text:
Person of Interest (Hardcover)
Minotaur Books, 9780312364267, 384pp.
Publication Date: November 27, 2007
Leslie McHugh is married to an undercover cop. She thinks she knows what it's like to share her life with a man who spends his days living a lie, who keeps secrets for a living, who trusts no one, not even her. She can see the pressure, the fear, the pent-up rage, and, worst of all, the distance growing between them that Craig promised he'd never allow. But what does she really know? Lonely, tired, and starting to drink too much, she knows that their marriage is on the rocks because her husband lives a second life she knows almost nothing about.
When a thousand dollars disappears from their bank account, she wants answers, but before she can even ask the questions, their seventeen-year-old daughter, a real cop's kid already on a collision course with trouble, turns up at the center of Craig's investigation into a snitch's violent death. Leslie's had enough; she's determined to get to the truth and protect her family---no matter what the cost.
Again and again, Edgar Award winner Theresa Schwegel shows a remarkable ability to get inside a cop's world---both at the precinct house and at home---making Person of Interest some of the most compelling crime fiction in bookstores today.
About the Author
Praise For Person of Interest…
Praise for Probable Cause
"Schwegel spins a taut and muscular tale that explores the dark side of law enforcement. The cast is convincing, the suspense is unrelenting, the result is top-flight entertainment."
---The San Diego Union-Tribune
"While Schwegel skillfully tightens the plot screws . . . she also has fun riding with the cops through the best and worst of Chicago's neighborhoods."
---The New York Times Book Review
"Convincing local color and the winning depiction of Weiss . . . the twenty-three-year-old's bright future in the genre seems inevitable. . . . A solidly written coming-of-age tale with an endearing and believable hero."
---Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Praise for Office Down
"An excellent choice for contemporary noir fans."
---The Baltimore Sun
"[Schwegel's] impressive first mystery . . . catches the flavor of the city in endearing ways. . . . Schwegel, who writes about police work with authority, has also created a tough and original character."
---Chicago Tribune
"Readers at last can enjoy a tough-gal yarn with heaps of moral ambiguity and good guys gone bad. . . . [Samantha] Mack isn't your average cop."
---San Francisco Chronicle


text:
How to Cook Rice in a Microwave
How to Cook Rice in a Microwave
It is possible to cook moist, fluffy and evenly cooked rice using a microwave oven. Use a microwave-safe tall casserole with lid or microwave rice cooker for this recipe.
Serves: 4
Prep Time: 5 mins
Cook Time: 9 mins
- 1 cup long-grain white rice
- 1.5 cups water
- Add rice to the casserole and rinse rice until the water runs clear/opaque (depending on your preference). Discard rinsing water. Measure and add 1.5 cups water to the rice in the casserole.
- Cover with lid. Microwave the casserole on high power for about 9 minutes.
- Let the cooker sit for a few minutes before opening. Stir and fluff the rice with a spatula or fork before serving.
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Leave a Comment
18 Responses to "How to Cook Rice in a Microwave"
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This looks interesting! I just bought similar one earlier and can't wait to try it. Will start using it instead of rice cooker if the rice turns out well :)
Hi, anyone knows which cold storage area still has it? Thanks.
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
Cilea by PureSuasion
- 2 reviews See the Breakdown
- Product Info | Add Your Review
Cilea by PureSuasion Reviews
I have beautiful lashes I love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!My eyelashes were light ,and thin, and I have tried every mascara and lash enhancer. Nothing made me go wow. Until Cilea my lashes or darker,thicker, and longer. They look great even with out mascara. I suggested strongly, to use this product. Its so easy to able and you see results really fast. The longer you use it the better they look. Great, Great Product! I LOVE MY LASHES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! — 7 years, 8 months agobarbarajoseph | 1 reviews
This review is: Helpful | Not helpful | Inappropriate | 35 of 37 people said helpful
I see a Difference with CileaI bought Cilea lash by PureSusasion at the beginning of Dec. and my eyelashes have become thicker and longer! sI am so excited to have longer lashes for New years eve! The gel formula is light and does not bother my eyes. — 7 years, 9 months agoShoppingGirl | 1 reviews
This review is: Helpful | Not helpful | Inappropriate | 28 of 28 people said helpful
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text:
ENCINITAS — Running Skirts was already known for introducing color and style to women runners worldwide through its website when it opened its flagship store in downtown Encinitas last February.
For the past year, the "unique boutique for the stylish" has supplied thousands of local athletes with the innovative running skirt. Designed to combine fashion and functionality, the skirts flew out of the small warehouse on Second Street for five years.
Christy Baker designed a prototype for the running skirt when her sister Cindy Lynch "roped" her into running her first marathon. "She said she would do it but not wearing 'those ugly shorts,'" Lynch remembers.
What started as a side job for two sisters has become a thriving business. Baker's garage in Cardiff was home to the Internet-based retailer until expansion became necessary. "We had to move into a larger space when the demand increased," she said. The company now sees its trendy skirts at almost every major race in North America.
According to Baker's twin and co-founder Lynch, the skirts and coordinating attire fly off the racks at race expos and retail stores nationwide. Locally, the company's warehouse was known to open its doors to runners who wanted to drop in to try on the skirts, check out the latest colors and styles, exchange a gift and save on shipping.
"Now our customers don't have to squeeze in between the racks of inventory and stacks of shipping boxes in order to get "skirted,"" Lynch said. "It was a natural progression into the brick and mortar retail location when the window front space in front of our warehouse opened up in the building," Lynch said. The former real estate office was thoroughly transformed. "We literally gutted the space and made it into a "pinkalicious" boutique shopping experience, unlike any other specialty running store," she said.
"San Diego is a huge runners' Mecca and we have a tremendous following here," Lynch said. "In Encinitas, Second Street is overrun by athletes every morning, afternoon and weekend," Baker added. "This is a prime location for us and the perfect time to open our first retail store."
The entrepreneurs attribute much of their success in running a profitable business to location, enthusiastic customer base and loyal following. "Not only are we located on the thoroughfare for local cyclists and runners, we find the proximity to the highway and beaches is great for drawing additional walk-in traffic and shoppers," Lynch said.
"It's going really, really well," Lynch said referring to the first year as a retail store. In addition to their own line of running skirts and apparel, the store has expanded their offerings to include the owners' favorite running lines. "We like to offer all of our favorites to our customer," she said. "We've tested it all."
Baker and Lynch have been running marathons for a decade. The pair run at least three to four marathons and dozens of half-marathons each year. "There's not a barrier to entry in running as you might find in other sports," Lynch said. "There's also a lot of camaraderie."
