With many people opting to get more than digital photos commissioned for their beloved furry friends, pop art styles for pet portraits are becoming increasingly common. In this article, we bring forth a few such styles of dog art and pet portraits that are common today. If you too are thinking on getting such portraits commissioned, these ideas can be of great help.Sketch StyleEver-in-fashion, the sketch style of portraits can look fantastic. However, the difficulty in this style is getting your dog(s) or other pets to pose straight long enough for the artist. Digital tools are thus of great help and can convert digital photos to sketch style of art easily. Moreover, you even have the choice of background and sketch colour.Warhol pet portraitsIf you thought that Andy Warhol prints are just for celebrities, then your pet is definitely one. Using this style, digital artists convert digital photos of your pet into the Warhol style. Bright colours and backgrounds reflecting your pet’s persona are used too. If you are planning to opt for this style, do not forget to check out the Andy Warhol panels. Each portrait can have two or more panels with the same or different photos of your pet. Your moments with the dog can also be captured attractively in this style.Patch collage styleAnother popular style that looks great for pet portraits is the patch collage style. Swatches of different colours, textures, prints, plains, texts or designs are put together to create the image here. The most attractive part of this style is its play with colour and the balance in the variety.Pet collageIf you have more than a few pictures of your pet, you can put them together in the form of a collage too. This is a great pet portrait idea when you want to compile the various memories you share together. All placed on a common portrait are a great way to help you recollect memories, without having to flip pictures on an album. Collage options in pop art are varied and you can decide between body shape collages, two colour styles, crystallized and other variations.Monochromatic stylesBlack and white portraits look great whatever the subject maybe. And that is the precise reason why many people today commission pet portraits in monochromatic colours. With a little creativity, tone changes and single colour highlights, alluring combinations of monochromatic styles can be obtained too.The above mentioned five styles are some of the great ways of creating pet portraits. But these are not limited options. Each of these styles come with variations that make for great looks. Also, many other styles, not discussed here exist too. You may want to look at scanner darkly, silhouette, Piet Mondrian collage and Bilal styles too. Whatever pop art variation you use for creating a pet portrait, ensure that it reflects your pet’s persona. The bright colours of Warhol change to match your dog while an Enki Bilal inspiration is great for getting through a serious look.
Technology and Advertising: An Effective Marketing Strategy
Want to get rid of traditional form of advertising? Have difficulties in selecting the right tool to advertise your products and services? Want to change your advertising strategies to suit the latest trends in business? If your answer is yes, then you are one of those having trouble choosing the right advertising medium to market their products.Some companies and business owners are constantly looking for innovative and new ways to bring more sales. One way of attracting sales is through advertisement, marketing and building customer base.Advertising is important to companies because it attracts new and potential customers and encourages consumers to spend more. It builds business identity, enhances firm’s reputation and maintains brand’s credibility. Entrepreneurs and business enterprises use advertising to promote their products and services. It also reminds customers of the variety of products and services that they offer. Because of its importance in the survival of the business, it therefore mandatory for firms to make their advertisement unique and stand out. Once advertisements fail to attract or grab the attention of consumers, chances are, no purchases are made. As the saying goes, “If you don’t build, they won’t come. If you don’t advertise, they may not find you.”Like technology, advertising also evolves along with time and trend. From traditional advertising, which uses radio, television, newspapers, magazines, journals, it shifted to the use of technology like the Internet, computers and cellular phones.Advantages of Advertising:
Provides product information.
