Website and appearance Serp Advertising and marketing Basic ...

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The appearance of the Net provides led to the amount of opposition regarding corporations right now getting global expanding through countries and also major regions. The web techniques at a quick rate the way it is a vibrant course of action driving corporations to evolve various kinds marketing and advertising methods to standard real world marketing techniques.

The overall objective regarding web marketing would be to attract further website visitors to your website improving buyers on your company and also enhancing your business brand. Working with probably the most cost-effective channels, web site marketing and advertising objectives certain targeted traffic And potential customers to your web site depending on your market and needs.

The best good thing about Net and appearance engine marketing and advertising about traditional marketing and advertising could be the power to calculate your results in real-time.

An effective Web marketing strategy requirements conversion checking applications to determine final results. Conversion metrics entail, Cost-per-click (CPC), regular cost for each 1000 opinions (CPM), Cpa marketing (Cost per acquisition) and also Return On Investment (Return). Checking and also placing a great significance on the conversion metrics is vital in order to calculating and also optimizing your campaigns getting to your shutting conversion measurement, Return On Investment (Return). Search engines Analytics is a no cost conversion overseeing application accustomed to monitor the complete efficiency of your respective Web marketing campaigns via click on in order to conversion.

Online marketing Stations:

One. Banner advertising

Banner advertising is actually visual marketing techniques on the net seems alongside posts with a third-party internet site such as internet banners or perhaps hysterical adverts. Banner advertising seems on internet web pages in numerous varieties and has text, photographs, images and also roadmaps which is a reasonable way to grow your promoting achieve. Search marketing and also display advertising collectively could enhance on the internet revenue.

Search engines Show and also Msn And Aol! Search engine marketing offer you considerable display advertising solutions. Metacafe comes with a online video show advert together with related Metacafe movies, and/or upon web-sites on the Search engines Show System that are great for your target market.

? Search engines Show System ? The particular Search engines Show Advert Designer software program within just AdWords lets you quickly construct compelling impression and also online video advertisements to generate your small business be noticeable.

? Aol! My personal Show Adverts ? My personal Show Adverts shows campaigns through Aol! System In addition. Along with My personal Show Adverts, it?s possible to setup your individual advertisements, focus on the strategy, and also keep track of your strategy efficiency.

A couple of. Marketing with video

Marketing with video is actually presenting info to the customer throughout online video variety and also guiding these phones an item. Movie is actually steadily getting increasingly well-liked and corporations are seeing becoming a feasible means for appealing to buyers.

Online marketers are realizing the value of creating fantastic online video substance as online marketing and also promoting will continue to progress. Online video is probably the more exciting indicates firms can develop awareness and also incoming consumers.

Several. Search engine marketing tactics (SEM)

Search engine marketing tactics will be the promotion of web sites simply by raising their particular visibility in search engine consequence web pages (Search results) making use of Pay per click marketing (Pay-per-click) promoting, contextual And articles promoting, paid for add-on and appearance engine marketing (Search engine optimization) methods.

4. Pay per click marketing (Pay-per-click)

Your own advert will be alongside or perhaps on top inside the search engines recent results for looking expression a person moved into online or perhaps Msn. Pay per click marketing Pay-per-click Advertising is known as ?sponsored ads? with your Search engines search results page and also ?ads? while using Msn search results page. Advertisers spot offers for specific search phrases and when a new user selects an advert, the actual marketer is actually recharged dependent upon just how much the actual marketer put money for your search phrase.

5. Contextual And Content promoting

Advertisers spot adverts upon some other websites in which have info tightly related to many and also the advertisements are viewable to folks that are trying to find info via those web-sites. The search website examines this article of the web page to determine the which means and also fits associated search phrase precise Content Adverts to produce with a page.

Let?s consider google adsense ended up being the very first important contextual promoting network.

The particular Aol! Msn network includes 30% inside the research promoting industry.

Six. Search engine marketing (Search engine optimization)

Search engine marketing is the process of skyrocketing the actual visibility of your respective web site in search engine?s search engines final results simply by taking into consideration exactly how personal engines like google purpose, exactly who hunt for as well as the search phrases buyers research.

Your internet site advancement and popularity creating initiatives have to be built regarding engines like google together with optimized signal, articles stream design and style, Search engine optimization copy writing and also building links.

Seven. Social internet marketing (SMM)

Social internet marketing is the process regarding gaining targeted customers by way of social networking web sites which include websites, online community websites, social bookmarking sites, and also forums. Social internet marketing promotes your site simply by sending immediate website visitors, producing hyperlinks on your site and also creating attention.

? Social media sites contain Facebook, LinkedIn, and also Facebook enabling you to probably spot a web link to your web site by yourself profile. The biggest obtain arrives any time others point out, url to or perhaps save your site.

? Social bookmark creating is a network by which customers share with the other person details about web sites, content articles, or perhaps reports goods that that like. These kinds of Social bookmarking sites contain Stumbleupon, Tasty, StumbleUpon, and also Search engines Bookmarks.

Eight. E-mail marketing

E-mail marketing is actually shipping and delivery of your business message into a group of people working together with email. Making a month-to-month E-Mail publication is probably the important web site promotion techniques. It might somewhat be a new newsletter, report on ideas, business changes, or perhaps new product info.

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Source: http://verifiedtraders.org/website-and-appearance-serp-advertising-and-marketing-basic/

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Behold the Fastest CF Card Ever Made (For Now)

Are you worried your compact flash card won't be able to keep up with the demands of the upcoming 4K revolution? Toshiba's got your back with its new Exceria Pro series CF cards that boast read and write speeds of 160MB/s and 150MB/s respectively, making them the world's fastest—for the time being. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/5Qj16Qnozmc/behold-the-fastest-cf-card-ever-made-for-now

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Rob Portman Sees GOP Reaction to Same-Sex Marriage as 'Mixed'

PHOTO: Sen. Rob Portman, right, and his son, Will are seen in this undate family photo.

The Republican Party won't suffer from its opposition to same-sex marriage, according to one of the only two GOP senators who support it publicly.

"I'm not particularly worried about it," Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio told Politico's Mike Allen at an economy-focused breakfast event in Washington, D.C., this morning. "I think for most Americans, the top issue is what we're talking about here today, which is jobs and the economy; how to get this economy moving in a way that provides opportunity."

Asked about GOP reaction to same-sex marriage as a topic of political discussion, the Ohio Republican senator and former Romney VP short-lister described the party's reaction as "mixed."

"Mixed, and that's understandable," Portman said, when Allen asked him, of the GOP, "Do you think they sort of get it, or do you think there's a ways to go?"

Portman added: "After all, I had a different point of view until very recently. No, it's a mixed reaction. ? I'm sure there are other political impacts, but for me this was not a political decision."

Some in the party, and outside it, have worried that Republicans have taken a losing stand, politically, against same-sex marriage. At a panel hosted by the GOP gay-rights group GOProud at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Maryland last month, strategists and conservative columnists openly fretted that the Republican Party deploys intolerant rhetoric and policies that will alienate a generation of new voters.

Portman became the only GOP senator to support gay marriage when he announced his backing March 15, revealing that his son is gay. That made Portman one of just three sitting Republican lawmakers to support gay marriage, along with Reps. Richard Hanna of New York and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida.

Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois the only other GOP senator who supports it.

Perhaps spurred by Portman, and by Supreme Court arguments on Prop. 8 and DOMA last month, a cascade of Senate Democrats have followed Portman's lead, as ABC News' Sunlen Miller has reported.

Polls reflect Portman's impression that the economy, deficits and health care rate as the top three issues of priority for Americans. On same-sex marriage, most side with Portman and against the rest of his party.

