07
Tourists Decline
Aug. 15, 2013
China, one of the most visited countries in the world, has seen sharply
fewer tourists this year--with worsening air pollution partly to blame.
Society
Industrial Units Major Polluters
Translated by Atefeh
Rezvan-Nia
I
ndustrial pollution accounts for 40 percent of
air pollution in Iran.
Announcing this, Ali
Mohammad Shaeri, the
deputy head of Department
of Environment, said many
measures have been taken
in recent years to reduce air
pollution in the country.
“The polluting industries
have declined from 4,200
units four years ago to 2,700
in the current Iranian year
(started March 21),” he said,
adding that this has significantly improved air quality.
The official noted that polluting industrial units have
been forced to pay 9,000 billion rials as green tax since 5
years ago.
“The Department of Environment plans to reduce
air pollution by a further
10 percent by the end of
the current Iranian year,”
Currently, 23 provinces of Iran are affected by dust storms.
he said, adding that enviShaeri noted that a number of
only 3 provinces of Iran were affected
ronmental experts have
country’s wetlands have dried out in
devised special programs, urging by dust storms.
“Currently, 23 provinces of Iran recent years due to mismanagement,
domestic industrial units to meet
global standards with regard to are affected by dust storms,” he said, contributing to air pollution in the
adding that illegal logging, extended country.
environmental concerns.
The official said that phasing out
Pointing to dust storm as a major deforestation, climate change and
environmental challenge facing the drought are adversely threatening the old cars, improving gasoline standards and taking industrial units outcountry, Shaeri said till 9 years ago, country’s environment,” he said.
side the city precincts can help reduce
pollution in Iran.
Noting that about 50 ratifications
have been made by the government
in this regard, Shaeri hoped the new
Cabinet will gain successes in resolving the country’s environmental problems.
Left-Handed Still Facing Discrimination
By Charlotte Willis
August 13 is designated International Lefthanders Day
by Lefthanders International.
First observed on 13 August 1976, it is meant to promote awareness of the inconveniences facing left-handers in a predominantly right-handed world. It celebrates
their uniqueness and difference, who are from 7 to 10
percent of the world’s population.
Many left-handed people are still discriminated in today’s society, and are forced to use right handed tools,
drive on the right side of the road, and even get harassed.
International Lefthanders Day is made to end this discrimination.
There’s also a more serious side to the day, which
spreads awareness about the special needs of left-handed
kids. Also, lefties are far more likely to develop schizophrenia than right-handers, for reasons not well understood.
Researchers still don’t understand why one in 10 people turn out to be lefties but studies have shown that most
children are either predominantly right or left by the age
of three. So don’t feel too bad, there’s nothing much you
could have done about it.
Being a left-hander in a right-handed world can be
downright tough. Here’s why:
1) No one trusts you in the kitchen: I blame my lefthandedness on my woeful lack of culinary prowess. As
a little girl I was relegated to the boring job of stirring.
Even now, simple tasks such as chopping with sharp
knives and peeling potatoes attract plenty of nervous
sideways glances.
2) I would have made a lousy school teacher: Anyone
remember having a left-handed teacher at school? Ever
tried to write on a blackboard with your left hand without
smudging your work? Case in point.
3) Backyard cricket was ruined for me: I used to bowl
to my cunning right-handed siblings for hours on end
and when it was finally my turn to bat, the game was
suddenly over because they “didn’t know how to bowl
to a lefty”.
4) I’m directionally challenged: Navigation has never
been my strong point, but my excuse is that my left is my
right.
5) We always look clumsy and awkward in the
workplace: Whether using a computer mouse on the
wrong side of the keyboard, trying to hide our horrible lefty scrawl in a meeting or attempting to operate a pair of scissors, we’re rarely graceful around
our colleagues.
6) Right-handed things in general: Cork screws,
spiral-bound notebooks, can openers, inky pens, sports
equipment, musical instruments--attempting to learn the
violin was just cruel.
7) Dinner party etiquette: After years of setting the table incorrectly, I eventually conquered which side of the
plate the knife and fork goes on. But I still double check
before reaching for my glass to make sure I’m not about
to take a gulp from someone else’s drink.
8) I’m a backwards mag reader: Flipping through my
favorite glossy back-to-front doesn’t always make that
much sense, but it just feels right (or is it left?), so please
just let me be.
9) I’m part of a club whether I like it or not: Some
incredibly gifted people have been left-handed--Albert
Einstein, Aristotle, Charlie Chaplin and Michelangelo,
to name a few.
Source:www.dailytelegraph.com.au
Combating Depression
Studies suggest more than 65 percent of women suffering
from depression don’t actually feel all that miserable.
Instead, they show physical signs including experiencing strange niggles, drowsiness post noon and excessive
eating, Banglanews24.com reported.
According to the University of Washington researchers, struggling with two or more of these symptoms is
your body’s way of signaling that you are depressed. So,
in order to combat depression before it takes you down,
follow these simple tips to a happier you:
mone serotonin--as much as 54 percent. But if you’re
worried about their impact on your waist, remember any
low-fat, high-starch treat like unbuttered popcorn, or a
bowl of cereal can also do the trick.
Get Your Vitamin D
Vitamin D, also known as vitamin sunshine, helps
your brain produce antidepressant hormones like serotonin and oxytocin, boosting your mood by at least 30
percent. According to researchers at the University of
Texas, mornings are the best time to absorb nutrients-soaking in your quota of vitamin D in the AM hours can
cut your risk of depression by half. In fact, studies show,
it improves people’s outlook for five hours straight.
