Louis XIVs foreign policy Essay Example for Free

Louis XIVs alien form _or_ system of government EssayAssess to what extent was Louis XIVs outside(prenominal) policy little successful after 1684.Up to 1684, Louis XIVs foreign policy had allowed him to acquire strategically central territory which made France more secure. In doing so, he also defended the reputation of the House of Bourbon on the battlefield and thus increased its gloire. However after 1684, his foreign policy enjoyed little success due to a combination of factors.The last mentioned half of Louis reign was marked by two major wars the Nine Years War and the War of Spanish Succession. Both of these wars emphatic a decline in France after its peak in 1684. For instance, the results of the Nine Years War suggest that France had clearly lost most of the territory gained at the Treaty of Nymegen in 1678. Meanwhile, the War of Spanish Succession did non result in as much success as Louis previous wars. This indicates a less successful foreign policy after 16 84.In terms of territory, Louis only real gain was Spain from the War of Spanish Succession. On the other hand, Louis surrendered all possessions gained since Nymegen, with the censure of Strasbourg, such as Trier, Breisach, Philippsburg and most of Lorraine. Plus, the Spanish pudding stone had to been carved up, with parts of it going to other European conditions. These goinges imply that Louis no longer possess a dominating influence over Europe the North-Eastern border was yet again vulnerable to attacks from other nations. To add insult to injury, France and Spain could not unite to kick the bucket one country.Prior to 1684, the french had been undefeated since Louis took his majority in 1661. However post-1684, at that place were several defeats for the cut army, most notably at Blenheim in 1704 and Oudenarde in 1708 after which France was invaded. These defeats weakened the gloire of the French army, which had been feared prior to these defeats. Frances gloire was furt her diminished when the Allies invaded her during 1708 and 1709. These defeats suggest poor leadership and a deteriorating army which no longer held its origin feared reputation.Other setbacks include destruction of the French navy at the Battle of Cap de la Hogue in 1692. This ended any chances of restoring James II as office of England. Restoring James would alter the balance of personnel in Europe in favour of Louis. The balance of power was extremely important because the balance of power had been in favour of France from 1661 1688.Despite these setbacks, both Louis and France were still able to gain some gloire. Firstly, gaining the Spanish Succession implied that the Bourbons had the upper hand in the dynastic struggle with the Hapsburgs. Secondly, although the French were defeated on several occasions, it did win some important battles, namely at Brihuega and Villa Victoba in 1710. Plus, the results of the Treaty of Utrecht suggest that France was still the dominating po wer in Europe.It would appear that the achievements of the latter half of Louis reign did not match the first half. This is reflected in the French gains in terms of territory and gloire. While the reason half of the reign was characterised by territorial acquisitions such as Franche-Comt, Aire, Ypres, etc, the latter half was highlighted by losing land gained since the Treaty of Nymegen. These losses weakened Frances north-eastern and eastern border, which Louis had worked so hard to protect in the first half of his sovereignty. This loss also meant diminished gloire and reduced hegemony. Compared with the initial half of his reign, Louis appears to achieve less in the sanction half.This decline can be attributed to a combination of factors. Louis foreign policy before 1684 had created mess of enemies in Europe, namely England, United Provinces, Spain, Holy Roman Empire and the German Princes. While before the Holy Roman Emperor had to deal with the Turks in the east, Leopold no w had a free hand to intervene in the west.Louis foreign policy prior to 1684 had united Europe in nuisance of him and France. The Dutch opposed him because he had fought them in the Dutch War, which resulted in sever disruption to Dutch trade. German Princes opposed him because Louis had taken land from them via the Policy of Reunion. Leopold also precious revenge because Louis had illegally seized Strasbourg. Compared to the beginning of Louis reign, the European balance of power has shifted against France whereas before there was disunity in Europe, now Europe was unified in hatred of France.This unity is very important because it shifts the balance of power against France. Whereas in previous wars France was able to seize enemies, now she had to fight against the whole of Europe.Previous wars had used up Frances resources. Even by 1680 France was already in debt. On the other hand, her enemies enjoyed better provisions for finance, for case the William III was able to borrow money at low rates from of interest from the Bank of England. The minister and generals in the latter part of the reign did not have the same standard as at the beginning. This is particularly true of the army Villeroi and Villars were mere shadows of their predecessors. The Allies, on the contrary, had excellent and able generals such as the Duke of Marlborough, Prince Eugene of savoy cabbage and Heinsius. Whereas before France had the dream team of ministers and army generals, now the Allies have superior personnel.France was further weakened by the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, which forced plenty Huguenots to leave the country. This had a devastating effect on the French economy since many of the Huguenots were merchants, industrialists, engineers, etc. Frances loss was the Allies gain as many of these Huguenots move to Allied countries. As a result, the Allied human resources grew at the expense of France.Although the change in the balance of power in Europe is importantl y, ultimately the loss of resources was a more important factor in explaining why France was less successful after 1688. Hugue de Lionne was able to alienate opponents during the War of Devolution and Dutch War, whilst his successors were not able to do that in the Nine Years War or War of Spanish Succession. If French diplomats had been able to alienate opponents, thusly she wouldnt have had to fight the whole Europe. While Conde and Turenne remained undefeated, Villeroi and Villars suffered frequent defeats in the hands of the Allies. Had the French army stayed undefeated during the Nine Years War and War of Spanish Succession, then no doubt her gains would have been much more than what she actually received.Part of Louis success in the former half of his reign was due the fact that there was a power vacuum in Europe for France to explore. However, by the second half of the reign, that power vacuum had disappeared. Emperor Leopold had dealt with the Turks on his eastern frontier and could turn his wide-eyed attention onto the west. While Charles II didnt want to be involved in expensive European warfare, there was no question of that after William III became King of England. This suggests that other European countries no longer had internal problems and were able to take part in European affairs.Another reason for the less successful latter half is the foreign policy of the former half of his reign had caused deep resentment and anger from other powers in Europe. Many countries had been offended by French actions particularly regarding French aggression during the Policy of Reunions. This resulted in them wanting revenge against France.It would appear that Leopolds availableness to intervene in the west was a more important factor than other countries wanting revenge against France. Leopold can be seen as Louis nearest contemporary. So, if any nation or coalition was going to match France, then Leopold had to be in it. This can be seen in the Grand Allianc e of the Hague. Therefore, one of the main reasons for a less successful foreign policy post-1688 is because of Leopolds availability to intervene in the west.There is a combination of reasons as to why Louis was less successful after 1688. Some reasons are more than important than others for example, the hatred of France from the Policy of Reunion drove other nations together against France and so the power vacuum, which was there at the beginning of the reign, disappeared. However, ultimately it was the combination of these reasons which caused French foreign policy to be less successful following 1688. Unity in Europe wholly wouldnt have stopped French aggression. Similarly loss of French resources alone wouldnt have had as much effect had Europe been in disarray.In conclusion, the foreign policy in the latter half of Louis reign was clearly less successful than pre-1684. In terms of achievements she had secured her status in Europe by acquiring the Spanish Succession, which ens ured that she was no longer surrounded by Hapsburgs Louis had built a Bourbon base in Western Europe which would secure and strengthen both France and Spain. He also left behind a legacy of unprecedented French supremacy during which France was arguably the most powerful country in the world. However, there were failures from his foreign policy as well. The North-Eastern and Eastern frontiers was yet again weakened by the loss of lands which he had worked so hard to acquire before 1684. Furthermore, he left his successor with a Europe united in hatred of France who wanted to curb French power and hegemony.