Builds and reinforces brand
Clears misconceptions about the product
Increased Sales
Alters attitudes of consumers
Improves the productFrom traditional advertisement, companies shifted to the use of technological innovation, including electronic displays, Internet advertising, plasma screens, projectors, and many more.Factors to consider when advertising:* Customers. Evaluate and determine your target clients. Aim your advertisement to your niche market. The common mistake committed by companies is creating nonspecific advertising campaigns that fail to capture the interest of prospective customers* Competitive advantage. Never forget to highlight and to point out positive points that your product offers.* Product Image. You should build your image to differentiate yourself from other products in the market.* Costs. Always remember that for companies to create an image and to attract potential clients effectively, they should spend money on advertisement.* Advertising medium. You should select the right medium on where to advertise your products or services. Advertise on the medium preferred by potential customers, such as the Internet, television, digital signage, newspapers and many more.* Advertising Formula. Never forget to structure your advertisement according to the AIDA formula, Attention, Interest, Desire and Action.* Guarantee. You should offer clients guarantee on products and services.* Approach. Use friendly approach to customers and buyers. Never show any resentment or any form of disappointment.No matter what tools or mediums you choose in advertising, never forget to write and to present your product conversationally. In presenting your advertisement, you should use present tense because it keeps your words fresh, alive and immediate. Use powerful words and catchy headline to attract customers and to keep them reading the advertisement.
Hard Money Commercial Loans Versus Commercial Stated Income Loans
Borrowers that have “issues” with their commercial mortgage requests are often forced to consider either a hard money commercial loan or a stated income commercial loan. Neither program will have terms that most borrowers are used to, but both can be a solid solution given the right (or wrong set of issues) for the borrower. Despite both loans being gear towards difficult loans to get done, they both fill different niche situations.What are the main differences?Commercial stated income loans are exposed to fill the niche of borrowers that collect enough income to qualify for the loan, but just don’t show it on their financials. The programs are often structured more as a long term finance option. Fixed rate period range from 3 to 5 years, with a few lenders going out to 30 years fixed. Amortization periods range from 20 -30 years.In contrast, many private money lenders often don’t care or ask for financials, they are instead interested in the equity within the property. They normally will only lend to 60% loan to value, and that is often a discounted value. Keep in mind however that all private money lenders look at deals as they feel fit and often will underwrite a loan request with all financials and documentation required. The holding period is short term with 12 to 36 months being the norm for lengths of loans.Another major difference is prepayment penalties. Hard money commercial loans often do not have these (some do they call them exit fees) while stated income pre-pays are expensive. For example most change 10% for 5 years with a 2 or 3 year lock out and or some combination. This alone can be the deciding factor on which route you should look at. For example if you’re trying to stabilize a property than refinance or sell, you definitely don’t want to go stated.Rates on hard money are currently around 12% – 16% with 3 -6 points. Rates on stated loans range from 8% to 14% depending to the details. Loan to values is another distinguishing feature. Stated loans can go as high as 90% financing while hard money will rarely exceed 65%.
Which should you look at?The planned holding period and existing loan to value often decide for the borrower which is a more viable route. For example, if the borrower is trying to get 75% LTV on a cash out refinance there’s basically no hard money lender would even consider that deal. Or say, the owner want to sell the property in a year or two the prepayment penalties on a stated deal will likely make it just too expensive for the borrower.
Online Education – Why Get One?
Everything is moving online. Shop, order food, watch television shows, stream music, and get an education while you are online. You may have heard about online courses but never taken the time to see what they are about. Many people are realizing how easy it is to get higher education online, such as bachelor’s and master’s degrees, and many are signing up.What are the advantages of going online with education? Well, for one, it’s much cheaper than being on campus because it reduces fees you pay while on a university campus. Also, most universities offer online classes at a lower rate and will become cheaper as they become more popular and spots fill. Also, the other great advantage of online classes is being able to do course work from wherever you are. If you have a laptop, then you can access your education from anywhere in the world as long as you have an internet connection. It’s revolutionizing the speed at which people become educated.Convenience also translates to time and money. When education is convenient, it saves you time and hassle from finding a parking spot and attending class on a campus some where. Keep your valuable time by longing in to your class online and completing all necessary course work. When you save time, you save money. Not having to commute to school is a top reason to get an online education. Save money you would spend on transportation and use it to pay for the classes you take online. In every aspect, online classes save you time and money.Most professionals who pursue master’s degrees are in the work force and don’t have time to stop working, go back to school and work for a degree. They need to continue in their field but also acquire a higher education. The only way to make this possible and convenient is to take classes online. When you leave work for the day, you can relax and regain energy and knock out assignments for class, all from the comfort of your home. In no time you will have a master’s for your field and hopefully receive a higher position and salary.Are you starting to see the benefits of getting an online education? The numbers add up and they are all positive for you. Time, money and effort are all conserved and save for you to use in other areas of your life. Enjoy work and education at the same time.