In the last ABC News-Washington Post poll, released March 18, 58 percent of respondents said they think gay marriage should be legal.

Also Read

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/rob-portman-sees-gop-reaction-same-sex-marriage-153807084--abc-news-politics.html

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The Top 5 Things You Need to Know About SEO ? Ministry of ...

by Stephanie ?Stover, Search Engine Specialist, Brighton College

SEO or Search Engine Optimization is the means of creating and enhancing the online presence of your business, organization, website or blog. By optimizing your website for search engines, you can increase your site?s rankings for specific keywords, bringing potential clients and customers to your website.

Different methods are used in order to obtain first-page results on search engines; however, certain tactics can actually get you penalized or banned from search engines. Hiring the wrong SEO company or using ?black hat? SEO methods can cost your business money as well as your reputation. Before creating an online marketing strategy, here are the top 5 things you need to know about SEO.

1. SEO Can Make You Money

Depending on the target audience and demand for your product or service, SEO can make your business money. When a user inputs a keyword into Google or another search engine, the user is searching for something specifically related to your business. Since the user has demonstrated an interest in your product or service by searching for it, the user is now considered a pre-qualified lead. By increasing the amount of pre-qualified leads being sent to the website, the likelihood of converting those leads into paying clients or customers also increases, which eventually generates revenue.

2. Poor Quality SEO Can Harm Your Business

Many entrepreneurs and businesses spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on SEO and never obtain a positive return on their investment, which is often due to poor quality SEO. Not performing adequate research prior to optimizing the website can result in little or no traffic or the wrong type of traffic being sent to the site. Additionally, using the wrong methods can get your site penalized or banned from major search engines, which could cost you millions of dollars in potential revenue.

3. High Quality SEO Takes Time

Once the website has been properly optimized for specific keywords, the search engines then need to spider, catch and index the URLs and associated keywords before they can be ranked. This process takes time, and obtaining rankings on the first page of Google takes even longer. SEO is a long-term strategy; therefore, those who are looking for a quicker return on investment should start with a pay-per-click advertising platform such as Google Adwords while employing the long term SEO strategy.

4. Google Likes Natural SEO

Content creation and link building strategies should be natural, or at least look natural to Google. Create quality content that your target audience will want to read, and they will share and link to your content on their own. Using outdated link building strategies such as link exchanges, guestbook or blog comments, or hundreds of general directory links will not increase your rankings as much as regularly updated content.

5. Legitimate SEO Companies Do Not Guarantee Rankings

Google initiates over 500 algorithm updates per year[1], most of which are not announced to the public. Therefore it is impossible for an SEO company to know every detail of the search engine?s algorithm. In addition, rankings can drop without notice, as Google doesn?t release updates until after changes have been made. If an SEO company guarantees rankings read the contract carefully before signing.

Search engine optimization can be difficult and dangerous if not performed correctly. ?Businesses and entrepreneurs who would rather learn SEO than hire a company to do it for them can take advantage of quick training from a career college such as where I work at Brighton College in BC. Brighton College offers internet marketing courses and a diploma program to ensure its students learn how to make money from SEO without harming their business.?

About the Author

Stephanie Stover, the Search Engine Specialist for Brighton College in Vancouver, B.C., has worked on SEO and PPC campaigns for all types of businesses including local companies, mid-sized businesses and fortune 500 companies.

Twitter: ?https://twitter.com/brightoncol

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brightoncollege?

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[1] Google Algorithm Change History, SEOMoz.org

Source: http://www.mri.gov.on.ca/blog/index.php/2013/04/stover-2/

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Rick Ross' 'U.O.E.N.O.' Lyric Is 'Just Hip-Hop,' Meek Mill Says

Meek compares his mentor's 'rape lyric' controversy to a Notorious B.I.G. line during D.C. radio interview.
By Rob Markman

Meek Mill
Photo: Rick Diamond/ Getty Images

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1705297/rick-ross-meek-mill-uoeno-lyrics.jhtml

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Gene variations predict chemotherapy side effects

Apr. 9, 2013 ? Seemingly benign differences in genetic code from one person to the next could influence who develops side effects to chemotherapy, a Mayo Clinic study has found. The study identified gene variations that can predispose people to chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy, a condition that is hard to predict and often debilitating enough to cause cancer patients to stop their treatment early.

Results of the research were presented today at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2013 in Washington, D.C.

The study, which implicates the genes EPHA5, ARHGEF10, and PRX, is the first to mine large swaths of the human genome for predictors of chemotherapy side effects. Further research into these genes and others may enable clinicians to use genomic information to more safely deliver these potentially toxic treatments.

"Our study creates a path for how to approach the whole genome in order to tailor cancer treatments," says Andreas Beutler, M.D., an oncologist at Mayo Clinic Cancer Center and senior author of the study. "That is important because we would not only like to cure people's cancer or help them live longer, but we also wish to provide them with the best quality of life."

Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy affects an estimated 20 to 30 percent of cancer patients treated with chemotherapy agents. The symptoms can be as mild as a light tingling or numbness, but can progress to a loss of feeling in the hands and feet, or to the point where patients can no longer walk normally and are left with a permanent feeling of numbness or pain. Currently, there is no way to predict which patients undergoing chemotherapy will develop this side effect or to what degree.

There are approximately 50 genes linked to a hereditary form of peripheral neuropathy. However, many of the people who have a mutation in one of these genes experience no symptoms until they are exposed to chemotherapy. Dr. Beutler decided to first consider those 50 genes as the most likely suspects, and then expand his search to the wider human genome for other predictors of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy.

Dr. Beutler's approach relied on exome sequencing, a type of DNA sequencing that focuses on the exonic regions of the genome that code for functional proteins. These protein-coding regions are believed to harbor about 85 percent of all disease-causing mutations.

Dr. Beutler and his colleagues performed exome sequencing on 20,794 genes from 119 cancer patients, over half of whom had developed chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy during the course of a chemotherapy clinical trial.

First, they looked at the 50 hereditary neuropathy genes and found one -- EPHA5 -- that appeared to predispose the patients to chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy. Next, researchers analyzed the remaining 20,000 genes and discovered two new genes -- ARHGEF10 and PRX -- that are also associated with chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy. They validated those findings in another group of 75 cancer patients.

The results suggest that the two conditions, hereditary neuropathy and chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy, may share genetic roots in some patients. They also point to ways that clinicians can improve cancer treatment. For instance, if clinicians know which patients are at risk for a particular chemotherapy side effect, they can use the information to individualize treatment.

Dr. Beutler and his team plan to expand their study to look at the entire genome, not just the protein-coding regions, in as many as 1,000 cancer patients. Dr. Beutler says any additional genes they find will add to the larger picture of symptom control in cancer treatment.

"What we are doing at Mayo is much larger than just uncovering a handful of genes," says Dr. Beutler. "We are using cutting-edge genomics research to enhance our strengths in clinical trials and develop new methods to individualize medicine."

Co-authors include, Amit Kulkarni, M.B.B.S.; Rahul Kanwar; Rui Qin, Ph.D.; Zhifu Sun, M.D.; Anh Le-Lindqwister, Terry Therneau, Ph.D.; and Charles Loprinzi, M.D., all of Mayo Clinic.

Funding for the study was provided by the American Cancer Society, the National Institutes of Health grants CA124477 and CA37404, the Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine and the Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Mayo Clinic.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/2fR2tyYtLVU/130409110001.htm

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'Artificial leaf' gains the ability to self-heal damage and produce energy from dirty water

Apr. 8, 2013 ? Another innovative feature has been added to the world's first practical "artificial leaf," making the device even more suitable for providing people in developing countries and remote areas with electricity, scientists reported in New Orleans on April 8. It gives the leaf the ability to self-heal damage that occurs during production of energy.

