Author: WaelBadawy
The pleasure that kids find from books
Kids have the impeccable attitude to get preoccupied in the delight of a great book. Books for kids are ultimately the inspiration for healthy imaginative play, long term reading skills, and even the springboard for theoretical conversation at the dinner table. While kids are often on the go and donít take the time to slow down for a good read, introducing your kids to the joy of reading a good book isnít as insurmountable as it seems. A little creativity on the parentís behalf, and you will have a budding reader reluctantly putting their book down to move onto lifeís other demands.
Books for kids help to develop their already active imaginations. There really is no such thing as an unimaginative child, just kids with varying imaginative qualities. While one child might be able to imagine underwater cities and create friends from thin air, other children might be conjuring up the next Windows application or mentally developing the technology to hook up 12 gaming systems to a single television without ever unplugging a system again. Developing your childís unique imagination through books starts with what they are already showing you on a daily basis.
The reasonable argument for enticing kids to read books that are outside of their element includes expanding their horizons. Of course, over time, thatís a fabulous idea. For the immediate enticement stage, it is more likely to be a successful venture if kids are reading books that interest them from the title to the back cover. Let them choose their own books. Nearly all American childrenís presses are highly selective about child and young adult reading material. Children who read age appropriate books are not likely to run into objectionable material. However, parents can usually read a thick young adult book in a few hours if there is any concern relating to material.
For the obstinate television watching child, a family reading hour is a great way to entice your children to read books. Start small. Give the entire family a half an hour to read their book and then twenty minutes or so to talk about what they are reading. Chances are, by the end of the first week, the kids will be requesting a few more minutes to finish their chapter or will even take the book into their bedroom to continue after family reading hour has concluded. Younger children will benefit from being read to from books for kids.
Books for kids that stay within their vocabulary limits (with a few challenges for good measure) are more likely to hold their attention than books written on an adult level with language that is too hard for children to grasp. An over achiever may want to break out Shakespeare at the age of eight, but they are not likely to get much out of it, even if they wonít admit it. If children are being read to, it is acceptable to bump up the language a notch or two, as children can often hear the language used and understand it much faster than if they are trying to read it and comprehend it.
Finding books for kids that they will love and you will enjoy having them read can be easily done online. Bookstores are great for titles that are unknown and new authors. Online bookstores often carry out of print books, significantly reduced books, and books that are a little ìout of the wayî and unique for the hard to please child. Online book selections are easier for parents to determine than for kids. Often kids need more than a page of text to know whether they think the book is perfect or not. Encouraging them to read a series of books for kids can keep them reading for a long time, and then the habit will be well established and moving onto the next title is simple.
Books for kids have a lot of competition these days. Television with 24 hour a day, 7 days a week cartoon and specialized childrenís programming, computer games, video games, gadgets that fit in their pocket, DVD players in the car, and thereís probably a few kids out there with electronic gizmos on their bikes are all competing for a kidís attention. Turning them into an avid books for kids lover takes a little disciplined creativity at first. Rules about the electronic gadgets and gizmos can help establish reading time and story time before bed (what kid doesnít want to delay bedtime?) can help offset the chronic competition that books for kids face. Parents who love to read are more likely to have kids who love to read. Parents who can at the very least appreciate the books for kids and delve into a book for an hour a day can teach their children to love books. Parents who read to their kids help establish a great vocabulary, better communication skills, and have a marvelous and special bond centered around some very special books for kids.
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Should EBooks be Part of Your Internet Marketing Strategy
Ebooks seem to have become a stable on the Internet. They’re given away, they’re sold and they’re used as promotion material. Isn’t time you considered whether ebooks should be part of your marketing strategy?
Ebooks have become and inseparable part of the new frontier of cyberspace. They are a great medium for sharing marketing information, ideas, techniques, and expert knowledge. Each day the number of people accessing the Internet grows, causing the exposure of your ebooks to increase incrementally. It’s obvious why electronic self-publishing has become so popular so quickly.
Ebooks can assist small business website owners market their sites and in some cases even become a source of revenue. Having said that, let’s look at what makes ebooks so important and so unique.
“Ebooks have unique characteristics that printed books can’t match. For example, ebooks are relatively easy to produce and they can be inexpensive to produce. Just think about it: you don’t need a publisher, an agent, a printing press, offset film, ink, paper, or even a distributor. You just need a great concept, the ability to write it or to hire a writer, and the right software.
