| How to Keep Your Personal Life Private at Work Posted: 14 Aug 2016 05:00 PM PDT Keeping your private life private can help you present a professional image while still enabling you to develop and maintain good working relationships with your colleagues. Allowing your private life to have too big an impact on your job conduct can harm perceptions of you at work. By establishing some sensible boundaries, exercising self-control, and separating your work and home worlds you can keep your private life private without being considered aloof at work. EditDrawing Boundaries Between Work and Life - Decide what not to talk about. The first thing to do if you are trying to keep your private life private at work is to determine where exactly you want to draw the line. This will vary from person to person and according to the particular culture at your workplace, as well as what kind of balance between work and home life you are looking for.[1] Whatever the norm is in your office, you can still draw up your own boundaries. Start by making a list of the things you don't want to discuss with your colleagues.
- This might include things such as your love life, any medical conditions, religion and politics.[2]
- Think about what things you are not comfortable with or just not interested in discussing with your colleagues.
- Don't publicise your list, but keep it as a mental reminder to yourself so you can excuse yourself from conversations you would rather avoid.
- Know what employers cannot ask you. There are a number of questions that, by law, your employers cannot ask you about. These are questions about your background and life which could lead to discrimination. For example, your employer cannot ask you how old you are, whether you have any disabilities, or whether you are married or not. If someone does ask you these questions at work, it is your right not to answer them. Other questions you don't have to answer are:
- Are you a US citizen?
- Do you take drugs, smoke or drink?
- What is your religion?
- Are you pregnant?
- What is your race?[3]
- Cut out personal calls at work. If you are trying to keep your work and private life separate then you need to avoid bringing your private life into the office with you. This means cutting downs on private calls and emails from the office. Occasional calls to make an appointment with the hairdresser or dentist are fine, but if you are frequently heard on the phone talking about your private life, not only will your colleagues most likely overhear you, but they may ask you about the conversation.[4]
- Excessive personal calls may also displease your boss and colleagues who think you are not working hard enough.
- If you don't want to receive work calls at home, don't get into the habit of making personal calls at work.
- Leave domestic affairs at home. It can be easier said than done, but you should try to leave your home life at home and switch to the strictly professional version of you at work. You might find that getting a routine or daily habit to mark the transition between work and home life will help you to do this. For example, a short walk before and after work could have you mentally separate these two spheres of your life.[5]
- Your commute could be a time in which you try to switch your thoughts from home life to work.
- Just like limiting personal calls at work, if you walk in each morning with a clear mind not thinking or talking about your personal life you will not invite questions from colleagues.
- If you look stressed or upset, or you walk into the office while on the phone to your partner, don't be surprised if your colleagues ask you about it.
- Think of this as actively managing your relationship between work life and home life.[6]
EditMaintaining Good Professional Work Relationships - Be friendly. Even if you don't want to discuss your private life with your colleagues, you can still develop good working relationships that make your time at work more enjoyable and productive. It's easy to find topics of conversation for lunchtime small talk that don't involve you talking about any intimate details of your private life.
- If there is somebody at work who talks about their private life a lot, or there is a conversation that you don't want to be involved in, politely excuse yourself.[7]
- Talking about things such as sports, TV and film can be good ways to be friendly and chat to colleagues without bringing up your home life.
- Use tact. If you find yourself in a conversation that is turning to your personal life, or a colleague has asked you about something that you would rather keep private, it's a good idea to tactfully sway out of the way of the question. Try to avoid saying something like "Sorry, but that's none of your business". Instead, make light of it and say something more like "Oh, you don't want to know about that. It's boring" and then change the subject to something you are more comfortable with.[8]
- These deflecting techniques can help you to maintain friendly relationships while avoiding certain topics of conversation.
- If you sway away from the question and change the subject, rather than just ending the conversation, your colleague will probably not think too much of it.
- If you switch the conservation back to your colleague you will politely avoid their questions without seeming aloof or disinterested.
