Korea, and the United States controlled southern Korea. Three years after the war North and South Korea became indep endent countries. † (6, Haberle) The existing Cold War, the war between Russia and the United States, helped start the Korean War on June 25, 1950 when North Korea attacked South Korea. At the time Japan had control of all of Korea, then the U. S. ad South Korea and Russia had the North. This war went on for three years and afterwards, the Demilitarized Zone better known as the DMZ separated South and North Korea. North and South Korea became independent countries with very few allies. Picking North Korea as a topic is very board because there are many social injustices in North Korea. One injustice is the existing communism government they have there, because with what’s happening in North Korea, it shouldn’t be described as communism. Communism is described as a place where the government distributes an equal amount of daily necessities to all the people living there.When North Korea declared itself an independent country, it used the Public Distribution System until 1995, when foreign aid was cut off. Everyone still got the same amount of necessities in Pyongyang but necessities were cut off everywhere else. Rural North Koreans outside of Pyongyang are still starving and sick from the lack of supplies. People do get by with serving the military though. Men must serve the military for at least ten years then assigned lifelong jobs and are able to support their families with that. (95, Hassig) In North Korea all aspects of life are uled by the government, which essentially takes away human rights. North Koreans, rich or poor have this idea put into their head that their dictator is a supreme god. If someone had the idea of not worshiping the supreme leader in public, they would be sent to a labor camp. North Koreans who try to leave North Korea without permission may be shot on the spot or sent to a labor camp where they may never be released. In every house, no matter where you lived, there is a picture of the supreme leader that you pray to every day.When the supreme leader of North Korea, Kim Jong II, died recently, on December 17th 2011, there was a parade held that had mourners when the casket passed by. As the Supreme Leader’s casket passed by , the mourners were observed to see if they were actually crying. If they didn’t seem like they were sad enough they were sent to prison camps along with other North Koreans that didn’t join the parade. At these Labor camps imprisoned North Koreans are taught how important is to worship the supreme leader and sometimes kept there with their families for as long as they live.With all the money that the government doesn’t give to the people, they spend more than half on the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). The DMZ is very familiar with the U. S government and the people stationed in South Korea. High ranking officers of the United States of Marines and Army have tours there, or work there. When asked about it most people talk about the men who stand the re ready for war looking at each other the whole time. There is a building that these men on both sides line up and look at each other to see what the other is going to do.In it is estimated that South Korea there is 20,000 soldiers that guard the DMZ and 1,000,000 people that protect in North Korea. The DMZ is 160 miles long and is the most heavily militarized border in the world. The border was built as a result of the Korean War. From way back during the Cold War to now, there have always been trust issues with North Korea because of the nuclear bombs they possess and their threat possible to the rest of the world. What really makes everyone scared of the nuclear threat is that North Korea is so isolated from the world, rest of the world that other nations don’t know whether or not they are just bluffing.North Korea makes nuclear weapons and threatens they will nuke the West Coast if the United States doesn’t trade with them. Since they started making nuclear weapon s, they have made allies with Iran, who are not allies with the United States at the moment. The world is deeply affected from the problems happening in North Korea. Worldwide, nations are either trading with them, or a huge threat to North Korea. The whole situation with North Korea is a worldwide, complex problem potentially affecting many countries many coutries but countries continue to try to help the people living there.Many charities offer support to children that live there including adoptions. The United States’ foreign policy towards North Korea is to not trade with them until they improve . North Korea doesn’t seem like its going to be around too much longer because of all the famine and the growing awareness in other nations. If North Korea remains isolated and keep their people suppressed, it will become a bigger problem around the world than it already is. North Korea is one of the last remaining communist countries and history has shown communist countri es don’t last long.

Building E-commerce (Rent all Marine activities and boat charters) Research Paper

Building E-commerce (Rent all Marine activities and boat charters) - Research Paper Example The company will commence its operations, under the Commercial Law of Kuwait government, with a total share capital of KD 60,000. The contributors are Mr. Fahad Alnasrallah (Chief Marketing Officer – CMO), Mr. Mohammed Almejadi (Chief Financing Officer – CFO) and Mr. Abdulaziz Almohaisen (Chief Executive Officer-CEO and founder). Each partner will invest KD 20,000. The NPV after the feasibility study for five years forecasting shows a positive KD 2,247, which indicates that it is a feasible business venture. It will start generating positive income cash flow for the third year in 2018 with a margin of 7%, and on an increasing scale to reach a margin of 22% in the year 2020. The Pay Back Period is 4.6 years. The primary value proposition for the company is to save time and money by providing the customers an opportunity to adventure the sea with the convenience and avoiding unqualified vendors. The company will receive transaction fee based on successful transaction/confirmation done, the yearly subscription from vendors, and advertisement from advertisers. The market opportunity is large due to lots of individual vendors who will be attracted to join. The market will be competitive after few years of initiative, but the company will mostly possess the largest market share, giving the new entrants a bleak in an entry. This will be achieved by engaging experienced, knowledgeable, and well-known employees. The market strategy includes marketing campaigns, advertisements, and word of mouth. The company will undertake to recruit highly skilled staff to achieve an effective organizational development plan. With the well-able management team, the company will pull in and convince customers th at the business has a plenitude of market-specific expertise and the experience necessary to implement the business plan. Given the positive Net Profit Value of KD 2,247 after the feasibility study for 5 years

History of Comedy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

History of Comedy - Essay Example Old Comedy, like Greek tragedy, has a singing, dancing chorus who are characters in the play. New Comedy, from the middle of the 4th century BC, all over the Mediterranean (http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/amahoney/ancient_comedy.html). Greek drama from c. 320 BC to the mid-3rd century BC that offers a mildly satiric view of contemporary Athenian society (http://www.answers.com/library/Britannica+Concise+Encyclopedia-cid-10234587). Many extant examples are representative of these methods. Old Comedy was the mighty genius of Aristophanes grafted in Pantagruelism has influenced Cervantes, Swift, Voltaire and others (Bates 1906). Though the word Pantagruelism is means the characters are sustained by court fool. He exploited both of the spirit and mechanical appliances of old Greek comedy. He adopted the disguise of buffoonery to attack some prevailing hypocrisy. This is what Aristophanes did to master the chief characteristics of his prototype. In Old Comedy, the chorus becomes more separate, and often sings entr'actes that have nothing to do with the play; later, the chorus is dropped altogether. During New Comedy, the chorus and representative of forces reduced to a small band of musicians and dancers.

Land Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 1

Land Law - Essay Example Part of the agreement signed with the tenants reads that he is not intending to create a tenancy. However, Peter signs documents detailing his relationship with the new occupants of the flats. He then considers selling the townhouse, and gets a suitable buyer in Joan. For Joan to purchase the townhouse, matters of the relationship between Peter and the current occupiers of the house are vital and she must evaluate them conclusively, concurrently projecting patterns of actions in view of legal inhibitors and enablers. In this paper I have looked deeply into the relationship between Peter and the existing tenants of his property, in order to establish whether, indeed, there is no effective tenancy agreement between him and the â€Å"occupants† as the agreement detailing their relationship deemed. Further, details of the types of tenancy available to Peter at the time he signed the agreements with the tenants and the implications they have are discussed. The fact that the townhouse is a freehold puts to rest any matters about eligibility of the sale, especially considering that no details of mortgages/ loans, or joint ownership are provided. Such matters would likely complicate the sale process. To begin with, Joan needs to study and establish the legality of the agreements signed between Peter and the present occupiers of the house. But before she can recover any documents from the seller, she has substantial background to base her claim to either evict or not to evict the tenants. In this part, I have provided enlightening notes on the types of tenancy available to the present occupiers, and the implications of each to the buyer in her pursuit for their eviction. In the pursuit of her right to evict the tenants, Joan needs to understand the types of tenants that she will be dealing with, and how much protection they have under law. In establishing whether a tenancy really exists between a