Try New Bedtime
Compared to early risers, nocturnal creatures are four
times more likely to be saddled with depression. Staying
up late--and missing out on morning sunshine by sleeping
in--disrupts your biological clock, and that sabotages your
brain’s ability to make, and use, antidepressant hormones.
Aim to go to bed by 11 pm and doctors ensure your symptoms could start to ease in as little as one week.
Be Less Tidy
Lowering your cleanliness standards allows you to spend
more time relaxing and unwinding. This helps down your
production of cortisol, which is a stress hormone that sabotages brain function and saps your ability to produce antidepressant hormones. Being less tidy, on the other hand, can
make your serotonin production creep up in as little as one
Join an Activity Club
Remember the good old sororities you read about?
They are actually good for you. Women who spend time
hanging out in a group (a book club, or gym, for instance)
once a week, feel cheerier and healthier within a month.
week. So, the next time your mum is after you to clean up
the room, you have an excuse.
Tweak the Lighting
Theres a direct nerve connection between your eyes
and the biological clock that you’re used to. Keep your
home and workplace cheery and bright during the day by
using high wattage light bulbs and opening the curtains.
Dim the lights and switch off your computer and other
light emitting electronics one hour before bedtime.
Include Starch in Your Diet
Potatoes are known to boost brain levels of tryptophan--a key building block of the antidepressant hor-
Go for Massage
Regular massages shift brain wave activity from the
right side, which churns out negative emotions, to the
left side, which handles positive feelings. Getting a
couple of 20 minute massages a week can increase your
brain’s production of feel-good hormones called endorphins, cutting your aches and pains and other physical
symptoms by 25 percent.
News in Brief
Children of Obese Mothers
At Higher Death Risk
Children of obese and overweight women have a higher risk
of early cardiovascular death as adults, finds a study.
The findings highlight the urgent need for strategies to prevent obesity in women of childbearing age and the need to
assess the offspring of obese mothers for their cardiovascular
risk, say the authors, Medicalxpress.com reported.
Rates of maternal obesity have risen rapidly in the past two
decades. In the United States, about 64 percent of women of
reproductive age are overweight and 35 percent are obese,
with a similar pattern in Europe.
Many studies have shown a link between maternal obesity
and disease later in life, but it is still not clear whether maternal obesity is associated with increased death in offspring
from cardiovascular causes.
Using birth and death records from 1950 to the present day,
a team of researchers in Scotland identified 28,540 women-whose body mass index (BMI) was recorded at their first antenatal visit--and their 37,709 offspring who were aged between
34 and 61 at the time of follow up.
BMI was defined as underweight (BMI 18.5 or less), normal weight (BMI 18.5-24.9), overweight (BMI 25-29.9), and
obese (BMI 30 or more).
Relevant details about the pregnancy were collated, including the mother’s age at delivery, number of previous pregnancies, mother and father’s social class and infant sex, birth
weight and gestation at delivery.
Among the mothers, 21 percent were overweight and 4 percent were obese. Among the 37,709 offspring there were 6551
premature deaths from any cause and, among the deceased,
294 had had obese mothers at birth.
The researchers found that the risk of premature death was
35 percent higher in the adult offspring of obese mothers compared to those whose mothers had had normal weight. They
also found a 42 percent increased risk (adjusted for the same
factors) of a hospital admission for a cardiovascular event in
the adult offspring of obese mothers compared with offspring
of mothers with normal BMI.
Fifth of Websites Lack
Privacy Protection Info
A fifth of the world’s websites and mobile telephone applications provide no information on how, or if, they protect users’
personal data, a French watchdog said on Tuesday.
In collaboration with 19 other countries, France’s national
data protection agency Cnil in May conducted an audit of
more than 2,000 of the world’s most popular websites and
apps to evaluate how they inform users of their data collection
practices, Physorg reported.
“More than 20 percent of the websites and mobile applications
audited supply no information to their visitors in regard to their
policies on data protection even though these sites or applications
collect personal information. For mobile applications alone, this
number even reached 50 percent,” it said in a statement.
In cases when such policies are not communicated, users “do
not have the means to control their data”, Cnil said, adding that
even when such policies are available, they are often too general
or too focused on specific technical aspects such as cookies.
Internet services routinely install small bits of software,
called ‘cookies’, on users’ computers to store identifying information and to track Internet behavior.
All the authorities involved in the audit complained that essential information was often withheld, such as the purpose
of the data collection or whether the information would be
passed on to a third party.
Australian Islamic Schools Booming
Islamic schools are the fastest growing school sector in the
state, with some expanding so quickly they have had to freeze
waiting lists or consider limiting new enrollments to siblings.
The number of Islamic schools in NSW has tripled over the
past 15 years to 22. And, while the number of students in the
state’s public schools dropped slightly over the past decade,
the student population of Islamic schools has
doubled to more than 10,000, MuslimVillage
reported.
Al-Faisal College at Auburn has almost
doubled in size over the past five years to
1,600 students.
Last week, it bought a four-hectare property at Austral in
Sydney’s west where it plans to build a campus for a further
600 students. It may soon be the biggest independent school
in the state.
Deputy principal Peter Rompies said the school has “huge
waiting lists” of between 200 and 300 students and will probably have to reject at least half of next year’s kindergarten applications.
Last year, more than 10,000 of the state’s students were
enrolled in Islamic schools, four times the number enrolled
in 1998. The growth was not surprising given the number of
Muslim children between the ages of five and 14 in NSW increased by more than 20 percent between 2006 and 2011, according to census data.
Peter Jones, who spent seven years researching Australia’s
Islamic schools for his PhD, said only 15 to 20 percent of
Muslim students attended Islamic schools.
“The demand is there; they just don’t have the room,” he
said.