Hearing Protection as an Occupational Safety Measure

The auditory canal is very sensitive to loud noise. Continuous exposure to the same may lead to health concerns such as high blood pressure, migraines, headaches psychological disorders and even hearing impairment. Most of the workforce from the manufacturing industries, construction sites and airports complain of such health issues. 


The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) require enterprises of these industry sectors to ensure noise reduction at the worksites through permanent solutions or temporarily with the use of 
hearing protection devices. Such devices would help to protect the employees from damage of their ear drums. However, providing with the right hearing protection devices is a challenge faced by many enterprises in the manufacturing, quarrying sector as well as the armed forces. 


Majority of soldiers in the war front, report of hearing losses due to exposure to gunshots and explosions as well as noise of heavy vehicles. The use of hearing loss prevention devices is very important to them but because of the inconvenience to their sight to detect and focus on enemy targets, they tend to avoid the use of hearing protection aids. The choice of the ear hearing protection devices vary from ear muffs to ear plugs. However, the performance of these devices depends most importantly on the size of acoustic leak. The providers of ear hearing protection devices have developed products with minimized acoustic leakage, leading to better performance. 


Technological innovations in the field of design and development of hearing protection devices have led to the development of earplugs and 
safety earmuffs which provide the users not only with hearing protection but also meets the requirements for high noise communication solutions to be aware of the situation. Such high-end ear protection devices   besides working like traditional ear protectors also facilitates speech and hearing while staying in loud noise environments. 


The next generation 
ear hearing protection devices aids the workforce complete isolation from the loud noise environment while enabling clarity of hearing speech and two way communications in these environments.  Further, reduction of the background noise to comfortable levels helps the users to recognize the original sounds and be aware of the surroundings. The two-way radio or Bluetooth communication allows for both short distance and long distance communication in high noise environments. Besides these features, these new age ear safety devices are dustproof and water-proof wit adjustable headbands and LCD displays indicating current channels of communication. Being a plug-and-play device these hearing protection devices are easy to operate.  

 

Streamline Your Vendor Management Process

Communicating with your vendors and suppliers is as important as communicating with your consumers. Building an apt communication channel and information flow with your suppliers is necessary, as they play a key role in the success of your business.

Proper vendor management can result in minimized expenses, maximized efficiencies and enhanced customer service and ensuring compliance with regulations. Building a mutually strong relationship with your vendors will help strengthen your company's overall performance in the marketplace.

Vendor management is a standard practice today, process that most organizations globally use, in order to have a clear understanding of the risks they undertake owing to the business associations with third-party vendors. This is especially true regarding outsourcing relationships and data sharing. It is a structured approach to receiving the best service and value from a vendor and the core of such a program is the establishment of an ongoing communication channel.

Vendor Management has developed to an extent where some leading financial industry groups such as BITS have standardized the process significantly through their Standard Information Gathering (SIG) and Agreed upon Procedures (AUP) standards. These standards or their derivatives helps organizations understand the risk associated with their vendors and then incorporate appropriate risk mitigation techniques and measures to mitigate the risk.

According to Gartner research, vendor management provides organizations with the know-how for vendor selection, enabling organizations to manage vendor contracts for efficient performance. Today with technology having a strong footing in every industry sector vendor management solutions have also taken the IT way.


Ways to enhance collaboration with vendors
Today eminent service providers in compliance management solutions have introduced innovative vendor management solutions to ensure that organizations and their outsourced partners remain regulatory compliant. This helps you to manage an efficient vendor management process.

This in turn has given rise to better collaboration with the vendors, coupled with the vendor management solutions that facilitated the process. Thus Vendor Management Solution helps:

  • Automate the monitoring of sensitive data and technical controls.
  • Handle risks with a Vendor Manager.
  • Evaluate vendor risks by using multiple assessment types and library of question depending on best practice standards.
  • Obtain risk, IT security and compliance rating of vendor from assessment results.
  • Estimate vendor compliance to procedures and regulations.
  • Track and address identified non-compliance areas.

Selecting a vendor has its own complicacies. If yours is a large and forward thinking company then it is best to opt for a market leader in sophisticated vendor management solution that ensures regulatory compliance.