- You could say, "Nothing interesting is going on in my life, what about you?"[9]
- If coworkers are persistent in asking about your personal life, you can set a boundary letting them know that you would rather not discuss it. You can say, "I know you guys really care about me to ask about my life, and I appreciate that about you, but I'd really like to leave that stuff at home."
- Maintain some flexibility. While it is important that you have an idea in your head about the boundaries you have set between home life and work life, you should try to keep some flexibility. Having good boundaries needn't translate into you always shunning certain interactions, or isolating yourself away from your colleagues entirely.[10]
- If your colleagues invite you for a 5pm drink, go along every now and again but stick to conversation topics you are comfortable with.
EditKeeping Your Online Life Private - Be aware of your social media activity. Increasingly the biggest problem for those who would rather keep their work and private lives separate is the proliferation of social media. People record all aspects of their lives and sometimes don't fully comprehend how accessible all of this information is to anybody who cares to look for it. The first step to tackling this problem is simply being aware of it and thinking about how your social media activity could reveal parts of your private life you'd rather keep out of the office.
- If you want to maintain a professional image online and don't want to invite questions about your private life, avoid posting anything openly that could threaten this.[11]
- This includes text and comments as well as photos. If you want to keep the two elements of your life separate you need to do this outside of the office as well as inside it.
- Don't tweet or comment about your job or your colleagues in your social media accounts.
- You might consider setting up multiple social media accounts to keep the two areas of your life separate.[12]
- Consider connecting with work colleagues on professional sites such as LinkedIn, and reserve things like Facebook for personal friends and family. This will help you keep these arenas separate.
- Adjust your privacy settings. It is possible to be active on social media without blocking your colleagues' friends requests, if you just want to use your online profile to keep in touch with friends. Think about how you can adjust your privacy settings so that you limit the amount of material you share with your colleagues.[13]
- You can control the amount of information about you that goes online and you can, to some extent, control who has access to it.
- But be aware that once something is on the internet it is not likely to disappear quickly.[14]
- Only use your work email for work. So much communication in our working lives and our lives outside work is conducted through email, that it can be easy for your work email and personal email to blend into one. You should be conscious of this and take steps to make sure you keep the two separate. Always use your work email for work and your personal email for everything else.[15]
- Set a time when you will stop looking at your work email in the evening and stick to it.
- Keeping these email boundaries will help you to avoid carrying your work around with you.
- Depending on your place of work you will have to develop a strategy for cutting off work communications that fits in with your job.[16]
- In most cases, you do not have a right to privacy in your work email. Your boss is usually legally able to read anything sent or received in work email accounts. Keep your personal matters in your personal email to avoid any sharing of information you want to keep private.[17]
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| How to Create a Matrix, Vector, and Cell Array in MATLAB Posted: 14 Aug 2016 09:00 AM PDT This article covers how to create matrices, vectors, and cell arrays with the programming software MATLAB. Since MATLAB is a program offering endless possibilities, being able to understand the basics will lead to the ability to write more complex codes later on. No previous knowledge of MATLAB is required for these instructions. EditCreating Matrices - Create a matrix. A matrix is a rectangular set of numbers that are arranged in multiple rows and columns. Code a matrix by listing a series numbers separated by spaces or commas per row within the command window. For a new row, a semi colon is placed between the values of the old row and new row. The matrix is finished by surrounding it by brackets. Hit enter when finished to display the matrix.
- Example: M=[2,3,4,5;6,7,8,9] or M=[2 3 4 5;6 7 8 9]
- Create a one value matrix. Type commands such as zeros or ones to create a matrix with only one value within it. Follow these commands by the number of rows then the number of columns separated by a comma and surrounded by parenthesis.
- Example: zeros(# of rows, # of columns)
- Example: ones(# of rows, # of columns)
- Edit a ones matrix. You can multiply a ones matrix by any number to create a new matrix in which all the elements are the value which the ones matrix was multiplied by.
EditCreating Vectors - Create a horizontal vector. A vector is a set of numbers that are arranged in a single row or single column. Code a horizontal vector by listing a series of numbers in the vector that are separated by spaces or commas and surrounded by brackets. Hit enter once completed the code to display the vector.
