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"Growth hacking" is a buzz word we've all heard (regularly used by marketers) that is focused around enhancing efficiency and productivity to fuel growth. However, it's not recently the <keyword id="6354839" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="marketing">marketing</keyword> team that can benefit from growth hacking. Your <keyword id="6357824" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="sales">sales</keyword> team can and should take some of their techniques to accelerate the sales cycle and close more deals. 
 
Referral System 
 
What's the best source of advertising? Word of mouth. It's free, and individuals believe their friends more than a corporate message, regardless of how down to earth you might be. 
 
A referral system boosts word of mouth advertising. It's also extraordinarily easy to set up. All you need to do is come up with rewards and advertise the way that you have them. 
 
Upsell 
 
The art of the upsell is the art of getting a customer to buy more than they had the intention of buying. Amazon is a great case of this with their basic "customers also purchased" menu. The idea is to recommend to users that they buy something that compliments what they're already buying. 
 
Follow up 
 
Hubspot has an amazing free tool call Sidekick which permits you to see when someone's read one of your emails. This is great for sales, following up, and only for general interest. There are many tools like this one in the market. 
 
While a few sales reps have been hesitant to grasp new technologies and social selling, the platforms available today are amazingly easy to use. These strategies simply skim the surface of growth hacking for sales and set you up to see the value of sales automation

Shout out to sales teams! You can increase your leads in
just 3 ways. Here’s how

<ul><li><keyword id="1912963" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Wipro-share-price">Wipro share price</keyword> has jumped by 16% on Wednesday morning after the Indian IT services giants announced its Q1 results on Tuesday. </li><li>Piggybacking on Wipro’s surge, <keyword id="620690" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Infosys-share-price">Infosys share price</keyword> is also up by 8%. </li><li>Analysts expect the impact of the coronavirus impact on Infosys — which is set to announce its results today evening, July 15 — to be less than its peers. </li></ul>Wipro’s share price is up by over 16% after the company announced its first-quarter results yesterday. Building on that momentum, Infosys share price — who is set to announce its Q1FY21 results after the stock market closes today — is surging by 8%. <div type="image" title="wipro share price (1)" msid="76974011" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Wipro share price over the past month&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> <div type="image" title="infosys share price (4)" msid="76974001" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Infosys share price over the past month&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> Wipro’s gross revenue was down 5.1% this quarter as compared the previous quarter, and most of it came from the drop in revenue from IT services which fell by 7.3% quarter on quarter (QoQ). <div type="image" title="Wipro revenue" msid="76973854" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Wipro&amp;#39;s gross revenue and growth trajectory over the last five quarters&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> However, it announced that it onboarded 7,000 new employees in the last three months, with plans to continue lateral hiring in the second quarter of 2020-21. Infosys to announce Q1 results on Wednesday After the results of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Wipro, Infosys is set to announce its first-quarter results on Wednesday evening, July 15. Analysts expect Infosys to be less impacted than its peers. All eyes will be on new large deals that the Indian IT services giant was able to bring in over the next three months as well as the impact across different segments. The manufacturing and auto vertices are likely to see continued pressure. Piggybacking on Wipro’s jump in share price, the Infosys stock is also rising as investors expect the company’s results to be better than its counterparts. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/careers/news/tcs-hiring-again-with-5-employees-to-return-to-offices/articleshow/76887172.cms">TCS to kickstart lateral hiring and bring back 5% of its employees to offices</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/wipro-q1-earnings-preview-growth-revenue-margins-theirry-delaporte/articleshow/76951601.cms">A new CEO, Brexit and supply-side exposure may leave Wipro’s Q1 earnings more dented than others</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/infosys-earnings-what-to-expect-and-comparison-with-tcs/articleshow/76952717.cms">The key thing to watch out for during Infosys earnings will be the size of the new deals</a>