The business facilitates the companionship inherent in running and walking to host weekly fun runs every Thursday night beginning at 6 p.m. at the store, 676 Second St. "We welcome walkers and runners of all abilities," Lynch said.
To celebrate their one-year anniversary, Running Skirts is hosting a fun run and walk with a Valentine's Day twist from 5 to 8 p.m. Feb. 10. "We've got some fun things planned for couples and singles including prizes and giveaways," Lynch said.
"We're really inspired to grow the retail storefront," Baker said. We didn't expect it to be such a success," she said. "That was a nice surprise."
For more information, visit www.runningskirts.com.
ENCINITAS — Running Skirts was already known for introducing color and style to women runners worldwide through its website when it opened its flagship store in downtown Encinitas last February.


text:
Carry philosophy changing with the times?
View Single Post
January 11, 2013, 04:45 PM
Bob Wright
Senior Member
Join Date: July 10, 2012
Location: Memphis, Tennessee
Posts: 2,596
The state of Tennessee has always outlawed carrying any weapon "with the intent to go armed." Little old ladies who walk around armed with baseball bats or golf clubs are in violation of this law.
Further it has been noted that the permit is a "Handgun Carry Permit" and excludes the tactical knives and tantos so favored by the para-military groups now.
That said, weapons at hand, kitchen knives, lamps, ice-picks, all are considered "deadly weapons" in assault cases.
In Tennessee, deadly force is justufied in defense in face of death or bodily harm to the person or third party, no matter how they may be armed.
Bob Wright
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text:
|Publication number
|Publication type
|Application number
|Publication date
|25 Aug 2009
|Filing date
|14 Dec 2001
|Priority date
|14 Dec 2001
|Fee status
|Also published as
|Publication number
|Steven Lurie
|Original Assignee
|Utbk, Inc.
|Export Citation
|BiBTeX, EndNote, RefMan
|Patent Citations (116), Non-Patent Citations (87), Referenced by (21), Classifications (16), Legal Events (22)
|External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, Espacenet
The invention relates generally to the field of customer relations management. More particularly, the invention relates to a method and apparatus for online advice customer relationship management.
Consumers interested in acquiring services must first identify a service provider who is capable of providing the required services. At present, this usually means perusing a telephone directory, which can become frustrating and time-consuming if the service providers telephoned are not immediately available. In addition, a simple telephone call does not enable the service provider to charge a fee according to the time spent with his/her customers.
Systems now exist that enable providers of services to charge fees for the time spent delivering the service. 1-900 phone numbers will charge the seeker of services according to the time spent receiving the service and will transfer this payment, or a portion of it, to the provider. Each 1-900 number, however, has a very narrow scope—"Hear your Horoscope," for instance. If a seeker would like to hear an entirely different service—"Your Local Weather," for instance—he/she would have to dial a completely different 1-900 number. Similarly, each 1-900 number is quite rigid in the price, quality, and specificity of its service.
However, current systems (service provider systems) now exist that enable seekers to locate service providers according to a wide range of price, quality and specificity of service (U.S. application Ser. No. 09/414,710 and U.S. application Ser. No. 09/702,217). Such systems also make it possible for the service provider and buyer to be connected and communicate in real time. Such systems, provide service seekers the capability to select service providers via the Internet, assuming the service seeker owns or has access to the necessary computer hardware to browse the internet. In addition, a service seeker can be matched to a wide array of service providers with specific skills using only a simple audio-transmission medium such as the telephone.
The systems described above, such as for example, the service provider systems, are designed to generate capital for both the owners of the systems, as well as the service providers, which provider their services via the systems. As such, the more requests and live conversations the service provider engages in, the more money the service providers will generate. Accordingly, the more money generated by the service providers, the more money that will be generated for the service provider system. As such, the system described above not only aspire to attract as many customers as possible, but where possible, to have as many repeat customers as possible.
Therefore, the goal of each of the service provider systems described above is to provide improved compensation for the service providers and as a result, the systems themselves. Unfortunately, current means do not exist for tracking previous customers of the system. This customer relationship management aspect is not available in current systems, but could certainly be utilized in order to generate additional capital for the service providers available to the systems and as a result, provide additional compensation for the service provider systems. Generally, the system may keep a percentage of the fees paid to service providers for providing live advice and therefore directly benefit by having repeat customers.
Therefore, there remains a need to overcome one or more of the limitations in the above-described existing.
The present invention presents a method and apparatus for online advice customer relationship management. The method includes the determination of a service provider ID code from a requesting service provider. Once a service provider ID code is determined, a list of service seekers that have received advice regarding a field of service from a service provider corresponding to the service provider ID code is generated. Once generated, the listing of service seekers is displayed via customer display screen. As such, system administrators, as well as the service providers themselves, may view listings of service seekers in order to provide relationship management of the service seekers, such as for example, providing incentives to service seekers for follow-up live advice, as well as blocking undesired service seekers from further contact with the service provider.
The present invention provides many advantages over known techniques. The present invention includes the ability to enable service providers of service provider systems to track the various customers that have received advice communication from the various service providers. In doing so, the service providers may provide incentives to service seekers that have received advice from the service provider in order to induce repeat business. The service provider can also track service seekers and receive alerts from the system for initiating e-mail contact with service seekers that have expressed interest in engaging in repeat business. The customer relationship tool described herein enables service providers to track clients in order to generate follow-up business, which will provide increased compensation for the service providers and as a result, provide increased compensation for the service provider system, which collects a portion of the fees charged by the service providers for providing live advice regarding one or more fields of service.
The present invention is illustrated by way of example, and not by way of limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings and in which:
A method and apparatus for online advice customer relationship management are described. The method includes the determination of a service provider ID code from a requesting service provider. Once a service provider ID code is determined, a list of service seekers that have received advice regarding a field of service from a service provider corresponding to the service provider ID code is generated. Once generated, the listing of service seekers is displayed via a customer management screen. As such, system administrators, as well as the service providers themselves, may view listings of service seekers in order to provide relationship management of the service seekers, such as for example, providing incentives to service seekers for follow-up advice communication, as well as blocking undesired service seekers from further contact with the service provider.
In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. It will be apparent, however, to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without some of these specific details. In addition, the following description provides examples, and the accompanying drawings show various examples for the purposes of illustration. However, these examples should not be construed in a limiting sense as they are merely intended to provide examples of the present invention rather than to provide an exhaustive list of all possible implementations of the present invention. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring the details of the present invention.
