WHAT IS CYBERCRIME?

     Cybercrime is simply defined as crimes that are directly related to computers and internet networks. Computers, codes and software are weapons of the cybercriminals. Cybercriminals often commit crimes by targetting networks or devices. You might wonder  why computers are used for cybercrime. If criminals are capable of writing codes, they can readily access your identity data. So, why do people commit cybercrime? There are three reasons which are linked to attackers.

          The first group commits cybercrimes to make money in illegal ways. They access people’s bank accounts or credit card information. Then, they steal their money without touching it. So these criminals are motivated by money. The second group is motivated by protest, opinion and laws. This group includes hactivists. Their purpose is basically making a protest. The third group might surprise you because you might have trusted your government but governments commit cybercrime against their own citizens. For instance, when the Arap spring occured in April 2011,the government of Egyp spied on their own citizens. The government of Egyp secretly took all of the communication of citizens.

          On the other hand, why can't we realize cybercrimes? Cybercrimes are committed at most in a few seconds in the background of your computer. You can't notice it/ what is going on. The cybercriminals are very professional and organized and it isn't difficult for them to access your identity data. You might think about how they can do it easily. For example, if you went to a porn site, you were probably hacked. To put it simply, you can get infected this way. Cybercriminals design trojans for accessing and stealing your data. They distribute these malicious codes. These malicious codes can be in a photo which looks innocent. Therefore, you can't realize them. There are many ways to hack people. Also, cybercriminals might send a fake virus. After that, they say “let me scan your computer and clean these viruses”. If you except it, they send real viruses with your permission. Furthermore, cybercriminals are fed by dating sites because they can access your identity data from there. They can access your location because the photos contain GPS coordinates where the photos are taken.

          To sum up, security breaches, identity theft, bullying and phishing scams are types of cybercrime. We have to protect against  them. We must use a full-service internet security suite and strong passwords. You mustn't use the same password everywhere. You must change it regularly. Also, you must manage your social media settings. You must keep your personal and private information locked down. You can be protected in these ways.

Gökhan DEMİRÇİN 

          

GLOBAL POVERTY

There are many different countries all around the world. Some of them are richer and are called developed countries. Others are poorer. In the last century, global poverty has been spreading and the difference in quality of life between the richer half of the world and poorer countries has been increasing. There are obvious causes of this problem such as lack of food and water but there are also less obvious ones like climate change and conflict.

Climate change or global warming is a problem that some countries like to ignore. Trump has recently denied it exists. However, the world is warming up, ecosystems are being damaged and the balance of nature is being upset. One obvious outcome of global warming is erratic weather patterns. Floods wash away top soil and ruin crops. Hurricanes devastate towns. Desertification is also becoming a problem. In certain parts of Africa it hasn’t rained for months. Afghanistan is now a desert where even opium poppies no longer grow well. Under these conditions, poverty is a normal outcome, and there is no solution. The damage has been done. According to experts, we have reached the point of no return. In short, climate change is a major cause of global poverty.

The second major cause of global poverty in this century is conflict. The 21^st century is characterized by civil war and terrorism. The continuing civil war in Syria is a good example. There has been no production there for a long time. There has been no education either. This means the next generation will not be able to save the country either. The ongoing problem of terrorism in certain African countries and the rebellion in Yemen are two other examples of poverty caused by conflict. In Yemen, thousands are dying of starvation every day.  The infrastructure is ruined, schools are closed, production has stopped and the young population is ignorant. In such circumstances, poverty is unavoidable. In short, civil war negatively impacts countries for generations.

In conclusion, two major trends, climate change and conflict are making global poverty a more serious problem. The first is a long term situation. People should listen to experts and do everything they can to reverse the trend. The second is also a man made problem. Everything should be done to end civil wars so countries can start to rebuild themselves. In short, the solution is within our grasp.

THE EFFECTS OF ECONOMIC RECESSION

   Many developed and developing countries suffer from economic recessions. Economic recessions are a term of general economic decline. It is thought that economic recessions can occur due to many factors like high-interest rates and an increase in inflation for example. Economic recessions have various effects on business and society, and the impacts of a recession depend on how long it lasts and the depth of the fall in output.

  Initially, one of the important effects of economic recessions is unemployment. For example, many companies can dismiss some of the workers in order to reduce cost and combat the recession, and some firms go bankrupt, which causes all workers to lose their jobs. Therefore, the unemployment rate rises gradually. And this also affects families or individuals whose income is drastically reduced due to loss of employment and underemployment.

      Finally, economic recessions also have adverse impacts on society.

When people are out of work, they are unable to meet their needs, and this causes the pressure on demands for government-funded social services to increase. However, governments also experience drops in revenue collection during the recession; hence, it becomes difficult to meet the increased demands on social services. Furthermore, the social effect of the economic recession is family problems. With the loss of a job, many families experience many economic problems. For instance, they cannot defray the educational cost of their children, and their lifestyles change because of a lack of funds.

