Documentary Film journal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Documentary Film journal - Essay Example My homeland is Iran. After the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Iran experienced a tremendous influx of immigration from these regions; today this immigration constitutes one of the largest social issues in Iran. As the issue has garnered significant media attention, it’s recognized that there has also been significant misrepresentation. To a large degree I recognized that the media’s representation of these immigrants was unfair and increasingly produced negative stereotypes. In fact, these immigrants are required to work long hours for extremely limited pay in a process that is akin to modern slavery. While I had direct experience with immigration in Iran, my knowledge of the illegal immigration experienced in the United Kingdom was limited. Still, after a quick perusal I came to recognize that the immigrant experience in this region held many parallels to the abhorrent conditions Iranian immigrants experienced. Indeed, further research demonstrated that the problem of t he illegal immigration experience cannot be limited to any one region, but is instead a global problem. Indeed, Chinese writer and journalist Pai notes: The number of people living outside their countries of origin more than doubled between 1975 and 2000, from 75 million to 175 million, and is likely to double again in the next twenty-five years, according to International Labour Organization (ILO). Among the 175 million away from home, migrant workers and their families now account for 120 million people globally. It’s estimated that undocumented migrant workers constitute about twenty per cent of global migration: which means that there are around 24 million ‘illegal workers’ world-wide (2007, p. 246). This understanding of the global and expanding nature of the illegal immigration crisis greatly influenced and inspired my research and motivated my documentary production. To a large degree it was the namelessness of these immigrants that grabbed my attention an d emotionally affected me. I considered that because of the nature of their condition they lack any status and in a sense it’s as if they don’t exist. I began to focus my research on a number of books and articles. These include: Reluctant Refuge, Enslaved, Modern Slavery, Chinese Whispers and etc. After my initial research of the pervading subject literature, I sought out a number of individuals who were experts in immigration law. Finally, having gained a thorough foundational understanding, I turned to major films on the subject. There is a tremendous amount of cinematic exploration of the immigration issues. My research involved films including: Ghosts (2006) by Nick Broomfield, Welcome (2009) by Philippe Lioret, Journey of Hope (1990) by Xavier Koller, La Promesse (1996) by Dardenne Brothers, Dirty Pretty Things (2002) by Stephen Frears, Gypo (2005) by Jan Dunn, The Visitor (2007) by Thomas McCarthy and etc. My next step was attending trials that included illegal immigrants as a means of gaining a first-hand perspective on the interaction between law and immigration. Interview Process After researching literature, film, and legal elements, I turned my focus to reaching out to interview actual illegal immigrants. As one might expect this was the most challenging aspect of my research. These individuals are an invisible part of the economic structure

Community Development Essay Example for Free

Community Development Essay Achieving gender equality and empowering women are necessary to achieve social, economic and political development. Today, girls and women continue to benefit from health and education services with women surpassing men in enrolment and academic achievements in many situations. Women in Malaysia are also more actively involved today in politics and numerous other national initiatives. Malaysia’s commitment and dedication to the advancement of women is evident in many of its programs and policies in the last two decades. In 1985, the Government of Malaysia formulated the National Policy on Women as a guide for women’s participation in the development process. The Policy helps enhance women’s quality of life by overcoming challenges through poverty eradication and education. The stature of women became a primary objective of the 6th Malaysia Plan (1991 – 1995), where a special fund for the development of women became a significant and integral step towards empowering women in Malaysia. Subsequent Malaysia Plans continue to focus on the needs of women with recommendations to advance their position in society. By agreeing to the commitments set forth in the Beijing Platform for Action at the UN Fourth World Conference on Women (1995), the Government promised to 1) enhance the national machinery for womens advancement; 2) increase womens participation in decision-making; 3) safeguard womens rights to health, education and social well being and 4) remove legal obstacles and gender discriminatory practices. In 1995, the Government also ratified the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women(CEDAW). In 2001, the Government created the Ministry of Women and Family Development with a mandate to address issues on women and uplift the stature of women in the country. Malaysia’s Constitution was amended in August 2001 to prohibit discrimination in any law on the basis of gender. The Government continues to play a crucial and supportive role in achieving greater gender equality in the country, by providing a healthy environment for the advancement of women at both national and international arenas. The Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development which is responsible for addressing women’s issues in Malaysia has had its budget increase from RM 1.8 million (US$ 0.5 million) in 2001 to RM 30.5 million (US$ 8.6 million) in 2005, demonstrating the country’s serious commitment to the cause. Future challenges to be considered include: addressing the continued poverty among female-headed households; combating violence against women; raising the effectiveness of gender mainstreaming strategies; reducing women’s risk of contracting HIV; removing attitudinal challenges that impact capacity-building; and raising the level of women’s participation in the labour force, in business and in politics and government. KPWKM is headed by a Minister, currently held by Datuk Seri Shahrizat Abdul Jalil (UMNO). She is assisted by a Deputy Minister, currently held by Senator Heng Seai Kie (MCA). The following departments and agencies are under the purview of the KPWKM: * Department for Womens Development  In 1975, the Government set up the National Advisory Council on the Integration of Women in Development (NACIWID) as the machinery to ensure the involvement of women in development. In 1983, the Secretariat for Womens Affairs (HAWA) in the Prime Ministers Department was established to take over the tasks of the NACIWID Secretariat. From 1997, HAWA functioned as a department under the former Ministry of National Unity and Social Development. In 2001, the Department was placed under the then newly established KPWKM and restructured as the Department for Womens Development (DWD). By 2002, the DWD had set up branch offices in every state in Malaysia.[7] * Social Welfare Department  Initially set up in 1946 as the Community Welfare Department of Malaya, the Social Welfare Department (SWD) has evolved in fulfilling its role in national development. From initially being involved in mitigating the social problems brought about by the immediate post-war period, the role and functions of this department have expanded to cover prevention and rehabilitation services in social issues as well as community development.[8] * National Population and Family Development Board  The National Population and Family Development Board (NPFDB) was established in 1966 to improve the reproductive health status of women and men and encourage family planning. It has since evolved to include policy and advisory roles by assisting planners and programme managers to integrate population and family development into sectoral development programme planning as well as facilitate policy makers to consider population and family development factors in the formulation of national development policies and strategies.[9] * Social Institute of Malaysia  The Social Institute of Malaysia was set up to promote professional and semi-professional training in the field of training and research as well as social education to all social workers from various levels and groups from within and outside the country including non-governmental organizations. It currently operates from a 50-acre (200,000 m2) campus in Sungai Besi that was completed in 2001.

To Download Or Not To Download :: essays research papers fc

The Internet is an extremely useful resource. Using it, one can obtain information on nearly any topic. A relatively new item of Internet technology for sharing music has emerged and brought with it, countless legal debates: Napster. Napster allows people to share music files, discover new artists, and become part of the online-music community. Although Napster’s opponents argue that sharing music files is immoral and should cease immediately, the positive elements that Napster brings to the Internet overshadow any regret for its use. Marc Geiger, executive of â€Å"Artist Direct,† an online music-marketing firm and Napster champion, states, â€Å"Napster is totally community oriented. It brings artists and fans together, and can allow struggling musicians a chance to be heard; that’s what the program is all about. The more people hear the songs, the more they want {to} buy the CD† (Sullivan). Struggling musicians who do not receive widespread media coverage to enhance their own album sales find Napster invaluable (Sullivan). These avid Napster supporters can use the medium to distribute and publicize their music with literally no cost (Sullivan). Richardson, CEO of Napster, Inc., is promoting the good side of the software, and trying to make upset artists understand that this program is for the little guys (Sullivan). Richardson maintains that Napster will not hinder music sales, but will have an opposite effect (Sullivan). Napster is an MP3 file-sharing program that enables users to share their music with one another. Anyone with a computer can download the program, sign the user agreement contract and then start swapping music. The program includes chat features, top music sharing lists, search capabilities, charts showing the status of the file transfer, and other assisting utilities (Allen). The chat rooms allow users to converse and exchange information with other people â€Å"in† the room (Allen). The search feature allows the music consumer to search by song title, artist, along with a myriad of other variables. The file transfer element of the program allows listeners to manage file downloads (files which they are receiving) and uploads (files which others are copying) (Allen). Napster also includes a â€Å"library,† a utility for sorting and listing music files stored on a given computer (Allen). Napster users can also listen to their newly downloaded files with Naptster’s built in mp3-player (Allen). The program is easy to use and does not contain too much technical jargon (Allen). A Northeastern student named Shawn Fanning developed Napster in his college dorm room to share ideas and music with his friends.

