How to Buy Used Car in USA?

Have the plan to buy a used car in USA? You have made a smart decision. Value of a used car depends upon its mileage, condition, reliability, performance and its popularity. Buying a used car in USA is a stressful process but you can make it easier by following simple steps:- 

• Plan your budget for buying the Car and monthly commitments for monthly installment (if you go for car loan), Maintenance Cost & Insurance Premium. 
• Decide the Make, Model, Year, Size & the Interior Features you are looking for.
• Do not limit your decision for a particular make and model. Expand it. For example, if you are looking for Toyota Make, you think of other makes like Honda, Nissan or Chevrolet.
• Decide whether you prefer to buy from the owner or from the dealer.
• Visit Craiglist or Carfax or Edmunds for buying new / old cars and for other related services.
• Be cautious of scams like Sale of Car by Shipping, Payment through Western Union or Money Wire and abnormally low price cars. Also note, eBay has no involvement for vehicle sale ads.
• If you want to know the Car History, get VIN/HIN No. of the car from the owner/dealer and check car history report by visiting Carfax.
• Carfax provides detailed information about fair/good/excellent value of the car as on date, ownership/title history, accidents/damages and services undertaken.
• After going through the Car History, if you have decided to go for the car, test-drive the car.
• To negotiate best deal and/or to avoid any mechanical problems in near future, get the car checked by a mechanic to know any further services/parts replacements required, even if you are satisfied with the vehicle after test-drive.
• Inspection of the car by a mechanic is available free or at very affordable charges.
• Most owners quote at excellent price. Try to negotiate for good price or less than that.
• Keep in mind, good used cars get sold quickly.

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Copyright

'Copyright' is a law to protect the creators of original published and unpublished works of authorship. Some important and interesting information about Copyright:-

• Copyright protects literary works, books, poems, theses, song lyrics, sound recordings, paintings , logos, screenplays, websites, source code, choreographic works, motion pictures, architectural & technical works.
• There is no 'International Copyright Act' which can protect an author's writings throughout the world. But most countries offer protection to foreign works subject to certain conditions.
• US has copyright treaties with most countries throughout the world and its copyright is honored in around 190 countries.
• Copyright infringement is a violation of exclusive rights of the copyright owner, whether intentional or unintentional.
• Copyright Registration establishes a public record of the copyright claim.
• Copyright, Trademark & Patent differ from one another.
• Copyright protects the works of authorship. Trademark protects words, phrases & logos, identifying source of goods/services like Microsoft, Hewlett Packard & FedEx. Patent is the exclusive right, granted by Government, to make use of an invention of process for a specific period of time like Michael Jackson's Patented Anti-gravity Shoes.
• Most copyright litigations are civil in nature. But in some countries, copyright violation is a criminal offence.
• Copyright protects those portions of a work that are original and that were created.

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Psycho-impacts of Child Abuse

Child abuse is a harm or ill-treatment either by parents or relatives or guardians or by other children either intentionally or unintentionally. They abuse due to some personal or situational factors. According to UNICEF Report, every 13 seconds a child is abused in the world. Inability to manage children single-handed in the case of single parents by expecting too much from children is one of the reasons for child abuse.

Child abuse (physically, psycholgically or emotionally) leads to following negative impacts:-

• A punished child becomes preoccupied with feelings of anger and revenge, and prevents him opportunity to learn efficacious methods of solving problems.
• Punishment produces "good behavior" in the early years, but at a high price, when the child enters adulthood.
• Physically assaulted child concludes that it is permissible to hurt smaller and less powerful persons. When he becomes an adult, he will feel little compassion for those less fortunate than he is, and fears from those who are more powerful than him.
• Unskilled parents fail to solve problems in a creative and humane way which continues into the next generation.
• Children recall psychological & emotional abuses than pleasant and positive memories.
• The more a child is physically punished, he would behave aggressively toward other family members and peers.
• Children who are subject to abuse finds it difficult to maintain long-lasting relationships with parents.
• Child abuse results in to anxiety, depression, eating disorders, shyness and behaviour, attention and concentration problems.
• It is less likely that child abusers are strangers. Around 35% of victims are abused by our friends and family members. Find out the best ways to prevent child abuse.

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How Animated Movies Produced?

