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December, 2010:

Brise soleil – good looks and practicality go hand in hand

Dec 29th, 2010
by Louise.
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As awareness of environmentally sound architecture increases and government regulations surrounding the energy efficiency of buildings become increasingly tight, many architectural features such as the brise soleil and external louvres have become commonplace, even if many people are unaware of their function. Many may assume that the aluminium curtains, glass louvres and sails which are increasingly an element of modern buildings, are just a design feature whereas their impact is far more than just decorative.

Given the popularity of programmes such as Grand Designs, the concept of passive solar heating and the use of better insulation to reduce heating costs is now fairly familiar. However, the opposite effect, passive cooling, is rarely considered, even though it is a technique which was used by the Ancient Egyptians! Less thought is also given, outside design circles at least, to maximising the use of natural light in new buildings, thus reducing electrical costs. Solutions that work with the sun to provide maximum natural lighting without glare and overheating are also still a fairly new concept.

However, the weird metal protrusions that stick out of many new buildings these days looking for all the world like an over-sized set of IKEA kitchen shelves can help with both cooling and lighting issues and many other more discreet design features, such as glass louvres, are also providing more than just a decorative function.

The term ‘brise soleil’ which, roughly translated from the French means ‘sun break’, refers in architectural circles to any permanent external structure which helps to stop the sun shining directly into a building. Some avant-garde architects have even built such a function into the main fabric of the building, such as Le Corbusier who created distinctive simply patterned concrete walls. More commonly, a structure made of a different material is used, such as steel or aluminium louvres. These can be angled to allow a building with a large glass façade to be protected from overheating during the summer when the sun is at a higher angle while maximising the intake of light and warmth from the sun during the winter months when the light comes in  from a much lower angle.

The best firms are able to create detailed analyses of either existing buildings or the plans for new projects. These map out the angle of the sun during different seasons of the year and make proposals based on these calculations for appropriate sun-shading. Maple Sunscreening, for example, is a company which regularly advises architects and engineers on how to use features such as brise soleils and glass louvres to meet standards for CO2 emissions and combines advice on internal sun-screening with suggestions for outdoor screening such as external louvres to create an overall scheme which maximises long term reductions in the final building’s energy costs.

Please visit http://www.maplesunscreening.co.uk/ for further information about this topic.

http://www.maplesunscreening.co.uk/

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Phono stage is needed for good LP sound reproduction

Dec 26th, 2010
by Louise.
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For the committed audiophile, especially those dedicated to listening to recordings of early 20th century musicians whose recordings may only be available on vinyl, the shiny silver micro CD system in the corner of most modern living-rooms, possibly purchased at an out of town supermarket, is an abomination. Suggesting they listen to CDs on an audio system without phono amp or phono preamp, is like asking Raymond Blanc to subsist on a diet of Pot Noodles. In pursuit of the perfect, most authentic sound, these connoisseurs will spend much time and money on the perfect phono stage while the rest of the world looks on perplexed at their use of a so-called obsolete technology.

Although today only a minority of people under the age of thirty will have bought a record in their time, the ability to record and reproduce sound was so revolutionary that they remained in popular use in one form or another across an entire century from the 1890s right up to the early 1990s.  Once cheap CD players became as affordable as turntables, digital music reproduction became king, but the enthusiasm of those dedicated to ‘real’ music recordings is such that the technology behind and the market for turntables, phono stages and cartridges continues to develop at the top end of the audio system market.

Indeed, many purists continue to use vinyl only, arguing that digital music systems – CDs, and MP3 downloads – give a clinical and processed sound that is inferior to the records of yesteryear. Others may want to continue listening to their record collection without shelling out large amounts of money to purchase duplicates in digital format – and, in any case, many records may simply not be available on CD. The evolution of music storage has also seen an evolution in marketing and corporate strategy, and smaller parties are not economically worth updating. Consequently, vinyl editions of these artists are unique and irreplaceable.

This does not mean that vinyl cannot be combined with state-of-the-art modern sound equipment, though. You can have the best of both worlds, linking your turntable to amplifier and speakers via a phono stage. The job of a phono pre-amp is to amplify the signal from your turntable to make it useful to the main amp; thus a phono amp is an indispensable part of listening to your old LPs on modern equipment, helping to keep the past alive without sanitising it with the vagaries of the new digital technology.

Please visit http://www.whestaudio.co.uk/ for further information about this topic.

http://www.whestaudio.co.uk/

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Social worker jobs have changed massively in the last 40 years

Dec 20th, 2010
by Anna.
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Social work jobs are tough and intense at the best of times, leaving hardly any room for consideration of the past, and thereby getting more perspective on the present. However, Brian Dimmock, a principle lecturer in social work at the university of Gloucester, has finished a project to change that. Recently the Guardian reported on his project to compile more than 50 face-to-face interviews with different people in all types of social worker jobs. The interviewees range from very young workers at the beginning of their careers to older people, who have been in social services jobs for over 40 years; from students in their first jobs, to managers.