Also read on - vulnerability management, IT Compliance solution

Implications of Phase I Studies

Medical research and studies in India have been expanding in terms of medical experiments, studies and researches. In the recent past, eminent medical institutes and clinical research organization (CRO) have been deeply involved in conducting Phase I studies and other researches associated with it. This branch of medical study involves new treatment, cures, drug development and diagnosis. It looks in to the amount of drugs used on a patient.

Objective of Phase I Study

The main objective of clinical Phase I studies is to learn about the appropriate dosing schedule. In addition to that, it also analyses the manner in which a specific drug is consumed and the frequency at which it is given to the patient. In this process, clinical researchers and professionals concentrate on updating their knowledge about a drug and its toxic and other side effects.

Today leading CRO’s in India are involved in Phase I Studies that is supported by their huge experience in clinical trials. These medical institutes are equipped with innovative state-of-the-art medical architecture and have medical volunteers who assist in the studies. The main components of Phase I Study are:-

 

* First-in-human

* Single Ascending Dose studies

* Multiple Ascending Dose studies

* New Chemical Entities

* Dose Escalating studies

Apart from the services mentioned above, renowned clinical research organizations in India also comprise Phase I Studies in First –in-Man for the New Chemical Entities (NCE’s) and also the New Biological Entities (NBEs). Furthermore, there is a vast array of medical pharmacology studies that includes Drug inspection studies, Food Effect, Proof of Mechanism & Proof of Concept, TQTc studies, Pharmacokinetic/Pharmacodynamic studies and other allied explanatory studies for various biomarkers and Special Popular studies.

This apart, infrastructure too has an important role to play in Phase I Studies. Majority of CRO’s have standard bed units that are well managed by a team of trained medical technicians. The technicians have the required medical expertise and are equipped with other advanced and sophisticated medical devices. Furthermore, there are trained professionals and nursing staffs, having hands on experience in carrying out First-in-human and other clinical Pharmacology studies.

Renowned CRO’s in India have the experience in carrying out clinical trials, experiments and studies in special and patient populations. Their service covers Phase I to III studies for multiple pharmaceutical and biotechnology studies and help in ongoing clinical trials. Other than this, there are other services too that they offer, that includes Bio Studies, Biometrics, Medical Writing, Regulatory Compliance Services, Bioanalytical Research and many more. Furthermore, they have an outstanding track record for their services, client feedback and testimonials.

Read Also On: Clinical Laboratory

Increment Your Business Revenues with Social Media Analytics

The craving for social networks has increased the popularity of social media sites. These sites are being used as a platform for communicating, sharing experiences and establishing contacts globally. The social media sites have helped overcome the barriers created by geographical distances and provided the feasibility to expand the social circle virtually to the farthest ends of the world. This is a great opportunity for developing commercial relations as you can find a wider network and your business will gain more publicity and earn handsome returns.


Although the prospect of launching your business on these social media sites may seem lucrative there are also chances that your focus may divert and you may lose track of your main objective. This is possible because you will receive enormous response but if you do not have efficient tools to help you identify your potential customers you will waste your time and lose revenues on the less likely ones. The social media sites are unrestrained. There is a lot of information available but you have to figure out a way to find the customers that will help your business grow.


Therefore it is necessary to employ social media analytics tools so that you are provided with the latest market updates and you do not lose time in taking critical decisions that can give you long term benefits to your business. The social media sites are always flooded with users. You must also have important information such as their interests and requirements which serve as insightful engagement tracking metrics that can keep them engaged for longer durations on your site and help in revenue generation. If a customer is interested in a particular form of sport the social media analytics tools will monitor his activities continuously to find out what kind of activities he indulges in. This gives you a clear idea on what the customer is looking for and you will be able to provide him exactly what he wants without wasting time.


The social gaming market has also increased with the social media sites. There are end-number of online games and several categories for the game lovers. But providing the same type of games will make the user lose interest. You have to also understand that the interests of your customers will change and you have to capture those changes efficiently so that you can develop games according to these changes and capitalize on them.  The social media analytics tools provide you with powerful social intelligence analysis that helps you make modifications and prevent your business from stagnation. 


Read more on : engagement metrics  & actionable intelligence 

What You Need to Know About Pair Programming?

