How the Internet Impacts Teenagers’ Behavior

Though the internet has positive impacts on modern society, it has also caused various societal concerns about privacy, security, harassment of children, and teenager’s attitude toward the outside world. The Internet is a part of today’s culture and like other technology can help improve teenager’s behavior in a positive or negative way.

In this context, a new published study carried by researches from Oman has highlighted the evolving of technology in impacting the individual’s life and especially teenagers as they are vulnerable to change and spend increasingly long hours on-line using social media, chatting, studying, shopping and many other activities.

This research published in Journal of Internet Social Networking and Virtual Communities discussed the extent to which the Internet can affect the behavior of Omani teenagers.

The research highlights many hidden aspects in teenagers’ online usage concerning illegal downloading, inappropriate content and discussion with strangers, hacked, harassed and many other illegal activities that affect badly the behavior of teenagers in their education and their relationship with the outside world.

Researchers of the study provided many valued recommendation to solve this spreading phenomenon. They advise parents to monitor their children’s use of internet and make sure they access appropriate content and limit children’s time spent with computers, video games, and other media to perhaps no more than one to two hours a day. In addition to the extent of time, the types of activities children engage in while using computers can also affect their intellectual, social, and psychological well-being.

It is also recommended to emphasize alternative activities such as imaginative play and sports that improve children’s skills and also online games that children can play with their parents and friends. Such activities will make children spend more time together and serve the purpose of keeping children closer to their loved ones.

The research concludes that parents, teachers, other adults who work with teenagers and tanagers themselves need media literacy training to become safe and use computer in a safe way and for good purposes. Such training can help users understand the motives underlying various types of content on the Web. Researchers strongly suggests that media literacy training can result in young people becoming less vulnerable to the negative aspects of media exposure and more able to make good choices about how they spend their time on computers.

What Role Internet Plays in Shaping International Terrorism?

The internet is one of the preferred tools for terrorists to communicate and collaborate. They profit of several advantages provided by internet to manage their activities including recruitment, information access, communication…and more. Internet grants a better place for terrorists to organize their networks and cooperate worldwide to reach their goals.

A new study published recently discussed the role internet plays to shape the international terrorism.  This interesting research that collected the point of view of several experts is conducted in Walden University, USA and published in an international Journal of Information Assurance & Cybersecurity.

Today, with the internet, “terrorists no longer have to depend on traveling to far distances or doing face-to-face meetings in order to recruit or plan terrorist attacks.” They profit of the easy connection of people over the world offered by the internet to interact between members and spread terrorist propaganda to reach larger audiences more than what can be attained by other means of communication.

The internet has great impact on international terrorism and how terrorist members use internet to communicate away from the eyes of police and counterterrorism agencies. As shown by the study findings “the use of the Internet by terrorists has shaped international terrorism in that it has resulted in major challenges for counterterrorism agencies in the United States and abroad due to the ability of terrorists to easily close, change, and create new websites or accounts”.

Another advantage provided by internet is the “free and inexpensive Internet programs, as well as advanced encryption software” as stated by the research. These programs give the opportunity for terrorist networks and members to manage their activities unseen by counterterrorism agents.

Experts stated that though efforts in fighting terrorism online, but “challenges in shutting down terrorist websites are still present. Therefore, additional counterterrorism strategies are needed as online terrorist recruitment continues to evolve and develop by reaching greater audiences through different social media and networking sites.”

The research concludes that counterterrorism agencies and organizations fighting terrorism should “should recognize the opponents’ tactics and respond to them in a timely and effective manner. By being proactive about international terrorism and by learning to track communication that is being transmitted on the Internet” countries will be able to respond right away and effectively.

 

Relationship between Aging, Immunoglobulin G, and Chronic Rhinosinusitis

Chronic sinusitis is one of the chronic illnesses that affect all age groups. As defined, it is “a common condition in which the cavities around nasal passages (sinuses) become inflamed and swollen — for at least eight weeks, despite treatment attempts.”

