Psychological abuse to kids as damaging as physical attack

London: Bullying and calling names can be as damaging to a young child's physical, mental and emotional health as a slap, punch or kick, a new study has found.

The study looked at the effects of verbal abuse and found it can be just as harmful to a child's development as a physical attack.

According to an American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) report on psychological maltreatment in journal 'Pediatrics', psychological abuse may be the most challenging and prevalent form of child abuse and neglect.

"Yelling at a child every day and giving the message that the child is a terrible person, and that the parent regrets bringing the child into this world, is an example of a potentially very harmful interaction," said Dr Harriet MacMillan, McMaster University's Michael G DeGroote School of Medicine and the Offord Centre for Child Studies.

"We are talking about extremes and the likelihood of harm, or risk of harm, resulting from the kinds of behaviour that make a child feel worthless, unloved or unwanted," MacMillan said.

Psychological abuse was described in the scientific literature more than 25 years ago, but it has been under-recognised and under-reported, MacMillan said, adding that its effects "can be as harmful as other types of maltreatment."

The report says that because psychological maltreatment interferes with a child's development path, the abuse has been linked with disorders of attachment, developmental and educational problems, socialisation problems and disruptive behaviour.

"The effects of psychological maltreatment during the first three years of life can be particularly profound."

 This form of mistreatment can occur in many types of families, but is more common in homes with multiple stresses, including family conflict, mental health issues, physical violence, depression or substance abuse. 

Indian student jailed for UK visa fraud

London: An Indian student, who submitted bogus university documents in a bid to illegally extend his stay in the UK, has been jailed for six months.
     
Sanket Thaker, 27, admitted to a charge that he attempted to obtain leave to remain in the country by deception when he appeared at the Warwick Crown Court.
     
Thaker had attended a UK Border Agency office in Solihull in the West Midlands on May 9 to try and extend his student visa.
 
The officer he spoke to was suspicious of two certificates, purporting to be from the University of Hertfordshire and the City of London College, which he produced to support his application.
     
Andy Byrne-Smith, from the UK Border Agency, said: "The poor print quality of the documents was a clear indication that they weren't the genuine article and enquiries with the university and the college confirmed the officer's suspicions."  
     
Enquiries revealed that while Thaker had been enrolled at the two educational establishments he had been expelled from the University of Hertfordshire in December 2007 and was suspended from the City of London College in March this year.
 
When he was arrested at his home address on June 28 he admitted he had produced the offending documents on his own computer.
 
Byrne-Smith said: "This was a blatant and deliberate attempt to breach the UK's immigration controls. Thaker's intention was to remain in the UK for as long as possible and take employment opportunities away from those legally entitled to work."
     
His conviction "means he will get a longer stay in the UK, but not in the manner he was hoping." 

Punjabi most commonly spoken native language among UK pupils

London: One million students in Britain have English as their second language while Punjabi is the most commonly spoken language among those whose first language is not English, according to latest official figures.
 
More than one million children speak English as a second language as a record one in six pupils at primary  schools and one in eight at secondary don't speak the language at home.
 
The number of non-native speakers topped one million for the first time, rising from 957,490 last year, the Mail Online reported citing the figures released as part of an official census of schools conducted in January.
 
Besides Punjabi, other widely-spoken native languages are Bengali, Gujarati, Urdu, Somali, Polish, Arabic, Portuguese, Turkish and Tamil.
 
A separate analysis released earlier this year showed how children who speak English as their first language are now a minority in more than 1,600 English schools.
 
The number of schools where fewer than half of children are native speakers has virtually doubled in 15 years. Pupils with English as their main language now form a minority in one in 13 schools up from one in 25 in 1997.
 
General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) results published earlier this year showed how pupils whose first language is not English are closing the attainment gap with English-speaking youngsters, the Mail reported.
 
"English language skills are vitally important to ensure all individuals and communities can fully integrate into society.
 
We provide schools with funding and teaching materials to help them support children with English as an additional language right through to secondary education," a Department for Education spokesman said while commenting on the figures.

Being argumentative is good for teens: Study

London: Does your child have a tendency to argue? Don't worry, it's good for them, as a new study has found that those who regularly fight verbally with their parents cope better with peer pressure and are less likely to turn to drug abuse or alcohol.

