Assignment in Planning and Programming Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

In Planning and Programming - Assignment Example The paper defines a project plan as the guide towards the execution and control of a project. Project plan forms a fundamental base towards the success or failure of a given project. According to Kerzner a project plan defines the appropriate methods to be employed during the project. The defined methods ensure successful completion of projects. Project plan ensures optimisation of the resources towards achieving the objectives of the project. The plan, therefore, acts as a guideline in maintaining a balance between resource utilisation and project schedule compliance. The plan ensures proper utilisation of project resources and timely completion of projects. The project planning process in the construction industry forms a fundamental activity for the entire project. The planning process consists of numerous stages. The stages include. †¢ Choosing of correct technology and construction method to be employed in the project. †¢ Establishing the work tasks. †¢ Defining the existing relationships between various activities. †¢ Estimating the activity durations. †¢ Estimating the resource requirements for the work activities involved. Numerous factors within the construction sector affect the planning process. The factors affecting the project planning process lie within the financial and time functions of the project. The factors can, therefore, be defined as cost factors and schedule factors. The chart below shows the factors affecting the planning process. ... These uncertainties form what project managers consider project risks. Risk management becomes an essential part of projects execution in ensuring the success of a project. Ireland (2006) defines the element of risk assessment as the critical analysis of the expected constraints and uncertainties before embarking on a project. Comprehensive analysis of the risks becomes essential in minimising the probabilities of project failure. Ireland continues to discuss that failure to analyse these factors efficiently and critically, poses surmountable problem of project failure. The process of risk assessment involves, identifying the uncertainties, analysing them, and prioritising the risks as analysed. The last phase, of prioritising, ensures the arrangement of the risks in relation to the impacts they may posses on the project. This phase allows project managers to eliminate the substantial risks perfectly while managing the other risks throughout the project duration. Financial planning P roject management process includes financial planning as an element within the execution process. A financial plan defines and identifies the financial needs of the entire project. All expenses expected within the project execution, need to be indicated within the scope of financial plan. Kerzner (2009) defines financial planning as the element of drawing the budgetary needs for the different phases of a project. Financial planning provides a breakdown of all expenses to be incurred at different stages during the project execution duration. The importance of financial planning lies in ensuring controlled utilisation of financial resources available for projects. Financial

Technical Skills Essential to the Role of Secretarial Administration Essay

Technical Skills Essential to the Role of Secretarial Administration - Essay Example The researcher will begin with the statement that his experience in administration began when he was appointed as personal secretary to the Director-General of the Department of Arts and Culture. The researcher’s duties included the giving of administrative support to the Director-General. His main focus was administrative leadership, security and control functions which facilitated internal and external communication of the Head of Department with Top Management, Board Members and Agencies receiving state funding for arts and culture. The author got familiar with the Department’s policy regarding its system of correspondence, which included the drafting of internal memoranda, letters, and submissions for approval of funding proposals according to the system of delegation. In the researcher’s 10 years of employment with the Department, he prepared agendas for board and in-house meetings, took notes and set-up minutes of the meetings. The author had to organize in ternal staff meetings and provide all related documentation to the program managers (heads of the department’s divisions) like the financial executive director. Of his functions were to build a complete and efficient filing system in the form of paper files for back-up as well as an electronic filing system which kept track of each matter under discussion. Each unresolved matter was given a deadline date and the computer programme gave a daily print-out of outstanding matters with regard to urgent bookmarks for immediate attention that day.