Daniel G. Nocera, Ph.D., described the advance during the "Kavli Foundation Innovations in Chemistry Lecture" at the 245th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society.

Nocera, leader of the research team, explained that the "leaf" mimics the ability of real leaves to produce energy from sunlight and water. The device, however, actually is a simple catalyst-coated wafer of silicon, rather than a complicated reproduction of the photosynthesis mechanism in real leaves. Dropped into a jar of water and exposed to sunlight, catalysts in the device break water down into its components, hydrogen and oxygen. Those gases bubble up and can be collected and used as fuel to produce electricity in fuel cells.

"Surprisingly, some of the catalysts we've developed for use in the artificial leaf device actually heal themselves," Nocera said. "They are a kind of 'living catalyst.' This is an important innovation that eases one of the concerns about initial use of the leaf in developing countries and other remote areas."

Nocera, who is the Patterson Rockwood Professor of Energy at Harvard University, explained that the artificial leaf likely would find its first uses in providing "personalized" electricity to individual homes in areas that lack traditional electric power generating stations and electric transmission lines. Less than one quart of drinking water, for instance, would be enough to provide about 100 watts of electricity 24 hours a day. Earlier versions of the leaf required pure water, because bacteria eventually formed biofilms on the leaf's surface, shutting down production.

"Self-healing enables the artificial leaf to run on the impure, bacteria-contaminated water found in nature," Nocera said. "We figured out a way to tweak the conditions so that part of the catalyst falls apart, denying bacteria the smooth surface needed to form a biofilm. Then the catalyst can heal and re-assemble."

Nocera said that about 3 billion people today live in areas that lack access to traditional electric production and distribution systems. That population will grow by billions in the decades ahead. About 1 billion people in the developing world already lack reliable access to clean water. Thus, a clear need exists for a simple device like the artificial leaf that's compatible with local conditions.

"It's kind of like providing 'fast-food energy,'" he noted. "We're interested in making lots of inexpensive units that may not be the most efficient, but that get the job done. It's kind of like going from huge mainframe computers to a personal laptop. This is personalized energy."

Earlier devices used rare, costly metals and other materials, involved complicated wiring and were expensive to manufacture. But Nocera's artificial leaf uses less-expensive materials and incorporates a design -- a so-called "buried junction" -- that is simple and would be inexpensive to mass produce. And the leaf has advantages over solar panels, which are costly and produce energy only during daylight hours. The leaf's hydrogen and oxygen, in contrast, can be stored and used at night.

"A lot of people are designing complicated, expensive energy-producing devices, and it is difficult to see them being adopted on a large scale," he said. "Ours is simple, less expensive, and it works. And with that, I think we've changed the dialog in the field."

Among the team's priorities for further development of the device: integrating it with technology for converting the hydrogen into a liquid fuel that could run traditional portable electric generators or even cars.

Nocera acknowledged research funding from the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by American Chemical Society.

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Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/f5b7sYp9CPQ/130408185855.htm

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Short daily walk might help teen smokers quit | ScienceBlog.com

Teenagers who increased the days on which they got just 20 minutes of exercise were able to cut down on their smoking habit.

And teenage smokers were more likely to quit altogether if they participated in a smoking cessation/fitness program?and they ramped up the days on which they got at least 30 minutes of physical activity, according to a study published online April 9.

?This study adds to evidence suggesting that exercise can help teenagers who are trying to quit smoking,? says lead author Kimberly Horn, EdD, the Associate Dean for Research at the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services (SPHHS). ?Teens who boosted the number of days on which they engaged in at least 20 minutes of exercise, equivalent to a short walk, were more likely than their peers to resist lighting up a cigarette.?

Horn and her colleagues tracked 233 teenagers from 19 high schools in West Virginia, a state with among the highest smoking rates in the nation. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which funded this study, says that nearly 13 percent of West Virginia residents under the age of 18 are current smokers.

The participants in the study were daily smokers with other risky behaviors. ?It is not unusual for teenage smokers to engage in other unhealthy habits,? Horn said. ?Smoking and physical inactivity?for instance?often go hand in hand.? The average teenager in the study smoked a half a pack on weekdays and a whopping pack a day on the weekends. A previous study of the same group compared three types of programs aimed at getting the participants to stop or cut down on smoking. That study found that an intensive smoking cessation intervention combined with a fitness program was the most successful way to help teenagers quit.

In the current study, Horn?s team looked to see if an increase in physical activity would help teens quit regardless of the type of intervention. In this study, as in the previous one, some teenagers went through an intensive anti-smoking program combined with a fitness intervention while others just got the smoking cessation program and still others listened to a short anti-smoking lecture.

Horn found that all of the teens increased their exercise activity to some degree?just by virtue of being in the study. However, teens who reported increasing the number of days in which they got just 20 minutes a day of exercise were able to significantly cut back on the cigarettes they smoked.

Horn?s previous study showed that the most powerful way for teens to quit smoking was if they participated in a program called Not-On-Tobacco; it was even more powerful for boys with an added fitness component. The researchers believe that the 20-minute threshold for changing smoking behavior deserves further study.

Certainly, the study has limitations, says Horn. ?We don?t fully understand the clinical relevance of ramping up daily activity to 20 or 30 minutes a day with these teens. But we do know that even modest improvements in exercise may have health benefits. Our study supports the idea that encouraging one healthy behavior can serve to promote another, and it shows that teens, often viewed as resistant to behavior change, can tackle two health behaviors at once.?

Additional research must confirm the key findings and prove that they apply to all teen smokers and not just those in West Virginia, Horn says. And researchers still do not know the mechanism that might explain the findings. However, she says that physical activity is known to spur the release of the body?s feel-good chemicals called endorphins. One possible explanation is that those substances might help teen smokers better deal with the cravings or weather the withdrawal symptoms that often lead to relapse, she said.

Source: http://scienceblog.com/62198/short-daily-walk-might-help-teen-smokers-quit/

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Gulf of Mexico has greater-than-believed ability to self-cleanse oil spills

Apr. 8, 2013 ? The Gulf of Mexico may have a much greater natural ability to self-clean oil spills than previously believed, an expert in bioremediation said on April 8 in New Orleans at the 245th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS).

Terry C. Hazen, Ph.D., said that conclusion has emerged from research following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, which by some estimates spilled 4.9 million barrels (210 million gallons) of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. His research team used a powerful new approach for identifying microbes in the environment to discover previously unknown bacteria, naturally present in the Gulf water, that consume and break down crude oil.

"The Deepwater Horizon oil provided a new source of nutrients in the deepest waters," explained Hazen, who is with the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. "With more food present in the water, there was a population explosion among those bacteria already adapted to using oil as a food source. It was surprising how fast they consumed the oil. In some locations, it took only one day for them to reduce a gallon of oil to a half gallon. In others, the half-life for a given quantity of spilled oil was 6 days. This data suggests that a great potential for intrinsic bioremediation of oil plumes exists in the deep sea and other environs in the Gulf of Mexico."

Hazen spoke at a symposium, "Environmental Fate of Petroleum Oils and Dispersants in the Marine Environment," that included other reports relating to the Deepwater Horizon spill.

Oil-eating bacteria are natural inhabitants of the Gulf because of the constant supply of food. Scientists know that there are more than 600 different areas where oil oozes from rocks underlying the Gulf of Mexico. These oil seeps, much like underwater springs, release 560,000-1.4 million barrels of oil annually, according to the National Research Council.

