The Competitive Sport Of Nba Basketball Sports Essay

The Competitive Sport Of Nba Basketball Sports Essay 1. Introduction: I would to start by introducing one of the most famous sports around the world; furthermore, it is currently one of the most played sports around the world. This sport is called Basketball, and it is team sportin which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or shooting† aballthrough the top of a basketball hoop while following a set ofrules. While competitive basketball is carefully managed, basketballhad been developed for casual play. Competitive basketball is primarily an indoor sport played on carefully marked and maintainedbasketball courts, but less regulated variations are often played outdoors in both inner city and rural areas TheNational Basketball Association(NBA) is an exciting mens professionalbasketballleague inNorth Americawhich consists of thirty different teams, where twenty-nine are located in theUnited Statesand only one inCanada. The NBA is one of the fourmajor North American professional sports leagues, which includeMajor League Baseball(MLB), theNational Football League(NFL), and theNational Hockey League(NHL). The league was created inNew York Cityo n June 6 ,1946 as theBasketball Association of America(BAA).The league adopted the name National Basketball Association in 1949 after merging with the rivalNational Basketball League(NBL). The leagues several managements are directed out of its head offices located in theOlympic Towerat 645Fifth Avenuein New York City. Section 2: NBA Regular seasons After the summer Holiday, teams organize training camps in late September. Training camps are opportunities for players to practice , locate the teams strengths and weaknesses, prepare the players for the challenging regular seasons, and determine the 12-man active roster (and a 3-man inactive list) with which they will begin the regular season. After training camp, a series of preseason games are held. The NBA regular season starts on the last week of October. During the regular season, each team plays 82 games, 41 home and 41 away. A team faces opponents in its own division four times a year (16 games), teams from the other two divisions in its conference either three or four times (36 games), and teams in the other conference twice (30 games). The NBA is also the only league that regularly schedules games onChristmasDay.The league has been playing games regularly on the holiday since 1947,though the first Christmas Day games were not aired on television until1983.Games played on this day have featured some of the best teams and players. In February, the regular season comes to a short stop to celebrate the annualNBA All-Star Game. Fans vote throughout the United States, Canada, and even on theInternet, and the players with the top votes at each position in each conference are given a starting spot on their conferences All-Star team. Coaches vote to choose the remaining 14 All-Stars. Afterwards, Eastern conference players face the Western conference players in the All-Star game. The player with the best performance during the game is rewarded with aMVP (Most valuable player) award. Other events during the   All-Star stop include the Rookie Challenge, where the top rookies and second-year players in the NBA play against each other in a 5-on-5 basketball game; furthermore theSkills Challenge, where players compete to finish an obstacle course including shooting, passing and dribbling in the fastest time. There is also the Three Point Contest, where players compete to score the most amounts of three-point field g oals in a given time, and theNBA Slam Dunk Contest, where players compete to dunk the ball in the most entertaining and exciting way according to the judges. Around the middle of April, the regular season ends. As soon as the season ends, votes for individual and team awardswell begin. TheSixth Man of the Year Awardis given to the best player that was not in the startup line but was later substituted in the game. TheRookie of the Year Awardis awarded to the best first-year player. TheMost Improved Player Awardis awarded to the player who had shown the most improvement from the previous season. TheDefensive Player of the Year Awardis awarded to the leagues best defender. TheCoach of the Year Awardis awarded to the coach that has made the most positive influence into a team. TheMost Valuable Player Awardis given to player who had proved the most valuable for (his team) that season. Section 3: NBA Playoffs NBA Playoffs begin in late April, with eight teams in each conference going for the Championship. The three division winners, along with the team with the next best record from the conference are given the top four Positions. The next lower four teams in terms of record in the season are given the lower four position. This is how they organize it: There are 30 teams divided into two conferences, the east and west. Each conference has a division of 5 teams each. The top team from each division and the next 5 teams from each conference regardless of division make the top 8 teams from each conference. Then they get positioned   much like most other sports, the top