Management Interview Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Management Interview - Research Paper Example Lloyd responded that management, according to him, is about administering the day to day functioning of the firm. This might include developing newer business plans, preparing budgets, and observing day to day functions. One the other hand, he believes that leadership means to guide in a particular direction. In other words, according to him, leadership is the relationship that the leader develops with the followers in order to energize them to take up the required changes. In order to make his statements more digestible, Mr. Lloyd offered an explanation. According to him, if his subordinates follow his orders because they have to do so according to the company rules, he is just a manger. On the other hand, if his subordinates are eager to hear to him and to follow him, or if he can bring in a change in his organization without the support of an order from the above, he is a leader. Similarly, Mr. Mark was of the opinion that subordinates follow leaders out of emotions. He says a lea der invokes various emotions in employees ranging from hope, fear, respect, and happiness and so on. According to him, while managers rule out of regulations, leaders rule out of aesthetic sense developed in subordinates. He pointed out the difference between his managerial and leadership roles. As a manger, there is planning, budgeting, evaluating, and facilitating functions. At the same time, as a leader, he identifies talents in various employees, utilize various ways of motivation including rewards, reason, and relationships, resorts to coaching to ensure that the employees remain motivated and convinced, and finally build trust so that implementation of various strategies are met with less criticism and doubt. When Mr. Mark was asked as to what are certain similarities between both, he was able to identify certain important similarities between them. The first one is that both management and leadership aim to achieve certain goals. According to him, the second similarity can be found in the fact that both management and leadership require subordinates to achieve the goals by motivating employees. The last point he could identify was that both leadership and management are ways to link the top management and subordinates. Then the question turned towards the management and leadership style Mr. Lloyd has adopted in his organization. It was surprising to note here that he believed in a combination of autocratic and paternalistic leadership styles. He pointed out the fact that though democratic approach can be much better in an organization where the manager would be able to discuss and decide the future course of action, in such a multinational organization which is highly centralized in nature where all the decisions come from the above, he does not have much room for practicing democratic way of leadership. In such cases, manager only acts as a supervisor to see that the changes are implemented, and there is no provision to discuss with the employees and t o get their opinions on the implementation. When I asked the question if he could not adopt bureaucratic approach instead, his reply was that this could make his position vulnerable as there is the chance of the staff challenging his authority. My next question was regarding certain organization development interventions Mr. Mark uses as a part of his OD role. The response was that he has incorporated survey feedback, sensitivity training, team building, and management objectives as ways of

Character Analysis Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Character Analysis Paper - Essay Example in Single 149). Williams suffers enormous guilt for surviving the familial worries that eventually devastated Rose. Similar to Menagerie’s Tom, Williams also pays remorse for his escape from his family (Single 149). This essay analyzes the character of the matriarch, Amanda Wingfield. Amanda is a selfish, hero mother, with romantic-pragmatic ideas and who created a dysfunctional family by treating her children like a glass menagerie through vanity, arrogance, and control over her family’s life. Amanda is a hopeless romantic. She has been hurt deeply when her husband left through an inconsiderate postcard, and yet she sees her former husband as the personification of romance, connecting him to her earlier life filled with gentleman callers and flirtations (Tischler and Bloom; King and Bloom 85). This is why even if her husband abandoned her, a large picture of him hung in the house. His presence might remind everyone else of his abandonment, but for Amanda, she continues to remember her sweet, youthful, and happy days through this image. Furthermore, she is also ready to leverage and defend her earlier life (Cobbe 50). It is a life of comfort and education she overemphasizes with her children. Whenever Amanda wants to talk about Blue Mountain, a discussion occurs between Tom and Laura: TOM: I know what's coming LAURA: Yes. But let her tell it. TOM: Again? LAURA: She loves to tell it. (Williams scene 1). Amanda enjoys reminiscing her past. It is both her curse and treasure. It is her curse, because she can never reclaim her youth and freedom. She just keeps on replaying it as a narrative, which wears her children out. Her past is, furthermore, her treasure, because her memories remind her and the people around her that she was once a well-coveted and important lady, where she would receive seventeen gentlemen callers in a day. When she is not working at Famous-Barr showing brassieres, she is active in selling subscriptions to a magazine that respond s to female visions of romance (Single 149). Tom uses particular images when describing his mother; one is related to Amanda's romanticized past, and the other is the image found in a glamour magazine cover, which is a superficial image masking their family's dysfunction (Single 149). Williams depicts Amanda as trapped in the past, but pragmatic about the present and the future. As the author describes Amanda, â€Å"She is not paranoiac, but her life is paranoia† (Tischler and Bloom). Amanda is possessed with girlish manners, but she has a pragmatic view of her children’s future. She refuses to know it, but she knows Laura will never marry. She then tries to put Laura in the business world and enrolls her in a school for typing lessons. Unfortunately, Laura is too shy to finish the typing test. Amanda then rallies for the courageous, but bleak, attempt to find a gentleman for Laura. When this fails too, it is a more tragic event for Amanda than Laura. It seems that she has somehow transfixed her dreams of a good life on her daughter. Laura deals with Jim’s rejection quite maturely, which underlines who is more mature in the family. It is not Tom or Amanda, but the one who is considered the most delicate and helpless, Laura. Amanda also pressures her son to work hard for the family. In a quarrel with Tom, she scolds him: â€Å"

Corrections Module 6 Writing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Corrections Module 6 Writing - Essay Example The fourteenth amendment has a statute of incorporation which enforces that all details contained in the bill of rights must be followed by all the states. Moreover, prisoners are provided with equal protection irrespective of the state jurisdictions. Alongside this, there is a clause to ensure the federal government respects and honors all citizens’ legal rights as contained in the bill of rights. The Civil Rights Act of 1871 impacts fairness and equity in lawsuits irrespective of whether one person involved is a minor or a servant of the other. This was meant to protect those who were enslaved from cruel treatment that led to deprivation of human and civil rights, immunities and privileges offered to individuals. This was to be followed irrespective of the race, tribe or religion. Especially the freed slaves were allowed equal and free access to courts of law to claim their rights against civil rights offences inflicted on them. They would file lawsuits like any other person. The hands off doctrine deduced that prison administration should operate on its own without interference or control by outside forces such as the courts and prisoners are further considered as slaves of the state . Once the prisoner is under prison administration, the court has no power over him again unless the eighth amendment is violated. The doctrine of intervention claims for the freedom of religion, need for privacy, safety and communication without forgetting the right to or for due process. Finally the nominal doctrines circulates in between the intervention and hands off doctrines, as far as the court jurisdiction had presided since the eighty’s. In matters regarding prisoners access to courts, they are allowed full access to the since without it they cannot air their grievances which means no lawsuits. Moreover prisoners did not have adequate knowledge on legal affairs thereby their lawsuits did not stand a chance. The courts ruled to assist them by

Social Contraction vs. Ethical Egoism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Social Contraction vs. Ethical Egoism - Essay Example This theory also holds that it is alright to be this way; it is rational. However, in the real world, if everybody blindly followed their hearts desires then there would be chaos. To this situation, this theory calls for application of rationality from a different angle. This angle prescribes that people should cooperate with one another and cut down on the purely self serving pursuits. This aspect defines the social contract nature of this theory (Shafer-Landau 188). People will not live life to the fullest, but they will avoid a worse fate of being in constant upheaval with society. What constitutes upheaval? Economists answer this question through the hypothetical prisoner’s dilemma situation. In this situation, two individuals must undertake actions that are not beneficial to the other party. Since it is rational to do the best for ones self, then the individuals both undertake these actions knowing full well that the other party will suffer. In a life time, there are coun tless situations that mirror the conflicts in this hypothetical situation. Maximizing self interest as it turns out is not a worthwhile approach to life. People while be brutal indulging horrid actions just to stay ahead (Shafer-Landau 192). There will be no trust, hope or peace for those with the slightest urge to be â€Å"nice† hence the constant upheaval. ... These persons can range from parents at home to the government. Form this explanation; it is clear that cooperation needs more than one person. As such, this theory describes morality as a social phenomenon (Shafer-Landau 194). In the same way, this theory justifies the existence of moral laws; it justifies breaking these laws. It provides that, in the event, that cooperation fails then there is no need to uphold the moral laws. On the other hand, the theory justifies punishment of the law breakers. From this theory’s strengths, critiques derive dooming weaknesses. A moral theory has the duty to promote doing the right thing. However, this theory entertains the possibility of having a rational wrong for instance when a contract is void. Also, the approach of using rationality to justify action is lacking. As observed by Shafer-Landau (204) if the consequences of an unjust action are not as far reaching as the benefits, then it is rational to act unjustly. Much as, Hobbes tries to define rationality to co-exist with virtue, this is only possible in a world where justice prevails. In the event that the world is in a â€Å"natural state† (Hobbes description of anarchy), then being rational means survival for the fittest. A second theory that tries to define the extents of morality in regard to human behavior is ethical egoism. Ethical egoism describes how humans ought to act. Ethical egoism further asserts that moral duty should rely on doing actions that reflect best self interest. In doing so, one should not avoid actions that help others but is not under any obligation to pursue self interest in regard to the well being of others. Despite this radical stand, ethical egoism clearly states that self interest is not merely pleasure seeking.