Literature On Solid Waste Management

Literature On Solid Waste Management There is not much literature available on Harar Municipal Solid Waste Management sector although such studies were conducted at Addis Ababa and Jimma. Therefore, this section borrows liberally from studies conducted elsewhere. While poor management of solid waste is a general problem in Ethiopia, it is probably conspicuous in Harar city considering its historical and regional importance. It is a government organization that motivates the public towards SWM. Pubic and government are inseparable from the welfare point of view. The question is how do we get local municipality in Harar as an organ of the state government to be innovative in providing solid waste services? Despite the wide use of the term, innovation systems are yet to be clearly defined, characterized and evaluated in a systematic and quantifiable manner. With the selection of solid waste services in local municipality the following experience in Sri Lanka may of interest and guidance to us. The innovation systems theory in the 1980s in Sri Lanka invoked the notion of national innovation systems which are made up of institutions that create, store and transfer knowledge. It is now becoming increasingly clear that the creators of knowledge are not limited to those in institutions dedicated to such. Instead now it is widely accepted that knowledge is created in application as opposed to formal knowledge institutions (Gibbons et al., 1994) Moreover, emerging importance of knowledge underpins the conceptual basis for the project. A change in the nature of the knowledge landscape was predicted by Gibbons and others as early as the 1990s in what they termed as the changing modes of knowledge production. They designated knowledge produced in formal settings such as Universities and research institutes as institution influenced knowledge and knowledge gained in work places and other settings as formal practical knowledge which will gradually supersede institutional knowledge. Although the concept is widely used in the literature, empirical work supporting it is lacking. Yet, any training that Harar municipality would offer to its employees involved in SWM would make a breakthrough in SWM system. Knowledge for innovation in solid waste services will be generated from within the practitioners, with the formal knowledge community playing a supporting role. It is also becoming increasingly difficult to separate creation of knowledge from the sharing or the application. An emerging literature such as Bartone (1995) on Knowledge Intensive Business Services (KIBS) supports the newer notion of knowledge creation and application is not two separate things. Innovation in services is now understood to be an ongoing process where the producers of the service continually learn from customers, suppliers and recruits. 2.2 Social Assessment 2.2.1 Introduction to SA Moreover, as this study looked into social factors assessment, the following literature reviews were felt suitable for discussion. Although the researcher applied only some the following views for this project, the SA views for SWM gains prominence in that any participatory approach needs a strong social assessment. According to the World Bank, (2003) a social assessment refers to the analysis that a borrower undertakes during project design to assess social feasibility of a project. It also incorporates a range of instruments that can be used not only to obtain the necessary social input and identify appropriate mechanisms for community participation in the design and implementation of these systems, but also to ensure that vulnerable social groups are not excluded from the benefits of investments and system improvements. Equally important is the need to ensure that social groups and communities are not adversely affected by relevant decisions whether they relate to factors such as changes in service fees, expansion of service boundaries, and/or inclusion/exclusion of activities of the informal sector with regard to SWM. Further, World Bank (2003) is of the opinion that the ideal SA facilitates the process through which the Borrower better understands social organization and cultural systems, as well as institutional, historical, and political contexts in order to ensure the quality of investment design and success during implementation; provides means to enhance equality, strengthen social inclusion and cohesion, promote transparent governance and empower the poor and the vulnerable in project design and/or implementation. It further says that it constitutes a mechanism to identify the opportunities, constraints, impacts, and social risks associated with policy and project design; provides a framework for dialogue on development priorities among social groups, civil society, government and other stakeholders; and uses an approach to identify and mitigate the potential social risks, including adverse social impacts. According to Social Assessment for Tehran City Solid Waste Management Project (2004) Community and institutional characteristics are as important as household characteristics in determining the role of stakeholders in MSWM. Often the poorest communities, such as those that are of low caste or ethnic status, and those that are new immigrants of urban peripheries, are either excluded from MSWM services or may be adversely impacted. Dump sites may be located near the most vulnerable communities, thus subjecting them to health problems. This is quite true to Harar city. Their voices may not be strong enough within the urban political structure to affect positive changes in their environmental status. The said project of Tehran further demonstrated that a thorough assessment of socio-economic, demographic and migratory characteristics of the project population was an important analytical tool that helped formulate recommendations for the improvement of the MSWS in the city. These improvem ents were directly derived from the findings of the SA. 2.2.2 Gender Perspectives Gender and MSWM are closely related. Although this study does not delve deep into gender dimension with regard SWM of Harar city, it is true that SWM is gendered to some extent in the city. According to Scheinberg et al. (1999) many aspects of solid waste management are gendered. Looking at gender dimensions of MSWM also enables the planners to note the differences in the behavior, needs, and the roles played by other social groups. Women and men play different roles in the MSWM at all levels. At the household level, for example, they have different responsibilities. At workplaces dealing with waste sorting, collection, transportation, and planning, there are other key differences. Although the differences are largely culture specific, it is not common to see women among the high level managers of solid waste within municipal or formal private sector institutions Women may take responsibility for community cleanliness as long as the work is voluntary, but when it becomes paid and leg itimized, it frequently, if not always goes to men. In planning improvements to the MSWM system, therefore, the implications are that there is a need to preserve womens role in cleaning activities (UWEP 1999). Womens ability to contribute to environmental cleaning or even carrying their household waste to bins placed in public places may be