Wipro share price 16% increase leads to surge in Infosys share price too

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">Mike Segar/ReutersDonald Trump</div></div></div>Donald Trump's lead in deep-red Texas is shrinking.So much so, that a poll released Thursday showed Hillary Clinton within the margin of error, trailing Trump by just 4 points.The poll, <a href="http://www.wfaa.com/news/local/texas-news/new-poll-trump-lead-shrinks-in-texas-within-margin-of-error/335896258" target="_blank">from the WFAA-TV and Texas TEGNA television stations</a>, came after perhaps Trump's most damaging week of the campaign. It showed Trump up on Clinton 47% to 43% in the Lone Star state, with a margin of error of 4 percentage points."I think to put these numbers in context - it shows that Trump's position has eroded a little bit," said Matthew Wilson, associate professor of political science at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.He added: "His lead is down to four percentage points according to this poll, but even in the wake of some really terrible news for him, he still leads in Texas, which shows what a tough nut Texas is to crack for Democratic candidates right now."2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney won Texas by 16 points, 2008 GOP nominee John McCain carried it by 13 points, and former President George W. Bush carried his home state by 23 points in 2004 and 22 points in 2000. Texas has not turned blue since 1976.The survey comes amid a tumultuous turn in the polls for Trump in the aftermath of a leaked 2005 video showing him making lewd comments about women and several women publicly <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-sexual-misconduct-allegations-nyt-times-2016-10" target="_blank">accusing the Republican nominee of sexual misconduct</a>.Business Insider's <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/electoral-map-clinton-trump-2016-10" target="_blank">latest Electoral College projection shows</a> Clinton on track to pick up 316 electoral votes, based on her current polling leads in battleground states. The current RealClearPolitics national polling average put Clinton up 5.3 points in a four-way race that includes Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson and Green Party nominee Jill Stein. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-president-billionaire-income-election-2016-9">David Cay Johnston: 'There's no evidence Donald Trump is a billionaire'</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="N0OTh4NTE6799f6jy6lWkhUfKg9iB76R" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

Donald Trump has an increasingly shrinking lead in deep-red Texas

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image">SurrogatesA poster for the movie 'Surrogates'</div></div></div><a href="http://philosophicaldisquisitions.blogspot.com/">John Danaher, a Keele University law school lecturer</a> with an interest in the ways human life may be enhanced by robots and the ethics problems that stem from that, <a href="https://www.academia.edu/6336622/Sex_Work_Technological_Unemployment_and_the_Basic_Income_Guarantee">published a paper</a> that examines whether sex work might one day be dominated by robots rather than human sex workers.
He also offers <a href="http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/danaher20140418">this</a> easily understood summary of it for the Institute for Ethics &amp; Emerging Technologies.
The paper lays out two contrasting hypotheses: one in which robots dominate the sex industry; and another in which robot use actually leads to an increase in human sex work.
In both scenarios, Danaher argues, a "basic income" policy would be helpful - either to fund newly unemployed prostitutes or to provide an alternative to people who have lost their jobs to robots so they don't end up as prostitutes. "Basic income" is an idea that economists have toyed with for years. It's the notion that the majority of government welfare payments ought to be abolished in favor of a single, unconditional cash payment that everyone gets regardless of their employment status.
So, yes, he's literally arguing that in the future, sex robots may finally make the case for a basic income scheme:
<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="Google+" title_caption="John Danaher" class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/53553c306bb3f74b5ba35744-960/photo on 2011-06-16 at 12.45 #4.jpg"></a><a href="https://plus.google.com/112656369144630104923/photos/photo/5628083821400373858">Google+</a>John Danaher</div></div></div>The displacement hypothesis says sex robots will eventually push human sex workers out of a job. It's served by two other ideas called "the transference thesis" and "the advantages thesis." The transference thesis argues that people will successfully be able to project their sexual desires onto robots, or as Danaher puts it, "the fact that there is demand for the former suggests that there will also be demand for the latter."
The second leg of the displacement hypothesis - the advantages thesis - simply suggests that robots designed for sex work will have advantages over human sex workers. For example, sex robot manufacture is legal in many countries where prostitution is illegal. There are also ethics and health advantages, as sex trafficking and objectification need not be a concern for robots. And as long as sanitation is maintained, STDs would largely not be a concern.
In this scenario, human sex workers - already often the victims of economic dislocation - face mass unemployment. Thus the need for a basic income policy.
The resiliency hypothesis represents the other side of this coin, arguing that human prostitutes are here to stay, regardless of the existence of sex robots. It's similarly built upon two theses - the "human preference thesis" and "increased supply thesis." Human preference posits that when we're given the choice, humans will overwhelmingly prefer a human-on-human encounter to one with a robot. Danaher's theory is that it's our "ontological histories" - our inner life and experiences - that make us interested in each other for all reasons, sexual and otherwise. Robots lack this and this simply might be a turn-off/dealbreaker for us.
The increased supply thesis somewhat humorously suggests that there will be a spike in human prostitution because robots will edge people out of otherwise conventional jobs and force them to seek new employment. When people look for new jobs, Danaher writes, they "are likely to be attracted to forms of employment: (i) in which there is a preference for human labour over robotic labour; (ii) with low barriers to entry; and (iii) which are comparatively well-paid" and that "prostitution satisfies all three of these conditions."
In this scenario, assuming that society will still regard sex work as a bad thing, a basic income would prevent dislocated workers from falling into prostution.
It bears mentioning that various sex robots <a href="http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/real-sex-virtual-reality-oculus-rift-tenga">already</a> <a href="http://www.ibtimes.com/sex-robots-4-you-can-buy-today-555157">exist</a> <a href="http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/164837-the-most-sophisticated-sex-robot-today-is-a-product-of-healthcare">today</a> (all links SFW) but none of them have gone into widespread use.

