Tuesday, March 6, 2012

THREE BELIEFS WHICH WILL MAKE YOU AN INSTANT SUCCESS

The way you think about yourself and your goals can determine your success and failure in your career and life. Make sure that you have the right attitude. Learn the right strategy for success here!

INC suggests…

What you believe about yourself determines your level of success. If you want to be successful, incorporate the following beliefs into your daily way of thinking:

1. “I am confident.” If you believe in yourself, you tend to see problems and challenges as speed bumps rather than roadblocks, and have certainty that you’ll eventually succeed.

2. “I am committed.” If, in your heart of hearts, you are absolutely determined to succeed, you’ll find that motivation emerges naturally from that commitment.

3. “I am in control.” If you view yourself as the captain of your destiny rather than a pawn of fate, you’ll have the motivation to continue moving forward–even when the going gets a bit rough.

How to Create Failure

On the other hand, if you want to be a failure, incorporate these three very different beliefs into your daily way of thinking:

1. “Nobody believes in me.” Some people define themselves based upon how they suspect their boss, their co-workers, their relatives and friends see them. Convinced that people think poorly of them, such people suffer from low self-esteem and lack of confidence. If you had a big project that needed handling: Would you trust someone who didn’t even trust himself?

2. “I am probably going to fail.” Some people believe that failure is so unpleasant that it must be avoided at all costs. Because of this, they avoid all situations where failure is a risk. But any meaningful endeavor entails risk–so such people seldom (if ever) accomplish anything significant.

3. “Fate controls destiny, so why try?” Some people believe that their status in life and potential as a human being is determined at birth or by the circumstances of their lives. Believing this allows them to deflect the blame for failures onto things over which they have no control, thereby lessening the pain. But it also g

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Can ARPA-E Solve Energy Problems?

The young agency is popular, but its short-term research programs aren't enough.

MONDAY, MARCH 5, 2012
BY KEVIN BULLIS

Republicans and Democrats in Congress don't agree on much, especially when it comes to the U.S. Department of Energy, but they agree that the department's Advanced Research Projects Agency for Energy (ARPA-E), is a good thing. Last year, when they were cutting every program in sight, they actually voted to increase the agency's funding by 50 percent. The bipartisan support was clear last week at the agency's third Innovation Summit, attended by a mix of liberal and conservative politicians and business leaders.

ARPA-E has been popular in large part because it's inexpensive—for about the same amount the government gave to failed solar-panel maker Solyndra in the form of a loan guarantee, ARPA-E has funded 180 projects. But how important is the agency for solving major energy challenges like volatile oil prices and climate change? At the summit, several speakers warned that the sort of short-term, two-to-three-year funding that the agency provides isn't enough to address long-term energy problems.

From its beginning, ARPA-E has set relatively modest goals for itself, acknowledging its limits.

"In the energy sector, it takes time for an innovation to go all the way and scale and make a big difference in the commercial market," said Arun Majumdar, ARPA-E's director, in a press conference. "That takes about 10, 15, maybe 20 years. Who knows?" He pointed to other measures of success. The agency has helped increase private investment in energy, he said, noting that 11 of the projects ARPA-E funded—with about $40 million—led to more than $200 million in private-sector funding. He also noted the success of Envia, which has demonstrated a large increase in battery-storage capacity.

During a panel discussion with Energy Secretary Steven Chu, Microsoft founder and chairman Bill Gates warned that energy innovation moves a lot slower than innovation in software. "The IT revolution is the exception that kind of warped people's minds about how quickly things can work," he said. "If you underestimate how hard it is, that's part of why we can end up underfunding the kind of innovative work that needs to go on." He said that energy innovations in the past have taken 50 to 60 years to make an impact.

Chu said that ARPA-E fills a specific role—in some cases, innovations "can find a way to market very quickly." But he said that there is still a need for DOE's longer-term research funding—including Innovation Hubs that focus on a problem for a decade—as well as financing for larger projects, such as loan guarantees.

But some of these larger and longer-term projects are under fire, as can be seen in the congressional investigation of the DOE's loan to Solyndra. "No one can deny that the reaction to Solyndra has had a damping effect on government finance programs for companies," Chu said. But he also said that failure was expected. Congress knew there would be failures when it authorized the loan program; that's why it appropriated $10 billion to cover losses. "It's extremely unfortunate what happened with Solyndra—a half a billion dollar loss," he said. "But I would be personally very surprised if we were to lose a third of that appropriated money."