Impact of Mass Media Essay Example for Free

Impact of Mass Media EssayEnculturation has undeniably been influenced by mass media. Meanwhile, enculturation is defined as the gradual acceptance by a person or group of the standards and practices of new(prenominal) person or floriculture (MSN Encarta Encyclopedia Online, 2009). Mass media, on the former(a) hand, is the technological means of sending information, ideas, opinion, etc. through the mass commuinication device to a diverse audience (National set up of Open Schooling, 2009). In changing and molding the culture, mass media has bend an essential factor.Due to the important influence of mass media in enculturation, both has inevitably become inseparable. Through mass media, communication and information dissemination has become more effective and swift. The information about one country is immediately transmitted to another place which will eventually influence that place. The influence of mass media, however, can be good or bad to young people. For example, the young people has in like manner been assaulted with a series of conflicting messages that has relation to human decency, respect for others, and peaceful co-existence in one place through the power of mass media (Deci and Ryan).It is also notable that an artist can easily influence the culture of young people through the power of mass media. Britney Spears, for example, has been an icon in some other move of the world. Her styles and songs were inculcated in the minds of young people and made others emulate her entirely. Furthermore, the impact on enculturation by the mass media allow become stronger because of the techological innovations like the internet. People from other parts of the world has come to understand the lifestyles of others.It has effectively eliminated physical, philosophical, religious, and political boundaries among nations. It can be noted that during the 9/11 attack, the worlds view about terrorists and terrorism have changed. Ramarkably, peaceful talks ha s also been possible among nations having different religious beliefs and government. Hence, mass media has been an effective means in shaping ones own culture and the acceptance of other peoples culture.

The Use Of Skype Education Essay

The Use Of Skype instruction EssayThe rapid growth and interest of college schoolchilds in Computer Mediated confabulation and soci open media has impacted the cooperate vocabulary receiveing and teaching process. This study is a reflection of a pedagogical go through that attempts to analyze the use of Skype as a Synchronous Communication tool in regards to the attitudes of students in learning a contrary language when interacting with subjective speakers and engage in parley. The participants are Spanish foreign language students at Fordham University in New York City and face foreign language speakers at a Jesuiticical University in Bogot, Colombia. Students were diametric up and were undeniable to dumbfound up online conversation meetings.The results of this pilot brook suggest that students felt more interested to engage in conversation with inborn speakers and exchange own(prenominal) and academic information as wells as other(a) aspects of their culture us ing the target language rather than completing language research lab activities or opus compositions.Key words Computer mediated communication, Skype, socio-cultural competence, synchronous communicationEl continuo inters y la rpida evolucin de la comunicacin a travs de la tecnologa y las redes sociales en estudiantes universitarios han transformado el proceso de enseanza y aprendizaje de los idiomas extranjeros. Este estudio es una reflexin de una experiencia pedaggica que busca analizar el uso de Skype como una herramienta de comunicacin sincrnica en cuanto a las actitudes de los estudiantes en el proceso de aprendizaje de un idioma extranjero con la interaccin de estudiantes que son hablantes nativos para participar activamente en conversaciones. Los participantes de este proyecto son estudiantes de espaol como idioma extranjero en Fordham University en la Ciudad de Nueva York y estudiantes de ingls como idioma extranjero en una universidad jesuita en la ciudad de Bogot, Colomb ia. Los estudiantes fueron emparejados con el propsito de organizar sesiones en lnea y hablar usando el idioma que estn aprendiendo.Los resultados de este proyecto piloto indican que los estudiantes se sintieron muchos ms interesados en conversar con hablantes nativos para intercambiar informacin personal, acadmica y cultural haciendo uso del idioma que estn aprendiendo en lugar de hacer ejercicios y escribir composiciones en el laboratorio de idiomas.Palabras clave comunicacin a travs de la tecnologa, Comunicacin Sincrnica, Competencias Socio Culturales, SkypeIntroductionAs a young college language teacher, I find myself always trying to provide my students with opportunities in which they can see a real purpose of using L2 (foreign language) outside the conventional classroom where interaction is often reduced to their peers and instructor. The idea of this interpret was to encourage my students to speak via Skype with other college Spanish native speakers with like-minded intere sts -lifestyle, culture, education, and food -through the use of Computer Mediated Communication (CMC). The idea of this project started in one of my graduate courses at Fordham University when I had to evaluate a sample of Jesuit undergraduate students and their likelihood to interact with their surrounding club. Fordham Universitys main campus is located in the Bronx. The New York Botanical Garden and the Bronx Zoo surround the campus. How ever, Fordhams main campus is located in a community where there is a large low income Hispanic and African American population whereas the demographics at Fordham is mostly a white upper middle class student body. The survey aimed to understand how much interaction existed between these ii communities Fordham students and the surrounding community. base on the results of the survey, most of the students prefer to spend their free beat either on campus or in Manhattan. I too realized that specifically my Spanish students would non take advantage of the Hispanic population to practice their Spanish aptitudes as they felt English would be an easier way to communicate. Consequently, I mind that as a language instructor, I would need to provide my students with a setting in which they feel comfortable and make use of the target language specifically with native speakers who have similar interests or visualize similar learning conditions.This article summarizes a pedagogical experience with the purpose of sharing with other language colleagues how I started and structured the project and it also reflects upon its outcomes.Literature ReviewComputer Mediated Communication (CMC)CMC is defined as the process of creating, exchanging, and perceiving information via networked telecommunications systems facilitating the encoding, transmitting, and decoding of messages (Romiszowski Mason, n.d.). CMC was the result of linking unalike computers and having throng interact by sharing messages and data. CMC spread rapidly and it allowed people from geographically dispersed locations to communicate replacing traveling and Face-to-Face (FtF) meetings with more expeditious ways to newsbreakly communicate. Different studies have shown that FtF gatherings give speakers with higher positions or power in whatsoever organization a larger portion of livery time while CMC meetings offer an equal share of the meeting participation (Walther, 1996.) Other studies, on the contrary, suggests that CMC does not contribute to considerable awake participation because it is assumed that in galore(postnominal) a(prenominal) CMC debateions a few members dominate the floor and the rest of the members become lurkers or passive recipients. Both offline and online discussions have passive recipients this implies that CMC does not discourage active participation and learning (Romiszowski Mason, n.d.).Allowing students to interact with others considering their mutual interests and giving them the freedom to make their own choices when learning a foreign language is essential to motivate them. Bastidas (2002) proposes compositional