Creating an animated movie like The Little Mermaid & The Lion King requires meticulous planning. Animated Movies are the ones in which individual drawings and illustrations are photographed frame by frame, each differs slightly from the one preceding it, giving the illusion of movement when projected in rapid succession. Steps involved in producing an animated movie:-

• Pre-production begins with the main concepts of the story.
• Usually pre-production planning does not start with a script (in which actions, expression and dialogues of the characters are narrated). The story is first story-boarded.
• Storyboard tells the story frame by frame like a comic book. It conveys how charaters are moving and what they are speaking to each other.
• Once the storyboard is finalised, background locations and costumes are designed for each shot.
• Character sheet is then prepared to standardise the appearance and gestures of each characters.
• The Animatics process gives an idea of every scene will look and feel with motion and timing. It is a series of images displayed in sequence.
• Actual work starts from production phase. Layout Artist first prepares 3D computer graphics, based on the storyboard drawn on paper.
• Texturing Artists prepares astonishing details of each charater such as its cloth, hair, eye color and its surrounding environment. For completing this process, artists use softwares like photoshop. Texturing process converts the character and environment more realistic.
• Lighting is a very important process in producing any movie. Here, the Lighting Artist ensures what type of lighting atmosphere best suits, depending upon the scene.
• After the Lighting process is over, rigging is done by adding bones characters for the movement of the characters.
• The final process is done by the compositors who bring together all 3D elements, followed by editing of sound & video.
• Video Editing manipulates and rearranges shots and removes unwanted scenes.

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Toyota Prefers To Be Best

Toyota - the world's leading automobile manufacturer - is about far more than cars. Designing, Producing, and Selling almost ten million cars each year can never be an easy task. Following deep-seated, unique Corporate Culture and guiding principles make Toyota to be the best in auto industry:-

• Most companies worry about the next quarter. Toyoto thinks about the next quarter century.
• When Ford & General Motors were building up SUVs, Toyota quietly took a huge lead on hybrids.
• Toyota expects its people at every level of its manufacturing process to think and act like quality control inspectors.
• It strives for 'Continuous Improvement'. Everything is always open to refinement from assembly line processes to corporate policies.
• It revolutionizes the way its employees are managed, to maximize their strengths instead of criticising their weaknesses, Leaders at Toyota take up gladly long-term transformations that might taken even a decade to pay off - one of the much difficult functions.
• Toyota creates and develops advanced technologies to fulfill the needs of customers worldwide.
• It honors the language and spirit of the law of every nation and undertakes open and fair corporate activities to be good corporate citizen of the world.
• Toyota grows in harmony with the global community through Innovative Management.
• Toyota deeply researches and analyses the culture and customs of every nation and contributes to economic and social development through corporate activities in the communities.

Writing Reviews About Products

Before you buy any product or avail any service, do you actively search for reviews by the existing customers? Or after you have bought any product or availed any service, have you ever written reviews? If you want to write reviews about a product or service and make the people read your reviews and trust, here are the guidelines:-

• Everybody knows no product could be perfect and no one trusts all positive reviews.
• More than half of online shoppers read user reviews for researching the product or service.
• Readers are not interested in reading lengthy paragraphs and irrelevant information. Most readers read only those reviews which are very simple, easy to understand and to the point. So be brief in short sentences.
• Readers with diverse background might be having strong technical knowledge or mighty not be. Use simple language as far as possible.
• Begin your review with the Product Make, Model, Price, Place, Merchant's Name & your expectations before buying the product.
• Write in points beginning with positive aspects of the product or service.
• Most reputed manufacturers/merchants solicit negative reviews of the product. Unbiased negative reviews will help the reader to decide whether to buy the product or not?
• While writing negative reviews, be specific about the product or service. As far as negative aspects of the product is concerned, suggest alternate product make & model and other useful information.
• Conclude your review about the product in brief - the benefits of buying the product or availing service and what it lacks.
• Before posting your review, ensure that the information you have provided is accurate and is free from 'communication overflow'.

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Qualities of a Technical Writer

Technical means anything having to do with the specialised areas of Science & Technology and deals with topics of a technical nature. A Technical Writer produces technical documentation for technical, business & consumer audiences and should have the following qualities:-

• The purpose of technical writing is transmission of technical information. A Technical Writer should present the facts, data & observations accurately.