At the expense of increased personnel cost, Pair Programming aims at increasing both the team productivity and the code quality as compared to conventional development. Pair programming is not one person passively watching the other type. Each programmer needs to play an active role in determining the design, implementation and tests. The pair works together on the task in hand while passing keyboard control back and forth between them, writing code and tests as they go.


Pair programming comes with a host of benefits that include improved software quality, reduction in software maintenance cost, improved productivity, improved business continuity. There is a constant code review and most developers who work in pairs come up with twice as many solutions and work more than twice as fast as two developers on their own. Pair Programming aims at increasing both the team productivity and the code quality as compared to conventional development and usually uncovers mistakes that normally aren’t caught until the eleventh hour.


With pair programming, two developers either of the same level or mixed to bring their knowledge and understanding of the functionality and the technology into a common medium, normally in the form of code.


It does take time to become skilled at pair programming. The technique hinges on improving your communication skills; it is vital that you can articulate your ideas and also listen to your pair. Code quality is important but most developers who have not tried pair programming are concerned about how pair programming affects their creative process and how working with another programmer affects the pace of development. There's no denying it feels different. Your partner frequently challenges your proposed approach so you have to stay alert and completely engaged in the task at hand. It's hard work but nice to have someone to share your highs and lows with.


Pairing inexperienced programmers with expert programmers may be frustrating because the expert will be forced to slow down to work at the pace of the novice. It is essential that the expert does take time to explain their thinking to their partner rather than dominating the keyboard or barking keyboard escape sequences for them to type.There are numerous computer magazines and computer articles that provide plenty of the latest information. Upgrading yourself with the best technology can be of a tremendous help when seeking more information about pair programming.


Read more on : articles on computers , Digital Library ,  technology training

How to Find Foreclosed Homes in Texas

Have you been thinking of buying a house in Texas? Looking for a property that is not only good but also fits your budget? If so, you should take a look at foreclosed properties in Texas. A number of foreclosed homes have emerged in Texas in the recent years. While this trend is definitely devastating for homeowners in the area, there is no doubt that foreclosed homes are now a great vehicle for investments. 

Even as the number of foreclosed homes continues to rise, finding a good foreclosed property is often a challenge. If you are wondering where you can look for information on foreclosed homes, here are some reliable sources that can help you strike a deal:

Online Databases-The internet is a great source of information on foreclosure listings. While foreclosures can surface anywhere at any time, the internet can give you valuable information on where foreclosures have taken place, and also provide other information concerning these foreclosures. There are several websites that provide details on foreclosures in different areas. So if you are looking for a home in Texas, all you need to do is search online for foreclosed homes in Texas.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) - HUD is another valuable source of information on foreclosed properties. They maintain records of every REO property or foreclosure across the country, and so you can find reliable foreclosure information on Texas too. You can also find related information on their official website. 

Banks in Texas- Banks can provide first-hand information on foreclosed properties. By contacting banks in Texas, you can get reliable information on attractive foreclosed homes in the area and also strike a great deal on them. More often than not, banks also make such information available on the internet. 

The Board of Realtors in Texas- Yet another reliable source of information on foreclosures is the Board of Realtors in Texas. They can provide valuable details on foreclosures in the area, and also help you get in touch with a real estate agent who can help you with the procedures and formalities involved in the purchase of a foreclosed property.

Local Newspapers & Magazines- The oldest yet most reliable source of information is the local newspaper or magazine in Texas. These traditional channels are always a rich source of real estate information. Merely browsing through the newspaper or a magazine can help you find valuable information on foreclosures in the neighborhood. 

Foreclosures are definitely disturbing for homeowners. But it is also important to remember that they present a promising opportunity if you are trying to buy a house with a limited budget. So cash in on this opportunity and make the most of these sources to find that dream home you’ve been waiting to own!

Know more on
foreclosure listingsforeclosed homes for sale

Scalable Stroage Servers for the Global Enterprise

Technology with its innovations and the aggressively competitive business environment has paved way for organizations to deploy large number of software applications across various functionalities. However, with every investment in applications leads to investment in infrastructure upgrading or addition, which on the longer run affects the yearly financial allocations for the organization. Efforts to handle this issue gave rise to the concept of a centralized storage system.

With system managers and end-users understanding the benefits of centralized storage mechanism, server based storage gained popularity. This led to a service providers working out effective storage server solutions with high reliability and enhanced performance for the global organizations. Further, this solution was easily adopted as storage servers were easy to implement with most of the global organizations working in a pre-configured networked environment.