The Comparison of Conrad Josephs Heart of Darkness and Ford Coppola A Essay

The Comparison of Conrad Josephs Heart of Darkness and Ford Coppola Apocalypse Now - Essay Example Unlike in the film, Marlow harboured no ill intentions towards Kurtz (Willard set out to kill Kurtz). He chose to honour Kurtz by delivering his letters to their specific recipients (Conrad 55). Coppola based his film in Vietnam during the war era, which contrasted the novels setting. Conrad's novel was set deep in the heart of Central Africas Congo. The contrast in the plot, main characters’ names and setting represent more obvious, overt differences between the novel and film. One can describe both Marlow and Willard as determined, focused individuals whereby unforeseen challenges did not deter them from their specific missions. The fact that they were both able to meet Kurtz attests to their extreme determination. For example, Marlow remained hopeful about his journey despite finding the ship assigned to him wrecked and in need of repairs, which were likely to take a long time whereas Willard persevered the volatile and brutal conditions present in Vietnam during the war (Coppola; Conrad 30). In addition, both characters held leadership positions; Marlow was the soon-to-be captain of the ship assigned to him by the Ivory Company whereas Willard served as a Captain in the US Army Special Operations unit. However, Willard and Marlow had contrasting personalities. Willard was more brutal whereby he exhibited psychotic behaviours that were inhumane; for example, he brutally murdered Kurtz with a machete and departed from the gruesome scene unremorseful. Despi te the fact that Willard was simply following orders, his choice of execution method and lack of sympathy indicated a heightened predisposition to engage in brutal, psychotic tendencies. On the other hand, Marlow was more compassionate, as he empathized with others; for example, he chose to lie about Kurtz’s last words when he delivered the letter to Kurtz’s widow who was distraught almost one year after her husband’s demise. In addition, he did not refuse to deliver Kurtz’s letters despite his disapproval of Kurtz’s lifestyle, which encompassed instilling fear among the barbaric native population who resorted to worshipping him.  

Psychology Lifespan Essay Example for Free

Psychology Lifespan Essay Ellen DeGeneres never thought that announcing she was a lesbian would have been a big deal. She knew then that what she was doing would caused questions and controversy but not in a way where she would be considered the poster child for the Gay Community. The way Ellen came out to the world was a bigger shock to her than it was to her audience. This is when Ellen realized that she changed more than her own life coming out. Her fan base got bigger and her life opened up for the greater good. She felt like coming out should not change what she would be doing for humanity. On Ellen’s 50th birthday, she decided to raise money and get notice to her hometown, New Orleans, Louisiana, some help for the August 2005 Hurricane Katrina. This storm was one of the most deadly storms in United States history. During the storm the federal flood protection system failed and the levee broke, flooding 80% of the city and surrounding cities for weeks. Since Ellen had connections with many other celebrities, she used those connections to get help for her city. Brad Pitt was one of the celebrities that had a foundation going for rebuilding homes in New Orleans. With the help of Ellen putting out the foundation through her television show, Brad was able to get 150 homes built. She showed her passion for helping out when she told the world why this fundraiser was important to her. She shows that the place she looked at as home and helped made her who she was Ellen DeGeneres has been an inspiration to people for the past twelve years. Ellen’s life had just begun. Ellen DeGeneres came into the world January 26, 1956 in Jefferson, Louisiana at the Oschner Foundation Hospital. In the book, Love, Ellen: A Mother/Daughters Journey (1999), Betty Degeneres, Ellen’s mother, said that she was a miracle. Ellen’s father didn’t want anymore chidren after her brother was born, four years earlier. He thought that one child was sufficient enough. But Betty was determined to convince him that they should try again for another child. According to Lisa Iannucci (2009) Ellen was just a normal child, she played with her sibling and played outside like any other child would do at that age. She was a tomboy that wore fancy dresses and played with Barbie dolls. She once had dreams of becoming a naturalist or zoologist. She had a love and passion for animals and wanted to later join the Peace Corps to study the apes in Africa. Growing up Ellen had a fascination for great comedians such as Jack Benny, George Gorbel, and the comedy team Bob and Ray. Watching these comics entertain crowds was a little informal training of Ellen’s career in the later years. Ellen discovered the benefits of comedy when her mother divorced her dad. Her mother had been so down and depressed that Ellen knew she could cheer her up with a laugh. Ellen used this same comedic value to get through the very tough times in her life. When Ellen was sixteen she started partying, becoming rebellious, and hanging out with the wrong crowds. In her small town of Metairie, she would drink beer with her friends and stay out all night. This was her reaction to her mother getting remarried in 1974 to a salesman. Her mother wanted to remove her from the city, so the salesman got a new job in Atlanta, Texas. The DeGeneres family packed up and moved to Atlanta. While in Texas, Ellen started to fit into her new life there. Ellen started dating her first boyfriend, Ben Heath. Her brother Vance was in a band in high school and was receiving a lot of attention. Ellen wanted some of this attention that her brother was getting and was starting to have dreams of becoming famous. Ellen craved for people to like her, she wanted to try to find a way to become famous so people would like her and want to be her friend. Ellen’s family looked like the perfect family from the outside, but something dark and eerie was going on inside. Behind close doors the salesman was crude and bossy and Ellen did not like who he was. During this time Ellen’s mother found out that she had breast cancer. She ended up having a mastectomy and had to do physical therapy and rehabilitation. Betty tried to hide her cancer from Ellen but she needed Ellen’s help to recover. This is when Ellen and her mother became close. During this time of recovery, the salesman molested Ellen. She didn’t want to get her mother upset so she didn’t mention it to her, while she was recovering. When her stepfather tried to molester again, she ran away to a friend’s house. Ellen left Atlanta, Texas and move back to Louisiana with her father after she graduated high school. Once Ellen moved to Louisiana, she enrolled into the University of New Orleans, to major in Communications. Ellen soon found out that college wasn’t for her and dropped out after one semester. Ellen started to search for a career since college didn’t go as planned. During this time of finding a career, Ellen was also finding herself. She was holding another secret about her sexuality from family and friends. She was starting to feel confused about her sexuality. This could have been a result of the nuture factor. Her homosexuality could have been triggered from her stepfather molesting her. Nurture refers to the childhood and how an individual grew up (MacKinnon, 1962). She liked boys in the beginning; she had some boyfriends in the past, but she was never really attracted to men. Once Ellen figured out what sexual orientation that she was, she started dating women but still haven’t broke the news to her family. She decided to tell her mom one day while they were walking along the beach. She started to cry, not because she was afraid, but because she was now free of this secret that she was holding. Her mom embraced her and accepted Ellen’s fate. During this time that Ellen came out about her sexuality, it was forbidden doing those times. In the 1950s consensual gay sex was a felony. The gay communities were trying to fight for rights in the 1960s but were still getting tortured and shunned. Betty started to be afraid for Ellen. Being homosexual was considered to be a mental health disorder by the psychiatric community. The National Gay Task Force Foundation was founded in 1973, in New York, and worked to change the American Psychiatric Association’s grouping of homosexuality as a mental heath problem. Ellen’s brother accepted the news well, but Ellen’s father did take it very well. He later kicked Ellen out of the house, thinking that she would influence her stepsiblings. He later helped her get an apartment and admitted that he regretted what he did to her. Ellen acquired many jobs; she sold clothes, was a bartender, washed cars, shucked oysters, and wrapped gifts. Just like she knew that college wasn’t for her, these jobs weren’t satisfying her neither, she was hungry to do something more. She now knew that she wanted to make people laugh for the rest of her life. She began performing at a few small venues in New Orleans. Her routines were different than other comedians of her time such as, Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock, and Richard Pryor. The difference between them and her was he bits didn’t have vulgarity and sexual references. Ellen joked about her everyday life and experiences. She did this to relate to her audiences. Ellen started to take off in her career. She started competing in comedy competition where she placed first in the â€Å"Funniest Person in America† competition. She later went to open for a few acts in Las Vegas where the producer from â€Å"The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson† was there and asked her to come on the show. Once she performed on the Tonight Show, this put her career in overdrive and she became a superstar. She became the first female comedic to seat on the big couch on the Tonight Show. She ended up coming back on six more times in two years. She later got a minor role on Open House in 1989. It was a spin-off of the fox show Duet. She then went and filmed her first HBO special Young Comedian Reunion, in 1986. Two years later she appeared in HBO’s Women of the Night. She got a small role in the movie The Coneheads, and got her own sitcom on ABC called These Friends of Mine. Ellen revealed her true sexual preference in Time magazine April 1997 issue. In this issue she talked about her life as a gay woman and hiding who she was in the comedian community. She made her character on her television show Ellen also comes out of the closet. This caused some controversy for the Christian religion organizations. She made her first appearance publicly with her sexuality at the White House Correspondents Dinner with actress Anne Heche on her arm. In 1998 Ellen honored at the 9th Annual GLAAD Media Awards with the Stephen F. Kolzak Award. Ellen now was fighting for her lesbian life on and off the television. Her mother started to become an advocate to her daughter’s lifestyle. Betty started volunteering at the Human Rights Campaign. Her mother became the first nongay national spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign. She was helping to encourage and assist gay people in coming out and living honestly. Her mother also became an active member of Parents, Family, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG). In 2003 Ellen started her own daytime television talk show called The Ellen Degeneres Show. People were afraid that Ellen would just bring up gay themes through out the show and didn’t want it to go on air. Once people got over the fact that Ellen was gay, her show started to skyrocket on television ratings. It was the television show that Ellen had always wanted. She could make people laugh and every loved her. In season two the show won five daytime Emmys. In 2005 Ellen won a Grammy for having the best comedy album for the audio portion of her book. She also won some awards at the People’s Choice Awards. While her show was getting good ratings, she met her current wife, Portia de Rossi. She met Portia at a photo shoot in 2004. Ellen and Portia quickly fell in love. They both ended their current relationships and started dating in 2005. They went on to get married in 2008 after California passed the Same-Sex Marriage Act. With all of Ellen’s life decisions, it had to do with her social and emotional development. She was always able to make transitions from one activity to another. Her ability to start a new when it came to her many careers before she found the right one was an example of her social/emotional development (Roeser, Eccles, Sameroff, 2000). She showed cooperation with others when she was getting ridiculed for her coming out, but she stayed humbled and didn’t let it get to her (Webb, 1994).