“Ebooks can be easily updated. As information changes, ebooks can be updated without a second print run. All you need is to go into your original creation and modify the text or graphics. Because of this flexibility, ebooks can change and grow as fast as you can type.
“Ebooks are convenient. You don’t have to go to a bookstore or search through endless titles at an online bookstore. All you have to do is download it from a website, and presto! It’s on your computer, ready to be read.
“Ebooks are interactive. This is one of the most unique and specific qualities that ebooks offer. You can add surveys that need to be filled out, order forms for customers to purchase your products or goods, sound and video that draw your reader into the virtual world of your ebook, even direct links to relevant sites that will expand your ebook outward. The potential is virtually limitless.
“Ebooks have a particular kind of permanence that other mediums do not possess. Television shows and radio shows air once, and then may rerun a few times. Ebooks remain on your computer for as long as your choose, and they can be read and reread whenever you choose to. They can even be printed out and stored on the shelves of your traditional home library.
“Ebooks have very low entrance barriers. You don’t need to go through the endless process of submitting your manuscript over and over again, and then once you land an agent, having the agent submit your manuscript over and over again. Nor do you have to shell out thousands of dollars for printing a self-published book. All ebooks require is a writer and appropriate software.
“Ebooks are great for Niche content. Ever wanted to find a book on a highly specific or niche product? Looking for tips on mouse killing? Good luck finding that in print. The costs are prohibitive and bookstores can’t afford the shelf space. But with an ebook, no shelf space is needed so even the most niche content can find a place on the Internet.
“You have creative control over your ebook. You don’t have to compromise with an editor or the publishing trends of the time. You don’t have to haggle with a designer or wait for copyedited galleys to arrive by snail mail. You are in complete control of the design and the text.
If you’re not convinced that ebooks are something you should consider click over to Google and search for ebooks. At last count there were over 70 million search results. Something with that kind of Internet presence is not something you want to miss.
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A Low Power Architecture for HASM Motion Tracking
This paper proposes low power VLSI architecture for motion tracking that can be used in online video applications such as in MPEG and VRML. The proposed architecture uses a hierarchical adaptive structured mesh (HASM) concept that generates a content-based video representation. The developed architecture shows the significant reducing of power consumption that is inherited in the HASM concept. The proposed architecture consists of two units: a motion estimation and motion compensation units.
The motion estimation (ME) architecture generates a progressive mesh code that represents a mesh topology and its motion vectors. ME reduces the power consumption since it (1) implements a successive splitting strategy to generate the mesh topology. The successive split allows the pipelined implementation of the processing elements. (2) It approximates the mesh nodes motion vector by using the three step search algorithm. (3) and it uses parallel units that reduce the power consumption at a fixed throughput.
The motion compensation (MC) architecture processes a reference frame, mesh nodes and motion vectors to predict a video frame using affine transformation to warp the texture with different mesh patches. The MC reduces the power consumption since it uses (1) a multiplication-free algorithm for affine transformation. (2) It uses parallel threads in which each thread implements a pipelined chain of scalable affine units to compute the affine transformation of each patch.
The architecture has been prototyped using top-down low-power design methodology. The performance of the architecture has been analyzed in terms of video construction quality, power and delay.
Wael Badawy and Magdy Bayoumi “A Low Power Architecture for HASM Motion Tracking,” The Journal of VLSI Signal Processing Systems for Signal, Image, and Video Technology, May 2004, Vol. 37, Issue 1, pp. 111-127
Location Location Location
This article conveys how important choosing a location for your mobile food vending business is. Location is one of the biggest and possibly most difficult choices made when starting this type of business.
Location is one of the biggest keys to running a successful food concession business. Although one of the most overused clichÈs out there is location location location when regarding real estate, it couldnít be more appropriate for mobile food vending as well. While product, customer service, and advertising are all important parts of running this business, location is a key that if you do not get it right, your business will not only fail, but will fail miserably. Without the proper location, customers will not be able to or want to stop at your business. Location is also important because it has everything to do with your product and who will buy your product. Finally permanent location is important because it determines the familiarity and frequency with which your customers stop by.
First and foremost, if you donít have the proper type of location, you are not going to be able to attract customers. For example, the corner of a highway where your potential clients are going 75 mph and not even noticing you is not a great way to bring in customers. You are looking for a place that people are stopped or slowed significantly. This can include places like stop lights as well as speed zones where drivers slow down. Also, if customers feel unsafe or do not like the appearance of your location, you wonít have much luck in selling your product either.