Gates expects the failure rate for energy innovation funding more broadly will be "well over 90 percent." And he said there's "no clear mapping between the amount you spend on R&D and the amount you get out"—it's possible that the innovations will come from companies that are already well funded now. "But it's more likely that the underfunding is delaying the rate of progress," he said. "This is a very complex set of technologies, and so we need literally thousands of companies trying these things to increase the odds that we will have the 10 or 20 approaches that will get us the magic solution."

New way to measure nitrous oxide

QUEENSLAND UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

"Agriculture was responsible for about 20 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions globally, mostly from nitrous oxide from fertilisers..."

Image: ozgurdonmaz/iStockphoto

An accurate new way to measure a potent greenhouse gas emitted during agricultural production will help countries to better manage their environmental impact, thanks to Queensland University of Technology (QUT) research.

Professor Richard Conant, a Smart Futures Fellow at QUT's Institute for Future Environments, said the new state-of-the-art statistical approach would greatly improve estimates of global nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions by up to 65 per cent.

"Nitrous oxide contributes substantially to total global greenhouse gas emissions and in some countries it's a big part of total emissions," he said.

"We're providing a tool that has significantly improved the accuracy of measuring N2O.

"Our hope is that this information will enable developing countries that lack detailed measurements to keep better track of N2O emissions."

Professor Conant said agriculture was responsible for about 20 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions globally, mostly from nitrous oxide from fertilisers, and methane generated by livestock.

He said, on average, three-quarters of N2O emissions in 2005 came from fertiliser.

"CO2 still has the biggest effect on climate change," he said.

"Nitrous oxide is more potent but there isn't as much of it."

Professor Conant said the researchers, who analysed the proportion of fertilizer lost as nitrous oxide, used ground-breaking data on N2O emissions from fellow QUT Professor Peter Grace.

The analysis was conducted with PhD student Aaron Berdanier, now at Duke University.

The researchers found that the United States, Europe, East Asia and Japan accounted for nearly 50 per cent of global N2O emissions. Africa and the former USSR contributed 13 per cent of global N2O emissions.

However, Professor Conant said it was the efficient use of nitrogen in agriculture that was most important.

Countries such as the US, Europe and Japan, for example, used nitrogen more efficiently and produced more food per unit of N2O than countries in Africa and the former USSR.

Professor Conant said the research would help developing countries become more efficient in agriculture and increase food security.

"This latter group of countries is not using very much nitrogen on their crops, which is affecting their ability to produce food," he said.

However, Professor Conant said that increasing the use of fertiliser in agriculture to meet growing food and feed demands could accelerate N2O emissions faster than previously thought.

"In agriculture, producers generally have been trying to increase yields and productivity, but we haven't thought as much about externalities in terms of nitrogen pollution and greenhouse gases," he said.

Professor Conant, who was among scientists awarded the Nobel Prize with former US vice-president Al Gore in 2007, said his research would contribute towards an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, which will set the standard estimate of global emissions for different sectors.

An IPCC report in 2004 found 36 gigatons of CO2 was emitted into the environment a year, compared to three gigatons of nitrous oxide and 4.5 gigatons of methane.

Professor Conant's research paper, Regionally-differentiated estimates of cropland N2O emissions reduce uncertainty in global calculations, was published in the journal Global Change Biology.

Editor's Note: Original news release can be found here.

Eavesdropping Antennas Can Steal Your Smart Phone's Secrets

The processors in smart phones and tablets leak radio signals that betray the encryption keys used to protect sensitive data.

BY TOM SIMONITE

Audio »

At the RSA computer security conference last week, Gary Kenworthy of Cryptography Research held up an iPod Touch on stage and looked over to a TV antenna three meters away. The signal picked up by the antenna, routed through an amplifier and computer software, revealed the secret key being used by an app running on the device to encrypt data. An attacker with access to this key could use it to perfectly impersonate the device he stole it from—to access e-mail on a company server, for example.

The antenna was detecting radio signals "leaking" from the transistors on the chip inside the phone performing the encryption calculations. Transistors leak those signals when they are active, so the pattern of signals from a chip provides an eavesdropper a representation of the work the chip is doing. When Kenworthy tuned his equipment to look in the right place, a clear, regular pattern of peaks and troughs appeared on his computer screen. They could be seen to come in two varieties, large and small, directly corresponding to the string of digital 1s and 0s that make up the encryption key.

"[This] antenna is not supposed to work at this frequency, and it's been in someone's attic for years and is a bit bent," said Kenworthy, a principal engineer at Cryptography Research. "You could build an antenna into the side of a van to increase your gain—well, now you've gone from 10 feet to 300 feet."