and instrumental motivation affecting foreign language learners. On one hand, integrative motivation suggests the interest of learners in the community and culture that involves the second language. instrumental motivation, on the other hand, refers to the specific goals of the students. Bastidas also shows the communicative need to use any foreign language as an aspect affecting learners motivation. He explains that many language students feel demotivated to learn a foreign language because they think the L2 is neither important nor useful for them. Additionally, more than a real life experience, I wanted this project to be an exposure to the target language with native speakers. Fordham University is located in a highly populated Hispanic community in the Bronx. Unfortunately, many Fordham students do not take advantage of this opportunity to practice Spanish with n ative speakers. Noam Chomskys innatist theory (Lightbown Spada, 1993) suggests that after that critical period of humans to learn a second language, input exposure is essential to gain L2 progression. For this reason, a project including input exposure with native speakers would stimulate students interest in pleasing in conversations using the target language.Synchronous and Asynchronous CommunicationThe continuous growth of Internet-based communication and college students interest in social media and networking seems to have a great impact in the way they interact with others nowadays. These types of communication can be Synchronous or Asynchronous. Synchronous Communication or real-time communication refers to opposite discussions among people, whereas Asynchronous Communication (delayed communication) suggests a significant time delay between receiving and sending messages (Romiszowski Mason, n.d.). Hence, the inclusion of a computer-based activity and synchronous communic ation in my pedagogics was necessary in order to encourage and engage my students in the L2 learning process. I believe that real time communication would allow learners to provide instant feedback to each other, to emotionally bond, and to be spontaneous. According to Celce-Murcia (2001), the use of media in language classes only brings the outside world to the classroom and makes the learning process more excite and meaningful. Nevertheless, the only purpose of this project was not the improvement of L2 address proficiency but it also aimed to raise awareness in students about other cultures. In other words, I wanted to promote and instill values of inclusion, tolerance, and diversity as a principle of life in this globalized world. Teaching culture in a language class results in better communicators of L2. Culture is understood as body language, gestures, concepts of time, traditions, and expressions of friendliness. Consequently, linguistic proficiency is not enough for a sec ond language learner social cultural competence is fundamental for a more proficient and effective L2 speaker. Hymes (1996)1also stresses the importance of socio cultural competence by saying that an individual who is not aware of the appropriateness norms accepted in a determined community is likely to be placed in a position of inequality.Similar ProjectsOther instructors and universities have implemented and explored a similar project, like the one I proposed at Fordham University, with positive results. Dickens (2009) shared an experience of two classes (one from the US and the other from Italy) in which students were initially paired up and required to interact with their partners discussing about disparate aspects of their life and classes topics using Twitter. After a couple of months the instructors decided that it would be appropriate to have them interact on video chat using Skype. Dickens report about the experience is positive. Students were able to communicate in the target language and to simultaneously multitask (surf on Facebook, share videos on YouTube, Google information, etc.) Alas, most of the session was held in the students native language. In a different experiment, Carney (2008) started a project in which an English class interacted with a Japanese class through the use of blogs, wikis, Skype text, voice, and video chat and the exchange of homemade DVDs movies. Skype sessions in planetary were set up so that four English class students talk with one Japanese student. from each one English class student had to tog out different questions to ask their Japanese partner. Some of the Japanese students were not able to speak due to the omit of web cams and computers. In widely distributed, this was a great experience for these students. The author recognizes the importance of CMC and its impact in foreign language classes.Project ObjectivesThere were three major objectives identified at the beginning of this pilot project which go awa y serve as an assessment of the achieved goalsProvide students with a space in which they can practice their totalening and speaking skills in the L2 with native speakers by means of interactive and contextualized conversations online.Encourage students to learn from their partners culture, country, and traditions.Give the students the opportunity to interact in real life situations using the target language.Participating InstitutionsThe two fighting(a) institutions are private higher education universities under the Cura Personalis (care of the other) philosophy and Jesuit Tradition.Fordham University is the Jesuit University in New York City. Fordhams Department of languages and Literatures requires undergraduate students to take up to fiver levels of a foreign language aiming to develop the linguistic proficiency and cultural competence of Fordham students.The Colombian University in Bogota is a Jesuit University offering its community with quality Catholic education. The Dep artment of Languages offers an undergraduate program qualifying its students to become language teachers.ParticipantsA total of 50 students participated in this project. The participants are students from Fordham University (25 students) and from a Jesuit University in Bogota, Colombia (25 students.)Fordham University students are English native speakers learning Spanish in high beginner level courses. Students in Colombia are Spanish native speakers in intermediate English courses. It is important to clarify that Fordham students are studying Spanish (or any foreign language offered at the Department) as a mandatory language course during five (5) academic semesters. Some of them force want to minor in this language. The students at the Colombian university are future language teachers who are majoring in English. Fordham students age in average is 19 years old whereas their online partners age in Colombia raged between 20 to 45 years old. The expert skills of the students were n ot considered when implementing this project.pedagogical ProposalThis pedagogical experience attempts to determine if there is any relationship between the implementation of Internet-based Synchronous Communication and the interest of foreign language students and native speakers to engage in conversation and learn about their culture.In order to start this project, a written proposal was submitted to the Chair of the Fordhams Department of Languages and Literatures and the Spanish Language Coordinator. In this document, objectives, description, proposed activities, projected timeline, proposed partners, and their responsibilities of the whole project were specified. The Chair at Fordham University had two important concerns about this initiative 1. safety of students and 2. feasibility of the project. With the support of the Faculty engine room Center at Fordham University, I was able to persuade the Chair that there were no risks associated with the use of Skype for educational p urposes and that its viability was directly related to the collaboration of the other university and the participation of the students. I should note that at Fordham University, foreign language students are required to attend the language laboratory two hours every week. For that reason, I decided to connect this project within the laboratory activities grade. As part of the curriculum at the Department of Modern Languages, language students are required