Build your career in nursing programs!

Are you searching the right nursing program to build your future? What type of nursing degree is best for you? What type of nursing school should you go to?

There are two basic types of nursing degrees: A degree in Licensed Practical Nursing, (called Licensed Vocational Nursing in some states) and a degree in Registered Nursing.

The LPN degree can be a good starting point for your nursing career. You need a high school diploma or GED to be accepted into an LPN school. Many community colleges and technical schools offer LPN degrees. Not many four-year state universities offer them. Some private, for-profit schools in your area probably offer them as well; Galen, Kaplan, Keiser, and the University of Phoenix are all examples of these types of schools.

LPNs earn less than registered nurses and work under the direction of registered nurses. Some hospitals will not hire LPNs and only hire registered nurses.

If you want to progress into a managerial position as a nurse, you will want to become a registered nurse. One way to do this is by becoming an LPN first and then, while you are working as an LPN, taking an LPN to RN program online or at your local community college. The advantage to this is that you will be working and bringing in a salary, and also, your employer will very likely help pay for your continuing education (usually in return for signing a contract that ensures that you will continue working for them for a specificfied period of time.)

So which option is better for you? There are a number of considerations, such as how quickly you want to get your degree and start working. An lpn school degree will get you working more quickly. However, if you know that you want to progress further in your career, possibly into a management position, and you have the time, money and ability to go to school for two to four years, you may want to consider obtaining a degree in registered nursing instead. Nursing-School.org helps people find the right nursing education program. We have a large directory of nursing related schools and plenty of information about jobs in the health care and nursing industry.

Best online fashion design schools

Nowadays people are crazy about the latest fashion trends which celebrities wear. The world of fashion is one that has the eyes and ears of a vast amount of people; we watch television, read magazines, and stay tuned to see what the rich and famous are wearing from day to day – and we follow suit. Fashion can change perceptions, impact an entire retail economy, and influence a generation. It’s no wonder that more and more people are interested in joining the world of fashion design.

Fashion design entails the creation and manufacturing of clothing styles. Fashion designers work based on seasons – they design, create, and then introduce their line of clothing on the fashion runways. The clothing that is well-received suddenly makes its way to Hollywood where actors and actresses come decked out in the latest fashion to the latest movie premiers. And what happens on that carpet trickles down to the masses making its way to retail outlets all over the country in more affordable forms.

Fashion design can be a fantastic career journey but it requires a vast amount of skill, education, and hard work. Those interested in fashion design should already possess an innate ability to create beautiful design and effectively communicate them on paper. Following a school program – or even in conjunction with a school program – those pursuing a career in fashion design should be sure to involve themselves in an internship or apprenticeship with a reputable design house. The experience gained in this capacity is unmatched and will begin building your portfolio – your most important tool in a fashion design career.

Fashion-schools.org offers the best fashion design information which can be a wonderful career filled with adventure, creativity, and a chance to influence clothing choices all across the nation and even around the world.

Best online culinary schools for you!

Nowadays cooking has become crush for many teenagers. Culinary schools where cooking is taught. Today, cooking is an art, rather than just cooking. There are several specialties in cooking who can make you an expert chef, either for professional reasons or just for fun. They teach fundamental and traditional cooking while encouraging innovation and novelty. Getting trained at a culinary school may help you become an executive-chef, sous-chef, saucier, garde manager, pastry chef, or a sommelier.

There are also online culinary schools that provide training in culinary skills. These offer several courses relating to pastry preparation, wine tasting and selecting, knife skills, baking and dessert making, holiday cooking, healthy cooking, regional cooking, style cooking, safety and sanitation, cost management, food handling and identification, food and nutrition, special cuisines, gourmet cooking, catering and more.

Online culinary schools offer certifications that are applicable worldwide. They have good facilities and instructors, food service operations, job placement assistance, good credentials, teaching by experts, hands-on teaching, and so on. There are different kinds of certifications available: diploma programs, associate’s degrees, apprenticeship programs, bachelor’s degree programs, vocational programs and certificate programs. These programs are also offered in different levels, like level 1 for basic introduction, level 2 for more experienced cooks and level 3 for learning professional cooking.

There are many online culinary school that provide courses for beginners, amateurs and professionals. Many professional culinary schools are also offering online courses. Information can be found online or at the websites of these schools. For further assistance you may visit http://www.culinary-schools.us

Credit card companies may raise fees to skirt rate cap

Many leading credit card issuing banks have started upgrading their credit card customers’ higher range of credit cards i.e. to platinum or titanium cards.