hindered in certain cultural settings where womens presence in public is discouraged, as is documented for Yemens secondary cities (Bernstein 1998). Although it may not be fully true to Harar city, elderly and middle aged women do not get involved in these activities frequently 2.2.3 Poverty and Low Income Many studies were conducted on poverty and low income. These studies proved that they were closely related to SWM. The following are some excerpts from literature in this regard that go hand in hand with the existing social and economic condition that prevails in the study area affecting the MSWM. Among other issues that are important in analyzing social diversity, understanding poverty dimensions is critical. Urban poverty and poor environmental conditions in most parts of the world are inextricably linked. In many cities, the poor do not have access to the formal solid waste collection service, or live in unsafe, marginal, and environmentally hazardous areas such as polluted land-sites near solid waste dumps. These conditions lead to poor environmental health which aggravates poverty and leads to impacts such as loss of income due to sickness and disease, inadequate medical treatment, and increased spending on health care which depletes household savings. Lowered incomes and aggravated poverty divest the poor of their capability either to live in safer environments or to improve the environment where they live. Hence, it is essential to improve environmental conditions that surround the urban poor in order to enhance the latters capability to fight poverty (Bartone, 2000). In the context of an investment in MSWM, project planners should ensure that the poor are among the beneficiaries of service improvements. Waste pickers at dumpsites and on the streets commonly are socially marginalized. They work under conditions which are extremely hazardous to health and detrimental to family, social, and educational development and live without basic economic or social security. Often children and the elderly are involved in this type of work. Waste pickers live and work under socially precarious conditions and are subject to serious health risks. Support should aim to improve their working conditions, earnings, and access to social services. In three Turkish cities (Diyarbakir, Mardin, Urfa), large numbers of school age children walk around the city streets in small groups, sorting for a wide range of items. These are the children of families that have been displaced from their villages for security reasons. The little that they are able to earn from scavenging meets a significant percentage of the food needs of their families (Bernstein, 1999). Improving environmental conditions in cities and towns helps in reducing poverty directly as well as indirectly (Bartone, 2000). As a direct impact, improvement in solid waste conditions can lead to better health which in turn, can help to improve productivity and increased incomes. An indirect impact of improved solid waste conditions can lead to decreased health problems and hence, savings from spending on health. The savings and better living environment per se would provide the poor with resources, time, and most importantly a better quality of life to enrich their skills (and thereby increase their capabilities) to earn higher incomes, and fight poverty. Further, an increase in income would also enable the poor to pay for the basic environmental services they need. Many other aspects of MSWM are closely related to poverty. Poverty is closely associated with low level of garbage generation and waste collection as well as high levels of waste sorting, re-use, and recycling. Poverty is also associated with residential proximity to dump sites as well as exclusion from municipal services. Poverty influences pe oples perception on SWM. 2.2. 4 Garbage Pickers and Environment Many people both young and old make a living from the SW dumps in the outskirts of the city. This poses a great danger to the community in general and the collectors in particular. Aging is also emerging as a critical problem in MSWM (Bernstein, 1999). In many nations of Eastern Europe and most countries of the former Soviet Union (FSU) population aging is rising. In some cases, over a quarter of the population are older than 60 years (Kudat and Youssef 1999). Even when they generate low volume of solid waste, elderly people face special problems. For example, they often do not have easy access to a waste collection bins or have difficulties paying for the waste collection services. According to World Bank (2004) in some countries, the poorest segments of the elderly population (mainly abandoned single elderly) collect food from waste bins, thus facing serious health risks. In others situations (e.g., in Mongolia) there are many elderly individuals who collect recyclable items (cans and bottles) for cash. For many of them, collecting waste is the main source of income. The livelihoods of solid waste collectors at Harar city depend on the cash they generate through the collection. There are, however, important environmentally sound lessons that can be learnt from the poor with respect to both the reduction of waste and its re-use. In poor communities of Mardin, for example, most upper income groups do not engage in any sorting whereas all lower income residents make use of plastic materials, paper, cardboard and tin cans. Among the poor, for example, paper waste is used as a fire starter for stoves, leftover bread is given to milk sellers or to bran manufacturers and plastic bags are used for carrying food or storing bread (Bernstein, 1999). Levels of economic development and household income are important determinants of the volume and composition of wastes generated by residential and other users, as well as the willingness and ability to pay for a particular level of service. Similarly, the characteristics of other waste generators (for example, artisan shops, schools, government offices, bars) determine their ability and willingness to pay for MSWM service s. It is often assumed that the poor would both be unable and unwilling to pay for improved MSWM services. The evidence from the water and sanitation sector strongly points in the opposite direction (Cernea, and Kudat 1977). Indeed, the poor are often unable to have regular access to municipal services and, and must pay a disproportionately higher share of their income to pay for alternative service arrangements. The garbage collectors indeed face huge risk both for their own health and the health of the community they live with. The following are literature reviews in this regard. Most of the information available from these secondary sources is true to the solid waste collectors of Harar. All activities in solid waste management involve risk, either to the workers directly involved, or to the nearby residents. Risks occur at every step in the process, from the point where residents source segregate wastes into different components for collection and recycling, to the point of ultimate disposal (Cointreau 2000) Health and safety risks from waste are caused by many factors and may include the following: The nature of raw waste, its composition (that is, toxic, allergic and infectious substances), and its components (that is, gases, dusts, leachate, sharps). The nature of waste as it decomposes (that