#TITLE#ARA) - There are over 4 million snowmobilers in the United States and Canada, and studies show that snowmobiling has become a family activity.

 - There are over 4 million snowmobilers in the United States and Canada, and studies show that snowmobiling has become a family activity.

 Diabetic eye disease can cause as many as 25,000 new cases of blindness every year. People with diabetes are 25 times more likely to become blind than those without diabetes. Yet the only way to diagnose early signs of diabetic eye disease is through a yearly dilated eye exam

November is National Diabetes Month and the National Eye Institute is emphasizing the importance of maintaining healthy vision.

One of the most frightening things about diabetic eye disease is that there are no early warning signs and no symptoms, said Dr. Paul Sieving, director of the National Eye Institute, one of the Federal governments National Institutes of Health. People with diabetic eye disease do not realize that their eyesight is slowly deteriorating. And because there are no symptoms and vision seems to be normal, people with diabetes might not make it a health priority to visit an eye care professional.

Postponing annual dilated eye exams could lead to trouble later on, when diabetes begins to affect a persons eyesight. Eyesight lost from diabetes cannot be restored. Yet in about 90 percent of those who would otherwise become blind, the early detection of diabetic eye disease through annual dilated eye exams, as well as laser surgery when needed, has helped preserve vision.

Nearly half of the nations estimated 16 million people with diabetes will develop some degree of diabetic retinopathy, the most common form of diabetic eye disease. Diabetic retinopathy damages the tiny blood vessels in the retina, the light-sensitive tissue that lines the back of the eye. Other eye problems that can develop in people with diabetes include cataract and glaucoma.

Dr. Sieving said that the longer a person has diabetes, the more likely it is that person will develop diabetic retinopathy. However, studies have shown that people with diabetes who keep their blood sugar levels as normal as possible slow the onset and progression of diabetic retinopathy and lessen the need for laser surgery. This may also help reduce other complications from the disease, such as kidney disease, stroke, and nerve damage.

A free brochure, Dont Lose Sight of Diabetic Eye Disease, is available by writing to Diabetic Eye Disease, 2020 Vision Place, Bethesda, MD, 20892-3655 or visiting the NEI Web site at www.nei.nih.gov.

Courtesy of ARA Content
 

Paid Surveys and Focus Groups - The Secret to Free Money

Paid surveys and focus groups are a little known way for individuals to make money for free. There are businesses ranging from Fortune 500 companies to advertising agencies and market research organizations who look for the opinions of regular consumers and business professionals for their product lines or customers. What is great is that a good number of them pay cash to the participants and it is free of charge to join these types of studies. Paid surveys are generally given online and can range from $2.00 to $70.00 for each survey completed. Focus groups are closely observed groups of participants and mostly pay from $50.00 to $200.00 depending on the topic for 1 or 2 hours of your time.

Anyone can join up with these organizations that provide survey opportunities, and people with specialized business professional backgrounds such as IT, business management, law, accounting, etc. are ideal for this line of research. Average consumers who drink coffee, taste ice cream, buy power tools or electronic products, watch television or own a certain type of car can benefit from numerous surveys and focus groups. The possibilities for different types of surveys being offered are as endless as there are ways to create and market products to the public. The Internet is your best source of finding places to join for either one of these kinds of surveys, free of cost. Some businesses advertise to do all the footwork for you and will charge a fee for doing it. So it's a good idea to learn as much as possible on these services in order to understand what you will receive if you decide to pay for the information.

The paid surveys are mostly given over the Internet. With this method you will receive e-mail most of the time with links to the survey being given. Because they are given over the Internet, it will take generally between 2 to 4 weeks for your honorarium check to arrive either through the mail or by an online payment solution like PayPal. Signing up with as many survey organizations as you can find can result in a stream of invitations. When filling out their online forms, give as much information about yourself and your background to maximize your chances. And if you are married, have your spouse sign up if they are interested. Sometimes if one doesn't qualify for a survey, the other may. Plus when filling out the forms for signing up, if they ask if you can be contacted by phone for opportunities, say yes. This can help to expose you to higher paying focus groups.