    To conclude, many countries are hit by economic recessions because of a more than normal drop in spending by both the private and public sectors. Economic recessions have negative impacts on every part of life. Accordingly, people and governments should take the necessary measures to escape from them.

HİLAL BAYIRLI

CRITICAL THINKING

The most important feature  of people is thinking and, without doubt, it  is an intellectually disciplined process for actively applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating information obtained or acquired through experience, reasoning or communication, of course if it done critically.People who think critically consistently attempt to live rationally, reasonably, empathically because they are aware of inherently flawed nature of human thinking  when left unchecked. Well, what is the significance of this thinking style that people use to take a stand towards their life? Even though there are several reasons why critical thinking is so important, independence and creativity are claimed to be the most important two.

To begin with, encouraging independence is known to be the primary reason why  critical thinking is so important. Learning to think critically teaches a person to be more independent. To illustrate, a person who does not rely on others, and  takes  full ownership of his strengths and weaknesses is truly independent. This helps people avoid mistakes, improving their judgmental and evaluation skills to a whole new level. Another point is that thinking with reason/ rationally and making logical justifications help reflect their own values and decisions in a good way. Critical thinking is considered as an important asset for one’s own well-being. In brief, critical thinking improves people’s independence and self-evaluation.

Furthermore, promoting creativity and innovation seems to be the second reason why  critical thinking is so important.Firstly,thanks to critical thinking, people might be out of the box and come up with new ideas that explore  altarnative options and they also find creative solutions. As opposed to narrow thinking, critical thinking frees the person's mind and motivates him to understand other situations around his.On the other hand,critical thinking keeps us up-to-date with our 21. century economy. As you already know, our economy today is based on information and technology. It is changing quickly and effectively. Analyzing information and solving problems systematically helps us adapt to this fast-changing workplace.Shortly,people who think critically are generally very close to invention or reform.

All in all, creativity and independence  are said to be the most common reasons why are critical thinking so important.So as explained, it is vital to possess good critical thinking skills full of reason and logic.

BURAK ÖZÇİFÇİ

Learn better, think smarter and aim higher!

MILAN VS. HONG KONG (A typical 60)

          Milan and Hong Kong are very different from each other. There are some differences between  these cities’ policies. Milan’s governors attach importance to nature, a healthy lifestyle, and ruralization; in contrast, people focus on industry and urbanization in Hong Kong. These cities’ appearances are quite different.

      Milan is the second biggest city in Italy. It is greener than many cities in the world. The main reason for this is that there is a conscious effort to make the city greener in Milan. Firstly, in Milan, if people build new buildings or structures, these structures contain plants or greenery, and they have rooftop gardens and innovative parks.Secondly, one of the good examples is the Trees Library in Milan. The Trees Library provides spectacular natural rooms of different coloured foliage for people. This is created for different purposes like sports or cultural events. Besides, there are communal vegetable and fruit beds in Milan. These are used at the nearby restaurants, and thanks to this implementation, people have a healthy diet.

    Hong Kong was an isolated fishing village in the past. It became a more developed city thanks to industrial activities. Many people immigrate to Hong Kong in order to work in new factories. Developing industry and the increase in the number  of factories caused a concentration of human population, and thanks to all of these, Hong Kong became a developed city. There is a major influx of vehicles and people, in spite of that, urban planning and traffic are  not  big problems in Hong Kong thanks to newer, more efficient, modern transport systems. Besides, Hong Kong is a hub of the hustle and bustle nowadays, and it provides an avid and colorful lifestyle for its own residents. The reason for this is that Hong Kong is a very crowded city, and millions of people visit this city for trade, travel or health opportunities every year. Due to all of these, Hong Kong became a large and lively city.

      Consequently, Milan and Hong Kong are big cities, but they are different from each other. They have different basic features and priorities. People are trying to implement  a more natural and healthier life in Milan; in contrast, industry and trade come to the forefront in Hong Kong.                                                                                          Nesibe Dilekçi

THE POISON OF OUR CENTURY: SUGAR​

                                                                                                         

  White sugar or granulated sugar is the crystallized sucrose(C6H22O11) made from sugarcane or sugar beets. Sugarcanes and sugar beets are grown in India and the Middle Eastern countries but today, most of the countries prefer to produce sugar from sugar beets because of economic conditions. Nowadays, we use granulated sugar in the food sector in substances such as pastries, baked goods, beverages and mostly in junk food. As a result of this large usage of sugar, we may consume it excessively without being aware.

   Sugar has some effects on our body which can be both beneficial and harmful. First of all, controlled consumption of sugar affects us in a good way. For instance, the best known type of sugar that we call glucose, tells your brain to produce insulin, which helps the body to regulate blood sugar and it also interacts with other hormones, to help you feel satiated. Therewithal, the sugar which comes from fruit can provide some of the energy we need to get in a day but on the other hand, extreme usage of sugar harms us more than we imagine. For instance, excessive sugar consumption is associated with heart diseases, pancreatic cancer, kidney problems, and insulin resistance.The most common result of excessive usage of sugar is obesity.Rates of obesity are rising worldwide, and added sugar is thought to be one of the main culprits.