Kenworthy and Benjamin Jun, Cryptography Research's chief technology officer, also demonstrated how a loop of wire held close to two models of smart phone could pick up their secret keys. The signal from an HTC Evo 4G smart phone was a direct transcript of the device's key, used as part of a common cryptographic algorithm called RSA. The researchers required a more complex statistical analysis to successfully capture a key from another HTC device, which was used as part of an encryption scheme known as AES.

Jun said that all the devices his company has tested produced signals of some kind that could betray their keys, although different eavesdropping techniques were necessary for different devices. While some could be vulnerable to a long-range attack, as in the iPod demonstration, others like the HTC devices would require an attacker to get up close. But that could be practical, said Jun, if contactless receivers used to collect payments from phones with NFC chips were modified by crooks. NFC chips are expected to become widely available in smart phones in coming months as Google and other companies develop contactless mobile payment systems.

The apps used in Jun and Kenworthy's demonstrations were of their own design, because it would be "bad manners" to demonstrate sniffing keys from other company's apps, said Jun. However, the researchers have shown privately that they can eavesdrop on encryption keys from any app or mobile software, he said.

Details of the vulnerabilities uncovered have been provided to handset manufacturers. "We've notified all the phone vendors and manufacturers, and there's a lot of work being done on this now," he said. "I can't name names, but I will say that we're working with one large tablet and smart-phone manufacturer."

Modifications to the hardware or software of a mobile device can muddy the signals that an eavesdropper can pick up. Many wireless credit-card readers already include such countermeasures, said Jun.

In the case of smart phones and tablets, software upgrades that split operations using cryptographic keys into multiple parts that are then combined could protect existing devices without changes to hardware, said Jun. However, such tactics come at a cost. "They do require some kind of performance hit," said Jun, because they ask a chip to do more work. That also means more power consumption, which could deter some developers, who are loath to waste precious battery life.

Baba Mujhe Shirdi Bula Le.MOV

Monday, March 5, 2012

Japan finishes Tokyo Sky Tree, world's tallest tower

Japan finishes Tokyo Sky Tree

Tourists ride rickshaws with the Tokyo Sky Tree tower in the background in Tokyo.
Pic: AFP

TOKYO – Construction of the Tokyo Sky Tree, the world’s tallest self-supporting communications tower, finished last week, two months late because of the quake and tsunami that struck Japan last March.
Tourist bosses in the country hope the tower will be a big draw for foreign visitors, whose numbers have plummeted in the aftermath of the disaster and the nuclear crisis it sparked.
“The construction was originally scheduled to finish in December 2011 but was delayed due to a shortage of supplies after the disaster,” said a spokeswoman for the operator, adding that the finished structure is sound.
Construction of the 634-metre (2080-foot) tower near the already popular Asakusa traditional district on Tokyo’s eastern side began in July 2008.
The Tokyo Sky Tree tops the 600-metre Canton Tower in China’s Guangzhou and the 553-metre CN Tower in downtown Toronto.
Some 580,000 construction workers were engaged in the construction, which cost 65 billion yen (US$806 million) for the tower alone, the spokeswoman said.
The Tokyo Sky Tree is expected to overshadow landmarks in the capital’s upscale western parts, including the 333-metre Tokyo Tower, which was built in 1958 and became a byword in Japan for the country’s rapid post-war growth.
It hosts two observation decks – at 350 metres and 450 metres above ground – as well as restaurants and office space and sits at a former freight shunting yard along the Sumida river. – AFP

Tickets for TOKYO SKYTREE are by reservation only with the day/time assigned.

TOKYO SKYTREE TOWN will open on May 22, 2012
There are 5 ways to purchase tickets to TOKYO SKYTREE Observation Deck.
1. Online advance reservation of "TOKYO SKYTREE Web Ticket" starts from March 22 (by drawing).
Credit cards issued in Japan is required for online reservation.
2. Advance purchase may be made at Tobu Travel Box Office from March 22 (by drawing).
3. Tickets from May 22 to July 10 are by Advance Reservation Only. No day tickets will be sold during this period. Day tickets will on sale from July 11.
4. "TOKYO SKYTREE Group Reservation Center" takes reservations for groups of 25 or more.
5. Use travel plans of various travel agencies or accomodation plans offered by TOKYO SKYTREE Official hotels/TOKYO SKYTREE Friendship Hotels.

Website in other languages will be ready very soon. Please visit the renewed pages for details.

About Tokyo Sky Tree

"Tokyo Sky Tree" will appear in the Narihirabashi/Oshiage area of Sumida Ward, Tokyo in 2012. Boasting a height of 634m, the tower will be one of the world's tallest.