to go to the language laboratory one hour a week. During this time (students are free to decide when to go to the laboratory from Monday to Saturday in a specific schedule) students diagnoseen to the audio partition of their workbook as well as they complete different grammar exercises on line as part of their course evaluation. Roger Goodson (2005) states that some faculty members and administrators are normally repellent to include technology in their instruction because of time constraints, their demanding academic workload, lack of training, and insufficient research proving the effectiveness of E-learning. It is common to see some institutions still indisposed(p) to explore technological changes in instruction, as it was the example of San Jose State University (SJSU.) The Associate Vice-President of San Jose State University proposed to ban Skype at the University implying that Skype might infect the institutions computers with viruses and that Skype might distract students and professors in the classrooms. One faculty member expressed his concern and called the institution luddite about this issue and explained the reasons why Skype should not be banned 1. Skype allows communicating at no cost with other colleagues around the world, 2. There are many international students who might use Skype to communicate with other students, and 3. Foreign Language instructors have started to use Skype to have their students communicate with other students who are native speakers of the language they are learni ng Shaw (2006.)When the Chair of the Department at Fordham approved this pilot project, I in a flash contacted different universities in Colombia. However, I thought that it would be a good idea to work with another university under the same Jesuit philosophy. Fortunately, a Jesuit University in Bogota, Colombia responded with great interest and eagerness in starting the project as soon as accomplishable. The Chair of the Department of Modern Languages in Colombia designated his English communicateing Advanced class to take part in this linguistic experiment. The groups were not chosen based on any specific criteria. My two Spanish courses would participate in this project. At the Jesuit University in Colombia, the Chair chose that specific class because he was the professor in charge and had asked his students about their interest in partaking in this initiative, which had a positive reaction by the students. I clarified that this was intended to be a pilot project, which if it were to result with positive outcomes could be institutionalise by Fordhams Department, or at least it would encourage other instructors interested in creating a similar online community with their students. Community Development in general refers to the notion of people living close by to each other, face-to-face interactions, companionship, and support at different levels (Wellman, 1999.) However, in online communities the lack of physical location, verbal, and nonverbal cues implies inert relationships not able to build a community. However, other studies suggest that online communities can be built if participants have similar interests regardless their physical location they might find as an obstacle to communicate Face-to-Face (Romiszowski Mason, n.d.).Once the project was presented and approved by the two universities, it was necessary to establish a clear set of stages and assigned responsibilities to each instructor in order to launch this initiative. tabularize 1 des cribes the different stages that were considered.TaskObservationsPerson in chargeOutlining responsibilitiesA list of responsibilities was outlined and shared to students, professors, and administrators.Instructor at Fordham University.Pairing up studentsIt was easier for the instructor in Colombia to pair the students as he had more students in his class than I did in with my two classes.Instructor at the Colombian University.Choosing topics for each sessionBoth instructors agreed that each session should focus on content, culture, and grammatical structures, which would repay the topics, learned in classroom.Both instructors.Setting up a chronogramConsidering that the end of the semester was coming soon for both universities, it was important to use the time wisely.Both instructors.Table 1. Stages of the ProjectThe first step was to inform all the participants (instructors, students, and administrators) about their responsibilities regarding this project as shown in Table 2.Instru ctorsPair up students based on their proficiency levelMonitor that students are attending their Skype meetingMake sure that students are respectful with their peers timeRemind students to be punctualDecide the topics the students will be discussingCommunicate with the other instructors if there are doubts or suggestionsProvide a space for the students with the necessary technology to access to SkypeStudentsBe punctualSpeak only the language they are required to speak during the session.Prepare enough questions to carry out the conversation.Submit a screen shot of their Skype conversation in order to confirm that they actually had a conversation with their assigned partner and the required time for each sessionAdministratorsEstablish the partnership between the two universitiesAttend the on line meeting in December to analyze the effectiveness of the projectTable 2. Participants ResponsibilitiesParticipants received an netmail with their respective responsibilities. Consequently, a list of Fordham students was sent to my colleague in Colombia. He was in charge of pairing up his students with mine. His class was considerably bigger (in terms of number of students) compared to my two classes together at Fordham. There were not any specific criteria when pairing up the students it was just a simple matching exercise from two rosters. Then, each student received an email with a list in which they would find their matches for the fours sessions. The list included names and emails. The final stage of the project required each instructor to choose the topics. It was the responsibility of each professor to decide the topics students would be discussing in every session. Each session was expected to last approximately 15 to 20 minutes and it was expected to be conducted by students as follows use of the target language previously determined (English or Spanish), personal introductions (as every session they were paired up with different partners), discussion of a pre viously determined topic. The topics varying from academic structure, personal interests, gastronomy, etc. were carefully selected so that students have a wide exposure to new vocabulary, expressions, and especially culture. The sessions were organized as shown in Table 3.SessionLanguageTopicIn chargeOneSpanish diversify personal information (names, hobbies, favorite food, sports they practice) Also get to know about each other. realise how easy or difficult is to learn English or Spanish.FordhamTwoEnglishCompare academic structures from their schools and the differences of educational system.University in ColombiaThreeSpanishCompare lifestyle, culture, gastronomy, and currencies.FordhamFourEnglishUnderstand how languages are taught in the US from elementary school through the university.University in ColombiaTable 3. Organization of the SessionsStudents were required to prepare questions and organize their ideas in order to have a meaningful conversation during the following wee k. Furthermore, each Fordham student was required to snap a screenshot of their Skype conversation records as a proof that they did Skype with their assigned partners. All the conversations were set up by each student at different times and days (within a week period) this with the purpose of giving students the opportunity to organize their busy time and also to give students a sense of belonging to the project.One important aspect to mention is that the administrators did not ever set up a meeting to discuss the outcomes or implications of the project due to the lack of time. When the project was over the university in Colombia was already in winter break.FindingsIn this section, the advantages and weaknesses during the completion of the project will be described. In addition, I will mention the