This Law School Professor Believes Robots May Lead To An Increase In Prostitution

Increasing GST on <keyword id="6354485" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Mobile">mobile</keyword> phones to 18 per cent from 12 per cent at the time of economic slowdown coupled with <keyword id="1754604" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="coronavirus">coronavirus</keyword> outbreak will derail the <keyword id="6354887" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Industry">industry</keyword> and lead to job losses, industry body ICEA said on Sunday. The <keyword id="7825659" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="India-Cellular-and-Electronics-Association">India Cellular and Electronics Association</keyword> said the decision will put a burden of Rs 15,000 crore on common man and adversely impact over 100 crore Indian consumers. "When coronavirus is spreading panic, economic slowdown is at its peak, consumer sentiment is battered and stock markets are in free-fall, increasing GST is both counter-intuitive and insensitive. This will lead to immediate job losses and severely dampen future investments in manufacturing," ICEA Chairman Pankaj Mohindroo said in a statement. He said that till June 2017 consumers were paying 4-5 per cent value added tax and 1 per cent on excise duty and later they were burdened with 12 per cent GST which has been further increased to 18 per cent. "The 18 per cent GST hike will also bring back the bad old days of early 2000s when the grey market in mobile phones was rampant at 90 per cent. It reverses years of painstaking efforts by governments and industry to increase mobile manufacturing and penetration by sensible policy interventions and tax rationalisation," Mohindroo said. He said this move will also prove to be disastrous for the already fragile retailer community wherein lakhs of small and mid-sized retailers survive by selling mobile phones. A top official of the country's leading smartphone seller Xiaomi had said on Saturday that smartphone makers will be forced to increase handset prices with this hike in GST. "As a result of this GST increase, all smartphone makers will be forced to increase prices. This can weaken the demand and mobile industry's Make in India programme. This could also have long lasting impact on internet penetration and digital India program as majority of Indians access the internet on smartphones," Xiaomi India Managing Director Manu Jain said. ICEA said that the GST hike is contrary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision to make India the world leader in mobile phone manufacturing. Mohindroo said that with hike in GST, it will be difficult to achieve even half the target of USD 80 billion domestic production of mobile phones in the country by 2025 set under National Policy on Electronics 2019. Mobile manufacturing production in the country increased five-folds and revenues 10-folds from 58 million units valued at Rs 18,900 crore in 2014-15 to 290 million units valued at Rs 1,81,200 crore in 2018-19. "The government revenues post GST had doubled from Rs 10,900 crore to Rs 20,700 crore within two years. To strike the sector with a higher GST at this stage is the equivalent of killing the goose that lays the golden egg. Not a savvy move by any stretch," Mohindroo said. PRS MRMR