Digital Terrestrial Broadcasting and the Role of the New Tower

In July 2011, the current analog broadcasting will end and a complete transition made to digital broadcasting.
Five commercial stations and NHK took this as a turning point to advance preparations towards digital broadcasting from a TV tower with a height of around 600m and decided on the Sumida/Taito area as the site for construction of the tower.
In addition, for "one-segment broadcasting (one-seg)," a digital broadcasting service for mobile devices that was launched in April 2006, it is ideal to have transmissions from a height that is not very vulnerable to the forest of super high-rise buildings that stand at heights of around 200m in downtown Tokyo.

Expectations are also on the tower to serve the role of a tower equipped with disaster prevention features.

Birth of a Town with a Tower

At the foot of the new tower will be a "town with a tower" spans about 400m from east to west, connecting Oshiage Station and Narihirabashi Station, and encompassing an area of about 3.69ha.

A networking plaza leading from Oshiage Station to the tower lobby on level four of the facility, three plazas in front of the station and along Kitajukken River, and Shinsui Park will form a community environment where visitors and nearby residents will gather.

Location

Located about 1km east of Asakusa - a town filled with the atmosphere of a shitamachi (the traditional name for the area of Tokyo that extends from Taito, Chiyoda and Chuo Wards east of the Sumida River where many merchants, craftsmen, etc. reside) - and about 2km northeast of Ryogoku - a town famous for sumo wrestling.
The new tower stands in a major traditional international tourism zone of Japan.

*Address: part of Oshiage 1-chome and part of Mukoujima 1-chome of Sumida Ward in Tokyo

Development Schedule

Fiscal 2006: Basic design
Fiscal 2007~8: Execution design
July 2008: Start of construction
December 2011: (Scheduled) Construction completion
Spring 2012: (Scheduled) Grand opening

Overview of Facilities

Height of tower: 634m
Facilities: Observatory (First Observatory at 350m and Second Observatory at 450m), broadcasting facilities, stores, restaurant, etc.
Initial investment: Approx. 60 billion yen Pre-opening costs: Approx. 5 billion yen

*Architectural and artistic design and facilities are those envisioned at this point in time, and are subject to further review and change.

You can check the updated information of Tokyo Sky Tree in the PDF brochure.

Japan builds Tokyo Sky Tree, world's tallest tower

by Tim Hornyak

Standing 2,080 feet tall, the Tokyo Sky Tree is a new digital broadcast tower built on reclaimed land in the Japanese capital. Engineers are confident it won't topple in an earthquake.

(Credit: Tim Hornyak/CNET)

TOKYO--Nearly a year after the magnitude-9.0 quake that pummeled Japan, construction of the world's tallest tower, the Tokyo Sky Tree, is now complete.
Builder Obayashi, which recently announced plans for a space elevator to start services by 2050, declared the Sky Tree complete ahead of a ceremony Friday. While the world's tallest man-made structure remains the Burj Khalifa in Dubai at 829 meters (2,720 feet), the Sky Tree tops the list of the tallest free-standing towers at 634 meters (2,080 feet).
It's 34 meters taller than the Canton Tower in Guangzhou, China, and nearly twice the height of its predecessor, Tokyo Tower (333 meters). Operated by Tobu Railways and a consortium of media companies, the Sky Tree will serve as a digital terrestrial broadcasting center for Tokyo and the surrounding Kanto region.
The achievement came amid snowy weather in Tokyo. Falling ice from the structure has been a problem for nearby companies and residences in Sumida Ward, a heretofore quiet district on the eastern bank of the Sumida River.
The land is known to be relatively unstable and much of the area was reclaimed from Tokyo Bay long ago. But engineers say the Sky Tree will be able to withstand even the strongest of earthquakes. They point to a traditional building technique that was incorporated in the structure.