They are also more skilled negotiators and can "learn to be taken more seriously" after some verbal jousting with their elders, researchers from the University of Virginia have found.

The researchers concluded that parents should consider actively starting rows with their teenagers just to hone their youngsters' skills even if it does result in an ear-bashing in the short term, the Daily Mail reported.

In the study, the scientists observed and made audio and video recordings of 150 13-year-olds arguing with their mothers.

They then quizzed the teenagers three years later about their lives and experiences with drugs and alcohol.

Teenagers who displayed confidence and used reason to back up their statements in the arguments were more likely to have refused both, the researchers found.

Lead researcher Joseph Allen, a psychology professor, said the connection between resisting peer pressure and a teenager's ability to argue was "surprising".

He added: "It turns out that what goes on in the family is actually a training ground for teens in terms of how to negotiate with other people."

Joanna Chango, a clinical psychology graduate working on the study, said that although it seemed "counterintuitive" to tell parents to let their teens argue with them, it was worth considering.

The study, published in the Child Development journal, did say that parents should have "good reasons presented in a moderate way" during the row so they can set a good example, instead of slamming doors like the teenager might, the researchers added. 

Cameron urged to review student visa curbs

London: British universities stand to lose between 5-8 billion pounds every year due to the new student visa restrictions applicable to students from India and other non-EU countries, according to top university officials.
 
In a letter to Prime Minister David Cameron, Universities UK, which represents 134 higher education institutions, warns that unless the coalition government urgently reviews and scraps the recent changes, the sector already affected by deep funding cuts will lose further.
 
A spokesperson of Universities UK told that a letter by chairman Professor Eric Thomas is being sent to Cameron highlighting the debilitating effect the new restrictions are likely to have on the economic situation of universities.
 
There are already reports of falling numbers of student-applications from India and other countries, with one unnamed university reporting a drop of 40 per cent in applications from international students.
 
The new restrictions include closure of the post-study work visa, which was popular among self-financing students from India, since it allowed them to recover (after completing their courses) some of the costs of studying in the UK.
 
Prof Thomas says in the letter that in China and India the largest markets for overseas students Britain is seen as "putting up barriers to entry", and added: "The UK seems to be telling the world that it doesn't welcome international students".
 
Attracting overseas students, he says, is "exactly the type of activity the Government should be supporting in these difficult  economic times", adding, "There are significant economic benefits and growth in this area, and we believe removing international students from net migration figures, which is what other countries are doing, will send very positive signals around the globe".
 
Several institutions such as the British Council and the Institute for Public policy research have urged the government to review the restrictions that have been placed as part of the coalition government's promise to cut immigration. 

Staying in a job is bad for you: Study

London: Staying in a job that you hate for the sake of loyalty or for lack of alternatives is bad both for you and your employer, a new study has claimed.
 
Researchers from the Concordia University's John Molson School of Business in Canada found that those who stay on out of misguided loyalty experience exhaustion, then burn out and often leave the company without warning.
 
"Employees often stay with their organisation because they feel that they have no other option," said study co-author Alexandra Panaccio.
 
"Then they are more likely to experience emotional exhaustion. This feeling, in turn, may lead them to leave the organisation," Panaccio was quoted by the Daily Mail.
 
Instead, the researchers suggested, companies should focus on training and moving staff within an organisation so that fewer of their staff are staying on simply because they "feel they should".
 
"Our study examined whether some forms of commitment to a company could have detrimental effects, such as emotional exhaustion and, eventually, turnover," Panaccio said.
  
"The implication is that employers should try to minimise this 'lack of alternatives' type of commitment among employees by developing their competencies, thus increasing their feeling of mobility and, paradoxically, contributing to them wanting to stay with the organisation."
 
Panaccio and her colleagues surveyed 260 workers from various industries, including information technology, health services, engineering and architecture. Participants were, on average, 34 years old; 33 per cent held managerial positions, while 50 per cent worked in the public sector.
 
The researchers, who reported their study in the journal Human Relations, measured various types of organisational commitments like whether employees identified with a company's goals and values and whether they felt an obligation to stay.
 