Several scientific studies have studied chronic sinusitis and its related causes. In this context, this recently published research published in Research in Immunology: An International Journal investigated relationship between aging, immunoglobulin G, and chronic rhinosinusitis. As stated by researchers, the study’s objective is to “evaluate the effect of aging on immunoglobulin G (IgG) and its subclasses production in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis.”

Immunoglobulin G (IgG) is a protein that makes up about 15% of total proteins in the human body. IgG plays an important role in the humoral immune response and it is majorly found in blood, lymph fluid, cerebrospinal fluid, and peritoneal fluid.

As stated, researchers “examined the sera levels of immunoglobulin G and its subclasses in patients with chronic rhinosinusitis closely implicated with aging.” And their first notice is that “there was significant change in IgG level of patients in age of 20 -30 years in comparison with youngest subjects.”

As the human gets older in age, there are different changes that affect the physiology and function of the nose. Researchers of this study made comparison between mice and human and noticed that “Aging in mice imposes a decrease in manufacture of precursor B cells in the bone marrow, but the counts of mature splenic B cells is preserved, since to increased life-span.In consistent with mouse B cells, human peripheral B cell populations decrease with aging.”

Researchers showed that even that different studies have investigated the matter, but they “didn’t discuss about the effect of aging on IgG production and chronic rhinosinusitis.” For that, researchers of this study inspected the relationship between IgG and age. “The age at which each of the IgG subgroups arrive at adult levels differs and every age group in childhood has its own normal values” they stated.

Researcher noticed in the current researcher that “there was significant elevation in IgG level of patients in group of 20 to 30 years. IgG2 and IgG3 increased with aging but IgG, IgG1and IgG4 did not indicate the same pattern.”

The importance of the current research as stated by researchers is that “the defects discussed in the current article for IgG and its subclasses could lead to the discovery of procedures for improvement of humoral immune responses in the future.”

 

 

Study: Rosemary Leaves Have Beneficial Effect as Anti-Diabetic Agent

For centuries, herbal medicine is famous worldwide and has been used since dawn of life. A lot of herbs and spices are claimed to have healthful components to treat several diseases. Among these herbs with healthful treatments is rosemary which is asserted by scientists for its effects on treating diabetes.

Rosemary is an herb from mint family “with fragrant, evergreen, needle-like leaves and white, pink, purple, or blue flowers”. Several scientific searches studied rosemary leaves and come with conclusion that this herbal plant can have effects similar to anti-diabetic medication prescriptions.

In this context, a new research which is published in a Journal of Research in Diabetes has gone this direction and stressed on how dried and powdered rosemary leaves can affect blood sugar and lipid profile.

Researchers of this study made experiments on 100 rats divided into “5 groups (20 rats/group) as follow: G1: Normal Control; G2: STZ-induced Diabetics; G3: STZ-induced Diabetic+ Glibenclamide; G4: STZ-induced Diabetic+ Dried rosemary leaves powder; G: Normal Control+ Dried rosemary leaves powder.”

After experiments that lasted 6 weeks and 45 days, researchers discovered different results. They noticed that there is an “improvements of body weight in STZ-induced diabetic rats treated with dried rosemary leaves powder compared with normal rats” and this may be as a result of “the increase of glucose metabolism, or may be due to its protective effect in controlling muscle wasting… and may also be due to the improvement in insulin secretion and glycemic control or may be due to the activation of  the β-cells and granulation returned to normal, like insulinogenic effect” as stated in the research.

What may stand behind this is that “rosemary stimulates insulin secretion from the remnant β-cells or regenerated β-cells and this may be through increasing betatrophin hormone (a new hormone, found in the liver that spurs the growth of insulin-secreting cells in the pancreas) secretion which increases the number of insulin-producing cells in the pancreas”.

Researchers also noticed that “treatment of STZ-induced diabetic rats with dried rosemary leaves powder significantly reduced blood glucose level to normal glycemic level, and this trigger liver to revert to its normal homeostasis during experimental (STZ-induced) diabetes.”