In addition the banks are also making working on a back-up plan in case the Supreme Court turns down their petition against a consumer court decision to restrict the annual interest rate at 30 per cent.

The apex court will be giving its judgment on this matter in a few days time. Leading bankers told they might not be left with no other option but to impose a steep annual fee lest the Court agrees with the consumer court’s opinion.

Earlier in order to grab market share, most banks had waived the annual fee on credit cards. Leading banker pointed out, “We will have no option but to impose a hefty fee if there is a cap on the interest rate. In the process, the business itself would become unviable, forcing many of us to withdraw”.

Although many banks have already started “upgrading” their customers to platinum or titanium cards with a few free offers in return for an annual fee. But the numbers seems to be still too small and banks are taking the move of upgrading the customers very cautiously due to fear of losing customers.

Bankers state that credit-card business is not profitable in India because of high administration costs and the small ticket size of transactions.

“The average ticket size is just Rs 1,500 and the administration costs are too high. Besides, the default rate in this segment is also pretty high. Thus, it doesn’t make sense to cap interest rates at 30 per cent,” a foreign banker said.

Another banker stated that high rates also lead to lower mis-selling and raise the entry barrier. But others are of view that banks themselves are responsible for this mess. At present the default rate on credit cards is 8-15 per cent and this is going up mainly due to the practice of issuing free cards.

“Too many credit cards prompted many borrowers to spend beyond their means leading to delinquencies,” admitted a banker.

A few weeks ago, a group of foreign lenders including Citibank, HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank and American Express Bank had filed a case in the apex court challenging a consumer court’s judgment that a bank cannot charge beyond 30 per cent annually on credit cards, even in cases of defaults.

The banks argued that capping of interest rates on credit card payment is opposite to the Reserve Bank of India policy which gives banks the freedom to fix rates on non-priority sector personal loans, in spite of of the loan size.

The apex court has given the banks three weeks’ time for put forward their explanation and feedback on the high credit card rates, which range from 35 to 50 per cent.

Currently, Citibank is having over 3.7 million credit-card holders in India. HSBC, which manages about 2.8 million credit-card accounts here, charges annual fees in the range of Rs 750 to Rs 4,000 depending on the category of the card. ICICI Bank charge annual fees in the range of Rs 1,500 to Rs 25,000 according to the features of the card. About 50 per cent of the bank’s card-holders hold free cards.

Your mobile phone may soon be able to be used as credit, debit card

New developments are being done in the mobile sector. With the latest development there can be complete liberalization in the mobile commerce, the department of telecommunication (DoT) will soon be putting forward an application to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for seeking guidance on linking telephone networks with banking services.

Recently RBI outlined certain guidelines for mobile banking in India, under which it has allowed only a few basic banking services which can be undertaken through mobile phones. But as per new DoT move the consumers will virtually be able to use their mobile phones as a debit or credit card.

Sources informed Sunday ET that the ministry will ask for RBI's consultation to provide full-fledged mobile banking services to the customers, as per discussions held between the 13th Finance Commission team and DoT officials on September 18, 2008. As per a senior DoT official, the ministry up till now has not taken up any program on linking telephone networks with banking services, but is eager on it as it will help in generating revenues, besides giving more value to telephone customers. "These services can increase the share of value-added services from the existing 7-8% of total revenues from the sector to almost about 25% which is the case in the developed countries," DoT said to the Commission's team. Sunday ET has been provided with a copy of the discussion paper prepared by DoT.

Shetty, director at KPMG India, while explaining how the new initiative will help Indian consumers, said it will change the entire face of banking in the country. "So far, consumers can make only a few basic transactions through the mobile, but this will mean using your mobile as your credit or debit card. All you have to do is to send a message to make a payment,” he said.

In India mobile segment is primarily limited to basic banking transactions, purchase of travel tickets and payment of some utility bills, checking your account balance and last few transactions. Sanjiv Mittal, vice-chairman, Bharti Telesoft, is providing mobile banking facility to the customers in collaboration with Barclays Bank think that both, banking and telecom industry, will have to come together to make mobile commerce a success in India. "There are certain laws to be considered regarding money remittances. Considering the IT security condition, coming together of both is a good sign," he said.