team gets the worst qualifying team (1st versus 8th) and the second best gets the second worst, and so on. They play a round of best-of-seven, meaning technically they will play seven games against each other and whoever ends up with the most wins advances to the next round. Of course, after one team wins 4 games, theres no use to play out the entire 7-game series so it is the first team to win 4 games that get to move to the next round. Furthermore, the team with the best regular season record in the league is guaranteed home court advantage in every game it plays in the playoffs. The final playoff round, a best-of-seven series between the victors of both conferences, is known as the NBA Finals, and is held every year in June. The victor in the NBA Finals wins the Larry OBrien Championship Trophy. Each player and major contributor to the NBA season, including coaches and the general manager on the winning team, receive a championship ring. In addition, the league awards aBill Russell NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Awardto the best performing player of the Season. Section 4: conclusion As a conclusion, Basketball is an outstanding game where people all around the world can enjoy regardless of whether they are poor or rich, young or old, or even with different skin color. It is a wonderful game that knows no boundaries towards evolution in which any person could come up with new styles and skills that could be played in the friendly games and tournaments. The NBAs style of playing the game has changed dramatically through the years and it was all thanks to the people who have passion for the game.  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚   Many critics and fans around the world call theNBAgreatest show on earth. No other league around the world brings what the NBAs game has brought every season. The greatest plays, games, dunks, players and passion for the basketball are the reasons why the fans keep watching the games. The NBA is the basketball league which helped in the evolution of the sport. It had created many chances and opportunities for skilled and determined players around the globe to prove themselves in front of crowd and the whole world. It also gave them the dream that they would pursue in order to achieve greatness. For me it is the best sport I ever played.

International Trade Law

Law chosen to govern a transactions is clearly state the legal consequences of their contractual activities for example the right, obligation, and remedies for involve parties, and they can choose the law of particular country or international law to govern their contract. International trade law (CISG) includes the appropriate rules and customs for handling trade between states and it forms part of domestic law if the involve parties are from the contracting state of CISG.With assistance from Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT) for filling gap in the coverage of issues by the CISG which is the validity of contract, effect of contract on property and goods, exclusively or non-sale aspects for distribution agreement, and inability of sell for death or personal injury cause by the goods on any person. The domestic law that governs the transactions in Malaysia is the Contract Act 1950 and supplement from Sale of Goods Act (SOGA) 1957 (revised 1989) which is based on the English Sales of Goods Act.As a Malaysian lawyer, I recommend you choose the Contract Act 1950 and SOGA as the governing law because the business you based is on Malaysia home soil and it creates a familiar factor to you. Besides that, Contract Act 1950 and SOGA already govern the basic contract of goods and contract of insurance but they did not cover the contract of carriage. However, because of Malaysia still practices the Hague Rules by virtue of the Carriage of Goods By Sea Act 1950 (Revised 1994), you have to choose the Hague Rules to govern your contract of carriage even though there are prominent weaknesses.For contract of carriage, there is standard term used on trading call as International Commercial Terms (INCOTERMS), and Cost, Insurance and Freight (CIF) and Free On Board (FOB) are the generally used term in the trade. So, I recommend you to practice FOB even through your product price will slightly lower due to bargain from buyer, but the cost will reflect on save at the transport o f the products. Besides, the main benefit is you do not need to make arrangement on carriage and thus this will reduced the burden to you as a seller’s responsibilities.Policies and regulations have the very close relationship because regulations are come under the policies. The policies and regulations at Malaysia are based on an open and encourage motive, so, normally you can smoothly doing your business on export the product out of Malaysia to foreign countries. This is see through the durian is one of the fruits that identifies by the Third National Agricultural Policy (1998-2010) (NAP3) as important role in creating competitiveness of the Malaysia fruit and vegetable industry in the ASEAN.However, you need to take care about different policies and regulations of your dealing countries which are ASEAN countries