Location is also important because it has everything to do with what type of product you will sell. Burgers go over much better at a fair or on the side of the road in a small town than sushi would. Studying your demographic through your location is a great way to judge what types of food a certain area might like well enough to come back to. In this way, you can choose a type of food that isnít already in the area. If there are a dozen burger joints, unless you have a phenomenal burger, maybe you want to do bbq. Also, ask people in the area what they might like to see come to the community. Taking the advice of your potential customers is a great idea to develop an early rapport and to get a feel for what is needed in the neighborhood.
Permanent location is also a way to help ensure repeat customers. Repeat customers are a large part of your customer base. If you are constantly in a new location, or you donít show up on time, this could be the death of your loyal customersí business. Making sure you are reliable is one of the best ways to get the lunch crowd in. If they know that at regular hours on regular days they can count on you to be there, they may choose to eat at your establishment rather than patronize the local chain.
The bottom line is, good location is imperative in order to make sure you have customers that are comfortable stopping; it helps you decide what type of food you will serve, and repeat customers will be able to rely on your consistency.
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The Online Business Handbookñ A Must-Read for Online Entrepreneurs
It has been observed that, compared to all of the free online books offering online business tips, The Online Business Handbook shows you how to attain success in a realistic and step-by-step manner.
The cyber community is overpopulated with people offering advice on how to get rich overnight. There are innumerable business books claiming to provide expert guidance on being successful in the online business world, but readers of these books, when interviewed, feel that the information and the business tips given are actually not very helpful in the real online business scenario. Being a vehement protester when it comes to this kind of deception, an online business expert and an excellent e-author came out with ëThe Online Business Handbook’, one of the best business books the market has to offer.
The author of The Online Business Handbook is a very successful online entrepreneur who wants to share his tried and tested approaches with online business enthusiasts. He does not claim to be Alladin and he doesn’t claim that his business book should be seen as Alladin’s lamp or as a path to money, name and fame overnight.
Inspired by Thomas Alva Edison’s statement ëgenius is 99 % perspiration and 1 % inspiration’, this online book on internet business does not make any false promises to quick money. Just like Edison, the author opines that even if one fails 10,000 times, one should never give up and look upon every failure as a stepping-stone to success. He believes that success comes with applying intelligence in the proper way, at the proper time. Being written by a follower of the genuine path to success, one can safely assume that The Online Business Handbook, unlike the other online books, is a treasure house of tried and tested ways of becoming successful as an online entrepreneur.
A bonus that one can expect with The Online Business Handbook is that, unlike many electronic books online that charge exorbitant prices, it comes absolutely free. One just needs to subscribe to Alan Johnson’s newsletter at The Rating Blog. The information in this book is complemented by The Rating Blog, which is amongst the best blogs offering online money making advice to the cyber community today. It is advised that after reading this business handbook, one should follow The Rating Blog for additional and up to date information. The Rating Blog is enriched with features that are of utmost importance to an online entrepreneur. One can subscribe to the RSS feed and then follow the author’s newsletter.
It has been observed that, compared to all of the free online books offering online business tips, The Online Business Handbook shows you how to attain success in a realistic and step-by-step manner. One needs to absorb the contents of this very useful business book online and follow it to the letter to attain success. People who have followed the instructions of this book are seen to be extremely successful in online business ventures. Unlike many of the authors of other free books online, the person behind The Rating Blog displays affiliate links and that, according to him, is a part of his common sense, down-to-earth and cards-on-the-table approach to making money online.
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Be Imaginative
Whatís the easiest way to kill a great ad campaign before it even begins? Take it too seriously. Advertising is not rocket science. You shouldnít need a degree in the physical sciences to create or understand an ad.
And you should never, ever, under any circumstances, kill an ad because it is not literal enough. On the contrary, if you find your ads are too literal, you should destroy them all and start fresh.
Are Volkswagens flawed pieces of junk? No, but an ad with the headline ìLemonî gets your attention, doesnít it? It makes you want to read the story, which goes on to explain how the particular car shown in the ad would never be driven because VW cares so much it weeds out the lemons so you never get a bad car. Think what an opportunity would have been missed if the folks at Volkswagen had taken that headline too literally.
Think about it from this angle. Why do people read an ad or watch a commercial? The majority do so because they find them entertaining and informative. If your ads are all information and no entertainment, youíve wasted your budget.
