A dispatch from "The Courage Express"
In the background, I think you see Secretary of State Brunner's husband, Rick, and their dogs.? Traveling the State is a family affair.
[Confirmed] Lee Fisher is going for broke, upping ad buy.
Hearing from reliable sources that Fisher is planning to significantly up his buy.
Look, he's done his bland ad on jobs.? He's not reserving air time to get that ad in higher rotation.? He can now claim that his first ad was a positive, fluffy issue ad.
There's only one reason Fisher would be spending even more money in the final week that he was planning: the plan wasn't working.
Lee Fisher really has simply become a Republican.? He's parroting Republican lines, using Republican tactics, getting Republican Pavlovian dogs in the MSM to parrot them, and doing it so successfully, he's got Republicans themselves repeating them….repeatedly.
You know what, Lee?? You're gonna lose this primary by a lot more than I thought.? People have been asking me lately, Tim, what are you gonna do if Lee Fisher wins?? My honest answer is that I won't have that problem.
I'm a proud nobody, aren't you?
As Jennifer Brunner remains a threat to Lee Fisher's success in a U.S. Senate primary campaign that no one thought would come this far.
For the first time all year, Chris Cilliza of the Washington Post's "The Fix" blog leaves the Strickland-Kasich race out of the Top Fifteen gubernatorial races likely to see a change in parties.
For the past couple of months, Strickland's re-election campaign has dropped from a "high" ranking of #12 to dropping off the list altogether.
Earlier this month, Jon Keeling was practically crowing that Hugo Boss' announcement that it was closing it's Cleveland area plant was a recognition of the failure of leadership of Governor Strickland.? He mocked Strickland's efforts to work with the unions to try to convince the company to keep the plant open.
According to the Columbus Dispatch today, Hugo Boss announced that it was able to work out a deal with its union employees that will keep the plant operational, saving some 300 jobs.
TPM's Rachel Slajda gets Leebagged – Fisher desperation goes national!
Looks like Lee Fisher is now going negative nationally on Jennifer Brunner.? Hey Rachel, you really ought to read blogs in Ohio who cover this sort of thing, you know, more than you, before you decide to roll over and play dead for Lee Fisher.
Whoever is feeding this thing from Lee Fisher to every media outlet on the planet is probably this minute in an editing suite cutting the ad.
Someone has a lot of sour grapes he needs to nurse.? Wahmbulance duly summoned.? I suppose there's always teabagging in Coughlin's future.? Given the civil war underway in the Ohio GOP right now, and the fact that he is already Ohio GOP roadkill lying on the median strip about twenty miles back, Kevin Coughlin might be the perfect set of full lips to parade all puckered up toward the various low hanging bulbous nutsacks in the Ohio blogosphere.? When it comes to Platonic forms of hypocrisy, Sonny Thomas ain't got nothin' on Coughlin.
I want to thank Howie Stein of HuffPo for doing so much to promote House Minority Leader John Boehner's Democratic opponent, former West Point grad Justin Coussoule.
Today, Justin has a great diary up at Progress Ohio. He points out that Boehner has accepted more campaign donations from the Wall Street/banking industry than any other industry.
Butler County, the heart of Boehner's district, is suffering from the foreclosure crisis that is during what was just a few years ago boom towns into busts.
Back on the 8th, the Columbus Dispatch ran a story by Mark Niquette titled "GOP swelling as Ohio voters switch parties" that was breathlessly picked up by just about every major newspaper in Ohio.
After reading it, you'd expect that you are the only person in Ohio who hasn't left the Democratic Party for the Republican Party, and therefore, are missing out of the hottest political fad.
The Ohio Democratic Party has researched the story and found it to be one part highly misleading and one part out right false.
Jon Keeling (R-VA), is all a flutter over yesterday's campaign finance report for reasons that escape me.? Both candidates are uncontested in their primaries, so the only figure that really matters is cash on hand as it's all about building up the biggest warchest you can before the general election starts in earnest.


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The Schubert Center for Child Studies in collaboration with the CWRU Office of Research and Technology Management Vice President, Suzanne Rivera, is pleased to announce the awarding of pilot grants to four primary investigators at Case Western Reserve University.
The awards, totaling $50,000, are jointly supported by the Office of Research and Technology Management and the Schubert Center for Child Studies' Brisky Endowment. The funded projects foster collaboration across disciplines and/or with community organizations for the improvement of child or adolescent well-being.
The following projects have been funded:
"INvesT: Does telehealth risk assessment decrease age of identification of neurodevelopmentaldisabilities for high-risk, low-income groups?"
Angela Ciccia (CWRU, Psychological Sciences) and co-investigators Elizabeth Short (CWRU, Psychological Sciences), Nancy Roizen (CWRU, School of Medicine) in collaboration with community organizations: Cleveland Institute of Art and Northeast Ohio Neighborhood Health Services (NEON), Hough Location
"Overcoming Domestic Violence to Build Healthier Families: Investigation of a novel group-based intervention for mothers exposed to Intimate Partner Violence."
Arin Connell (CWRU, Psychological Sciences) in collaboration with community organization: West Side Community House
"Comparison and Evaluation of Two Models of Follow-up with the Families of Children with Elevated Blood Lead Levels"
Marilyn Lotas (CWRU, School of Nursing) and co-investigators Mary Quin Griffin (CWRU, School of Nursing) and Marguerite Dimarco (CWRU, School of Nursing) in collaboration with community organizations: Cleveland Metropolitan School District, Environmental Health-Cleveland Department of Public Health, Neighborhood Connections and MetroHealth School Health Program
"Exploring the Mental Health Needs of the Adolescent Latinx/Hispanic Community"
Erika Trapl (CWRU, School of Medicine and PRCHN) and co-investigators Jean Frank (CWRU, School of Medicine), Sarah Koopman-Gonzalez (CWRU, School of Medicine) and Marisa Hollinshead (CWRU, School of Medicine) in collaboration with community organizations: Hispanic UMADAOP of Cleveland, Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine's School Mental Health Program

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


A pay gap between Washington-based House personal office staff earnings and people doing equivalent work in the DC metropolitan area.
A decrease in the total number of hill staff over the last two decades.
Fewer staff engaged in policy-making roles.
Average salaries for most Washington-based House personal staff have not increased in two decades, and may have decreased for many.
Who is picking up the slack? One clue could lie in the nearly 12,500 federally registered lobbyists, and countless others, who provide information and exert influence in the halls of Congress; by contrast there's around 7-8,000 House personal office, leadership, and committee staff. Put a different way, $2.6 billion was spent on lobbying in Washington in 2010, versus $1.37 billion for the House of Representatives in FY 2010. Have we privatized Congress?
Our analysis found a pay gap between Washington-based House personal office staff and their DC-area counterparts. That gap may encourage staff to seek greener pastures while depriving Congress of experience and expertise. The gap is widest at the top. For example, a chief of staff on average would earn 40% more in the private sector than on Capitol Hill. See the chart below.
This comparison may still underestimate the market value of Capitol Hill staff. They are in a unique position compared with other people performing similar roles. With a competitive and thriving market for former hill talent, market forces and difficult working conditions have likely pushed many talented people into the arms of the private sector. Indeed, the average age of a DC-based House personal office staffer is 31. Ex-staffers who become lobbyists can increase their earnings by many multiples, a value derived from their Congressional employment. There are countless illustrations of the revolving door at work.
Unfortunately, our comparison between Congressional and private sector pay is incomplete. We are unable to evaluate House committee staff salaries. We didn't look at the Senate in detail. The personal office salaries are aggregate averages drawn from a 2009 survey [PDF] performed by ICT International for the Chief Administrative Officer of the House; we only have access to the report, not the underlying data. The job titles in the House are only roughly comparable to the occupational employment and wage estimates for the District of Columbia drawn from the Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics [FTP]. (There's no clear fitting private sector analog to Legislative Assistant in the Bureau of Labor Statistics database.) We have no good way of comparing employment benefits. And the profile for hill staff both in age and education likely varies significantly from the DC metropolitan area.
Even so, the pay gap is clear.
Altogether, House personal office, committee, and leadership staff numbers are at 87% of their 1979 levels. Much of the reduction took place in 1994-1995, when the Republican party regained control of the House. Over the last three decades, committee staff took the biggest hit, dropping from 2,027 staff in 1979 to 1,272 in 2005. See the chart below.
Major legislative support agencies show an even more dramatic downward trend, staffed at 65% of their 1979 levels. The Government Accountability Office suffered the greatest decline to 60% of its 1979 level, a reduction of 2,112 staff. CRS is at 80% of its 1979 staffing levels.
Some of the work being performed by government employees likely has been taken over by lobbyists and think tanks, at least in part. Unfortunately, reliable data is not available for the number of lobbyists prior to 1996, and we haven't uncovered data on think tank staff. Even with this privatization of public work, assuming that's what's happening, it's likely that much congressional activity — conducting oversight, evaluating proposals brought to the hill — cannot be outsourced.
To be sure, some could argue that changes in technology have made some staff redundant. Perhaps that is true, but the nature of legislative support work and the history of staff reductions strongly suggest other causes.