"It may be that, in the absence of an emotional bond with the organisation, commitment based on obligation is experienced as a kind of indebtedness a loss of autonomy that is emotionally draining over time," Panaccio added. 

UK honour for top Indian-origin scientists

London: Bangalore-based biologist and a mathematician described as "extremely original" are among six Indian-origin scientists elected to the prestigious Fellowship of the Royal Society for 2012.

The society, which was founded in 1660 to recognise, promote and support excellence in science, has over the years awarded the Fellowship to nearly 1,500 individuals, including Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking, Isaac Newton and Tim Berners-Lee.

The Fellows, elected for life, include more than 80 Nobel laureates.

The six Indian-origin scientists are among 44 experts elected for 2012 and include Tejinder Singh Virdee, Professor of Physics at Imperial College London, who is distinguished for the design, construction and exploitation of the huge CMC (Compact Muon Solenoid) experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider.

Virdee originated the concept of CMS with four colleagues around 1990 and there are now over 3000 participants from 38 countries.

He devised a new technology for the large CMS electromagnetic calorimeter and one of his earlier innovations was employed for the hadron calorimeter.

Banglaore-based Professor Krishnaswamy VijayRaghavan, Director of the National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, is described as an "inspirational leader successfully promoting excellence in Indian biology."
    
An outstanding developmental geneticist, his contributions to understanding the cellular and molecular principles of adult muscle development in Drosophila are widely recognised, the Royal Society (RS) said and added that he has "elegantly" combined these studies with those on the development of the nervous system to study the control and development of movement.
    
Professor Chandrashekhar Bhalchandra Khare, who is based at the University of California, Los Angeles, is described as "an extremely original mathematician" studying the relationship between Galois representations and modular forms.

The RS said: "His forte is finding ingenious but relatively simple new ideas. Most spectacularly he and Wintenberger proved Serre's conjecture on the modularity of mod p Galois representations, a conjecture that was widely considered completely out of reach even after Wiles' work on Fermat's Last Theorem. This conjecture in particular implies the modularity of all odd rank two motives over the
rationals."
    
Professor Mathukumalli Vidyasagar of the University of Texas at Dallas has been elected to the Fellowship for making "outstanding contributions" to control and systems theory and statistical learning.
    
His solution for maximally robust controllers has had a profound impact on linear control theory, the RS said.

The RS added: "He developed the feedback linearisation approach to nonlinear control, and provided a general separation principle for nonlinear control, and provided a general separation principle for nonlinear systems.

"His notion of inverse dynamics feedback converted highly nonlinear equations describing robot motion into decoupled linear equations, and he extended the theory of rigid robots to flexible robots.

"He has combined probability theory, combinatorics, and artificial intelligence to produce a beautiful unified theory of statistical learning, and used it to solve NP-hard design problems."
    
Based at the University of Cambridge, Professor Shankar Balasubramanian is an internationally recognised leader in the field of nucleic acids who is distinguished for pioneering contributions to chemistry and its application to the biological and medical sciences.

He is a principal inventor of the leading next generation sequencing methodology, Solexa sequencing, that has made routine, accurate, low-cost sequencing of human genomes a reality and has revolutionised biology.

Professor Varinder Kumar Aggarwal of the University of Bristol is distinguished for his "outstanding contributions" to the field of asymmetric synthesis, particularly applications of ylide chemistry where he is the world leader.

The RS said: "The important new methodology he has developed has been complemented by detailed mechanistic studies which have brought about improved understanding of many fundamental reactions.

"His innovative approach is highlighted by the unusual but highly effective reactions of sulphur ylides with boranes, an area that has much scope for future development. His productivity and breadth make him one of the foremost organic chemists of his generation and one who is very widely recognised internationally."
    
The Fellowship is made up of the most eminent scientists, engineers and technologists from the UK and the Commonwealth.

Fellows are elected for life through a peer review process on the basis of excellence in science. 

Graphene can help study liquids more clearly: Scientists

London: Carbon-based material graphene can help study liquids more clearly at higher resolution than was previously possible, scientists have claimed.
 