Kosinskis Being There and the Existential Anti-Hero Essay -- Being Th

Kosinski's Being There and the Existential Anti-Hero      Ã‚   Critics have referred to Kosinski's Being There as his worst novel.   Perhaps, Kosinski's prosaic style is deceptive in its apparent simplicity (especially when contrasted with The Painted Bird).   "What Kosinski seeks to do," as Welch D. Everman relates, "is to stimulate the reader's recreative and imaginative task by offering only the essentials...Kosinski's style draws the reader into the incident by refusing to allow him to remain passive" (25).   This essay will propose that Being There is a major existential work following in the tradition of Sartre and Camus in which Chance, the main protagonist, mirrors Camus's Mersault in A Happy Death and in which Koskinski demonstrates the logical progression of the existential anti-hero.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   An initial response to Being There often might be to focus upon the text as a type of Creation anecdote, or as a social satire, or perhaps as a political critique against mass media and the television generation.   While all of these readings are legitimate, it seems that the starting point should center on Kosinski's protagonist, Chance, in order to understand the universal significance of the portrayal of Chance, and implicitly the reader, as victim.   Chance is a contemporary innocent.   Whether, as is often argued, he is mentally challenged or not is irrelevant.   Rather, Chance simply exists.   He watches television, is unable or unwilling to function within prescribed cultural paradigms, and finally, is simply a mirror, reflecting back to others sublimated images of desires projected onto him.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Chance is the American Everyman.   The events which befall him could befall anyone.   He, like all of us, ha... ...en, David.   Camus.   Philadelphia: Temple UP, 1988.    Works Consulted Bruss, Paul.   Victims.   Lewisburg: Bucknell UP, 1981. Camus, Albert.   The Stranger.   New York: Vintage, 1946. Granofsky, Ronald.   "Circle and Line: Modern and Postmodern Constructs of the Self in Jerzy Kosinski's The Painted Bird."   Essays in Literature 18.2 (1991): 254-68. Griffiths, Gareth.   "Being there, being There: Postmodernism and Post-Colonialism: Kosinski and Malouf."   Ariel 20.4 (1989): 132-48. Grigbsy, John L.   "Mirroring of America and Russia: Reflections of Tolstoy in Jerzy Kosinski's Being There."   Notes on Contemporary Literature 17.4 (1987): 6-8. Kosinski, Jerzy.   The Painted Bird.   New York: Bantam, 1978. Lavers, Norman.   Jerzy Kosinski.   Boston: Twayne, 1982. Piwinski, David J.   "Kosinski's The Painted Bird."   The Explicator 40.1 (1981): 62-3.

Comparre and Contrast Essay

Over the years the U.S had underwent tremendous changes socially, politically, and economically making the U.S what it is today. Many classes began to develop with industrialization. Rich factory owners were able to set themselves out from the rest of the group by growing in wealth, and there were many lower-class unskilled workers who took jobs where ever they could find them. By 1800, many political leaders were convinced that slavery was undesirable, and should eventually be abolished, and the slaves returned to their natural homes in Africa. Women had no rights at all men had the upper hand in everything , women couldn’t even get an education they had to stay home cleaning , cooking , and taking care of the kids but eventually a law was passed and women could participation in politics, get an education , and get a job just like men. With various inventions such as the typewriter, the mechanical reaper, the oil drill, and the light bulb, work was able to be done at a much faster and efficient rate, which made things cheaper, which then in turn helped the economy because people were able to buy more things. The Federal Reserve was established. Early American currency went through several stages of development in the colonial and post-Revolutionary history of the United States. Because few coins were minted in the thirteen colonies that became the United States in 1776, foreign coins like the Spanish dollar were widely circulated. Many political machines were run through tenant owners where immigrants were able to sign up for a job in a factory if they vowed to vote for a candidate of the land lord’s choice. Ratification of the 14th amendment was established standardizing what an American citizen was. The 13th amendment was established abolishing slavery. The 15th amendment was passed after the Civil War that guaranteed blacks the right to vote. This amendment affected not only freed slaves in the South, but also blacks living in the North, who generally had not been allowed to vote. As you can see the U.S had underwent a lot of socially, politically, and economically changes. If it wasn’t for all these changes being made the U.S wouldn’t be where it is today.

Best Scholarship Essay Topics for You Part 1

Best Scholarship Essay Topics for You Part 1 25 Most Promising Scholarship Essay Topics Part 1 The Most Promising Scholarship Essay Topics All undergraduate students know the difficulty of earning scholarship points. Nevertheless, if you choose good scholarship essay topics, these difficulties wont hurt you. These topics will help you start writing, follow the format and create a great essay. If you use them, you will definitely succeed and obtain a scholarship from the university of your dreams! Unmatched Topics for a Scholarship Essay Why did I become a dedicated and diligent student and what experiences encourage me to continue my education? How did I improve the atmosphere in my classroom by becoming a school policymaker? How I graduated from college, despite being extremely poor. How I earned my first $1,000 after becoming a school entrepreneur. How I traveled for a year and learned diverse, unique cultures around the world. How I left my comfort zone, started a new life and succeeded. Why scholarships are unfair to students but are still required for their success. Why students have huge college debts today and how scholarship can help solve this problem. I know the value of discipline, and I am ready to use it to succeed in my studies. I have a vast experience due to being a foreign volunteer. However, the whole life is still ahead of me. Dreaming motivates us to move forward and attain the highest goals, so every person should have a dream, no matter how unattainable it may be. How entering the college will help me resolve some of the most urgent global problems.To be continued

Using TDictionary for Hash Tables in Delphi

Using TDictionary for Hash Tables in Delphi Introduced in Delphi 2009, the TDictionary class, defined in the Generics.Collections unit, represents a generic hash table type collection of key-value pairs. Generic types, also introduced in Delphi 2009, allow you to define classes that dont specifically define the type of data members. A dictionary is, in a way, similar to an array. In an array you work with a series (collection) of values indexed by an integer value, which can be any ordinal type value. This index has a lower and an upper bound. In a dictionary, you can store keys and values where either can be of any type. The TDictionary Constructor Hence the declaration of the TDictionary constructor: In Delphi, the TDictionary is defined as a hash table. Hash tables represent  a collection of key-and-value pairs that are organized based on the hash code of the key. Hash tables are optimized for lookups (speed). When a key-value pair is added to a hash table, the hash of the key is computed and stored along with the added pair. The TKey and TValue, because theyre generics, can be of any type. For example, if the information you are to store in the dictionary is coming from some database, your Key can be a GUID (or some other value presenting the unique index) value while the Value can be an object mapped to a row of data in your database tables. Using TDictionary For the sake of simplicity, the example below uses integers for TKeys and chars for TValues.   First, we declare our dictionary by specifying what the types of the TKey and TValue will be: Then the dictionary is filled using the Add method. Because a dictionary cannot have two pairs with the same Key value, you can use the ContainsKey method to check if some key-valued pair is already inside the dictionary. To remove a pair from the dictionary, use the Remove method. This method will not cause problems if a pair with a specified key is not a part of the dictionary. To go through all the pairs by looping through keys you can do a for in loop. Use the TryGetValue method to check if some key-value pair is included in the dictionary. Sorting The Dictionary Because a dictionary is a hash table it does not store items in a defined sort order. To iterate through the keys that are sorted to meet your specific need, take advantage of the TList a generic collection type that supports sorting. The code above sorts keys ascending and descending and grabs values as if they were stored in the sorted order in the dictionary. The descending sorting of integer-type Key values uses TComparer and an anonymous method. When Keys and Values Are of TObject Type The example listed above is a simple one because both the key and the value are simple types. You can have complex dictionaries where both the key and the value are complex types like records or objects. Heres another example: Here a custom record is used for the Key and a custom object/class is used for the value. Note the usage of a specialized TObjectDictionary class here. TObjectDictionary can handle objects lifetime automatically. The Key value cannot be nil, while the Value value can. When a TObjectDictionary is instantiated, an Ownerships parameter specifies whether the dictionary owns the keys, values or both and therefore helps you not have memory leaks.

The Noble Savage in Oroonoko essays

The Noble Savage in Oroonoko essays Oroonoko cannot be classified as fact or fiction, realism or romance. In the still unshaped field of prose narrative where a history could mean any story, true or false Behn combines the attractions of three older forms. First, she presents the work as a memoir. According to a friend, Behn has told this tale over and over; perhaps that explains the conversational ease with which she turns back and forth, interpreting faraway scenes for her readers at home. Second, Oroonoko is a travel narrative in three parts. It turns west to a new world often exalted as a paradise, then east to Africa and the erotic conspiracies of a corrupt old-world court (popular reading fare), then finally west again with its hero across the infamous Middle Passage where over millions of slaves will be transported during the next century to the conflicts of a raw colonial world. Exotic scenes fascinate Behn, but she wants even more to talk to people and learn about their ways of life. As in imaginary voyages , from Sir Thomas Mores Utopia to Gullivers Travels and Rasselas, encounters with foreign cultures sharply challenge Europeans to reexamine themselves. Behns primitive Indians and noble Africans live by a code of virtue of loyalty and honor, which civilized Christians often ignore. Oroonoko embodies this code. Above all, the book is his biography. Courageous, high-mined, and great-hearted, he rivals the heroes of classical epics and Plutarchs Lives and its equally worthy of fame. Nor does he lack gentler virtues. Like the heroes of the seventeenth-century heroic dramas and romances, he shines in the company of women and proves his nobility by his passionate and constant love for Imoinda, his ideal counterpart. Humanity has fallen from bad to worse since Adam and Eve had the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. Humans, in classical mythology, have fallen from a Golden Age, t...