Increased GST on mobile phones will lead to job losses says industry body

<ul><li>A substantial 71% of professionals indicate their willingness to learn more about AI, even if they are uncertain about where to begin. </li><li>Over half of India's <keyword id="52626" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="workforce" source="Orion">workforce</keyword> believes that AI can simplify their tasks, leading to increased job satisfaction. </li><li>Regarding how AI will benefit their careers, 57% of professionals anticipate increased confidence through faster access to knowledge. </li></ul>Somewhere we always knew that <keyword id="107950" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="artificial-intelligence" source="Orion">artificial intelligence</keyword> (AI) would change the way we work, but after the <keyword id="15681942" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="chatgpt" source="Orion">ChatGPT</keyword> era dawned on us, we are sure that it will. While there are concerns that AI will take away our <keyword id="11018" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="jobs" source="Orion">jobs</keyword>, like any other new technology, what we make of it lies on us. Despite causing some uncertainty, with 60% of professionals feeling overwhelmed and 39% expressing concerns about keeping pace with the rapid advancements of AI in the workplace, the majority of Indian professionals are enthusiastic about embracing this transition. A <keyword id="28120" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="linkedin" source="Orion">Linkedin</keyword> survey shows that a substantial 71% of professionals indicate their willingness to learn more about AI, even if they are uncertain about where to begin, according to a research by professional network LinkedIn. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="AI likely to increase job satisfaction" comment="Subhead" text="AI likely to increase job satisfaction">AI likely to increase job satisfaction</cmsannotation> Professionals in India are optimistic that AI can alleviate the mundane aspects of their daily work, potentially enhancing job satisfaction and overall quality of life. Over half of India's workforce (55%) believes that AI can simplify their tasks, leading to increased job satisfaction, and a significant majority (74%) anticipates improved work-life balance. Additionally, professionals express a desire to utilise their newfound free time to bolster their professional networks (45%) and acquire new job-related skills (48%). <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="AI to compliment soft skills at work" comment="Subhead" text="AI to compliment soft skills at work">AI to compliment soft skills at work</cmsannotation> Professionals also believe that AI will not only enhance their access to essential knowledge and skills for their work but also highlight the invaluable nature of their human skills in terms of career progression. They anticipate that skills such as problem-solving (77%), communication (76%), and creativity (76%) will gain increased significance as AI tools become more prevalent in the workplace. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="The potential of AI to transform careers" comment="Subhead" text="The potential of AI to transform careers">The potential of AI to transform careers</cmsannotation> Indian professionals exhibit strong optimism about AI's potential to positively transform their careers. A significant majority, 98%, express excitement about using AI at work, and 97% believe it will contribute to their career advancement. LinkedIn data reflects a substantial 21-fold global increase in English-language job listings mentioning emerging generative AI technologies like ChatGPT, highlighting AI's significance for career development. Regarding how AI will benefit their careers, 57% of professionals anticipate increased confidence through faster access to knowledge, while 43% expect quicker promotions as AI allows them to focus on higher-value tasks. Many also foresee enhanced productivity, with 79% planning to use AI to solve work-related challenges, 75% seeking answers to questions they may be hesitant to ask colleagues, and 74% expecting AI to handle tedious tasks, allowing them to concentrate on more engaging work. Over 75% of professionals intend to use AI for career guidance and progression. <cmsannotation type="cmsannotation" annotationid="Stay ahead of the curve" comment="subhead" text="Stay ahead of the curve">Stay ahead of the curve</cmsannotation> LinkedIn’s career expert Nirajita Banerjee shares some advice to embrace AI as a part of your work life. “In navigating the evolving landscape of AI, it's essential to connect with experts and tap into your professional network.” It is also important to emphasise the significance of honing your soft skills, as AI-driven shifts in job requirements are accelerating. Valuable skills to cultivate include problem-solving, communication, and creativity. Finally, one should embrace any apprehensions about AI, recognising that change is gradual, and actively participate in its evolution rather than merely being impacted by it. It is aso essential that you grow your AI skills to stay ahead of the curve.

Indian professionals feel that AI can simplify their lives and lead to increased job satisfaction

