Global Digital Store – Ebooks and Softwares

Tag: Claims

  • Business Ethics for the Mindful Dance Professional

    [ad_1]

    Once upon a time, a dance teacher opened her own studio down the road from her former employer’s school, taking advantage of her former teaching position to start her own studio. Sound familiar? This is an all too common story in the dance studio business and unfortunately, this is no fairy-tale.

    We have all heard a version of this story or perhaps experienced it first-hand. Poaching students–direct or indirect solicitation of another’s students–is a practice that mindlessly fragments and divides the dance community. In addition to poaching students, other subtle, but just as divisive, practices include: making negative remarks about other teachers/schools, misrepresentation of the self by making false, exaggerated, or ambiguous claims, and making disparaging comparisons or references about others.

    What drives otherwise enterprising individuals to engage in business practices that burn bridges, sow the seeds of deceit, and model mindless behavior?

    Darwin. You heard me–Darwin is to blame. Well, not really Darwin himself, but the misinterpretation of his theories into a business context is at the root of this dilemma. When the business world adopted the neo-Darwinian philosophy of “survival of the fittest”, they unleashed a ready-made excuse for unethical action.

    As a culture that witnessed the “cola wars” first hand, we picked up the idea that anything goes when it comes to business and marketing. Ethics and morals need not apply. “That’s business” they say while defending their actions. They fail to see the big picture: to look mindfully at the situation. They unknowingly hurt the larger dance profession and therefore themselves. It is a case of one’s right hand shooting one’s left and thinking this is good.

    What makes one feel justified in approaching the business of dance studios in this mindless manner?

    At the root of the neo-Darwinian business approach is a sense of isolation and scarcity. These teachers believe that it is “them against the world”–or, more directly, “them against the other local studios/teachers.” Add to this sense of isolation a sense of scarcity–that there are not enough students to go around–and you start to understand how one begins to rationalize why stealing students is necessary for survival. However, these twin concepts–isolation and scarcity–are illusions in the dance world.

    Studios fighting over the same group of students create a negative atmosphere in the community. Parents sense this negativity and choose alternative activities for their children because they seem more wholesome: the potential young dancer takes up soccer. However, in a community where more than one dance school thrives without negativity, a greater number of students enjoy dance as an activity. This greater number of students translates down the road into a greater number of future dancers, dance teachers, and, most importantly, audience members. If dance studios stopped seeing each other so much as competitors and more as colleagues, the entire dance profession would benefit.

    The solution starts as simply as making replacements: replacing mindless competition with mindful collegiality, mindless isolation with mindful interconnectedness, and mindless scarcity with mindful abundance. We must realize that the dance profession, from the smallest recreational dance class to the largest professional company, is interconnected. The entire web of the dance world is vitally linked.

    For example, the dance community is rather small in comparison with the larger world of sports. There are many more children participating in sports than the arts. Rather than interpreting this as a reason to fight for resources, we should embrace a sense of abundance. There are more than enough potential students out there to sustain every school if we focus on bringing more students into dance rather than fighting over those already there. It is to the benefit of the dance profession at every level to include more of the non-dance world inside our walls rather than put up walls within our own.

    So, how can we begin to break down the twin illusions of isolation and scarcity in the dance studio world and open our eyes to interconnectedness and abundance?

    We need to base our actions and practices on ideals that reflect the dance world as a healthy and vibrant community rather than a dire and hopeless one that lends itself to mindless behavior. Adopting a code of ethics that reinforces a mindful and wholesome outlook will not just serve as guidelines, but also help promote a positive environment for those whom they effect.

    Going forward, we all need to embrace a code of ethics that addresses these issues. The following list is nowhere near complete, but it is a place to start.

    Business Ethics for the Mindful Dance Professional

    In all professional and business relations, the dance professional shall exhibit respect, honesty, and integrity for themselves, clients, and colleagues.

    A. Respect

    A dance professional shall refrain from making negative remarks that may discredit, malign, or in any way cast reflection on the professional standing of another school/studio or teacher.

    A dance professional shall refrain from making any disparaging references to, or disparaging comparisons with, the services of others

    A dance professional shall refrain from publishing, or causing to be published, any notice, newspaper advertisement, or any other matter likely to damage or depreciate the reputation of any colleague.