The interviews also involve a range of workers from various regions of the country. Dimmock’s research took more than four years, and the interviews are unedited, ranging from 20 to 50 minutes long. The main purposes for carrying out this project seem to be to gauge the mood, or level of job satisfaction, amongst social workers, and to see how they think about their own profession. Also, the aim was to test whether progress is being made in social work according to the workers, and to see what has changed in 40 years of social work.

One of the conclusions is that people find that the rise of the management culture can sometimes be frustrating, since it is perceived to result in a reduction in face-to-face time with the people they are supposed to be able to help. This is accompanied with frustration at a greater level of bureaucracy: the amount of risk assessments, incident forms and other types of paperwork has augmented ever more over the past 40 years. However, there were positives to come from the interviews.

The most noteworthy of the findings, according to Dimmock, has been that people in social worker jobs have continued to be so positive about their professions, despite the many obstacles that they face. The profession does seem to suffer from a perception that, to begin with, one starts off idealistic, and ends up becoming ‘world weary’ as a result of the frustration of not being able to make as much of a change for good as one had hoped. However, this does not seem to be the case, judging by the people in social work jobs interviewed in Dimmock’s videos. Social services jobs still seem to attract people who are motivated to make a tangible difference to people’s lives, and often as a result of their own life experiences.

Please visit http://www.socialworkandcarejobs.com/ for further information about this topic.

http://www.socialworkandcarejobs.com/

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Business proposal writing: a vital skill in the modern world

Dec 9th, 2010
by Anna.
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business proposal writing is all about understanding the mindset of the company.  Many consultants think that they can write an effective proposal if they know a lot about the bid, but many people make the mistake of failing to give sufficient consideration to the client’s position.  If this is the case in your business, you may find that some expert bid support will give your business a real boost.  Similarly, many sales teams approach their presentations in the same way they have for years, and some small changes in their strategy might really show up in sales figures.  It can be tricky for teams to reinvent their strategies at the drop of a hat, and therefore a little sales presentation training might be just the thing you need.

Business proposal writing can be a stressful business; with hugely lucrative contracts at stake, the content of a business proposal might be the most important thing you write in a year.  If your entire team’s job security is dependent on the quality of your presentation, it certainly seems worth taking some advice on how to write a bid.  Perhaps the most important element of any bid is clarity, as clients who receive a large number of submissions will have limited time in which to take in several documents.  If you can help them by summarising the content of your document in 2-3 sentences at the beginning, your proposal will certainly have a head start.  This enables you to highlight the key strengths of your presentation at the outset, so that the reader knows what to look out for.  Nobody likes having to read a document more than once before they fully grasp what the writer is trying to convey, and by inserting a clear summary at the start, you can ensure that your document will not demand this kind of attention.

It is also a very good idea to include visual elements in your presentation as much as possible.  Logos, images, charts and graphs will greatly enhance the appeal of your document and make it much easier for the reader to understand.  Ploughing through pages of written text is not always conducive to engaging the reader and ensuring that they remember your proposal over the many others they have to read.

The best written proposal can fall flat if it is poorly delivered, which is why sales presentation training can be an extremely valuable investment.  If your business proposal writing is streamlined and your presentation style is original and effective, you should have few problems in securing the contracts that will make you the envy of your colleagues. Once start seeing the positive results, you may end up thinking that paying for bid support is priceless.

Please visit http://www.salesengine.co.uk/ for further information about this topic.

http://www.salesengine.co.uk/

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Document management systems are becoming more popular

Dec 7th, 2010
by Louise.
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Nowadays the importance of caring for the environment is the subject of a great number of extremely high-profile campaigns. document management and document processing are already enormously popular ways to lower the amount of paper which your office gets through each year and as a result help to sustain the globe’s forests.  Invoice processing is another important tool which is becoming more and more indispensable in offices around the world. The benefits of these management and processing systems, however, are not limited to saving the environment or reducing your carbon footprint. These systems can streamline your business and save you money. It is no wonder that they are highly recommended by lots of office managers.

Some of the most important work that is done in an office is accomplished through team-working and collaboration. A proper document management system can make this aspect of working life much easier and speedier. Documents that would previously have been stored on paper can now be edited very simply by multiple users and stored for easy retrieval. This process can free-up office space and allow staff to work more productively. It can also increase office morale because staff members feel their time is valued highly by their employer.

Invoice processing is increasingly used by top companies to coordinate their payments. This type of system uses intelligent data capture software to significantly speed up the processing of invoices. This is normally a time-consuming and boring job. Scanning invoices into a processing system allows them to be speedily distributed to the relevant member of the accounts department for approval. The shortened period of time in which invoices are processed enables businesses to improve their relationships with their suppliers and to take advantage of early-payment discounts.

This type of processing can also be useful for controlling and planning expenditure. It can help to remove human error from the payment process and security and auditing features can be added to the system. It frees up staff time to do more satisfying and interesting jobs to develop the business.

If your business isn’t currently using document processing or invoice processing systems they are well worth investigating. They can help to make your employees’ working days more productive, to reduce overheads and stationery costs, as well as helping to save the environment. document management systems are in use in many top businesses and have been for many years. They are simple and easy to use from the first and are a great way to improve a company’s efficiency and organisation.

Please visit http://www.bottomline.co.uk/ for further information about this topic.

http://www.bottomline.co.uk/

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