- Example: V=[2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9] or V=[2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9]
- Create a vertical vector. Start by listing a series of numbers that are separated by semicolons and surrounded by brackets. Hit enter once completed the code to display the vector.
- Example: V=[2;3;4;5;6;7;8;9]
- Create a one value vector. Type commands such as zeros or ones to create a horizontal or vertical vector with only one value within it. Follow these commands by the number of rows then the number of columns separated by a comma and surrounded by parenthesis.
- Example: zeros(# of rows, # of columns)
- Example: ones(# of rows, # of columns)
- Edit a ones vector. You can multiply a ones vector by any number to create a new vector in which all the elements are the value which the ones vector was multiplied by.
- Create a vector with a pattern. A pattern is a list of numbers that follow a certain rule or sequence. Type the colon operator or the linspace command. A colon operator focuses on a specific increment that the pattern follows while the linspace command focuses on the number of variables within the pattern that are have the same increment between them.
- Use a colon operator. Type the first number of pattern, increment between the values, and last number of the pattern all separated by colons. Hit enter once code is completed.
- Use linspace command. Type linspace then first number in pattern, last number in the pattern, total number of equally spaced values separated by commas and surrounded by parenthesis. Hit enter once the code is completed.
EditCreating Cell Arrays - Create a cell array. A cell array is a rectangular set of data similar to a matrix but it can hold any type of data such as text, numbers, and/or vector. Code a cell array by listing a series of numbers, vectors, or characters in the same format as a matrix while characters are in quotation marks and vectors are in brackets. The cell array is surrounded by curly brackets { }. Hit enter once the code is completed.
- Example: C={1, 'h', 5, 7; [1:2:11], 'm', 8, 25} or C={1 'h' 5 7; [1:2:11] 'm' 8 25}
- Double-click on the cell array's value in the workspace to view the cell array entirely. A new window will open to so you can confirm your vector entry in the cell array.
EditAvoiding Common Errors - Ensure that all commands are in lowercase letters.
- Ensure that the Matrix has the same number of variables in each column.
- Ensure that the Matrix has the same number of variables in each row.
- Ensure that the Cell Array has curly brackets { } enclosing it.
- Ensure that the Matrix and/or Vector has brackets [ ] enclosing it
- Ensure that the words or letters within a cell array are in quotation marks.
- If you would like to name a matrix/vector/cell array, add a word or letter and equal sign before the matrix as seen in the examples.
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| How to Treat a Sea Urchin Sting Posted: 14 Aug 2016 01:00 AM PDT Whether you accidentally step on a sea urchin or if you handle one carelessly, you can get stung. Sea urchins are venomous, so prompt and proper care is important. In the event of a sea urchin sting, stay calm and follow protocol to avoid serious infection. EditRemoving the Spines - Recognize a sea urchin sting. In order to treat a sea urchin sting, you must be certain you were stung by an urchin and not another marine animal.
- Sea urchins have flat or globe shaped bodies and are covered in spines. They are found in oceans worldwide, but are more likely to be present in warmer regions.[1]
- Sea urchins lurk in rocky parts of the water and will sting if threatened. Most people get stung when they accidentally step on an urchin.[2]
- You can successfully manage most stings on your own. However, if you have difficulty breathing, nausea, chest pain, or signs of infection like redness and pus you should seek care immediately.[3]
- You should also seek medical care if you were stung around a joint, as the spines may require surgical removal in such cases.[4]
- Know what parts are poisonous. Sea urchins are flat, globe-shaped animals. While generally non-aggressive, urchins will sting if stepped on unintentionally.[5] Certain parts of a sea urchins body release poison.
- Sea urchins release venom through their spines and pedicellaria.
- Spines produce puncture wounds and can stay in skin. They should be removed immediately in the event of an attack.[6]
- The pedicellaria are seizing organs found between the spine that latch onto a target when an urchin is attacked. They should also be removed quickly after being stung.[7]
- Remove the spines. After being stung, remove the spines as quickly as possible to minimize your exposure to venom.