Characteristics of Chinese Culture in Online Games

Characteristics of Chinese Culture in Online Games Abstract Game industry is a kind of globalizing market. This research is investigating the relationship between game art and culture. Due to each culture has an original root which influences particular cultural forms. Therefore, cultural barriers play a crucial role in the game design. In some ways, cultural barriers prevent games from globalization market. The society of online games is formed by players who come from various culture backgrounds. Additionally, the online game which involves more interactive elements is affected by culture significantly. Players are not playing with computer but human beings. This new way of game play gives more freedom to players and designers. Meanwhile, online game has close connection with culture. When we talk about online game industry we cannot ignore the Chinese online game industry, because China is one of the biggest online game industries in the world. The paper focuses on Chinese online game industry because of its accomplishments, highest speed of development and huge online game market. And how this ancient culture influences the new media form is crucial area to investigate. Firstly, brief original Chinese culture will be presented for clearing an archetypal culture value. Based on Chinese online game industry, a local game named Westward Journey Online ? is examined for getting valuable methods which are how to use the archetypal cultural values into game art. From the examination on Chinese culture, value methods possible are getting for widen audiences all over the world. However, there is limitation existing in this paper which ignores other distinguishing culture contents. Further research might go more detailed on various culture forms for this particular research area.   1 Introduction The main purpose of this research is to examine the archetypal/universal characteristics that are expressed in Chinese culture within Multiple Massive Online Games in order to explain to a western the shared human values that are expressed in a uniquely Chinese expression of archetypal human values. The study examines the impact of archetypal cultural characteristics on game aesthetics that is important for corporations that are desirous to explore business throughout worldwide. Due to globalization might be a kind of megatrend in modern society as cultural forms, cultural barriers might exist to prevent the global distributions of games to some extent in the process of game development. There was a hot discussion about a female character in different cultural styles online (Liuduanyinsu 2008). This female character named Faith who was the heroine in Mirrors Edge which was developed by D.I.C.E studio in Sweden (2009). Her appearance caused controversy about what kind of female charac ter could reach the expectation from each side of culture backgrounds. When Mirrors edge came to Japan, the Japanese players were not satisfied in the design of this character. Therefore, some of Japanese players adopted the female character depending on their own expectations. We could see the clear distinguishing features of different tastes on female beauty from figure 1 and 2. After the adaptation of the character, each side of players expressed their opinions. Both sides were not satiated to the other sides design. The discussion presented the cultural barriers on female beauty. Exploring the question that is how the features of culture influences game aesthetics could clarify the future direction of both single Game Corporation and the whole game industry. Therefore, a high level of culture understanding is necessary for meeting players expectations. As a result, the cultural barriers influence game aesthetics in certain ways. The platform of the study is set in China which is a long history country and has various mythologies which could reflect traditional culture and the process of development of each culture in some way. The culture studies could give us the solid basis of understanding of the Chinese cultural root and human values. The newest form studies of combing game art and culture open the door to explore new opportunities for fresh knowledge in this area. At the same time, the examination of Chinese culture could give a brief impression to western readers for understanding the distinct cultural form which has very different philosophy of life, attitudes, lifestyle, ideology and values from westerners. Meanwhile, it is aware that the myths influence game design and aesthetics significantly. Many myths are widely applied into game design and art, for example the characters in myths become main adopted features into game design like priest, Druid, Dragons etc both in western culture and eastern cu lture. Why is this situation happening? Are there same features between mythology and games so that the two things could be concordantly combined? In the research, the Journey to the West and games that were adapted from it is employed as a successful case to investigate for finding the acceptable answers. Moreover, the fast speed of development online game industry gives the research an additional benefit to unfold the examination. According to the trend of globalization, bigger game marketplace could be opened by applying different cultural contexts into game aesthetics after the research. Moreover, the game industry gains much more attention from modern society which includes academic field and marketplace. People desire to obtain benefits from the fresh and cutting edge game industry such as entertainment and education. The major research question is: how archetypal/universal characteristics are reflecting in online games based on Chinese culture? Afterwards, two further questions are: what is the archetypal characteristic of Chinese culture? And what kinds of archetypal could be translated into universal for more audiences in online games? For answering these questions, multidiscipline study will be involved. There are culture studies, art, marketing and the newest one- computer games study. Depends on aims and research questions, the objectives have been listed below: To establish understanding of culture for game aesthetics using creative methods in culture studies To explore the relation of mythology and game aesthetics across several subjects To explore the functions of culture in game aesthetics and seek possibility of combining two different cultures into game art for widen players. 2 The background information of Chinese online game industry 2.1 Localization of Chinese online game industry Chinese online game industry has a fastest speed of development and gives a great influence on the globalization game marketplace. From the research of the three nations that are American, Korea and China, it could be discovered that the income of American online game came from games exporting, and Korea is developing the exporting outside and locally operating, the income of China online game mainly came from locally operating. Therefore, a part of income in American and Korea online games came from Chinese online game marketplace (iResearch 2009). The report from iResearch (2009) evinced that the revenue of Chinese online game market occupied about 27 percentages of global game market and it is ranked the second position, American online game industry is 29 percentages to take the lead and Korea is the third position as 21 percentages. Due to the fact about the data sources of game exporting, it is aware that Chinese online games industry is localization because of the lower export level. The reasons might be the strategy of government, cultural barriers or limitation of development. However, the Chinese online game industry is the biggest game marketplace in the world that is gradually getting more and more important status in international game industry by reason that the Chinese market size is 30.4 million dollars which occupies 27.1 percentages of the gross income of global online game marketing in 2008 according to the iResearch China Online Game Research Report (2009). In addition, China online game industry has the fastest developing speed. The report also predicted that the occupancy of Chinese online game market will continually increase at the speed of 5 percentages based on the research. Additionally, it is expected that the occupancy of Chinese online game market will be close to 50 percentages, and reach to 45.9 percentages (iResearch 2009). So it will become a big importing point of international online game industry. 2.2 The reasons of localization of online games boom in China The localization of Chinese online game industry is possibly caused by multiple reasons. Are the Chinese players easily accepting the games which are set in other cultural contexts? The answer is negative. Local games with strong cultural contexts could get sympathetic attentions by players who live in the cultural environments. The cultural barriers caused game marketplace in certain ways. Based on the research about the developing areas of online games which are paid great attention in Chinese online game industry by Baidu (2009), the highest attention rate of place of online games developers is China, the 49.65 percentages, following the second place is Korea which is 43.82 percentages, then there are American and Europe occupied 5.36 percentages and Japan is the lowest attention rate which is 1.18 percentages. So we can see the major online games are developed by local Chinese developers and Chinese neighbour-Korea which has similar culture with China. The similar cultures shared common online game market. And online game industry meet the situation in China, it is getting more and more advanced support from government and other objective supports. Since the operating of Chinese governments strategy named reform and opening-up, the political climate became enlightened and loosened so that peoples concepts are diversity and more easily accepting new things and globalization environment is established as a result of that popular culture could gain opportunity of booming (Xiaolin 2008). Moreover, why could the online games get improvement in China rather than console games? One main reason is the pirate. In China, players could spend just few money to get the illegal copies from peddlers. This becomes a bad habit in Chinese players. And the pirate brings a negative influence to the console and computer games. Therefore, Chinese developers cannot get deserved profits from developing videogames and console games. The intellectual property of game developers is not protected. The failure sales of videogames and computer games give more space to online games development in China. Finally, huge population forms the largest marketplace in China. It is reported that there are more than three hundreds millions cyber citizens in China until 17 July 2009 depending on the update database of China Internet Network Information Centre (2009). Thanks to the development of hardware and cyber technology, the disseminate internet is continually growing. More and more people use internet in China, and there are more potential players on internet. Based on the investigation of Niko Partners, there are forty six million online game players who spent seventeen million dollars on online games in China (Sina 2008). This great circumstance for online games creates more and more opportunities for online game development. Following on the fast developing speed of Chinese online game industry, the further potentials need to be explored by the industry insiders. 