    B. Honesty

    A dance professional shall accurately portray his or her qualifications or affiliations to the public especially in advertising material and avoid any ambiguity or exaggeration.

    A dance professional shall refrain from portraying his or her qualifications or affiliations to the public in a way intended to deceive the uninitiated. For example: having danced a child role in the Nutcracker with a professional company and listing it as to portray having danced professionally with the company.

    C. Integrity

    A dance professional shall refrain from directly soliciting business from another teacher or studio by approaching, in any manner the pupil, pupils or employees of another teacher and, for any reason at all, to try to induce them to join his/her school.

    A dance professional shall refrain from indirectly soliciting business from another teacher or studio by making adverse criticism against other teachers’ methods, by offering free coaching, by citing the advantages to be gained by the pupil from the change (e.g. offering roles/parts), or other similar methods.

    With each of us taking responsibility for our own actions by embracing a mindful ethical base, we can co-create a healthier, connected, and abundant environment in the business of dance schools. Moreover, with all we have in common, we might just discover we make better friends than enemies.

    [ad_2]

    Source by James Robey

    Views: 0

  • True Love Needs to Be Tested Before it Can Claim to Be True Love

    [ad_1]

    Showing True Love:

    Love is not a mere emotion. Instead, true love requires an action that can demonstrate that love. Affection is an emotion that is only one ingredient of love, but emotions fly back and forth with situations and hormones.

    I recently watched a movie where a guy was broken up from his girlfriend and came into his apartment to find a supermodel taking a shower in his bathroom. His physical cravings ragged with desire for physical pleasure and the temptation was strong because his girlfriend had already broke things off with him anyway. He truly loved his ex-girlfriend and fled from the sexual temptation he was experiencing and immediately called his ex-girlfriend on the phone in order to refocus his attention back toward faithfulness. One of his first statements to her on the phone was, “I didn’t realize how much I love you until just a couple minutes ago.”

    It Takes Follow Through:

    After the phone call was over the supermodel continued to seduce the guy, but because of his situation he was unable to leave. Her continuous physical advances only intensified for several scenes until eventually he was able to change the situation. In most movies the guy eventually gives in and falls to the temptations that pursue him. In the end he apologizes and is accepted again by the one he claims to have real love for.

    I am infuriated by the lie that is spread through scenes where someone gives in to sexual temptation and then claims to have true love. The reality is that the one who forgave the sinner and accepted the sinner back is the one who is demonstrating true love.

    I was very excited to find a scene that emphasized true love through a demonstration of faithfulness. The most powerful part of his faithfulness is expressed in the fact that the one he truly loved was not showing love back to him.

    True love does not happen at first sight. Love does not become true until it is tested and only then does the heat impart into that love strength like tempered steel.

    What is Testing?

    There is a very important message to learn here that I hope you pay close attention to. The test of true love is NOT a test to see whether or not your love for someone is true. The test is a step of the process that takes mere affection and makes the love become true.

    Many people will experience affection and then later lose the emotions and say, “oh well, I guess I was wrong and the love wasn’t true like I thought it was.” Then they give up and move on to the next “true love” and eventually fail again and keep trying on new relationships for size. With this strategy you will never find true love because true love is only found on the other side of faithful follow-through.

    If your heart desires true love then you must wait until the affection of your first relationship is gone and then force yourself to remain faithful even if it takes your whole life. Then your love will eventually be tempered into true love that will fill you with satisfaction that is millions of times more awesome than all the other weak loves put together.

    Trust me, It’s worth it!

    [ad_2]

    Source by David Josh Burns

    Views: 0

  • Conservative Radio Host’s Prescription Drug Addiction Story

    [ad_1]

    In recent years, the prescription drug addictions of many public figures have come to light. One of the most tragic personal prescription drug addiction stories in recent years is that of radio commentator Rush Limbaugh. He achieved a level of fame, wealth, and influence that most people would envy, but he dealt with a privately devastating prescription drug addiction.

    Rush Limbaugh is a prominent conservative talk show host and author. Around 20 million listeners tune into his radio show Monday through Friday. He wrote several books that have become bestsellers and have sold millions of copies. His conservative opinions (including calls for personal responsibility and clean living) and quick wit made him a national superstar; many people were shocked when it developed that he was addicted to drugs, himself.

