India slips to 128th in global peace index

India has slipped to a low of 128 in the Global Peace Index ranking with the country along with Pakistan and Sri Lanka experiencing more incidents of internal conflicts, terrorism and human rights abuses.

Overall the world became less peaceful for the second consecutive year, said the fourth annual GPI released.

As the global economy continues to falter, this year's data shows an intensification of conflicts and growing instability linked to the downturn that began in 2008, with several countries seeing sharp increases in homicides, violent demonstrations and fear of crime, it said.

The only study to quantify global peacefulness, the GPI is produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP).

According to the report, South Asia saw the greatest decrease in peacefulness, as a result of increased involvement in conflicts, a rise in deaths from internal conflict and human rights abuses.

The main countries experiencing decreases in peacefulness were India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

Three BRIC countries-Russia (143), India (128) and China (80)-saw substantial declines in peacefulness, while Brazil's score remained essentially stable (83) compared to the 2009 Index.

In fact, Russia saw one of the largest drops in peacefulness of any country this year due to its war with Georgia, ongoing acts of terror, and some protests across the country resulting from a deteriorating economic situation.

China saw its score deteriorate because of worsening security in parts of the country, notably Xinjiang province, where violent conflict prompted rises in several measures of societal safety, the report said.

However, the US (85) improved its 2010 GPI score, registering its biggest year-on-year improvement since the first Index was released in 2007.

The improvement came as a result of a decrease in the number of deaths from external conflict and an increase in political stability.

Western Europe continues to be the most peaceful region, with the majority of the countries ranking in the top 20.

All five Scandinavian nations rank in the top ten; however, Denmark dropped five spots to 7 because of decrease in respect for human rights and continuing involvement in Afghanistan.

Iraq, Somalia and Afghanistan were the least peaceful countries for the second consecutive year.

Syria, Georgia, the Philippines, Russia and Cyprus were this year's biggest fallers; the report said.

"How peaceful a country is depends on the internal structures, institutions, and attitudes that sustain and promote peace as well as on external factors," said Clyde McConaghy, board director of the IEP.

"This year's top five countries, and more peaceful countries in general, have certain things in common: well functioning governments, stable business environments, respect for human rights, low levels of corruption, high rates of participation in education, and freedom of information," McConaghy said.

Source: Yahoo News.

Why do most drivers tend to speed through the yellow light

Are you amongst those who do not stop but speed through the yellow light? Well, then here's the reason why you do so.

Transportation engineering PhD student Zhixia Li at the University of Cincinnati headed a real-world project that every driver can relate to, and what he calls the "yellow light dilemma."

He conducted his research, in cooperation with the Ohio Department of Transportation, at intersections in Akron, Cleves and Fairfield, Ohio. And he found that certain factors make it more likely that you'll opt to speed through an intersection rather than stop at the light.

The factors that make us run the yellow are:

Lane position: Drivers in the right lane are 1.6 times more likely to speed through a yellow light as compared to drivers in the left lane.

Type of vehicle: Drivers in heavy trucks are more likely to "pass through" a yellow light versus drivers of automobiles, SUVs, vans or pickup trucks.

Travel speed and speed limit: The greater the traveling speed of a vehicle at the onset of a yellow light, the more likely that vehicle is to pass through a yellow light. Another finding: the higher the posted speed limit, the more likely vehicles are to pass through a yellow light.

Timing of light: Yellow lights are typically set to persist between 3 to 5 seconds. Drivers coming upon an intersection where the yellow light persists longer are more likely to pass through the yellow light.

For each "additional" second a yellow light persists, drivers are more than three times as likely to pass through an intersection.

So, for example, a driver is more than three times as likely to pass through a yellow light set to persist for 5 seconds versus a yellow light set to persist for 4 seconds.

The same goes for a yellow light that persists for 4 seconds versus a yellow light that persists for 3 seconds.

The research will help traffic engineers consider and test safety and traffic efficiency measures, including the positioning of sensors that time traffic lights.