The Sky Tree makes use of a shinbashira, a central column that features in the architecture of Japanese pagodas. The column acts as a stationary pendulum to counterbalance seismic waves, greatly reducing the sway in the surounding structure.
Indeed, there are virtually no records of pagodas being toppled in quakes in Japanese history. The tallest wooden tower in the country, the 55-meter (180-foot) pagoda of Toji temple in Kyoto, has been standing firm since 1644.
The Sky Tree's shinbashira is a hollow concrete tube housing elevators and stairs. It's structurally separate from the exterior truss but is joined by oil dampers, which help reduce quake shaking.
"The anti-quake measures in this structure can reduce quake vibrations by 50 percent," Hirotake Takanishi, PR manager for Tobu Tower Sky Tree, told me. "We've run simulations showing the Sky Tree will withstand an 8.0-magnitude earthquake, and can withstand even stronger ones, but we can't say definitely what its upper limit is."
The building suffered virtually no damage in the March 2011 quake, though supply interruptions delayed its completion.
Opening in May, the Sky Tree will have several cutting-edge attractions, including a special observation deck at 450 meters (1,476 feet) that will have an "air corridor" that snakes around the exterior for vertiginous thrills.
Stunning panoramic views
When I visited the Sky Tree on a press preview late last year, I rode the high-speed elevator to the first observation deck at 350 meters (1,148 feet) above ground. I couldn't feel the car's acceleration because it's engineered for a very smooth ride, but I was whisked up in less than a minute.
The view that greeted me was a stunning panorama of Tokyo spreading out in all directions over the Kanto plain. The world's largest metropolitan area, home to some 30 million people, seemed infinite.
Though Tokyo suffers from haze, on clear days in winter Mt. Fuji, Japan's iconic volcano, is visible to the southwest. The 360-degree deck also has a reproduction of a folding screen painting from Japan's feudal period that bears a remarkable resemblance to the panorama. It's a bird's eye view of Edo, the shogun's capital that was the precursor to Tokyo.
Indeed, the past is never far away at the Sky Tree. In Japanese, its height of 634 (meters) can be pronounced "mu-sa-shi," which refers to Musashi, the ancient province that was home to Edo.
Check out more pics in our gallery above, as well as the time-lapse video below of the Tokyo Sky Tree being built.

World’s First Flying Car to make its Debut at NY Auto Show [PHOTOS]

By Monami Thakur |

For the first time, the world will see the debut of the first practical flying car at the New York International Auto Show next month at the Jacob Javitz Center.

It's the Terrafugia's Transition Roadable Aircraft that has been developed after years of testing and engineering breakthroughs.

Developed by the privately held American corporation Terrafugia, the roadable aircraft has a 23-gallon gas tank and a range of 400 miles. It gives about 35 mpg on the road and burns roughly 5 gallons of gas per hour when it is at cruising speed in the air.

"We selected the New York International Auto Show to continue the roll-out of the Transition because of the value this show brings in terms of exposure to future owners, investors, and partners. The NYIAS is a venue from which we can show the first practical street-legal airplane to the world while meeting the people who will be part of its commercial success in the years to come. New York is the perfect place to accomplish all of this," said Anna Mracek Dietrich, COO of Terrafugia.

The Terrafugia has currently received about 100 orders with an anticipated base price of $279,000.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Terrafugia spokesperson Steve Moscaritolo mentioned that some of those orders come from people who want it for the "new toy" aspect, but the company has also taken orders from people who commute somewhere each weekend, or almost every day, and want to avoid parking headaches and security lines at the airport.

Catch a glimpse of the Terrafugia's Transition Roadable Aircraft in the images given below:

Terrafugia Transition Roadable Aircraft

Source: Terrafugia

The Transition Roadable Light Sport Aircraft Proof of Concept with wings extended at home.

Source: Terrafugia

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/308869/20120305/world-s-first-flying-car-terrafugia-new.htm

M Junaid Tahir

Radha Parthasarathi Jhulan Yatra ( EXCLUSIVE )

Following are the pics of each day of the 5-day long Jhulan Yatra celebrated in Sri Sri Radha Parthasarathi Mandir, ISKCON Delhi.

" The people will be resurrected (and judged) according to their intentions."

Human beings often tend to put emphasis on their outward actions (forms), rather than the inner side of human personality (substance). In Islam belief and action are inseparable and their true connection is through intention (Niyyah). Apparently, a good deed can be unacceptable to God, if the accompanying intention is foul or defective. Thus the emphasis on action should always be linked to a greater emphasis on purity of intention. Pure and correct intention will always be rewarded, whether the actual action is completed or not. Precisely for this reason, a person can attain martyrdom (shahadah) through pure and consistent intention, even if he or she dies a normal death in bed. On the other hand, many otherwise apparently righteous and glorified people could go to Hell because of their impure intentions. True and pure intentions always result in good actions, but not all good actions accompany proper intentions. God will judge actions, but in the context of a person's intentions.

10 common mistakes in Prayer (Salah, Salat or Namaz):

1. Delaying the Salah intentionally: While being busy in worldly affairs we often delay the Salah from its preferred time. This is the most common mistake in Prayer made by most of us. We think that Praying is last thing to do and we must attend to other matters first. Many workers delay Zuhr and Asr Prayer till night-time. Quran speaks strictly on guarding our Salat:

╚► ï¿½Guard strictly (five obligatory) As-Salawat (the prayers) especially the middle Salat (i.e. Asr Prayers)ï¿½ [2:238]Here to safeguard the Salat means to perform it at its prescribed time and to be steadfast upon it.