is., gases, dusts, leachate, particle sizes) and their change in ability to cause a toxic, allergic or infectious health response · The handling of waste (that is, working in traffic, shoveling, lifting, equipment vibrations, accidents) The processing of wastes (that is, odor, noise, vibration, accidents, air and water emissions, residuals, explosions, fires); The disposal of wastes (that is, odor, noise, vibration, stability of waste piles, air and water emissions, explosions, fires). It is not always possible to quantify health impacts associated with exposure to solid waste; poorly managed municipal solid waste can impose significant risks to the following groups: Refuse collection workers and waste pickers (including children) Garbage pickers who work and often live under socially precarious conditions and are subject to serious health risks, and Municipal workers also are affected by high rates of worker illness and absenteeism 2.2.5 Solid Waste Disposal The public at large is affected by poor MSWM practices that are responsible for drinking water mix-up with sewerage. Similarly, while the exposure of communities closer to the dump sites is higher, there are broader public risks associated with air pollution as well. SAs that clearly show the relationship of residential proximity to landfills and health problems have yet to be produced. Nonetheless, a study in Southeastern Turkey indicates that there may be a close relationship (Bernstein 1999), particularly for the poor. The residents say that there are a lot of diseases because they have to live close to the landfill. Our children are playing with syringes and bottles. They are dirty. Our children are sick, and there is no doctor. We dont have money. We suffer from the waste. The State must solve our problem, the residents cry. Residents of communities also add: The wind spreads plastic bags from the landfill. Our cattle are ill because they eat these plastic bags. This is very important for us because these are not only our animals but our income and our food. The SA carried out in Turkey also shows that the health impact of picking waste is often severe. Most pickers use their hands for sorting waste and are exposed to medical waste and hazardous objects. One of the children collecting waste in the landfill said I cut my hands several times. We suffer from various diseases. One of my friends and I got typhoid, and these two boys got hepatitis. Other boys cut their hands with broken glass. (Bernstein 1999). Finally, the SA undertaken in Bosnia and Herzegovina (2002) demonstrated that external factors like civil war put additional pressure on the environment and health of the local communities by contributing to the mismanagement of existing landfills and emergence of new areas for waste disposal, including those in and around abandoned home and public buildings. 2.3 Information Dissemination Dissemination of information plays a key factor in MSWM. Several literature such as Gunn, Susan E., and Zenaida Ostos (1992); Bartone, C.L, Bernstein, J.D, (1993); Olley, J and, Olbina R. (1999); Medina, Martin (2000); World Bank. 1982 recommends that taking the MSWM policies and issues to the public in the following manner plays a key role in solving several key problems in MSWM. Every good public involvement program includes a good public information campaign. In particular, the public needs to know why a solid waste facility is needed and what the consequences will be if no facility is on place. People need information about the alternatives to choose between them, and they need to know the facts about a proposed decision to decide whether they support it. Some techniques for communicating to the public are: Briefings: Briefings keep key elected officials or agencies informed of the progress with regard to MSWM. Briefings consist of a personal visit or even a phone call to inform people before an action is taken. Briefings often lead to two-way communication, because you may receive valuable information in response to your announcement. Briefing elected officials or agencies is particularly important if your actions might result in political controversy that may affect them. This was possible but not widely practiced in the study area. Feature Stories: A feature story is a full-blown news story, written by a reporter, not just an announcement based on a news release. Sending a news release to a newspaper is one way to get the media interested in your story. But often you are more likely to get someone interested if you make a personal contact with an editor or reporter who has an interest in the issue. As the study area is inhabited by basically literate people to University graduates besides some illiterate population, this could spread information on MSWM in the city. Yet, this is not practiced in the study area except for occasional publications. Mailing out Key Technical Reports or Environmental Documents: Simply making technical reports available at libraries or other public places has not proven effective for getting the level of knowledge about these documents that you need for credibility. Instead, send key documents can be mailed directly to leaders of the organized groups and interests, including business, environmental, or neighborhood associations. Although mailing documents is impractical to individuals and organizations, keeping them in public libraries could be done. However, the public libraries in the study area did not contain such documents. Paid Advertisements: Paid advertisements are one way to make an announcement or present information to the public in newspapers or on radio or television. One major consideration in paid advertising is public reaction against the spending of public funds. Occasionally, people criticize large advertisements, even if they are providing information. Paid advertisements are useful when announcing public meetings. However, this is not the case in the study area. Information on the Mass Media: This is very effective as many people could afford to own a radio and have the opportunity to watch television programs in public places and community information centers. Any program explaining the MSWM and the problems that it faces in the nation can easily be telecasted and broadcasted using experienced television and radio artists and showing live on television the sanitation degradation due to problems in MSWM. Although, the study area has a huge television screen for public at the center of the city and many people in the city own radio and have access to watch television programs, due to the absence of regular programs on SWM on mass media, information on MSWM could not reach the public at large. Willingness to Pay Another important aspect of MSWM is the WTP (Willingness To Pay) of the beneficiaries. This idea has been discussed at length in several literature related to SWM. The following points are the most important ones found in this regard. Household Income ( as discussed in Chapter One) The belief of households that it is the government and not the citizens are responsible for SWM ( this is also discussed in Chapter One) The degree of realization of the importance of proper SWM towards healthy living The Importance of PPP (Public -Private Partnership) in SWM Stringent law with regard to SWS Thus, WTP by the beneficiaries was considered for this project with regard to SWM in Harar city.