    In October of 2003, Palm Beach County Police linked Rush Limbaugh to the illegal black market of prescription drugs. Limbaugh admitted that he had become addicted to prescription pain medication several years earlier, when he underwent a spinal surgery. The surgery was unsuccessful and the radio commentator continued to experience excruciating pain in his lower back and neck. He claimed that he checked himself into treatment centers on two previous occasions to try to quit using the pain pills.

    Though Limbaugh spoke out against drug use many times on his radio broadcast, he came clean about his own problems soon after the story broke in other news outlets. He made no excuses for his addiction and entered a treatment center for a third and final time.

    Rush Limbaugh has since returned to his radio show and claims that he is now drug free, but the ordeal lost him the respect of some of his former listeners and provided those who disagree with his views evidence that he is a hypocrite.

    While Rush Limbaugh recovered relatively quickly from his addiction, he went through many hard times before being able to cure his addiction, and the severe hearing loss he suffered was likely a result of the drugs he was taking. The hearing loss seems to have been adequately resolved with the use of a cochlear implant. However, many personal prescription drug stories do not end as well as Limbaugh’s; some end in death.

    [ad_2]

    Source by Damian Sofsian

    Views: 0

  • Data Science in Healthcare: Applications That Are Changing the Health of the Masses

    [ad_1]

    Data is everywhere and it would be foolish not to use it for the betterment of various sectors and the general public. This is the reason why the medicine and the healthcare field are using big data as an effective tool to gather data and analyze the same. It can help improve the existing technologies and also will help in developing new ones, prevent any kind of epidemic, lower the costs of diagnosis and treatments, etc.

    Big data will help the doctors to make informed decisions at a better pace making less mistakes. Data will also help in getting a bigger picture of the population as a whole by identifying the larger problems which can be a problem after 20 years.

    Some of the major uses of data science in the field of healthcare are discussed below:

    Staffing

    Deciding the proper number of doctors, nurses and other staff in various shifts are big decisions as overstaffing means extra costs and understaffing means fewer staff to treat the patients. With data science and various machine learning techniques, one can find the patterns in hospital admissions in the last few years and can also get predictions regarding future admissions. This will help the management in making correct shift staffing decisions.

    Wearables

    Another use of data science is wearables which are certain equipment that can be worn by the patients. These instruments will be capable of collecting medical data about the person wearing the same and this will be collected in the database which can be helpful for comparing various socioeconomic factors and health in general. It will also be helpful for the concerned person’s doctors to be alerted when the health deteriorates.

    Predictive analysis

    Doctors need to diagnose health problems, and having pre-existing data can be very helpful. Big data techniques can help doctors predict the disease within a very small period, as this can provide the patients with the timely treatment. Also, the electronic health records help a lot in certain complex cases which requires medical history.

    Web medicine

    With various digital devices now into play, the telemedicine approach has become much stronger and more improved in the last few years. Now patients can talk to and consult with doctors from home using various means like video conferences, chatbots, etc. Here data science can help in the diagnosis of the diseases easily, even if the patient is not admitted to the hospital. Also, by using the big data tools, technologies are being developed which can perform robotic surgeries which require a lot of data delivery to the software in real-time.

    Security

    Data science is also helpful in making sure that the patients and the hospitals do not go through any kind of forgery. Using streamlined data, inconsistencies and frauds can be recognized much earlier, thus preventing loss of money and other resources. Big data tools will help in correcting the insurance procedures by preventing faulty and fraudulent insurance claims and also will make sure that patients are compensated while the hospitals are paid in time.

    [ad_2]

    Source by Shalini M

    Views: 0

  • How to Protect Your Business From a Cyber Attack

    [ad_1]

    What is your chief worry when it comes to business?

    Ask any business owner and it is VERY likely that you will get the same response: cyber attacks!

    Cyber attacks consistently remain the primary concern of most company owners.

    And there is good reason for that.

    Contemporary research concluded that in 2018 there were triple the amount of medical industry computer data breaches in the medical industry than the previous year, with more than 15 million medical records exposed!

    An independent 2019 inquiry led researchers to these findings: there were 1,200-plus data breaches leaving 440 million personal data exposed!

