The Eyes Beyond the Screen: Digital Media Policy and Child Health

Background: Modern communication technology and digital media have provided society with a foundation for instant messaging. Pictures, videos, and texts connect individuals with families, friends, and the world. Consequently, digital media has accelerated exposure to risk in which children and adolescents are most vulnerable. This project’s objective is to 1) congregate and highlight current knowledge about the impact of digital media on child health, and 2) underline deficiencies in related laws and regulations as well as offer solutions in digital media policy. Methods: A systematic literature review was conducted through the JAMA Pediatrics database with keywords such as “digital media,” “social media,” “screen time,” “cyberbullying,” “child sexual abuse material,” “online exploitation,” “sextortion,” and “child privacy” to accumulate information from relevant studies and articles elaborating on adverse child health outcomes in relation to digital media use. Only peer-reviewed full-text publications between 2018 and 2021 were selected and 10 articles were obtained. The impact of digital media on child and adolescent health was synthesized, as shown in the results section. Furthermore, review of national digital media law was conducted through Congress.gov, and potential policy solutions are elaborated in the conclusions section. Results: (1) Screen time through social media use, gaming, and television among children and adolescents has dramatically increased, as charged by the COVID-19 pandemic, and is associated with higher levels of depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, hyperactivity, inattention, and conduct problems. (2) Reduced social contact with friends, peers, and teachers increases the risk of loneliness and helplessness which correlate to mental health harms. (3) Targeted advertisements attract young adolescents to increase screen time, establish brand allegiances, and form spending habits. (4) Time spent online is associated with increased risk of cyberbullying, sextortion, genuinely threatening messages, psychologically threatening messages, and intentional misinformation which has a strong correlation to negative mental health symptoms. (5) The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children reported over 21.7 million submissions of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) in 2020, a 106% increase since 2019. (6) Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act protects social media sites from being sued over posts from their users, resulting in poor filtration of inappropriate material. Conclusions: Children and adolescents require modern media literacy to battle potential negative mental health symptoms heightened by the growing dependency on technology. The national government must enact legislation to hold social media companies accountable by straining their sites from harmful and inappropriate material. Proactive legislative measures such as negating targeted advertising for minors and an opt-out function from biased algorithms in social media apps prioritize lowering screen time over increasing business revenue

Flexible manufacturing system utilizing computer integrated control and modeling

In today\u27s fast-automated production, Flexible Manufacturing Systems (FMS) play a very important role by processing a variety of different types of workpieces simultaneously. This study provides valuable information about existing FMS workcells and brings to light a unique concept called Programmable Automation. Another integrated concept of programmable automation that is discussed is the use of two feasibility approaches towards modeling and controlling FMS operations; the most commonly used is programmable logic controllers (PLC), and the other one, which has not yet implemented in many industrial applications is Petri Net controllers (PN). This latter method is a unique powerful technique to study and analyze any production line or any facility, and it can be used in many other applications of automatic control. Programmable Automation uses a processor in conventional metal working machines to perform certain tasks through program instructions. Drilling, milling and chamfering machines are good examples for such automation. Keeping the above issues in concem; this research focuses on other core components that are used in the FMS workcell at New Jersey Institute of Technology, such as; industrial robots, material handling system and finally computer vision

The Developmental Forms of Linguistic Fallacy in a World of Virtual Media

It is well known that language is one of the most important tools of human communication in various media. Thus, it is necessary to consider the way language is used in the media and its role in how opinions and concepts are expressed. Understanding the language of media users increases understanding of their thoughts and convictions. Besides, the use of language can shape the impact on any audience or even contribute to controlling the direction of their potential opinions. Despite all the tremendous developments in the media, the vision for the function of language has remained the most powerful and fastest tool in reaching the inevitable results and building effective communication between the users themselves. This paper examined the many uses of language implemented in various media in order to reveal the truth of words that go far beyond the direct surface meaning of the audience’s understanding. We also analyzed some of the most dangerous and powerful examples of such an ambiguous use of language in linguistic fallacy and manipulation

Innovative Application of Scrap-tire Steel Cords in Concrete Mixes

More than 2.5 million scrap-tires are produced in Jordan each year. In addition, more than three million tires are currently stockpiled throughout the country. However, only one company has been established in the country for the recycling, recovery and reuse of scrap-tires. Currently, this industry is facing many challenges due to lack of support and subsidies from the government. Many researchers have investigated the use of recycled tire products in several traditional civil engineering materials. This research is exploring the use of steel cords, a by product of the tire recycling process, in concrete mixes. Different concrete specimens were fabricated and tested in uniaxial compression and splitting tensile strength. The steel cords were substituted into the concrete mix in volumetric percentages of 0% (control), 2%, 4%, 6%, 8% and 10%. Results show that mechanical properties of concrete made with steel cords are improved compared with concrete mix made with the traditional scrap-tires recycled material (such as crump rubber or rubber chips). Also, the test results show that even though the compressive strength is reduced when using steel cords, this reduction is minimal. When 2% of steel cords are used, there is an 18% increase in ductility. Moreover, splitting tensile tests show that concrete mixtures with any steel cords content have much greater toughness than the control mixture. This mechanical property mix indicates an excellent potential application of modified concrete mix in structures that absorb large amounts of energy. On the contrary, the density, air content and workability of the mixtures fabricated were not significantly affected