In an embodiment, the methods of the present invention are embodied in machine-executable instructions. The instructions can be used to cause a general-purpose or special-purpose processor that is programmed with the instructions to perform the steps of the present invention. Alternatively, the steps of the present invention might be performed by specific hardware components that contain hardwired logic for performing the steps, or by any combination of programmed computer components and custom hardware components.
The present invention may be provided as a computer program product which may include a machine or computer-readable medium having stored thereon instructions which may be used to program a computer (or other electronic devices) to perform a process according to the present invention. The computer-readable medium may include, but is not limited to, floppy diskettes, optical disks, Compact Disc, Read-Only Memory (CD-ROMs), and magneto-optical disks, Read-Only Memory (ROMs), Random Access Memory (RAMs), Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EPROMs), Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROMs), magnetic or optical cards, flash memory, or the like.
Accordingly, the computer-readable medium includes any type of media/machine-readable medium suitable for storing electronic instructions. Moreover, the present invention may also be downloaded as a computer program product. As such, the program may be transferred from a remote computer (e.g., a server) to a requesting computer (e.g., a client). The transfer of the program may be by way of data signals embodied in a carrier wave or other propagation medium via a communication link (e.g., a modem, network connection or the like).
System Architecture
The system 100 also includes one or more service providers 200 (200-A, . . . , 200-N) each having a communications device 202 (202-1, . . . , 202-N) that is connected to a communications network 110. Accordingly, one or more service seekers (users) 104 (104-1, . . . , 104-N) access the service provider system via either communications devices 104 (104-A, . . . , 104-N) that are connected to the communications network 110 or service seeker computers 120. In accordance with the teachings of the present invention, a user 102 can send a request 106 (106-A, . . . , 106-N) via the communications device 104 or service seeker computer 120, which is received by the service provider server computer 300.
As described in further detail below, the service provider server computer 300 can then automatically connect the user 104 to a selected service provider 200 for a live conversation either via the communication devices 102 and 202 or the computers 120 and 204. Accordingly, when the request 106 is provided via a communication device 104, the request 106 may be in the form of either a voice command or keypad entry. As described in further detail below, the service provider server computer 300 can then connect the service seeker 102 to a selected service provider 200 for a live conversation via the communications/audio interface 308.
The communications network 110 generally refers to any type of wire or wireless link enabling the transmission of voice data such as, but not limited to, a public switched telephone network, a wireless communications network, a local area network, a wide area network or a combination of networks. The communications devices 104 and 200 generally refer to any type of device capable of receiving speech or keypad entry from a user and providing the speech/keypad entry to a destination via a communications network, such as the communications network 110. In an embodiment of the present invention, the communications network 110 is a public switched telephone network and the communications device 104 and 200 are telephones.
However, in contrast to service provider systems described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/414,710 and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/702,217, service provider system 100, as depicted in
Accordingly, as each communication occurs between service seekers and service providers, a transaction record is generated in the service seeker transaction database 350 in order to enable customer management procedures, as will be described in further detail below, to provide service providers with listings of each service seeker that has received an advice communication from the service provider. As such, service providers, or system administrators, may view their respective service seekers (customers) via listings provided by customer management procedures, as will be described in further detail below.
Using the various procedures provided, the service providers can provide incentives to service seekers in order to induce the service seekers to engage in additional receipt of advice communication, thereby generating additional compensation to the service providers, as well as providing additional compensation to the service provider system 100. In addition, the customer management procedures provide further functionality for processing service seeker listings, as will be described in further detail below.
Referring now to
The communications interface 308 is used to communicate with users 102 and service providers 200, as well as other system resources not shown. In one embodiment, the communications interface 308 receives an audio request 106 provided by user 102 through a communications 104, which is provided over the communications network 110. The communications interface 308 provides digitized voice requests to the audio portal server computer 300 for interactive voice recognition, including voice processing, speech recognition and text-to-speech processing. In addition, communications interface 308 provides digitized keypad responses to the service computer for decoding of dual tone multi-frequency (DTMF) signals.
The network interface 306 is used to connect a user computer 120 to a selected service provider computer 202 for real-time communication, such as voice over Internet Protocol (IP), video over-IP, or the like. The memory 312 of the service provider server computer 300 may be implemented as RAM (random access memory), SRAM (synchronous RAM), SDRAM (synchronous data RAM) or a combination of RAM and non-volatile memory, such as one or more memory modules, storage volumes, or magnetic disk storage units. The memory can contain any of the following:
The memory 128 of the service seeker computer 120 may be implemented as RAM (random access memory) or a combination of RAM, SRAM (synchronous RAM), SDRAM (synchronous data RAM) and non-volatile memory, such as one or more memory modules, storage volumes, or one or more magnetic disk storage units. The memory 128 can contain the following:
The memory 210 of the service provider computer 202 may be implemented as RAM (random access memory) or a combination of RAM and non-volatile memory, such as SRAM (synchronous RAM), SDRAM (synchronous data RAM) and one or more magnetic disk storage units. The memory 210 can contain the following:
The embodiments depicted in
The service provider 200 then informs the system 100 of the times when he/she is available to receive calls. Switching service provider 200 availability status can be done online or through a communications device, such as a telephone. Once the database 310 contains the phone numbers of service providers, descriptions of their services, their prices, and their real-time availability statuses, the audio portal system 100 can provide services to users 102 desiring corresponding services.
In one embodiment a telephone is used as part of the delivery mechanism or communications device 104 and 202 of the system 100. A user 102 seeking services (service seekers) dials a central telephone number and then listens to a series of options, including entry of verification information, such as a personal information number (PIN) code. The seeker can select keypad request or voice request to indicate the type of service he would like to receive by speaking the name of a profession, such as "psychiatrist," which is processed by the system's audio interface 308 using audio interface procedures 322.
In an alternate embodiment, the service seeker 102 can listen to a series of professions and press the numerical keypad to select one by selecting a field of service browse option. Accordingly, the system accepts keypad or voice response from a service seeker 102 and continues until the desired field of service is selected. In addition, when known, the service seeker 102 can select a direct connection and provide a service provider ID (telephone extension) of a desired service provider for immediate connection with the selected service provider (as described above).
Once the user 102 has indicated a field of service using the service provider selection procedures 324/326, the system 100 searches its database 310 for service providers in that field. The service provider selection procedures 324/326 allow the user 102 to further narrow the search for a service provider 200 by speaking—or pressing into the telephone keypad—a price, such as "50 cents per minute." The server computer 300 will then narrow the search in the database 310 for service providers 200 that match the price range.