Training & Vocational Schools Provide Skills That Get Jobs
Training and vocational schools are educational institutions that provide practical and vocational skills and knowledge related to a specific competency, trade, occupation or profession. Training schools usually provide materials and equipment used in actual situations that an individual often faces at their workplace. This is similar to an on-the-job training that is done under normal working situations or a simulation of it. Vocational school, on the other hand, teaches students how to do a certain job and the skills needed for a given career.Training and vocational schools are often operated by different federal departments such as the Department of Labor, the Department of Education, and the Department of Health and Human Services. All of these government institutions provide these programs especially for welfare recipients, poor adults and youth, and workers who have lost their jobs. However, there are also private training and vocational school that are subsidized by private colleges and universities for students who cannot afford to study full-time or for workers who need additional skills for mastery of their craft, certification and licensure, or for promotion.Training schools have different programs to provide the skills and knowledge required to achieve certification or completion. There are two categories for training and these are on-the-job and off-the-job. On-the-job training places students within the normal working conditions while off-the-job training is done outside of the working area and in classrooms for students to concentrate more on the training itself. But there are some programs in training schools that require both practical and theoretical lessons to be provided simultaneously. These training schools usually have classrooms where an area is designed as a simulation of a “real time” working area. Training schools cater to various levels of students of different ages such as those that teach languages, arts, performing arts, sports, and sciences, as well as those that provide training for improving work skills for their jobs.Vocational schools are similar to training schools in that students are prepared for jobs using manuals and practical activities which are related to specific trade, occupation or vocation. However, these educational institutions are primarily provided at the secondary or post-secondary level which is similar to an apprenticeship. The programs are designed for students to immediately get jobs after attending vocational schools or to continue their education in colleges or universities. However, vocational schools do not belong to the higher education category.Examples of vocational school programs include:
Auto repair technician/mechanic
Bookkeeping
Carpentry
Child day care management
Computer programming
Cooking and catering
Criminal justice
Dental assistant
Electrician
Floral design
Medical transcription
PC repair and maintenance
Photography
Plumbing
Veterinary assistant or technician
Website design
Virtual Classrooms Of New Age Education System
Online learning is gradually considered to be in equal respect with traditional learning. But somehow the standards of online education are doubted upon every now and then in comparison to traditional ways of learning. The quality maybe the same but the credibility sometimes become a question.
In secondary schools, online learning is benefiting students a lot. There is a huge collection of courses that are designed to meet individual needs. But at the same time, concerned authorities are of the view that there is a need to put regulation over its use as the chances of misuse at the high school levels are more. Considering the remote areas or the ones that do not have enough accredited online schools in their vicinity, e-learning is picking popularity among the students.
On the contrary, some hold the view that online learning process lessens the success probabilities as it demands self-discipline, good reading skills and immense self-motivation. Thus an assessment criterion is proposed to be implemented in all the regions to check the entry of suitable individuals in online-learning. The qualitative result of online courses can be ensured by below mentioned models.
1. A direct link to the provincial curriculum
2. Constructivist pedagogical approaches
3. Relating content to pedagogy
4. Access to existing “learning objects”
5. Assessment practices
6. Technological infrastructure
7. Technical support for teachers and students
Distance education proves to be very helpful in case of large nations which are geographically distant. There are numerous students who would want to study aboard but financial or geographical constraints make the situation difficult for them. But with the coming of online education structures in countries like Canada and Australia, and online colleges in Florida (click here, for more information), the scenario has completely changed. Today you can get yourself enrolled in a number of accredited online schools and attain a degree that will be a big step ahead in your career. Be it any phase of life you are in, employed, pursuing a course, part-time or full-time working, a virtual classroom gives you the flexibility that your present life demands.