Vodafone is also offering services like querying bank balance, requesting for cheque book, making stop payment etc. These services are being provided in association with banks such as HDFC Bank, ABN AMRO and Kotak Mahindra Bank. "Mobile banking is necessary to create access to the remotest of areas. Any kind of convergence is good for promoting mobile commerce. There is nothing better than both the systems coming together to provide a framework," said a Vodafone official.

The DoT's interest in the subject is sending positive signals to industry. "If the ministry takes up the matter with the RBI, it will definitely speed up the process. It will not only help the mobile users but will boost banks and even mobile operators to grow further," added Mr Shetty.

The DoT has informed the Finance Commission's team that revenues from auction of spectrum for 3G and BWA services approximately can go up to Rs 30,000 cr. The 13th Finance Commission has asked the DoT to give the revenue details from the telecom sector between 2010 and 2015.

State police arrested city’s first credit card ‘skimmer’

Ahemdabad police arrested Kalpesh Patel for credit card frauds worth Rs 1.5 lakh, though police believes that the fraud amount is much bigger.

Kalpesh is a young corporate executive who did purchases at a prominent departmental store on the SG Highway and made payment by credit card for his purchases worth Rs 5,000. By chance, the credit card swipe machine went offline and the transaction was completed to avoid customer inconvenience.

Much after the customer left the store the credit card company realized that they have been cheated. The CVV number used to complete purchase through credit card proved to be fake! Many more fake transactions were done in July, August and even in September and the card swipe machine would be always on the blink.
Satellite police station officials have finally caught the credit card fraudster. He turned out to be 32-year-old, Kalpesh Patel. Satellite police station officials told Kalpesh has been sent to judicial custody on Monday. He was interrogated by police officials and private sector major bank employees to know how he did it.

The cops are now more worried about the technique used by the fraudster. "Kalpesh could actually make the card swipe machines go offline. It is still not clear how. In the online mode, the machine sends transaction information, real time, to the central server which keeps a watch over all transactions simultaneously. Being offline, this interaction with central server did not take place and thus Kalpesh could make the purchases even with a wrong CVV number," said the police officials.

A private bank detected fraud when there was periodical ‘failure’ in the swipe machines of the credit card in several joints including petrol pumps, restaurants and shopping malls. The bank on further investigation found that the cards were used by impersonators.

"The transactions varied from Rs 300 to Rs 5000. As the amount was not very alarming, few of the card owners realized the fraud. In the primary investigation, we came to know that around 11 cards were misused in this fashion," said a Satellite police station official.

JJ Patel, inspector of Satellite police station, told TOI press person that Kalpesh has been booked for criminal breach of trust and fraud and forgery. Cop informed that he has been sent in judicial custody on Monday. "We have called upon experts to understand his modus operandi. As per primary information, he procured credit card database in electromagnetic format and copied it to some other credit cards. He then used these duplicate cards to make purchases," Patel said.

Police suspect there might be more people involved with Patel in this racket. "We are hunting for those who provided him the credit card details of other users, who him the know-how for making duplicate cards and making the swipe machine go offline," said police investigators.

The technique of credit card transaction


Usually swiping machines are connected to a leased line working on GSM or CDMA technology. The telephone line connects the machine to the main server of the bank and the service provider - Visa or Master Card. When credit card is swiped, the machine sends the information to the server that verifies the transaction. If the online mode is not available, the establishment can use offline mode after inserting three digit CVV code. Mostly the offline mode is used only for customers' convenience. In case of offline mode, the data is then sent to the server when the machine is back online.

Corporation bank in tie-up launched prepaid travel card

Corporation bank, Mangalore-based public sector bank has launched prepaid travel card in a tie-up with JP Morgan and Visa. Bank has used JP Morgan’s expertise in prepaid card solutions and its proprietary technology platform. Bank has launched the card in three foreign currencies -- US dollar, British pound and Euro. Corporation Bank has become the second public sector bank, for launching a prepaid travel card, earlier only State Bank of India had launched a prepaid travel card.

Bank is offering the benefits like customers to make a purchase, withdraw cash in local currencies at ATMs when traveling abroad. The card will also be easy to carry and lower the risks of carrying foreign currency and travelers' cheques, B R Bhat, general manager, Corporation Bank said. He said the customers can get the balance amount in the card refunded at any of the designated branches of the bank.

The bank has planned to sell at least 25,000 cards during the first year of its launch. Very soon bank is planning to introduce the card in Chinese currency also..