    But of all the studies, this conclusion resonates loudest among the average business owner. Fifty-eight percent of the total amount of 2018 cyber attacks were aimed at small business corporations. Swallow that statistic along with another one: data breach recovery expenses averaged about $385,000. all Perhaps most noteworthy is the same year’s Data Breach Investigations Report conducted by Verizon: 58 percent of all cyber attacks were directed towards small business, with recovery costs at an average of close to $385,000.

    What can a company – large, small or medium-sized – do to shield itself from becoming the target of a cyber attack? Aside from technical and learned safety tactics, a related insurance policy can be the catalyst of assistance to climb out of the mess created by hackers – with the coverage paying for associated losses.

    Here are just a couple of associated claims examples that prove the point.

    Two Data Breach Insurance Claim Scenarios

    Ransomware Coverage

    An employee working in one of the departments of a global agency accidentally opened an email that exposed the business computer system to a virus, possibly impacting up to six hundred and sixty servers all around the world.

    The agency chartered a global IT forensics enterprise to deal with the misfortune. This included getting the ransom amount that the hacker demanded, negotiating with the criminals and completing a forensic investigation.

    After the IT forensics team got the hackers to go down from the first ransom demand of $540,0000 to $450,000, insurance coverage stepped in, paying the ransom, allowing the decrypting to move forward.

    Negligence Coverage:

    A patient was livid when she discovered a nurse employed at the doctor’s practice where she had been treated exposed her medical records. She accused the nurse of passing on her private medical records as well as her personal data to other people. Adding insult to injury, said the patient, was that the nurse altered the records to include false information meant to humiliate her.

    The doctor’s office issued a statement that there is a standing policy of not allowing access and disclosure of patient information. Nonetheless, the nurse had crossed the lines of professional creed set down by the medical practice.

    The matter was resolved by a 5 digit out-of-court settlement which the insurance company covered.

    [ad_2]

    Source by M Wyzanski

    Views: 0

  • Customer Satisfaction Management

    Customer Satisfaction Management

    [ad_1]

    General understanding of consumer satisfaction or dissatisfaction is the result of differences between consumer expectations and performance perceived by consumers. From the various definitions of consumer satisfaction that have been researched and defined by marketing experts, it can be concluded that customer satisfaction is a behavior response consumer in the form of after-purchase evaluation of an item or service that they feel (product performance) compared to consumer expectations.Consumer satisfaction is very dependent on the perceptions and expectations of consumers themselves. Factors that influence consumers’ perceptions and expectations when making purchases of goods or services are needs and desires felt by consumers when making purchases of goods or services, past experiences when consuming these goods or services and experiences of friends who have consume these goods or services and advertising.In a competitive environment, an indicator that can show customer satisfaction is whether the consumer will buy back and use the product in the future.

    Customer needs are fulfilled is one of the factors forming Customer Satisfaction (Customer Satisfaction), in addition to other factors related to Customer Service. And this customer satisfaction is what we need to ensure the continuity of our business. Aspects that can affect customer satisfaction effectively [13], namely:

    1. Warranty costs. Several companies deal with the warranty costs of their products / services through a percentage of sales. The company’s failure to give satisfaction to customers is usually because the company does not provide guarantees for the products they sell to customers.

    2. Handling of complaints from customers. Statistically this is important to note, but it is often too late for companies to realize it. If complaints / claims from customers are not immediately resolved, customer defections cannot be prevented.

    3. Market Share. It is a matter that must be measured and related to company performance. If the market share is measured, then the quantity is measured, not the quality of the company’s service.

    4. Costs of poor quality. This can be of satisfactory value if costs for customer defect can be estimated.

    5. Industry reports. There are many types and industry reports, as stated by J.D Power in Bhote, which is the report that is the fairest, most accurate, and most eagerly made by the company.Guiltinan [14] argues that one of the benefits of customer satisfaction is that it can increase customer loyalty, as shown in the figure below

    Customer satisfaction is an emotional response to the evaluation of the consumption experience of a product or service. Kotler defines customer satisfaction as the level of one’s feelings after comparing the performance (or results) that he feels compared to his expectations (Kotler, Philip, and Garry Armstrong, 2005). Basically, customer satisfaction includes the difference between expectations and performance or the results obtained.