and China in order to gain the benefits from all your dealing exporter countries which are actually on the free trade area as ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) and also ASEAN-China Free Trade Area (ACFTA). Firstly, other than the list of preferential tariffs products that under the Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT) scheme , the 40% rules of origin are also one regulation that need to comply with in able to benefit from preferential market access.So, you need to obtain a different certificate of origin from Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) to trade at both free trade areas. Besides certificate of origin, there are regulations for the quality of trading goods on AFTA and ACFTA. Start from sign of AFTA and ACFTA, the ASEAN countries and China fruits market move to more open market as can see through the fruits quality control have been replace to which is more harmonize and standardize call as Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measurers (SPS).This is to prevent countries to protect their domestic agricultural producers from imports with stringent phytosanitary measures which are non-science based, discriminatory and non-transpar ent. So, you now can be more efficiently and effectively on export your product to these particular countries. ? Answer 2: International agreement different to domestic contract that only contracting within the familiar home country itself, it is more complicated in contracting with various countries and sometimes may be in unfamiliar countries.So in contracting International agreement, there normally required for more trade documents that covers wider range that classified under four main groups which is Financial, Commercial, official, and Transport and insurance documents. Compared to International agreement, domestic contract normally required fewer types of documents especially only commercial and insurance type. This is because domestic contract only contracting the goods move within country territory and did not cross over he national boarder, so documents like certificated of origin in Official group of documents, bill of landing (BOL) or airway bills (AWB) in Transport grou p of documents are not needed. Term of payment decide on International agreement is more complicated than for domestic contract in reasons of more person involve in the payment process for International agreement. This process can explained though the general example of payment term which is letter of credit (LC) that involve bank parties assistance by act as a middle man in the payment process.The next main difference between both is the risk face by each other. International agreement is exposed to a number of risks such as buyer’s risk, transport risk and transfer risk that may be also faced by domestic contract. However, these similar risks faced by the domestic contract will be lower in term of cost factor and some other risks such as exchange rate risk and country or sovereign risk will exclude to domestic contract that only contracting at local currency and local policies.Besides that, the transportation and delivery aspect must follow the international standard for ex ample the standardized dimensions of shipping pallets for International agreement, but this requirement is not so strict for the domestic contract. Product packaging and labeling aspect is also not so concern by domestic contract because it normally travels across short distance. However, for International agreement that the goods travel at long distance, export packaging must be suitable for the particular mode of transport in order to provide maximum protection.There are four different types of contracting methods available which is negotiating a complete contract, choosing international law to govern the contract, agree on standard form or terms, and standard industry contracts. Negotiating a complete contract is not suitable to you because your business was just at the beginning stages of entering the new market, so there are many ‘unknown’ on the others’ domestic law that will cause unfair situation in the contracting, thus this will also incurred even more time in making the final agreement.For your situation that deals with many countries, standard industry contracts seem more suitable to you but there are still not any single association that published the standard contracts of durian even though there are already mature grow of durian industry in ASEAN. Then, Standard terms contracting method is suitable to you not only because it is a speedy and convenient way of contracting, but it also benefit to you as an fferor that has priority in the ‘last shot doctrine’ in the courts. Besides, the objective of choosing international law to govern the contract is to provide more comfortably for other parties to enter the contracts, rather than selecting particular domestic law. So, as I recommend you to choose the Malaysia law as governing law, this method is clearly not suitable because it controversy to governing law that you chosen.The object clauses can create legal and practical problems to you in term of quality and specif ication of the goods you export. Certificate