Our analysis strongly suggests that fewer staff perform policy-related work now than in years past. As a general rule, legislative and policymaking work is performed in Washington, while constituent services are provided in the district offices. Recent years have seen a shift towards employing more staff in the district at the expense of the DC office.
This 30-year tectonic shift likely diminished the House's policymaking capabilities.
We also found that most House personal office staff salary averages are unchanged over the last 20 years, adjusted for inflation, and may have even diminished over time. Consequently, staff may find that longevity brings them diminishing benefits and may prompt them to bring their skills elsewhere.
With the exception of the Chief of Staff, Legislative Director, and Scheduler, the average personal office staffer's salary has not changed since 1990. On average, a staffer in 2009 likely earns within a few thousand dollars of their 1990s equivalent. By contrast, a Chief of Staff's earnings have increased by $30,000 on average; a Legislative Director's earnings increased by $17,000; and a Scheduler earns $9,000 more.
It is possible that we underestimated the value of 1990s Hill staff earning power because we relied on the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Consumer Price Index Inflation Calculator to transform all money into 2010 dollars. The Inflation Calculator uses national data, but Washington DC of the 1980s and 1990s is a very different place than it is today. It is now the wealthiest and most educated region in the nation, according to the Washington Post's analysis of 2010 census data. DC in the top 25 for most the most expensive homeownership markets and top 10 for most expensive home rental markets. Additional analysis may find that many Hill staff salaries have actually decreased in real terms.
Our findings are drawn from the best available information, but we cannot fully assess their accuracy. Our data is drawn from Congressional Management Foundation and ICT International surveys. We did not have access to the underlying data, but only averages and aggregate totals. The methodology and reliability of each report may vary; as may the classification of who has a particular job title. Unfortunately, the surveys do not include information on committee staff pay, or on employment benefits. Legistorm, although complete, only goes back to 2001.
Our efforts to collect House and Senate employment surveys was complicated by the House's refusal to provide these reports upon request, their unavailability generally (including at the Library of Congress), and an incredibly small print run and restricted distribution. The Congressional Management Foundation, which ran the survey until 2004, was as helpful as they could be without breaching contractual relationships. Ultimately, we relied on fantastic librarians like James Jacobs of Stanford University, several friends on the Hill, and former intern Jessica Pearce to obtain copies of existing reports.
The foremost concern is whether Congress has the capability to effectively and impartially carry out its responsibilities. Does the decreasing number of policy staff combined with financially attractive outside employment negatively affect Congress' legislative and oversight capabilities? Would addressing these issues have a positive effect on Congress' ability to function? Congress looked seriously and comprehensively at related issues in 1978 in its Commission on Administrative Review (H. Doc. 95-178), chaired by David Obey. It is time for another look.
Second, for those who care about the legislative branch, Congress must do a better job of making available information about itself. It was nearly impossible to obtain copies of staff salary surveys. Not until this past year were House Expenditure Reports, which include staff pay, made available online, and they're in a terrible format that is difficult to evaluate. The Senate won't begin publishing comparable data online until the 3rd quarter of 2011. The publication Vital Statistics on Congress 2008 is incredibly useful, but was compiled by private researchers. Again, Congress should make this information available online in formats that lend themselves to easy analysis.
Third, there is too little information about lobbyist pay, lobbying, and the effect of the revolving door. More research is needed; we also need better tracking of these activities.
Fourth, this analysis is separate from the ongoing debate over executive branch salaries.
Finally, we identify a number of useful questions, but our analysis is necessarily limited. Addressing the incentives that affect how staffers gain expertise and evaluate policy choices — even if incompletely — is worth additional attention. To that end, we are making available all of the data we used, except when we are not permitted to do so for copyright reasons. (See staff salary data [XLS] and House vital statistics [XLS].) Please let us know what you think.
Disclosure: I formerly worked as a hill staffer and for a legislative support agency.


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DLF Shopping Malls unveils India's first Phygital Application 'Lukout'
DLF Shopping Malls, the country's biggest and largest physical market place today announced the launch of India's first ever retail Phygital application 'Lukout'. The initiative is part of the brand's New Retail journey to redefine the shopping experience in India. With the launch of Lukout, DLF Shopping Malls will enter a new realm of digitization, thereby strengthen its foothold in new cutting-edge technologies and retail solutions. This will empower DLF's vision to reengineer the very definition of 'New Retail' experience, diminishing the boundaries between online and offline retail world.
The Lukout app is a one stop solution that offers highly personalized proximity based engaging content in terms of latest looks, latest trends, real time location based offers while providing conveniences like One touch Parking payment, one touch valet, one touch concierge along with having its own social network for millions of consumers. For Retailers, the app provides a disruptive platform to enable channel-based consumer targeting and further allow brands to host their virtual stores fronts on Lukout to enhance discoverability & device proximity campaigns to target consumers via big-data powered analytics dashboards.
DLF Shopping Malls has been focusing on strategic partnerships and has gravitated this approach to become first movers in the industry to enable seamless integration of the online and offline shopping culture in the country, which is christened as The New Retail Phygital era. Some of these partnerships include – Global e-commerce and technology giant, Alibaba Could for providing big data, artificial intelligence and high-powered computing capabilities and Firefly (a JV of Airtel & Vodafone) for providing 'We Connect' – one of country's best in-mall Wi-Fi experience compliant under the most recent future ready GDPR regulations. In addition to this, the brand has also partnered with the German IOT major Minodes – a Telephonica Next company to deploy big- data powered deep consumer analytics across all the retail properties of DLF Shopping Malls, building data rich analytics for highly granular user behavior, heat maps, dwell times, life time repeats & real time in-store conversions. To realize a unified interconnected ecosystem for retailers & consumers, DLF Shopping Malls has associated with Hogarth WorldWide to develop the first ever Phygital application 'Lukout' for providing real time personalized hyper-local experiences for its millions of consumers.
Pushpa Bector, EVP and Head, DLF Shopping Malls, said, "At DLF Shopping Malls we are constantly innovating to meet and exceed the expectations of the evolved consumer. We have pioneered and embarked upon our 'New Retail' journey based on the premise of our Phygital strategy, spearheaded by our endeavors of collaborating with strategic partners. This initiative will be instrumental in creating new benchmarks for Indian retail industry while offering unprecedented experience for our consumers".
Harshavardhan Chauhan, Head, Central Marketing & Phygital, DLF Shopping Malls said, "We are excited to launch the industry's first ever Phygital product, leveraging on cutting edge technology across IOT, big-data, real time analytics & proximity personalized marketing to realize our New Retail vision for seamlessly connecting the physical & digital ecosystems. Lukout will empower India's top brands across DLF Shopping Malls to embark this New Retail journey while enabling us to disrupt experiences for millions of our consumers as part of our phygital strategy".
Accenture Ranks No. 1 on Thomson Reuters Index of World's Most Diverse and Inclusive Companies
Accenture has been named the top company on the Thomson Reuters Diversity & Inclusion Index, which recognizes the 100 most diverse and inclusive companies in the world, according to Thomson Reuters ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) data. The Index, established in 2016, is one of the most comprehensive measures of workplace inclusion and diversity practices.
"At Accenture, our commitment starts at the top with our board and extends across every dimension of the company," said Pierre Nanterme, Accenture's chairman and CEO. "We embrace our rich diversity as a 'culture of cultures,' which is all about our 449,000 people around the world living our shared core values, while bringing our own unique skills and experiences to make the maximum contribution to our clients and our business."
"Inclusion and diversity are fundamental tenets of our culture, core values and business. We believe that an inclusive environment will make us stronger, smarter and more innovative," said Rohit Thakur, managing director and lead human resources, Accenture in India. "This award further reaffirms our inclusion leadership, and we are grateful to our people and their rich diverse backgrounds which helps us serve our clients and our communities better."
Among the actions Accenture has taken to further its progress toward a more inclusive and diverse workplace, which Thomson Reuters considered in the Index, are:
Creating a diverse board of directors. Accenture's board of directors is diverse in terms of its geographic and gender representation, with people from six countries across four continents and four women, including its lead director.
Advancing workplace equality. The company set a goal of having women comprise 50 percent of its global workforce by 2025. Today, women comprise 41 percent of the company's workforce and 45 percent of new hires.
Developing talent. The company invested US$935 million in learning and professional development last year, including substantial investments in re-skilling to help its people stay relevant in key areas such as cloud, artificial intelligence and robotics.
Committing to transparency. The company provides its workforce data in many countries. For example, Accenture was the first professional services company to voluntarily publish comprehensive workforce demographics – including gender, ethnicity, persons with disabilities and veterans – in the United States.
To compile the Index, Thomson Reuters assessed publicly available data for more than 7,000 publicly traded companies around the world. The companies were measured on 24 separate metrics across four key categories: Diversity, Inclusion, People Development and News Controversies. The Index was then calculated by weighing each metric based on importance in the market and how each company compares with its peers.