╚►Narrated Ibn Umar (R.A): Allahï¿½s Messenger (ﷺ) said: ï¿½Whoever misses the Asr prayers (intentionally), then it is as if he lost his family and property.ï¿½ [Al-Bukhari]
Another Hadith explains the importance of praying on time:
╚►The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, (This is the prayer of the hypocrite, this is the prayer of the hypocrite, this is the prayer of the hypocrite. He sits watching the sun until it is between the two horns of Shaytan. Then he stands and pecks four (Rak`ahs) and he does not remember Allah (in them) except very little.) This Hadith is describing the end of the time for the `Asr prayer, which is the middle prayer as is confirmed by a text (Hadith). This is the time in which it is disliked to pray. Then this person stands to pray it, pecking in it like the pecking of a crow. He does not have tranquility or humility in it at all.
Thus, the Prophet ﷺ said,
(He does not remember Allah (in them) except very little.) He probably only stands to pray it so that the people will see him praying, and not seeking the Face of Allah. This is just as if he did not pray at all.

╚►Allah says,
So woe to the worshippers, who are neglectful of their prayers, Those who (want but) to be seen (of men), [Al-Maaï¿½un 107:4-6]Verily, the hypocrites seek to deceive Allah, but it is He Who deceives them. And when they stand up with laziness and to be seen of men, and they do not remember Allah but little. [4:142]2. Reciting Holy Quran fast in the Prayers: we must pause and take breaks while reciting Holy Quran during Salat. We should not recite the Surahï¿½s so fast that that the verse get intermingled. One of the Hadith emphasizes this issue:╚► ï¿½The Prophet (ﷺ) used to pause after each verse of Surah al-Fatiha. [Abu Dawood]
╚►The Prophet (ﷺ), who said :
"A prayer performed by someone who has not recited the Essence of the Quran (Surat al-Fatihah) during it is deficient (and he repeated the word three times), incomplete. Someone said to Abu Hurayrah: [Even though] we are behind the imam? He said: Recite it to yourself, for I have heard the Prophet (ﷺ) say: Allah (mighty and sublime be He), had said: I have divided prayer between Myself and My servant into two halves, and My servant shall have what he has asked for.
When the servant says: Al-hamdu lillahi rabbi l-alamin ("Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds."),
Allah says: My servant has praised Me.
And when he says: Ar-rahmani r-rahim ("The Merciful, the Compassionate"),
Allah says: My servant has extolled Me,
and when he says: Maliki yawmi d-din ("Master of the Day of Judgement"),
Allah says: My servant has glorified Me - and on one occasion He said: My servant has submitted to My power.
And when he says: Iyyaka na budu wa iyyaka nasta in ("It is You we worship and it is You we ask for help"),
He says: This is between Me and My servant, and My servant shall have what he has asked for. And when he says: Ihdina s-sirata l- mustaqim, siratal ladhina an amta alayhim ghayril-maghdubi alayhim wa la d-dallin ("Guide us to the straight path, the path of those upon whom You have bestowed favors, not of those against whom You are angry, nor of those who are astray"),
He says: This is for My servant, and My servant shall have what he has asked for." [Muslim]

3. Moving before the Imam in congregational prayers: one should not race with the imam, when Imam says Allahu Akbar, then the person whoï¿½s following the Imam in Prayers should say Allahu Akbar. Not before Imam or with Imam. The Prophet (ﷺ) states:╚► ï¿½Surely the imam is there to be followedï¿½ [Muslim]
Another Hadith states:╚►The Prophet (ﷺ) said: ï¿½Does not the one who raises his head before the Imam does fear that Allah would transform his head into a donkeyï¿½s headï¿½ [Muslim]

4. Performing the Salah hastily: Salat should be performed slowly and calmly. Rukoo or Sujood must be performed unhurriedly. In order to complete the Rukoo one must stay in Rukoo posture long enough to recite ï¿½Subhan Rabbi yal Adtheemï¿½ at least three times. In the same manner, for the Sujood the person should say ï¿½Subhan-na Rabbi yal-alaï¿½ three times slowly. This Hadith commands to complete the Rukoo and Sujood in proper manner:
╚►The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: ï¿½The worst thief is the one who steals from his own prayer.ï¿½ People asked: ï¿½Messenger of Allah! How could one steal from his own prayer?ï¿½ He said: ï¿½By not completing its rukoo and sujoodï¿½ [at-Tabarani]