Hazen's team used a powerful new approach for identifying previously recognized kinds of oil-eating bacteria that contributed to the natural clean-up of the Deepwater Horizon spill. In the past, scientists identified microbes by putting samples of water into laboratory culture dishes, waiting for microbes to grow and then using a microscope to identify the microbes. The new approach, called "ecogenomics," uses genetic and other analyses of the DNA, proteins and other footprints of bacteria to provide a more detailed picture of microbial life in the water.

"The bottom line from this research may be that the Gulf of Mexico is more resilient and better able to recover from oil spills than anyone thought," Hazen said. "It shows that we may not need the kinds of heroic measures proposed after the Deepwater Horizon spill, like adding nutrients to speed up the growth of bacteria that breakdown oil, or using genetically engineered bacteria. The Gulf has a broad base of natural bacteria, and they respond to the presence of oil by multiplying quite rapidly."

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by American Chemical Society (ACS).

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Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_environment/~3/4gqfyIGoEdg/130408152733.htm

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Contrasting styles on display in Syracuse-Michigan

ATLANTA (AP) ? Michigan brushes off any comparisons to the Fab Five.

Besides, the Wolverines have a chance to do something that group never did.

Win a national championship.

Michigan, making its first Final Four appearance since the Fab Five era, takes on suffocating Syracuse in a national semifinal Saturday night that presents a clear contrast in styles.

The experienced Orange are perfectly content to wear teams down with their octopus-like zone defense. The Wolverines are youthful and love to run, run, run, which has raised obvious comparisons to the great Michigan teams of the early 1990s.

Not so fast.

"We're nowhere near the Fab Five," said Michigan forward Glenn Robinson III, son of the former NBA star. "They changed the face of college basketball. We try to stay away from all that."

Michigan hasn't been to the Final Four since 1993, when the squad featuring Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard, Jimmy King and Ray Jackson lost in the championship game for the second year in a row.

These Wolverines have some of that same vibe, with a lineup that features three freshmen ? Robinson, Nik Stauskas and Mitch McGary ? and a sophomore leader, Associated Press player of the year Trey Burke.

A couple of weeks ago, King dropped by one of Robinson's classes to talk about an era that is still remembered fondly at Michigan, even though the triumphs were eventually thrown out by the NCAA because of illicit payments to Webber.

"The Fab Five is such a tremendous story, five tremendous guys that did something special," coach John Beilein said Friday, a day when all four teams got a chance to practice in the cavernous, 70,000-seat Georgia Dome that is normally home of the NFL's Atlanta Falcons.

Syracuse, of course, couldn't care less about some Michigan team from two decades ago.

The Orange are ready to unleash their stifling 2-3 defense on this group of Wolverines.

"It's going to take them a while to adjust to the zone," said junior guard Brandon Triche, who, like the rest of his teammates, was brimming with confidence that defense is going to carry Syracuse to Monday night's title game against either Louisville or Wichita State.

The Michigan players quickly got wind of the comments coming from Syracuse's media session.

"It sounds like cockiness," said guard Tim Hardaway Jr., another son of an ex-NBA star on the Wolverines roster. "But it's not going to come down to just talent or who has the biggest players. It's going to come down to heart and passion."

Having a player such as Burke doesn't hurt, either.

The sophomore already came up huge in the regionals, leading the Wolverines back from a 14-point deficit against Kansas with less than 7 minutes remaining. He knocked down a long 3-pointer at the end of regulation to tie the game, then finished off the upset of the top-seeded Jayhawks in overtime.

But Burke has never played against a defense quite like this.

"We've just got to try to find different ways to attack the zone," he said. "They play a really good 2-3. It's tough. We've got to make sure we knock down uncontested 3s."

The zone is usually viewed as more of a passive defense.

Not the way Syracuse plays it.

Coach Jim Boeheim assembled a bunch of guys with impressive size and surprising quickness. When they're all working together ? waving those long arms and moving back and forth in unison, like the ocean lapping at the shore ? it can be tough to get an open jumper and nearly impossible to work the ball inside.

Syracuse (30-9) has taken its trademark D to new levels of stinginess in the NCAA tournament.

The Orange have surrendered a paltry 45.75 points per game, holding Montana (34), top-seeded Indiana (50) and Marquette (39) to their lowest scoring totals of the season. Overall, Syracuse's four tournament opponents have combined to shoot just 28.9 percent from field (61 of 211) and 15.4 percent from 3-point range (14 of 91).

None of those teams had a player like Burke.

That doesn't seem to matter to Syracuse.

"It's tough to go against our zone when you've never seen it before," forward C.J. Fair said. "We want to force him to do some things he's not done before."

Michigan (30-7) prefers to get in the open court as much as possible, a style that is even more advantageous against a team such as Syracuse, which has a size advantage at almost every position.

The Wolverines are averaging 75.5 points a game on the season, even more (78.8) in their four NCAA games. Last weekend, after stunning Kansas, they romped past one of the nation's best defensive teams, beating Florida 79-59 in the regional final.

They are certainly not intimidated by Syracuse.

"If their zone was unbeatable, then they would be 39-0," Hardaway scoffed. "We're just going to go out there, play our game, not worry about what they're going to do, and just play Michigan basketball."

Syracuse is playing in its first Final Four since the 2003 team won it all. This will mark the end of the Orange's long tenure in the crumbling Big East (they're moving to the Atlantic Coast Conference next season), and the players are keenly aware this might be the best chance to give Boeheim one more national title before he retires.

The 68-year-old coach has no plans to step down just yet, but certainly the bulk of his long, successful career is behind him.

Boeheim concedes that he's a little surprised to be in position for another championship, especially after Syracuse closed the regular season with four losses in its final five games, including a 22-point blowout at Georgetown. The Orange were seeded first in both 2010 and 2012, but didn't make it out of the regionals. This season, they advanced to Atlanta as a No. 4 seed.

"I wouldn't have expected going into the tournament that we were going to be here," Boeheim said. "This team has come together. Sometimes that happens at tournament time."

Good timing.

___

Follow Paul Newberry on Twitter at www.twitter.com/pnewberry1963

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/contrasting-styles-display-syracuse-michigan-191827940--spt.html

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Does Elections During a Holy Mass Constitute a Liturgical Abuse? Has Fr.Bonaventure Pereira of Divine Mercy Church Bhayander contributed to Community Welfare Fund?

Currently the Archdiocese of Mumbai is having elections to fill up the posts of its Parish Pastoral Council.

Are these elections free and fair?

In any election any elector can also be a candidate and then and only then ,can the election be considered to be free and fair.

However to be a candidate for the Parish Pastoral Council in Mumbai there are three conditions:

1.Candidate should be a catholic.

2.Candidate should be 25 years old.

3.Candidate should be a member of the core group.

Thus the bulk majority of electors can never be a candidate as per the rules and only the ten or fifteen members of the core group can stand for elections and hence the said election can never be said to be ?free and fair.

In fact if the Church in Mumbai has taken a decision that candidates shall have to be members of the core group then those elections should have been held within the Core Group itself ?and the general congregation should never have been involved since only the core group members know how ?the canditate works and whether he/she is worth electing.

Two and a half years ago vide my e mail dated 17/09/10 I had written to the Archbishop of Mumbai that elections are not one of the 7 sacraments and hence should never be held during the mass.It is common knowledge that if one of the parties to any marriage is a non catholic,the marriage ceremony is either held before or after the mass and can never be part of the mass as it is not a sacrament.Thus the mass is considered highly sacred.