The Thomson Reuters ranking is the latest in a series of inclusion and diversity recognitions for Accenture, which is committed to ensuring that all of its people – regardless of age, ability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity and expression, religion or sexual orientation – have the opportunity to succeed. Among the dozens of lists on which the company has been included in the past year are: Corporate Responsibility Magazine's 100 Best Corporate Citizens globally; the Disability Equality Index in the U.S.; DiversityInc's Top 50 Companies for Diversity in the U.S.; the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index; Nikkei Top 100 Companies for Women in Japan; The Times Top 50 Employers for Women in the UK; and Working Mother & AVTAR's 100 Best Companies for Women in India.
"At Thomson Reuters, we understand that focusing on total societal impact is fundamental to driving long-term financial success," said Patsy Doerr, global head of corporate responsibility and inclusion at Thomson Reuters. "Creating the workforce of the future means building diverse teams which attract the best and brightest from around the world. The Diversity & Inclusion Index helps investors and analysts identify the companies that are getting this right, helping them to make investment decisions that align with their values and the bottom line."
Posted by editor-manu-sharma at 7:04 PM 1 comment:
Audio Longe Opens their Second Luxury Retail Store in B'lore India
Audio Lounge, retailers of the world's most technically perfect and high-end audio equipment, will open a new store offering pure listening pleasure fordiscerning music lovers in and around Bangalore. The store, located at Taj West End, will range some of the most desirable audio brands available including Avantgarde, Bel Canto, Boulder, Crystal Cable, Nagra, Ortofon, Sennheiser, Siltech, SME, Spendor and YG.
On live demonstration, both unique and elegant,Avantgarde high-end 2-channelhorn loudspeakers will also be unveiled for the first time ever in India.A stunning visual appearance is matched with a convincing sound performance that will radiate effortlessly into a room, handcrafted in the best German tradition. It is sheer magic to the ears. Purists are invited to come exclusively to Audio Lounge to experience this phenomenon for themselves.
Experienced experts will always be on hand at Audio Lounge to tailor bespoke exquisite audio systems for the home to suit every budget and lifestyle, so music enthusiasts can immerse themselves in the most beautiful sound they have ever heard, in the manner they choose.
www.audiolounge.in
Discover #ChangeFromWithin with Kanthari
Kanthari, established in 2005 provides leadership training programs for visionaries who have overcome adversity and who are keen to drive ethical social change.
Based out of Trivandrum in Kerala, Kanthari aims to help people overcome their circumstantial situations by fostering their talent. Founders Sabriye Tenberken and Paul Kronenberg are the pioneers who are set out to make a difference in the world.
In 1998, Sabriye and Paul started the first school for the blind in Tibet. This school formed the foundation of Braille Without Borders, an organization that empowers blind people to take their lives in their own hands. In 2005 they co-founded kanthari in Kerala, South of India.
For its tenth anniversary, kanthari TALKS is coming to Bangalore for the first time. Kanthari TALKS, is the culmination of their intensive social leadership training program in different fields such as environmental protection, alternative education, women empowerment and building an equal and inclusive society.
Kanthari TALKS is a platform where kantharis educate, entertain and humble people with their stories, dreams and action plans for a better society. 23 change makers from 13 countries present their captivating life stories of resilience and hope. They will talk about inspiring solutions for global and local problems. Speakers come from India, Argentina, Kenya, Nigeria, Cameroon, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Tunisia, Tajikistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Thailand.
The Talks are an inspiration for millions who aspire to become change-makers to build a better society.
Kanthari TALKS will take place on November 24-25, 2018 in St John's Auditorium in Bangalore.
Excellon Software's DMS implementation at Royal Enfield Completes 5 Years Successfully
Excellon Software, earlier in this decade, successfully implemented its Excellon 5 Dealer Management Software Suite for Royal Enfield's dealership network, which has completed five years milestone. Excellon Software continues to extend the Support and Solution for Excellon Dealer Management Software Suite to its valued Customer - Royal Enfield and its dealerships across the Globe. Today Royal Enfield is only Indian Motorcycle which is tagged as Oldest Global motorcycle brand in Continuous production and well accepted globally. It's large customer following making it the Brand of choice in the premium bike segment across the world Royal Enfield is a Subsidiary of Eicher Motors India limited with excess in revenue of US$ 1.0 Billion.
Excellon Software as a Software product company is renowned for its cutting-edge yet simple-to-use Next Generation sales, distribution, and service management software suite. The company's product portfolio encompasses an end to end dealer management system including after-market management solutions, sales and distribution management, and service management software, dynamic enough and adaptable to next generation enhancements.
Today, the automotive industry is undergoing a 360-degree paradigm shift from having a product-driven approach to a more customer-centric approach. A lot of emphasis is put forward into seamless customer experience, dealer performance management as well as to provide flawless support and service. The competitive markets and customer demands are pushing the manufacturers to offer the world class product support, service and customer experience.
One of the OEMs to understand the importance of a comprehensive Dealer Management System and utilize its potential to satisfy the needs of the customers, is Royal Enfield. Royal Enfield deployed a comprehensive Dealer Management system partnering with Excellon Software across India and later expansion to new geographies such as North America and in parts of ASEAN Countries.
Royal Enfield Gear leverages Excellon DMS to increase brand awareness among its consumers by branding the Royal Enfield gears like jackets, headgear etc. sold through its distribution network company outlets, exclusive stores and franchise outlets thereby, increasing the brand recall & awareness among its customers.
Indian Chambers of Commerce Hosts IP500 Protocol Summit in Bengaluru
Indian Chambers of Commerce (ICC) along with IP500 Alliance hosted the "IP500 Protocol Summit" in Bengaluru to explore the usage of IP 500 methodology to enhance the IoT based building automation management and smart city applications. The event was inaugurated by Tapan Chattopadhyay on behalf of Dr. Rajeev Singh, Director General of ICC, followed by a welcome speech by Helmut Adamski, Chairman, IP500 Alliance. The event saw the presence of some notable names of the industry including officials from Indian SmartCity Missions, Honeywell, Microsens, Wipro, Bosch, Bajaj Electronics Ltd. and many more. Representatives from Govt. bodies, research institutes, OEMs also attended the one-day event.
"Over the past few years, building automation and controls market has been expanding at a significant rate. With the government itself coming up with the concept of smart cities, the new generation of India is driving the next wave of technological innovations. As the world's fastest growing economy, we are in dire need of a standard solution. IP500 technology is a wireless network platform that simplifies the servicing and maintenance of smart buildings, commercial places as well as smart cities," said Tapan Chattopadhyay.
"The market opportunity in India is endless at this moment. We joined hands with ICC for this event to highlight the potential of IP500 technology. With a diverse scope for application in different sectors, we aim to make as technologically advanced as any other high-tech cities in the world. We are looking to collaborate with the major players to address together the challenges in smart cities, commercial buildings and Indian railways and airports," commented Helmut Adamski, Chairman, IP500 Protocol, while addressing the audience.
"We couldn't think of a better venue than Bengaluru as it is the Silicon Valley of India. The city is also home to the major influencers of the building automation market," he added further.
"Keeping in line with IP500 alliance's commitment to the Indian market, the India Chapter is working closely with the industry to create a sustainable ecosystem of manufacturers, systems integrators and customers. We will provide compete support to all the stakeholders to ensure easy and seamless adaptation of the products on this wireless platform" said Gulshan Aghi, President, IP500 India Chapter.
The Indian building automation market is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 12.5% until the year 2023. The government and private bodies are transforming cities, based on a smart information layer backed by IoT as well as sensors. India is ready for the next step, with making more technology-enabled choices.
eScan Marks 25 Years of Success in the IT Security Industry in India
eScan, one of the leading Total security solution developers, turned 25 this year. To commemorate this milestone event, eScan hosted 'Mega Event' for its PAN India partners in association with KK software Pvt Ltd. They also introduced eScan Anti-Virus Total Protection with 10 Users for the SOHO section. The event was held at Raddison Blu Hotel, New Delhi which witnessed around 100 partners from all over India.
During the event, eScan showcased and educated the partners about its latest products and new solutions for IT security. They also announced beneficial channel schemes that will benefit eScan's privileged channel partners with good value proposition and profits. Further, channel partners were given awards and recognition to motivate and keep the partners committed to build, develop and sustain long-term and healthy relationships with us.
eScan launched a special offer for the partners in association with KK Software Pvt. Ltd. The offer includes various trips to Switzerland, Pattaya and Goa to be claimed by the partners on purchase of certain number of eScan Anti-Virus with Total Protection and eScan Internet Security Suite box products. eScan values its relationship with the channel partners and with this scheme, rewards their commitment for their contribution to make the company reach the end users.
"On behalf of the entire eScan team, we would like to sincerely thank everyone who helped us reach this milestone. The last 25 years have been filled with challenges, hard work, dedication, innovation and lot of success. All these years as industry leaders, we have always pushed our limits by reinventing and consistently delivering the best of class security solutions. We promise to continue this momentum to stay ahead in the game so that our partners as well as our customers can get the best that the industry has to offer," said Mr Sunil Kripalani, Senior Vice President, Global Sales and Marketing, eScan.