3 The background of Chinese culture 3.1 The collective and discriminative culture In different situation, the definition of culture has different explanation. The research mainly discussed art and culture for the latter investigation of game art and culture. Therefore, the definition of culture related to art or aesthetics is the focal point; it does not mean we ignore other important comprehension of culture studies, all the necessary study also is considered through the whole process of investigation. For the later research, which definition of culture is properly suitable for investigating the relation of culture and game aesthetics might be sorted out. Firstly the definition of culture in dictionary must be considered. The culture in English involves several meanings as a noun. The one of major definitions in Oxford Advanced Learners English-Chinese Dictionary (1990, p.284) of culture described that all the arts, beliefs, social institutions, etc characteristic of a community, race, etc. In Collins COBUILD Advanced Learners English Dictionary (2004), there are similar explanations of the term culture that are culture consists of activities such as the arts and philosophy, which are considered to be important for the development of civilization and of peoples mind, a culture is a particular society or civilization, especially considered in relation to its beliefs, way of life, or art and the culture of a particular organization or group consists of the habits of the people in it and the way they generally behave. From there definition in dictionary, the main feature of culture is collective, a certain subject of peoples common min d. The common ground includes arts, beliefs, habits, lifestyle, customs, institutions and philosophy. So sometimes, the culture means peoples shared mind in one nation, one race even bigger in one group which has common benefits. Simply speaking, culture could be understood as a group of people who has a similar taste on game aesthetics in this field of research. This might be the reason why cultural barriers influence selling of games which involve strong cultural features. Excepting the property of collective of culture, another crucial nature of culture is discriminative. Culture is regarded as the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another by Geert (2001). If a culture loses its own distinguishing feature, it will vanish in the world. In other word, culture involves another important function which is identifying humans origins. Therefore, different cultures exist by their identification and discrimination with other cultural forms. Applying the feature of culture into this research, the different areas in game industry could be distinguished by analysing cultural characteristics. There is another English word civilisation which is treated as a synonym of the word culture. It has similar definition with culture; however this word civilisation emphasizes on the differentiation of culture. People always say ancient Egyptian civilisation, American Indian civilisation and Arab civilisation etc. When we say Chinese civilisation, the name externalizes the particular cultural form. A culture is archetypal and distinguishing. Therefore, the different culture gives distinguishing art styles to various games. 3.2 Chinese culture The Chinese culture exists for thousands of years; it has great influences to the East area and other parts of the world. Due to the complex culture forms, it is hard to present a very clear and details of this particular culture. This paper is investigating the major root of Chinese culture which possibly affects modern new media the games. These contents of Chinese cultural root include Confucianism, Taoism and very crucial concepts of harmony between man and nature. These foundational concepts of Chinese culture give a great influence to very aspects of modern society. Meanwhile, games reflect or being reflected these traditional cultural concepts more or less. It needs to understand the cultural root for further studies of games and culture. 3.2.1 Brief introduction of Confucianism The Confucianism is a complexity. Some people consider it is a cult, others think it is a form of learning (Xinzhong 2000). However, the research regards Confucianism is a form of culture. The content of Confucianism involves several disciplines such as moral, social, political, philosophical, and quasi-religious which reflect cultural contexts in China. Due to the Confucianism involves different explanations in different historical periods; there is no specific definition for it. From different aspects, we could get different comprehensions from Confucianism. However, the central thought still exists and has positive impacts on modern Chinese people. Generally speaking, there are three cores themes and a crucial core concept in Confucianism. Those are Li ritual in English, De virtue, Ren humanity and the doctrine of mean. It is said that China is a state of ceremony because of the strict ritual from Confucianism. Some of the rituals were used into Chinese online games in order to give the local people familiar things in a virtual and realistic ancient world. In terms of original concept, Li is an important behavioural norm in Confucianism, and it includes traditional rituals. In Confucianism, it states that grades of peoples relationship which includes the monarch and his subjects, parents and children, older sisters (brothers) and young sisters (brothers) should be clearly distinguished, and upper position of person have superior rights than lowers (Baidu 2009). For example, in ancient Chinese imperial family the emperor could talk several wives, and the first wifes child is the son and heir who have greatest prerogatives than other wives children, such as acceding to the throne as the first person selected. And in modern China, the norm involves less power, but in Chinese family there are still some shadows of the Li existing. For instance, children should respect seniorities. When a Chinese family have an important dinner together, the oldest family member takes a seat in the best positions around a big table. The senior people usually have a greater power in the society, others always respect them. So the Li developed the strict hierarchy system in ancient Chinese society. The virtue named De in Chinese is a tool to measure humans behaviours. Filial piety and Loyalty are two main contents in Confucianism (Kai-wing 1994, p.36). Filial piety means children should respect their parents. Simply speaking, offspring should give supports to their seniorities that cannot take care of themselves. These supports include mental supports and material supports. There are many legends and tales talking about filial piety in China to instruct peoples behaviours. One of the famous stories about filial piety is that the person named Dongyong sold himself for money in order to bury his fathers body, the city named Xiaogan which means the miracle of filial piety inspires god came from the ancient story (Wilt 2009). Ancient Chinese emperor applies De into ruling. The virtue in Confucianism requests governors using benevolent politics and self virtue to rule civilians. It presents using virtue to educate people for peaceful and steady society. Humanity is a core content of Confucianism. It claims loving human, people should love each other, support each other and existing with each other. Therefore, the basic meaning of Ren is homage and friendship. In ancient Chinese governments always employed Ren into their ruling strategy, so it was developed to a kind of political strategy called policy of benevolence which advocated using the proactive and ethical human being to rule the country. It is different with western jural strategy. However, it involves some limit from contemporary viewpoints. The doctrine of mean is another crucial concept of Confucianism. Zhangxin who is a professor researching Sinology introduced his opinion about the doctrine of mean. The spirit of medium way is doing something using appropriate methods to keep the things in a reasonable and fair expectation for people. He also claimed culture does not need to meet the international standards and the archetypal culture is the universal. Medium way is a root of Confucianism and Chinese culture, it affects peoples behaviours at present. Peoples characteristics might be determined by the origin of their cultures. So the characteristics of Chinese people are introverted poise and defensive just reflect the medium way in Confucianism. 