What is the justification for having elections during a mass?

Doesnt holding elections during mass constitute a LITURGICAL ABUSE?

If there is any justification from the authorities then why are property sale proposals also not discussed and finalised during mass?

We have a Priest who was a Kalina Parish Priest some 13 years ago who showed a plot as fully encroached and undervalued a church ?property ?and sold roughly 700 meters of land donated to the Church by the Miranda family for just Rs.3,51,000/- in the year 1995.Today the new owners have evicted the 3 catholic tenants and a case against the fourth tenant is pending.The Church has not filed an FIR against the culprits till today and in fact have given a clean chit to the accused against whom an FIR has been filed.The said Priest Fr.John Rumao has been granted interim anticipatory bail by the Sessions Court Mumbai till April 8th ,2013.

We,have a Parish Priest who defamed a person publicly from the pulpit in Kalina and the Cardinal did nothing about it( Not the ?current Parish Priest).

We have a Parish Priest Fr.Bonaventure Pereira of Divine Mercy Church Bhayander who has put up the names of several defaulters of the Community Welfare Fund on the notice board of the parish. Despite announcements made during the mass that the said list would be put up ?only on 31st March 2013,yet the said list was put up on ?17th March 2013.The said Parish Priest also gets a ? salary does ?he contribute to the said fund?Has he contributed to Community Welfare Fund in all the previous parishes where he was posted?

The list can go on and on where we have instances of Priests giving us excellent sermons but not practising what they preach.

We , are sure that this issue will also be swept under the carpet .We have newspapers which carry catholic news in India AND who publish ?selective news.Not a single catholic newspaper carried a single article regarding the consecration of a Protestant Bishop by a Catholic Bishop of Allahabad, which is a GRAVE LITURGICAL ABUSE.The said Bishops resignation has now been accepted by the previous Pope.

Some Priests today do not ?have a VOCATION but they ON VACATION.Is it their job to save souls or Has making money and insulting people become a full time business?

The laity of Mumbai has remained silent and hence these type of Priests have become bolder and bolder and as time goes their numbers may also increase.I think the concerned officials should stop fooling the members of the Laity and should become more Christ Like.

Priests should also expose these type of Priests as all the Priests get a bad name due to the unpriestly acts of a few Priests.We do believe in the sin of complicity.

How many Priests are really ready to imitate Christ?

Would Christ have done the acts which these type of Priests have done?

Despite several letters sent to the Pro Nuncio/Cardianl no action has been taken.

Will Pope Francis approve and do the same acts which these Priests have done? Let any priest from Mumbai give me the justification for these acts.

I would be wrong if I use the same paint brush to paint all the Priests because I believe that as of today there are only a few bad apples but if the administration does not act then there will be more bad apples and less good ones and hence this should be nipped in the bud.

A.M.Sodder

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Source: http://mumbailaity.wordpress.com/2013/04/06/does-elections-during-a-holy-mass-constitute-a-liturgical-abuse-has-fr-bonaventure-pereira-of-divine-mercy-church-bhayander-contributed-to-community-welfare-fund/

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Mozilla Moves Ahead With Its Plans For A Common Web API For Payments

Mozilla is working with payment vendors and the W3C standards body to create a common API to make online payments, both on desktop and mobile, easier and more secure. To get this process going, Mozilla has implemented a new and experimental JavaScript API into its new Firefox OS for smartphones that will eventually allow web apps to accept payments. Mozilla argues that having a common API for handling payments that can be integrated with multiple payment vendors will open up new business models for developers and publishers. This new API, navigator.mozPay(), Mozilla says, was inspired by Google’s Wallet for Digital Goods API and will ship in Firefox OS first and then be added to Firefox for Android and desktop Firefox later. While it’s currently a very experimental API (and still incomplete), Mozilla expects that it will be usable enough to “process live payments on the first Firefox OS phones and evolve quickly from real-world usage.” The question to ask here, of course, is why bother, given that online payments don’t seem to be a major issue for users and developers, thanks to services like PayPal and Stripe. Mozilla, however, argues that users should have more choice when it comes to how they want to pay for goods online (be they virtual or physical). Users, the organization also notes, still have to type in their credit card numbers, which “is like giving someone the keys to your expensive car, letting them drive it around the block in a potentially dangerous neighborhood (the web) and saying please don?t get carjacked!” With navigator.mozPay(), developers will be able to grant permission to each payment provider they want to work with and use a very straightforward process for handling these payments that’s more about exchanging tokens than exchanging credit card information. You can find more details about how to implement and test the current version of this API here.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/B-Aoh4h0Dnw/

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Stocks fall after weak reports on hiring, services

NEW YORK (AP) ? Stocks fell on Wall Street Wednesday after weak reports on hiring and growth at service companies dampened the outlook for the U.S. economy.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 61 points, or 0.4 percent, to 14,601 as of 12:23 p.m. EDT. The Standard & Poor's 500 index dropped 10 points, or 0.7 percent, to 1,560 points. Both indexes closed at record highs the day before.

U.S. service companies kept growing at a solid pace in March, but the expansion was less than economists were expecting. The Institute for Supply Management's index of service companies fell to 54.4 from 56 a month earlier. The report was the weakest in seven months and fell short of what analysts were expecting.

Separately, payrolls processor ADP reported that U.S. employers added 158,000 jobs last month, down from February's gain of 237,000, as construction firms held off on hiring. The ADP report is often seen as a preview for the government's broader survey on employment, which is due out Friday.

The reports came after the ISM reported a slowdown in manufacturing on Monday, another poor sign for the economy.

"The economic data, which has been stronger than expected throughout most of the first quarter, may just be in for a little bit of a soft patch," said Stephen Parker, a portfolio manager at JPMorgan Private Bank. "But I think that's temporary."

The stock market has gotten off to a strong start in 2013. The Dow rose 11.3 percent in the first three months of the year thanks to a recovery in housing and signs that the job market is improving. Strong company earnings and economic stimulus from the Federal Reserve have also sent the market higher.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 1.83 percent from 1.86 percent. It was the lowest level for the benchmark rate since January. The decline means that demand for low-risk U.S. government debt has increased.

In other trading, the Nasdaq composite fell 21 points, or 0.7 percent to 3,233. The Russell 2000, a gauge of small company stocks, declined more than other indexes. The Russell fell 10 points, or 1 percent, to 924.

The Dow Jones Transportation Average, an index of 20 stocks including airlines like Delta and freight companies FedEx and UPS, fell for a third straight day. The index, which is regarded as a leading indicator for broader market indexes as well as the economy, has fallen 3.4 percent this week, after surging 17.9 percent in the first quarter of the year.

"The strength that we've seen in transports over the last three months has been encouraging," said JPMorgan's Parker. "That's certainly one area we will be watching closely to see if there's a shift in sentiment going forward."

Even though stocks have started the second quarter with losses, markets typically add to their gains after ending the first quarter up, said Sam Stovall, an equity strategist at S&P Capital IQ. Using data going back over more than 60 years, Stovall says that the S&P 500 has gained an average of 9 percent from April to December after rising in the first quarter.

"Investors believe that the economic trajectory is improving," said Stovall. Stocks "do not reflect the true valuations based on where the economy will be at the end of the year."

Among stocks making big moves:

? Monsanto rose $1.55 to $105.1 after the agricultural products company said its profit increased 22 percent on strong sales of biotech seeds in Brazil and other emerging markets. The company also increased its forecast for full-year earnings.

? Zynga rose 43 cents, or 14 percent, to $3.50 after the online game maker said two casino games would debut in the United Kingdom Wednesday.