Liquids had been difficult to view at the same resolution as solids because these microscopes require the liquids to be encapsulated by some material.
 
Traditionally, silicon nitride or silicon oxide capsules, or liquid cells, have been used. But these are generally too thick to see through clearly. 
 
Now, a team at the University of California, Berkeley, have shown that pockets created by sheets of graphene can be used to study liquids at clear, atomic, resolution using transmission electron microscopes  (TEMs), the BBC reported.
 
The researchers used their new graphene-based liquid cell to study the formation of platinum nanocrystals in solution.
 
With this technique, detailed in the journal Science, the UCB team, led by Jong Min Yuk, was able to observe new and unexpected stages of nanocrystal growth as it happened.
 
They noted how the crystals selectively coalesced and modified their shape.
 
Graphene consists of a flat layer of carbon atoms tightly packed into a two-dimensional honeycomb arrangement.
 
Because it's so thin, it is also practically transparent. The unusual electronic, mechanical and chemical properties of graphene at the molecular scale promise numerous applications.
 
The new technique might enable scientists to study other physical, chemical, and biological phenomena that take place in liquids on the nanometre scale, experts said.
 
"Their approach opens new domains of research in the physics and chemistry in the fluid phase in general," said Christian Colliex, from the Universite Paris Sud in France, who was not involved with the research. 

British teachers wish to prosecute students

London: British teachers have called for prosecuting students who falsely accuse them of assaults following concern over a rising number of malicious allegations.

The teachers' trade unions want pupils be routinely reported to the police after making unfounded claims simply to get their own back on teachers, The Telegraph reported.

According to teachers' trade union The NASUWT, lying schoolchildren "must understand there is a consequence" to making allegations that are "unjust and malicious".

The comments came in the wake of new figures showing the vast majority of claims made against teachers were unsubstantiated.

Data from the NASUWT shows that fewer than one in 20 allegations of unlawful behaviour made against teachers last year - including assault, sexual abuse and serious threats - resulted in court action. (IANS)

Free online Cambridge courses for English teachers

London: Experts from the University of Cambridge are offering English teachers a free online language awareness course as part of a new initiative to raise teaching standards worldwide.
 
The course will be available through 'Cambridge English Teacher', a new online community for English language teachers developed by the University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations and Cambridge University  Press.
 
'Grammar for Teachers: Language Awareness' is an online self-study course developed by experts to boost teachers with more confidence in using English grammar, a release by 'Cambridge English Teacher' said.
 
"We're seeing some really encouraging teaching practices all around the world, but the key to raising English standards further is through ongoing professional development, which has been the driving force behind Cambridge English Teacher," said Andrew Nye, Stakeholder Relations Manager at Cambridge ESOL.
 
"We're encouraging teachers to take our language awareness course to give them even more confidence in English grammar so they can develop really effective classroom practices," Nye said, adding that the course is available through Cambridge English Teacher - an online community where teachers can connect with other professionals from around the world."
 
The community has already received over 2000 registrations since its launch earlier in March, the release said.
 
Nye said the project is building an online community that encourages English language teachers to share ideas and approaches on a global scale as part of their ongoing career development.
 
By paying a nominal annual fee, members of the community can upgrade their membership and can avail various benefits that include a free 10 hour professional development course, a 20 per cent discount on further courses and a digital subscription to English Teaching Professional magazine, Nye said. 

Indians may be put off as UK closes post-study visa

London: A facility that allowed Indian students to work here for two years after their courses are over will be closed from tomorrow as part of the Cameron government's drive to cut migration, which may put-off those aspiring to study in the UK.

Under the Tier 1 (Post-study work) route, Indian and other non-EU students were able to take up work for two years here after the completion of their university courses.

This route will be closed from tomorrow, the Home Office has announced.

The facility was popular among self-financing Indian students who sought to recover some of the expenses of studying here by working for two years.

The facility also enabled them to gain work experience in the UK that was seen to aid career prospects in India.

There are already reports of falling numbers of Indian students applying for university courses starting from September 2012.

From tomorrow, following the closure of the facility, international students will be able to apply for leave to remain in the UK under other immigration routes if they meet the criteria, but most such students are  unlikely to meet the higher income level and other criteria.