I'm Daniel, Emily's father Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

I'm Daniel, Emily's father - Essay Example Emily is my favorite child and I would not imagine her being pregnant at her age. We established a plan for her academic and career lives before she could settle down in marriage and she agreed to it. The plan would see her excel to be one of the country’s top executives and she would be our source of pride. This is particularly because she has been the most promising, of my children, in academics. I would therefore not imagine the plan being ruined or even getting delayed because of the many uncertainties that would be hindrances. Even with the realization of her pregnancy when it appears to be at an advanced stage, I would request her and her mother to go for confirmatory pregnancy test to confirm truth of the suspicion. I would still find it hard to believe her pregnancy, even with the confirmatory tests. In struggling to accept the truth about her pregnancy, I would be disappointed in her and in myself for our responsibilities in allowing such a thing to happen. By engaging in risky sexual behavior, at her adolescent age, she has engaged in immorality and brought shame on herself and the entire family. This is because our immediate community values sexual dignity and expect people to engage in sex only in marriage. Her pregnancy would therefore be evidence that she engaged in premarital sex and some conservative families would shun our family and even restrict relationships among their children with ours. I would also be disappointed in Emily because her condition threatens the plans and expectations that we had developed about her. I would however be disappointed in myself for failing to take necessary measures for protecting her from environments and associations that led to her pregnancy. I would feel that we failed to create an environment in which she could have informed us of her relationship with a sex partner because such a discussion could have helped in counseling her, ourselves or through a professional counselor, to

Alienation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Alienation - Essay Example Most significantly, the novel depicts the unexpected entrance of Peter Walsh who was an old friend and former suitor of Clarissa. Their meeting reflects a mixture of happiness and tension as Clarissa wonders why she married Richard Dalloway instead of Peter Walsh who was her suitor. The novel also revolves around the story of Septimus Warren Smith, a shell-shocked World War I veteran who suffered from the war and later committed suicide. The novel presents the topic of alienation in many dimensions. Alienation depicts a sense of emotional isolation between individuals or groups within a given community. Indeed, we can sense a feeling of emotional isolation as Peter Walsh feels desperate over his unfulfilling life. This results from the fact that his friends and former suitors have moved on with their lives. Indeed, Peter Walsh was Clarissa’s suitor but Clarissa chose to marry Richard because of his social class. This shows that Peter Walsh suffers from social alienation. As a result, Peter Walsh cries as he regrets losing Clarissa and desperately asks her if she really loves Richard. More so, Peter Walsh’s social alienation manifests where he fails to establish and maintain any stable romantic relationship (Woolf 42-44). Indeed, despite the social world requiring one to make concrete decisions, Peter alienates himself from the social world by lacking the capacity to decide what he feels. As such, he results to talking to himself, which depicts social isolation. On the other hand, we can identify social alienation from the story of Septimus Warren Smith, a shell-shocked World War I veteran. Indeed, Septimus alienated himself from the physical world by constantly residing in the internal world where he talks with his friend Evans who died in the war. He is emotionally numb and encounters deep madness and crazy hallucinations where he sees and hears unreal things that a normal person cannot witness. This is a deviation from the norms and reflects soc ial alienation. In fact, in the social world, people communicate in the real world and not in the internal world as Septimus does. Furthermore, Septimus' presence in the novel is alienation, as he does not relate with any of the other main characters. Ultimately, Septimus suffers the consequences of alienation as he commits suicides after a light moment of joy with his wife. Indeed, Septimus decided in his internal world that he will not go with the doctors to a mental institution and opts to die (Woolf 36-42). This depicts social alienation as people do not commit suicide in the social world but wait for their natural death. More so, we experience Lucrezia’s emotional alienation, as she miserably misses Italy and is tired of taking her husband to various soulless doctors. This depicts social isolation, as the other characters are seemingly comfortable in this place. More so, the novel depicts Clarissa’s alienation from the social world. Indeed, Clarissa’s urge to pay attention to every guest  alienates her from enjoying her evening party. We can see her wishing that she could get some time to talk to Sally and Peter but she is too busy with the other guests. Indeed, Clarissa sought to enjoy her evening party but the events happening during the party hinders her form such enjoyment. This is despite the fact that other people attending the party derive full enjoyment from the party.

Animal rights Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Animal rights - Research Paper Example In order to save time and digest quickly, fast food intake can be seen more around the globe and thus animals are utilized to fulfill the hunger of humans. Farming and upbringing of animals is increase but there are various unnatural techniques applied to have rapid growth. Even killings of infant animals are also observed just to make sure that food supplies remain intact. Wildlife is also affected due to deforestation and killings of animals brutally. This scenario is certainly creating immense problems for animals as their rights are violated immensely. This research paper will demonstrate that in which sectors particularly the violation of animal rights is enlarged, the outcomes of this brutality and its impact on the environment. Presentation of case along with the analysts’ reviews and recommendations will be covered to make this research paper strong and powerful. Technological advancements have lead to the usage of machine power more than the man power. Similarly previously animals were also utilized as a labor force so that workload would be distributed. Animals were the main source of carrying luggage, transportation of goods and domestic traveling. Machineries have replaced the work of animals now and human’s role also has been decreased. Now the purpose of animals usually in industries is for productivity. Farms have been established by the industrialists where animals are kept so that productivity measures can be taken through their generation (Singer, 2005). The industrialization revolution has certainly decreased the value of both animals and men. Animals were kept with great care and affection pre-industrialization so that everyday processing would be made easy and quick. Before the evolution of substantial machinery, animals hold an eminent place in the industries, where they were employed to for the luggage purpose primarily. After the revolutionary machinery inception, animals rights started to violate

Final Exam Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 6

Final Exam - Essay Example Based on these theories, situational control and applying environmental factors to motivate the human resource while taking into account leader behaviors, employee characteristics and leadership effectiveness are integral components of leadership success. I therefore found that employing both the ideas of Fiedler and House depending on the situation would work. After all, the bottom line of these two theories of leadership is about understanding the prevailing situation and the probable actions necessary for the leaders to take. Personally, I always would make it a very important point to be extra sensitive to the actual situations in the future prior to motivating the human resource. After all, leadership is about influence (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2010), so as a leader I need to understand the prevailing situations in order to create influential moves. So part of this move is to always make sure leaders should take into account their actual behaviors, understand the varying characteristics of their employees, and evaluate the effectiveness of their employed leadership. 2. Can managers be trained to be effective leaders? a.) Choose a leadership theory to support your answer. b.) Assuming you believe they can be trained, what would you include in your training program? (I have added a PowerPoint on Leadership that you might find helpful. Look in Course Documents.). Personally, I believe managers can be trained to be effective leaders as they always have a better chance to learn from the actual situations. What I am trying to point out is the idea based on situational leadership that goes beyond traits and styles (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2010). In situational leadership, leaders will always have a chance to evaluate prevailing situations making them more effective in their actual decision making, prior to building a strong

Telecommunications Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Telecommunications Paper - Essay Example In certain CS and BS digital broadcasts, one popular movie title is repeatedly put on air almost daily so that the users may watch the image seamlessly from the start till end whenever they want. This has contributed to the popularization of near-on-demand system. Meanwhile, it has become more important for the clients given the continuous media data can be run seamlessly from start till end, and therefore various methods to broadcast continuous media data under the division based broadcasting scheme have been studied widely. In the division based broadcasting scheme, data is divided into several segments and broadcast via multiple channels. Broadcasting the forepart of data repeatedly in a channel increases the clients’ likelihood of watching the data, and the waiting time is reduced accordingly. These methods calculate the appropriate channel bandwidths and allocate them to each channel. However, in many broadcasting systems, each channel bandwidth is fixed for the reason of transmission scheme. In case bandwidth of each channel of a broadcasting system and the bandwidth calculated in conventional techniques differ from each other, the waiting time is not reduced effectively. For instance, there are thirteen 1.79 Mbps channels called segments for terrestrial digital TV broadcasting, each four of which together broadcast a high-bit rate image while the other segment alone broadcasts a low-bit rate image (one-segment broadcasting). For digital radio broadcasting, there are eight 300 kbps segments, three of which form a channel (three-segment broadcasting), while the others are used for audio broadcast. As described above, the scheme commonly employed is the one that uses multiple channels with fixed bandwidths to broadcast one image. In this paper, a method under the division based broadcasting scheme considering the channel bandwidths has been proposed, that divides the data into several segments, so that the clients can

Final Exam Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 6

Final Exam - Essay Example Based on these theories, situational control and applying environmental factors to motivate the human resource while taking into account leader behaviors, employee characteristics and leadership effectiveness are integral components of leadership success. I therefore found that employing both the ideas of Fiedler and House depending on the situation would work. After all, the bottom line of these two theories of leadership is about understanding the prevailing situation and the probable actions necessary for the leaders to take. Personally, I always would make it a very important point to be extra sensitive to the actual situations in the future prior to motivating the human resource. After all, leadership is about influence (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2010), so as a leader I need to understand the prevailing situations in order to create influential moves. So part of this move is to always make sure leaders should take into account their actual behaviors, understand the varying characteristics of their employees, and evaluate the effectiveness of their employed leadership. 2. Can managers be trained to be effective leaders? a.) Choose a leadership theory to support your answer. b.) Assuming you believe they can be trained, what would you include in your training program? (I have added a PowerPoint on Leadership that you might find helpful. Look in Course Documents.). Personally, I believe managers can be trained to be effective leaders as they always have a better chance to learn from the actual situations. What I am trying to point out is the idea based on situational leadership that goes beyond traits and styles (Kreitner & Kinicki, 2010). In situational leadership, leaders will always have a chance to evaluate prevailing situations making them more effective in their actual decision making, prior to building a strong

IT questions Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

IT questions - Coursework Example Cookies are usually associated with four main vulnerabilities; the first one is ‘cross-site cooking’. This entails the existence of browser flows that create loop-holes for malicious attack. Another vulnerability associated with cookies is cookie inaccuracies; these are instances where cookies may indicate inaccurate data. In addition, there is the vulnerability of cookie poisoning. This occurs when web attackers modify the content of cookies before re-sending to the server. Consequently, cookies are usually ascribed to cookie theft where: Cookies sent through ordinary HTTP are accessible to anyone. However, these vulnerabilities can be reduced through web vulnerability detection code review. One of the Document Object Model that can be used to make web pages dynamic is the use of JavaScript. This can be used in combination with W3C and may entail the use of array objects, number object, math object, date object et cetera. Moreover, HTML DOM is another method used to create dynamic web pages it entails the use of objects such as: HTML elements, HTML document, HTML attributes et cetera. Image caching is an aspect of ICT that has not been applied in many web development processes; however, computer experts have asserted that this is an imperative aspect of web design that ought to be taken into consideration. Image caching is basically a duplication of the original data for ease of retrieval. Image cache facilitates increasing the speed with, which a web functions. Lack of implementing the use of image cache basically reduces the speed of one’s computer usage. Detecting Web Application Security Vulnerabilities - OReilly Media. (n.d.). Detecting Web Application Security Vulnerabilities - OReilly Media. Retrieved March 2, 2014, from