The service seeker 102 can further narrow the search for a service provider 200 by speaking—or pressing into the telephone keypad—a quality rating, such as "three stars or higher." The server computer 300 will then narrow the search in the database 340 for service providers 200 which match the quality rating range. Finally, the user 102 can further narrow the search for a service provider by speaking—or pressing into the telephone keypad—the name of a language, such as "Spanish." The server computer 300 will then narrow the search in the database 310 for service providers 200 who can speak this language.
Once converted, the service provider selection procedures 324 will query the service provider database 310 using the user selection in order to provide either service providers within a field of service selected by the user or corresponding service provider selected by the user. Accordingly, in certain embodiments, prior users may enter a service provider code number for immediate connection to the service provider. Accordingly, the seeker can avoid delays provided via interface prompts required by new users in order to familiarize users with the fields of service available from the audio portal system 100. In one embodiment, if the service provider is not available, the seeker is given the option to connect with the highest rated service provider within the corresponding category. As such, the service provider selection procedures 324/326 include both IVR software, as well as DTMF decoding software, depending on whether the user's responses are provided as voice responses or keypad entry.
Once a service provider 200 with the desired characteristics has been chosen, the audio portal system 100 will automatically connect the service seeker 102 with the selected service provider 200, assuming the service provider is available. Once both the service seeker 102 and provider 200 are on the phone line 110, the system 100 conferences the two phone calls together, enabling services to be rendered in a live conversation. The system keeps track of the time spent on the phone call using the conversation monitoring procedures 340. The service seeker 102 is then billed accordingly, and the funds are transferred to the provider 200 using the billing procedures 328. In addition, a transaction record is generated within the transaction by using the transaction DB procedures 348.
Referring now to
As described above, the advice communications may be in the form of a live advice communication via a communications device, such as a telephone, as indicated by col. 530, as well as recorded advice communications, as indicated by col. 532, and written advice communications, as indicated by col. 534. In addition, the listing includes the last contact date with the respective service seeker, as indicated by col. 536, as well as a total earnings col. 538, and a customer type col. 540. In addition, the customer management screen 500 provides a service provider with one or more options.
In the embodiment depicted, the service provider is provided with a compose e-mail option 506, a block option 508 and assign to list option 510. In order to use the provided options, a service provider will select checkboxes, indicated at col. 522, by for example, mouse clicking on the various checkboxes corresponding to desired service seekers. Once selected, the service provider can click on an option. Once the option is selected by the service provider, the customer management procedures 334 will process the selected service providers according to the selected option. When a service provider selects the compose e-mail option 506, the customer e-mail procedures 340 are performed.
In one embodiment, the procedures 340 provide the service provider with an electronic mail generation screen in order for the service provider to enter desired information within the electronic mail. Once entered, the electronic mail will be sent to the selected service seekers. The electronic mail option may be utilized by service providers in order to provide incentives to the selected service seekers in order to entice the service seekers to engage the service providers' assistance in the form of an advice communication. When a service seeker responds to a communication incentive, the customer incentive procedures 342 will compensate the service seeker once the advice communication is complete.
The block option 508 enables a service provider to select one or more of the service seekers within the list 520. Once selected, the block option 508 will invoke customer blocking procedures 336, which will prohibit the selected service seekers from engaging in future receipt of advice communications from the service provider. This is a very valuable feature for service providers that have encountered undesirable service seekers and would much rather prevent and avoid future contact with the undesirable service seekers. Finally, the assign to list option 510 invokes the customer listing procedures 338 to enable to the service provider to select one or more of the service seekers and to assign the service seekers to various lists, as depicted in
Referring now to
In one embodiment, alerts are generated for service seekers based on a total earnings amount from the service seeker, ratings received from the service seeker, as well as a last contact date from or with the respective service seeker. As indicated, the customer detail screen will include a contact summary 620, which will include a total earnings amount, average feedback given, type of contact, amount earned, number of contracts, number of minutes, last contact (in days). Finally, a contact screen 630 will include a type of contact with the user 634, as well as the date. The contact screen 630 also includes a note portion for the service provider to enter notes with regard to the respective service seeker.
Referring now to
Finally, referring to
Referring now to
Using the listings, the service provider can select customer management options, as will be described in further detail below, as well as providing incentives to previous customers in order to entice the customers to engage in repeat receipt of advice communications from the service provider. Accordingly, virtually any system that provides live advice via communications devices, such as telephones or online advice via voice or video over-IP, as well as recorded information, can keep track of its customers. In addition to customer tracking, the method enables providing of customers with incentives in order to generate repeat business, which will result in increased compensation for the various providers and, in effect, generate additional compensation for the systems which provide these advice communications.
The online advice customer management method 800 begins at process block 830, wherein a service provider ID code is determined. Once the service provider ID is determined, a list of service seekers that have received advice communications regarding a field of service from the service provider are generated. In one embodiment, this listing is generated using customer management procedures 334 by selecting service seekers that have received advice communications from a service provider corresponding to the service provider ID code determined at process block 830. Finally, at process block 850, the listing of service seekers is displayed via a customer display screen, such as depicted in
Referring now to
In one embodiment, this is performed using the transaction database procedures 348. Finally, at process block 810, process block 804 through 808 are repeated for each service provider available from the service provider system 100. Accordingly, for each advice communication engaged between a service seeker and a service provider, the system 100 will generate a corresponding transaction record in order to enable the customer relationship management process as described herein.
Referring now to
Referring now to
Referring now to
Referring now to
In one embodiment, the customer management processing commands include e-mail generation options, customer blocking options and list generation options, which are provided using procedures 336 through 342, as depicted in
Referring now to
Referring now to
When a service seeker block command is received, at process block 878, each selected service provider is blocked from receiving further advice communications from the service provider, utilizing for example, the customer blocking procedures 336, as depicted in
Referring now to
Once determined, at process block 894, an alert is listed via the customer management screen 500, as well as via the customer detail screen 600, as depicted in
Referring now to
Finally, at process block 906, the service provider views the listing of service seekers that is processed according to one or more customer management processing options, which are provided via the customer management screen 500, as depicted in
Referring now to
Referring now to
Referring now to
Finally, referring to
Accordingly, as described herein, the customer relationship management procedures enable systems that provide live or recorded advice via communication means, such as e-mail or via online access, with means for tracking the various customers that have solicited and received advice from the various systems. Utilizing these customer tracking options and management functions, the various providers within the systems, as well as the administrator of the systems, may track the various customers and device means for engaging the customers in repeat business. In doing so, the service provider systems will generate increased compensation for themselves and in systems that collect a portion of the fees provided from the service seekers to service providers, additional compensation will be received by the system.