3.2.2 Brief introduction of Taoism In the research, the characteristics of China are going to discuss from the native religion of Taoism rather than investigation on religion itself. Taoism is a native philosophical and religious of China and it focus on the moral code. It came from China and has influenced East Asia for over two millennia and the West for over two centuries (James 2003). On one hand, Taoism is one of main original inspirations for Chinese games. On the other hand, it is a core of human value in Chinese society. Taoisms concepts could be applied into computer game design. The original religion involves several worships. Those include nature worship, totem worship, spirits worship and ancestor worship. Moreover, there is a complex system of Daoism, different branches have different leaders. These features of Daoism give great inspirations to game designers. The features have already employed into several Chinese games which used traditional themes and backgrounds. The Jianxia3 online employed many Daoisms elements into the game play (Kingsoft 2009). Players could choose Chunyang branch which is a real branch of Daoism as their clans. There are many rooms of Daoism could be employed into game design such as celestial beings, making pills of immortality and Fengshui theory in Daoism. Taoism affects human beings behaviours and thoughts; from this point the conducts in Taoism could reveal the core human value in China. The noun Taoism involves different elements with Daoism, at the first place we should distinguishing the two nouns for latter discussion. Taoism is a type of thought or doctrine; it was developed by Lao Tzu who is a thinker and ideologist in ancient China. The book named Tao Te Ching is a Chinese classic text which is considered as a basic origin in Taoism like Bible in Christianity. However, the first official classic of Daoism is named Taiping Ching. Tao Te Ching and Taiping Ching plus Zhouyicantongqi are considered as the origin of Daoisms religion and theory by current academic area. Simply speaking, Taoism is a kind of theory and Daoism is a religion. There are the jewels of the Tao: compassion, moderation and humility (Ray 1989, p.133). These conducts reflect to Taoist become a crucial belief named Wu wei which is action without bureaucratic, competitive, aggressive, or self-serving effort. Wu wei is a way of being that comes from an internal sensitivity to the natural rhythms of the universe, similar to water flowing over or around rocks, logs, or islands in a stream, (R. Paul 2002, p.152). Wu wei is a basic cognition of Taoism to the development of nature and human society. The general meaning of Wu wei action through inaction does not mean doing nothing but revealing things with soft and invisible power (Richard 2004). In Taoism, it is considered humans behaviours and the way of act should obey the law of nature. The all things in the world develop by themselves, human beings cannot intervene the development of nature and all other things. This thought forces Chinese people like to stick to old ways and make Chinese characteri stic becoming mediocrity. This is reflected in the characteristics is defensive and moderate temperament. 3.2.3 The relationship between man and nature in Chinese culture This concept of relationship between man and nature reflects into game design is that the characters in games usually involve appearances of natural things like animal monsters. The situation is very different from western games which seldom apply monsters came from nature. This might be caused by Chinese original root which is called harmony between man and nature which is widely considered as the main principal part of Chinese traditional culture. In the traditional Chinese culture, the world is separated into three parts that are heaven, manpower and earth. For each part there are specific classic texts for guiding peoples behaviours. I Ching is used to guide for explaining relation between heaven and manpower. It presents how to obey law of nature to make human ideal and healthy. The analects of Confucius expound relation between manpower and heaven for instructing people making right choices. And the Sunzi Art of War is a book to be used in war it presents relations of human bei ngs themselves. The Dao Te Ching which was mentioned in previous paragraph is employed to coordinate human and earth making the harmony between man and nature. The last one named Huang di nei Ching interprets earth and human beings for guide people to get the benefits from earth. The ancient classic traditional Chinese philosophy teaches Chinese people the major behaviours. It affects peoples choices more or less in modern society. Understanding Chinese culture, these principles have to be clarified, because when the character involves archetypal characteristics it must follows some elements from these concepts from ancient China. 3.3 The original mythology in Chinese culture Mythology should not to be neglected because it reflects culture in some ways. William considers myth is culturally important, and myths are this kind of story which are created by individuals interpretations in discriminating special societies (William 2000). Myths demonstrate certain culture contents such as religious, rituals, customs, and peoples behaviours. Therefore, it might bring us to an articulate culture form by examining the particular mythology. In terms of game design, there are many games applying mythic elements into character designs, background stories, environment designs and requests designs. There might have common senses between games and myths. Why could the mythic contents be widely employed into games? This chapter will discuss myth and find out the bonding point between myths and games. 3.3.1 The definition of mythology At the first place, it needs to clarify that what are mythology and what kind of characteristics is involved in mythology. Williams suggested that myths are fictional but not unreal and non-empirical, however they are not incomprehensible and formed by values of fundamental mythical orientations of cultures (Williams 2000). And a common contestation of mythology is that myths are stories about gods or remote ancestors, myths are sacred stories, myths are stories that explain how the world and humans came to be in their present forms, and myths encapsulate important information about human thought, feeling, history, and social life (Yang, Deming and Jessica 2005). However, particular myths could be understood by people who live in the particular culture environment, it is hard to be comprehended by other person who has different culture background if he has not established understanding of the particular culture. Because each culturally mythology has distinguishing features. But myths still have universal features like the statement was presented by Stith Thompson in 1955 that myths are connecting with gods and their behaviours, creation, and the general nature of the universe and of the earth (Yang, Deming and Jessica 2005). Therefore, myths are universal and archetypal in every cultural form by using dialectic method of analysis. Games as a creative industry need creation and imagination, however the design of games should not be incredible. The attributes of games are very similar with mythologys which discussed above. This is not a coincidence; this is why there are so many designers employed mythological elements into the game design. There are two reasons that games should be imaginative and believable. The first one is the purpose of playing for imaginative feature of games. Players are anxious for getting entrainment from games; they usually want to get different experiences from playing games. If the environment and characters in games are same with real life, the game will be boring. Even a simulating game like series of Sims also involves other virtual elements for giving different experiences to players. Another reason is for believable; a game should be attractive to players, when players play the game they are immersing into the games. Unreal and incredible characters and environment cannot be acc eptable by players. So most of successful games were adopted from real stories, the Non-players character, the monsters and the avatars for players were altered from fictional characters in mythology. Generally speaking, games and mythology have same attributes. That the reason mythologies are widely used into game design both in environment setting, background stories and character designs. 3.3.2 The origin of mythology The origin of mythology is various. Some myths are adopted from the narratives of scripture by adding several imaginative elements and altered contents of the original scripture. And historical events are another source of mythology; the real historical case was rewritten by later people using the forms of legends and fabulous traditions which are widely disseminated. Additionally, there are other two features could describe myths which are allegorical and physical, nearly all the ancient myths are symbolical and involved some educational contents in aspects of moral, religious or philosophical truth etc (Thomas 2004). In terms of the origin of Chinese mythology, it is generally believed that the Chinese mythology originated from the totemism of remote Chinese ancestors and legends of ancient tribes. Some Chinese myths are another form of historical records, for instance it is confirmed that the myth of Nà ¼wa is partly true after discovering the historical remains belongs to the period of maternal tribes in China (need evidences). Moreover, the Chinese myths mirrored contents of religions; the concept of three worlds that are heaven, earth and human being in Chinese mythology is coming from Buddha. Many online games which were set in ancient Chinese environment were applied the concept of three worlds into game design. The characters in these games are generally separated into three groups which are celestial beings, devils and human beings. The Chinese cultural concept of the harmony between human and heaven is also reflecting in the local mythology. The Chinese myths usually concentrate on explain rationalize, embellish, humanize, or historicize the mythical beings (Williams 2000 1993: 387). The Chinese myths usually involve the characters who came from nature, like various devils are transformed from animals or plants of the nature. And they involve historical events such as Yan Di who is a mythic figure that invented agriculture in Chinese history, and many devils in mythology are transformed from animals and plants so that their appearances embody the shape of original animals or plants. This phenomenon might be a kind of culture barriers existing in the form of mythology. From the statement above, we could see the origin of mythology causes a kind of culture barrier. Mythologies of one culture are formed with local nuances. For example, the Chinese mythologies are influenced by local religions which are Buddha, Taoism and cultural ideology which is the harmony between human and nature. The local culture might determine major contents of mythologies. And mythologies were spreading by people in the different periods, during the different historical periods peoples thoughts are different and in some way reflect the certain society cognition. Therefore, the mythology is a mixture of local culture and peoples ideology of that time. Depends on distinguishing history of every culture, the local mythology is hardly understanding by other people who came from different cultural background. 3.3.3 The Chinese mythology in online games Due to the similar points between mythology and games, they naturally combine together. Moreover, the