International students are estimated to contribute over 14 billion pounds annually to the UK economy.  

The closure of the post-study route was opposed by Universities UK and the British Council, given the possibility that the measure would reduce Britain's attraction as a destination for students from India and other non-EU countries.

Prime Minister David Cameron had promised to crack down on immigration at last year's Conservative party conference.  

In February, the British Council had called for an "urgent review" of the changes to the student visa system, particularly the closure of the popular post-study work visa from April this year.

The Council, which is responsible for promoting British education overseas, presented a detailed report to the government on the likely impact the recent student visa changes will have, and compared the experiences of Australia and US in this regard.

In a report titled 'Impact of Visa Changes on Student Mobility and Outlook for the UK', the British Council said: "Students from certain countries who mainly study postgraduate courses in the UK -such as India, Pakistan and others will be affected by the removal of the post-study work visa...The sooner this situation is addressed, the more contained the damage of bad publicity overseas will be."

The Home Office also announced that the annual limit for skilled Indian and other non-EU migrants with job offers in the UK would remain at 20,700 for the next two years until April 2014.

During the first year of its operation ending this month, the limit has been undersubscribed by about 50 per cent.  

Immigration Minister Damian Green said: "The government has been clear that the UK is open for business and our limit has been designed with the industry's needs in mind.

We believe there is no incompatibility between economic growth and controlling migration our reformed, more selective immigration system can achieve both." 

Cambridge study says passwords are very insecure

London: Online passwords are so insecure that one per cent can be cracked within 10 guesses, according to the largest ever sample analysis carried out by a Gathes Cambridge scholar at the university.

The research carried out by Joseph Bonneau will be presented at a security conference held under the auspices of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in May.  

Bonneau's research has featured in The Economist, a university release said.

Bonneau was given access to 70 million anonymous passwords through Yahoo! the biggest sample to date  and, using statistical guessing metrics, trawled them for information, including demographic information and site usage characteristics.

He found that for all demographic groups password security was low, even where people had to register to pay by a debit or credit card.

Proactive measures to prompt people to consider more secure passwords did not make any significant difference.

There was some variation, however.

Older users tended to have stronger online passwords than their younger counterparts.

German and Korean speakers also had passwords which were more difficult to crack, while Indonesian-speaking users' passwords were the least secure.

Even people who had had their accounts hacked did not opt for passwords which were significantly more secure, the release added.

he main finding, however, was that passwords in general only contain between 10 and 20 bits of security against an online or offline attack.

Bonneau concludes that there is no evidence that people, however motivated, will choose passwords that a capable attacker cannot crack.

"This may indicate an underlying problem with passwords that users aren't willing or able to manage how difficult their passwords are to guess," he says.

UK intelligence awards 8 varsities for cyber security

London: Oxford and Bristol are among eight universities recognised as centres of excellence in cyber security research by GCHQ, one of Britain's three intelligence agencies.
 
The eight universities conducting world class research in the field of cyber security will be awarded 'Academic Centre of Excellence in Cyber Security Research' status by GCHQ in partnership with the Research Councils' Global Uncertainties Programme (RCUK) and the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS).
 
Besides Oxford and Bristol, the other universities recognised are Imperial College London;Lancaster University;Queen's University Belfast;Royal Holloway, University of London;University of Southampton and University College London.
 
Minister for Cyber Security Francis Maude said: "We want to make the UK one of the most secure places in the world to do business, by investing in the best expertise to keep pace with technological change.
 
"That is why promoting academic excellence is at the heart of the Government's Cyber Security Strategy. These first eight Centres will play a vital role in boosting research, expanding our cyber skills base and fostering innovation in the field."
 
Universities and Science Minister David Willetts said: "Britain has one of the largest online economies in the world and a growing cyber security sector. Supporting universities to carry out more research and training skilled graduates to work in the cyber-security industry will help build further confidence in doing business online".
 
The eight Centres of Excellence are expected to benefit the UK by enhancing the UK's cyber knowledge base through original research; providing top quality graduates in the field of cyber security; supporting GCHQs cyber defence mission; and driving up the level of innovation.
 
The centres will open for business on 1 July 2012 for a period of five years.
 