Traditional servers were configured for various functions. However,  the introduction of centralized storage  servers facilitated easy retrieval, maintenance and back up of data.  These storage servers which were designed and configured to hold numerous hard drives for multiple data storage, was also equipped with in-built storage management software and extra hardware for resilience plus a range of RAID configurations and network connections. Such configurations will enable organizations toadd more users to be connected to the servers.

As technological innovations such as cloud computing and virtualizations gained ground in the industry environment, organizations needed scalable data center solutions one which could engage further developments. The storage servers designed and developed by the leading service providers offers high performance and reliability besides being energy efficient and cost-effective.

One major advantage offered by these  servers are these are built-to-order general purpose and storage servers and are suitable for all  enterprises irrespective of the size of  data transactions or networks. Like the custom computers, these servers can have configured operating systems and software for optimal performance.

Nevertheless, the rack optimized storage server provides maximum performance. The features such as multi-core high performance technology and energy efficient architecture provides the ideal environment for virtualization, clustering and cloud computing.  

A good storage server solution will however, facilitate organizations to optimize data center, maximize storage assets, improve efficiencies, and increase service levels, besides reducing  overall costs. However, availing the services of a good service provider will facilitate all this and much more as a part of efficient data center solutions. Scalable storage servers will help organization to use it for a wide range of applications as well as data backup.

Read Also On: Data Centre Solutions, High Performance Computing Cluster

Idea Management- Develop Sustainable Competence

Innovation is everyone’s responsibility – not just R&D 


This holds true in today’s environment. Most big successful businesses have started with a small idea. The idea of Band-Aids one of the most heralded brands in the world from the coffers of Johnsons & Johnsons, came from a small time cotton buyer from J&J way back in 1917. His young wife kept cutting her finger while cooking and tying thick bandages on her hand would hinder her work. He fixed sterile gauge to strips of surgical tape and Viola! It really helped. He showed his invention to Johnsons who were intrigued by the idea and out came the bandage laden surgical tapes which failed but J&J’s persistence with the brand innovation made Band-Aids one of most heralded brands by 1961. 


Another major brand today is Google, showing the true nature of business at its best. It’s a marvel of Web brilliance. But in reality it’s a company growing with cutting edge ideas with relentless attention to detail. They are continuously innovating with feedback and ideas not only from their employees but from partners and users also. They thrive on response from the people because Google wants to see how people react. It wants feedback and ideas helping them to improve every day.


In today’s fast paced life, without technology life would probably come to a standstill. Skype is another innovation that has brought people closer. For disparate groups, situated around the globe, team building could have been a challenge! Skype has proven to be a boon. Humor, wit, and business everything gets done, just like it would if you were in one location.   


Every organization looks for ideas to improve their product and services. In today’s highly competitive environment of cut throat competition, innovation is the key to stay ahead. Employee motivation has to be high on the scale for every organization. Without a reward system in place, employees are least interested to come up with ideas. Even when such a system is in place organizations still at times fail to identify the best idea out of thousands of ideas they receive. The idea one person finds useless maybe brilliant. Surveys can help to a certain extent. 


Startling statistics from American Management Association indicates that (out of 1356 managers interviewed):


- 48% “don’t have a standard policy for evaluating ideas.”
- 17% use an “independent review and evaluation process.”
-    15% said “ideas were evaluated by the unit manager where the idea was proposed.”


Improper evaluation mechanisms will also lead to lack of enthusiasm and trust within the participants. Idea and Innovation management product can bring valuable benefits. Untapped markets, ideas, customers, are always present. The need of the hour is to find the right idea and introduce it at the right time in the right market. In short, you need to have your hand on the pulse of your both present as well as future employees and customers. Innovation management platforms blend the strengths of all these along with various feedback mechanisms to encourage idea generation. This results in the best idea that is most likely to succeed in the market. Ideas are discussed in open forums, right from grading the idea to garnering expert support to floating it in the marketplace, before a final decision is reached


An environment that is conducive to idea and knowledge sharing can help achieve this and much more. Innovative idea management systems help organization to create such an ambiance, blending employee creativity with decision making that expedite innovation. Manage the full lifecycle of idea management from idea inception all the way through development and implementation. 