Recent studies have also proved that the number of people going for e-learning has increased considerably. A recent survey showed that 80% of all higher education organizations offer full or merged online courses and a considerable amount of them happen to be designed on long term learning.
But at the same time, as expected, there are disagreements as well. While the above studies in US prove to be quite encouraging and show that many times e-learning yields better results than traditional system, the studies in Canada on various universities indicate that it is just the different method of learning producing exactly same results in education system. Since different individuals require different ways to be catered, online education just provides another way of learning and has an equal effect on the students, nothing more nothing less.
Technology is undoubtedly making a difference. The professors are now involved in a new system where there are jointly making efforts to teach the students in a more personalized way instead of sticking to the traditional classroom setting. Accredited online school increases the ability of students to open up and involve in the learning process actively.
Moreover, the online sources are yet to make a reputed stand for themselves among the employers. The credibility is still doubted by the employers and the universities who provide both traditional as well as online courses are trusted upon more than independent online schools irrespective of the fact that they are authenticated. Virtual classes are certainly being increasingly accepted but they are yet to receive their due credit.
Yoga-Based Education System
If anybody has to practice yoga at a young age, people would remark, “Yoga, so early?” Even now many people still think that yoga is only a pastime for retired people, but I always felt that yoga has more to do with the evolution of the human mind and the human body.
Mind preparation for yoga
When you want to prepare a garden, grow flowers and trees, what do you do? Do you just sprinkle seeds? Many people might do that, but nothing would grow. First you have to prepare the soil, make it soft and pull out the weeds. Then you can sow the seeds and they will grow into nice flowers and fruit-bearing trees. The same law applies to the human mind. The mind has to be prepared for accepting the seeds.
The mind assumes many stages. There are certain stages where nothing goes into the head. Surely you have met such people in your life. Whatever you tell them falls on deaf ears; nothing penetrates their brain. They are like hard soil, and the best of seeds will not grow there. No matter
how much you work at it. Then there are some people who are like soft soil. When you tell them something, they are completely responsive. These people have what are called receptive minds. Therefore, what is important in yoga is that we try to transform the quality of consciousness. They everything can be planted in the mind without any obstruction.
Place of Super Mind
In fact, millions of years ago pineal gland played an active role in the development of the human brain. Therefore, people of those times has greater psychic and spiritual qualities and better control over their emotions, but with the passage of time the pineal gland has followed a course of degeneration.
In yoga, the pineal gland is said to be the physical correlate of ‘ AJANA CHAKRA’. Mystics and occultists refer to it as the third eye and philosophers call it the super mind. The pineal gland is very active in children, but by the time they reach the age of eight or ten it begins to calcify, and in elderly people it has little or no role to play in life.
This is very unfortunate because in yoga the pineal gland is considered to be the controlling and monitoring station in the brain. Just as an airport has a control tower. The human brain also has a directing, regulating and blocking tower, which controls all the faculties of the brain. In yoga we call this control station ‘AJANA CHAKARA’ ; the word ‘AJANA’ itself means monitoring, ordering or regulating.
When the pineal gland starts to degenerate, the pituitary gland comes into action and the action and the emotions shoot up. This is the reason why so many children become emotionally unbalanced and disturbed during their adolescent and adolescent years.
Adrenal glands have a very important role to play in the child’s moral behaviour. Usually, those with criminal tendencies have a overactive adrenal system.
Yogic system of education
There are various processes through which knowledge can be implanted in the human brain. During the last few decades many methods have been introduced into the educational system. The oldest method, of course, is teaching in a classroom with a cane. When the child is intelligent give him high mark, and when he is dull give him a big zero. The teacher gives a lecture, writes the points on a blackboard and the student is expected to understand. If he does not then give him a cross. This is a system of teaching, but not a system of education.
At every moment of our lives, right from birth, we are constantly receiving impressions, but these are not registered in the same form as when they went in. they are registered in the form of symbolic vibrations. Have the educators developed a system to teach children which works like this?