During this time GCHQ will encourage further universities to develop their capabilities in order to meet the stringent criteria for recognition. 
 
This will position the UK cyber research community as the pre-eminent environment in which to conduct leading edge research and in turn attract the best academics and research students in the UK and from overseas, a university release said.

Now, a computer can spot if someone is lying

London: Now, you can easily spot if  someone is lying to you, with the help of a computer, say scientists.
 
A team at the University of Buffalo has developed a  new software that focuses solely on the subject's eyes, monitoring the movements of the pupils, which determines if someone is telling you the truth or lying.
 
For their study, the scientists recorded a series conversations in which a number of lies were told. And having tested their program against a trained human interrogator, they found that the software had a higher success rate.
 
While the specially trained examiner correctly  identify 65 per cent of false statements, the computer recorded an impressive 82.5 per cent reading.
 
"What we wanted to understand was whether there  are signal changes emitted by people when they are lying, and can machines detect them?" the 'Daily Mail' quoted Prof Ifeoma Nwogu as saying.
 
In fact, the study centred around conversations in  which subjects could chose whether or not to steal a cheque, before later being questioned on their decision. 
 
A wide range of individuals were selected, with  varying skin colours, age and height with someone even wearing  glasses in an attempt to conceal their lies.
 
Despite most of those interviewed being caught out,  there were a select number who managed to keep their eye  movements to a bare minimum, which consequently resulted in the wrong conclusions.
 
Now, the scientists plan to carry out additional  studies on a larger scale with a long-term view to developing a system that could work alongside human interrogators.

UK mission in Delhi receives 6,388 forged student visa forms

London: The spurt in the number of forgeries detected in the student visa applications lodged in New Delhi during 2010 had prompted the British high commission to stop accepting new applications, official sources said here.

A report by the National Audit Office (NAO) said that 6,388 forgeries were detected in the New Delhi office, which was a considerable increase compared to the number of such cases detected in previous years: 2,846 in 2009 and 2,153 in 2008.

In February 2010, the UK Border Agency stopped accepting new Tier 4 (students) applications from North India, Nepal and Bangladesh due to the surge in numbers, while it reviewed existing applications.

The ban was lifted fully in August 2010.

The NAO report said up to 50,000 non-EU migrants may have exploited flaws in the student visa system from 2009 because the Border Agency implemented Tier 4 system before key controls were in place.

"Based on college enrolment rates and changes in application patterns, the NAO estimates that, in its first year of operation, between 40,000 and 50,000 individuals may have entered the UK via Tier 4 to work rather than to study," the report said.

The highest number of forgeries in student visa applications were detected in Islamabad, New Delhi, Dhaka and Chennai, the report states.

The NAO said that the Border Agency had taken little action to prevent and detect students overstaying or working in breach of their visa conditions because the Agency regards them as low priority compared to illegal immigrants and failed asylum seekers.
"The Agency introduced new controls in 2011 and a fully-documented compliance strategy in December 2011 that are likely to reduce the number of problem students.

"But it will not be possible to determine the value for money of the Points Based System for students, unless the Agency establishes ways to measure its success in tackling abuse, including how it deals with overstaying, and to establish the full cost of its Tier 4 related activities", it said.

Criticising the David Cameron government, Labour MP Margaret Hodge, who chairs the Commons Public Accounts Committee, said: "This is one of the most shocking reports of poor management leading to abuse that I have seen.  

The agency needs to get a grip and fix the way it deals with student visas."

But immigration minister Damian Green said: "This government has introduced radical reforms in order to stamp out abuse and restore order to the uncontrolled student visa system we inherited."

Green added: "These include tough new rules on English language, working rights and dependants to ensure only legitimate students come to the UK.

New restrictions on post-study work mean that all but the very best will return home after study."

Claiming that the new measures were “beginning to bite”, Green said that the number of student visas issued had dropped considerably in the second half of 2011, compared to the same period in 2010. 

Close family ties builds strong civic virtues

London: In these days of two working parents, tightly scheduled children, television and Internet, many may find it a bit difficult to have strong family bond. But, close family ties actually pay, say researchers.