As stated in the study also “after treatment of diabetic group with dried rosemary leaves powder, a significant reduction (P<0.001) in fasting blood glucose (FBG) and glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c) level was noted in respect to untreated streptozotocin (STZ) diabetic group.”

After experiments, researchers noticed also changes in the plasma level of TG (Total triacylglycerol) and TC (Total cholesterol) in rats’ blood. Researchers explained that “after treatment with dried rosemary leaves powder, a significant increase was noticed in comparison with diabetic group. Regarding the levels of TG and TC in plasma, dried rosemary leaves powder treated diabetic group showed 45.43 & 33.89 % decrease in respect to STZ-induced diabetic control respectively. ”

Researchers of the study mentioned that most studies use the extract of rosemary, but in this research, they used “dried rosemary leaves powder which is common in normal kitchens”. The overall results of “this experiment may indicate that the dried rosemary leaves powder has a beneficial effect as an anti-diabetic agent and its complications as well as improving lipid metabolism in diabetics”.

Impact of Physical Appearance on Job Applicants

 

When recruiters intend to hire new employees, certainly they take several factors in consideration to select the appropriate applicant. Of course, the applicant’s educational certificates and work experience is important, but the physical appearance is also a major element that affects the employee’s choice.

A lot of scientific studies have investigated how important is physical appearance for the employee’s choice of an employee.  A recently published study carried at Sorbonne University, Paris, tried to go through this subject and discusses the impact of makeup and cosmetics on women during job applications.

In modern times, appearance matters and employment is no exception. When employees decide to employ someone, the physical appearance plays a major role even when the position is not highly exposed.

The study tried to answer the question if applicants “with equal skills and for the same position, will a recruiter prefer to call back a woman wearing makeup or a neutral looking woman?”

According to researchers, makeup should be applied professionally. The study stated that “the use of cosmetics will have either a positive or negative influence on the personality traits, i.e. A woman using cosmetics in a professional way, may look more serious and skilled.”

Also, makeup needs to be applied moderately. “Professional makeup” makes the individual “friendlier and more professional… (Yet) a natural makeup (“minimal”) and a glamorous makeup (“dramatical”) are not recommended” as discussed in the study.

Researchers emphasized “the influence of professional makeup during the time of selection based on CV. For saleswoman jobs in the ready-to-wear division, the use of makeup allows our applicants to get at least 3 times more positive responses… The odds of getting a positive response … are at least 7 times greater with professional makeup.

In this regard, this study explained that “interviewers collect considerable, but obviously incomplete, information about an applicant before and during the interview and then presumably use an attribution process to form a complete impression of the person when making an employment decision. One of the variables that could influence an interviewer’s decision is the physical appearance of the applicant.”

So, it seems that “after all, it all comes down to knowing whether the recruiter, looking at a professionally embellished candidate, sees a “smart, honest and faithful” woman, or a beautiful and attractive woman” as stated by researchers.

Physical appearance is important for job applicants both for men and women. Studies explained that “employers understand that persons who do not look like they can take care of themselves will not elicit confidence that they can take care of a potential customer’s business.” For women, they are judged most on their beauty and the applying of cosmetics and makeup.

 

Importance of Leadership Skills to Manage Strategic Change

Change is inevitable for organizations to stay competitive and survive in the market. For its big importance, companies try to understand facts that can help them implement change the proper way and get the prospect benefits. And change can reach to different sides of the organization including structure, strategy, staff, culture, customer relationship…etc. But implementing change, especially on the strategic level, requires different talents including management and leadership skills.

To apply strategic change in the organization, there is a need to leaders that can guide this change. A new published study has stressed on the role and importance of leadership in the implementation and success of strategic change in any organization.

Change cannot succeed if not lead by members with leadership personality and kills. As the study stated “the concept of leadership remains important, because introducing significant changes in an organization ‘needs often a champion able to demonstrate an unusual commitment and exceptional enthusiasm to implement his vision’”.

To perform change effectively, the leader needs different skills. Researchers of the above mentioned study which is published in a Journal of Organizational Management Studies cited a list of these “necessary skills of the leader for a better management of this type of transformation.”

