Sales, or the activity of selling, forms an integral part of commercial activity. Mastering sales is considered by many as some sort of persuading "art". On the contrary, the methodological approach of selling refers to it as a systematic process of repetitive and measurable milestones, by which a salesperson relate his offering enabling the buyer to visualize how to achieve his goal in an economic way.
`Selling' has long suffered from a tarnished image. It is,indeed, true that dubious selling practices may occasionally result in a sale if the customer is particularly gullible. But it is arguable that, even then, only good marketing (which encompasses a far wider range of skills, with an almost
diametrically opposed motivation) 'will lead the customer to buy again from the same company '. Organizations seldom profit from single purchases made by first-time customers. Normally they
rely on repeat business to generate the profit that they need.//futureobservatory.dyndns.org/5430.htm
Exploring Earthworms Fri, 18 Jul 2008 08:40:00 -0500
The right earthworms can make home septic systems
work better. Photo courtesy of Flagstaffotos.
Wormholesyet another
avenue for pollution?
ARS honors
scientist for soil nitrogen research
A high-tech look at soil
composition
Role of Earthworms in Soil Explored
By Don Comis
July 18, 2008 The right earthworms can make home
septic systems work better. The wrong ones could do the opposite.
Thats the finding in a study of worm populations living in the soil
near trenches receiving septic tank flow outside five single family homes in
Arkansas. Carrie L. Hawkins of the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville
performed the study in collaboration with Agricultural Research Service (ARS) soil
scientist
Martin
J. Shipitalo of the
North
Appalachian Experimental Watershed in Coshocton, Ohio.
The scientists found that the worms were favoring the area near the trenches
because they were feeding on the household wastes discharged in the trenches.
They found fives species of earthworms. None of the species were deep-burrowers
like nightcrawlers.
Their burrowing near the surface actually helped the septic wastewater
spread through the soil more evenly, resulting in better cleansing of the
water. Had they been nightcrawlers, the worm burrows might have drained the
trenches so fast that it would bypass the soil filtering.
The results of this study will be published in the journal Applied
Soil Ecology and are currently online.
The earthworm study is part of a longstanding series of worm studies across
the country by Shipitalo, ARS colleagues at Coshocton and elsewhere, and
cooperating university scientists.
This body of earthworm knowledge is one of many aspects of ARS research on
soils that is incorporated into the Smithsonian
Institution's Soil Exhibition, which opens on July 19 and ends December 31,
2010. The exhibition is at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History in
Washington, D.C., and is called "Dig
it! The Secrets of Soils."
Ted
Zobeck and
Michael
Russelle, at ARS labs in Texas and Minnesota, respectively, are state
liaisons for the exhibit. ARS scientists at the
National
Soil Tilth Laboratory in Ames, Iowa, contributed heavily to the exhibition,
as did the late Dennis Linden in Minnesota.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
is a lead sponsor of the exhibition through the
Soil Science Society of America.
ARS is a scientific research agency of the USDA.
Switchgrass May Mean Better Soil Thu, 17 Jul 2008 09:07:00 -0500
Read the
magazine
story to find out more.
Native grasses like switchgrass may contribute to
soils with higher levels of glomalin, a glycoprotein that helps store carbon
and may increase the value of the grass as a source of ethanol. Click the
image for more information about it.
Glomalin: A key to
switchgrass ethanol success
Global warming may lower
grassland quality
Bringing back the native
grasses of California
Switchgrass May Mean Better Soil
By Don Comis
July 17, 2008 Soils with native grasses such as
switchgrass have higher levels of a key soil component called glomalin than
soils planted to non-native grasses, according to a study by the
Agricultural Research Service at two
locations in Mandan, N.D.
Kristine
Nichols, a microbiologist with the
ARS
Northern Great Plains Research Laboratory in Mandan, conducted the study.
Glomalin is a sugar-protein compound that might trigger the formation of soil.
The more glomalin in a given soil, the better and less erosion-prone that soil
probably is.
In 2004, Nichols collected soil from under grass plots established between
1987 and 2002. The amount of glomalin in the soil increased as the degree of
interdependence between plants and the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi increased.