• The technical document he prepares should contain useful information. Readers are interested in knowing what they need to know about the topic and nothing more and nothing else.


• He should be able to ensure that the manual or technical report he has prepared is complete in all respects. He has included everything, readers need to know.


• He should prepare the report in brief and ensure that words and phrases used are well-organised and to the point.


• He should use his words, sentences & paragraphs in short and in a logical way with visuals such as Chart, Graph, Table or Diagram, if necessary.


• He should be able to prepare consistent and uniform throughout his document/report, using abbreviations, punctuations and rules of grammer to avoid confusing the readers.


• Often, readers of the technical report will be from diverse backgrounds. A technical writer should be able to write for the majority of readers, at the sametime, accommodating minorities.


• A good technical writer should be able to well-organise his document/report and make it interesting for the readers to read.

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Strategic Things for Superiors

If you are a Superior and have one or more subordinates under you, what strategic things you can do in his workplace? :-

• Most problems have no just one solution. Ask your subordinates for many alternative solutions.
• Raise the bar in getting ideas. Ask your subordinates to come up with more ideas as soon as possible.
• Sometimes good subordinates work well together. Sometimes they do not. If the need arises, make changes in the team.
• Allow your subordinates to perform their task on their own way. Tell them what to do and not how to do?
• If your subordinates have trouble in giving answers to a problem, possibly you asked wrong question presented with wrong problem. Make sure, you have properly formed the problem and presented to your subordinates.
• Most subordinates value recognition for their efforts more than financial incentives. Allow your subordinates to shine by your appreciation.
• Some of your subordinates might not be efficient, but might be having innovative ideas. Give importance to their ideas though not efficient in work.
• Use the word "we" instead of 'I". "I" is a dividing word nor it is accurate when you use it to claim credit for an idea.
• Share your experience with your subordinates to create an atmosphere of working together easier.
• Everybody lies. But lying about important issues really matter. Tell the truth about anything important.
• Always keep in mind that your subordinates work with you and not for you.

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SWOT

SWOT is a planning method used to evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats involved in a particular direction for any business. Why & How SWOT analysis is conducted? How to use it & how it can be evaluated?:-

• SWOT Technique was developed Albert Humphrey at Stanford University.
• SWOT helps to position products and services against competitors and to plan for potential future threats.
• SWOT can be used as a precursor to developing strategic plan.
• Strengths, Weaknesses, and Opportunities are internal or external while threats are almost external to business.
• SWOT is a brainstorming activity and key employees should always be involved in the process.
• SWOT analysis takes into account other areas of business such as Market Share, Customer Service, Marketing Effectiveness, and Financial Strength.
• It helps in making decision to invest in the new product or to consider other revenues to increase revenue.
• SWOT may also be used in any decision-making situation.
• SWOT helps to chalk out future plans by using past and current data.
• SWOT does not provide any guidance to rank each of the elements under Strengths, Weaknesses, Threats and Opportunities or set priorities.

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HRD Vs. Personnel

HR & Personnel Management are considered to be same functions but vary from each other:-

• The function of HRD is to 'develop' employees & Personnel to 'control' them.
• HR deals with managing the knowledge, aptitude, skills & creativity of the personnel whereas Personnel Management deals with rules and regulations for the personnel.
• Scope of HR is wide. HR deals with proactive planning and discovering new ways in which task is performed in a given time-frame. Scope of Personnel Management is narrow. It limits to administration and achievement of given targets in a utilitarian and practical manner. HR treats employees as people having emotions and as an asset and trained and developed for the benefit of organisation as well as employees.
• HR considers employees as useful human assets for the organisation whereas Personnel considers the employees as cost for the organisation.
• HR focus on getting the work done by co-ordination and support whereas Personnel focus on getting the work done by giving authority to superiors.
• In case of HR, communication channel is always open, whereas personnel communication believes in one way communication - from top to bottom.
• HR believes that employee commitment and support is important for organisational effectiveness and success whereas Personnel believes that an organisation can succeed even without active support of the employees.
• HR deals more with training & development, problem-solving, collaborative team work & employee orientation whereas personnel management deals with recruitment, selection & salary administration.

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