opinions and thoughts of 18 participant students who were surveyed after the project was finished.Starting the project was somehow challenging due to the lack of time and the resistance o f the administrators to approve the project. Additionally, the communication between the two universities was slow. As it was previously mentioned, each student was randomly paired up with another one from the other university. In order to set up their online meetings they emailed each other. Students reported that their partner did not respond their emails in a timely fashion or unplowed postponing the meeting, and some others never got an answer from their partner. One student say I thought it was very interesting and cool to learn about the life of a complete stranger Sometimes communication was difficult but it was a good experience. This frustrated a big part of the students because it did not allow them to ever experience a conversation My student never answered my emails so we were not able to talk via Skype. A student added. Sometimes there were problems related to technological issues and Internet connection, which prevented students to have voice conversations. Nonethele ss, students opted to chat instead. A great part of participants described their Skyping experienced as interesting and fun. In their own words they said I found it extremely useful and fun. It was very interesting to speak with my partner and I believe that she and I will probably continue speaking even though the assignment has finished. I would definitely do it again and hope I have the chance to in the future. Another student added I did enjoy interacting with a student from another country. I found it relatively easy to understand her but harder to express my own ideas. No matter the skill level or level of success, I think it is always helpful though to get practice speaking with someone who knows the language so well. Each session was supposed to last between 15 to 20 minutes. However, most of the sessions ended up exceeding this time limit because they truly enjoyed conversing with their peers. Other students thought it was rude to conclude a conversation in only 15 minutes and they allowed more time to this activity even if they were only text chatting. only if one student requested to be given a different Skype partner. One of them was more than 20 years older than the other participant creating an self-conscious environment in the younger student. Based on the student at Fordham, her Skype partner made her feel uncomfortable as in their first email that they had exchanged, the student in Colombia had expressed that he had physical issues that prevented him of speaking. He was asking to have someone else participate in the sessions. The student at Fordham thought it was not a good idea and as a Fordham professor I am not allowed to ask her to do something when she has expressed that it makes her feel uncomfortable. Therefore a new Skype partner was assigned to her. Throughout the development of the project some students, who were able to set up their online meetings, expressed during class that they were bonding while many others felt discouraged b ecause they never had the opportunity to speak.It is important to note that this pilot project has led to a possible partnership between Fordham University and AUSJAL (Asociacin de Universidades Confiadas a la Compaa de Jess en Amrica Latina), which is an Association of Jesuit Universities in Latin America. A representative from AUSJAL has contacted me with the purpose to start a possible project in which these types of online environments would benefit students from various Jesuit universities in South America and the United States.Opinions of the ParticipantsA number of 18 participants in this project immaculate an online survey on Survey Monkey (www.surveymonkey.com) about three different aspects regarding the development of the project as shown in Table 4 and Table 5. The troika aspect was an open-ended question in order to understand the opinions of the students and their likelihood to participate again in a future similar project. Surveymonkey.com provides users with free we b-based surveys. I chose this website because the website helps you to create any type of survey with predetermined formats. Additionally, Surveymonkey.com does not require a software installation, everything is self-explanatory and most importantly the basic features are free.Based on the answers from Table 4, it can be inferred that after different Skype sessions, students mostly learned about their partners culture regarding personal information, similar interests, and education. The results suggest that students in general were not able to exchange as much information as expected about their regions food, their schools academic structure, and quality of life in their countries.1. Which of the following aspects do you think Skype sessions helped you learn about your partners culture?Completely disagreeSomehow disagreeAgreeSomehow agreeCompletely agreeFood27,3%27,3%9,1%27,3%9,1%Education0,0%8,3%33,3%25,0%33,3%Academic Structure16,7%8,3%33,3%33,3%8,3%Personal Information8,3%0,0%25, 0%8,3%58,3%Similar Interests0,0%0,0%41,7%33,3%25,0%Quality of Life8,3%25,0%41,7%16,7%8,3%Table 4. Cultural AppreciationAccording to Table 5, students seemed to have a greater difficulty trying to set up a Skype session with their partners than expressing their ideas and carrying out spontaneous conversations. Additionally, participants also believed that understanding their partners ideas was challenging.2. Considering that your Skype partners were college students with similar interests but they were people you did not know, to what power point was it easy or difficult to interact with them using the language you are learning?Very easyEasyDifficultVery DifficultUnderstand your partners ideas25,0%16,7%50,0%8,3%Set up a Skype session16,7%8,3%33,3%41,7%Carry out a spontaneous conversation25,0%25,0%16,7%33,3%Express your ideas8,3%33,3%25,0%33,3%Table 5. Degree of Difficulty in CommunicationFinally, based on the surveyed student responses, it can be inferred that most of the participan ts thought that the Skype Project with a foreign country did allow them to learn something new about another culture. Many students were surprised that, different from the US, the majority of Colombian college students live with their parents when they attend college. Also, students at Javeriana University do not use their institutional email cast as frequently as many American college students do. In general, participants felt that the project was much more fun than going to the language laboratory and writing compositions. Although, they expressed that communication was somehow difficult due to technological inconveniences (e.g. Internet connection, time flexibility, lack of web cam), participants acknowledged the importance of getting to know people from other countries who are native speakers. Most of the participants agreed that setting up meetings was by far the most tedious part of the project because of their busy schedule, their lack of interest of some participants, and t he fact that they were talking to, in literal words, a complete stranger. In addition, the idea to participate in a similar project seems to be a viable one for many of them because they think these types of experiences forced them out of their comfort zone. Unfortunately, some other students were not able to provide any feedback because they were never able to speak with their Skype partner because they never got a response to set up a meeting.Conclusions and ImplicationsThe idea of this pilot project between Fordham University and the Jesuit University in Colombia was to understand if Internet-based Synchronous Communication would motivate

SWOT Analysis Of The Post Office Ltd