Romeo and Juliet Movie Comparisons Essay Example for Free

Romeo and Juliet Movie Comparisons Essay The movie adaptations of Romeo and Juliet are immensely different, while conveying the main plot and maintaining the important parts. The settings were in two different sceneries and clothing styles. Classic version maintained the Shakespearian setting whereas the Modern version takes place in a Beach-like scenery, one could relate it to being a California scene. Although both kept the Shakespearian dialogue, their actions while speaking it were different. For example, Mercutio’s character in both kept his witty and goofy personality, yet the classic version portrayed him as immature at times. The modern version, on the other hand, portrayed him as a person who lives the party life. Also, their styles of fighting were majorly different. The classic version fought true to the time period which it takes place, using swords and daggers. Guns are the main weapons of the Modern version unlike the actual play. The movies did have some of the exact same scenes. Like the climax when Mercutio and Tybalt both die or Romeo’s banishment. But even some of the non-scripted scenes were similar. Like the play never shows the wedding between Romeo and Juliet in Friar Lawrence’s cell. The party scene where Romeo and Juliet meet is as similar as the scenery allows, it’s a masquerade. The main points of the play remained in both movies, along with the Shakespearian language. The characters basically remained the same even though they are portrayed a little different with than the other movie, since the movies were directed by two different people with different perspectives on the play.