Feminine Sexuality and Passion in Kate Chopins The Storm Essay

Feminine Sexuality and Passion in Kate Chopin's The Storm         Ã‚   In Kate Chopin's short story The Storm, the narrative surrounds the brief extramarital affair of two individuals, Calixta and Alcà ©e. Many critics do not see the story as a condemnation of infidelity, but rather as an affirmation of human sexuality. This essay argues that "The Storm" may be interpreted as an affirmation of feminine sexuality and passion as well as a condemnation of its repression by the constraints of society.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   If one is to attempt to interpret The Storm, it becomes necessary to examine the conditions surrounding the story's genesis. The story was written in 1898, very shortly after Chopin had completed "The Awakening", "the boldest treatment so far in American literature of the sensuous, independant woman" (Seyersted 1969, p164). "The Storm" was not published, however, until well after Chopin's death, doubtless because of the as-yet unparalleled sensuousness of the story and its characters. In his critical biography Kate Chopin, Per Seyersted argues that "The Storm" is objective in its portrayal of human sexuality and that Chopin is "not consciously speaking as a woman, but as an individual" (p169). One must question this assertion, however; it is doubtful that in writing "The Storm" so soon after completing her 'feminist' novel, Chopin had "the protest of "The Awakening" off her mind" (p169).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The title of "The Storm", with its obvious connotations of sexual energy and passion, is of course critical to any interpretation of the narrative. Chopin's title refers to nature, which is symbolically feminine; the storm can therefore be seen as symbolic of feminine sexuality and passion, and the image of the storm will ... ...l constraints; her unreserved portrayal of feminine sexuality would have been seen as a radical affront to the society of her time. The ending is therefore purposefully ambiguous: one may see the storm's passage as implying a happy ending, or one may see it as implying that the storm will eventually return, perhaps with the intent to destroy. Kate Chopin, however, sees feminine sexuality as something that is pure, natural, and very real in its existence; one cannot assume that a brief and limited awakening that passes like a storm will be enough to make one happy.    List of References Used * Chopin, Kate. "The Storm" in Fiction 100: An Anthology of Short Stories (6th edition), by James H. Pickering. Toronto: Maxwell Macmillan Canada, 1992. * Seyersted, Per. Kate Chopin: A Critical Biography. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1969.   

Analysis and comparison of the presentation of the prologue Essay

The prologue is the introduction, which gives an overview of the play. It tells us what happens at the end of the play, in this case in ‘Romeo and Juliet’ it is told in the introduction, for example the lines, ‘a pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life’, ‘doth with their death bury their parents strife’. These two lines say that Romeo and Juliet both deep in love with each other, die at the end of the play, the reason being that their parents hated each other. It also sets the scene of ‘Fair Verona’ and it explains the contents of the play, ‘Two households’, and ‘break to new mutiny’. The prologue is said by the chorus. This means it is an idea of a group of people taken from ancient Greek tradition. The prologue does not introduce the audience to the characters in the play; it just talks briefly about the events within the play. A prologue at the beginning of a play is a style commonly used by Shakespeare to open up a play. It is also common that Shakespeare uses the use of a sonnet to produce the prologues. A sonnet always has fourteen lines in total. It is a very precise piece of poetry. The rhyme scheme is very tight and controlled- a,b,a,b,c,d,c,d,e,f,e,f,g,g. They consist of three quatrains with a final rhyming couplet. It is very controlled, yet very subtle. You would tend to notice the story telling first and then later realise that it is a poem with rhythm. There are ten syllables in each line, a pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables. It is self consciously dramatic. It emphasises its purpose in telling the story, ‘Is now the two hour’s traffic of our stage. ‘ It directly tells the audience to pay attention, ‘The which if you with patient ears attend, what here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend,’ and the play will develop from what the prologue has been revealing. In Franco Zefirelli’s production of ‘Romeo and Juliet’, the prologue is very brief and short. The film starts off with the details, the opening credits. The font to the credits is in white and in a quite gothic style of writing making it fit in with the traditional theme. While the details are slowly appearing on the screen, around the screen there is a thin border of orange geometric shapes on a yellow background. As the border is so bright and colourful, it is able to immediately catch the audience’s eyes and therefore grabs their attention. The border suggests a very sixties styles. You would probably expect a more formal, dark edged kind of border. A soft and slow melody played on a harpsichord plays quietly in the background. The effect that Zefirelli tries to create here is to create a nice calm beginning to the play. In shot one, you can see the camera panning over the city of ‘Fair Verona’ and slightly out of focus. The light is blue and hazy, gradually brightening up as the camera pans, suggesting that it is dawn. The colour of the light in the sky shining over the city, creates a dreamy and peaceful effect, and adds to the beauty of the city that is being shown. You