RK Balu, General Manager, eScan, "eScan today boasts of worldwide reach for its solid R&D and customization abilities. Our channel partners play a very significant role in the many milestones we have achieved in the last 25 years. We believe that with the new IT security solutions that have we launched, it will help us immensely to get into a much bigger growth in the coming years."
eScan Anti-Virus Total Protection, designed for home and small office users, is a comprehensive Anti-Virus and Content Security Solution that provides complete protection to your computers against malicious content and security threats, such as Ransomware, Spyware, Adware, Keyloggers, Rootkits, Botnets, Phishing and more. eScan's range of security solutions are certified by Global testing bodies like AV Test, AV Comparatives' Real World Test & Real Protection Test and VB 100 Test and many others.
HGS Announces Opening of First Customer Service Center in Florida
Hinduja Global Solutions (HGS) (listed on NSE and BSE in India), a global leader in business process management, today announced it is opening its first customer experience center in Florida. The center, located in Jacksonville, FL, will bring more than 350 new career opportunities in the first phase of expansion, starting in September, with a total of 500 new job opportunities over time. This expansion is due to continued growth of the company's domestic business, driven by a combination of providing additional services to existing clients and recent new business wins.
HGS is aggressively growing onshore across industries; growing its North American employee base by more than 40% in the last 12 months. This rapid growth has resulted from both the acquisition of new clients and the expansion of contact volume and lines of business across HGS's existing customer base – a direct result of HGS's consistent operational excellence.
"Jacksonville is a vibrant, growing community with an educated and skilled workforce that can add value for our business and our clients," said Tim Schuh, HGS President, North America. "We are excited to bring economic growth and job opportunities to the region and look forward to welcoming highly talented customer service people to the HGS team."
The new center will be located at 6680 Southpoint Pky, Jacksonville, FL and will officially open its doors in late November. HGS will start recruiting inbound customer service associates for the new center in September. These positions are ideal for applicants who enjoy problem solving and helping people within a supportive learning environment.
HGS provides professional training, is committed to career path development and commonly promotes from within. HGS also offers health benefits, 401K matching, loyalty programs, celebration awards, and incentive opportunities. Join our team to find out why so many of our leaders have been with HGS for more than 10 years. To learn more and apply for a position, visit: careers.teamhgs.com.
For 40 years, HGS has been providing an intelligent solution approach to meet clients at their stage in the transformation journey. From traditional voice contact center services and web self-service, chat, text, and social customer service to back-office support and robotic process automation, HGS provides a best-in-class experience to help customers drive profitable engagements across a variety of vertical segments including healthcare, financial services, media, and telecommunications.
Inditrade Begins Micro Finance Operations in Karnataka
Inditrade (erstwhile JRG) (BSE: 532745), a leading player in the agri-commodity financing and micro finance business, today launched its Micro Finance operations in the southern state of Karnataka (through its wholly-owned subsidiary Inditrade Microfinance Ltd.).
The announcement was made by Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Group Chairman of Inditrade (JRG) Group of Companies.
"We strongly believe that Karnataka has enormous potential for growth of small women entrepreneurs with its focus on industrialization, which requires ancillary and peripheral services. As a focused micro finance player, we are well equipped to provide service in an effective and efficient manner in Karnataka" said Bandyopadhyay.
Inditrade Microfinance has started operations in Karnataka with its first branch in Bellary district. It plans to open another 14 branches by the end of this year in two more districts.
Karnataka tops the list of states disbursing micro finance with INR 7,903 crore in fiscal 2018 as per the Inclusix 2018 by Crisil. Karnataka was also the top state in terms of loan amount disbursed at INR 2,219 crore in Q1 FY 2018-19 as per the MFIN Micrometer.
Supporting the vision of the Government on Digital India, the company has also launched a completely digitized process. Elaborating further on this, Mr. Bandyopadhyay said, "Easy and quick access are the cornerstones for the success of any micro finance initiative. With the country already moving towards becoming a digitized economy, we plan to leverage technology in fulfilling our aim of reaching our customers and catering to their requirement for finance in the most effective & convenient manner."
This is the first time in the industry that a completely digitized loan disbursement and collection process will be implemented including client prospecting, eKYC, tracking GPS locations, credit check, decision to disburse loan, money transfer to bank accounts.
Bandyopadhyay further pointed out that the demand for credit in the unorganized sector in the country is higher compared to the supply. The company plans to create a loan book of approximately INR 500 crore by the end of the current fiscal with approximately INR 80 crore coming from Karnataka.
Business Highlights as on August 31, 2018
* INR 164 crore disbursed
* Over 50,000 registered customers
* Presence in five states – Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Odisha
Persistent Systems Acquires Herald Health, Transforming Healthcare Data Overload into Clear and Actionable Insights
Persistent Systems has announced the acquisition of Herald Health, a start-up created to transform the data overload swamping healthcare professionals into clear and actionable insights. Born out of a hackathon sponsored by the Digital Innovation Hub (iHub) at Brigham and Women's Hospital in 2015, Herald Health has developed a nationally recognized product bringing intelligent workflows and care delivery processes needed for digital transformation in healthcare. Herald Health has earned multiple awards for its innovative design, including 1st place in the Department of Health and Human Services Provider User-Experience Challenge.
Rahul Patel, GM Healthcare Solutions at Persistent Systems, "This acquisition further strengthens our IP portfolio in healthcare that includes our co-innovation work with leading university health systems and research organizations, as well as solutions that we've built jointly with our partner ecosystem. This kind of innovation by Herald Health is driving change in healthcare. It's not enough just to collect data, you have to give providers user-friendly tools and actionable insights in real time. Herald Health has proven that when you do this in even one hospital, hundreds of doctors and thousands of patients can benefit."
Brad Diephuis, MD, Co-founder Herald Health, "When I began my clinical training, I was both impressed at how much data modern medicine can generate on patients and shocked at how few tools physicians were given to effectively process all of that data. At Herald, we're continually discovering how pervasive this problem is – not just for doctors, but for care coordinators, operations personnel, and hospital leadership - and building innovative solutions to make use of data in real time on the frontlines. With Persistent's resources and technical expertise, we're looking forward to scaling these solutions to more hospitals and patients."
Adam Landman, MD, CIO Brigham and Women's Hospital, "There is an immense opportunity to dramatically improve our patients' and providers experiences by leveraging digital health technologies. The Brigham Digital Innovation Hub is thrilled to be able to support early-stage ideas, like Herald Health, that have the potential to positively impact patient care not only at our own hospital, but across the country and around the world."
The transaction takes place through the company's US subsidiary Persistent Systems, Inc.
Dream11 Partners with CleverTap to Power the Next Wave of Fan Loyalty in the Fantasy Sports Industry
CleverTap, the cutting-edge mobile marketing automation solution provider, today announced that Dream11, India's biggest sports gaming platform, is extensively using its comprehensive data-driven user engagement suite to further consolidate its position in the competitive fantasy sports market.
Ever since its inception in 2012, Dream11 has scaled rapidly to become the fantasy sports platform of choice for over 40 million users in India. Catering to a diverse target of sports fans with evolving sensibilities and sacrosanct loyalties, Dream11 aims to complement the entire sports consumption experience across both web and mobile channels. CleverTap's AI/ML-powered platform is helping Dream11 craft personalized, contextual, and timely engagement campaigns to drive higher app monetization and retention.
To create personalized campaigns, Dream11 leverages CleverTap's automated segmentation capability that uses RFM (recency, frequency and monetary) analysis to segment its user base into 10 distinct segments. With RFM, Dream11 is able to discover its champions, loyal users, and those that are at-risk or hibernating. By keeping track of user activity and their monetary values, they are able to run targeted campaigns to reduce at-risk and hibernating users over time while also running loyalty programs to keep their champions and loyal users coming back.
Using CleverTap Journeys, Dream11 can now visually build highly effective push notification campaigns based on specific historical and real-time in-app user actions or inactions. Dream11 is also leveraging the power of rich push notifications by embedding their "Dimaag Se Dhoni" campaign slogan as an accompanied sound in their notification. Not only does this help their notifications stand out, but also adds an interesting dimension to the entire user experience.
Rahul Mirchandani, VP of Customer Retention at Dream11 said, "We are fast changing the way a sports fan consumes sports by providing them a highly immersive second screen experience. Playing on Dream11 requires the application of both creative imagination and rational thinking. In such a scenario, converting infrequent users into repeat customers through effective and timely mobile marketing campaigns is of utmost importance." He further elaborated, "CleverTap's automated segmentation engine helps us harness user-level behavioral insights to craft engagement strategies that drive higher monetization and retention. Using their advanced marketing automation platform, we believe we can extensively tap into the sporting interests and loyalties of sports fans and provide a great product experience."
Sunil Thomas, CEO of CleverTap said, "The rapid evolution of fantasy sports as an engagement and monetization opportunity has been remarkable. Dream11's rise in terms of scale as the go-to fantasy sports platform in India has been noteworthy." He further elaborated, "Our advanced automated segmentation engine helps Dream11 identify different user segments that need to be engaged with across devices through personalized and contextual notifications. Also, these have to be delivered at the right time to maximize chances of users coming back to the platform to strategically make their teams. We are thrilled to be powering the growth of India's largest and most loved fantasy sports platform and are excited to see what lies in store next."