As discussed in the research, the leader of change needs to provide a strategic vision, identify the need for change and seek a new strategic response, communicate well the limits of the old strategy and the merits of the new one, overcome the resistance to change, use power and developing a political support, and motivate staff.

To lead transformation process the leader who is in charge need to have enough skills to develop a vision and build a good strategy.  “The strategy is a vision; it is entirely oriented to what an organization should be rather than how it will be” the study stated.

The elements required for a strategist as mentioned in the study is the ability “to anticipate the future, to create a line to follow, a vital direction for him, his team or the organization. To share his vision, he must understand and know others, their needs, aspirations and values and know how to talk to them.”

Moreover, researchers identified some elements that the strategist leader needs to succeed in his mission. They stated that the leader should “Be creative… creativity plays an important role in the quality of decisions: the ability to propose innovative solutions is essential to decision-making process such as the development of new opportunities and problems diagnosis.”

Also, he needs to “develop his skills in strategic leadership. Based on the fact that leadership is the key differentiating factor between sustainable success and mediocrity… (And) seek information on the environment in general and know immediately the whole context of problems and issues which arise, allowing the leader to develop ideas and holistic solutions”.

Besides, successful strategist needs “to have a strong conceptual ability enabling leaders to better understand the internal and external environments and to identify trends, stakes and opportunities… (And) have the ability to think in a flexible manner… Flexibility is essential in a professional environment in constant evolution.

The other important thing that the leader needs in his duty is to communicate the change he’s leading with the staff. “One of the most important functions of a clearly communicated strategy is to guide employees towards choices to be made. However, to realize such operation, the strategic change should be based on substantial efforts of dialogue and communication at every level of the organization and throughout the change process” as stated in the study.

Among the other key element of success for change leaders is to understand how to overcome resistance to change from the staff and convince them with the importance of that change. And above convincing the staff, there is also a need to motivate. As stated in the research “leaders must also generate enough confidence so that their teams accept, despite the uncertainty, the portrait of change which they deal with, and its potential impacts and conclude that exploration presents more benefits than risks.”

 

Impact of Social Media on Business and Company Image

With the booming of the web especially after the emergence and spread of social media networks, people start to rely on these networks to make their everyday life choices including shopping and purchase decisions. For the great impact these online networks in shaping customers’ decisions and build their own views, it becomes crucial for organization to have a neat and significant presence on these networks and keep close to customers.

Whether in physical or virtual world, every organization aims at building a good reputation and reflects a positive image to their customers. Online, social media platforms offer great opportunities to spread the word of mouth about businesses worldwide. That’s why, social media networks become one of the important mediums on which brands are built.

A new study carried by researchers from Romania and Thailand has highlighted the impact of social media on a company’s image. This case study “was conducted to a 258 respondents, having the age between 18 and 41 years old.” To answer the question of how often consumers read or actively take part on discussions initiated in online social networks, the study finds that “2.44% never, 26.83% sometimes, 51.22% often and 19.51% always.”

Researchers investigated also if users on social networks pay “more attention to the online discussion related to the products/ services they are frequently using.” Then, 82.49% of the respondents answered the question positively and confirmed that they “are attentive to this kind of information.”

Social media networks then play an important role in shaping the company’s image and how it is perceived by customers. Researchers stated that the study result is giving insightful conclusion that “the company’s image is related to all three constructions:  the users’ social influence, the organizational promotion and the perceived image in OSN (online social networks).”

Many other studies have stressed on the importance of social media networks for businesses. This research for instance has dealt with the importance of virtual communities and how they can influence trust of online shoppers. As stated by the study, “virtual communities offer several advantages to e-tailers and opportunities for the interaction with members of virtual communities consumers”.

Another study also tackled the issue and stressed on the importance of social presence of businesses and how this presence affect customers’ trust. The study stated that “social presence is a determinant of trust in a retail website.”

In order to build a god relationship with customers and win their trust, the online business need to maintain a good social presence so as the customer feels of “being present with a real vendor. This feeling comes from the emotion during the interaction with the website” researchers stated.