This is not to say that an ad should be created purely for entertainment purposes. Again, a great ad is both entertaining and informative. The entertainment value should be derived from a feature of your product or brand. In other words, what youíre selling should be the star of the show. Sounds simple enough, but it is often hard to strike the right balance. Thatís what makes advertising so fun.
How much information does your audience really need? What kind of story will they find entertaining? These are questions that should be asked and answered early on so that when you finally are presented with an ad or a campaign, you can judge the work according to these preordained guidelines.
A good campaign will reach your target audience and talk to them on a personal level. This has a valuable effect on your sales and reputation. A great advertising campaign will do more than that. It will create a buzz outside of your target audience.
Apple Computerís ì1984î commercial ran only once. But it is still one of the most talked about commercials because it was rebroadcast on every major news show and written about in every major newspaper for weeks and months. And none of this cost Apple anything more than a single TV buy.
Itís worth noting that Appleís Super Bowl commercial helped make the company a household name and created unbelievable demand for the new Macintosh computer-yet the ad never showed the product or explained any details about it.
BMWís Mini Cooper was one of the first cars to be introduced in the United States with no TV advertising. Blasphemy! Instead, they bolted the Minis to the roofs of SUVs and drove them around major cities. They created tongue-in-cheek billboards, interactive print ads and great guerrilla promotions. Most importantly, they created a waiting list of customers who couldnít wait to get a Mini.
Companies that think bigger become bigger. Itís a self-fulfilling cycle. If you just think like a local operation, you might miss the opportunity to expand regionally, nationally, or even internationally. Your advertising campaign should reflect the direction of your companyóeven if youíre not yet there.
Challenge yourself and your agency to think bigger
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Sensing methods of Dielectrophories from Bulky Instruments to Lab-on-a-chip
Recently, the sensing methods for dielectrophoresis (DEP) have been changed from bulky instruments to lab-on-a-chip. Lab-on-a-chip based the dielectrophoresis phenomenon holds the promise to give biology the advantage of miniaturization for carrying out complex experiments. However, until now, there is an unmet need for lab-on-a-chip to effectively deal with the biological systems at the cell level.
Published in:
Circuits and Systems Magazine, IEEE (Volume:4 , Issue: 3 )
- Page(s):
- 5 – 15
- ISSN :
- 1531-636X
- INSPEC Accession Number:
- 8135939
- DOI:
- 10.1109/MCAS.2004.1337805
- Date of Publication :
- Third Quarter 2004
- Date of Current Version :
- 04 October 2004
- Issue Date :
- Third Quarter 2004
- Sponsored by :
- IEEE Circuits and Systems Society
- Publisher:
- IEEE
Yehya H. Ghallab, and Wael Badawy, “Sensing methods of Dielectrophories from Bulky Instruments to Lab-on-a-chip,” IEEE Circuit and Systems, Vol. 4, Issue 3, 2004
Advertising Temptations & How Small Businesses Can Handle Them
New advertising ideas and techniques most always get the quick attention of the optimistic small business owner.
The first time you hear about a something new to use or adapt, your mind races forward, especially if the testimonials are realistic and seem to relate to what you are doing.
To illustrate, picture that ad salesperson standing right there in your business.
Temptation is staring you in the face. “It’s a great deal,” they tell you. Do you go for it or not?
Here are three sets of realistic questions to ask yourself as you evaluate the proposal:
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1. Take a step to the side and consider this. Is your current advertising already covering the basics? Is this new temptation part of your basic advertising plan or does it fall in the “next level” category? Remember that you’ve got to do the basics first, just as you have to open a showroom before you can decorate it. So make sure you are doing the basics well before you move to the next level.
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2. Will the new idea or technique stand on its own as a profit generator? Can the new idea or technique be integrated into your basic advertising thrust so it can compliment what you are already doing? Will it contribute to building a cumulative advertising effect?
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3. Can you afford it? Is your advertising budget already strained? Will this advertising method pay for itself? Or will it break the bank?
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Background: The informed small business owner keeps good records of all promotions and advertising. You want to develop enough information to figure out what works and what doesn’t. It’s called learning from your experiences of being in the trenches.
Temptation stares you in the face at the least expected times. Temptation can come from hearing or reading about super results others have gotten with their advertising.
Often it appears when a salesperson tells you about the “great deal” they are offering. Temptation can come from looking forward to how great it would be if you could get similar results. It always sounds so easy.
Is temptation worth listening to? By giving yourself honest answers to the three questions above, you’ll know if it’s time to move ahead to the next level and succumb to your latest advertising temptations.
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