SWOT Analysis Of The endure function LtdThe hold self-assurance Ltd in united Kingdom, a subsidiary of Royal charge Group Ltd, attain its separated identity in 1987 Post stead in UK is kinda famous for two main serve, first and the obvious one from its name is clear, that it extends the markal go to its nodes. Second reason for its popularity is the Post patch Card Account which is radical account bothowing customers to collect benefit payments. There are former(a) service also being provided by the Post ability, which are discussed in brief in the assignment. Today, Post Office has around 11,843 (according to an auditor working for the post office) branches dish out around UK, and offer various range of services for its customers.The management of Post Office necessitate been genuinely resourceful in adopting technology as a part of its operational functions, with the new horizon system introduced in the year 2000 (ref), revolutionizing the basic system of serv ing Post Office customer. As, technology is advancing, conventional air of Post ing letter is fading away, exposing the entire Post al industry with danger of extinction. Thus, it has now become imperative for the system of rules like Post Offices to dish out a through SWOT analysis in distinguish to sustain and survive in immensely sophisticated global market.StrengthsThe Post Office of United Kingdom has to be appraised of its diversified operations. The process of division and diversification can be traced back to the year 1986, when the company got separated and became subsidiary of Royal Mail Group Ltd, to attain its separate identity from mere the once providing the Post al services. The process of diversification was persistent and ceaseless and today Post Office provides more than 8 different kinds of services to its customer veering from saving and investment, to telephone and from government licenses to bill payments. So, it would be justified to evaluate this diver sification of Post Office in different services to be one of its major strength. This diversification helps Post Office to attract a large mass of customer, ranging from men, women and children, former(a) and young as well as business and social.Extensive and Diversified ServicesThe different kind of services that the Post Office provides starts from its Post al services, where the branches accept transport for two collection and delivery divisions i.e. Royal Mail and Parcel Force. In banking services, the Post Office has arrangements with various banking corporations and customer of these banks can role basic services of banks like cash withdrawals and cash deposit. In savings and investment services, the Post Office since long has been an agent of national saving and investment, providing customers with the basic services of depositing money and withdrawals from their saving accounts. For telephone services the Post Office provides home land channel telephone services, and also provides top-up for various services networks.Insurance services is quite diversified in itself, as Post Office provides insurance in most of the areas, starting with Car and Van Insurance, Home Insurance, Business Insurance, smell (term) Insurance, Over 50s cover (for elderly citizens) pet insurance and its very famous travel insurance. Foreign Exchange services is a very essential service that the Post Office provides, as the customers just walk in to their Post Office and can convert currencies, but not all Post Office branches provide these services. Government Services include providing checking and sending services for passport Offices and the driving license authority (DVLA), and providing fishing and well as road tax. It was important to briefly describe the services the Post Office provides, as it is one of its major strength diversified services for diversified root of people.Post Office has done extremely well in identifying its opportunities in the past and kept on in troducing new service lines in its portfolio, this has helped the Post Office to survive in its long journey, and grabbing these opportunities in the past has today become its strength, the Post Office no longer just survives on the Post al services that it provides to its customer, and has successfully made its other services like insurance and license services very profitable.InfrastructureThe venture of General Post Office began in the 1660, by Charles II and has eventually evolved as the modern Post Office as we know of today. Today the Post Office has around has 12,000 branches blossom out widely and all around UK. This major establishment sure has taken time, but today when we evaluate this wide coverage by the Post Office it sure is its true strength. The totally word to describe this coverage by the Post Office is National infrastructure. It truly has developed over a distributor point of time a national infrastructure enabling it to reach to each and every customer all a round UK. Possessing this national Infrastructure is quite discriminatory for the Post Office as it becomes quite effortless to make its new product reachable. This large infrastructure also facilitates more customers spread all around UK. It has also helped the Post Office to reach its customer and for the customers to reach it easily, making them closer and intact with their customers.WeaknessesImproper distributionIt is very important for every organization to be able to evaluate its weakness. Weakness is native interference that becomes hurdle for the organization to achieve its objectives. In case of Post Office the operations have been suffering losses since the year 2006 and the management had to take drastic measures to convert these losses in profit in order to survive. There cunnings the weakness in its strength of national infrastructure, in the financial year 2008-09 the Post Office had to close down around 2500 Post Offices all around UK in order to reduce the operat ing expenses of the organization. The organization had around 14,376 branches spread around UK, which got reduced to around 12,000 branches in the year 2009, which shows how the distribution of the Post Offices was unproductive. Unproductive distribution of Post Office resulted in division of customer to a part that it became unprofitable.Questionable customer service qualityOut of its extended number of branches which is around 12,000 only 373 are restrainly owned by the Post Office Ltd. The rest around 98% are either sub-Post Offices or franchise are privately owned. The Post Office has not got any consolidated raising system, which would enable its braches to provide consolidate training to its customer advisors. The only training method select in Post Office all around UK is the old staff training the new staff, which is sure not a professional manner of training a staff. Training becomes an important part of working with the Post Office as the system it uses to serve the c ustomer is horizon. It is a very complex hi-tech system, which enable the advisors to reach all its product with ease, but in order to be able to use the system salute-effectively, a systemized training methodology should be adopted, which is not practised in case of Post Offices. Hence leaving an effectually trained customer advisor to serve the customer, which certainly reduces its quality of services, and the direct effect of these can be seen with the Post Offices losing its largest footfall customer to highly efficient and quality customer services competitors.Industrial disputePost Office is a subsidiary of Royal Mail Ltd, which also own Royal Mail, and Parcel Force, which are its collection and delivering division. Royal Mail is been a centre of a number of recent industrial disputes with the Communication Workers Union. The extended dispute between the management and the staff lasted around 7 months and resulted into the staff waiver on a number of strikes, which disrupt ed the business severely. Post Office thrives certainly, but not majorly on its Post al foot fall customer for its other services. There was a enormous decrease in the number of Post al customer, because of the strike called on by CWU, in the year 2009, which makes its internal dispute with the staff a major weakness. The strike carried on by the staff resulted into inefficient delivery of the mails, which makes the customer hunt for another more efficient delivery or courier service provider, hence decreasing its own customer line.OpportunitiesExtensive range of services enabling cross-selling opportunitiesExtended customer line of the Post Office, from banking, Postal, investment, insurance, pension, licensing customer and others provides a huge capability to the Post Office to enable the cross selling to its customer. Every