could only just make out the tops of tall buildings and churches at first, but as it gradually gets lighter, the buildings and other features become more into focus. The rooftops of houses, church spires and a river are seen clearly. You are able to feel the quietness of the city in the early morning, which again gives the effect of the city being very calm and peaceful. The camera pans round the whole city, and then moves up towards the sun and stop with the sun being directly in the middle of the screen shot. The sun suggests the hot foreign climate of a hot foreign country, such as Italy. Shakespeare’s name appears when the camera has stop panning and focused on the sun. All of this equals one continuos shot. The panning is slow, and the brightening of the day is slow, creating a slow pace to the shot. It gives me the impression of a slow climax to the prologue, getting more and more intense as it goes along, and stopping at the sun gives me the impression that it represents the end, with an either tragic end or a very happy end. I think that it is trying to relate to the whole play itself, with the gradual climax with an intense ending. Throughout shot one, the speaker slowly recites the prologue in a poetic style. He speaks slowly going with the steady flow of the slow motion of the panning of the camera, so that it would not effect the background’s creation of peace. The speaker of the prologue is a man whose voice is gentle, soothing and rhythmic as he echoes the prologue. He still speaks when going into the second shot. Shot two is of a medieval courtyard. In front of the courtyard there is the city wall with battlements made of stone and brick, which gives the impression of the setting being in the medieval times. The camera stops moving and shows the shot of the courtyard while the speaker finishes reciting the prologue. As he completes his speech of the prologue, the camera moves slightly round to the left, which shows that where the camera is next to the city wall, it is also one of the ends of a busy marketplace. The sun’s golden bright morning light shines over the city wall and through the street of the marketplace, representing that it is the start of a new day. The sound of the hustle and bustle of a busy marketplace gradually builds up and the first act of the first scene begins there. This effect is to bring in the play with a more calm start and not rushing into the play with a different shot, bringing the audience into a slow and calm beginning. Zefirelli does not create any huge special effects. The title of the play, ‘Romeo and Juliet’ appears as the speaker says the words ‘star-crosse’d lovers’. Zefirelli’s purpose of having the title and the words ‘star-crosse’d lovers’ coming up at the same time, is to reinforce visually and aurally the main point of the play that it is a tragic story about the lovers Romeo and Juliet. Baz Luhrmann’s version of the prologue is done in much more detail and is emphasised a huge amount more. Luhrmann tries to grab the attention of the audience with very fast moving screen shots and very lively music. The first shot that comes up on the screen is of a TV with a blank screen, and the distance between the camera and the TV is very far, making the TV look very small in the distance. The first sound is the fuzziness of a TV, and then on the screen of the TV, the opening credits are displayed on white tiles with a black background. The contrast between the colours gives a very sharp effect. This gives a very different first effect on the audience compared to Zefirelli’s opening shot. Luhrmann’s first shot of the bold white tiles with a black background, gets the audience’s attention straight away. After the credits, a female newsreader appears on the TV screen, and she reads aloud the prologue. She says the prologue like reading aloud a news report rather than in a poetic sonnet way. This makes the prologue subtle and it makes the audience think twice before realising that it is the prologue that she is saying. The subtle speaking of the prologue differs with Zefirelli’s make of the prologue being obvious to opening up the film. Beside the newsreader in the background, there is a small picture with some text underneath it. As the camera is in the far distance, it makes it hard to see what the picture and text are, which makes the audience wonder what it is. While the newsreader is saying the prologue, the camera subtly zooms in directly towards the screen, and the picture in the corner gradually comes into focus. The picture is of a broken ring with the text underneath it saying ‘Star cross’d lovers’. The symbolism of the broken ring is that the lovers end up being torn away from each other. After the newsreader says the twelfth line of the prologue, the camera suddenly picks up speeds and zooms right into the TV screen, through a high street. At the same time the words, ‘Fair Verona’ constantly flashes up in white with a black background. From the zooming, it has merged from one background into another. This sudden pick up of speed would as if wake up the audience and shocking them as the screen had suddenly gone from one shot to another. This is very unlike Zefirelli’s presentation of the prologue, as he keeps his prologue simple and calm all the way through, whereas Luhrmann uses the effect of zooming and flashing words up creating a dramatic scene. The reason of flashing the words, ‘Fair Verona’ while the camera rushes down the high street, is to make the audience understand the comparison and realise exactly how ‘fair’ Verona really is in his version of the film. It shows a decaying urban landscape contradicting ‘fair Verona’. The font style of the writing is bold like Arial, and is in block capitals, making it clear to the audience what it says. In Zefirelli’s, as the camera pans over the city, you can see that Verona is very