<ul><li>The Indian government’s new IT rules for over-the-top (OTT) platforms ask for a three-tier grievance system and content classification.</li><li>While this may create a forum where users can air their complaints, it could also result in an uptake of content related disputes in India.</li><li>The likes of <keyword id="2739840" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Hotstar">Hotstar</keyword>, <keyword id="128682" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Netflix">Netflix</keyword>, <keyword id="2976376" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Amazon-Prime-Video">Amazon Prime Video</keyword> and others will have to steer around India’s diverse sensibilities, cultures and beliefs.</li></ul>Until now content on OTT platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hotstar and others were <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/policy/news/self-regulation-code-adopted-by-disney-hotstar-amazon-prime-and-other-ott-platforms-what-is-this-code/articleshow/78009955.cms">largely unregulated</a>, allowing them to cater to varied sensibilities. However, content on OTT platforms has also <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/entertainment/news/tandav-controversy-fir-filed-against-the-shows-director-and-amazon-india-head-of-content-in-up/articleshow/80329036.cms">courted controversy</a> time and again. Significant compliances have been introduced for OTT platforms such as certification of films and web-series, and parental locks. A 3-tier grievance redressal mechanism has been prescribed for OTT platforms as well as news portals. This might eventually lead to a substantial increase in content related disputes in India. The three levels of addressing complaints OTT platforms and news portals will have to formulate a robust three-tier grievance redressal mechanism. The rules provide for two levels of self regulation. First, self-regulation by the platform through a grievance redressal officer and, second, by an institutional self-regulatory body comprising industry experts and headed by a retired Supreme Court or High Court judge or other independent eminent personality in the relevant field. This is followed by the third level of oversight through an interdepartmental committee constituted by the government. This committee will hear appeals arising out of decisions taken at level two, and if a complaint is referred to the committee by the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/ott-platforms-hotstar-netflix-and-even-news-content-providers-will-now-be-regulated-by-the-ib-ministry/articleshow/79166864.cms">Ministry of Information and Broadcast</a> (MIB). The maze of India's many moods While an institutional self-regulation mechanism may enable citizens to have their concerns heard through a formal process within definite time frames; the oversight mechanism by the government certainly tightens the government’s grip on the overall operations of OTT platforms. A big challenge for OTT platforms, while dealing with complaints, will be to steer around diverse sensibilities, cultures and beliefs of the Indian audience and their <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/netflix-is-pushing-back-against-a-legal-petition-seeking-the-removal-of-an-unflattering-reference-to-an-assassinated-indian-prime-minister-in-sacred-games-its-first-indian-original-series/articleshow/65327640.cms">demands for different genres of content. </a> It is also essential to not overlook the fact that content curation of OTT players offer ‘video-on-demand’ services, and curate content based on demands of viewers, often analysed basis viewership data and trends. While a certain type of content is perceived as offensive by a certain section of public, it is popular amongst another. It is unclear as to how OTT platforms are expected to practically redress grievances from different users. Content Classification OTT platforms are required to classify all films, web- series or other shows, based on: <ul><li>age of viewers themes and messages</li><li>violence, nudity, sex, language, substance abuse, horror, content, tone and impact target audience</li><li>implement parental controls</li></ul><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/policy/news/netflix-amazon-disney-hotstar-will-now-have-to-classify-their-content-according-to-age-in-india/articleshow/81209677.cms">Ratings under the Rules</a> – U/A, U/A 7+, U/A 13+, U/A 16+ are similar to the age sensitive categorisations proposed by IAMAI (Internet and Mobile Association of India) under its self - regulatory code issued last year. *Tanu Banerjee is a partner, Ishan Johri is a senior associate and Garima Kedia is an associate at law firm Khaitan &amp; Co. Views expressed here are personal. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/apps/news/whatsapp-signal-and-telegram-face-a-catch-22-situation-as-indias-new-social-media-rules-threaten-encryption/articleshow/81221070.cms">Whatsapp, Signal and Telegram face a catch-22 situation as India’s new social media rules threaten encryption</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/facebook-and-twitter-have-a-ton-of-new-rules-to-abide-by-in-india-whatsapp-may-find-itself-in-the-toughest-spot-of-all/articleshow/81208643.cms">Facebook and Twitter have a ton of new rules to abide by in India ⁠— WhatsApp may find itself in the toughest spot of all</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/indian-government-assumes-the-right-to-block-digital-news-content-along-with-a-new-set-of-regulations/articleshow/81209053.cms">Indian government assumes the right to block digital news content along with a new set of regulations</a>

India’s new rules for OTT platforms could lead an increase in content-related disputes