pension customer is a potential over 50 life cover customer, and bureau de change customer is a probable customer for selling travelling insurance. Every DVL A customer is a probable car insurance customer. With such a huge potential customer foot fall, the Post Office surely gets a competitive receipts over its rivals in the market.Further consolidation in the banking industryThe Post Office offers a huge line of financial products, from foreign exchange, to insurance, from credit cards to investment opportunities to its customer. The Post Office offers basic banking services by the means of cash withdrawals, cash deposit, cheque deposit etc, looking at such a huge line of customers. The post office should capitalize on their banking customers by providing basic savings and current account services either through complete growth or with a joint venture with a trustable partner and take advantage of reforming financial services. A national infrastructure would surely provide them with the competitive advantage and make their operations economical and sustainable for longer period of time.Further consolidation of brand imageThe Post of fice in the year ending 2008-09 closed down 85 of its crown post offices, out of, which 70 were sold to W H Smith, which is expected to make 2.5 gazillion in additional profit in that financial year. This strategy can be critically evaluated and taken at a next level, by creating a joint venture with Hallmark, Greetings cards or such established organization, to which posting services can be relate. The customers will have the convenience of two related services at a single stop. This can work in advantage for both the organization as it adds value to the product and the services.ThreatsRevolutionary changes inside the IndustryThe postal Industry, is going through a lot of changes, technology is taking over the traditional mailing system. People as well as corporate industry rely heavily on technology for communication. Using the technology has its own set of benefits, as it is safer, cost effective and faster than traditional mailing methods. Advancements in technology are inevit able and the close together(p) future can be visualized with reducing dependence on postal system. This is a sure threat for the postal industry as technological advancements is eating away its probable market. A research conducted at the royal mail showed a reduction of 10 million customer using postal services compared with the last year, this give a serious indication as to how the reliance on the postal system is reducing (http//search.bbc.co.uk/search?q=royal%20mail%20striketab=allscope=allstart=2).Increase in competitionThe mailing industry is becoming intensely competitive, unlike in the past, where the post office enjoyed the monopoly of having the maximum share of the industry. Companies like DHL, TNT, Fed-ex etc are providing intense competition to the UKs oldest posting organization. The customer has evolved from merely being cost effective to cost against time evaluation, today the customer are ready to pay a suitable extra amount for ensuring the time and safety of the delivery, the private players have certainly gained their confidence in this sector by providing safe, secure and timely services. Thus, the Post Office faces sever competition from these private players in national and international market. general assessment of the organisations position10% of the marks are allocated for overall conclusions on the balance of SWOT elements.SWOT analysis is a continuous process, and just as important as other management functions. The fact that the post office has been extending its line of product and service offerings to its customers proves that the post office has been conducting a continuous research on the product line. Recently, it has been offering its postal services on-line, which facilitates the customer to utilize their services at the comfort of their home. Industrial dispute, for which the Royal mail has faced much criticism, has proved very damaging for it overall brand image.National joint-venture or organic growth in banking indust ry is one of the biggest opportunities that lie in-front of the post office. Advancing the product line of the post office, a national level merger with W H Smith or any other stationary or greeting cards organizations will be an opportunity of adding brand value to its organization. Finally, talking about the threat that the post office faces is quite clear with the significant increase in the number of customer reeling on technology to communicate. Modern customer is ready to let go of cost if the services offered are time specific, private player are surely a notch ahead of post office in providing such time efficient services, which gives a set back to post office services.But, I see a promise in post office management, as it has been able to derangement its losses into profits and been able to maintain an extended and well diversified product and service portfolio, which I see being continued in the near future.

Religious Traditions And Beliefs Religion Essay

Religious Traditions And Beliefs Religion Es averThis paper will explain how to describe and come along ghostlike traditions and holy, consecrate time and sacred space and the relationship, they have the following relationship. Finally, the author of this document will also include from a variety of religious traditions and beliefs brief example.Holy Spirit is the ultimate beauty.In my belief, is God.According to experience the world from the worship section of the book is that God is the divine being.The authors mother is sacred words, saying that heaven and sacred time of prayer and sacred places of her heart.The authors mother believed that life on earth is her death is her end and beginning.My belief comes from my upbringing and I am from my p arnts to give guidance.Now, I will explain the sacred time.According to the reflect of all things holy time is updated.This is my prayer is a time duration.Where I can collect all the ideas and updates as the purification of his soul.I n my religious tradition, prayer is the time to think about what I call the sacred teachings of the record.The Bible gives an explanation of human and Gods plan of salvation, the origin of mankind.The Bible also reveals Gods grace and full of tolerance to human by developing standards and instructions, so that through its trueness to Israels prophets in the ancient country.Commitments for a birth of the savior, which is to comfort, heal and forgive the sins of mankind examples.And I am grateful, because I pray for time, I promise to forgive me by his fault, and to strengthen the renewal of my faith again, I can take the challenges of daily life.The best way to explain the sacred space from the story from the Bible.Jesus tell to his time, he told them, both(prenominal) of you walking in the mountains or in the temple idolise, as it is you think God is just, the time will come, non to go to the mountains or into the temple, because Godis spirit, and you will worship in spirit, h e, by his means you can worship him anywhere and at any time. in that locationfore, my sacred place, I and my carry me to go, because it is in my heart.These argon working together, because they are taught, to my family and my personal experience of traditional culture and the.My personal experience has shown me the truth of Christian doctrine.I got a place in heaven life after death and God and my family.My spirits, I am guilty of freedom, I feel, there is a positive happiness and joy in my life there.Christianity is a religion, believe in God in an example.According to the Wiccan goddess worship and read the many natural God.Druids is similar to the witchcraft religion they are polytheists, they will naturally worship of many gods.Yoruba muckle, including traditional Santeria, Voodoo, and Candomble are subject to Catholicism.Yoruba tradition as the Catholic Church believe in God.The difference is that the Yoruba people of the supernatural.In short there are many aspects of relig ion.Ancient religions have taken a new look, they just modified, repackaged, and even gives a new and all in all religious fantasy.Basically it is the old story of human beings, trying to reach Gods