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TOPIC SENTENCE

Article 1:

Title Rising Wave Of Juvenile Crime

Author AUDREY VIJAINDREN
Source https://www.nst.com.my/news/2015/09/rising-wave-juvenile-crime
Date December 14, 2014 @ 8:10am
Published

WHILE most of their peers are cramming for exams and juggling after-school
activities, a growing group of youngsters are turning to the world of crime. Although
peer pressure, violent dramas, movies and video games have been blamed for this rise,
parents and guardians may play a bigger role than they realise.

Crime statistics recorded 1,632 cases last year involving students below 18, of
which 542 cases were crimes involving violence and 1,090 were property crimes.
For non-students, 6,184 cases were recorded. For the first six months of this year,
statistics showed 1,240 cases involving students below 18, of which 495 cases were
crimes involving violence and 745 were property crimes. For non-students, 5,338 cases
have been recorded.

In both years, the highest number arrested were those between 16 and 18.

Violent crimes are offences such as murder, rape, gang robbery without firearms,
robbery without firearms, and causing harm. Property crimes involve theft of cars,
motorcycles, vans, snatch-thefts and house break-ins.

Suriana Welfare Society for Children chairman James Nayagam

said children would often imitate their parents and this played a huge role in the choices
they made later on.

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“The home is where it all begins. At home, it’s a matter of close supervision and
monitoring what children see and do. Lack of this will result in children picking up
unhealthy practices and habits that will direct their thoughts and actions.

“Children and teenagers need attention. Teenagers, in particular, are exploring their
identities and testing how to fit into the world of adults. Social connection and acceptance
is important. “When children and teenagers feel inadequate, isolated, rejected or
misunderstood, they make efforts to obtain that acceptance and love. Crime is one way
of getting that attention.

“Crime is an extreme form of exploration, where most teenagers have learnt that
laws are in place for protection and safety; these youngsters have no regard for
them. A disregard for these shows high-risk taking and possibly a sense of reckless
abandon.”

She said it was important to understand how and why an adolescent had reached this
stage of abandonment and disregard.

“Have they lost hope in people, in their own capabilities, or are they apathetic to the harm
they cause themselves and others?” Malaysia Crime Prevention Foundation vice-
chairman Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye said poor influence and lack of good role models were
strong contributors to the rise in crime among youth.

“Problematic youngsters are a bad influence on innocent youth. Inadequate parental

guidance to educate children on the right path and the negative influence of television
programmes, which depict violence and hatred, are all to blame for this worrying upward
trend.

“There is insufficient inculcation of noble values to enable our

youth to make right and proper decisions.” Lee said with the availability of technology
and social media, the ease in which one could commit a crime is also to blame for this
upward trend among youth.

“Social media is the easiest and most convenient method to communicate and stay
connected. “However, such communication also makes one vulnerable. We now have

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an open sky and a borderless world. Information, positive and negative, is obtained
through social media. Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are popular social media sites.

“Facebook is one example where criminals can access personal details, such as
name, phone number, email address and home address. This data can be used by
hackers and cyber criminals to gain access to users’ bank accounts. This crucial
information can also lead to kidnapping,” Lee said.

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Article 2:

Title Poor Sleep Causes Memory Loss And Forgetfulness

Author Joseph Nordqvist
Source http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/255511.php
Date January 28, 2013
Published
Citation Nordqvist, J. (2013, January 28). Poor Sleep Causes Memory Loss
And Forgetfulness. Retrieved from
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/255511.php

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Poor quality sleep among the elderly can cause significant memory loss and brain
deterioration, according to a recent study by researchers at the University of California,
Berkeley. The study is the first of its kind to confirm the link between poor sleep and
memory loss.

The researchers found that during sleep important brain waves are produced which play
a vital role in storing memories. The brain waves transfer memories from a part of the
brain called the hippocampus to the prefrontal cortex, a part of the brain where long term
memories are stored.

Poor quality sleep in adults causes memories to stay stuck in the hippocampus
and not reach the prefrontal cortex. This results in forgetfulness and difficulty
remembering names.

According to UC Berkeley sleep researcher Matthew Walker, an associate professor of

psychology and neuroscience:

"What we have discovered is a dysfunctional pathway that helps explain the relationship
between brain deterioration, sleep disruption and memory loss as we get older and with
that, a potentially new treatment avenue."

