Tuesday, May 1, 2007

Left Hand or Right Hand

One study has mentioned that left-handed women may have shorter lifespan, whereas other report suggest that left-handers are not only better at sport due to edge given by faster reactions, but left-handers also do more than all right in the pay stakes. What a confusion.


  • First Report:
Left-handed women live short! (1)

A study suggests that women who are left-handed have a higher risk of dying, particularly from cancer and cerebrovascular disease - damage to an artery in the brain or an artery that supplies blood to the brain, says Daily Mail.

It is estimated that about one in 10 people are lefties. Reports have associated left-handedness with various disorders and, in general, a shorter life span, Dutch researchers note in their report in the journal Epidemiology.

"Left-handers are reported to be underrepresented in the older age groups, although such findings are still much debated," Dr Made K Ramadhani is quoted by the news daily. Among 12,178 middle-aged Dutch women the researchers followed for nearly 13 years, 252 died.
When left-handed women were compared with the other women, and the data were adjusted for a number of potentially confounding factors, lefties had a 40 per cent higher risk of dying from any cause, a 70 per cent higher risk of dying from cancer, and a 30 percent higher risk of dying from diseases of the circulatory system.

Left-handed women also run increased risk of dying from breast cancer, colorectal cancer, and cerebrovascular mortality.

The underlying mechanisms remain elusive, although genetics and environmental factors may be involved, Ramadhani and colleagues suggest. Much of the research into handedness and mortality has been fueled by the hypothesis that left-handedness is the result of an insult suffered during prenatal life, which ultimately leads to the early death.

Noted left-handed author D Olga Basso was quoted by The Daily Mail as saying, "I am not alone in thinking that the literature on handedness suffers from a number of ills," regardless of the putative illnesses seen in those who are left-handed, she notes.

"Having successfully dodged a number of disorders," adds Basso, "I doubt that my left hand is prematurely pulling me toward my grave."


  • Second Report:

Left-handers do more than all right in the pay stakes (2)

A study found that left-handed men with a university degree earned an average of 21 per cent more than right-handed male graduates. Even those who only managed to stay for one year of study finished 13 per cent ahead of right-handers on the pay scale.

But the researchers, two U.S.-based economists, could not come up with a single reason why. And, curiously, they could find no such differential between right and lefthanded women.
For the male study, Christopher Ruebeck from Lafayette College in Pennsylvania and Robert Moffitt of Johns Hopkins University in Maryland used data supplied by 5,000 men aged between 28 and 35. Left-handers made up about 10 per cent of respondents.

The findings were reported by the National Bureau of Research in a 60-page paper, Handedness and Earnings.
'We do not have a theory that reconciles all of these findings,' said Professor Ruebeck.
'The raw data is unequivocal and shows left-handed men earned substantially more than their right-handed counterparts.'

He called for further research to try to establish reasons for the link. Professor Ruebeck, who is right-handed, said other studies have found that left-handers are over-represented at U.S. universities.

Some of the world's most famous musicians and actors have been 'southpaws' - including Paul McCartney, Jimi Hendrix, Phil Collins, Tom Cruise and Robert De Niro.
And the most famous female tennis player of all time, Martina Navratilova, played with her left hand. But she was also ambidextrous, a skill that helped her win eight Wimbledon singles titles. (2)


It has long been suggested that left-handed people have an advantage when playing sport, now scientists have shown it is true.
New research has found connections between the left and right hand sides or hemispheres of the brain are faster in "southpaws". (3)


Ref:
1. http://www.ibnlive.com/news/lefthanded-women-live-short/39532-13.html

2. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=400156&in_page_id=1770

3. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/technology/technology.html?in_article_id=433138&in_page_id=1965

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Importance of Communication in an Organization

Communication is one of the basic functions of management in any organization and its importance can hardly be overemphasized. It is a process of transmitting information, ideas, thoughts, opinions and plans between various parts of an organization.
It is not possible to have human relations without communication. However, good and effective communication is required not only for good human relations but also for good and successful business.

Effective communication is required at various levels and for various aspects in an organization such as -

For manager – employee relations:
Effective communication of information and decision is an essential component for management-employee relations. The manager cannot get the work done from employees unless they are communicated effectively of what he wants to be done? He should also be sure of some basic facts such as how to communicate and what results can be expected from that communication. Most of management problems arise because of lack of effective communication. Chances of misunderstanding and misrepresentation can be minimized with proper communication system.

For motivation and employee morale:
Communication is also a basic tool for motivation, which can improve morale of the employees in an organization. Inappropriate or faulty communication among employees or between manager and his subordinates is the major cause of conflict and low morale at work. Manager should clarify to employees about what is to be done, how well are they doing and what can be done for better performance to improve their motivation. He can prepare a written statement, clearly outlining the relationship between company objectives and personal objectives and integrating the interest of the two.

For increase productivity:
With effective communication, you can maintain a good human relation in the organization and by encouraging ideas or suggestions from employees or workers and implementing them whenever possible, you can also increase production at low cost.
For employees: It is through the communication that employees submit their work reports, comments, grievances and suggestions to their seniors or management. Organization should have effective and speedy communication policy and procedures to avoid delays, misunderstandings, confusion or distortions of facts and to establish harmony among all the concerned people and departments.