A focus group survey is generally performed with a number of participants consisting from 5 to 50 people that meet in a designated place to give a more in-depth opinion on tasting food, driving SUV's, drinking certain brands of water or the like. Sometimes they pay cash on the spot after you are done. One can sign up online with some of the focus groups that have websites. There are times that you may have to call the centers that offer focus groups to let them know you want to participate. (If you are in a rural area, a long drive may be what it takes to get you involved so be sure the money is worthwhile to you.) And remember that most of the time they call you at home, so if they do call take them up on the offer. You will enjoy it and get paid too!
Tom Howze is a webmaster for 9 sites that relate to 2005 World Series of Poker and World Poker Tour events, updates and information on how to gamble for free

Why Passenger Surveys Are A Transport Operators Best Friend

Public transport operators who already use passenger surveys may not fully appreciate the multiple benefits that surveys can bring. Not only are surveys an efficient method of market research that will help identify areas of passenger dissatisfaction, they are also perfect for measuring the effects of improvements and can, at the same time, help promote new initiatives to customers using the service.

Public transport operators who already use passenger surveys may not fully appreciate the multiple benefits that surveys can bring. Not only are surveys an efficient method of market research that will help identify areas of passenger dissatisfaction, they are also perfect for measuring the effects of improvements and can, at the same time, help promote new initiatives to customers using the service.

Establishing a Starting Point

When embarking on any change management programme it is always good practice to establish a base line before any changes are made. This baseline survey can serve four purposes, it will:-

allow the proper targeting of investment
allow measurement of the effect of change
assist in the moral of those implementing change
ensure that new issues are kept separate from the original plan and budget

Targeting Investment

There are many areas of any public transport system that can cause passenger dissatisfaction all of which need to be monitored to ensure that the service being provided meets, and where possible, exceeds, performance level targets.

Issues that can be of concern to passenger include:-

- safety and security
- punctuality
- fares and ticket types
- capacity and overcrowding
- quality and design of vehicle
- cleanliness
- facilities at stations and terminals
- facilities for passengers with disabilities

Often limited resources and budgets means that investment needs to be carefully planned and properly targeted.

Passenger surveys allow operators to identify those areas that are of most concern to their customers. Through the analysis of passenger feedback the operator will be able to ensure that their improvement and investment plans are inline with passenger demands and concerns. Issues can be classified into high and low priority, as well as long and short term plans.

Some capital investment such as the building of new terminals, runways, laying new track or upgrading air traffic control or rail signalling equipment may take years to implement. However, the initial survey is also likely to identify some high profile areas that can be implemented almost immediately at a relative low cost.

Measuring Change


From having established a comprehensive programme from an initial survey the objectives for running periodic surveys are twofold.


One objective will be to ensure that the changes and initiatives that are implemented have been effective in addressing passenger issues. A second objective will be to promote and advertise the initiatives that have been implemented and also inform and educate passengers of ongoing improvements and future plans.


Passengers will always be more positive if they can see that improvements have been made and more accepting of outstanding problems if they know that those problems are being addressed.

Keeping Moral


Those implementing change can often develop a siege mentality. Change can take time to take effect and for the passengers to appreciate any improvement.

By monitoring passenger opinion and measuring the results against earlier surveys a successful change programme should see passenger issues change over time, some issues that were problems will no longer be raised.

Passengers will take time to appreciate progress and often those working on a change project will be demoralised with constant criticism from what is often a negative public. It is important that a team implementing change can see clearly the effects of their efforts.

Identifying New and Old

In any long term change management programme issues can change over time. Events can happen that make what was important, no longer important and what wasnt an issue, an issue.

The baseline survey will ensure that the passengers concerns are chronologically documented. Passengers are themselves an evolving group, individual travel arrangements change, fashion changes, life styles develop along with technology. Periodic surveys will allow changes in passenger attitudes to be monitored.

Online Surveys Make It Easy

Online surveys can reach a broad cross section of any travelling public. They are quick to design and implement and they provide feedback in a format that is ready for detailed analysis. The low cost and flexibility of online surveys allows passenger concern to be targeted at specific groups and particular concerns.

Online surveys provide operators with important market research data as well as a platform to promote and advertise their commitment to passenger satisfaction.