He added:

"When we are young, we have deep sleep that helps the brain store and retain new facts
and information," Walker said. "But as we get older, the quality of our sleep deteriorates
and prevents those memories from being saved by the brain at night."

In non rapid-eye movement sleep, the brain produces waves from the middle frontal lobe,
as this part of the brain deteriorates - which commonly happens among elderly - it
undermines the ability to enter deep sleep, which is crucial for storing memories.

The finding is very promising for the future and development of treatments for memory
loss among the elderly. A previous German study was able to effectively enhance deep
sleep in adults using electrical stimulation, the improved sleep greatly helped with
overnight memory.

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The researchers are planning on conducting a further study to see if there is a way of
enhancing sleep among the elderly which would allow proper storage of memories and
reduce overall forgetfulness.

Lead author of this study Bryce Mander, a postdoctoral fellow in psychology at UC

Berkeley, said: "Can you jumpstart slow wave sleep and help people remember their lives
and memories better? It's an exciting possibility." Poor sleep among elderly causes
impaired memory

The study involved assessing the memory after sleeping of 18 young adults in their 20s
and 15 older adults in their 70s. The subjects were tested on 120 word sets before they
went to bed and a electroencephalographic (EEG) machine monitored their brain activity
while they were asleep. When they woke up they were tested once again on the word
pairs, however this time they took the tests while undergoing functional and structural
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) scans.

The quality of deep sleep among the older adults was 75 percent lower than the
younger ones, and as a result their memory was significantly worse the next day -
55 percent worse. They found evidence to suggest that deterioration of the frontal lobe
is linked with impaired wave activity.

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Article 3:

Title True Friendship

Author Aditi Chopra
Source http://www.importantindia.com/15481/essay-on-true-friendship/
Date May 27, 2015
Published
Citation Chopra, A. (2015, May 27). True Friendship. Retrieved from
http://www.importantindia.com/15481/essay-on-true-friendship/

True Friendship is one of the great virtues that sustain life. It has been said that a
true friend is a friend indeed. There are so many false friends that it is difficult to
distinguish between the two types.

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A true friend is one who never deserts you. He sticks to all the time whether it is the
time of happiness or sorrow. He is an inseparable companion even in the midst of great
distress, in poverty and in other forms of misfortune.

False friends are fair weather companions. They always knock at your door when you
are rich or affluent and have enough and to spare. They are with our intimates of good
fortune marked by plentifulness and prosperity and desert in rough weather. True friends,
like books, stay with you till the end of your life.

Choice of a true friend

It is difficult to have a choice of a true friend. There are so many evil forces working
in our society that one may easily fall prey to evil company and get spoiled. A true friend
gives a direction, works like a beacon-light to move on the right path. The company you
keep, the people you move with, knows you.

Therefore, it is necessary to judge people correctly. True friendship is marked by a sense

of honesty and unselfishness. A true friend is one who is prepared even to sacrifice his
life for the sake of his friend and prepared to meet all kinds of dangers and difficulties.
There should be no disbelief, no suspicion in friendship.

Importance of True Friends

With great efforts you may succeed in getting a true friend to make him a lifelong
companion. But it is very difficult to maintain friendship. What is necessary is
patience, a sense of tolerance. You may not love someone and agree with him in all
respects but can certainly afford to tolerate him.

The things which form the basis of true friendship are, mutual trust and togetherness so
that you forget your mutual otherness and come closer together, love from the deep
hearts core, understanding and appreciation of each other’s views., fellow-feeling,
sympathy, broad-mindedness, service and sacrifice. It is always difficult to cultivate these
virtues but for keeping up friendship in the true sense of the term, it is desirable.

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Falsehood is such an attractive garb from outside that it is not always possible to know
its true nature. Appearance is not always the reality. All that glitters is not gold. One
cannot know the inside of somebody looking from outside.

Most people are selfish by nature and tend to deceive others to achieve their objective,
and gratify their self-interest. It is necessary to guard against such persons and know who
are true and who are false. A true friend works life God’s good angel and means good
only. He makes a leap forward to come to your rescue even at the cost of his own life.

Conclusion

A man should have a humanistic approach to life. He should try to be a friend to all
and enemy of none. Friendship is a divine thing on earth that is nourishing and life-giving.
It lifts you above smallness, pettiness and narrow, selfish considerations to realize the
true meaning of life in togetherness.

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