    The main point that we should notice about the effect of sugar is in our brain. The brain uses more energy than any other organ in the human body and glucose provides this energy.  Does this mean an excessive amount of glucose provides more energy? The answer is no. When you eat something sweet, your brain gives a signal about what you eat into the cerebral cortex and if it is sweet, the signal activates the brain’s reward system.It has a similar effect to the effect of drugs. As a result of this warm fuzzy feeling, you want to eat again. This continuous desire may cause people to eat excessively. Consequently, over activating of the reward system kick-starts a series of unfortunate events such as loss of control, craving and increased tolerance for sugar.The reason for this continuous desire is dopamine. Dopamine is a hormone which is responsible for our happiness and sugar is the substance which causes our brain to secrete dopamine. So, it explains our continuous desire and why we consume sugary things when we are sad.

   Recent research demonstrates the harms of sugar. For instance, a high sugar diet can lead to chromium deficiency. Chromium, a trace mineral, helps regulate blood sugar in the body. It can be found in meats, seafood, and plant food but most of the people who live in developed countries still don't get enough chromium because of refining starches. Another harmful effect of sugar is related to stress; Sugar increases stress. When we are under stress, our bodies immediately kick into fight or flight mode, releasing large amounts of hormones. Surprisingly, the body has the same chemical response when blood sugar is low. After you eat something sweet, stress hormones begin to compensate for the crash by raising your blood sugar. As a result of this situation, unexplained anxiousness, a depressive mood and, irritability begin. The last example is about sugar’s effect on the cognition of children. Three years ago, New York Public Schools reduced the amount of sugar in their meals. Consequently, their academic ranking increased by 15.7%.It explains the effect of sugar on our mental health and the ability to think correctly.

    What will happen if we stop using white sugar?.Actually, this experiment has been tried by someone who consumes sugar continuously.At the end of the experiment, the results were discernible physically and mentally.The first discernible effect was in his appearance: he lost  weight in his waist area. The second biological effect was having less lubrication in organs;this prevents hepatic

disease.Therewithal,his blood pressure stays constant.As a result, his probability of having heart disease dropped to normal levels. Consequently, we can try to change our habits and diets to live in a healthy way.So, limiting our usage of sugar may lead to this as a fresh start.

                                         Sueda Dinç

SELFCOMPASSION

It is a fact that man is the smallest part of society and, compassion is  one of his most valuable features. Humanbeings show love, empathy, patience and understanding to their best friends and loved ones, but can they show the  same behaviour to themselves? Generally ,people  are the ones  who save the worst criticism for themselves. Over and above that,people repeatedly do this in their daily life and, they pretend to be their own worst enemy .When they make a mistake or struggle, they insult themselves and criticize themselves  and question themselves.These internal judgements hinder them from reaching their goals.Instead of mercilessly judging and criticizing themselves for various inadequacies or shortcomings, people can overcome this situation by showing compassion to themselves and it is called self-compassion.Self-compassion is described  as  having three elements and even though there are several benefits of it, motivation and less anxiety can be claimed to be the most important two.

To begin with,according to Doç. Dr. Kristin Neff who is a  psychology expert; self-kindness is the primary component of self-compassion. This factor involves loving ourselves rather than judging ourselves mercilessly. Moreover, she says that common humanity is the second component. When a person makes a mistake and feels separate from the rest of the world, he should remember that the common of feature of all people is making  mistakes. Another element is mindfulness, (which # is) a non-judgmental, receptive mind state in which one observes thoughts and feelings as they are, without trying to suppress or deny them. As a result, when they realize what they do to themselves with brutal criticism, they can give themselves the compassion that they need.

Furthermore ,motivation is the physiological effect of self-compassion. When people criticize themselves, the body activates the system of self-defense. This system has developed for threats targeting people’s body. But in modern times, the threat is generally not the body, but the perception of self. Thus, when they do not like themselves, they  threaten themselves. Ultimately, they attack the problem, so they attack themselves. In addition, when people criticize themselves, the problem is doubled because they are both aggressive and attacked at the same time. If people are constantly self-critical, they have a constant high level of stress and, in the end, the  body closes  to protect itself and becomes too depressed to cope with all this stress. In this process, anxiety is inevitable.In brief(Briefly), the more compassionate you are towards  yourself, the more motivated you  become and, the less anxiety you have.

To sum up,the level of both motivation and anxiety are connected with mental health.And according to experts,especially Kristin Neff, self-compassion, which ismade up of three components, is likely to be  a drug for mental health.I think , we do not need to feel special and above average, we must just get rid of social assessment dynamics and we must never forget that we are human.                                                                       

. BURAK ÖZÇİFÇİ