╚►The Prophet (P.B.U.H) said: ï¿½He who does not complete his rukoo and sujood, his prayer is voidï¿½ [Abu Dawood]
5. Gazing right, left or upward during Salat: While performing Salah, one should concentrate on looking to the point where the head is placed during Sujood rather than looking upwards. Because this may lose concentration. In the Hadith recorded by Sahih Muslim the Prophet (P.B.U.H) said:╚► ï¿½Let those who raise their gaze up during prayer stop doing so, or else their sights would not return to themï¿½ (i.e. they will lose their eyesight) [Muslim]

6. Performing Sujood improperly: most common mistake observed in Prayers is to perform Sujood by resting only the tip of head on floor.╚►The Prophet (ﷺ) said: ï¿½I am commanded to prostrate on seven bones the forehead and the nose, the two hands [palms], the two knees, and the two feetï¿½ [Muslim]
7. Going to Mosque for performing Salah with rapid walk:
╚► The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: ï¿½When prayer has already started, do not walk quickly to join in. Proceed calmly and reposefully; then join in whichever part you catch up, and complete whichever part you missedï¿½ [Bukhari and Muslim]
8. Eating food of bad smell before performing Prayers: ╚►The Prophet (ﷺ) said: ï¿½He who eats from the smelly plant [garlic or onion], let him come not near our mosque; the angels are bothered by that which bothers menï¿½ [Muslim]

9. Not performing Prayers during illness or while traveling: The Prophet (ﷺ) always used to perform Prayers even during His last days before death. He (ﷺ) never neglected it even during combats. Prayer is obligatory and must be performed in any condition. If a person cannot perform ablution due to his illness then he may perform tayammum (dry ablution). If he cannot stand in prayer, he may perform Salah while sitting or even laying down. Same is the case while traveling. The person can combine 2 Salah while traveling i.e. Zuhr Prayer and Asr Prayer. or Maghrib Prayer and Isha Prayer.
10. Crossing in front of a person who is performing Salah: ╚►The Prophet (ﷺ) said: ï¿½Were the one who crosses in front of a praying person to know the consequences of doing so, he would have waited for forty better than to cross in front of himï¿½ [Bukhari]
May Allah guide us to perform our Salah perfectly and help us to guard our Salat so when on the Day of Judgment we are questioned about our prayers, we may succeed. Ameen.

National Sleep Foundation poll explores transportation workers' sleep

The people we trust to take us or our loved ones from place to place struggle with sleep, according to the National Sleep Foundation's (NSF) 2012 Sleep in America® poll. It is the first poll to ask transportation professionals, including pilots, train operators,* truck, bus, taxi and limo drivers about their sleep habits and work performance.

Pilots and train operators are most likely to report sleep-related job performance and safety problems.

The results of the poll are striking. About one-fourth of train operators (26%) and pilots (23%) admit that sleepiness has affected their job performance at least once a week, compared to about one in six non-transportation workers (17%).

Perhaps more disturbingly, a significant number say that sleepiness has caused safety problems on the job. One in five pilots (20%) admit that they have made a serious error and one in six train operators (18%) and truck drivers (14%) say that they have had a "near miss" due to sleepiness.

Sleepiness has also played a role in car accidents commuting to and from work. Pilots and train operators are significantly more likely than non-transportation workers (6% each, compared to 1%) to say that they have been involved in a car accident due to sleepiness while commuting.

"Driving home from work after a long shift is associated with crashes due to sleepiness," says Dr. Sanjay Patel, a sleep researcher at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School. "We should all be concerned that pilots and train operators report car crashes due to sleepiness at a rate that is six times greater than that of other workers."

Train operators and pilots report most sleep dissatisfaction.

Among all workers surveyed, train operators and pilots report the most work day sleep dissatisfaction. Almost two-thirds of train operators (57%) and one-half of pilots (50%) say they rarely or never get a good night's sleep on work nights, compared to 44% of truck drivers and 42% of non-transportation workers. Bus, taxi, and limo drivers report the best work day sleep satisfaction, with about one-third (29%) saying they rarely or never get a good night's sleep on work nights.

"The margin of error in these professions is extremely small. Transportation professionals need to manage sleep to perform at their best," says David Cloud, CEO of the National Sleep Foundation. "As individuals and employers, we need to know more about how sleep improves performance."

Sleepiness is common for all workers.

Roughly one in ten Americans say they are likely to fall asleep at an inappropriate time and place, such as during a meeting or while driving. The poll included a validated assessment tool used by doctors to determine whether a person is "sleepy." Anyone who suffers from excessive sleepiness should seek professional help to identify underlying conditions. This study finds that 11% of pilots, train operators, bus, taxi, and limo drivers and 8% of truck drivers as well as 7% of non-transportation workers are "sleepy."