take aim.Religion gives a person the purpose and sense of security. In a higher function to provide a comfortable belief in humanity. How do we begin the story tell us why we are here, we went to. This knowledge, or consciousness, often laughingstock a belief in the power of God, or some people call it as sacred. Let us look at Christianity and religion say what it is, whether and how a Christian organization. In this process, will see a Christian and other religious relations.In all religions, there are some basic traditions. For example, the religious doctrine is based on the belief originated from New story. Many religions believe that there is only one God, and not more than God. This idea not only in Christianity, Judaism and Islam, but at the same time. In these beliefs, a cons ensus is God is the origin and the presence of all the source (China channel experts, and the second). These three religions are taught using the book written by the principle of faith. Judaism, Christianity uses the Bible to use the Bible, the Koran and Islam use. Although reports of these books vary, all of the people think, is to teach the children of Abraham. Believers are encouraged to use as a guideline to the teachings, and believe that by following the will of God, mankind will benefit from a more fulfilling life, enjoy the eternal paradise (China business experts, and the second). The story of the book, the origin of these special determination of each and every prophet who started direct communication with God. Some of the stories seem to have a mysterious origin. For example, in the Bible, Jesus was thought to have died, rose again from the dead. Noah is also recorded in the construction of a two-thirds of the world, located in the extinction to save their boat. througho ut the ages, Christianity, Judaism and Islam have a squabble, the accuracy of their opposition has led to war and fighting.There are many similarities exist between the various religions to practice faith. Pilgrimage is a common occurrence in the Christian. Believers to the Holy Land of Israel to visit Jerusalem, and the Vatican in Rome. In Sikhism, the Golden Temple to India many followers, and Buddhists to Lumbini in Nepal (Cadman 2006-2010). There are in the majority of religious symbols. Water, for example, for a variety of religious rituals Hindu bathing in the Ganges Christian baptism with water Jewish ritual purification of water, and Moslem and Shinto believers pray before the wash (University of Phoenix, 2004, p. 2.). Every religion to set a specific time to exercise and perform such ceremonies ceremony in a repeatable fashion. Christians, for example, generally in the Sunday church service. They sing, pray, listen to sermons, and to take regular exchange.There are many b ranches of Christianity and organizations in different styles. There may be a Presbyterian Christian church deacon and the government who deal daily with the part. Pastors need a college education, usually the head of the church. Minister or minister authorized by the Executive, such as church sermons or daily worship the clergy function. Similarly, the church in a Hindu Brahman is the highest level members of the church or organization head. However, in the Buddhist temple monks Group may be considered equal first ranking of the group.Religious studies in some of the key issues early is the key to the limited travel, limiting what they can read, incomplete texts, there are only verbal religion. Imagine Publishing visiting places of worship is not the majority of your conclusions. Some scholars concluded from his or her reading or heard. One can describe what they see, but imagine, understand it, if their own life experiences. biblical scholars are not entirely caused between the s etbacks. Sometimes texts will include hagiography. Hagiography is not objective history, writes the fact is now dry, but it is a story ( University of Phoenix, 2010, p. 22). early(a) religious scholars are in no loss of archaeological and anthropological research. These two studies are in early development of science hundreds of years ago. Todays scholars study to provide more tools to them. Early religious scholars rely on the opinions of others, there is no proof of the way these so-called facts presented to them.No matter what, he is called the title, every religious believers look forward to their organization and leadership, to teach them Gods guidance, I hope they live. These teachings are based on several years of New stories. Although each religion to follow their personal collar of the basic principles of teaching is similar to the general concept of the religion. Each organization is dependent on a particular ritual form, the glory of God, but many similarities commitmen t ceremonies of other faiths. People use religion in the world to achieve their goals, and seek consolation in the unity. Provides an understanding of religious teachings is that people of any faith can relate to.

Essay --

There is a higher incidence of hypertensive disorder of pregnancy in Black women than in White women. This is possibly related to lower socioeconomic status, their lifestyle and prior undiagnosed preexisting hypertension. Black women have greater jeopardize of hypertensive disorder of pregnancy and preeclampsia than nulliparous White women. Irwin D et al. researched the relationship between race and risk of hypertension disorder of pregnancy in a cohort of active duty military women. Researchers assessed the sociodemographic and reproductive characteristics of Black and White women. It is explained from the results that White women are more likely to be married (75% vs 56%), oer the age of 35 (3.4% vs 1.6%), were higher ranked officers (9% vs. 2%) and had education post high school (21% vs 17%). Moreover, it was also suggested that nulliparous have higher risk of hypertensive disorder of pregnancy (Relative risk (RR)= 2.2, 95% Confidence Interval (CI)=1.8 ,2.7), Transient gestationa l hypertension (RR= 2.0, 95% CI= 1.5, 2.7) and preeclampsia (RR=2.8, 95% CI=2.0,3.9). Among parous women thi...

The Power of Nature :: Exploratory Essays Research Papers

The Power of Nature The power of constitution is all approximately us and can be found almost anywhere. One is able to study nature through experiencing it firsthand, looking at a picture, watching a movie, or even telling a familiar childrens story. I believe that by learning more about nature we can climb closer to God. Emerson states, Nature is so pervaded in human life, that there is some amour of munificence in all, and in every particular (Emerson 508). Like Emerson, I believe that humanity and nature were created by God and we can learn more about the Spirit of God by studying nature. I also substantiate that nature has the power to influence our emotions and actions. I see evidence of this through various landscapes such as the desert, the beach, the mountains and the jungle. I thought about the vastness of the desert during a recent trip to the desert with my class. I think about nature and my love for it when I am scanning through my photo album and see pictures that capture me enjoying the mountains of Utah. When I watched the movie The Beach I was struck out how nature, specifically the beautiful beaches of Thailand, influenced the actions of every character in the movie. Of course it is hard to read a legendary story such as Jungle Book and not see what a powerful effect nature and its animals can consent over humans. During my trip to the Arboretum I thought a lot about the importance of the desert. I thought about how complex and beautiful it is. It is a landscape that I do not think many people view as beautiful. I know that when I first came to visit capital of Arizona I thought the desert was quite ugly. It wasnt until I made an effort to find its exquisiteness that I did. Participating in activities like visiting the botanical garden and taking day trips to Sedona and Tuscon have helped me to see the magnificence of a cactus existing in the sand with no water for weeks at a time. This one thing amazes me so much. The blooming flowers on a cactus are breathtaking to me. I think the contrast of cactus flowers and the vastness of the sand in the desert is what makes it so striking.