? ConAgra Foods fell 34 cents to $35.20 after the company reported a third-quarter profit that fell shy of Wall Street expectations. The maker of Chef Boyardee and Hebrew National hot dogs booked charges related to its acquisition of Ralcorp and struggled to increase sales for its existing brands.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/stocks-fall-weak-reports-hiring-services-143612452--finance.html

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Change Management, a Real Case Study | A Hotel Life

Some names of people and places have been modified to protect the individual privacy.

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A quiet afternoon in 2011; Mrs. Garcia, owner and director of a child day-care, sat down by her desk. She faced one of the most difficult decisions in her career: To dismiss an employee who had collaborated with her the past 15 years due to her resistance to change. In 2008, the day care, had been completely redesigned, rebranded and relocated to adapt to a new market. The changes encountered resistance from the operational staff, especially from the manager on duty: Mrs Moreno, whose dismissal was then being considered. This paper will analyse the process of adaptation to a new market, the roll of leadership styles in change management, deviant behaviour as resistance and the implementation of change. It will be proven that resistance to change is good, however to effectively introduce change in an organization there should be strong participative management.

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Nowadays organizations face the challenge of intense transformation responding to environmental change, restrictions, requirements, and emerging opportunities (N?stase, M, Giuclea, M, & Bold, O 2012). Change is inevitable but it has to be implemented by humans. People need to acquire new knowledge, tackle new tasks, improve competences, change work habits, values and attitudes. In this topic there are two main forms of change: Organizational Transformation and Organizational Development. The first is a dramatic transformation responding to external factors and outcome oriented.? The second form of change is planned and incremental, focused on an internal development with a long-term perspective (Waddell et al 2011).

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In 1989, Mrs Garcia founded The Panamerican Pedagogic Institute, a day-care facility in Mexico City. It performed successfully until 1998 when it was relocated and left in the hands of outsourced management. After 10 years, Mrs. Garcia regained the ownership of the institute. The Institute moved to the original location branded under a new name in 2008 with a new design, added security features, Internet site, digital distribution, and online security cameras for parent?s supervision. The mission and vision statement changed to focus on a younger market of parents concerned not only with academic learning but also interested in security, environmental performance and technology.? After those changes where implemented the market responded well and by 2011 the business was taking care of 36 children on a daily basis. The staff was also required to perform monthly psychological test on the kids to assess their development in key competency areas; the uniform change to a more casual attire and the tasks were redistributed to assure fairness and control by management.

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As shown on the case, it underwent an Organizational Transformation driven by external forces to stay in the market. This transformation was dramatic and not very well implemented. The owner focused on market driven approach and did not consult the staff to ensure that they had the professional knowledge to perform according to the new standards. A previous market analysis and internal analysis could have been important before the unfreezing stage started. In order to keep up to market trends the business? management needs to switch to an organizational development approach, adapting the internal procedures and strategies. The internal development of the business should have involved the staff and the clients to produce a new business strategy that matched both stakeholders? interests. In this case, it is shown that a change driven only by the market can cause internal turmoil and resistance even if some key performance factors show success.

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A participative leadership style is required to carry out the organizational change. The leadership style is the result of the combination of the manager?s ideas, believes, norms and values. Different types of leadership have been studied such as: authoritarian, democratic and laissez faire (Iqbal et al 2012). Leadership has been defined as the interpersonal capacity to reach goals through effective communication (Limbare 2012). When implementing change the leader needs to adjust his or her style to the situation getting a better understanding of his or her behaviour and its effect in the team (Waddell, 2012).

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When Mrs Garcia reassumed the direction of the business, the only member of the old staff carried to the new concept was Mrs Moreno hired as duty manager. Mrs Garcia assumed a laissez faire leadership style, while Mrs Moreno acted as an authoritarian leader. Mrs Garcia lost power among the staff and Mrs Moreno applied the old standards to the new organization because it served better her interest. The new organization strived to have a better command chain and integrated psychological and academic appraisals delivered to the parents on a monthly basis. Every teacher was doing her part in the new scheme however Mrs Moreno was the only one acting against the new policies.

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Mrs Garcia should have assumed a transactional leadership style to implement change and retain control of the staff while they were learning the new abilities required. In this case the new strategies could not be implemented as desired because of a weak laissez faire approach from management. It is also important to take into consideration that in the Mexican culture there is a long power distance (The Hofstede Centre, 2013) therefore we can conclude that the management has a great influence in the way that change is introduced. If we compare Australia?s and Mexico?s Power Distance charts the first scored 36 while the second shows 81 (The Hofstede Centre, 2013) When management showed a weak leadership, the strongest one in the line of command took the power. Taking into consideration the cultural aspect, the theory and the facts we conclude that a strong authoritarian leadership is required to introduce change and then a smoother democratic approach can buy the staff commitment to change.

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Maurer (1996) cited in Waddell (1998) Sais that two-thirds of all major organizational changes fail because of resistance. This phenomenon is regarded as employee?s actions trying to stop, delay or alter change (Bemmels and Reshef, 1991). Thus having a negative connotation, however resent research has shown that resistance results from rational, non-rational, political and management factors (Waddell 1998). Resistance has become the most natural and healthy response to change and it can have valuable outcome when the management engage with it to improve the proposed change (Waddell 1998). Resistance points out that change is not always good, it pushes the organisation to stability, it promotes specialization and control, it looks for other solutions and outcomes. The real challenge is to find the correct balance between resistance and change. Apathy and passivity can be more harmful to change than resistance (Waddell 1998).

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Resistance to change can be turn positively by engaging in communication and consultation. When participative management is involved the employees tend to be committed and involved in change rather than just compliant with it (Maurer 1996). When the employees are involved in change they will challenge the new order and find a better outcome, as in the legislative process constant challenge ensures that the best solution is applied.

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New employees that have invested less in status quo are less likely to resist change than long serving employees or managers that have invested more in the company. Judson (1991) cited in Agboola & Salawu? (2011) identified 4 possible reactions towards change: acceptance, indifference, passive resistance, and active resistance. In the worst case resistance can manifest as deviant behaviour such as aggressive oppositions or hostile manifestations. Notable examples of deviant behaviour are absenteeism, striking, sabotage, gossip and physical violence. To overcome resistance Mooketsi (2009) cited in Agboola & Salawu ?(2011) recommends:? education and communication, foster open communication, involvement, facilitation and support, negotiation and agreement, manipulation and co-optation, implicit or explicit coercion.

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When Mrs Garcia noticed that her leadership style had put her business in danger she changed to a very hard authoritarian approach. The interests of Mrs Moreno were compromised by the new management style. She began to spread gossip among clients and staff, and making important decisions about the operations without authorization. After all, Mrs Moreno had great professional experience and she was a valuable human asset. Her dismissal was brought up to attention after she blackmailed the staff, manipulated the holiday roster to obtain an unfair advantage and started gossip among the parents to get one staff member discharged. Two years after the re-branding it was struggling to maintain the changes. There was small motivation among the staff mainly because of contradictory information coming from the management.

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The biggest resistance was presented by the manager as active deviant behaviour. The owner decided to dismiss the manager; by doing this she applied explicit coercion and reaffirmed her leadership in the organization. Shortly after the decision was taken the rest of the staff accepted the change. With an integrated authoritarian leadership the change was implemented. The owner also engaged in communication through staff meetings and negotiation. Once the new procedures were in place a new manager was assigned and the owner assumed a participative democratic leadership style. She had learnt her lesson.