Know more on :  management idea & idea capture & ideation software

 

Brand Protection Technology for the Apparel Manufacturers

Recently, INVISTA, the owner of LYCRA fiber brand and one of the world's largest integrated producers of polymers and fibers was able to seize and destroy 2000 pairs of trousers bearing counterfeit LYCRA fiber hand tags with the help of Polish customs officials. It is definitely a moment to rejoice for the apparel manufacturers fighting a tough battle to keep counterfeit apparels away from the market. However, it is also a fact that in the battle against the counterfeiters, the victory comes in favor of the original apparel manufacturers very rarely.

Since counterfeiting is an illegal activity done clandestinely, it is very difficult to provide exact statistics. However, as per the 2012 Global Report on Counterfeiting, the revenue obtained from the sale of counterfeit goods has grown 400% since 1990s while that of legitimate brands is just over 50%. This definitely shows that the counterfeit industry has grown from a mere small-scale industry to a highly networked and highly sophisticated industry costing the global economy billions of dollars annually. According to the International Chamber of Commerce, counterfeiting is worth $600 billion a year that accounts for between 5-7% of world trade.

In the apparel industry, the market growth of counterfeit apparels is double when compared to that of legitimate apparels. And with the advent of the Internet, counterfeiters and gray market operators have got a safe haven to put the product on sale. The global anonymity of the Internet coupled with the popularity of online shopping sites has made it easy for the counterfeiters to find consumers and markets for their products.

The sale of counterfeit apparel is going in a big way on the Internet thanks to many buyers who use this simple sales channel. This has to be stopped not only because it affects legitimate business but also because of the fact that the revenue from the sale of counterfeit goods is used to fund criminal activities. With counterfeiting being a global issue, there is the need for effective measures to prevent the sale of counterfeit apparels and products. One such measure is to invest in effective anti-counterfeiting solutions.

With the new sophisticated brand protection technology, legitimate manufacturers can now easily find the violators and bring them to compliance.  In this way, they can not only recover the revenue and brand reputation lost to counterfeits but also prevent the flow of money to fund organized crime.


Know more on: Sales Intelligence

Brand Protection: Monitor MAP Policies to Avoid Brand Degradation

The technology enabled e-commerce market has exploded over the last few years and is one of the beneficial methods of marketing both for the small and medium business enterprises as well as the large conglomerates and industry giants. With little investment, these enterprises can avail the benefits of enterprise growth, expansion of customer base and growth of revenue. For the larger business houses, e-commerce market gives them additional presence for both B2B and B2C sales. However, irrespective of the type of business, e-commerce also brings with it greater threat of grey market sales.

The sales through grey markets are damaging to organization as whole and manufacturers in particular as the products that enter the grey market are mostly obsolete versions or unsold products that would not find a market otherwise. The unauthorized dealers who get a loophole through authorized channels try to push out the grey market products at a lower price. The price difference thus affects not just the sales of new products through both the e-commerce market and the physical stores, but also affects the brand reputation.

However, innovations in technology have helped service providers to design and develop reliable solutions for online fraud detection and brand protection.  This online fraud detection software facilitates identification of frauds by monitoring the B2B sites, auction sites and grey market sales. Regular monitoring helps to detect any frauds and trademark violations and paves way for enterprises to take measures to counteract grey market sales, recapture the lost market and regain revenues as well as brand reputation.

Moreover, e-commerce led growth of online retail sales tends to have a complex effect with the downward pressure on advertised prices. Brands stand to lose millions of dollars when the online sales channels push advertised prices lower. The development of the Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) policies demand that e-stores with a MAP policy concerning the manufactures product line follow strict regulations of pricing on the websites, thus preventing retailers from advertising below the minimum advertised price of any product.  However, faced with aggressive competition, offering economical pricing for products will ensure higher sales and revenue. Thus, dealers who sell the products without MAP pricing tend to have a larger customer base.

To combat such brand protection issues, leading service providers make use of sophisticated search engines and web mining technologies for real-time monitoring of online sales channels for their buy and sell listings. Such technological innovations facilitate manufacturers to track and trace fraudsters, grey market dealing of inappropriate discounts and pave way for organizations to avoid any profit degradation.

Read Also On: Sales Intelligence