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The pandemic has forced some students to work to help their families financially.</li><li>Many have also been out of in-person school and instead are learning remotely online. </li><li>The lack of in-person learning added to the stress of having to work to support your family could mean more students drop out.</li></ul>The challenges of remote classes, and the pressure to work and financially help their families, are pushing some students to drop out of school. Since the pandemic began, more than <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-weekly-jobless-claims-965000-coronavirus-recession-recovery-unemployment-benefits-2021-1">74 million Americans have filed for unemployment benefits</a>, and in some families, children have taken on the burden of supporting their relatives. Students as young as 14 years old are requesting work permits so they can help their families during the pandemic, the <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-02-05/la-students-take-on-jobs-help-families-amid-covid-19">Los Angeles Times</a> reported. Counselors told the Times that many students who had previously had high GPAs are now seeing their grades drop as they attempt to balance work and school. Some students find it so difficult to manage their responsibilities that they have dropped out or are considering dropping out. The <a href="https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/unicef-executive-director-henrietta-fores-remarks-press-conference-new-updated">United Nations Children's Fund</a> estimates that 24 million students worldwide could drop out as a result of the pandemic, especially as schools continue to teach online. "The longer children remain out of school, the less likely they are to return," Henrietta Fore, executive director of the UNCF, said. Ford also said that lack of online learning resources in many places means that some students have no choice but to stop going to school. Lack of in-person schooling, she added, exposes children to risks like child labor and sexual abuse. Drop-out rates in the US have steadily decreased in recent years - from 9.7% in 2006 to 5.3&amp; in 2018 - according to data from <a href="https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=16">National Center for Education Statistics</a>. Statistics for the last two years are not yet available. However, the lack of in-person learning, coupled with the pressures for some to financially assist their families, could mean the dropout rate goes up. In November of last year, <a href="https://kvoa.com/news/2020/11/24/student-dropout-rate-goes-up-amid-covid-19-pandemic/">KVOA</a> reported that in Southern Arizona, school districts reported a rise in students dropping out or just not showing up in classes. Debbie Ferryman, the director of the Dropout Prevention Program for the Tucson Unified School District, told the outlet that she regularly knocks on the doors of about 30 to 40 families whose students have been missing and the schools haven't heard from the families. Read also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-white-house-staff-aides-guide-2021-1">The ultimate guide to Joe Biden's White House staff</a>In the Philadelphia metro area, 1% of all essential jobs were held by 14 to 18-year-olds. That age group also represents 8% of people employed in the grocery sector, <a href="https://whyy.org/articles/teens-as-essential-workers-how-high-schoolers-stepped-up-for-family-during-covid-19/">WHYY</a> reported in June. Gloria Lumbrano-Torres, an 18-year-old senior at Norristown Area High School in Pennsylvania, told WHYY she started working six days a week to help support her family after her aunt lost her job and was ineligible for unemployment. "At one time, I was the only one working at my house," Lumbrano-Torres told WHYY. "I would stay up at night to do my [school] work…I would try and do it on my own, or just rush it, or try and get answers from my friends. It [was] hard.""My head was not in school most of the time," she continued. "I feel like I was thinking more about that situation than school. I just felt lost."

Students are struggling to manage remote learning and work, which could lead to an increase in school dropouts