pretty and fair, as the prologue says it is. As the camera reaches the end of the street, the camera is suddenly focused on the face of a statue, which was far in the distance from where the zooming into the street began. Very dramatic music starts to be played loudly, which produces a bigger effect on grabbing the audience’s attention. The camera then pulls back to view the tops of two corporate buildings with the statue in the middle. The buildings have big signs on the top of them. They are the names of the two households, Capulet and Montague. They are in different colours, Capulet in red and Montague in blue. The differences in the colours emphasise the difference between the two. The effect of having the statue splitting the two buildings up is to make the point clear, that the two households need something or someone to keep them apart to avoid causing major trouble in the city, as they absolutely despise each other. The statue shown actually represents Jesus Christ. It is Jesus Christ who is trying to control the families and bringing some peace to the city. In Zefirelli’s version, the point that the two families cannot stand each other is not emphasised. As the prologue is said in the same tone and way all the way through and the pictures are just of how fair Verona is, does not give a definite and clear point that the two households are major enemies. Luhrmann makes it visual to the audience, the hate between the two families. The next part of the introduction to Luhrmann’s production of ‘Romeo and Juliet’, is of a rapid chain of clips from one to the other including clips of police cars with ‘VBPD’ on the side of them standing for ‘Verona Beach Police Department’. This is shown to tell the audience that this is ‘Verona Beach’ and not fair ‘Verona’. The chain of clips also includes clips of helicopters, clips of the disaster from different viewpoints, some far up in the sky, some close up to casualties who were injured, and the damage done to the city by this one disaster brought up because of the hate between the Capulets and the Montagues. The disaster is emphasised in this rapid succession of clips, to stress how much damage can be caused by one incident done by the two families. It also makes the audience think and imagine if this one incident caused so much damage, the amount of damage that they probably had done to the city in the past and what would be done in the future. The prologue is said once again while another variety of images using other media of newspaper articles and magazine covers appear. This time, the prologue is said by a character whom is actually in the play, referring to how the prologue is traditionally said by the chorus. The character who speaks the prologue is Friar Lawrence, and he says it in a poetic way, and this time the rhythm of a sonnet is emphasised. A man with a soft, gentle and low voice speaks the prologue like it is in Zefirelli’s production. This is one similarity that the two productions have. As he speaks, some words of the prologue is emphasised by magazine headlines appearing, using the effect of spinning one on top of the other. The headlines include ‘New Mutiny’ and ‘Civil Blood Makes Civil Hands Unclean’. These headlines are to tell the audience and remind them the symbolism and reasoning behind each word in the prologue. There is also a faint background of burning flames when these headlines appearing as if showing the damage done. The images however, some are of like modern day newspapers and magazines. The camera slowly pans through a rack of different covers, and the headline of each newspaper and magazine are all referring to the feud caused between the two households, emphasising that they produce big issues in the city. Other images in this group of images include police taking charge of the situation in a live kind of view, showing how fast the police and other services had to respond to reduce the risk of more damage happening. The police and fire departments had to work into the night with the clearing up of the situation. This is known as the images are taken from broad daylight into the dark night. These images give the audience a visual understanding of how bad it is of the two households hating each other, which can cause so many innocent people in the city to be harmed. As the speaking of the prologue comes to an end, with the two lines ‘A pair of star cross’d lovers, take their life’ with the lines shown in white writing on a black background. This effect by now would be recognised by the audience by now as it had been used before to state the words ‘Fair Verona’. This effect of repeating jogs the audience’s memories reminding them again and again the importance of the lines in the prologue. As the prologue stops being spoken, the same dramatic music becomes loud again. Each of the main characters are shown one by one with a pause on each with the text describing who each of the characters are and how they are either related to Romeo or Juliet or what the purpose of the character is in the film. This presentation of the character echoes the style of how it was done in famous program called ‘Dallas’. In Zefirelli’s version, the characters were not introduced and the film got right into the first scene once the prologue was spoken. A shot of Romeo looking through the narrow gap of a door appears, and then the camera immediately changes its angle to show what he see, which is a church aisle with blue neon crosses and candles. The angles that these two shots were taken were both through a narrow opening of the door. The first shot was taken from the inside of the church looking at Romeo, the man standing outside the door, and the second shot was taken from the outside of the door looking into the church. It emphasises what Romeo had seen, which the audience can assume is Juliet lying on the alter at the end of the