Social media use continues to grow in a significant rate. So, companies need to take advantage of prospects offered by these networks to reach and connect with their audience and customers. Businesses have to take this in consideration and include social media in their marketing and overall business strategy.

As social media has become an important way to boost business growth and enhance presence in the market, companies should not ignore it and profit of these networks to reflect a good company image.

 

Food and Its Impact on Type2 Diabetes

Obesity is a challenging problem in modern world especially in developing countries. Obese people are vulnerable to different health conditions including for instance heart disease and type2 diabetes. The more weight you gain, the more risky it becomes to increase blood sugar levels in the body.

It’s known that nutrition has a direct effect on one’s weight. When the calories you consume in your food and drinks are over than what your body needs, you start gaining weight. But gaining more weight makes you at risk of type2 diabetes. So, what type of food that raises the chances to becoming obese and help body improve the disease?

A recently published study led by researchers from Department of Food Science and Nutrition, Women’s University, Mumbai, India has investigated the impact of certain types of food on weight gaining and metabolic response.

In order to “classify food according to their hyperglycemic quality, glycemic response to equi-quantity of commonly consumed carbohydrate,” researchers compared rich foods including “biscuit, Chapatti, Puffed rice, Potato, and least for Rice…with that of white bread (reference) in healthy volunteers.” Then “the Blood glucose response to 100g of the test foods were compared with an equal quantity of standard food—White bread.”

To have an idea of the glycemic response, it is response to a food or meal is the effect that food or meal has on blood sugar (glucose) levels after consumption.

Researchers made significant notices. They noted that 100g of rice “would be expected to induce a higher glycemic response, but its response is equivalent to that induced by 20g bread only; much lower than that of biscuit and chapatti”.

Also, they noted that “100g Marie biscuit induced significantly higher glycemic response than the same amount of bread (p<0.01), rice (p<0.01), puffed rice (p<0.01) and potato (p<0.01).” Researchers stated that “weight ratio such as biscuit and puffed rice, have light and porous nature and are generally consumed in lesser quantities at one time. But most often, doctors and nutritionist encourage the consumption of these snacks to patients for their apparent lightness.”

For chapatti which is “prepared from whole wheat flour has been given preference over white rice” researchers noted “that the predicted glycemic response to regular serving size of chapatti (30g) is much higher than that of rice”.

On the light of this study’ results, there are certain foods that can increase the risk of improving diabetes than others. Healthy foods especially those rich vitamins are important in reducing susceptibility to improving type2 diabetes.

A study which is published in Journal of Research in Diabetes found that “deficient levels of vitamin D may predispose euglycemic person for diabetes and dyslipidemia. Vitamin D supplements in euglycemic individuals may play an important role in reducing the risk.”

What you eat has a direct impact on your health including sugar levels in blood, something that can affect your improvement of diabetes. The type of food you eat is important, but also the amount matters. For a healthy living, one should consider what he consumes including quantity and quality.

 

Uterine Fibroids and Their Impact on Women Fertility

A lot of women are affected by infertility. In general, scientists are able to determine the causes behind the issue but in several cases the cause is not exactly known. The problem can sometimes be due to the reduction of woman eggs quality, or damage to the fallopian tubes, or ovulatory isues, or conditions affecting the uterus in addition to many other reasons.

Among these related problems to the uterus is the Uterine fibroids known also as myomas or leiomyomas. As defined, Uterine fibroids are tumours which grow from cells forming the muscle of the uterus (womb). Uterine fibroids, which are also called leiomyoma or myoma of the uterus, can grow on the uterine wall and push out into the bladder, bowel or intestine.

Uterine fibroids and their association to women infertility are subject to much scientific research. And up till now, there isn’t a firm answer that a direct causal link is found between infertility and fibroids. This study which is recently published in Obstetrics & Gynecology: An International Journal is among these academic efforts that investigated to contribute and enlighten the issue.

Researchers of this study, like previous studies, haven’t managed to find direct link. They explained that though there might be certain connection that link between infertility and fibroids, but it’s not completely evident if they are a direct cause.