"We found that although pilots are especially focused on obtaining adequate sleep, one in ten can still be classified as 'sleepy.' This is not acceptable. Who among us wants to take a one in ten chance of flying on a plane with a sleepy pilot?" says CPT Edward Edens, PhD of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.

A sleepy transportation worker is far more prone to mistakes: sleepy transportation workers report job performance problems about three times more often and report averaging about 45 minutes less sleep per night than their non-sleepy peers.

Significant number of transportation workers say their schedules do not allow enough time for sleep.

Many transportation workers cite their schedule as a major contributor to sleep problems. Almost one-half of train operators (44%) and more than one-third of pilots (37%) report that their current work schedule does not allow adequate time for sleep, compared to about one-fourth of non-transportation workers and truck drivers (27% each) and one-fifth of bus, taxi and limo drivers (20%).

In general, transportation professionals work more varied shifts than other workers, which may play a role in their sleep problems. Only 6% of pilots and 47% of train operators say they work the same work schedule each day, compared to 76% of non-transportation workers.

Time off between shifts may play a role in transportation workers' sleepiness. Non-transportation workers report having an average of 14.2 hours off between shifts, compared to 12.9 hours for pilots; 12.5 for train operators; 12.1 for truck drivers; and 11.2 hours for bus, taxi, and limo drivers. If given one more hour off between work shifts, over one-half of pilots (56%) and train operators (54%) report that they would use that hour for sleep.

Long commutes cut into transportation workers' already shortened time between shifts. Pilots report the longest commutes with 37% saying it takes more than an hour to get to work from home. Pilots and train operators have the highest average commute time of 45.5 minutes and 31 minutes, respectively, compared to a 23.8 minute average for non-transportation workers. Other research has consistently found that longer commute times have been associated with shorter individual sleep times.

"Transportation workers experience considerable variability in the days they work, the times they work, and the amount of time off between shifts. This makes it difficult for such workers to maintain regular sleep/wake schedules, which can, in turn, make it difficult for these workers to maintain alertness on the job. Employers should put more effort into designing work/rest schedules that facilitate sleep and minimize workers exposure to irregular, variable schedule changes," says Patrick Sherry, PhD, a sleep researcher and professor from the University of Denver Intermodal Transportation Institute.

Pilots and train operators nap twice as frequently.

The poll shows that transportation professionals are taking more naps than other workers. More than one-half of pilots (58%) and train operators (56%) take at least one nap on work days, compared to about one-fourth of non-transportation workers (27%). About one in five pilots (20%), bus, taxi and limo drivers (20%), truck drivers (16%) and train operators (16%) say they take 3-5 naps during the work week. Among those who report napping on work days, one-half of pilots (50%), almost one-half of truck drivers (42%), one-third of train operators (33%) and nearly one-fourth of bus, taxi and limo drivers (24%) say they actually napped during work hours in the past two weeks, compared to about one in five non-transportation workers (19%).

"Transportation workers have challenging schedules that compete with the natural need for sleep. While I'm impressed that transportation professionals nap when they are off duty, we need to better understand how to use naps to reduce sleep deprivation and overcome scheduling issues," says Thomas Balkin, PhD, a sleep researcher from the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.

For more information about the National Sleep Foundation's 2012 poll, read the complete summary of findings, worker profiles and examples of crashes where fatigue was found to be a contributing factor.

Healthy Sleep Advice

If you are troubled by excessive daytime sleepiness or have problems getting or maintaining sleep, try the following sleep tips:

-- Go to sleep and wake at the same time every day, and avoid spending more time in bed than needed.
-- Use bright light to help manage your "body clock." Avoid bright light in the evening and expose yourself to sunlight in the morning.
-- Use your bedroom only for sleep to strengthen the association between your bed and sleep. It may help to remove work materials, computers and televisions from your bedroom.
-- Select a relaxing bedtime ritual, like a warm bath or listening to calming music.
-- Create an environment that is conducive to sleep that is quiet, dark and cool with a comfortable mattress and pillows.
-- Save your worries for the daytime. If concerns come to mind, write them in a "worry book" so you can address those issues the next day.
-- If you can't sleep, go into another room and do something relaxing until you feel tired.
-- Exercise regularly, but avoid vigorous workouts close to bedtime.
-- If you are experiencing excessive daytime sleepiness, snoring, or "stop breathing" episodes in your sleep, contact your health care professional for a sleep apnea screening.

Provided by National Sleep Foundation

"National Sleep Foundation poll explores transportation workers' sleep." March 3rd, 2012. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-03-national-foundation-poll-explores-workers.html

Posted by
Robert Karl Stonjek

amudu

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