    According to Kotler [1], satisfaction is feeling happy or disappointed someone who appears after comparing between perceptions or impressions of the performance or results of a product and expectations. So, satisfaction is a function of perception or impression of performance and hope. If the performance is below expectations, the customer is not satisfied. If the performance meets expectations, the customer will be satisfied. If the performance exceeds expectations, the customer will be very satisfied or happy. The key to generating customer loyalty is to provide high customer value.The relationship between customer satisfaction and loyal customers is disproportionate [2], for example, customer satisfaction is ranked on a 1-5 scale, namely:

    1. Customer satisfaction at a very low level (level 1), most likely customers will move away from the company and speak ill of it.

    2. Customer satisfaction at level 2 to level 4, customers feel somewhat satisfied, but it is still possible to move when a better offer appears.

    3. Customer satisfaction at level 5, customers are very likely to buy back and even disseminate good news about the company.

    High satisfaction or satisfaction creates an emotional bond with the brand or company and is not only fixated on reasonable choices.While satisfaction according to Kotler and Armstrong (2001: 9): Consumer satisfaction is the extent to which the assumption of product performance meets the expectations of buyers. If the product’s performance is lower than the customer’s expectations, the buyer is satisfied or very happy. According to Zeithaml and Bitner (2000: 75) the definition of satisfaction is: Consumer response or response regarding fulfillment of needs. Satisfaction is an assessment of the features or features of a product or service, or the product itself, which provides the level of consumer pleasure related to meeting consumer consumption needs. Consumer satisfaction can be created through quality, service and value.

    Customer expectations are believed to have a large role in evaluating product quality (goods and services) and customer satisfaction. Customer expectations basically have a close relationship between determining quality and customer satisfaction. Customer expectation always exists because of four things (Kertajaya, 2004):

    1. Individual Need or individual needs

    If your customer already has high demands, then his expectations are definitely high too.

    1. Word of Mouth

    Customers can have certain expectations because of other people’s stories. Other people’s stories are often seen as references.

    1. Past experience or past experience

    People who already have good experience in the past will be able to receive services at least the same as they used to be. If not, he will be disappointed.

    1. External communication or external communication

    It is an attempt by the company to promise something to customers in order to attract customers.

    [ad_2]

    Source by Yufi Priyo

    Views: 0

  • Cougar Dating: New Trend in the Dating World

    Cougar Dating: New Trend in the Dating World

    [ad_1]

    Today, we are all standing in the modern world where most people are trying their best to shed off the conservative mindset. Earlier men did not have the thought to approach elderly women. Neither the women agreed ever to such open-ended relationships. Now, the society has become liberated. Elder women with younger men as couples are becoming a common sight.

    Why do we get to see this change?

    As we have already discussed, the society is getting liberated. No more are the family ties or what people are going today, bothering them. They are feeling free to express their thoughts as and when they want and to whomsoever they like. Most of them have claimed that they are fed up with the long-term relations and do not want the unnecessary dramas that bring with it. Most of the cougar ladies do not want to remarry. They want to enjoy being free.

    Where can these couples meet?

    For people in love, the whole world is a meeting point. Who can stop them from meeting each other? Still if one claims that one has not yet met his or her partner one can seek into the cougar dating websites. There are several such dating sites where one can find their love interest.

    Any recent developments in the matter

    Well, there has been quite observations on this matter and some say that there is a new angle in the cougar dating. Most women dating their younger partners are now looking into the aspect of marriage. Some have even taken the major step. They claimed that they are happy in their marriage. These women have also said that they no longer want to date men of their age or older.

    How should a man prepare for a cougar dating?

    Well, men who are interested in dating elderly women have to be very careful doing so. The cougar world is full of women who have a high self-esteem and are successful in their careers. The men in order to approach them should have to put on their best manners and have a sense of dressing smartly. The cougar ladies have an eye for good look manners. They do not like men who are too much fast. In fact, they like to pursue the men themselves.

    Another thing that the men should avoid doing is treating the ladies in a negative manner. They should be treated with respect, love and care. They should never feel that they have been used.

    [ad_2]

    Source by Achal Mehrotra

    Views: 0