And it just might help drivers consider their own actions when in the yellow light dilemma zone.

The results of the research will be presented at the 2010 American Society of Highway Engineers National Conference, in Cincinnati, at the Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza.

Source : Yahoo News.

7 Reasons Why a Potential Employer Won't Read your Resume, and What to Do About it

When you write your resume (with or without advice and professional help), who is your target audience? Who are you trying to satisfy?

First of all, you’re not writing your resume to satisfy yourself. For that matter, you’re not writing it to satisfy any “expert” – the author of the resume book you just read, or the recruiter you’re working with, or your career guidance counselor, or your cousin Fred who is a human resources manager, or even a professional resume writer.

You are writing your resume for a particular kind of reader: a potential employer. And if you’re like most of us, you make some very, very optimistic assumptions about that reader. You are certain that your reader is eager to find the best person for the job. Your reader, you are sure, is going to read the important things in your resume, and his or her eye will be drawn to all of those clever formatting tricks you’ve used (columns, underlining, different fonts, boldfacing, italics, strong verbs, skills, numbers, results, etc.).

But you’d better take off the rose-colored glasses. Your resume has a better than 98% chance of ending up in the garbage can (real or virtual).

Here are 7 characteristics of the psychology of the typical resume reader: 

1. Resume readers are some of the smartest and most skeptical readers in the world. They know that at least half of what they read consists of lies, exaggerations, half-truths, and semantic and formatting “tricks.” They don’t accept anything at face value. Remember, the typical resume reader sees literally thousands; they know every trick in the book by now.

2. Most readers are in a bad mood, not a happy mood of eager expectancy. They’ve got 300 resumes to read, and nobody is giving them an extra penny to carefully peruse each one. They are rushed for time, annoyed at having to read yet another resume, and hostile rather than sympathetic. Reading yet another resume is a burden that is keeping them from their attention to what they consider much, much more important matters.

3. Therefore, the typical resume reader is looking for a quick and convincing reason to throw out yours. Some will even discard it if they don’t like the envelope or the way the email looks. Some will read only the resume and not the cover letter, or vice-versa. And they are unwilling to open up a zip file. You know how annoying it is to get an email that requires you to open up several files? For the resume reader, it is triply annoying.

4. They are unimpressed by the latest resume “fad.” For a long time, it was (and to a great extent still is) ‘verbs.’ Since a verb is an action word, we think, the reader will be impressed by lots of great verbs. They’re not. The latest craze is numbers. You’ve got to have lots of quantitative data in your resume, or no one will take you seriously. I see resumes now that are nothing but a bewildering array of numbers, and I do not believe it is any more impressive to the typical resume reader than is a bewildering array of verbs.
5. None will read in detail – that we all know. All will skim-read for about 20 seconds or less. They are looking for certain information FIRST, to see if the resume is worth reading in more detail. Usually they look for job titles and academic degrees first. Some look first for gaps in employment, some for certain skills, some for length of employment. Each reader has his or her own top priority to scan for first. And even if they read it in detail, they’ll give it to 5 other people who will skim it.
6. Most readers know that their company is in no hurry to hire. Even if they are interested in you, they will take their time responding. They are not interested in calling you back right away, even if they like your resume.
7. They are not interested in your personal objectives for your life and your career.They are only interested in how you can help their company solve its problems and achieve its goals—that’s why they hire. But they are totally unaware of your unique strengths and value that you can potentially bring to the organization. That’s because in most resumes, the person’s unique strengths and potential value are buried somewhere in the middle of the resume and not written for a skimmer/reader.

So, when you write your resume (or have anyone else help you write it), keep the above characteristics in mind. You have got to give your reader 1) what they are looking for FIRST, and 2) what you want them to find FIRST. That means that you cannot emphasize everything equally in your resume. You’ve got to write it so that they see their priorities and yours instantly. Make sure to keep that in mind, and you’ll have a much better chance of having your resume taken seriously.

Source : New Grad Life.