Wishing all a happy and safe Thanksgiving.
From: black-Peak Technology, Inc.
Wednesday, November 26, 2014
Wednesday, November 19, 2014
Signs of Improving U.S. Job Market
Nov. 19 (Bloomberg) -- More than five years into the economic expansion, the signs that economists look for to herald the pickup in pay that has long eluded American workers are starting to emerge.
Wages and salaries climbed last quarter by the most since 2008 as a dwindling number of unemployed per job opening approached a tipping point. Amid rising profits and sales per employee, some companies have a cushion to boost compensation.
Evidence of a rebound in employee earnings is appearing in certain industries and regions, including Texas and North Dakota, that are riding the energy boom and the strengthening homebuilding market in the U.S. Southeast. While plenty of slack remains in the economy, raises are likely to filter to other areas as job creation whittles away at U.S. unemployment.
Wages and salaries climbed last quarter by the most since 2008 as a dwindling number of unemployed per job opening approached a tipping point. Amid rising profits and sales per employee, some companies have a cushion to boost compensation.
Evidence of a rebound in employee earnings is appearing in certain industries and regions, including Texas and North Dakota, that are riding the energy boom and the strengthening homebuilding market in the U.S. Southeast. While plenty of slack remains in the economy, raises are likely to filter to other areas as job creation whittles away at U.S. unemployment.
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
New Airplane Passenger Screening
A new method of screening airplane passengers for signs they may be dangerous is 20 times more successful at catching deceptive passengers than the screening method traditionally used in the U.S. and other countries, a new study suggests.
The new method is based on asking passengers open-ended, conversational questions, whereas traditional screening methods focus on observing people's body language.
In the study, which was funded in part by the British government, 204 mock airplane passengers — including acting students and undercover police detectives — were given cover stories, and asked to attempt to deceive security agents in real airport screenings in Europe. As an extra incentive, the mock passengers were given money if they successfully avoided detection by the security agents.
Trained security agents who used the new, conversation-based screening method successfully detected 66 percent of the mock passengers. On the other hand, security agents looking for signs of suspicious body language — such as lack of eye contact and fidgeting — detected just 3 percent of mock passengers. [5 Cool New ID Technologies]
The latter method is widely used in airports in the United States and the United Kingdom, even though it has not been proven effective in real-life settings, the researchers said.
In the new method, called Controlled Cognitive Engagement (CCE), security agents engage in an informal conversation with passengers, asking them open-ended questions. Based on the passenger's responses, the agent asks questions seeking information that the passenger should know if his or her account is true.
But the agents are not necessarily interested in the accuracy of the passenger's responses — rather, they are looking for changes in the passenger's behavior, such as increasingly shorter responses, or evasive or erratic responses, the researchers said.
For example, the agent might ask the passenger about the people that person is visiting, and how long it takes to get to the airport from where the individual lives.
The new method is based on asking passengers open-ended, conversational questions, whereas traditional screening methods focus on observing people's body language.
In the study, which was funded in part by the British government, 204 mock airplane passengers — including acting students and undercover police detectives — were given cover stories, and asked to attempt to deceive security agents in real airport screenings in Europe. As an extra incentive, the mock passengers were given money if they successfully avoided detection by the security agents.
Trained security agents who used the new, conversation-based screening method successfully detected 66 percent of the mock passengers. On the other hand, security agents looking for signs of suspicious body language — such as lack of eye contact and fidgeting — detected just 3 percent of mock passengers. [5 Cool New ID Technologies]
The latter method is widely used in airports in the United States and the United Kingdom, even though it has not been proven effective in real-life settings, the researchers said.
In the new method, called Controlled Cognitive Engagement (CCE), security agents engage in an informal conversation with passengers, asking them open-ended questions. Based on the passenger's responses, the agent asks questions seeking information that the passenger should know if his or her account is true.
But the agents are not necessarily interested in the accuracy of the passenger's responses — rather, they are looking for changes in the passenger's behavior, such as increasingly shorter responses, or evasive or erratic responses, the researchers said.
For example, the agent might ask the passenger about the people that person is visiting, and how long it takes to get to the airport from where the individual lives.
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