Furthermore, the customer relationship management options may be utilized by service providers in order to provide improved communication advice to service seekers by utilizing such options as customer description procedures 344, as depicted in
Alternate Embodiments
Several aspects of one implementation of the online advice customer relationship management system for providing customer relationship management have been described. However, various implementations of the online advice customer relationship management system provide numerous features including, complementing, supplementing, and/or replacing the features described above. Features can be implemented as part of an online system or as part of a client-server system in different implementations. In addition, the foregoing description, for purposes of explanation, used specific nomenclature to provide a thorough understanding of the invention. However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that the specific details are not required in order to practice the invention.
In addition, although an embodiment described herein is directed to an online advice customer relationship management system, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the teaching of the present invention can be applied to other systems. In fact, systems for tracking customers who receive online advice via audio transmission mediums are within the teachings of the present invention, without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention. The embodiments described above were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and its practical applications. These embodiment were chosen to thereby enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention and various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated.
It is to be understood that even though numerous characteristics and advantages of various embodiments of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and function of various embodiments of the invention, this disclosure is illustrative only. In some cases, certain subassemblies are only described in detail with one such embodiment. Nevertheless, it is recognized and intended that such subassemblies may be used in other embodiments of the invention. Changes may be made in detail, especially matters of structure and management of parts within the principles of the present invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.
The present invention provides many advantages over known techniques. The present invention includes the ability to enable service providers of service provider systems to track the various customers that have received live advice from the various service providers. In doing so, the service providers may provide incentives to service seekers that have received live advice from the service provider in order to induce repeat business. The service provider can also track service seekers and receive alerts from the system for initiating e-mail contact with service seekers designated by the system as most likely to engage in repeat business. The customer relationship tool described herein enables service providers to track clients in order to generate follow-up business, which will provide increased compensation for the service providers and as a result, provide increased compensation for the service provider system, which collects a portion of the fees charged by the service providers for providing live advice regarding one or more fields of service.
Having disclosed exemplary embodiments and the best mode, modifications and variations may be made to the disclosed embodiments while remaining within the scope of the invention as defined by the following claims.
|Cited Patent
|Filing date
|Publication date
|18 Jan 1980
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|U.S. Classification
|705/7.26, 705/7.29, 705/7.33
|International Classification
|Cooperative Classification
|European Classification
|6 Mar 2002
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[UKRP] Recruitment and stability
I've been fairly offline the last six days or so due to some real life issues popping up. I say that not as an excuse, as there is none, but as an explanation. Each new semester is always busy, but we had some exceptional problems pop up in the last week that have required me to stay at work a bit later, come in a bit earlier, and deal with things when I'm at home. I work at a University, for clarification. Between that and a good friend of mine having a bit of a personal crisis, my only free time has been between 11 PM and 1 AM, and I've been using that to zone out...
But, I've sorted out the issues at work and I've already begun getting back on top of the people who volunteered to help with our party work.
I've gotten us a TeamSpeak 3 server, which I hope to have an article about in the media tonight. Frerk will be Administering it, as it will be open to everyone in the UK (and abroad), and I thought it best that he be the one in charge of resolving any disputes that might arise. Moderation power will be given to people based on reliability, levelheadedness, and activity on the server.
I'm hoping to get some quiz nights going and using TS3 as a means of enhancing them, not to mention all the trash talking we could do during a good haxball game if everyone were online and mic'd up.
In anticipation of more details (server info and a short how-to) download TeamSpeak 3 and be ready to join the conversation.
We've had a number of setbacks this month, with a few people quitting, a few more offering to help and then disappearing, and then my own RL complications getting in the way, but I'm redoubling my efforts immediately.
Welcome to the handful of new people who have joined in the last week, I see a couple new faces and that's great. If you, or any member, is interested in helping with the work of our party, message me, explain what your interests are, and I'll find you a place to focus your efforts.
As always, I remain
just another OTHER guy
Seems a little too late in my opinion Pfeiffer, there are goings to be elements that are out of our control but there are many variables in this matter that were/are in your control and it is that said control that has caused a number of your problems. I doubt you'll be able to fix the damage that is done but you are more than welcome to try. Nice to see a use of TeamSpeak though, keep on trying.
Your vast experience in such things gives this comment much weight and credence.
The damage done is done, but fixing it is as simple as putting the time in. Life kept me busy the last week, but I've got the new work schedule down and if the people who volunteer follow through on their commitments, we're looking good. Just so far today I've gotten three messages of people wanting to help.
That's all fine and well Pfeiffer, but I think you're missing the key point that your behaviour has been costly on the party, many of its prime and prominent figures and members leaving and even making vows never to return. And they have said you are that reason. When this is taken into account? Is the healing process all that simple?
It's incredibly simple, and nobody who left was contributing. If they're going to be a lifeless body, adding only to numbers, then why do they care who the PP is or how they do things? Look at the list. A rash of former party officials from the last 6 months who did none of the things they promised, and often went AWOL ten minutes after election without even a word.
Cotton was the only person who left and attributes it to me that I'd particularly want to see back, but she is thriving in TUP and that's great.
He has accomplished his mission, driven off members who are not loyal to him; now he will fill those spots with 'volunteers' loyal only to him....
Oh yes, lets brush it all off with "I'm so hacked off I lost my most prominent figures, but I'll compliment them to shroud my mistake". Pfeiffer, the Party has dropped in both numbers and activity, not all your fault but your fair share. You have alienated people who have not only served the party but the eUK and TWO. You yourself, you have been fingered as the culprit of it. You say so much of your fantastic recruiting skills, you begged me to return as a number and a recruiter. Furthermore, your numbers have dwindled and gone to shot. Getting out the ones who aren't loyal? I don't see your numbers piling up with new Loyal members. Which ever way you look at it, Pfeiffer; Your term has not been great.
p00kachu is a sockpuppet. I would suggest waiting for the real controller to show up and complain.
This does narrow down who owns him to the UKRP players who left, interesting that it was a UKRPer planting fake newbie accounts in parties to flame or generate fake complains.
Watch out for this and multi votes Pfeiffer.
Aren't you moving on again?
Candor's having a laugh, despite the underlying point of his article being valid.