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Due to the confrontation the owner realised that the organization required more staff to operate in the new standards, especially to have a fair holiday roster. Engaging in open communication allowed the owner to know that most of the staff lacked the knowledge to perform the desired psychological appraisals of the kids; this was tackled with a training program delivered on the premises by expert childhood development psychologists. It was also brought to attention that the parents desired to have more psychological and pedagogical couching, thus opening a new business opportunity in partnership with a private psychologist. As we can see, resistance is often a symptom of a more delicate organizational dysfunction. At this point she had lost two years trying to implement change without consulting the staff, thus loosing valuable time and money.

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Having analyse the change process of this particular child day care ?and how it was managed by the owner we will now apply Professor William Pietersen?s (2004) framework as de ?recommended? way to deal with change: The framework starts by creating a simple and compelling statement; this was well done by the owner by adapting to the changes of the environment and redefining the mission and vision statement. The second step is: honest and constant communication; the owner should have keep the management power engaging in open communication to the staff and clients to assess the real implications of change. Most of the problems encountered by the business were due to poor communication. The third step is: maximize participation; from the beginning the teachers and management should have been consulted on their knowledge and capacity to implement the change. The clients should have also been consulted regarding their satisfaction level and how it could be meet. The fourth step is: remove all those who resist if there is no other option; this was executed however the organization had spent 2 years already with financial and human loss. The fifth step is: set short term wins; the owner should have implemented a small wins reward system based on achievements. Step sixth is: set a good example; the owner should have set a good example by implementing all the changes herself, inspiring the staff to be like her and to have discipline.

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As we have seen most of the research on change management is old, coming from the 90?s and developing very few new tools on the recent years. Technology has enabled new techniques in management to arise, however they are not being implemented towards change management yet. We will discus ?Gamification? as a possible tool to help managing resistance to change.

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Gamification is based on the psychological fact the human beings are goal oriented by nature and that organizations can build upon these goals to encourage desired behaviours on costumers and staff (Newman 2012). Gamification has been applied mainly in marketing strategies by new researchers such as Gabe Zichermann. People love to play games, because they are fun, but the definition between what is fun and what is not is a very arbitrary line. We can make everything fun depending on its design (Gabe Zichermann 2010). Nowadays there is a game about air traffic control, which is one of the most stressful activities in the world and it has a big suicide rate, however there is a fun game about it. If air traffic control is fun, anything can be fun. ?Let?s think about Gamification as non-fiction gaming. It is gaming with your real friends, with your real money and your real stuff in the real world? (Gabe Zichermann, 2010)

Games are designed to maximize reward; they can make people take actions against their self-interest, in a predictable way, without the use of force (Gabe Zichermann, 2010). This is why it has been mostly used in marketing to engage buyers into desired behaviour patters driven by a physical or physiological reward. Gamification has slowly been introduced into human resources management designing learning games. These strategies have reported: improvement on performance and knowledge, enhanced achievement orientation, unparalleled levels of engagement, and it reinforces learning and development (Cook, 2013).

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We could apply Gamification theory to change management. We would need to identify the goal as the desired state of the organization. Breaking the goal into smaller stages we could? ?unlock? achievements. Employees would engage better in change if they could see how their behaviour is helping the change in a chart based on experience points that could be up dated to share in the community. The employees with more points would have a physiological reward.? Change does not need to be boring; organizations could engage in roll play. There could be also virtual currency involved in change to raise engagement. Resistance to change would drop significantly if all staff members are committed in a fun, nourishing and challenging activity that would give them a reward. The use of new strategies has become more important with the incorporation of the Y generation in to the labour market. We need to transform our organizations in order to adapt to their new mind set.

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At the end of this essay it is concluded that change is necessary to adapt to the external environment and meet the market expectations; that change is good as it nourishes change but it can be a set back if deviant behaviour is involved; and that a democratic/participative management style is necessary to deal with deviant behaviour and make the best out of resistance. We have also applied Professor William Pietersen?s framework to highlight that change wasn?t implemented well in the business and that the owner response to resistance happened to late. We have also recommended to apply Gamification strategies as a new tool in change management to increase employee engagement and participation.

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This essay asks us to think about the future of change management. As a new generation pushes through the labour market we need to adapt and change with it. We have been using the same management theory for years and it is time for us to change. We are about to experience a bigger change, a change in generations; and the new generation is even more different than we can even imagine. How would we deal with our own resistance to change our management theory? We need to expand our tools using our imagination as creativity, after all as Dr Seuss in 1975 said, ?think left, think right, and think low and think high. Oh! ?The thinks you can think up if you only try!?

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Agboola, A, & Salawu, R 2011, ?Managing Deviant Behavior and Resistance to Change?, International Journal Of Business & Management, 6, 1, pp. 235-242, viewed 28 February 2013. Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost

Bemmels, B. and Reshef, Y. 1991, ?Manufacturing, employees and technological change?, Journal of Labour Research, Vol. 12 No. 3, Summer, pp. 231-46.

Choi, M 2011, ?Employees? attitudes toward organizational change: A literature review?, Human Resource Management, 50, 4, pp. 479-500, viewed 5 March 2013. Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost.

Cook, W 2013, ?Five Reasons Why You Can?t Ignore Gamification?, Incentive, 187, 1, pp. 22-23, viewed 6 March 2013. Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost.

Google Tech Talks, Video, available in Youtube. Presented by Gabe Zichermann. October 26 2010. Viewed on 5 March 2013.

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6O1gNVeaE4g&gt;

Iqbal, J, Inayat, S, Ijaz, M, & Zahid, A 2012, ?Leadership styles: identifying approaches and dimensions of leaders?, Interdisciplinary Journal Of Contemporary Research In Business, 4, 3, pp. 641-659, viewed 5 March 2013. Business Soure Complete, EBSCOhost.

Limbare, S 2012, ?Leadership Styles & Conflict Management Styles of Executives?, Indian Journal Of Industrial Relations, 48, 1, pp. 172-180, viewed 5 March 2013. Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost.

Maurer, R 1996, ?Using resistance to build support for change?, Journal For Quality & Participation, 19, 3, p. 56, viewed 5 March 2013. , Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost.

N?stase, M, Giuclea, M, & Bold, O 2012, ?The Impact of Change Management in Organizations ? a Survey of Methods and Techniques for a Successful Change?, Review Of International Comparative Management / Revista De Management Comparat International, 13, 1, pp. 5-16, viewed 5 March 2013. Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost.

NEWMAN, B 2012, ?Can gamification help your company??, Westchester County Business Journal, 48, 51, p. 5, , viewed 6 March 2013. Regional Business News, EBSCOhost.

Pietersen, W 2004 ?Strategic learning, a leadership process for creating and implementing breakthrough strategies. ?John Wiley & Sons, 2002

<http://williepietersen.com/pdf/Strategic_Learning.pdf&gt;

Seuss, Dr.? 1975 , Oh, the thinks you can think! ?New York Beginners Books, New York USA

Smollan, R 2011, ?Engaging with Resistance to Change?, University Of Auckland Business Review, 13, 1, pp. 12-15, , viewed 3 March 2013. Business Source Complete, EBSCOhost.

The Hofstede Centre 2013 ?Mexico in comparison with the below? viewed on 4 March 2013

<http://geert-hofstede.com/mexico.html&gt;

Waddell, D. Sohal, A (1998) ?Resistance: a constructive tool for change management?, Management Decision, Vol. 36 Iss: 8, pp.543 ? 548 viewed on 1 March 2013. Emerald Data base.

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Source: http://ledbid.wordpress.com/2013/04/04/change-management-a-real-case-study/

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Hilary Duff Plays Hockey with Her Little Man!

