Four Ways to Ask for a Raise in a Recession

Four Ways to Ask for a Raise in a RecessionFour Ways to Ask for a Raise in a RecessionAsking your boss for a raise can be a delicate matter at the best of times. Trying to secure extra pay and benefits during the worst downturn since the Great Depression might seem like a lost cause, but there are some things you can do to increase your chances of success. Here are four of them (hint they all require a little preparation before going into any negotiation)1) Underline how your responsibilities and importance to the company have grown since your last salary review. The first step in negotiating a salary raise in any financial climate is to prove that youre worth it. Going in armed with a list of recent achievements, improvements and initiatives can help you make a compelling case for your overall worth to the company.2) Acknowledge that theres a financial crisis, and be prepared to negotiate for something other than money. While extra time off may not pay the mortgage, getting paid the same to work less may be a desirable option for some, not to mention a route that employers seeking to retain staff and control spending might opt for.3) Know your worth and the level of demand in the marketplace for your skill set, before entering into any negotiations. Its difficult to make a case for a higher salary when layoffs in your industry have experienced professionals eyeing your job, but knowing the typical salary for your position even in tough times can pay dividends. And if your skills are in demand elsewhere, knowing that can be a very effective tactic when it comes to answering questions about just why it is youre worth that raise, even in a slow economy.4) If all else fails, state the truth If youre doing the same job you were a year ago, and for the same salary, the chances are youre less well off than you were then, due to rising prices. While personal financial difficulties (credit card debt, etc.) shouldnt come into a negotiation, theres no harm in reminding y our boss that gas prices have made your commute more expensive.

Eating hot peppers may increase life expectancy

Eating hot peppers may increase life expectancyEating hot peppers may increase life expectancySpicy food lovers might have something to celebrate according to research published in thePublic Library of Science journal. Hot red chili peppers could be tied to a longer life expectancy and more specifically linked to lower mortality rates from heart disease and stroke.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreScientists surveyed 16,179 adults on their background, current health status, and eating habits between 1988 and 1994. This survey took place over the course of 18 years and it was found that mortality rates for patients who consumed chili peppers were 21.6 percent compared to 33.6 percent for those who didnt.While its totenstill unclear which component of these hot peppers is actually linked to an increase in life expectancy, there are some fingers pointing at capsaicin, which is theact ive component of chili peppers that actually makes them so hot. Spicy foods can affect the body in many ways, including protecting against high cholesterol, obesity, and Type 2 diabetes, and capsaicinhas even been linked with slowing down the progressionofbreast, colon, and pancreatic cancer.Check out these spots for the bestramenandThaifood to get your daily dose of chili pepper.This article first appeared on Swirled.You might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that will double your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong people

Refreshable Braille Display for teaching geometry to Visually Challenged

Refreshable blindenschrift schirm for teaching geometry to Visually Challenged Refreshable brailleschrift Display for teaching geometry to Visually Challenged Refreshable brailleschrift Displayfor Teaching Geometry toVisually ChallengedPrabal Goyal Department of Mechanical Engineering Indian Institute of Technology, DelhiThe IT revolution in the last two decades has made information available in a quick and cheap way. All students may find themselves challenged in todays fast moving and globally competitive environment, but students who are blind or visually challenged have additional difficulties. Every blind student needs to possess the same levels of information processing and manipulation skills as their classmates and keep developing them with the changing needs. For this they need advanced technologies, both hardware and software, to become literate in the modern world. This access is made available to them through a wide range of special devices and software, referred to as as sistive technology 1. These innovative technological tools allow them to access information effectively.But, some other issues keep these products away from the intended users. Most of them suffer from very high cost such that they are notlage even close to being affordable to the blind people. Also, user-friendliness is another area where these tools need to be improved to make them successful in the market. Some of the products presently available are very complex to learn and use for the visually challenged.According to WHO 2, There are 45 million blind people in the world and 90 % of them live in the developing and less developed countries. The income in these countries is so low that they cannot even afford a white cane. Also, the literacy rate of blind children in most of the developing countries is less than 10% 3. These facts make it clear that there is an urgent need to develop simple, low-cost and user-friendly devices to serve the vast population of visually challenged p eople living around the world.A Refreshable Braille Display is a tactile device consisting of a row of soft cells. A soft cell has 6 or 8 pins made of metal or nylon. The pins are controlled electronically to move up and down to display characters as they appear on the display of the source system - usually a computer or Braille note taker. Various Braille Displays have been developed over the past few decades. One of the first developments was the Braille Slate and Stylus system (Figure 1(a)), which is still used by blind people to read and write Braille text. But, over the years with the changing requirements of the users there has been a shift towards Refreshable Braille Displays. The first form of Refreshable Braille Display used mechanical actuation of array of pins to provide character realization. Thereafter, electro-mechanical displays (Figure 1(b)) were developed where various actuation mechanisms were used to provide the refreshable property to the Braille cells. Further a ttempts were made with Electro-active polymers, Shape Memory Alloys, Motor based actuators but none of the products was commercially used.Figure 1 (a) Braille Slate Stylus (b) Refreshable Braille Display (Source www.afb.org)Refreshable Braille Displays have been well studied for several years, but there is tremendous scope for product improvement. The product being developed is a step towards it as it would have most of the improvements required in the presently available products in the market. Some of the improvements have been listed belowBetter Functionality Multiple Line DisplayCheaper Technology Low Cost Actuation MechanismGood Refreshing Rate Fast ResponseFlexible Design Extendable to Larger Matrix of Braille pins.In the project, a prototype has been developed using 5X5 array of electro-magnetic actuators. This prototype was integrated with the computer to take up input image, process it and produce tactile output. The concept can be extended to larger grid sizes which can b e used for full page displays. In the prototype, low-cost electromagnetic actuators have been used which makes the concept simple and easy to develop further.The product will enable visually challenged people to realize patterns other than simple characters. Therefore, they will be able to process complete information i.e. simple text as well as images from digital documents.Figure 2 Pattern Realization with the developed Braille DisplayReferences 1. Assistive technology for students who are Blind or Visually impaired A Guide to Assessment, Ike Presley and Frances Mary DAndrea, AFB Press, 20082. Vision 2020 The Right to Sight. 2010. Blindness and Visual Impairment Global Facts.3. ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1706061/