Bit of a vacuum between our oldfags and new people...working on filling the middle, and that's where those people I'd delegate to would come from.
Work in progress.
Yo Woldy, could we have him back, coz his skills of fuc*ing up parties dramatically improved and now that AFA is on the rise again...
He would fit right in with his brother RGR and it would get rid of all three of them at once, actually just the AFA and RGR/HPA; I mean since I believe they are one in the same person....
things change all the time... and with me here i tell you this i have the brute power to take down any threads at any time for any reason in any way i can and i tell you this. RGR and the AFA will succeed and stay in power.
the more you try the worst it gets the more we succeed.
Just make sure Pfeiffer joins your party, you chances will increase dramatically.
What is this?You are reading an article written by a citizen of eRepublik, an immersive multiplayer strategy game based on real life countries. Create your own character and help your country achieve its glory while establishing yourself as a war hero, renowned publisher or finance guru.


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Nobody's Ever Seen This!! Brad Paisley Uses Fan's Go-Pro for Guitar Slide! [VIDEO]
This is what it looks like to Brad Paisley's left hand when he's jammin' in concert!! The fan is Mike Perlof and said in his youtube video description, "It was the perfect storm because I happened to not have my case on my GoPro which would have made it nearly impossible to play slide guitar with the camera at that angle that Brad got."


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Rubio moves closer to Dream Act alternative
Sen. Marco Rubio opposes the Dream Act, but he's has become increasingly vocal about finding a way to accommodate undocumented youths. He implied today that he's working on something behind the scenes.
In a radio interview with Geraldo Rivera, Rubio cited Daniela Pelaez, a high school valedictorian in Miami who faced deportation but got a two-year reprieve after publicity about the case. Rubio said there should be a way to grant legal status to people like her (and those who serve in the military). He added that while he was letting others in Congress already working on the issue take the lead, he was trying to build "consensus."
We followed up with Rubio's office. "Sorry, nothing to announce yet. He's continuing to talk with his colleagues about the issue," spokesman Alex Conant said.
Rivera asked Rubio why he didn't support the Dream Act and help "the innocent kids." The legislation would create a path to citizenship, which does too far for some Republicans but not all, including some members of Congress from Miami. Rubio said it's akin to a "doctor saying you have a certain problem and so here's the medicine we're going to give you. I think it's the wrong medicine." He said it would foster "chain migration" in which the new citizens act as anchors for family in other countries.
"It could be expanded to millions of people, which is problematic," Rubio said.
Then Rubio cited the Palaez case and Rivera pressed if he would lead the effort for an alternative. Referring to colleagues in Congress, Rubio said, "They've been working on this for a while so I'll wait for them to make their public pronouncements about what they are working on, or what they are trying to put together. But it's also something we're trying to build consensus around."
Rivera asked Rubio about Rick Santorum's declaration that English should be the official language of Puerto Rico if it wants to become a state. Rubio noted that it already is, along with Spanish, which remains predominate.
"Anyone who travels there will find the vast majority of young people speak (English)," Rubio said. "It's taught in the schools. It's not that big of a challenge. It's not."
As a Senate candidate in 2010, Rubio said he supported a move to make English the official U.S. language, going against rivals Kendrick Meek and Charlie Crist.
Then came this exchange:
GERALDO: "Would you accept if Mitt Romney asks?
RUBIO: "No. I'm focused on being here in the senate. This is what I wanted to do."
GERALDO: "But would you reject, would you refuse"
RUBIO: "It doesn't work that way. We've made it pretty clear this is not a process we want to be a part of. We're focused on getting some things done here in the Senate."
GERALDO: "You don't want to be vice president?"
RUBIO: "Not now, no."
GERALDO: "When?"
RUBIO: "Well, I don't know if ever. But certainly not now. You're asking me about today. I do not, no."
GERALDO: "So tomorrow, you mean like June, July?
RUBIO: (laughs) "I mean not in the immediate future. But very good, good try."
Rivera should have asked: Do you want to be president?


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Browsing by Keyword "undergraduates"
Now showing items 1-2 of 2
History uncovered (2011-03)The project studied the information needs of undergraduate historians at the University of Cambridge and aimed to analyse both their use of resources and the wider networks that support their search for information
You can lead a horse to water... Are clinical students getting the message about the library and information skills support that is available? (Taylor & Francis, 2009)Cambridge University Library is the recipient of a grant from the Arcadia Trust to investigate issues and challenges in delivering academic library services in the digital era. One project under this auspice has been ...


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There are other approaches to manipulating or observing code at runtime. These include sampling and caching traces only, which work well for optimization, but are not comprehensive.
There are a number of runtime tools that modify the original application code via trampolines. However, trampolines are not transparent, especially on variable-length instruction sets like x86, and they do not scale -- they work well for inserting calls to instrumentation routines here and there, but not for modifying code.
Whole-system emulators make use of code caches, but many require hardware support, or are too heavyweight for our purposes.
Systems most similar to ours include Strata and Valgrind, but neither addresses our transparency or efficiency goals effectively.
|Copyright © 2004 Derek Bruening


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>Josh Berkus wrote: >> Now you can see why other DBMSs don't use the OS disk cache. There's >> other >> issues as well; for example, as long as we use the OS disk cache, we >can't >> eliminate checkpoint spikes, at least on Linux. No matter what we do >with >> the bgwriter, fsyncing the OS disk cache causes heavy system >activity. > >MS SQL server uses the O/S disk cache... No, it doesn't. They open all files with FILE_FLAG_WRITE_THROUGH and FILE_FLAG_NO_BUFFERING. It scales the size of it dynamically with the system, but it uses it's own buffer cache. > the database is very tightly >integrated with the O/S. That it is. >Write performance is one of the few things SQL >server can do better than most other databases despite running on a >mid-grade kernel and a low-grade filesystem...what does that say? >ReadFileScatter() and ReadFileGather() were added to the win32 API >specifically for SQL server...this is somewhat analogous to transaction >based writing such as in Reisfer4. (Those are ReadFileScatter and WriteFileGather) I don't think that's correct either. Scatter/Gather I/O is used to SQL Server can issue reads for several blocks from disks into it's own buffer cache with a single syscall even if these buffers are not sequential. It did make significant performance improvements when they added it, though. (For those not knowing - it's ReadFile/WriteFile where you pass an array of "this many bytes to this address" as parameters) > I'm not arguing ms sql server is >better in any way, IIRC they are still using table locks (!). Not at all. They use row level locks, escalated to page level, then escalated to table level. Has been since 7.0. In <= 6.5 they had page level and table level locks. I think possibly back in 4.2 (this is 16-bit days on OS/2) they had only table level locks, but that's a long time ago. They don't do MVCC, though. (I'm not saying it's better either. At some things it is, at many it is not) //Magnus
Next: From: Christopher Browne Date: 2005-02-15 19:04:49 Subject: Re: seq scan cache vs. index cache smackdown Previous: From: Greg Stark Date: 2005-02-15 18:39:46 Subject: Re: seq scan cache vs. index cache smackdown


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A HORRIFIC double leg break to Concord star Harry Elmes saw their match against Thurrock abandoned early in the second half on Saturday.