Analysing Youth Voters in the Mauritius

Analysing Youth Voters in the Mauritius Introduction STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM The absence of youth in the Mauritian political system is quite alarming but still no statement is being made about it. The total number of electors registered for the year 2009 is 879,897 and among them 222, 060, i.e. 25.2% are aged from 18-29 years old (estimates from the Electoral Commission Office). However, at present our National Assembly does not have a single member in the above age group (p.10 ). There is no available data about the voting frequency of the different age groups of the registered electors nor are there disaggregated statistics about the voting behaviour of males and females. Data on neither the formal nor informal political engagement of youth could be obtained at the Ministry of Youth and Sports. It becomes hence clear that there is a lack of research on this issue either because of an unrealised phenomenon or a taken for granted phenomenon or most probably the issue is considered to be an unimportant one. However, as highlighted by the Secretary-General of t he UN 1997-2007 Kofi Annan, World Youth Report 2003, p. 271): â€Å"No one is born a good citizen; no nation is born a democracy. Rather, both are processes that continue to evolve over a lifetime. Young people must be included from birth. A society that cuts itself off from its youth severs its lifetime; it is condemned to bleed to death.† The only hint that could be obtained about the topic in the Mauritian Context is a mini research which appeared as an article on one page (p.9) in L Express Newspaper 04th August 2009 entitled: â€Å"Jeune et Politique: LImpossible Alliance†. The mini-research was carried out by Dr. Catherine Boudet from Reunion Island. â€Å"En labsence dà ©tudes sur la culture politique des jeunes mauriciens†, she has conducted a mini-research using a focus group of 10 youth at UoM and she has distributed 30 questionnaires among youngsters (15- 27 years old). However, she adds that â€Å"cette à ©tude empirique ne fait pas office de sondage, mais elle a le mà ©rite de constituer un petit barometre de là ©tat desprit de la jeunesse.† At this stage, following the ontological assumptions are made: Why are these young people absent from politics? Is it because of a change in lifecycle? Have they become disengaged? If, so to what extent are they disengaged? Why have they become disengaged? Have they found other forms of political participation with social change? Are they not being given adequate political space? On taking the epistemological dimension, suggested answers which form the hypotheses of the research are given to these questions. (Source: G. M. du Ploy, 2001, p.20) HYPOTHESES OF THE RESEARCH Young people do not have time for politics because of a change in lifecycle. Young people have found some other forms of political participation. Young people have negative attitudes towards politics and politicians. Young people are disengaged because politicians do not care about their needs and demands. Politicians/elders are not giving political space to young people. At this point, the aims and objectives become clearer. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH The double objectives of the research are to: To know young peoples desires and needs concerning society. Identify measures to introduce some changes in youth towards politics and vice versa. In order to reach these main objectives, the research aims to: Explore the level of formal political participation among young people. Explore the level of informal political participation among young people. Find out if todays youth will or will not reach the levels of political participation currently displayed by the elderly. Find out and verify the reasons/explanations of the disengagement of the young people about politics and try to find convenient actions to apply. ORGANISATION OF CHAPTERS The next step which follows as can be seen in the diagram is the theoretical assumptions which help in verifying the hypotheses and achieve the aims and objectives of the research. The theoretical framework is also the base of the research which establishes working definitions for fieldwork. All these are dealt in Chapter 2. Hints of the methodology can be found throughout the whole dissertation while Chapter 3 has been devoted mainly to the methods used to extract information. Chapter 4 analyses and discusses the discoveries of the fieldwork and the dissertation concludes with the Chapter 5 where I also come up with some recommendations. A CONTEMPORARY GLOBAL OVERVIEW OF YOUTH AND POLITICS IN DEMOCRATIC COUNTRIES The vast majority of reading on youth participation in politics shows that there has been a steady decline in youth political participation in many democratic (Pammett and Leduc 2003; ONeill 2007). In almost every election young people are the least likely to vote and these participation rates are continuously declining(Putnam 2000; Kimberlee 2002; Gauthier 2003; Pammett and Leduc 2003). Youth membership of political parties is also dropping (Hooghes et al. 2004). Although mostAfrican countries have a majority of youth population, African parliaments have less than 1% youth participation as MPs (Sigudhla 2004). In fact, research such as Putnam (2000), Kimberlee (2002), Blais et al. (2002), Blais et al. (2004), Clarke et al. (2004), Zukin et al. (2006) and Dalton (2007)provide clear indication that the more recent generations are less likely to engage in politics than were previous generations of the same age. The ‘generational effects suggests that todays young people are less active in politics, and they will never reach the levels of political participation currently displayed by the elderly (Martikainen et al. 2005). Studies indicate that the present younger generations will retain these differences as they grow older, and that consequently the present electorate will be replaced by a more passive generation of political participants (Quintelier 2007). As for youth in democratic Mauritius, all these have to be tested. Hence, most important is to identify working definitions of terms on which the project is based. Obviously, the parameters of the terms ‘Youth and ‘Politics have to be established. PARAMETER OF THE TERM ‘YOUTH USED Both the first and second Mauritian National Youth Policy (2000 2004) and (2010 2014) define youth as persons aged â€Å"between 14 and 29 living in the Republic of Mauritius†. Thus for the purpose of this dissertation, the age of youth considered does not exceed 29 years old. ESTABLISHING THE WORKING DEFINITION OF POLITICS The definition of politics is confined to what Randall (1987) identified as forms of political participation which are as follows: → Voting Voting is sometimes understood as the first step in a succession of increasing demanding political acts. Marsh and Kaase (1979) (cited in Randall 1987) find it as a unique type of political participation in the sense that it does not occur very often and is very much biased. Randall (1987) notes that in most countries women are more inclined to cast their vote than men. → Other Conventional Forms Of Participation According to Welch (1977) (cited in Randall 1987), this form of participation include campaigning for political parties or their candidates, membership of a political party or organization or attendance at a political meeting. Dowse and Hughes (1972) (cited in Randall 1987) find that women participate less men when it comes to this form of participation. → Less Conventional Politics Randall (1987) refers to this form of participation as ad hoc politics which means participation in political campaigns that are relatively short-lived, throwing up makeshift organizations and tending to rely on direct tactics such as pickets, squats and self-help projects. In this form of participation, Randall (1987) notes that women ‘come into their own and their participation is as significant as that of men. These 3 forms of political participation have been used as indicators to serve the exploratory purpose of the research. While Levine (2007), ONeill (2007), Braud (2004) and many others have spoken about the forms of political engagement, the theory of Randall (1987) was purposely chosen since it also deals about womens participation for each form. Hence with the ‘gender variable, the research also tests the relevance of the theory among young Mauritian. To explain the identified disengagement of youth from politics, it is important to find out what other research say and what are their theories. Hence the following theories which I have classified under 3 headings served the explanatory purpose of the research: Social change; Adults attitudes and actions and the Attitudes and lifecycle of young people. EXPLANATORY THEORIES ABOUT THE DISENGAGEMENT OF YOUTH FROM POLITICS A. Social Change ONeill (2007) notes that cell phones have been identified as a new form of political activism especially for young people. She also stresses the use on new Internet-based sites such as MySpace and Facebook which provide forums for communicating, organising and socialising and they are unlike traditional social networks that require face-to-face contact. Quintelier (2007), Hoskins et al. (2003) and O Toole et al. (2003) notice the attractiveness of these new forms of participation has caused younger people to divert from traditional forms of political participation as practiced by the older generation. Moreover, according to findings of Levine (2007), Dalton (2007) and Zukin et al. although members of this generation are less engaged in traditional political activities, many are willing to provide direct voluntary services. However in a study conducted by Blais (n.d)among young people on the island of Montreal, he finds out that non-conventional participation has not replaced conventional participation. In fact, most of the respondents either do both or do neither. As for the case of young Mauritians, this has to be tested. B. Adults attitudes and actions Conventional ‘wisdom dictates that young people are ‘less knowledgeable, ‘ignorant, ‘apathetic, ‘indifferent, ‘alienated, ‘disaffected and ‘disinterested when it comes to politics (Eden et al. 2002; OToole et al. 2003; Henn et al. 2003). ONeill (2001) add to the view that youth are also more likely to find politics uninteresting and even boring. Moreover, in a case study carried out by Golumbek (2002), adults explain the political disengagement of youth by the fact that youth only want to have fun and politics appear dull to them. Moreover,Bessant (2004) and Eden et al. (2002) notice some restrictions, namely, in the patronizing of youth by parents and educators. This is displayed in that politicians, parents and teachers frequently deny their children or students the right to participate in protest marches when such activities take place during class hours. C. The Attitudes And Lifecycle Of Young People Pammett and LeDucs (2003) study clearly indicate that young people have negative attitudes towards political parties. Young people perceive politicians as ‘out of touch, ‘untrustworthy, ‘self-interested, ‘irrelevant and ‘power-hungry (O Toole et al. 2003; Quintelier 2007). Young people do not trust politicians believing they are corrupt and self-serving (Bennett, 1997). They are very critical and quickly recognize when politicians lie or when they try to speak on their behalf (Henn et al. 2002). More so, youth find that conventional politics carries an image problem (Edwards, 2001). Many young people feel that they are not heard by politicians and that they ultimately cannot influence politics (Henn et al. 2002; Kimberlee 2002). Henn et al. 2002; O Toole et al. 2003; Keeter 2003; Quintelier 2007 find that the non-participation of young people is due to the failure of the politicians to address the issues that concern them, or to make the issues relevant to their daily lives. Youth have the impression that politicians do not truly care about their needs and large percentage of young people believe that the government is unresponsive to people like them (Bennett, 1997). Youth have fewer resources for political participation because of ‘lifecycle effects (Quintelier 2007 and Verba et al. 1995). According to these authors, political participation requires time and money and young people do not yet have a stable basis for concern with politics. Hence, they are more preoccupied with short-term projects (Verba et al. 1974; Iyengar and Jackman 2004). According to Kimberlee (1998), the decline in political interest and behaviour of young people should be attributed to the changing of social and economic environment in which young people now live. After having established the body of theories, it is important to have an idea of the variables of the research which could at the same time be presented as some ‘unique traits of the Mauritian Politics. TRAITS OF THE MAURITIAN POLITICS/ VARIABLES OF THE RESEARCH A. Gender Imbalance From Appendices 2 and 3, it can be observed that before 2005, the number of female MPs had never exceeded six. One would find that in many constituencies in Mauritius, women have never been elected while in most constituencies the number of nominated women is very low or women are not fielded at all. In 2005, 61 of the 645 candidates who stood for the General Elections were women (9.5%). The two major parties (MLP and MMM) which were capable of electing candidates, together fielded only 16 women. Of those 16, 11 were elected as constituency seat MPs and 1 as best-loser seat MP. The number of women in the legislature from the year 2000 to 2005 has increased from 4 to 12 (5.7% 17%). Nonetheless, this number is nowhere near the 30% goal set in the SADC declaration on Gender and Development of which Mauritius is a signatory. Phillipss (1991, 1995) arguments for democracy are based on mirror representation, group representation and interest representation and Chiroro (2005) highlighted t hat Mauritius totally fails in terms of mirror representation. What awaits us for this years 2010 General Elections is yet to be known. B. Ethinicised Politics In Mauritius, the 70 member National Assembly consists of 62 elected representatives of constituencies and 8 additional seats allocated to the Best Losers among the non-elected. The latter seats are allocated on the basis of ethnic membership (the first four) and a combination of ethnicity and party membership (the remaining four) (Lau Thai Keng 1999, Eriksen 1998). The main purpose of this system is to ensure an adequate representation of the minority groups (Addison et al 1993). Eriksen (1998) notes that most political parties in Mauritius have overtly or covertly represented ethnic / communal interests. Dinan, Nababsing and Mathur (cited in Crawford Young, 1999) add that political parties in Mauritius field their candidates in constituencies not only according to ethnic configurations of the constituency but sub groups (caste, cultural and linguistic) of the voters are also considered. This might be because communalism is an important variable for voting behaviour of the population (Mathur 1991). Thus, considering the ethnic group of respondents as a variable when one does a research on politics becomes significant. C. Youth Political Engagement/Disengagement TABLE 1: CALCULATED AVERAGE AGE OF MPs IN MAURITIUS ELECTION 11TH SEPTEMBER 2000 ELECTION 03RD JULY 2005 MPs 2005 BY 28th FEBRUARY 2010 MEAN AGE 47 49 Logically, the mean, mode and median at 28th February 2010 would be that of the year 2005 + 5 since the MPs are the same apart from few modifications (see appendix 5). MODAL AGE 39 51 MEDIAN AGE 47 51 % OF YOUTH AS DEFINED AS PER THE NATIONAL YOUTH POLICY (2 à · 66) ÃŽ § 100 = 3.03% (2 d.p) 0% To be able to acquire this data, I have gathered and compiled the date of birth and calculated the age of MPs for the year 2000 and 2005 (SEE APPENDICES 4 AND 5). From these, the average age of MPs and the percentage of MPs which fall into the youth category for the last 2 General Elections could be obtained. While the age at which a candidate can stand for Elections is 18 and the maximum age a person is considered to be young in Mauritius is 29, the data in the above table brings us back to the ontological assumptions made in Chapter 1 where it becomes necessary to gather primary data. Before presenting to you, the procedures and methods adopted for the collection of primary data, I wish to recapitulate what the basic research which has an exploratory and explanatory purpose aims to. The research tries to: → Explore the extent of engagement/disengagement of youth in/from politics in Mauritius. → Determine which explanation classified under 3 headings best explains the absence of youth from formal politics. → Find out if todays youth will or will not reach the levels of political participation currently displayed by the elderly. → Explore and organize primary data so as to create a picture of the current situation of the topic in the Mauritian context. → Develop new hypotheses which will be matter of further testing in future research. → To fill in the gap of unavailable data in Mauritius and thus contribute to epistemology. A MODEL OF THE RESEARCH PROCESS STAGE 1: OBSERVATION It is well known that in Mauritius the SU is much linked to political parties. Hence, observation was carried out during the campaign of the Students Union (SU) Elections at the UoM. Both the campaign and the observation lasted for 2 weeks (started on 19th October 2009 and ended on the 30th October 2009). The observation was an opportunity to have an overview of the relationship between youth and politics. PLANNING THE OBSERVATION A. Type of Observation TYPE OF OBSERVATION WHAT WERE UNDER OBSERVATION REASON Non participant Everything that could be seen, heard and felt. Not being a candidate for the SU Elections myself, some information was not easily disclosed to me. Thus everything that could be seen, heard and felt was noted down. Moreover, 2 interviews were carried out with people involved in the campaign. B. Instruments Used For Observation INSTRUMENTS USED PURPOSE/S Diary To write fresh, valid, reliable and vivid data on the spot. Camera Photographs were taken in case particular aspects of the campaign went unnoticed during the observation. Hence they could be re-analysed in the photographs. However, for ethical reasons the photographs were taken from quite afar so that the people are not totally visible. Myself Human Intrument Since the senses have to be used in observation and the researcher exerts some sort of power over the other instruments he/she is using, the latter becomes the main instrument in the observation process. STAGE 2: INTERVIEWS AND ITS OBJECTIVES For the purpose of this dissertation, 4 interviews were carried out in all. It is to be noted that interviewees did not find the need to remain anonymous. INTERVIEWEES OBJECTIVES 1 Soobeersingh Dhunoo alias Kenny (male) ex student at the UoM and ex president of the SU (present during the SU Election Campaign and thus was interviewed). In order, not to be gender biased, a boy and a girl were determinedly selected and at the same time a gender comparison of youths political engagement could be made since gender is the only relevant variable between them in this particular setting. Unstructured interview was used for both respondents so as to grasp maximum information about how youth conduct their political activities. 