SBI and its Employees Donate Rs 10 Crore to Kerala Chief Minister's Distress Relief Fund
State Bank of India Managing Director (Retail and Digital Banking) Parveen Kumar Gupta today handed over a cheque of Rs.8 Crore to E P Jayarajan, Minister in-charge of Chief Minister's Distress Relief Fund (CMDRF). This includes Rs.5 crore raised by the employees of State Bank of India (SBI) collectively and a further contribution of Rs.3 crores by the Bank, to make the total contribution amount to Rs. 10 crore in the Chief Minister's Distress Relief Fund (CMDRF), including the initial contribution of Rs 2 crore to CMDRF.
On handing over the cheque to E. P. Jayarajan, Minister in-charge of CMDRF, P. K. Gupta, MD – Retail & Digital Banking, SBI said, "We are grateful to our employees for their overwhelming response and appreciate their contribution for coming forward in large numbers to help the citizens of Kerala in restoring their lives. The bank stands by the people of the state in this critical situation."
The Bank has 1245 branches and 3243 ATMs in the state. Over 15000 employees of the Bank across the state voluntarily undertook on-the-ground relief measures by providing basic supplies like food & grain, medicines, drinking water, clothes, to the distressed citizens of the state. The Bank managed to normalize services for its customers by making all Branches and most of the ATMs operational immediately. To meet immediate cash requirements of the flood affected people, over 2800 Cash@POS machines were also deployed by the Bank.
SBI also announced special term loan for repair and renovation of homes destroyed by the flood to help the home loan borrowers of the bank to restore their lives. With zero processing fees, the loan will be offered to the applicants at 1year MCLR rate of 8.45% per annum.
The bank has also announced waiver of various charges and fee on banking transactions in Kerala state for a period of time on the following:
1. No processing fee for any loan relating to flood relief measure.
2. No charges for issuing duplicate passbook, ATM card, Cheque books
3. No late payment fee on EMI
4. Waiver of all charges on remittance to CMDRF (including NEFT / RTGS remittance from other banks)
5. No charges on non-maintenance of minimum balance from proceeds of relief fund provided by Govt. and agencies to be put on hold. If any such charge is recovered, the same would be refunded.
Apart from the above, bank has also taken below relief measures to support the flood affected people:
1. Xpress Credit to the existing account holders with relaxed norms (for one month's consumption)
2. Individuals who have displaced and lost personal documents can open small accounts with only photograph and signature / thumb impression.
3. The Bank has opened a dedicated "Help Line" desk at its Local Head Office to assist clarify queries by flood affected customers.
4. The Bank has already taken necessary steps for implementation of SLBC directives for providing various reliefs by restructuring/rescheduling existing loans of flood affected customers under Agri, SME segments and also Housing Loans etc.
Lenovo Strengthens its Focus on the SMB Segment in India
Lenovo, the leading global PC and Smart devices brand, today unveiled the new ThinkPad E480 laptop for Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs) and start-ups. The product boosts of 11 grade military specifications and aims to enhance the workforce functionality.
The device is built to last and tested for durability. A comfortable backlit keyboard and the latest generation of touch fingerprint sensor makes for a smooth functioning laptop. With a 14-inch form factor and 1.75 kg (3.9 lbs) weight, the device is designed for the mobile workforce. It also comes with a slew of security features, sleek design, and standardized connectivity to enable a business what it needs to get ahead.
Commenting on the launch, Ashish Sikka, Director SMB, Lenovo India said, "The small and medium enterprises today have to embrace the latest technological trends with rugged and stylish laptops. With the launch of ThinkPad E480, we believe the SMB market will be able to keep their employees happy as well enhance their work productivity. At Lenovo, our objective is to increase productivity & reduce downtime for SMBs to focus on their core business objectives. With the launch of the ThinkPad E480 series, we have addressed their need for reliable, durable and secure laptops with easy maintenance."
Highlights of the ThinkPad E480:
ThinkPad E480 (Prices starting from INR 32,999)– The powerful and aesthetically pleasing E480 is the thinnest laptop in its category. It provides up to 13 hours of battery backup with Quick charge technology and Dolby Advanced speakers. The new ThinkPad E480 also offers dual drive capabilities with SSD for performance hungry users.
It's reliable—as shown by the certificate of Military Grade Specification which includes series of rigorous tests it undergoes against shocks, drops, and other extremes —and secure, thanks to its optional Touch Type fingerprint reader and dTPM 2.0 chip. Additionally, the users and IT Managers can rest easy with the Lenovo sealed battery warranty, offering three-year coverage for non-CRU batteries.
08_Thinkpad_E480_Hero_180_degree_laying_flat_GS_Black_Metal02_Thinkpad_E480_Hero_Front_facing_right_GS_Black_Metal
· Rich visuals - 14" HD (1366 x 768) with antiglare display and optional FHD IPS Display
· Weight starting at 3.85 lbs (1.75 kg)
· Warranty - Up to 5 year on-site warranty
· MIL spec tested
*The above prices vary basis the configuration. Prices are exclusive of taxes but do not include shipping or options and are subject to change without notice; additional terms and conditions apply. Reseller prices may vary. On-shelf rates may vary by geography and products may only be available in select markets. All offers are subject to availability. Lenovo reserves the right to alter product offerings, features and specifications at any time without notice.
Four Out of Five Bangaloreans Have a Game Changing Business Idea, But Many Do Not Know Where to Network and Nurture Them
A majority of residents (81%) of the Silicon Valley of India, Bengaluru, said they have had at least one 'game changer' idea or invention, which could transform India's work or leisure life, but one out of three does not know of a place in the city where they can network with like-minded people and mentors, and nurture their ideas.
The survey, conducted across Bengaluru with over 1,600 respondents, was commissioned by Samsung Electronics to gauge the issues faced by young budding entrepreneurs in shaping their ideas.
When asked what they thought defines the character and nature of Bengaluru, respondents pointed out to the city's startup culture, innovation and R&D, technology business as well as its art and culture and heritage buildings, highlighting the diversity of the city, especially its millennials who are looking for interesting experiences in the city.
While a third felt the city's heritage buildings and architecture, which is a mix of colonial and art deco buildings spread across the city, defined its character, almost four in five of the millennials said they rarely ever notice heritage buildings in the city when travelling within the city.
A sizeable 77% of millennials and 63% of non-millennials say they would want to restore heritage buildings and see them being converted into public spaces for art, culture and other events around technology and startups to hone the dreams of its residents. Most respondents felt the city currently has a shortage of such spaces.
These millennials and non-millennials alike want heritage buildings across the city to be restored, development of more art and culture venues in the city and greater number of parks and outdoor spaces to be created for recreation, again highlighting the fact that people of the city crave public spaces and care for its culture and heritage. These aspects are something that the rapid growth of the city as the technology centre of India may have ignored over the years.
"Bengaluru is India's undisputed tech hub. As the information technology business has grown over the years, it's also acquired the moniker of India's startup capital. No wonder 81% of Bangaloreans say they have at least one game changing idea in our survey. But we found that while technology might be centre stage, the city has a heart. The city loves its art, culture, which is why they want to save heritage buildings and turn them into beautiful venues for concerts, museums and public spaces for art and culture. They also seek more venues for networking creative and business ideas they have," said Mohandeep Singh, Senior Vice President, Mobile Business, Samsung India.
NXP Acquires OmniPHY, Paves the Way for Securely Connected, Self-Driving Cars
NXP Semiconductors N.V., the world's largest supplier of automotive semiconductors1, has acquired OmniPHY, a provider of automotive Ethernet subsystem technology. The company's expertise includes automotive Ethernet, a technology that enables the rapid data transfer required for autonomous driving. OmniPHY's advanced high-speed technology, combined with NXP's leading portfolio and heritage in vehicle networks, uniquely positions NXP to deliver the next-generation of data transfer solutions to carmakers. Financial terms of the transaction are not disclosed.
An automotive networking revolution is underway, driven by the need for higher data capacity and speed to meet the requirements of increasingly autonomous and connected vehicles. New advanced autonomous driving systems will require gigabit data speeds and beyond. Current plans for next-generation vehicles call for eight or more cameras, high definition radar, lidar and V2X capability, all of which generate steep data challenges for current car networks. These requirements, combined with the modern vehicle's need to offload data to enable the new business opportunities of the connected car, will soon make terabyte levels of data processing commonplace.
"One of the vexing questions of the Autonomous Age is how to move data around the car as fast as possible," said Ian Riches, Executive Director for Global Automotive Practice at Strategy Analytics. He further added, "Cameras and displays will ramp the number of high-speed links in the car to 150 million by 2020 and by 2030 autonomous car systems will aggressively drive that number to 1.1 billion high-speed links."