Geography, history, mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, botany or anything can be taught through symbolic methods. This is the form of education which has to be used for the dull type of student. You can explain a certain concept to an intelligent child and he will understand it, but the dull child will not know what you are talking about because his conscious brain, his intellect, is incapable of receiving the knowledge that you are giving him. Therefore, you will have to transmit the knowledge in a symbolic form directly into his subconscious mind. This is precisely the system of education in yoga.
Education System In Romania – To Be Or Not To Be
Education is a very important aspect in Romanians’ life. Since time immemorial, in the smallest villages in the area they used to have a particular respect for the intellectuals of the village who used to be the teacher, the mayor and the priest. Consequently, nowadays it is more important then ever to be well educated. The education system in Romania seems in general quite difficult, both for teachers and for students.
Nursery school begins at the age of three and it can finish at the age of six or seven, depending on the child’s capability. Classes start at 8 a.m. and they finish at noon. At the nursery school they learn to draw, to colour, to listen to stories and then to prove what they have understood.
In addition, they can learn to sing and dance, they are taught practical abilities, therefore they can learn by doing paper boats, snowflakes and other things related to their universe. They can learn as well foreign languages like English, German or even French, according to the nursery school’s profile.
At the end of the nursery school stage children are evaluated by the schools that they will attend. Primary education therefore starts at the age of six or seven and it finishes at the age of 10 or 11. In this case, as well, classes start at 8 a.m. and they finish at noon too. Children do not have lunch at school but they can have a sandwich from home and as snack, they get a small carton of milk and a roll.
Furthermore, during primary education in Romania, school subjects are Romanian, Mathematics, Music, Physical Education, Religion, Art, Practical Abilities, Geography, History, Biology, English or other foreign language. Nursery and primary school evaluation is performed via grades like “insufficient”, “sufficient”, “good” and “very good”.
To continue, during lower secondary school, which lasts for four years too, students learn new subjects like Physics, Chemistry, another foreign language, which is French , German or Spanish. During the 7th grade, they have to pass two national tests in Romanian and Mathematics at the end of each term. By the way, the academic year has two terms and children are on holiday for Christmas, between the two terms, for Easter and the summer holiday is from June 15 to September 15.
The 8th grade is very important in the education system in Romania because at its end students have to pass a final test in Romanian, Mathematics and Geography or History. According to the marks they have, which can be from 1 to 10, they can enter a high school.
Besides, they have the possibility to fill in a form containing lists of high schools and choose one or more, but it depends on their average mark at the test if they are distributed, or not at the high school they want.
Those students who have not passed this exam have the possibility to attend vocational schools where they are taught subjects that are more practical, and at the end of these schools they can have a qualification.
Finally, after four high school years, they have to pass the baccalaureate exam and then they can enter the university they want. In the education system in Romania, it is compulsory to attend school until the age of 16.
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Canadian Education System
The Canadian Education System is governed, funded and supervised by federal, provincial, and local governments, but it is the responsibility of the provincial (territorial) government. Universities have their own administration, while the educational programs of the schools are administrated by the school boards.
The majority of the elementary and secondary schools are public, the education being free of charge and available for everyone. There are also catholic schools and private schools (about 8% of students are in private schools).
There are variations between provinces, but generally the Education in Canada is divided into Elementary Education, followed by Secondary (High School) and Post Secondary (University, College). Education is compulsory up to the age of 16 in every province in Canada, except for New Brunswick and Ontario, where it is compulsory up to the age of 18.
Canada offers two parallel systems of education after high school, each requiring a high school certificate for admission and each playing a key role in the development of knowledge and skills.
According to Statistics Canada, 61% of individuals aged 25 to 34 have qualifications beyond high school.
According to an annual study done by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Canada ranks fourth overall in the proportion of its working-age population with a university degree, thus is a world leader in education.
Canada spends about 7% of its GDP on education.
Average fees for full-time undergraduate students, 2008-2009
(Source: Statistics Canada)
Canada – $4,724
N. L. – $2,632
P.E.I. – $4,530
Nova Scotia – $5,932
New Brunswick – $5,590
Quebec – $2,167
Ontario – $5,643
Manitoba – $3,276
Saskatchewan – $5,015
Alberta – $5,361
British Columbia – $5,040