Passengers benefit by having an effective channel to raise issues and through periodic surveys will begin to appreciate that the operator is continually investing and improving the service.The following are links to samples of Passenger Surveys

Sample Passenger Survey for an Airline
http://www.surveygalaxy.com/surPublishes.asp?survey_id=1166

Sample Passenger Survey for a Train Operator
http://www.surveygalaxy.com/surPublishes.asp?survey_id=1170

Sample Passenger Survey for a Bus Operator
http://www.surveygalaxy.com/surPublishes.asp?survey_id=1167

 Martin Day is a Director of Survey Galaxy Ltd a web site that allows anyone to create, design and publish online surveys. For more information please visit http://www.surveygalaxy.com

Making Money With Online Surveys

Gone were the days when you had to wake up in the early hours of the day, rush your breakfast, drive in frustrating heavy traffic to get to your office and subject yourself to endless such hasslesYou dont have to do all these anymore. The advent of Internet culture is changing our work culture upside down you can make money staying at home, doing something that you will enjoy and at the same time feel important. The best part is, you can work when you like, enjoying your breakfast or enjoying your favorite TV show. The advantage of deriving income by taking part in online surveys is that you need not have to be working on it full time. You can choose your own work time and that allows you to live your life to the full. Even if you are employed, you can still supplement your income by taking part in online surveys.

Yes! Unbelievable but it is true! You can make money by taking part in online surveys. All that you have to do is to make few choices, express your opinion, and be paid. www.moneymakerbiz.com that has been helping millions to make money through providing an appropriate forum to take part in online surveys is ready to help you too.

Companies conduct paid surveys prior to the launch of a new product to get consumer feedback to ensure success of the new products. In order to gain deeper insight into their product from customers point of view, companies spend an enormous amount of money in gathering information through online surveys. They are willing to invest their money on you because they know that your opinion counts.

However, does this offer you any job security? How constant is the income? How long can one rely on income through online surveys? Analysis of current trend will tell us that these fears are undue fears because the realization of the advantages of online surveys is on the rise. More and more people are seeking recourse to online surveys because of its ability to collect a vast amount of data in a short span of time, reduced hassles on manual efforts to enter and process the data as automation is possible. Online surveys also enable automatic data validation. All the above advantages contribute to remarkable efficiency. Thus, the growing popularity of online surveys can only make you rich, that is precisely what www.moneymakerbiz.com will help you do and you need not have to worry about the stability of your income. You just need a computer, internet access, a valid email id and should have completed 18 years of age to make money through online surveys.

Paul Clark operates his own successful home based business and also coaches others seeking to start their own home based business. For more information visit his website at http://www.moneymakerbiz.com.

Make Money Online Taking Free Surveys

Is it really possible to make money taking free paid online surveys? The answer is a resounding Yes!! As a stay-at-home Mom, taking surveys was one of the first things that I decided to try. I currently am making an average of $100 to $200 per month, not including any prizes won, and I'd be happy to show you how.

The first thing you should know is that you should never pay money to join any survey company. Any legitimate survey company is free to join.

Survey companies will compensate you for taking surveys in several ways. Most initiative include entries into drawings for cash, free products, gift certificates, points redeemable for various incentives, and cash via check or pay-pal.

You should sign up for several companies in order to maximize your profits. I am currently signed up with all 200 free online survey companies listed on Melody's Mommy. You can view this list by going to Melody's Mommy http://www.melodysmommy.com and going to the section called Paid Surveys. This gives me an average of five to ten surveys to fill out per day. It takes me approximately a half an hour per day to respond to all the surveys. The more surveys you take, the more invitations you will receive, and the greater the incentives become. It is very similar to building a business.

Filling out the initial questionairs on each of the websites can be time consuming. In order to cut down on your time you can use a free form filler to process most of the work for you. One that I personally use and recommend is Roboform. It is free and very easy to use. You can download your free copy at Roboform.

Once you've completed the initial surveys for each website, the surveys will start rolling in. You want to check your e-mail as often as possible. The reason for this is that you want to respond quickly to the ones that offer higher incentives. These invitations sometimes are limited to a select number of responses. If you scan your e-mail frequently, you will ensure that you don't miss any of these opportunities.

Brandy is the webmaster of Melody's Mommy and is committed to helping Moms and Dads work from home. She lives in MA with her daughter Melody and is a successful work at home Mom. This article may be used on any site or in any newsletter as long as it is not altered in any way and this signature line remains intact. http://www.melodysmommy.com.

Brandy@melodysmommy.com