2 Khirtee Ruchpaul (female) -candidate at the SU Elections (interviewed during the SU Election campaign). 3 Naveena Ramyad (female) former member in the MMM Youth Wing[5] and potential candidate of the MMM party for General Elections 2010. Since the MMM party does not have any archival information, Naveena acted like a ‘key informant. It was also an opportunity to ask her about her transition from the Youth Wing to the Party itself. A semi-structured interview was found to be most convenient. 4 Devanand Ritoo the current Minister of Youth and Sports. Structured questions were prepared and he was interviewed in his capacity as: 1. An senior politician, 2. The current president of the Youth Wing of Mauritian Labour Party, 3. The current Minister of Youth and Sports. PLANNING THE INTERVIEWS The interviewees were the ones to decide about the place, time and day on which the interview would take place. Face-to-face interviews were carried out and a tape recorder was used to record everything with the permission of the interviewee. The use of tape recorder enabled me to maintain the eye contact with my interviewees and much attention could be given to their expressions, body languages and tones. Hence face validity could be checked out on the spot. Although all the interviewees could speak English, interviews were conducted in Creole which is the mother tongue of mostly all Mauritians. This was done with the purpose of allowing interviewees to be more at ease so that they could provide more information. Once questions were asked, interviewees were given the opportunity to talk as much as they wished without being interrupted by me. My role as an interviewer was only to ask questions. It was not like a sort of conversation. In this way, value-free information could be gathered. However, no research is without lacuna, mine being no exception. The lacunas are: It was quite difficult to carry out such an observation (where the researcher is the main instrument) during 2 weeks on a large scale. Many things should have gone unnoticed, unheard and unfelt not only in my absence but in my presence as well. Moreover, many of the research questions have remained unanswered. I could picture the extent of engagement and disengagement of youth but I did not get the many explanations what is/ are causing this political disengagement through the observation method. Interviewees were those engaged in politics in some way or another but why the other youngsters are disengaged from politics remains a research question among so many. This led me to the stage 3 where the questionnaire came into use. STAGE 3: QUESTIONNAIRE METHOD AND ITS OBJECTIVES Concepts / hypotheses were developed into indicators through questions and statements in the form of questionnaire to mainly test why there is this ‘disengagement of youth from politics. At the same time, some questions related to the qualitative part of the research conducted were set to translate the information from subjective to objective, cross check the findings and make it generalisable. As according to Bryman (2004), the main advantage of triangulation is that it increases confidence in research findings. For some concepts, multiple indicators were used (multiple measure of a concept) A better explanation of this is given in the next chapter. A copy of the questionnaire distributed to respondents can be scrutinized in APPENDIX 6. THE TYPES OF QUESTION USED Since each question/ statement set serves a purpose, the type of question found to be most suitable was attributed to each. Finally, I end up with the use of the following types of questions: OPEN-ENDED QUESTION CLOSED-ENDED QUESTION Likert-type Dichotomous Partially closed question Multiple choice Ranking THE VARIABLES OF THE RESEARCH Only concepts which are relevant to the topic are used as variables. Thus ‘gender was used as variable for all questions while the ‘ethnic origin was used as variable only for question 2, 3, 4, 6, 7 (g), 7 (h).These variables are independent and discrete in nature. The extent of youths engagement/disengagement in/from politics is the dependent variable considered and this variable is also continuous in nature. The survey does not intend to compare younger and mature youths political engagement or disengagement since youth (as from 18 years old) as one body is absent in the Mauritian parliament. Hence youth is used as a constant as per the definition of National Youth Policy which has already been established in the previous chapter. DECIDING ABOUT SAMPLE AND SAMPLING METHODS: A. What does this Sample Frame represent? Only students of the University of Mauritius were chosen to be included in the sample. The reasons for this were that: → All the students are above 18 years old and hence have the voting right as well as the right to stand as candidates for the General Elections. → The students also come from all over the island and thus the sample englobes the subgroups as per the National Youth Policy â€Å"residence, religion, community, socio-cultural and educational backgrounds† but this should not be confused with the variable being used. → Since the students of UoM were observed during the campaign of the SU Elections, it was found most convenient to make them the sample, test the hypotheses on them and make generalizations. The sampling frame was defined in terms of the 5 faculties of the UoM. To strike the balance of students in the 5 faculties, equal number of boys and equal number of girls were asked to fill in questionnaires in each faculty. B. Sample Size The sample size set for the survey was as follows: MALE FEMALE FOE 35 35 FOA 35 35 FSSH 35 35 FLM 35 35 FOS 35 35 TOTAL 175 175 350 Since some questionnaires were rejected due to inadequate filling by respondents, the sample size is reduced to the following: MALE FEMALE FOE 31 34 FOA 35 33 FSSH 33 35 FLM 35 34 FOS 34 35 TOTAL 168 171 339 Hence the sample size considered for the purpose of analysis is 339. This sample size was decided for the purpose of accuracy and representativeness which are the aims of quantitative research. It also creates representativeness of all students in different fields of study and this enables generalization of findings. C. Sampling Methods A combination of probability sampling (cluster sampling) and non-probability sampling (quota sampling) was used for particular reasons. 1) Quota Sampling Quota sampling was the main sampling method used. 213 questionnaires were filled through this sampling method. The criteria for choosing respondents through quota sampling were as follows: → Whether they seemed to be in the youth category, → The faculty to which they belong, → Sex, → Whether they have already filled in the questionnaires, → If no, whether they were free and would accept to fill in the questionnaire adequately. Questionnaires were filled by respondents on the spot and collected by myself. This exercise was done with several objectives: → It avoids the loss of questionnaires by respondents. → Data collected are more reliable and questionnaires are filled adequately. → A rapport could be established with respondents and if they had any difficulty, clarity could be made (This exercise was done by maintaining value-free research). → Feelings and attitudes about the topic could be observed on the site of research. → It brings originality to the research method being used as well as the research since it seems like doing a qualitative research through a quantitative one. 2) Cluster/ Area Sampling: With a large representative sample size, doing quota sampling by waiting for respondents to fill in questionnaires on the spot was predicted to be tiresome and time-consuming. This is why cluster sampling was used before I started undertaking the quota sampling Cluster sampling could be used since the population of each faculty at the UoM consisted of units rather than individuals according to the type sample frame I set. 137 questionnaires were filled through cluster sampling in 3 classes of different faculties. Permission was obtained from lecturers to carry out this exercise in their class and the questionnaires were returned by respondents on the spot. PILOT TESTING OF THE QUESTIONNAI Analysing Youth Voters in the Mauritius Analysing Youth Voters in the Mauritius Introduction STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM The absence of youth in the Mauritian political system is quite alarming but still no statement is being made about it. The total number of electors registered for the year 2009 is 879,897 and among them 222, 060, i.e. 25.2% are aged from 18-29 years old (estimates from the Electoral Commission Office). However, at present our National Assembly does not have a single member in the above age group (p.10 ). There is no available data about the voting frequency of the different age groups of the registered electors nor are there disaggregated statistics about the voting behaviour of males and females. Data on neither the formal nor informal political engagement of youth could be obtained at the Ministry of Youth and Sports. It becomes hence clear that there is a lack of research on this issue either because of an unrealised phenomenon or a taken for granted phenomenon or most probably the issue is considered to be an unimportant one. However, as highlighted by the Secretary-General of t he UN 1997-2007 Kofi Annan, World Youth Report 2003, p. 271): â€Å"No one is born a good citizen; no nation is born a democracy. Rather, both are processes that continue to evolve over a lifetime. Young people must be included from birth. A society that cuts itself off from its youth severs its lifetime; it is condemned to bleed to death.† The only hint that could be obtained about the topic in the Mauritian Context is a mini research which appeared as an article on one page (p.9) in L Express Newspaper 04th August 2009 entitled: â€Å"Jeune et Politique: LImpossible Alliance†. The mini-research was carried out by Dr. Catherine Boudet from Reunion Island. â€Å"En labsence dà ©tudes sur la culture politique des jeunes mauriciens†, she has conducted a mini-research using a focus group of 10 youth at UoM and she has distributed 30 questionnaires among youngsters (15- 27 years old). However, she adds that â€Å"cette à ©tude empirique ne fait pas office de sondage, mais elle a le mà ©rite de constituer un petit barometre de là ©tat desprit de la jeunesse.† At this stage, following the ontological assumptions are made: Why are these young people absent from politics? Is it because of a change in lifecycle? Have they become disengaged? If, so to what extent are they disengaged? Why have they become disengaged? Have they found other forms of political participation with social change? Are they not being given adequate political space? On taking the epistemological dimension, suggested answers which form the hypotheses of the research are given to these questions. (Source: G. M. du Ploy, 2001, p.20) HYPOTHESES OF THE RESEARCH Young people do not have time for politics because of a change in lifecycle. Young people have found some other forms of political participation. Young people have negative attitudes towards politics and politicians. Young people are disengaged because politicians do not care about their needs and demands. Politicians/elders are not giving political space to young people. At this point, the aims and objectives become clearer. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH The double objectives of the research are to: To know young peoples desires and needs concerning society. Identify measures to introduce some changes in youth towards politics and vice versa. In order to reach these main objectives, the research aims to: Explore the level of formal political participation among young people. Explore the level of informal political participation among young people. Find out if todays youth will or will not reach the levels of political participation currently displayed by the elderly. Find out and verify the reasons/explanations of the disengagement of the young people about politics and try to find convenient actions to apply. ORGANISATION OF CHAPTERS The next step which follows as can be seen in the diagram is the theoretical assumptions which help in verifying the hypotheses and achieve the aims and objectives of the research. The theoretical framework is also the base of the research which establishes working definitions for fieldwork. All these are dealt in Chapter 2. Hints of the methodology can be found throughout the whole dissertation while Chapter 3 has been devoted mainly to the methods used to extract information. Chapter 4 analyses and discusses the discoveries of the fieldwork and the dissertation concludes with the Chapter 5 where I also come up with some recommendations. A CONTEMPORARY GLOBAL OVERVIEW OF YOUTH AND POLITICS IN DEMOCRATIC COUNTRIES The vast majority of reading on youth participation in politics shows that there has been a steady decline in youth political participation in many democratic (Pammett and Leduc 2003; ONeill 2007). In almost every election young people are the least likely to vote and these participation rates are continuously declining(Putnam 2000; Kimberlee 2002; Gauthier 2003; Pammett and Leduc 2003). Youth membership of political parties is also dropping (Hooghes et al. 2004). Although mostAfrican countries have a majority of youth population, African parliaments have less than 1% youth participation as MPs (Sigudhla 2004). In fact, research such as Putnam (2000), Kimberlee (2002), Blais et al. (2002), Blais et al. (2004), Clarke et al. (2004), Zukin et al. (2006) and Dalton (2007)provide clear indication that the more recent generations are less likely to engage in politics than were previous generations of the same age. The ‘generational effects suggests that todays young people are less active in politics, and they will never reach the levels of political participation currently displayed by the elderly (Martikainen et al. 2005). Studies indicate that the present younger generations will retain these differences as they grow older, and that consequently the present electorate will be replaced by a more passive generation of political participants (Quintelier 2007). As for youth in democratic Mauritius, all these have to be tested. Hence, most important is to identify working definitions of terms on which the project is based. Obviously, the parameters of the terms ‘Youth and ‘Politics have to be established. PARAMETER OF THE TERM ‘YOUTH USED Both the first and second Mauritian National Youth Policy (2000 2004) and (2010 2014) define youth as persons aged â€Å"between 14 and 29 living in the Republic of Mauritius†. Thus for the purpose of this dissertation, the age of youth considered does not exceed 29 years old. ESTABLISHING THE WORKING DEFINITION OF POLITICS The definition of politics is confined to what Randall (1987) identified as forms of political participation which are as follows: → Voting Voting is sometimes understood as the first step in a succession of increasing demanding political acts. Marsh and Kaase (1979) (cited in Randall 1987) find it as a unique type of political participation in the sense that it does not occur very often and is very much biased. Randall (1987) notes that in most countries women are more inclined to cast their vote than men. → Other Conventional Forms Of Participation According to Welch (1977) (cited in Randall 1987), this form of participation include campaigning for political parties or their candidates, membership of a political party or organization or attendance at a political meeting. Dowse and Hughes (1972) (cited in Randall 1987) find that women participate less men when it comes to this form of participation. → Less Conventional Politics Randall (1987) refers to this form of participation as ad hoc politics which means participation in political campaigns that are relatively short-lived, throwing up makeshift organizations and tending to rely on direct tactics such as pickets, squats and self-help projects. In this form of participation, Randall (1987) notes that women ‘come into their own and their participation is as significant as that of men. These 3 forms of political participation have been used as indicators to serve the exploratory purpose of the research. While Levine (2007), ONeill (2007), Braud (2004) and many others have spoken about the forms of political engagement, the theory of Randall (1987) was purposely chosen since it also deals about womens participation for each form. Hence with the ‘gender variable, the research also tests the relevance of the theory among young Mauritian. To explain the identified disengagement of youth from politics, it is important to find out what other research say and what are their theories. Hence the following theories which I have classified under 3 headings served the explanatory purpose of the research: Social change; Adults attitudes and actions and the Attitudes and lifecycle of young people. EXPLANATORY THEORIES ABOUT THE DISENGAGEMENT OF YOUTH FROM POLITICS A. Social Change ONeill (2007) notes that cell phones have been identified as a new form of political activism especially for young people. She also stresses the use on new Internet-based sites such as MySpace and Facebook which provide forums for communicating, organising and socialising and they are unlike traditional social networks that require