Ben Walster's over the ball challenge in the 52nd minute broke the right tibia and fibula of the Beachboys striker, who has scored 19 goals this season.
Walster was sent off for the foul, and after a long delay with both teams going off the game was called off with the score at 0-0.
Elmes was rushed to Southend Hospital with his cousin and fellow Concord player James Elmes and strike partner Jason Hallett in convoy.
Concord manager Dan Cowley said his team wanted to play on, but they respected the decision, adding Elmes will be a huge loss.
"We're all devastated - it was a horrific tackle," said Cowley.
"Nobody goes into a game wanting to break someone's leg, but it was a cowardly tackle.
"But we just feel sorry for Harry. He's been absolutely fabulous for us in the three or four seasons he's been with us and now he faces a long lay-off to try and save his career. He's irreplaceable."
On Saturday evening, Thurrock chairman Tommy South said: "Everyone at Thurrock wishes Harry all the best, we are very concerned about his injury and we hope that he is back playing for Concord soon."
The drama came in a game which had seen very few chances on a bitterly cold day.
Thurrock played positively from the start looking miles better than their place at the bottom of the table suggests.
But they struggled to cut through Concord's defence when they reached the final third.
It was Elmes who had the first opportunity eight minutes in when he controlled a looping cross from Reece Harris - who is now bound for New York to coach at an academy - but Jack Jeffries blocked his shot.
Balls from Richie Jones and Stuart Thurgood fizzed dangerously across Concord's six yard box in the 25th and 41st minute respectively, but both times they could not find the extra touch from a team-mate to score.
Matt Turpin got Thurrock's only shot in the first half, but sent his edge of the area effort over in the 43rd minute.
And in first half injury time, Concord centre back John Easterford was unable to get a solid touch in the box onto Harris' free kick and keeper Will Viner was able to grab it.
Concord: Chambers, Osifuwa, Glozier, Cowley, Fry, Easterford, Gordon, White, Harris, H Elmes, Stokes.
Thurrock: Viner, Jones, Walster, Guest, Jeffries, Thurgood, Green, Spence, Turpin, Imbert, Honesty.


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Search Results
Entries tagged with "
Michael Oconnor Clark"
October 18, 201211:07 PM
A Death In The Family... Missing Michael O'Connor Clark tagged "Michael Oconnor Clark"
I wish I knew Michael O'Connor Clark better. I joined Twist Image in 2002. The company already existed... sort of. Two of my business partners (Aubrey and Mick) were here (Mark joined us a couple of years after me).... Read more


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Browse the top Goals of the Week and relive the most exciting moments of the UEFA Champions League.
Check out and compare the stats from each goal.
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Vote for your favourite Goal of the Week, register on our site and be in with the chance of winning exclusive prizes!


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To ensure maximum safety and freedom of movement, Alpinestars SMX Plus features an innovative Multi Link Control system and high modulus TPU protection integrated into the sleek profile of the boot. The combination of the internal locking system with Kevlar ® laces and toothed buckle with micrometric adjustment ensures comfort and snug fit on both the road and track .
Technical detail:
Made for speed
. The high-tech microfiber upper is lightweight and extremely durable.
. The forefoot is matched by coupling to low-density shockproof foam while the ankle area has a highly breathable lining for greater comfort .
. The large asymmetrical bellows on the front and the back are designed to increase the elasticity of the boot for maximum comfort and safety.
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. The SMX Plus boot is CE certified .
Special Multi Link Control system
. The unique Multi Link Control System provides advanced external protection and support to the ankle joint , limiting the ipertorsione , hyperextension and hyperflexion and protecting the area from the impacts of the Achilles tendon and ankle .
maximum protection
. Form-fitting TPU shin protector injected with high modulus highly resistant to impact and abrasion .
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. The sliders substitutable on the heel and on the bead outer side are positioned in such a way as to disperse the shocks and to facilitate the sliding in case of accident .


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A relatively new way to construct portfolios says many investors aren't truly diversified.
The future delights in humiliating seers.
In 2007, who would have predicted that the rich world would reprise the Great Depression? And yet here we are: The U.S. government can run annual deficits amounting to 9% of GDP, triple the monetary base to $2.6 trillion in a few years, and still issue 30-year bonds yielding 3%.
The surprising frequency of the "unthinkable" happening suggests we are overly confident in our ability to see the future. The "risk-parity" approach to portfolio construction is a powerful way to combat this mistake.
Pioneered by Bridgewater Associates, modern risk-parity portfolios adhere to a simple principle: Balance portfolio exposures across all the major economic scenarios by volatility. The hope is that such a portfolio will perform well in all economic climates— and indeed, risk-parity strategies have.
The strategy is gaining influential adherents, mainly among institutions, but hasn't caught on with advisors and individuals. Will this strategy work in the future? Could a client apply it? I think the answer is, tentatively, yes to both questions. To understand why risk-parity works, we have to revisit a common fundamental misconception of portfolio construction.
The typical investor thinks of assets as being like indivisible elements, with distinct characteristics. In contrast, the risk-parity approach begins with the observation that asset classes can be described in much the same way atoms can be described as combinations of electrons, protons, and neutrons. This isn't a modern insight, but one that's been around academia for decades. The risk-parity application is relatively new, however.
According to Bridgewater, the fundamental particles in the risk-parity view of the world are inflation and economic growth. A 2012 paper ("The Risk in Risk Parity: A Factor Based Analysis of Asset Based Risk Parity," by Vineer Bhansali, Josh Davis, Graham Rennison, Jason Hsu and Feifei Li) confirmed this observation, finding global growth and global inflation could explain the majority of the behavior of a variety of asset classes.
Standard portfolio construction advice does not lead to risk-balanced portfolios.