Perceptions of Altered Smile Esthetics: A Comparative Evaluation in Orthodontists, Dentists, and Laypersons

Objective. The current investigation was proposed to determine the impression of trained dental professionals and laypeople towards the modified smile esthetics. Materials and Methods. Twenty-six images were randomized in a survey and graded according to attractiveness by the orthodontists, general dentists, and laypeople. Photographs of gingival display, midline diastema, central incisor crown length, and lateral incisor crown width were manipulated with five minor changes in each. For smile arc and buccal corridor, two major changes were incorporated besides the ideal photograph. One-way ANOVA and Post Hoc analysis of the responses were measured for each group. Results. Most evaluators opined that the ideal smile in each category was the most acceptable. Orthodontists were more perceptive and exacting in accepting variations in the smile arc and buccal corridors. Dental professionals and laypeople indicated that either complete absence or a 0.5 mm of alterations in a gingival display, midline diastema, and crown length makes a smile beautiful and pleasant. Changes in crown width were not perceivable by all the three groups. Conclusion. Eastern Arabic laymen are more conscious about alterations in gingival display, midline diastema, and crown length in their smile. Hence, the orthodontist should pay attention to these factors during any orthodontic treatment

Cloud data security and various cryptographic algorithms

Cloud computing has spread widely among different organizations due to its advantages, such as cost reduction, resource pooling, broad network access, and ease of administration. It increases the abilities of physical resources by optimizing shared use. Clients’ valuable items (data and applications) are moved outside of regulatory supervision in a shared environment where many clients are grouped together. However, this process poses security concerns, such as sensitive information theft and personally identifiable data leakage. Many researchers have contributed to reducing the problem of data security in cloud computing by developing a variety of technologies to secure cloud data, including encryption. In this study, a set of encryption algorithms (advance encryption standard (AES), data encryption standard (DES), Blowfish, Rivest-Shamir-Adleman (RSA) encryption, and international data encryption algorithm (IDEA) was compared in terms of security, data encipherment capacity, memory usage, and encipherment time to determine the optimal algorithm for securing cloud information from hackers. Results show that RSA and IDEA are less secure than AES, Blowfish, and DES). The AES algorithm encrypts a huge amount of data, takes the least encipherment time, and is faster than other algorithms, and the Blowfish algorithm requires the least amount of memory space

Characterization of Enterobacter cloacae Strains Isolated from different areas of Basrah Hospital by Multilocus Sequence Typing Method(MLST)

In this study we used seven genes of multilocus sequence typing(MLST) to detect genetic diversity among nine isolates of Enterobacter. The results showed that the isolates identified into the species Enterobacter cloacae belong to different strains after sequenced and analyzed of seven MLST genes. the phylogenetic trees were drawn for each gene and for all genes based on neighbor-joining method after sequences alignment in Clustal W,whereas the trees divided into groups

Preliminary post findings in BPPV patients presenting with normal vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) gain and observable saccades using video head impulse test (vHIT)

Introduction: Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo (BPPV) is a common peripheral hypofunction reported in dizzy clinics and is mostly dependant on positional manoeuvres for diagnosis and intervention. Although video head impulse test (vHIT) is not warranted in BPPV cases however due to the subjectivity of patients’ reports, it is sometimes performed on patients to exclude potential vestibular ocular reflex (VOR) deficits. Objective: Observe differentiation patterns of VOR gain and possible corrective eye movements in patients with BPPV using vHIT. Method: Two male and five female participants with BPPV were tested using vHIT. Three patients out of the seven who were relieved from post Canalith Repositioning Procedure (CRP) were tested again with vHIT. Ten responses for each semicircular canal stimulation were recorded for every participant by making small unpredictable head movements. Results: VOR gain for all canal stimulations were found to be within the normal range. All participants showed consistent pre-treatment corrective saccadic eye movements with gain between 0.12 to 1.35 and latency of onset between 80 to 220 milliseconds after vHIT was initiated. All saccades were recorded in lateral canals only despite patients presenting with anterior or posterior canal BPPV. Post-treatment vHIT findings showed that the saccades have diminished for two participants while a participant showed reduced saccades. Conclusions: Rapid head thrusts could trigger VOR adjustments in patients with dislodged otoconia such in BPPV cases. Further investigation is necessary to validate the potential use of vHIT as a tool to supplement findings via manoeuvres especially to check the effectiveness of CRP