An overview: Chikungunya fever

An overview: Chikungunya fever Introduction The derivation of chikungunya came from Tanzania, when there were reports of a dengue-like symptom outbreak in 1952-1953, in the Newala and Masasi Districts of the Southern Province. However, dengue was later excluded on the basis that this epidemic involved patients suffering from debilitating joint pains and shorter incubation period which are not clinical features of dengue. Consequently, the illness was called chikungunya; (Robinson 1955) a word from the Makonde dialect describing patients contorted posture (Lumsden 1955). Chikungunya is an arthropod borne virus (arbovirus) of the genus: Alphavirus from Togaviridae family. It is transmitted to humans mainly by day biting mosquito species Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus (Townson and Nathan 2008). Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) contains a positive-sense single stranded RNA genome, enclosed in an icosahedral nucleocapsid (combination of nucleic acid and capsid) all enclosed in a phospholipid bilayer envelope. Embedded in the envelope are multiple copies of two encoded glycoproteins E1 and E2, a small glycoprotein E3, and a hydrophobic peptide 6K (Strauss and Strauss 1994). History There were no previous reported cases of chikungunya or dengue in Tanzania before the chikungunya epidemic in 1952 1953 thus, the inhabitants were highly susceptible in acquiring CHIKV infections (Robinson 1955). Prescott et al, 2002 stated that herd immunity; that is, the immunity that is acquired by a large proportion of the population either through vaccination, or from previous infections, thereby rendering the population resistant to the spread of the diseases. Furthermore, other factors could have contributed to the epidemic including records of unusually high rainfall during February to May 1952. Consequently, this condition was thought to provide suitable breeding environment for the mosquitoes to expand their population, suggesting that the main vector of transmissions were mosquitoes (Lumsden 1955). However, not only high rainfall was implicated in enhancing mosquitoes breeding environment, but also water filled clay jars dug in the inhabitants huts floor in preparation fo r the drought season. Consequently, these jars are rarely completely emptied, which further enhanced mosquitoes populations. Another contributing factor to the epidemic could be the living conditions and lifestyles of the indigenous populations. Animals such as fowl, pigeons and occasionally goats were reared in the inhabitants huts. Consequently, these vertebrates could also serve as CHIKV hosts, and thus, this has provided opportunities for transmissions between animals and humans. During early January 1953, the incidence of the epidemic has reached its peak (Lumsden 1955). However, once a person has acquired the infection, that person will become immune to further infections with the same virus (Robinson 1955). Subsequently, this means that as herd immunity increases, the number of viraemic inhabitants decreases. Aim Consequently, it has inspired this literature review on chikungunya in assessing its outbreaks incidence and prevalence, its associations with dengue and the vectors. Furthermore, from this to determine if it poses a risk that Western medicine should be planning for. Clinical Features Chikungunya has a viraemic incubation period of 3-12 days (Robinson 1955). Rezza et al. (2007) described chikungunya as a mild and self limited disease in most of the patients. with patients presenting with clinical features such as fever ranging from 39-39.8oC, fatigue, skin rash (sometimes itches), headache, joint pain (arthalgia), muscle pain (myalgia), diarrhoea, vomiting, photophobia, and conjunctivitis. Furthermore, Kannan et al. (2009) observed most of the above symptoms with inclusion of oedema, oral ulcers, nausea, and haemorrhage. Arthalgia and myalgia involves extremities such as wrists, ankles, hands, feet and phalanges. However, arthalgia, myalgia, oedema, lethargy, and weakness persisted even after fever had subsided (Kannan et al. 2009). However, the La Reunion outbreak observed vertical transmissions from mother to child, with newborns presenting with chikungunya infection without prior involvement of mosquitoes. These infants presented with fever, pain, poor feeding, disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), petechiae, distal joint oedema, and thrombocytopenia. Also involved were severe neonatal infections including encephalitis and haemorrhagic fever. Furthermore, there were cases whereby transient brain haemorrhages were complicated by the presence of DIC (Gà ©rardin et al. 2008). Table 1: represents different clinical features that were associated with chikungunya infection during several outbreaks. Clinical Features associated with Chikungunya Most common Joint pain (96.6%) Fever Fever Fever Fever (96.3%) Joint pain Joint pain Arthalgia Headache (71.2%) Arthritis Fatigue Myalgia Muscle pain (62.6%) Myalgia Skin rash Headache Cutaneous eruptions (32.5%) Arthralgia Headache Anorexia Headache Muscle pain Nausea Rash Diarrhoea Itch/ Rash Sore throat Itch/ Rash Oedema Vomiting Oral ulcer Photophobia Eye pain Conjunctivitis Vomiting Eye congestion Least common Haemorrhage Reference Renault et al. 2007 Yosulf et al. 2008 Kannan et al. 2009 Distribution of Chikungunya The World Health Organisation (WHO) alerted the Global Alert and Response Network in March 2005, of an impending outbreak of chikungunya fever in the Comoro Islands. It was the first Southwestern Indian Ocean islands to be implicated in the epidemic, subsequently; other countries were later implicated in this epidemic. The emergence of the epidemic in Mayotte was imported from Grande-Comore by mid-April and by the end of April Mauritius was also implicated. Overall, the Southwestern Indian Ocean region was believed to be afflicted by the first emergence of CHIKV (Renault et al. 2007). In April 2005, a chikungunya infection which started in Grande-Comorre was imported into La Reunion (French Overseas Territory), became its first severe reported case, in March 2004 to April 2005. It resulted in the establishment of a wide operational epidemiologic surveillance system by the islands local authority with the following objectives monitor epidemic trends, characterise cases and detect new transmission clusters to provide orientations for prevention and vector control. Unfortunately, the collection of data was not conducted scientifically, as the figures of reported cases were not scientifically correlated (Renault et al. 2007). Moreover, there were also flaws in the correlation of the epidemic curve as the capacity of the surveillance system was not sufficient to evaluate the number of cases. Consequently, this resulted in an underestimated number of reported cases. (Renault et al. 2007). Approximately 3% cases did not correspond with the criteria defining suspected cas es as an abrupt onset of fever >38.5oC accompanied by debilitating joint pain. However, Renault et al. (2007) argued that these were mainly due to some atypical cases that were confirmed by laboratory testing and also due to errors in reporting cases. Moreover, there could have been misdiagnosis of chikungunya infection as not all of the atypical cases were laboratory confirmed; and also the previous year there were outbreak of dengue. By April 2006, 203 deaths which were either directly or indirectly attributed to chikungunya infection with the mortality rate of 0.3/1000 people with a median age of 79. Consequently, the number of deaths was minimal. Moreover, the low immune status of the individual as indicated by the age could have been a contributing factor to the death, as some of these individuals were presented with other underlying conditions. However, direct association between death and infection was not confirmed due to the absence of autopsies, consequently; this made it difficult to assess the extent chikungunya virus had on death. Mayotte, an island of the Comoros archipelago was involved in the first CHIKV outbreak in April 2005 to July 2006 affecting approximately 6346 residents. The outbreak involved two waves, with peak occurring in the second wave aroIn the Maldives, an outbreak occurred during December 2006 to April 2007 with 11879 confirmed and suspected cases. Out of the 197 inhabited Maldives islands 121 islands reported CHIKV. The epidemic was thought to be associated with unusually high rainfall from October 2006 to March 2007 and post tsunami construction activities which provided breeding sites for mosquitoes. (Yoosuf et al. 2008). On the east coast of Madagascar, in Toamasina, Chikungunya virus and Dengue type 1 virus outbreak were reported during January to March 2006. The study involved interrogating 4,242 residents in 27 neighbourhoods, of which 2,863 were suspected cases and of these 44 were hospitalised cases. 