As the self-driving ecosystem works to deliver on emerging automotive data requirements, many have turned to enterprise networking solutions as a stopgap measure for testing. Yet long-term solutions will need to be automotive grade and of a size and weight that make their implementation feasible. NXP's acquisition of OmniPHY, which has already begun to translate 1000BASE-T1 Ethernet for the automotive space, will give NXP a significant position in this rapidly evolving area.
"Our heritage in vehicle networks is rich and with our leadership positions in CAN, LIN, and FlexRay, we hold a unique viewpoint on automotive networks," said Alexander E. Tan, Vice President and General Manager of Automotive Ethernet Solutions, NXP. "The team and technology from OmniPHY give us the missing piece in an extensive high-bandwidth networking portfolio."
"Together with OmniPHY's know-how, expertise and enthusiasm, we can accelerate the time-to-market for our 10-port Ethernet switch and PHY - SJA1110 and TJA1110, as well as drive standardization and innovation for the multi-Gbps solutions. This is an important achievement to position NXP Automotive as the leader in the autonomous drive market of the future," shared Sanjay Gupta, Vice President & India Country Manager, NXP. "We are enthusiastic for the contributions to innovation and leadership in standardization for automotive networking technologies, that the Automotive Ethernet Solutions teams based in Hyderabad and Bangalore bring to the table," he added.
OmniPHY is a pioneer in high-speed automotive Ethernet IP and automotive qualified IP for 100BASE-T1 and 1000BASE-T1 standards. Over its six-year history, it has worked with some of the largest consumer companies in the world and has developed competitive 1st-silicon-right solutions for emerging markets like automotive and industrial Ethernet. OmniPHY interface IP and communication technology along with NXP's automotive portfolio will form a "one-stop shop" for automotive Ethernet. The companies' technology synergies will center on 1.25-28Gbps PHY designs and 10-, 100- and 1000BASE-T1 Ethernet in advanced processes.
"We are very excited to join NXP – a leader in automotive electronics, for a front-row seat to the autonomous driving revolution, one that will deliver profound change to the way people live," said Ritesh Saraf, CEO of OmniPHY. "The combination of our teams and technology will accelerate and advance the delivery of automotive Ethernet solutions providing our customers with high quality and world-class automotive Ethernet innovation."
Juniper Networks Expands Partnership with Ericsson to Accelerate 5G Transformation
Juniper Networks, an industry leader in automated, scalable and secure networks, today announced it has expanded its 18-year partnership with Ericsson, a global leader in mobile networks, to deliver a comprehensive end-to-end 5G solution leveraging each company's complementary portfolios. Together, the companies are now offering service providers a complete 5G transport network solution with single pane of glass visibility to manage the new requirements of next-generation mobile service delivery.
This deepened partnership aims to offer service providers a complete solution from radio to core for new-service delivery while managing mounting complexity. 5G is expected to be a game changer for the next generation of business and consumer services, but the increase in connectivity, network traffic and customer expectations will likely create new challenges for managing the mobile transport network in a cost-effective way. Evolving 5G use cases, including connected cars, AR/VR and 8K video streaming, and the associated 5G radio requirements needed to support these diverse applications can place additional demands across the network. Capacity, connectivity, latency, synchronization, reliability and security needs will all require tighter integration between the 5G radio, core and transport layers of an end-to-end mobile network.
To alleviate these challenges, Juniper's expanded partnership with Ericsson greatly simplifies service providers' 5G transformation by creating a tightly integrated solution that combines Juniper's routing for next generation WAN services and IP transport, and Ericsson's Router 6000 and MINI-LINK microwave portfolio for distributed, centralized and virtualized radio access. In addition, the solution leverages Juniper's Unified Cybersecurity Platform to secure the entire 5G mobile infrastructure against ever-expanding and sophisticated threats. This comprehensive solution provides seamless connectivity from the radio cell site to the mobile core all unified under Ericsson's management and orchestration solution, improving the performance, quality and ease-of-use of the entire 5G solution. The joint end-to-end 5G transport solution will be designed and built from day one with the intent of supporting exceptional 5G radio performance in a cost-effective way.
As part of this deepened partnership, Juniper will utilize Ericsson's go-to-market for mobile opportunities and Ericsson will include Juniper's solutions for edge, core and security as part of its end-to-end 5G transport portfolio.
Customers Using High-End Mobile Phones Ready to Pay More Rent in India; Suggests Data Study by Housing.com and Makaan.com
On an average, customers using a phone brand that costs anywhere above Rs 50,000 would be willing to pay 20% higher rent and the average budget is Rs 25,000 per month
How much money a person is ready to part with for rent is indicative of the lifestyle the person wants to maintain. The brand of the mobile phone a customer carries may reveal the amount of house rent they might be willing to pay. A recent study conducted by Housing.com and Makaan.com, indicates that customers using a phone that costs more than Rs 50,000 would be willing to pay 20% higher rent with an average budget of Rs 25,000 per month.
Data from the study suggest that on average, a user with a phone price bucket (PPB) of less than Rs 10,000 would be ready to pay anywhere between Rs 10,000 to Rs 17,000 per month depending on the city with an average budget of Rs 14,000 per month. The study indicates that customers who own a phone between Rs 10,000 - 20,000 would likely be willing to spend an average of Rs 16,300 per month on a rental home. Customers who spend between Rs 20,000 to Rs 50,000 on their phone would be willing to pay 27% higher than the previous category and their average budget would likely be Rs 20,700 per month.
Rental cost trends in key cities
Mumbai has the maximum average rental at Rs 23,000 per month which is 30% higher than Chennai that offers home at an average rent of Rs 17,600 per month.
New Delhi's average rent closely follows Chennai's and is at Rs 17,300 per month followed by Hyderabad at Rs 16,400 per month.
Kolkata, where average rental rates stand at Rs 11,400 per month is the most inexpensive location when it comes to rent among the major metros. Pune at Rs 13,200 per month is the next pocket-friendly rental hotspot.
45 - 47% of property seekers in Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad use a phone that is in the range of Rs 10,000-20,000 to search for homes on rent. However, rental home seekers in New Delhi used a phone in the range of Rs 20,000-50,000 category.
About 49% of rental home seekers in Kolkata searched properties for rent with a phone that falls in the bracket of Rs 10,000-20,000. However, the next big bracket is of users who use a phone within Rs 10,000.
Commenting on these trends Ravi Bhushan, Group Chief Product and Technology Officer, Housing.com, PropTiger.com, Makaan.com said, "High-end mobile phones are predictive of a person's economic status. The choice of brand of phone and housing is indicative of the lifestyle one wants to maintain and a correlation between the two is intuitive. The study confirms that customers who spend higher on their gadgets will naturally do so for their homes as well but quantifies it for the first time."
Tracking the trends and demand
About 85% of the demand lies within Rs 20,000 per month category. Statistics also show that maximum phone users searching for rental homes own a phone priced between Rs 10,000 to 20,000. The next big category is that of consumers who own phones worth Rs 20,000-50,000 followed by those who own phones priced less than Rs 10,000.
The average national rental budget is Rs 14,000 per month and the majority of Indians are looking for affordable rental properties.
Following the trend, about 47% of prospective tenants in tier II cities were looking for properties priced between Rs 10,000-20,000 per month. Just like other major metros barring Kolkata, most users have phones in the range of Rs 10,000 to 20,000.
About 22% of property seekers, nationally, are looking for homes priced within Rs 10,000 per month. Among major cities, Kolkata has maximum seekers within this range at 26% followed by Chennai at 25%, Pune at 23% and Tier II cities at 22%.
In almost all the cities, affordable to mid-priced rental homes are majorly in demand, and less than 2% rental home seekers are likely to want homes priced above Rs 50,000 per month.
Within this category, Mumbai (2.44%), Hyderabad (2.42%) and Noida (2.19%) witness the most number of buyers in the premium category of rental homes. Data suggest that these property seekers are either iPhone users or Samsung Galaxy Premium users.
Common phones used for property searches include iPhone and Android phones such as Moto G4, Galaxy J Series, Acer Iconia, Lenovo Vibe, Honor, HTC Desire and other brands including Redmi, Oppo, and Vivo. The cities included in the study are Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Noida, Gurugram, Greater Noida, Pune.
India To Construct 100 Airports Worth USD 60 Billion: Prabhu
Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu said that India's aviation sector is one of the fastest growing in the world and would need as many as 100 airports in the next 10-15 years
India plans to construct 100 airports at an estimated cost of USD 60 billion (about Rs 4.2 lakh crore) in the next 10 to 15 years, Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu said Today. The country's aviation sector is one of the fastest-growing in the world and has recorded 50 months of double-digit traffic growth.
As many as 100 new airports would be built in the next 10 to 15 years for about USD 60 billion. These airports are to be constructed through public private partnership, Prabhu said. He said the government is also working on a cargo policy.
According to global airlines' grouping IATA, India is expected to overtake Germany, Japan, Spain and the UK within the next ten years to become the world's third largest air passenger market.
Lockheed Martin Enters into Agreement with Tata to Produce F-16 Fighter Jet Wings in India
The wings of Lockheed Martin's F-16 fighter jets will be produced in India, the American security and aerospace giant announced on Tuesday, in a major boost to the 'Make in India' initiative.