The typical 60% stock/40% bond portfolio's volatility is 90% determined by equities, which are reliant on stable inflation and economic growth. What happens when inflation ticks up or growth slows? Standard portfolios fail.
The Four Economic Configurations
Economies have four main configurations, characterized by combinations of rising/falling inflation and rising/falling economic growth. Changes in inflation and economic growth can explain the gross behavior of almost any asset class.
Naturally, in each phase of the business cycle, different assets are king. Stocks do best when the economy is growing and inflation is falling, coinciding with the recovery phase after a recession; bonds do best when the economy is tanking and inflation is falling, coinciding with the downward leg of a conventional recession.
These are sensible relationships. Stocks rise in anticipation of increased earnings growth, and bonds rise when inflation or interest rates fall. For the most part, it doesn't really matter what kind of stocks or bonds you own—whether they're growth/value or corporate/Treasuries— each asset class will largely obey its relationship to economic growth and inflation.
This is not to say valuation doesn't matter. It's still the beating heart of long-run returns. When valuations get stretched to extremes, prices can snap back to more normal levels, regardless of what inflation or economic growth does. In other times, valuation's effects are more subtle, operating as a "drift term," all but imperceptible in the day-to-day volatility. The Warren Buffetts of the world can ignore volatility for years on end and focus on maximizing return for some distant future, but most investors don't have that luxury. How they get to their destination matters, too.
The conventional, equity-dominated portfolio is mostly a bet on economic growth and stable or declining inflation. Such a portfolio is geared to do well half the time. This is tolerable if the bad months are randomly interspersed with good months. However, history suggests that economic scenarios are clumpy, sometimes lasting decades, lulling investors into only preparing for the risks that have showed up in recent memory.
Investors failing to hedge their bets against all four economic scenarios are implicitly betting on their prescience and exposing themselves to big tail risks. This seems foolhardy, given that in the past 40 years we've had inflationary recessions (1970s), a deflationary recession (2008–09), and disinflationary booms (1980s and 1990s). The practical outcome of risk-parity thinking is to add more inflation hedges to the conventional 60%/40% stock/bond portfolio, reducing the volatility that equities contribute.
The Original Risk-Parity Strategy and Beyond
Harry Browne's Permanent Portfolio is probably the most well-known risk-parity-like strategy. Browne, an author, politician, and investment analyst, kept it dead simple: 25% allocations each to gold, long Treasuries, equities, and cash, roughly balancing one's risk exposures across all four economic configurations.
While it is crude compared with newer volatility-targeted risk-parity strategies, the Permanent Portfolio has stood the test of time. Over the period 1973–2012, its Sharpe ratio, defined as return above cash divided by its standard deviation, was a respectable 0.48, better than the 60/40 portfolio's 0.4. The Sharpe ratio understates its advantage, because the strategy had smaller drawdowns, less fat-tail risk, and held up well when you needed it to.
Thanks to the index-fund revolution, Browne's portfolio is cheap and easy to implement. I fear, however, that investors expecting the Permanent Portfolio and its variations to repeat last decade's performance are in for disappointment. Browne's strategy is reliant on now richly valued hedge assets, gold and Treasuries. Investors can realistically expect only low-single-digit or zero real returns from today's valuations.
I believe Browne's formulation can be improved without sacrificing much in the way of simplicity, low costs, and robustness if we're willing to make a few active bets.
Rather than keeping 50% of the portfolio in Treasuries and cash, I opt to go active with PIMCO Total Return ETF
In other words, PIMCO Total Return can be seen as a superior diversified fixedincome vehicle, rather than a pure-play on the market-timing powers of one man. The fees of the institutional share class and ETF versions of Total Return are arguably low enough to make the diversification benefit itself worthwhile.
There's a good case for low-cost active management on purely theoretical grounds. The market-cap-weighted indexes reflect the bets of the "average" investor, but the "average" investor in this world includes foreign central banks pursuing macroeconomic stability mandates, pension funds and insurance companies hedging liabilities, sovereign wealth funds, and of course the Federal Reserve itself. There is certainly room for active management to add value by front-running these non-economic actors—again, provided you're not paying a lot for it.
The other major bet I make with my take on risk-parity is low-volatility equities. This twist has a two-fold advantage.
First, it allows me to ramp up equities, which are undervalued to the hedge assets, without making the portfolio too reliant on economic growth.
The second is that low-volatility equities have historically returned about as much as the broad market, but with—obviously— lower volatility. This return pattern has plausible economic reasons, meaning we can reasonably expect it to persist over the long run. (This so-called low-volatility anomaly deserves a discussion of its own, but we'll leave that for another day.)
The final change I make to the Permanent Portfolio is the use of an actively managed broad commodity mutual fund. While ETFs are near and dear to my heart, no commodity ETF right now is competitive with the best-of-breed, institutional-share-class mutual funds. PIMCO Commodity Real Return Strategy
In other words, Commodity Real Return is a leveraged bet on inflation.
Leverage Edge
The ability to employ leverage is critical feature of risk-parity strategies. Indeed, leverage may be the reason why risk-parity should work. In an ideal world, where anyone can borrow at the risk-free rate with zero risk, Modern Portfolio Theory says that investors should invest in the best risk-adjusted portfolio and, if unsatisfied with the portfolio's expected return, lever it up.
Needless to say, the world is hardly ideal. Leverage is either outright banned by regulation or perceived as too scary and something to be avoided by many investors. It has its own risks. Many investors resort to concentrating their assets in equities and equity-like assets to achieve their return targets.
We are observing such a shift today. Investors are shifting from cash to bonds to dividend stocks to boost their yields.
The result of widespread leverage aversion is that low-volatility asset classes offer higher risk-adjusted returns, which can be exploited by investors willing to use leverage— that is, risk-parity investors.
Risk-Parity Funds
Several risk-parity mutual funds attempt to earn higher returns by applying leverage to balance the volatility contributions of a variety of asset classes, including commodities, corporate bonds, and currencies. The biggest "true" risk-parity funds are Invesco Balanced-Risk Allocation
Even if you don't fully trust these newfangled risk-parity strategies, it's still worthwhile to stress-test portfolios to see how sensitive they are to all four economic scenarios and perhaps to reconsider whether avoiding leverage is worth the cost.
Note: In the table "Percent of Months in Each State, 1928-2012," inflation is defined as year-over-year CPI growth above the 12-month moving average of year-over-year CPI growth; disinflation is when current year-over-year growth is below its 12-month moving average. Growth and recession are defined by the determination of the National Bureau of Economic Research's Business Cycle Dating Committee.
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