Hilary Duff helps Luca play hone is hockey skills! Plus, see more photos of celebs spending time with their loved ones!

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/star-snapshots-celebrity-kids-and-family-photos-2012/1-b-462723?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Astar-snapshots-celebrity-kids-and-family-photos-2012-462723

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Girl Power: More Women Are Buying Real Estate Before They Put a ...

Sure, it?s easier to buy a home when you have a spouse. Dual income households tend to be a no-brainer to some mortgage lenders. But that hasn?t kept all the single ladies from becoming independent women with homes of their own and, of course, bills, bills, bills.

In fact, this segment of real estate consumers has been a survivor of sorts, reporting record growth as the economy digs its way out of a recession. According to a recent study from the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard, the National Association of Realtors, and the U.S. Census Bureau, single women outpaced single men by a factor of two as new homeowners in 2011. And in that year, 56 percent of single women owned their own home, whereas just 47 percent of single men did.

Here?s a little excerpt from a great story about the topic from the Southern Way of Life blog:

For those skeptical about why a single woman would want to buy a 3 bedroom/2 bath home with a 2-car garage in a master-planned community, Cullinane has a quick rebuttal: ?Many single women aren?t buying for themselves.? In fact, a recent AARP survey found that 40 percent of single female home buyers would consider having a non-romantic roommate ? maybe a sister, maybe a long-time friend who?s also single.?? A larger home means two sisters or friends can lead separate lives, but not at twice the cost.

?And builders have been onto this trend for awhile now,? Cullinane said. ?They?re building what I call ?women-centric homes,? or homes that can accommodate changing lifestyles. That?s why I?m a big proponent of something called ?universal design? ? homes designed with tomorrow in mind.?

Jan Cullinane, a consultant and author of The Single Woman?s Guide to Retirement, also sees this demographic as one that will grow as women age, either after divorce or being widowed.

Here?s my question for you ladies: If you were to buy a home without a spouse or partner, what are some features you couldn?t live without?

I?ll go first: I?d put a huge lighted vanity and makeup table in the master bathroom fit for a Hollywood starlet. What about you?

Source: http://www.candysdirt.com/2013/04/02/girl-power-more-women-are-buying-real-estate-before-they-put-a-ring-on-it-to-the-tune-of-72-billion/

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New clues about how amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) develops

Mar. 31, 2013 ? Johns Hopkins scientists say they have evidence from animal studies that a type of central nervous system cell other than motor neurons plays a fundamental role in the development of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a fatal degenerative disease. The discovery holds promise, they say, for identifying new targets for interrupting the disease's progress.

In a study described online in Nature Neuroscience, the researchers found that, in mice bred with a gene mutation that causes human ALS, dramatic changes occurred in oligodendrocytes -- cells that create insulation for the nerves of the central nervous system -- long before the first physical symptoms of the disease appeared. Oligodendrocytes located near motor neurons -- cells that govern movement -- died off at very high rates, and new ones regenerated in their place were inferior and unhealthy.

The researchers also found, to their surprise, that suppressing an ALS-causing gene in oligodendrocytes of mice bred with the disease -- while still allowing the gene to remain in the motor neurons -- profoundly delayed the onset of ALS. It also prolonged survival of these mice by more than three months, a long time in the life span of a mouse. These observations suggest that oligodendrocytes play a very significant role in the early stage of the disease.

"The abnormalities in oligodendrocytes appear to be having a negative impact on the survival of motor neurons," says Dwight E. Bergles, Ph.D., a co-author and a professor of neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. "The motor neurons seem to be dependent on healthy oligodendrocytes for survival, something we didn't appreciate before."

"These findings teach us that cells we never thought had a role in ALS not only are involved but also clearly contribute to the onset of the disease," says co-author Jeffrey D. Rothstein, M.D., Ph.D., a professor of neurology at Johns Hopkins and director of the Johns Hopkins Medicine Brain Science Institute.

Scientists have long believed that oligodendrocytes functioned only as structural elements of the central nervous system. They wrap around nerves, making up the myelin sheath that provides the "insulation" that allows nerve signals to be transmitted rapidly and efficiently. However, Rothstein and others recently discovered that oligodendrocytes also deliver essential nutrients to neurons, and that most neurons need this support to survive.

The Johns Hopkins team of Bergles and Rothstein published a paper in 2010 that described in mice with ALS an unexpected massive proliferation of oligodendrocyte progenitor cells in the spinal cord's motor neurons, and that these progenitors were being mobilized to make new oligodendrocytes. The researchers believed that these cells were multiplying because of an injury to oligodendrocytes, but they weren't sure what was happening. Using a genetic method of tracking the fate of oligodendrocytes, in the new study, the researchers found that cells present in young mice with ALS were dying off at an increasing rate in concert with advancing disease. Moreover, the development of the newly formed oligodendrocytes was stalled and they were not able to provide motor neurons with a needed source of cell nutrients.

To determine whether the changes to the oligodendrocytes were just a side effect of the death of motor neurons, the scientists used a poison to kill motor neurons in the ALS mice and found no response from the progenitors, suggesting, says Rothstein, that it is the mutant ALS gene that is damaging oligodendrocytes directly.

Meanwhile, in separate experiments, the researchers found similar changes in samples of tissues from the brains of 35 people who died of ALS. Rothstein says it may be possible to see those changes early on in the disease and use MRI technology to follow progression.

"If our research is confirmed, perhaps we can start looking at ALS patients in a different way, looking for damage to oligodendrocytes as a marker for disease progression," Rothstein says. "This could not only lead to new treatment targets but also help us to monitor whether the treatments we offer are actually working."

ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, named for the Yankee baseball great who died from it, affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that control voluntary muscle movement. The nerve cells waste away or die, and can no longer send messages to muscles, eventually leading to muscle weakening, twitching and an inability to move the arms, legs and body. Onset is typically around age 50 and death often occurs within three to five years of diagnosis. Some 10 percent of cases are hereditary.

There is no cure for ALS and there is only one FDA-approved drug treatment, which has just a small effect in slowing disease progression and increasing survival.

Even though myelin loss has not previously been thought to occur in the gray matter, a region in the brain where neurons process information, the researchers in the new study found in ALS patients a significant loss of myelin in one of every three samples of human tissue taken from the brain's gray matter, suggesting that the oligodendrocytes were abnormal. It isn't clear if the oligodendrocytes that form this myelin in the gray matter play a different role than in white matter -- the region in the brain where signals are relayed.

The findings further suggest that clues to the treatment of other diseases long believed to be focused in the brain's gray matter -- such as Alzheimer's disease, Huntington's disease and Parkinson's disease -- may be informed by studies of diseases of the white matter, such as multiple sclerosis (MS). Bergles says ALS and MS researchers never really thought their diseases had much in common before.

Oligodendrocytes have been under intense scrutiny in MS, Bergles says. In MS, the disease over time can transform from a remitting-relapsing form -- in which myelin is attacked but then is regenerated when existing progenitors create new oligodendrocytes to re-form myelin -- to a more chronic stage in which oligodendrocytes are no longer regenerated. MS researchers are working to identify new ways to induce the creation of new oligodendrocytes and improve their survival. "It's possible that we may be able to dovetail with some of the same therapeutics to slow the progression of ALS," Bergles says.

Other Johns Hopkins researchers involved in the study include Shin H. Kang, Ph.D.; Ying Li, Ph.D.; Ileana Lorenzini, M.S.; and Lyle Ostrow, M.D., Ph.D.

This research was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NS 051509), the ALS Association, P2ALS, the Robert Packard Center for ALS Research at Johns Hopkins and the Brain Science Institute.

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