“Relationship between fibroids and infertility is still subject to a large debate, and we still do not know exactly if they indeed cause infertility or it is a simple association. However, in our study, we found that 49.16% of our patients complained about fertility problem, showing that the association between fibroids and female infertility is not uncommon” as stated in the study.

Also, researchers noticed that “uterine fibroids were associated with miscarriage that has been shown by a number of studies where they found that the number of miscarriages is higher in women with fibroids.” The reason “can be due to the fact that if the fibroids are close to the placenta, this can eventually cause spontaneous miscarriage”.

Researchers stated previous studies mentioning that uterine fibroids most frequently affect women between ages of 30 and 45. But in the current study, they noticed that “the highest incidence (48.19%) was observed between 40-49 years.”

Another study carried by researchers from Germany indicated “that age is a risk factor for uterine fibroids as diagnosed women with myomas were significantly older than undiagnosed women…In contrast, age at menarche did not appear as a risk factor for women with uterine fibroids, which was found in some other research studies. Furthermore, after adjusting for age, we could not find any difference in the percentage of women who have given birth between women with and without a diagnosis of uterine fibroids, although parity is supposed to decrease the risk of uterine myomas.”

Up till now, there isn’t a clear evidence of the direct cause behind uterine fibroids, though scientists found that it could be related to a mixture of what is hormonal, namely the increase of oestrogen hormone, and what is genetic and environmental.

 

 

Importance and Effectiveness of E-learning

Technological development and the internet have changed people’s lives on different scales including for instance teaching and learning. The web has become one of the channels of learning that opens the door for people around the world to access education for free, or for fewer costs.

The IT booming and the internet have opened the door to largely access knowledge, high quality education and training. This easy access using information systems and the web can improve people’s skills for fewer costs. Knowledge delivering to some people would have never been possible without the opportunities offered by technology and the web.

A recently published study has highlighted the importance and effectiveness of e-learning and how students are satisfied with web-enhanced teaching. For that purpose, researchers collected data through surveys “for a total of 45 undergraduate and 26 graduate students enrolled in landscape construction studio courses at Texas A&M University during 2011 and 2012.”

To understand the issue, researchers made comparison with another study that previously conducted in 2003-04. “They evaluated students’ learning satisfaction and the effectiveness of e-learning in landscape architecture construction studio courses, compared trends in learning vehicles preferred by graduate and undergraduate students, and examined preferred learning vehicles between students expecting an A grade and those expecting a B or C grade.”

This study which is published at a Journal of e-Learning and Higher Education found that “satisfaction level with web-enhanced teaching increased to 95% in the 2011-2012 investigation, compared to 73%-87% in the 2003-2004 one.”

The study results indicated that “students were highly satisfied with web-enhanced teaching in both investigations. Particularly, students in recent years were more satisfied with web-enhanced teaching than those in the past. Undergraduate and graduate students preferred different types of learning vehicles, in which undergraduates preferred interactive types. In addition, students expecting an A grade were more likely to prefer individual or independent learning vehicles whereas students expecting a B or C grade relied on interactive learning methods.”

For teachers and instructors, they can learn from this study that the web-enhanced teaching “is no longer an add-on feature in teaching but a necessity” as stated in the research. What can still be missing in online learning and teaching is the interactivity and communication offered in class-based lessons. As stated in the study “undergraduates who are more likely to rely on interactive learning may suffer from web-based teaching that often lacks interactive communications.”

Today, the use of web to teach and learn is inevitable for both teachers and students. Online courses are becoming more and more necessary for education to and for knowledge spread. Thus, teachers should consider this trend in education and get prepared technically and pedagogically to take online teaching in consideration. In turn, students need to get enough skills that will help them effectively benefit from the advantages e-learning is providing.

Today, e-learning is adopted not only by students, but also by organizations that want to offer training for their employees. E-learning is a priority for businesses that look forward to improve employee’s skills and the economic benefits they can generate from that. That’s why online learning has become an important factor for both, education and business.