of origin is basic requirement for export goods to other countries, and as discussed before, you needs to obtain a certificate of origin ‘Form D’ from Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) for trade on AFTA, and ‘Form E’ for trade on ACFTA in order to fulfill the CEPT scheme.In other simply meaning, you must to obtain the certificate of origin in order to enjoy the benefit of tariff in the free trade area and simply act as a ‘passport’ that show approval to entering particular market. The packing aspect of goods’ specification creates the problem on the transport of durian to other countries by the strong odour of durian leaking out from the poor packaging.So you need to practice the suitable packaging method for your export durian especially your fresh durian that exported by air shipment. Besides that, you must prepare for the future of sustainable packaging that reflect in the designed in a holistic way and be made from responsibly sourced materials that are safe and effective throughout its lifecycle, meet criteria for performance and cost, meet consumers’ choice and expectations and, finally, it has to be recovered efficiently after use.For the price clauses, you better determine the price that can change over time subject to review and modification because there are fluctuate in the currency exchange among all the different countries that will cause huge lost if there are big differences between the current currency and the currency that agree on the fixed price agreement. Payment clauses also need to be aware because the method of payment will affect your receivable ability, and letter of credit seem more suitable for you because it emphasis more on the seller side through the process that provide more insure on receiving of payment for seller side.Penalty for late payment in this clauses will not only provide extra insure to you through the c harges gain for the late payment, but it also help in your financial arrangement due to the on-time payment and assurance of creditability of the buyer through the slightly higher of penalty being set. Delivery and shipment clauses will also raise problem through period time that involve in transport the perishable durian product.So, in order to maintained the product freshness especially when transport at long distance like to China, the date and also time must specify in detail referred to the time of harvest and the available of transportation to prevent any extra days or hours it incurred to transport the product. Besides that, port of shipment is also a critical element in this clause because the distance between the choosing port and the distribution centre determine the product freshness also.For example in China, you can choose the port of Guangzhou because it is considering being a centre for exporting Malaysian durian to China. As I suggest you to choose Malaysian law as t he governing law, you need to state this clearly in the clause of governing law. Besides, after state of the governing law is Malaysian law, follow by the jurisdiction will state Malaysia court is the place to resolve dispute. If this never state in the contract, it will depend on court to decide which law apply.The clause of passing of title and risk is also a vital term to consider when there are accidents happen to the goods on the carrier stage or incident of unpaid seller. ? Bibliography 1. AB Teoh. 2008. Exporting and International Trade [access on 15 July 2010] 2. Essential international trade law by Michelle Sanson. 2002 by Cavendish Publishing (Australia) Pty Limited. Available www. cavendishpublish. com. [access on 15 July 2010]

Oxide Minerals Image Gallery and Descriptions

The History and Domestication of Bananas

Bananas (Musa spp) are a tropical crop, and a staple in the wet tropic areas of Africa, the Americas, mainland and island Southeast Asia, South Asia, Melanesia, and the Pacific islands. Perhaps 87% of the total bananas consumed worldwide today are locally consumed; the rest is distributed outside of the wet tropical regions in which they are grown. Today there are hundreds of fully domesticated banana varieties, and an uncertain number are still in various stages of domestication: that is to say, they still are inter-fertile with wild populations. Bananas are basically giant herbs, rather than trees, and there are approximately 50 species in the Musa genus, which includes the edible forms of bananas and plantains. The genus is split into four or five sections, based on the number of chromosomes in the plant, and the region where they are found. Furthermore, over a thousand different types of cultivars of bananas and plantains are recognized today. The different varieties are characterized by wide differences in peel color and thickness, flavor, fruit size, and resistance to disease. The bright yellow one found most frequently in western markets is called the Cavendish. Cultivating Bananas Bananas produce vegetative suckers at the base of the plant which can be removed and planted separately. Bananas are planted at a typical density of between 1500-2500 plants per square hectare. Between 9-14 months after planting, each plant produces some 20-40 