face-to-face contact. Quintelier (2007), Hoskins et al. (2003) and O Toole et al. (2003) notice the attractiveness of these new forms of participation has caused younger people to divert from traditional forms of political participation as practiced by the older generation. Moreover, according to findings of Levine (2007), Dalton (2007) and Zukin et al. although members of this generation are less engaged in traditional political activities, many are willing to provide direct voluntary services. However in a study conducted by Blais (n.d)among young people on the island of Montreal, he finds out that non-conventional participation has not replaced conventional participation. In fact, most of the respondents either do both or do neither. As for the case of young Mauritians, this has to be tested. B. Adults attitudes and actions Conventional ‘wisdom dictates that young people are ‘less knowledgeable, ‘ignorant, ‘apathetic, ‘indifferent, ‘alienated, ‘disaffected and ‘disinterested when it comes to politics (Eden et al. 2002; OToole et al. 2003; Henn et al. 2003). ONeill (2001) add to the view that youth are also more likely to find politics uninteresting and even boring. Moreover, in a case study carried out by Golumbek (2002), adults explain the political disengagement of youth by the fact that youth only want to have fun and politics appear dull to them. Moreover,Bessant (2004) and Eden et al. (2002) notice some restrictions, namely, in the patronizing of youth by parents and educators. This is displayed in that politicians, parents and teachers frequently deny their children or students the right to participate in protest marches when such activities take place during class hours. C. The Attitudes And Lifecycle Of Young People Pammett and LeDucs (2003) study clearly indicate that young people have negative attitudes towards political parties. Young people perceive politicians as ‘out of touch, ‘untrustworthy, ‘self-interested, ‘irrelevant and ‘power-hungry (O Toole et al. 2003; Quintelier 2007). Young people do not trust politicians believing they are corrupt and self-serving (Bennett, 1997). They are very critical and quickly recognize when politicians lie or when they try to speak on their behalf (Henn et al. 2002). More so, youth find that conventional politics carries an image problem (Edwards, 2001). Many young people feel that they are not heard by politicians and that they ultimately cannot influence politics (Henn et al. 2002; Kimberlee 2002). Henn et al. 2002; O Toole et al. 2003; Keeter 2003; Quintelier 2007 find that the non-participation of young people is due to the failure of the politicians to address the issues that concern them, or to make the issues relevant to their daily lives. Youth have the impression that politicians do not truly care about their needs and large percentage of young people believe that the government is unresponsive to people like them (Bennett, 1997). Youth have fewer resources for political participation because of ‘lifecycle effects (Quintelier 2007 and Verba et al. 1995). According to these authors, political participation requires time and money and young people do not yet have a stable basis for concern with politics. Hence, they are more preoccupied with short-term projects (Verba et al. 1974; Iyengar and Jackman 2004). According to Kimberlee (1998), the decline in political interest and behaviour of young people should be attributed to the changing of social and economic environment in which young people now live. After having established the body of theories, it is important to have an idea of the variables of the research which could at the same time be presented as some ‘unique traits of the Mauritian Politics. TRAITS OF THE MAURITIAN POLITICS/ VARIABLES OF THE RESEARCH A. Gender Imbalance From Appendices 2 and 3, it can be observed that before 2005, the number of female MPs had never exceeded six. One would find that in many constituencies in Mauritius, women have never been elected while in most constituencies the number of nominated women is very low or women are not fielded at all. In 2005, 61 of the 645 candidates who stood for the General Elections were women (9.5%). The two major parties (MLP and MMM) which were capable of electing candidates, together fielded only 16 women. Of those 16, 11 were elected as constituency seat MPs and 1 as best-loser seat MP. The number of women in the legislature from the year 2000 to 2005 has increased from 4 to 12 (5.7% 17%). Nonetheless, this number is nowhere near the 30% goal set in the SADC declaration on Gender and Development of which Mauritius is a signatory. Phillipss (1991, 1995) arguments for democracy are based on mirror representation, group representation and interest representation and Chiroro (2005) highlighted t hat Mauritius totally fails in terms of mirror representation. What awaits us for this years 2010 General Elections is yet to be known. B. Ethinicised Politics In Mauritius, the 70 member National Assembly consists of 62 elected representatives of constituencies and 8 additional seats allocated to the Best Losers among the non-elected. The latter seats are allocated on the basis of ethnic membership (the first four) and a combination of ethnicity and party membership (the remaining four) (Lau Thai Keng 1999, Eriksen 1998). The main purpose of this system is to ensure an adequate representation of the minority groups (Addison et al 1993). Eriksen (1998) notes that most political parties in Mauritius have overtly or covertly represented ethnic / communal interests. Dinan, Nababsing and Mathur (cited in Crawford Young, 1999) add that political parties in Mauritius field their candidates in constituencies not only according to ethnic configurations of the constituency but sub groups (caste, cultural and linguistic) of the voters are also considered. This might be because communalism is an important variable for voting behaviour of the population (Mathur 1991). Thus, considering the ethnic group of respondents as a variable when one does a research on politics becomes significant. C. Youth Political Engagement/Disengagement TABLE 1: CALCULATED AVERAGE AGE OF MPs IN MAURITIUS ELECTION 11TH SEPTEMBER 2000 ELECTION 03RD JULY 2005 MPs 2005 BY 28th FEBRUARY 2010 MEAN AGE 47 49 Logically, the mean, mode and median at 28th February 2010 would be that of the year 2005 + 5 since the MPs are the same apart from few modifications (see appendix 5). MODAL AGE 39 51 MEDIAN AGE 47 51 % OF YOUTH AS DEFINED AS PER THE NATIONAL YOUTH POLICY (2 à · 66) ÃŽ § 100 = 3.03% (2 d.p) 0% To be able to acquire this data, I have gathered and compiled the date of birth and calculated the age of MPs for the year 2000 and 2005 (SEE APPENDICES 4 AND 5). From these, the average age of MPs and the percentage of MPs which fall into the youth category for the last 2 General Elections could be obtained. While the age at which a candidate can stand for Elections is 18 and the maximum age a person is considered to be young in Mauritius is 29, the data in the above table brings us back to the ontological assumptions made in Chapter 1 where it becomes necessary to gather primary data. Before presenting to you, the procedures and methods adopted for the collection of primary data, I wish to recapitulate what the basic research which has an exploratory and explanatory purpose aims to. The research tries to: → Explore the extent of engagement/disengagement of youth in/from politics in Mauritius. → Determine which explanation classified under 3 headings best explains the absence of youth from formal politics. → Find out if todays youth will or will not reach the levels of political participation currently displayed by the elderly. → Explore and organize primary data so as to create a picture of the current situation of the topic in the Mauritian context. → Develop new hypotheses which will be matter of further testing in future research. → To fill in the gap of unavailable data in Mauritius and thus contribute to epistemology. A MODEL OF THE RESEARCH PROCESS STAGE 1: OBSERVATION It is well known that in Mauritius the SU is much linked to political parties. Hence, observation was carried out during the campaign of the Students Union (SU) Elections at the UoM. Both the campaign and the observation lasted for 2 weeks (started on 19th October 2009 and ended on the 30th October 2009). The observation was an opportunity to have an overview of the relationship between youth and politics. PLANNING THE OBSERVATION A. Type of Observation TYPE OF OBSERVATION WHAT WERE UNDER OBSERVATION REASON Non participant Everything that could be seen, heard and felt. Not being a candidate for the SU Elections myself, some information was not easily disclosed to me. Thus everything that could be seen, heard and felt was noted down. Moreover, 2 interviews were carried out with people involved in the campaign. B. Instruments Used For Observation INSTRUMENTS USED PURPOSE/S Diary To write fresh, valid, reliable and vivid data on the spot. Camera Photographs were taken in case particular aspects of the campaign went unnoticed during the observation. Hence they could be re-analysed in the photographs. However, for ethical reasons the photographs were taken from quite afar so that the people are not totally visible. Myself Human Intrument Since the senses have to be used in observation and the researcher exerts some sort of power over the other instruments he/she is using, the latter becomes the main instrument in the observation process. STAGE 2: INTERVIEWS AND ITS OBJECTIVES For the purpose of this dissertation, 4 interviews were carried out in all. It is to be noted that interviewees did not find the need to remain anonymous. INTERVIEWEES OBJECTIVES 1 Soobeersingh Dhunoo alias Kenny (male) ex student at the UoM and ex president of the SU (present during the SU Election Campaign and thus was interviewed). In order, not to be gender biased, a boy and a girl were determinedly selected and at the same time a gender comparison of youths political engagement could be made since gender is the only relevant variable between them in this particular setting. Unstructured interview was used for both respondents so as to grasp maximum information about how youth conduct their political activities. 2 Khirtee Ruchpaul (female) -candidate at the SU Elections (interviewed during the SU Election campaign). 3 Naveena Ramyad (female) former member in the MMM Youth Wing[5] and potential candidate of the MMM party for General Elections 2010. Since the MMM party does not have any archival information, Naveena acted like a ‘key informant. It was also an opportunity to ask her about her transition from the Youth Wing to the Party itself. A semi-structured interview was found to be most convenient. 4 Devanand Ritoo the current Minister of Youth and Sports. Structured questions were prepared and he was interviewed in his capacity as: 1. An senior politician, 2. The current president of the Youth Wing of Mauritian Labour Party, 3. The current Minister of Youth and Sports. PLANNING THE INTERVIEWS The interviewees were the ones to decide about the place, time and day on which the interview would take place. Face-to-face interviews were carried out and a tape recorder was used to record everything with the permission of the interviewee. The use of tape recorder enabled me to maintain the eye contact with my interviewees and much attention could be given to their expressions, body languages and tones. Hence face validity could be checked out on the spot. Although all the interviewees could speak English, interviews were conducted in Creole which is the mother tongue of mostly all Mauritians. This was done with the purpose of allowing interviewees to be more at ease so that they could provide more information. Once questions were asked, interviewees were given the opportunity to talk as much as they wished without being interrupted by me. My role as an interviewer was only to ask questions. It was not like a sort of conversation. In this way, value-free information could be gathered. However, no research is without lacuna, mine being no exception. The lacunas are: It was quite difficult to carry out such an observation (where the researcher is the main instrument) during 2 weeks on a large scale. Many things should have gone unnoticed, unheard and unfelt not only in my absence but in my presence as well. Moreover, many of the research questions have remained unanswered. I could picture the extent of engagement and disengagement of youth but I did not get the many explanations what is/ are causing this political disengagement through the observation method. Interviewees were those engaged in politics in some way or another but why the other youngsters are disengaged from politics remains a research question among so many. This led me to the stage 3 where the questionnaire came into use. STAGE 3: QUESTIONNAIRE METHOD AND ITS OBJECTIVES Concepts / hypotheses were developed into indicators through questions and statements in the form of questionnaire to mainly test why there is this ‘disengagement of youth from politics. At the same time, some questions related to the qualitative part of the research conducted were set to translate the information from subjective to objective, cross check the findings and make it generalisable. As according to Bryman (2004), the main advantage of triangulation is that it increases confidence in research findings. For some concepts, multiple indicators were used (multiple measure of a concept) A better explanation of this is given in the next chapter. A copy of the questionnaire distributed to respondents can be scrutinized in APPENDIX 6. THE TYPES OF QUESTION USED Since each question/ statement set serves a purpose, the type of question found to be most suitable was attributed to each. Finally, I end up with the use of the following types of questions: OPEN-ENDED QUESTION CLOSED-ENDED QUESTION Likert-type Dichotomous Partially closed question Multiple choice Ranking THE VARIABLES OF THE RESEARCH Only concepts which are relevant to the topic are used as variables. Thus ‘gender was used as variable for all questions while the ‘ethnic origin was used as variable only for question 2, 3, 4, 6, 7 (g), 7 (h).These variables are independent and discrete in nature. The extent of youths engagement/disengagement in/from politics is the dependent variable considered and this variable is also continuous in nature. The survey does not intend to compare younger and mature youths political engagement or disengagement since youth (as from 18 years old) as one body is absent in the Mauritian parliament. Hence youth is used as a constant as per the definition of National Youth Policy which has already been established in the previous chapter. DECIDING ABOUT SAMPLE AND SAMPLING METHODS: A. What does this Sample Frame represent? Only students of the University of Mauritius were chosen to be included in the sample. The reasons for this were that: → All the students are above 18 years old and hence have the voting right as well as the right to stand as candidates for the General Elections. → The students also come from all over the island and thus the sample englobes the subgroups as per the National Youth Policy â€Å"residence, religion, community, socio-cultural and educational backgrounds† but this should not be confused with the variable being used. → Since the students of UoM were observed during the campaign of the SU Elections, it was found most convenient to make them the sample, test the hypotheses on them and make generalizations. The sampling frame was defined in terms of the 5 faculties of the UoM. To strike the balance of students in the 5 faculties, equal number of boys and equal number of girls were asked to fill in questionnaires in each faculty. B. Sample Size The sample size set for the survey was as follows: MALE FEMALE FOE 35 35 FOA 35 35 FSSH 35 35 FLM 35 35 FOS 35 35 TOTAL 175 175 350 Since some questionnaires were rejected due to inadequate filling by respondents, the sample size is reduced to the following: MALE FEMALE FOE 31 34 FOA 35 33 FSSH 33 35 FLM 35 34 FOS 34 35 TOTAL 168 171 339 Hence the sample size considered for the purpose of analysis is 339. This sample size was decided for the purpose of accuracy and representativeness which are the aims of quantitative research. It also creates representativeness of all students in different fields of study and this enables generalization of findings. C. Sampling Methods A combination of probability sampling (cluster sampling) and non-probability sampling (quota sampling) was used for particular reasons. 1) Quota Sampling Quota sampling was the main sampling method used. 213 questionnaires were filled through this sampling method. The criteria for choosing respondents through quota sampling were as follows: → Whether they seemed to be in the youth category, → The faculty to which they belong, → Sex, → Whether they have already filled in the questionnaires, → If no, whether they were free and would accept to fill in the questionnaire adequately. Questionnaires were filled by respondents on the spot and collected by myself. This exercise was done with several objectives: → It avoids the loss of questionnaires by respondents. → Data collected are more reliable and questionnaires are filled adequately. → A rapport could be established with respondents and if they had any difficulty, clarity could be made (This exercise was done by maintaining value-free research). → Feelings and attitudes about the topic could be observed on the site of research. → It brings originality to the research method being used as well as the research since it seems like doing a qualitative research through a quantitative one. 2) Cluster/ Area Sampling: With a large representative sample size, doing quota sampling by waiting for respondents to fill in questionnaires on the spot was predicted to be tiresome and time-consuming. This is why cluster sampling was used before I started undertaking the quota sampling Cluster sampling could be used since the population of each faculty at the UoM consisted of units rather than individuals according to the type sample frame I set. 137 questionnaires were filled through cluster sampling in 3 classes of different faculties. Permission was obtained from lecturers to carry out this exercise in their class and the questionnaires were returned by respondents on the spot. PILOT TESTING OF THE QUESTIONNAI

Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Issues - Courage and Homosexual Desires :: Argumentative Persuasive Essay Examples

Essays - Courage and Homosexual Desires    Persons with homosexual desires have always been with us, however up to recent times, there has been little if any outreach in the way of support groups or information.  Ã‚   Most were left to work out their path to chastity on their own.   Many found they were unable to do this and folded to the pressures of the increasingly secular society opting to act on their desires in gay circles.   Choosing this direction locked them into a way of life that does not bring benefit to one's existence.    His Eminence Terence Cooke of New York, became aware of this difficult situation and in November of 1978 decided to form a spiritual support system which would assist men and women with same-sex attractions in living chaste lives. Knowing of Fr. John Harvey's extensive ministry experience in this field, he invited him to come to his archdiocese. With the help of the Rev. Benedict Groeschel, C.F.R., (see photo) and others, Fr. Harvey began the Courage Apostolate with its first meeting meeting in September, 1980 at the Shrine of Mother Seton in South Ferry.    With the endorsement of the Holy See, Courage now with more than 95 Chapters worldwide,   over 500 persons participating in its ListServs and hundreds of persons per day receiving assistance from the main office and website,   has become a mainstream Catholic Apostolate helping thousands of men and women find peace through fellowship, prayer and commitment toward understanding and following church teaching. The Courage main office operates through the prayerful and financial support of the Archdiocese of New York as well as contributions and volunteer work from Courage members and others committed to advancing its efforts. Individual chapters throughout the world are self supporting and have the approval of their local Archdiocese.    In helping individuals gain a greater understanding and appreciation for the church's teachings, Courage extends the Church's invitation to experience the freedom of chaste living.   In chaste living, one finds greater freedom, peace and grace to grow more deeply spiritually and maturely in Christ.    The September 11th terrorists' attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon has altered our perspective of the world in which we dwell. A nineteen year old Courage member told Fr. Harvey how she desires to reach out to everyone in these days of mourning. In doing so, she found her friends so open.