55 patients serum were sampled after passing the criteria which included having less than five days of fever as well as three of these symptoms: headache, myalgia, arthralgia, retroorbital pain or rash. The results included 24 dengue patients, 4 chikungunya and 10 co-infections. As the study was only based on clinical investigations, and only a few samples were analysed, there were insufficient investigation to measure the Chikungunyas and Dengues contributions in the 2 peaks of the epidemic curve. Furthermore, 2 of the 24 Dengue patients had IgM Chikungunya virus. This could be caused by false positive or false negative results, resulting in misdiagnosis or they were in fact co-infections (Ratsitor ahina et al. 2008). The cases represented on the map are either confirmed cases or suspected cases. Reference: 1 Krastinova et al. 2006, 2 Rezza et al. 2007, 3 Pastorino et al. 2004, 4 Sissoko et al. 2008, 5 Lumsden 1955, 6 Tamburro and Depertat 2009, 7 CDC 2009, 8 WHO 2008, 9 Yoosuf et al. 2009. Transmission of CHIKV CHIKV requires an invertebrate and vertebrate host in order to complete its replication cycle (Pardigon 2009). Invertebrate hosts also known as definitive hosts are mainly the Aedes mosquito species. The Aedes mosquito becomes infected subsequent to ingesting viraemic blood meal from infected vertebrate hosts. The blood meal containing CHIKV travel to the gut, there CHIKV undergo replication within the gut wall. Subsequently, CHIKV contain mechanisms permitting its penetration into the mosquitoes tissues. From there, it passes through either the bloodstream or by other methods (not well known) to different sites of the body such as the salivary glands where it undergoes further replication. Extrinsic incubation period (EIP) is defined as the time taken for the vector to transmit CHIKV after ingesting a viraemic blood meal. Subsequently, there are factors that could influence the length of the EIP including temperature which increases when the EIP decreases. This is thought to be an i nverse proportional relationship. Moreover, the quantity of viraemic blood ingested is another factor (Cook and Zumla 2009). Furthermore, Ross (1956) research demonstrated that a mosquito could harbour viral particles for up to 30 days. Gould and Higgs (2009) suggested that vertical transmission of CHIKV from infected mosquitoes result in infected mosquitoes eggs. These eggs, due to their dessicated nature, are able to survive for long period of time in the environment where it hatches during the rainy season. Sylvatic transmission cycle involves vertebrate hosts such as primates, birds, and rodents which serve as natural hosts (Pardigon 2009). However, humans were considered accidental hosts, resulting in urban transmission cycles producing epidemics. After taking a viraemic bloodmeal from an infected human the domestic mosquitoes can also become infected thereby contributing to the outbreaks (Gould and Higgs 2009). Distributions of Aedes albopictus and Aedes aegypti The main vectors of chikungunya are Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus. The vector involved in the 2005/2006 Mayotte outbreak was Aedes albopictus which resided locally on the island (Sissoko et al. 2008). Aedes albopictus was involved in the 2006 Dengue fever and Chikungunya outbreak in Madagascar. The mosquito was found in drums, buckets, coconut shells, discarded cans, pots wet containers and tyres (Ratsitorahina et al. 2008). In the 2007 Italian outbreak, the only vector present was Aedes albopictus (Rezza et al. 2007). The main vector associated with recent outbreaks was Aedes albopictus. Effect of climate change Most of the cases occurred after reports of high rainfall. Association with Dengue Fever and Malaria In the 1999-2000 Democratric Republic of Congo outbreak, patients had acquired simultaneous CHIKV and Plasmodium falciparum infection. However, there were not sufficient evidence to prove co-infection between the two but it was assumed by the authors that it was probable (Pastorino et al. 2004). Compared to CHIKV, dengue virus is of the genus Flavirivirus from Flaviridae family and contains 4 serotypes (Dayal-Drager 2004 cited by Seyler et al. 2009). The 2006 Madagascar outbreak showed that the mosquito can harbour both Chikungunya and dengue virus (Ratsitorahina et al. 2008). CHIKV is often masked by dengue fever due to similar clinical features. Consequently, a study by Vazeille et al. (2008) demonstrated that Aedes aegypti has a higher susceptibility in Dengue 2 virus and a lower susceptibility to CHIKV. Moreover, studies by Vazeille et al. (2008) and Moutailler et al. (2009) demonstrated that Aedes albopictus are more effiecient at harbouring CHIKV than dengue 2 virus. Importation into Europe France Between March 2005 to August 2006, 80 visitors from Chikungunya infected countries in the Southwest Indian Ocean region (La Reunion, Mauritius, Mayotte, Comoros and India) confirmed chikungunya infection at Pitià ©-Salpà ªtrià ¨ne Hospital in Paris, France (Hochedez et al. 2007). Italy In 2007, a massive CHIKV outbreak occurred in the Emilia Romagna region in northeastern Italy. There were 205 identified cases with frebile illness reported in Castiglione di Cervia and Castiglione di Ravenna villages (171) separated by the river in Revana province, and Cervia (13) and other villages (21), between July 4 to September 27. The epidemic was believed to be imported from Kerala, India (CHIKV epidemic infested area) by a man, who after two days of his arrival in Castiglione di Cervia developed frebile illness. The majority of the cases were the elderly (median age 60) representing increased incidence with age. Aedes albopictus which causes Chikungunya was also found in the area of the epidemic which further propagated the virus. Positive CHIKV sequences were detected in 90 captured Aedes albopictus mosquitoes from Castiglione di Cervia and 125 from Castiglione di Ravenna. Most cases occurred in Castiglione di Cervia and Castiglione di Ravenna Villages with peak incidence d uring third week of August. The 13 Cervia cases were local transmission introduced from Castiglione through migration (Rezza et al. 2007). Other European Countries Due to travelling, several European countries have encountered CHIKV from viraemic travellers from epidemic countries (Panning et al. 2008). The study was conducted at the Bernhard-Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine in Hamburg, Germany involved 680 patients. References Beran, G. W. (1994) Handbook of zoonoses. Section B: Viral. 2nd Edition. CRC Press LLC: Florida. CDC. (2009) Outbreak notice. 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