- Use tweezers to pull out the protruding ends of large spines. Move slowly so that the spines does not break off, as medical treatment will be needed if this occurs.[8]
- Hot wax can also be used to remove spines, if they are particularly deep and cannot be removed with a razor. Apply hot wax to the area, let dry, and remove. The spines should be pulled out with the wax.
- Longterm medical problems can occur if spines are not removed properly. If you're not sure you got all the spines out yourself, see a doctor.
- Remove the pedicellaria. The pedicellaria must also be removed after an attack to stop exposure to venom.
- The pedicellaria can be removed by applying shaving cream to the infected area and then scraping it off with a razor.[9]
- Be gentle with how you handle the razor as not to cause further distress to the wound.
EditWashing the Infected Area - Clean the wound with soap and water. As soon as you have removed the spines and pedicellariae, you need to clean and flush the wound.
- This will be uncomfortable as your wound is still sore and will sting to the touch. Be prepared to work through the pain or have someone assist you if you're worried about not being able to tolerate the discomfort.[10]
- You can also use hydrogen peroxide or betadine solutions instead of soap.[11]
- Rinse the area thoroughly with clean drinking water after washing.[12]
- Do not close the wound. Bandages and tape should not be used to seal the wound. Any embedded spines not removed with tweezers need to work their way out of the skin to avoid bacterial infections and effects of the urchin's venom.[13]
- Bathe the wound. To treat the pain and minimize chances of infection, some people bathe their wound after the initial cleaning.
- You can submerge the wound in hot water. The water should be hot to the touch but not boiling. Keep the wound in the water for at least an hour or as long as you can tolerate the heat. This will help ease the pain and dissolve any remaining spines. You can add Epsom salt or magnesium sulfate compound to the water to aid in this process.[14]
- Some people try a hot vinegar bath. Mix a small amount of vinegar in a tub of hot water and soak for 20 to 40 minutes. You can also add Epsom salt to the water, as this will help the remaining spines dissolve.
EditTreating the Wound and Pain - Treat the wound before bed. Before you go to bed, you should put a small dressing on the wound to avoiding irritating it overnight.
- Place a vinegar soaked cloth over the wound and wrap it in plastic wrap. Tape the plastic wrap on so it stays secure.
- Keep the dressing loose, however. Remember, you don't want to close up the wound completely as the remaining spines need to work their way out.
- Take antibiotics and painkillers. To ward off infection and treat any lingering pain, over-the-counter antibiotics and painkillers should be taken as instructed.
- Topical antibiotic ointment, available at most drug stores and supermarkets, should be applied on the wound. While this should be done in any case as a precaution, it's especially important if you notice redness or swelling.[15]
- Tylenol and ibuprofen are good choices to manage the pain. You should take the recommended dose every 4 to 8 hours until symptoms lessen.[16]
- Watch for signs of infection. While sea urchin wounds usually heal well if treated properly, urchins are venomous. Know the signs of infection.
- Signs of infection include redness, pus, swelling of the affected area or of the lymph glands that drain the affected area (neck, underarms, or groin), or heat.[17]
- Seek medical care if signs of infection do not clear up within a few days.
- If you develop any breathing problems or chest pain, the infection may be severe and you should go to your nearest emergency room.[18]
- It's a good idea to submerge the tweezers in boiling water to sterilize them before use or wipe thoroughly with alcohol on a swab or cotton ball.
- Having a friend or loved one assist you while removing the spines and cleaning the wound is a good idea. The pain can be severe and it might be difficult for you to care for yourself.
- To avoid being stung if you accidentally step on an urchin, try wearing water shoes if you're swimming in an area where you know they're prevalent.
- If a spine entered near a joint, you may require surgical removal. Consult a doctor rather than attempting to handle the situation on your own.
- Seek immediate medical attention if you have multiple puncture wounds, fatigue, weakness, muscle aches, or difficulty moving your arms or legs. Also, get immediate help if you develop signs of a serious allergic reaction: breathing problems, chest pain, hives, redness of the skin, or swelling of the lips or tongue.[19]
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