A new study, led by the University of Copenhagen, has, in fact, found that close family ties can help create individuals with "stronger civic virtues" who are also less likely to lie and cheat.

The study, which looked at a wide range of social groups, contradicted previous researches which suggest that the more one is attached to one's family, the less likely one is concerned with "tolerance and justice" outside their group.

Instead, this study indicated that members of tighter family networks promoted more altruistic attitudes through encouraging trustworthiness and a sense of duty, 'The Daily Telegraph' reported.

Martin Ljunge, the study's lead author, said: "I find that family ties are strongly associated with attitudes that are important for building societies with higher mutual respect and fiscal capacity, attitudes I label civic  virtues."

He added that those with close family ties were "substantially more disapproving of tax and benefit cheating, corruption, and a range of other activities which involve a personal benefit at the expense of other individuals".  

For their study, the researchers analysed evidence obtained from second generation immigrants from 29 countries. In particular, it compared the previous findings of political scientists James Q Wilson and Edward Banfield.

Banfield's research suggests close family ties leads to more parochial behaviour where the family unit exploits others for personal gain. Wilson's studies have found strong family ties help build a better and broader civil society.

Those polled in the latest research were asked to answer whether a range of statements were "always justified, never justified, or something in between".

The statements included cheating on taxes if you have a chance; claiming government benefits to which you are not entitled; avoiding a fare on public transport; paying cash for services to avoid taxes; and throwing away litter in a public place. Those with close family ties were found to have stronger civic attitudes.

Prof Ljunge added: "The results support the idea that tightly knit groups, such as families, can promote habits that may be important for the success of the community."

How universe got its magnetism - Physicists attempt to solve it

London: How the universe got its magnetism? For long, it has been a mystery. Now, physicists claim to have attempted to solve it by using laser to create magnetic fields similar to those involved in formation of the first galaxies.
 
Magnetic fields exist throughout galactic and intergalactic space, what is puzzling is how they were created originally and how they became so strong.
 
A team, led by Oxford University, used a high-power laser to explode a rod of carbon, similar to pencil lead, in helium gas. The explosion was designed to mimic cauldron of plasma an ionised gas containing free electrons and positive ions out of which the first galaxies formed.
 
The physicists found that within a microsecond of the explosion strong electron currents and magnetic fields formed around a shock wave.
 
They took these results and scaled them through 22 orders-of-magnitude to find that their measurements matched the "magnetic seeds" predicted by theoretical studies of galaxy formation, the 'Nature' journal reported.
 
"Our experiment recreates what was happening in the early Universe and shows how galactic magnetic fields might have first appeared. It opens up the exciting prospect that we will be able to explore the physics of the cosmos, stretching back billions of years, in a laser laboratory here on Earth," said Dr Gianluca Gregori, who led the team.
 
The results closely match theories which predict that tiny magnetic fields "magnetic seeds" precede the formation of galaxies. These fields can be amplified by turbulent motions and can strongly affect the evolution of the galactic medium from its early stages.
 
Dr Gregori said in a release: "In the future, we plan to use the largest lasers in the world, such as the National Ignition Facility in California, to study the evolution of cosmic plasma." 

Your brain size determines how good you are at keeping friends

London: Your brain size determines how good you're at keeping friends, say researchers.

A new study, led by Prof Robin Dunbar of the University of Oxford, has found a link between the number of friends one has and the size of the region of one's brain the orbital prefrontal cortex that is found just above the eyes.

This brain region is bigger in people who have a larger number of friendships, the 'Proceedings of the Royal Society B' journal reported.

The study suggests that people need to employ a set of cognitive skills to maintain a number of friends. These skills are described as "mentalising" or "mind-reading" a capacity to understand what another person is thinking.

The study, for the first time, suggests that a person's competency in these skills is determined by the size of key regions of their brains (in particular, the frontal lobe), say the researchers.

Prof Dunbar said: "Mentalising is where one individual is able to follow a natural hierarchy involving other individuals mind states. Being able to maintain five separate individuals' mental states is the natural upper limit for most adults."

In their study, the researchers took anatomical MR images of the brains of 40 volunteers at the Magnetic Resonance and Image Analysis Research Centre at the University of Liverpool to measure the size of the prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain used in high-level thinking.