Maryland-based Lockheed Martin has entered into an agreement with Tata Advanced Systems Limited (TASL) for the production of the wings. Lockheed officials insisted that the planned F-16 wing production to India is not contingent on India selecting the F-16 for the Indian Air Force. Lockheed has offered to move its entire F-16 manufacturing base to India. India is yet to make a decision on it.
Producing F-16 wings in India will strengthen Lockheed Martin's strategic partnership with Tata Advanced Systems Limited and support the 'Make in India' initiative of the government, officials of the company said. "Building F-16 wings in India is a natural next step that builds on our successful partnerships with Tata on the C-130J [Super Hercules airlifter] and S-92 [helicopter]," said Vivek Lall, VP of Strategy and Business Development for Lockheed Martin Aeronautics. "This is a strategic business decision that reflects the value of our partnerships with India and the confidence we have in Tata to perform advanced defence manufacturing work," Lall said.
HDFC ERGO Partners with Manipal Global Education Services for the Talent Development Program
HDFC ERGO, General Insurance Company, India's third largest non-life insurance provider in the private sector, announced the Talent Development Program, a one-year General Insurance training program for graduates, in partnership with Manipal Global Education Services (MaGE). The customised training program will involve on campus training, internship; which will be delivered at the Manipal Global Academy of BFSI Campus in Bangalore and on-the-job training at HDFC ERGO's branches.
The course has been designed in association with Manipal Global Education Services to bring quality education, training and skills to aspirants looking for a rewarding career in the general insurance sector. This one-year full time training program will comprise of four months of training on-campus and two months of internship followed by six months of on-the job training at the branch offices of HDFC ERGO. Designed to up-skill prospective employees with the right domain knowledge in general Insurance, the course aims at enhancing the student's business development skills enabling them to implement growth opportunities for HDFC ERGO. The first part of the HDFC ERGO General Insurance Training Program commenced on September 3rd, 2018.
Speaking about the launch, Parthanil Ghosh, Member of Executive Management & Group Head - Retail Business, HDFC ERGO General said, "As a company, we strongly believe in nurturing talent and providing growth opportunities. Our partnership with Manipal Global Education Services is a step in this direction and to build a talent pool in the insurance sector. Our Graduate Training Program is aimed at attracting aspirant graduates and training them for an excellent opportunity for a successful career with HDFC ERGO."
Bimaljeet Bhasin, Vice President, Enterprise Business, Manipal Global Education Services (MaGE) said, "We are happy to partner with HDFC ERGO and glad that the company has the vision to continue investing in talent. Over the years, we have been supporting large number of organizations in the BFSI space helping them on-board highly skilled workforce. This engagement with HDFC ERGO extends our footprint in the insurance industry."
On the successful completion of the program, students will be awarded a Post-Graduate Diploma in General Insurance and will be offered employment with HDFC ERGO. The aim of the General Insurance Training Program is to build sales officers of high calibre and create a workforce that matches the Company's expectations and culture.
AISATS Introduces Advanced RFID Based Real-Time Cargo Tracking System at Kempegowda International Airport
Air India SATS Airport Services Pvt. Ltd. (AISATS), India's premier airport services company, has launched a new shipment tracking platform that uses Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology for its cargo handling operations at the Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru. AISATS will now be the first and only air cargo terminal operator in India to bring this RFID technology to the country for real-time and improved cargo tracking. This technological initiative is a collaboration between AISATS and its Singapore-listed joint venture stakeholder, SATS Ltd., which operates an unrivalled network of Gateway Services and Food Solutions in over 60 cities across Asia.
AISATS' air cargo operations at Kempegowda International Airport have increased substantially, with a new peak of 97,486 tones being reached in the 1st quarter of the current financial year. This is a growth of 16.6% over the same period in the previous financial year. As more airlines commence operations and increase their flight frequencies at Bengaluru, air cargo volumes and movement at Kempegowda International Airport are expected to surge significantly in the near future.
With AISATS being the biggest ground handler at Kempegowda International Airport and managing two dedicated cargo handling centers, namely the AISATS Air Freight Terminal and the AISATS COOLPORT, the introduction of RFID technology will enable AISATS to undertake real-time cargo tracking for end-to-end visibility and faster turnaround. The RFID tracking system, capable of processing large quantities of cargo, will further bolster speed and accuracy, thereby making the cargo handling process more secure.
The RFID technology uses radio waves to transfer data from an electronic reader to an RFID tag and vice-versa. The ground handling staff can use a hand held RFID scanner to scan the shipment pieces at various stages of the cargo handling process. Once the RFID-tagged shipment is scanned, the RFID-enabled device will send Airway Bill (AWB)-related information to a tracking platform, enabling all stakeholders to undertake real-time, end-to-end cargo tracking. The platform is capable of tracking shipments at two levels- the shipment piece level and the ULD/container level. Furthermore, this technology can be leveraged for a gamut of cargo services such as express cargo, valuables and perishables amongst others.
"With cargo volumes burgeoning in Bengaluru, it is imperative that we embrace innovation and technological advancements to create an efficient cargo handling environment. The RFID technology has a unique advantage of tracking shipments at piece level, which brings transparency to the supply chain and helps AISATS manage large volumes of cargo seamlessly. We are excited to be the first air cargo terminal operator company to implement this technology in India at Kempegowda International Airport. The new system will help reduce cargo turnaround time and improve handling efficiency, thus promising a hassle-free experience for all stakeholders. AISATS will continue to collaborate with SATS to harness its technological and operational expertise in developing new capabilities that will add value to cargo and ground handling operations at the airports we operate in India." said Mike Chew, CEO, AISATS.
Apart from this latest RFID tracking system, AISATS has previously introduced many other firsts to the cargo handling system at Kempegowda International Airport such as the Automated Storage & Retrieval System (ASRS), the Very Narrow Aisle (VNA) and High Rise Racking System at its Air Freighter Terminal. AISATS has also developed India's 1st integrated on-airport perishable cargo handling center, the AISATS COOLPORT. AISATS is also the first air cargo operator in Bengaluru to launch its very own 'AISATS Cargo App', which furnishes its customers with comprehensive cargo tracking solutions. In addition, AISATS has also became the first Indian air cargo terminal operator to achieve TAPA ( Transport Asset Protection Association) FSR 2017 Class A certification which ensures highest security standards at the cargo facility.
Tom Hricik joins HGS as President and Head of Business Development, North America
Hinduja Global Solutions (HGS), (listed in BSE & NSE), a global leader in business process management, has announced the hiring of Tom Hricik, a new member of its executive leadership team, to focus on the topline growth of the business.
Tom brings with him more than 30 years of experience in sales, client management, P&L management, operations and consulting. He will join the North American team in helping to meet growth objectives, working with both existing accounts as well as with the new logo team to build a healthy pipeline and win new business that is profitable and sustainable.
"With a healthy P&L, HGS is able to make the essential investments in technology and our people to help our clients be more competitive by solving their industry business problems," Hricik said. "As a growing global company we have remarkable client retention resulting from being brilliant at providing core services while helping customers adopt automation and analytics-based innovation to meet their present and future needs. HGS is a formidable Business Process Services player with our current and expanding portfolio of offerings."
For the past 17 years, Tom has served in a variety of business and sales leadership roles at Conduent, a business process services companies, where he drove collaboration with internal and external partners to maximize the value of the BPO, consulting and technology services for clients. Tom is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University with undergraduate and graduate degrees focused in in information systems and industrial relations.
"We are excited that leaders the caliber of Tom are seeing the value in the vision, capability and client portfolio of HGS and investing their careers in helping to grow the business," said Partha DeSarkar, Global Chief Executive Officer, HGS. "Tom will play a critical role in raising client, employee and shareholder value by consistently delivering innovation and deep domain expertise to grow traditional and transformational business."
Aeris & Hello Tractor Collaborate to Offer 'Tractors-as-a-Service' in India & ASEAN Region
Aeris, a technology leader in the Internet of Things (IoT), announced today its partnership with Hello Tractor in Africa to launch "Tractors-as-a-Service" in India and the ASEAN region in the session "India - Africa – ASEAN: Internet of Things (IoT) in Agriculture" organized in association with The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) in New Delhi. Industry leaders and diplomats from Indian, ASEAN and African embassies in New Delhi were part of this event.
With the Aeris IoT platform, called Aeris Mobility Platform, (also known as AMP), tractor tracking, utilization time and billing is simplified, based on time in the field and area covered. Our partnership enables the pay-as-you-use model for small holding farmers to use tractors with innovative commercial models. Hello Tractor's innovative use of IoT simplifies complex data to ensure transparency, profitability, and accountability across the ecosystem of farmers, tractor owners, tractor dealers, original equipment manufacturers, banks, and governments. The Tractor Owner App includes tools such as, service request management, tractor and fleet management, operator performance, and activity tracking. Using the technology to their advantage, the farmers are able to plant 40 times faster at one-third the cost. The digital IoT platform is making it easy and profitable for tractor owners to monetize their machines as business assets whilst improving the livelihood of rural farmers.