aisle, Romeo thinking that she had really died. It also symbolises with that it was the conclusion and the end, viewing Romeo and the crosses, show that they were linked together and producing the idea of death. There was one more series of fast moving clips and a rush of lines as a final wind up to the prologue. There are a variety of different clips of things that happen from the beginning of the play to the end. The repeating of the clips again and again produce permanent images into the minds of the audience. The prologue ends with the words ‘take their life’ and move onto the first act. The words ‘take their life’ are stated to tell the audience that the story line would conclude with something relevant to it. I think that it is a new technique Luhrmann has used. He uses the technique of grabbing the attention of the audience and makes them concentrate. The prologue being reinforced by being presented for the third time, does not makes the audience get bored and tire of the clips being seen and seen again, but make them more excited about the film. I think that both Zefirelli and Luhrmann were trying to represent ‘Romeo and Juliet’ in a different way, with different techniques. The prologue was of course interpreted differently. Zefirelli presented the prologue in his production in a gentle and calm way all the way through giving the audience a good idea of the peace and beauty of Verona. Luhrmann of course presented the prologue in a different way, almost a complete contrast to what Zefirelli did. He changed ‘Fair Verona’ into urban sprawled Verona. I think that the presentations of the prologue were both appropriate for their interpretations because Zefirelli wanted to keep his production of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ original and alike Shakespeare. Luhrmann wanted to interpret the play into something slightly more modern and unlike Shakespeare’s original version. In Luhrmann’s production he emphasised the complications between the two households and the alterations he had made to the film, like how he set his production in an urban city and called it ‘Verona Beach’ instead of setting it in the original city of Verona in Italy.

Explain the process by which democracy was accepted as a valid form of government Essay

Democracy denotes to a government by the people. The name comes from the Greek and means â€Å"rule by the people. † Democracy is government by the majority of the people, or majority rule. It differs from monarchy (â€Å"rule by one†), aristocracy (â€Å"rule by the best, or nobles†), and oligarchy (â€Å"rule by a few†). Democracy has three different related meanings: (1) a form of government in which those who control the government are elected by the people and are responsible, or answerable, for their actions to the people; (2) a form of society in which there is no privileged class and in which individuals may rise by ability to positions of power and influence; and (3) an ideal or way of life that stresses equality, liberty, individual rights, tolerance, freedom of discussion, and compromise. Most democracies are republics, in which the people elect the head of the state. A monarchy with a hereditary king or queen may also be democratic. In Great Britain, for example, is a democracy in the form of a limited monarchy. Some countries that call themselves republics are not democracies. A country with a republican constitution may be a dictatorship in which government is under the complete control of one person. On the other hand, republic is a country in which both the head of the state and the members of the legislature are elected directly or indirectly by the people. Most of the nations of the world today, including the United States and the Soviet Union, are republics. The rest, in most instances, are monarchies, in which the head of the state (a king, queen, or prince) comes into office through inheritance. The term republic and government are sometimes confused. Republic means a constitutional form of government under which the head of the state is elected, either by direct popular vote or indirectly through elected representatives. In addition, social contract denotes to human race originally lived in a â€Å"state of nature,† in which people enjoyed complete freedom, with no laws and no government. Without constraints on their activities, however, people were constantly fighting among themselves, and the safety of each individual was endangered. To ensure their survival, people eventually made an agreement called a social contract, to establish a system a law and order. On the other hand, balance of power is relatively equal distribution of economic and military strength among rival countries or groups countries. For 400 years, the countries of Europe devoted much of their diplomatic and military effort to creating or maintaining such a balance. Their object was to prevent any single nation or group of nations from becoming powerful enough to dominate the continent. The idea of maintaining power equilibrium became an important influence in European politics in the 16th century. An outstanding example of balance-of-power politics occurred in the Thirty Years’ War (1618-48). Furthermore, Republican Party is one of the two major political parties in the United States. Since the time of the Taft administration (1909-13) it has generally been regarded as more conservative than the other major party, the Democratic. However, this difference between the two parties has not always been sharp, as the Republican Party initiated or supported progressive legislation. Also, the Republican Party, like the Democratic, has both liberal and conservative factions. Nonetheless, the Republican Party is generally associated with the interests of business, the wealthy and propertied, and those opposed to the ideas of the welfare state and a â€Å"big government. †