Importance of written communication:
Communication may be made through oral or written. In oral communication, listeners can make out what speakers is trying to say, but in written communication, text matter in the message is a reflection of your thinking. So, written communication or message should be clear, purposeful and concise with correct words, to avoid any misinterpretation of your message. Written communications provides a permanent record for future use and it also gives an opportunity to employees to put up their comments or suggestions in writing.

So, effective communication is very important for successful working of an organization. Business writing software with grammar checker and text enrichment tool can be used for writing effective business communications.

For more information on business writing software for business communication, please visit http://www.truevalue4money.com/businesswriting.html
Author is a freelance writer. For details on softwares to enrich your business writing or creative writing, please visit Business writing software or English writing software website.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?Importance-of-Communication-in-an-Organization&id=423299

Thursday, April 5, 2007

Early to bed and early to rise: Does it matter?

BACKGROUND:
Controversy remains about whether early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise (the Ben Franklin hypothesis), or healthy, wealthy and dead (the James Thurber hypothesis).

METHODS:
As part of the Determinants of Myocardial Infarction Onset Study, the bedtimes and wake times of 949 men admitted to hospital with acute myocardial infarction were recorded through personal interviews. Participants reported their educational attainment and zip code of residence, from which local median income was estimated. Early-to-bed and early-to-rise was defined respectively as a bedtime before 11 pm and wake time before 6:30 am. Participants were followed for mortality for a mean of 3.7 years.

RESULTS:
Hours in bed were inversely associated with number of cups of coffee consumed.
The mortality of early-to-bed, early-to-risers did not differ significantly from other groups. There was also no relation between bed habits and local income, nor with educational attainment.

INTERPRETATION:
Results refute both the Franklin and Thurber hypotheses.
Early to bed and early to rise is not associated with health, wealth or wisdom.(1)

Ref: 1. Mukamal KJ, Wellenius GA; CMAJ. 2006 Dec 5;175(12):1560-2

Wednesday, April 4, 2007

12 Essential Security Tools for Your Computer

Unprotected computer or computer without any security tool is always vulnerable to cyber criminals, hackers, spammers and identity thieves. So, to avoid such security problems and identity theft, you should always have security software with some essential features such as firewall, antivirus etc.

The following 12 essential security tools can help you to protect your identity, personal information and data on your computer, so that you can surf the internet without any fear of identity theft, hacking, viruses, spywares etc.

Firewall is essential to block the unauthorized access to your computer data. It monitors the inbound and outbound traffic from your computer to the internet and blocks any suspicious traffic. Network and program firewall is required to block the doubtful traffic and operating system firewall is necessary to protect your operating system and your data.

1. Network and program firewall:
Network and program firewall protects your network and computer from suspicious traffic and shield your programs from malware. For high level of security, it should be a Multi-layer firewall or with multiple layers of security.

2. Operating system firewall:
Some internet security software also provides operating system firewall to protect your operating system. This security tool blocks any malicious software from causing damage to files in your core windows operating system. It also blocks entry of hard to remove spyware with kernel-level threats to computer to protect your operating system from any damage.

3. Full Stealth Mode:
Full Stealth Mode is required to make you invisible to hackers, even when you are connected to net, so that you can access the internet without any fear of getting hacked.

4. Antivirus:
Antivirus is necessary to protect your computer from damages by viruses, worms and trojans. Viruses and worms spread from one computer to another either through e-mails or from files downloaded from internet. Viruses and worms can destroy your files and erase data on your computer. So, to protect your data and your hard disk, you should always have updated antivirus program with the latest definition files.

5. Antispyware:
Antispyware protects your computer from spywares and intruders to protect your personal information. Spywares get installed on your computer without your consent or knowledge and take control of your computer, gather your personal data, information, web activities and web sites you visit and transmit that data to others.

6. Complete Spy Site Blocking:
Spyware distribution websites are the major source for spywares. Security software with complete spy site blocking feature can block these websites and also blocks you from visiting these sites by accident.

7. Identity theft protection:
Nowadays, identity theft is a major problem on internet. With increase in e-commerce, online buying and credit card usage on internet, protection against identity theft is crucial to protect your identity and personal information on your computer. So, identity theft protection is a must security tool while accessing the internet.

8. Real time updates:
Your computer should have latest updates or real time updates against viruses, spywares and any new possible attacks.

9. Anti Spam, Anti Phishing, Email protection:
Phishing mail is a scam, which looks like a correspondence from a bank or institution to gather your personal information or bank details. Anti spam, anti phishing and email protection is necessary to protect you from phishing e-mails and e-mail fraud.

10. Instant messaging protection:
Hackers, spammers, spywares and viruses can attack your instant messaging session. IM messaging protection protects your instant messaging session from these attacks. You can also use this tool to restrict your kid to use instant messengers only with trusted people.

11. Parental control:
This feature is necessary to prevent your kids from accessing inappropriate websites and objectionable content on web sites.

12. Credit Card Monitoring alerts:
Some internet security software also provide credit card monitoring alerts which alert you if your credit card number appears online. This tool is very useful if you use your credit card on internet for transactions.

For more information on internet security softwares available with all these essential security tools, please visit www.truevalue4money.com/pcprotect.html website.

Author is a freelance writer. For details on internet security softwares with essential security tools and features for complete protection and security on internet, please visit Internet Security Software website, and for secure remote access software to control remote PC in real time with complete security Remote Access Software website.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?12-Essential-Security-Tools-for-Your-Computer&id=510095