Participants were asked to make a list of everyone they had had social, as opposed to professional, contact with over the previous seven days. They also took a test to determine their competency in mentalising.

Prof Robin Dunbar said in a release: "We found that individuals who had more friends did better on mentalising tasks and had more neural volume in the orbital frontal cortex, the part of the forebrain immediately above the eyes.

"Understanding this link between an individual's brain size and the number of friends they have helps us understand the mechanisms that have led to humans developing bigger brains than other primate species. The frontal lobes of the brain, in particular, have enlarged dramatically in humans over the last half million years."

UK further tightens visa rules

London: For the first time, Britain is breaking the link between the number of years a migrant spends in the country and permanent settlement, by introducing a 35,000-pound annual salary threshold, a move that is likely to affect Indians.

Until now, permanent settlement was automatic: if a migrant spends five years in the UK in an immigration route that leads to settlement, and has not committed major criminal offences, permanent settlement was granted, irrespective of the salary level.

The new measure announced is scheduled to be introduced in April 2016, after which migrants will need to show evidence of earning at least 35,000 pounds in annual salary before being granted permanent settlement. Thousands of Indian professionals migrate to the UK under various work categories.

After spending five years in their jobs, those seeking permanent settlement after April 2016 will need to earn at least 35,000 pounds in their jobs for permanent settlement.

Placing the 35,000 pounds salary threshold will result in the number of Indian and other non-EU migrants granted permanent settlement dropping to 20,000 from 60,000 annually, the Home Office said.

Those who do not qualify will be required to leave the UK after six years. Immigration Minister Damian Green said migrants who enter as PhD-level scientists and researchers will qualify for settlement without having to meet the 35,000 minimum salary threshold.

The new changes include restrictions on domestic workers who can come to the UK. Such migrants will not be allowed to stay for more than six months, without a right to change employer.

However, current arrangements for domestic workers will continue for private servants in diplomatic households, but they will not be granted permanent settlement after five years.

Green said: “Settlement in the UK is a privilege. We are sweeping aside the idea that everyone who comes here to work can settle, and instead reserving this important right only for the brightest and best.”

He added: “Our reforms of the immigration system will ensure we are more selective not only about those who are allowed to come here but also those who are allowed to stay permanently.”

Even mild dehydration can alter mood and ability to think

London: Drinking water has many, many health benefits. Now, add one more to the list it can help you stay calm, particularly if you feel like losing your cool, says a new study.

Researchers at the University of Connecticut claims that even mild dehydration can have an adverse effect on the mood, especially in women. In fact, it can alter one's mood, energy level and ability to think clearly, the 'Daily Mail' reported.

"Even mild dehydration 1.5 per cent loss in normal water volume in the body that can occur in the course of our ordinary daily activities can degrade how we are feeling, especially for women, who are more susceptible to the adverse effects of low levels of dehydration," said Harris Lieberman, one of the researchers.

The researchers came to the conclusion after analysing results of tests which showed that it didn't at all matter if a person had just walked for 40 minutes on a treadmill or was sitting at rest, the adverse effects were the same if they are even a bit thirsty.

Lawrence Armstrong, the lead researcher, said: "Our thirst sensation doesn't really appear until we are one per cent or two per cent dehydrated. By then dehydration is already setting in and starting to impact how our mind and body perform.

"Dehydration affects all people, and staying properly hydrated is just as important for those who work all day at a computer as it is for marathon runners who can lose upto eight per cent of their body weight as water when they compete."  

In the research, the researchers put the subjects through a series of tests measuring vigilance, concentration, reaction time, learning, memory, and reasoning. Their results were then compared against those of individuals who were not dehydrated.

In young women, mild dehydration was found to cause headaches, fatigue, and difficulty concentrating. Female subjects found tasks more difficult although they suffered no substantive reduction in cognitive ability.

Young men experienced some difficulty with mental tasks, particularly in the areas of vigilance and working memory and also experienced fatigue, tension, and anxiety, according to the findings.

Changes in mood and symptoms were "substantially greater in females than in males, both at rest and during exercise", say the researchers.