These fungi produce glomalin and live inside plant roots and the surrounding
soil. That interdependence is greatest in warm-season native grasses such as
switchgrass, blue grama, big bluestem and indiangrass.
Further evidence that soils underneath native grasses are higher in glomalin
came from another study on rangeland areas at Mandan and near Platte, S.D.
In an earlier study, Nichols analyzed samples from undisturbed soils with
native vegetation in Maryland, Georgia and Colorado. According to her analysis,
glomalin stored a large percentage of the carbon found in those soils and
contributed greatly to soil fertility. On average, glomalin stored 15 percent
of the soil carbon, with the highest amount30 percent in a Colorado
soil and the lowest amount9 percentin a Georgia soil. These results
are similar to those from other soil samples taken around the world.
The increased glomalin and underground carbon storage observed with
switchgrass adds to its value as a potential source of cellulosic ethanol.
Nichols uses glomalin measurements as a quick guide to evaluate how
"soil-friendly" farming or rangeland practices actually are. She
originally worked with soil scientist Sara Wright, who discovered and named
glomalin in 1996. Wright has since retired.
Read
more about the research in the July 2008 issue of Agricultural Research
magazine.
ARS is a scientific research agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Spice Extracts Battle Bacteria Mon, 14 Jul 2008 08:46:00 -0500
Read the
magazine
story to find out more.
Extracts from plants such oregano were active
against several foodborne pathogens, including E. coli O157:H7,
Listeria monocytogenes, and Salmonella enterica, in ARS tests.
Photo courtesy of McCormick & Company, Inc.
Pathogen genes targeted in
studies to protect salad veggies
Protecting romaine lettuce
from pathogens
"Bad-Guy"
bacterium's genetic structure probed
Spice-Rack Favorites Battle E. coli and Other
Foodborne Pathogens
By Marcia Wood
July 14, 2008 Herbs and spices like oregano, thyme,
cinnamon and clove do more than add pleasing flavors and aromas to familiar
foods. The oils from these plants, or compounds extracted from those oils, pack
a powerful, antimicrobial punchstrong enough to help quell such foodborne
pathogens as Escherichia coli O157:H7.
That's according to Agricultural Research
Service (ARS) chemist
Mendel
Friedman, who several years ago evaluated the bacteria-bashing power of
these and dozens of other plant compounds.
Now, some of the compounds that Friedman and co-investigators determined
were the strongest combatants of E. coli, Salmonella enterica,
Campylobacter jejuni, or Listeria monocytogenes in the
2002 study are being tapped for new research focused on food safety.
For example, Friedman, research leader
Tara H.
McHugh, and other scientists at the
ARS
Western Regional Research Center in Albany, Calif., are evaluating the
highest-ranking botanical bactericides as potential ingredients in what are
known as edible films.
A thin, pliable, edible film for the future might be made of puréed
spinach spiked with carvacrol, the compound responsible for oregano's ranking
as a top fighter of E. coli in the Friedman study.
The scientists want to find out whether adding small squares of
carvacrol-enhanced spinach purée film to bags of chilled, ready-to-eat
spinach leaves would help protect this salad green against E. coli.
Friedman is also exploring other new uses of the top-rated botanicals from
the earlier study. That investigation, which he conducted with technician
Philip
R. Henika and research leader
Robert
E. Mandrell at Albany, was the most extensive of its kind at the time it
was published. Also notable was the common basis of comparison, which the team
established by inventing new methods to prepare and test all of the samples.
For even more consistency, the scientists used the same bacterial
strainsfrom the same suppliersthroughout the investigation.
Read
more about the research in the July 2008 issue of Agricultural
Research magazine.
ARS is a scientific research agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
USDA - National Agricultural Statistics Service Reports
Milk Production June Milk Production up 3.4 Percent. Milk production in the 23 major States during June totaled 14.7 billion pounds, up 3.4 percent from June 2007. May... Peanut Prices Peanut prices received by farmers for all farmer stock peanuts averaged 19.5 cents per pound for the week ending July 12....
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