kilograms of fruit. After the harvest, the plant is cut down, and one sucker is allowed to grow up to produce the next crop. Banana Phytoliths The evolution,  or plant systematics, of bananas are difficult to study archaeologically, and so the domestication history was unknowable until recently. Banana pollen, seeds, and pseudostem impressions are quite rare or absent at archaeological sites, and much of the recent research has been focused on the relatively new technologies associated with opal phytoliths—basically silicon copies of cells created by the plant itself. Banana phytoliths are uniquely shaped: they are volcaniform, shaped like little volcanoes with a flat crater at the top. There are differences in the phytoliths between varieties of bananas, but variations between wild and domesticated versions are not as yet definitive, so additional forms of research need to be used to fully understand banana domestication. Genetics and Linguistics Genetics and linguistic studies also help in understanding banana history. Diploid and triploid forms of bananas have been identified, and their distribution throughout the world is a key piece of evidence. In addition, linguistic studies of local terms for bananas support the notion of the spread of the banana away from its point of origin: island southeast Asia. Exploitation of early wild forms of bananas has been noted at the Beli-Lena site of Sri Lanka by c 11,500-13,500 BP, Gua Chwawas in Malaysia by 10,700 BP, and Poyang Lake, China by 11,500 BP. Kuk Swamp, in Papua New Guinea, so far the earliest unequivocal evidence for banana cultivation, had wild bananas there throughout the Holocene, and banana phytoliths are associated with the earliest human occupations at Kuk Swamp, between ~10,220-9910 cal BP. Todays Hybridized Bananas Bananas have been cultivated and hybridized a number of times over several thousand years, so well concentrate on the original domestication, and leave the hybridization to botanists. All edible bananas today are hybridized from  Musa acuminata  (diploid) or  M. acuminata  crossed with  M. balbisiana  (triploid). Today,  M. acuminata  is found throughout mainland and island southeast Asia including the eastern half of the Indian subcontinent;  M. balbisiana  is mostly found in mainland Southeast Asia. Genetic changes from  M. acuminata  created by the domestication process include the suppression of seeds and the development of parthenocarpy: the ability of humans to create a new crop without the need for fertilization. Bananas Across the World Archaeological evidence from the  Kuk Swamp  of the highlands of New Guinea indicates that bananas were deliberately planted by at least as long ago as 5000-4490 BC (6950-6440 cal BP). Additional evidence indicates that  Musa acuminata  ssp  banksii  F. Muell was dispersed out of New Guinea and introduced into eastern Africa by ~3000 BC (Munsa and Nkang), and into South Asia (the Harappan site of Kot Diji) by 2500 cal BC, and probably earlier. The earliest banana evidence found in Africa is from  Munsa, a site in Uganda dated to 3220 cal BC, although there are problems with the stratigraphy and chronology. The earliest well-supported evidence is at Nkang, a site located in southern Cameroon, which contained banana phytoliths dated between 2,750 to 2,100 BP. Like  coconuts, bananas were most widely spread as a result of the sea exploration of the Pacific by Lapita peoples ca 3000 BP, of extensive trade voyages throughout the Indian Ocean by Arab traders, and of exploration of the Americas by Europeans. Sources Ball T, Vrydaghs L, Van Den Hauwe I, Manwaring J, and De Langhe E. 2006.  Differentiating banana phytoliths: wild and edible Musa acuminata and Musa Journal of Archaeological Science 33(9):1228-1236.De Langhe E, Vrydaghs L, de Maret P, Perrier X, and Denham T. 2009. Why Bananas Matter: An introduction to the history of banana domestication.  Ethnobotany Research Applications  7:165-177. Open AccessDenham T, Fullagar R, and Head L. 2009.  Plant exploitation on Sahul: From   Quaternary International  202(1-2):29-40.colonisation to the emergence of regional specialisation during the Holocene.Denham TP, Harberle SG, Lentfer C, Fullagar R, Field J, Therin M, Porch N, and Winsborough B. 2003.  Origins of Agriculture at Kuk Swamp in the Highlands of New Guinea.  Science  301(5630):189-193.Donohue M, and Denham T. 2009.  Banana (Musa spp.) Domestication in the Asia-Pacific Region: Linguistic and archaeobotanical perspectives.  Ethnobotany Research Applications  7:29 3-332. Open AccessHeslop-Harrison JS, and Schwarzacher T. 2007.  Domestication, Genomics and the Future for Banana.  Annals of Botany  100(5):1073-1084.Lejju BJ, Robertshaw P, and Taylor D. 2006.  Africas earliest bananas?  Journal of Archaeological Science  33(1):102-113.Pearsall DM. 2008.  Plant . In: Pearsall DM, editor.  Encyclopedia of Archaeology. London: Elsevier Inc. p 1822-1842.Perrier X, De Langhe E, Donohue M, Lentfer C, Vrydaghs L, Bakry F, Carreel F, Hippolyte I, Horry J-P, Jenny C et al. 2011.  Multidisciplinary perspectives on banana (Musa spp.) domestication.  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences  Early Edition.