The session was presided over by Ambrish Bakaya, Co-Chair of FICCI ICT and Digital Economy Initiative. Tractors form an integral part of farm mechanization and have a crucial role to play in increasing agricultural productivity. In ASEAN, per capita arable land area is 0.12 hectare, among the smallest in the world. Across the regions, the small landholdings make it unviable for farmers to own agri-machinery and implements like tractors, rotary and power tillers, rotators, seed drillers and other efficient farm equipment. In India less than 30 percent of farmers use the necessary equipment that facilitates productive and profitable work. Farmers can barely afford high-cap equipment and often take loans to buy them. This often adds onto the financial burden in a bad crop yield season. Also, small farmers often lack knowledge about modern farming practices or struggle to finance farm operations.
India, Africa and ASEAN has its roots in agrarian societies and agriculture occupies a special role in the socioeconomic development. It is an important driver for social, inclusive growth; an essential source of export earnings; a guarantor of food availability to its citizens; and a source of employment directly and through agriculture-related, value adding activities. Leveraging the partnership with Hello Tractor in the African region, Aeris India brings on-demand farming capabilities to the predominantly agrarian economies of India and ASEAN.
Jehiel Oliver, Founder & CEO, Hello Tractor says, "There is no doubt agricultural mechanization is having an impact on Indian, African and ASEAN farmers' efficiency, resource management, and productivity. The magnitude of that impact moving forward will largely depend on the private sector, government, and the public working together. Hello Tractor and Aeris have partnered to make a significant step toward amplifying this positive impact in India, Africa and the APAC region. This alliance will help farmers access more affordable, dependable, and transparent tractor services that can make a real difference in shaping the future of agriculture."
Dr. Rishi Mohan Bhatnagar, President, Aeris India said, "Our world has many challenges to solve and we at Aeris are committed to delivering innovative technology solutions to serve the unserved. Majority of the farmers in the predominantly agrarian societies, such as India and ASEAN countries, have less than five acres of land and can barely afford high-cap equipment. We wanted to help the farmer by offering accessible and affordable farm mechanized equipment service and enable economic advancement. After successful alliance with Hello Tractor to enable "Tractor-as-a-Service" in Africa, we are now launching this in India and the ASEAN region. The service eliminates the need to invest upfront and brings down the operational costs with the pay-as-you-use model for small holding farmers."
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All Seasons Grounds Care holds contracts with numerous public agencies and municipalities, as well as private businesses throughout Willamette valley.
the opportunity to learn skills and contribute to their communities.
Services Page to learn how.
listed on the QRF Procurement List and approved by DAS.
so they may recognize and achieve their potential.
All Seasons Grounds Care is a subsidiary of Shangri-La, a 501(c)3 non-profit human services organization.


As many of our visitors would have noticed we have a tab called 'Design' on our menu bar. What most customers don't realize is that we take on projects large and small. Though we usually focus on large projects (we 'gotta pay the rent) we will often take on small projects to fill the gaps between large projects and of course they can be fun and are usually completed quickly.
An example of one of those projects was for a plumber in Philadelphia who wanted to determine if it was safe to work in a basement or other poorly ventilated areas.
He came to our web site doing a search for 'methane detectors' and discovered the Methane CNG Gas Sensor – MQ-4 he also saw that we did custom design and prototypes.
He approached us and asked if we would build him a methane detector as he had no electronics experience but saw everything he wanted on our site.
As we had not worked with the gas detectors before and we were dying to try out one of the Arduino Pro Mini's we gladly took him on as a client.
Methane gas is colorless and odorless it wont kill you if you breath it but in, but in a high enough concentration it may explode.
The circuit was pretty simple – we used a breakout board for the methane detector and connected the output to one of the analog inputs of the Arduino, we also decided to use a pot so that the user could specify a cut-off level where the alarm would not sound.
We provided a green LED to show the system was operational and when the gas threshold was exceeded the red LED would light up and the buzzer would sound.
The code for this is very simple – read the voltage level on the output pin of the gas sensor, compare that to the voltage level of the pot. If the sensor voltage is higher then sound the alarm. We used a FTDI Breakout to program the Arduino.
Note: The sensors need to be run (burnt in) for at least 24 hours to ensure that their readings are accurate.
We have a timer interrupt running on timer 2 – it checks alarm, which is a volatile int, and if it is high the red LED and the buzzed are activated, if low the green LED.
As you can see from the above code we are using PWM to turn the LED's on and the buzzer – the buzzer is a piezo element so it needs to be pulsed to make a noise.
Unfortunately we cannot just ship the above system to the customer, breadboards don't even travel well from office to lab, so we grabbed on of our breadboard equivalent solder boards and soldered all the components onto it.
Now the customer can play around with the prototype. If the customer decides to add features this can be done very easily as the arduino still has a number of open ports.
We will be posting a tutorial, in the next few days, on using the remote control and receiver to sound a horn.


Hopper-Top Diverter Valves are used when customers need to fill multiple bins from a common source. They offer a reduction in cost by allowing convey air to be routed to a remote source, thereby reducing the required number of filters in a system. This reduction in filters often reduces capital costs, decreases the number of air emissions permits required and/or reduces head height required at the destination.
Hopper-Top Diverter Valves work by placing a divert mechanism that pivots open or closed into the convey stream. When opened, the divert mechanism allows product to flow into the bin on the "front" side and the convey air to escape the bin and configure down the "back" side to another bin or a remote filter. When closed, the bin is bypassed altogether in favor of another bin for filling.
The Magnum Systems Series II Hopper Top Diverter Valve is based around a simple concept. A resilient seated butterfly valve is placed into service with fabricated transitions around it. When actuated, the butterfly disc diverts product. When closed, the resilient seat provides a dust tight closure. There are no dead pocket areas for product to accumulate.


Until Deadpool shows up in heels to kick things into a whole other level. Never afraid to take the piss out of anything at all, Deadpool's music video—which appears to have been shot on the set of Celine's Vegas Spectacular—is parodying a niche within a niche, and it's glorious.
Like I've said many times, the marketing campaign for this film has been brilliant. Yes, it's disappointing that they've been giving away far too much recently, especially when the early campaign was built around blatant non-reveals, but moves like this prove that the team behind selling this film to the public is doing a bang up job.
Honestly, I'm more excited about Deadpool 2 than either of the blockbusters book-ending it—Infinity War and Solo—so at this point I'm glad they moved its release up. Though it will make me sad that the ad campaign will come to an end at that time, which is two weeks from today when Deadpool 2 hits theaters.


HAUS were commissioned to create a High Street vision for the town of Auchterarder. A consideration and analysis of the historic growth of the settlement and its place in a contemporary context informed our approach to creating a diverse, enterprising and self-sufficient town centre.
It is proposed that the bus depot be relocated to an edge of town site in order to create development opportunity.
A new 10,000sqft NIA retail unit in place of the bus depot consolidates and enhances the retail offerings of Auchterarder town centre.
A shared surface treatment applied to the High Street gives priority to the pedestrian. This surface bleeds beyond the High Street to engage with key civic, education and retail buildings as well as connecting to existing wider core footpaths.
There is a future opportunity to use the development of the vacant site as a catalyst for change in the town centre of Auchterarder. The creation of a 'market square' can act as a destination at the heart of the existing linear town to provide people with a place to stop and engage.
Through the proposed relocation of the bus depot to a site on the edge of town, the potential is created to re-develop the site as a pivotal intervention that can catalyse positive change across the town centre. A new retail node with associated 'market square' would enhance the existing retail offerings of the centre whilst creating a destination point where people can stop and engage. A shared surface is introduced to give power back to the pedestrian and create open space for seasonal markets and events throughout the year, bleeding beyond the High Street to engage with key civic, education and retail buildings as well as connecting to existing wider core footpaths.


text:
package ru.spb.kpit.kivan.General.OperationInfo;

/**
 * Created with IntelliJ IDEA.
 * User: Kivan
 * Date: 30.08.13
 * Time: 23:51
 * To change this template use File | Settings | File Templates.
 */
public interface OperationInfo {
    public String operationReport();
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


Bubby and Bean ::: Living Creatively: yep.
Oh my goodness, such the story of my life right now. I just read your creative kick start. such great tips. I am currently in grad school and working on multiple project including school work, my thesis and a job search..I graduate in May. Exercise/blogging and shopping well those are my outlets and well blogging and shopping are all on the back burner as of right now. Anyways your post, totally pin point the way my mind works to a T!!! I am also the type that when I work on something I zero in and become consumed with no break.
Thanks everyone! I just had to post this image when I came across it late the other night. Madeleine, I'm so glad the tips were useful for you. I printed them out as well because I have to remind myself all the time! Breaks are so important - I've found that very rarely does overworking myself to finish something result in a positive outcome. Sometimes I have to say "this is your life, and you do what you do because you enjoy doing it, so stop for a while if you're not enjoying it!" Revisiting a creative project later that is becoming too pressured is such a better way to manage time than forcing it because you want to get it done.