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">Shutterstock</div></div></div><ul><li>For a new study, researchers analyzed urine samples from nearly 100 teens in the Bay Area.</li><li>Those who vaped had significant levels of potentially hazardous chemicals in their urine.</li><li>The research builds on a set of new findings which together suggest that while vaping may be healthier than smoking, it comes with its own set of health risks.</li></ul> Vaping instead of smoking seems like an easy way to improve on a deadly habit. But the first good research on the fairly new practice, which involves inhaling heated vapor, is only now starting to emerge - and it suggests that although potentially safer than smoking, vaping isn't as benign as it might seem.In a new <a href="http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2018/03/01/peds.2017-3557">study published this week in the journal Pediatrics</a>, scientists at the University of California, San Francisco found increasing evidence that e-cigarettes expose users to significant levels of hazardous chemicals that are also found in manufacturing products like styrofoam or acids. To arrive at their conclusion, they studied the urine of nearly 100 teens in the Bay Area - some of whom vaped, others who vaped and smoked, and another group who didn't vape or smoke at all.The research jibes with <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/vaping-e-cig-health-effects-toxic-metals-lead-2018-2">another study from the same university</a> which found evidence of toxic metals like lead in the vapor of nearly 70 randomly sampled e-cigs. This study takes those findings a step further, discovering that not only are potential toxins present in the vapor of e-cigs; some of those toxins are also making their way into users' bodies.The scientists even found evidence of these toxins in the urine samples of teens who vaped using products without nicotine, suggesting that the problems do not stem from e-cigs' most addictive component but instead from the heating process inherent to any vape pen.<h2>What's inside your vape pen</h2>Most e-cigs or vape pens rely on a fairly simple technology that heats a liquid and spits out a vapor that is inhaled or "vaped." But the devices can vary in many ways - something that makes them notoriously difficult to study since researchers have to find a way to account for all of the different variables that users might be tweaking.One of the strengths of <a href="http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2018/03/01/peds.2017-3557">the latest study</a> is that instead of looking at one particular type of vape pen, the researchers simply looked at regular vapers - regardless of the type of device they were using.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image">Eduardo Munoz/Reuters</div></div></div>In most e-cigs, the e-liquid that's used to fill the devices is usually comprised of four main ingredients: nicotine, a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/most-addictive-drugs-ranked-2016-10">highly addictive</a> stimulant drug; propylene glycol, a preservative found in ice cream and coffee-based drink; glycerine, a widely used liquid sweetener; and flavorings. (These ingredients differ a bit from those used in marijuana vape pens, where a host of unregulated ingredients may be used to dilute cannabis oil.)Some e-cigs are customizable, allowing users to change everything from the amount of nicotine in the e-liquid to the temperature at which it is heated.Other vape pens come in a simple, ready-to-use format, where most of the technology is hidden inside the device. Users can't customize these devices; they're typically geared toward beginners and some are made so they can be thrown away once their e-liquid runs out.For the latest study, the researchers didn't specify what type of e-cig users were vaping. But they did ask users whether or not their devices included nicotine - and some vapers were using flavored e-liquid that had either very low levels of nicotine or none at all.<h2>The evidence of toxic metals in e-cigs is growing, and it includes some of the same compounds found in regular cigarettes</h2>Despite the fact that vaping is often advertised as a potential tool to help adults quit smoking, it appears that <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/juul-e-cigarettes-are-taking-over-high-schools-2018-3">young people are illegally taking up the habit</a> as well.That concerns researchers who study the devices and find that they come with their own set of risks, all of which are sharply elevated for young people whose bodies are still developing."Vaping among teens is my (and most public health professionals) biggest worry," <a href="https://www.jhsph.edu/faculty/directory/profile/1984/ana-mar-a-rule">Ana Rule</a>, a professor of environmental health and engineering at Johns Hopkins University and an author of a related study on e-cigs and teens, told Business Insider.Rule authored a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/vaping-e-cig-health-effects-toxic-metals-lead-2018-2">paper published last month</a> which showed the vapor of e-cigs included toxic substances like lead, nickel, chromium, and manganese - often in concentrations that either approached, met, or exceeded the limits defined as safe by the Environmental Protection Agency. Consistently inhaling high levels of these metals <a href="https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/metalsheavy/">has been tied to health problems</a> in the lungs, liver, immune system, heart, and brain, as well as some cancers, according to the US Department of Labor's Occupational Health and Safety Administration.The latest study found evidence of another set of potentially toxic chemicals, including acrylonitrile, acrolein, propylene oxide, acrylamide and crotonaldehyde - some of which are also found in conventional cigarettes. Most of these compounds are used in the manufacturing process for things like acids and fibers, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, and have not been explicitly studied in humans for their potentially disease-causing effects.Still, many of them have been found to cause things like <a href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2016-09/documents/acrylonitrile.pdf">headaches, dizziness</a>, nausea, <a href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2016-08/documents/acrolein.pdf">upper respiratory tract irritation</a>, and congestion. At least two <a href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2016-09/documents/acrylamide.pdf">were found</a> to <a href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2016-09/documents/propylene-oxide.pdf">cause tumors in rodents</a>, leading researchers to classify them as "probable human carcinogens.""Teenagers need to be warned that the vapor produced by e-cigarettes is not harmless water vapor, but actually contains some of the same toxic chemicals found in smoke from traditional cigarettes," Mark Rubinstein, a professor of pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco and the lead author on the new study, <a href="https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2018/03/409946/e-cigarette-use-exposes-teens-toxic-chemicals">said in a statement</a>. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/why-nasa-has-not-sent-humans-to-mars-2018-2">The surprising reason why NASA hasn't sent humans to Mars yet</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

Vaping instead of smoking still exposes you to toxic metals like lead - and doctors are increasingly worried

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image">ReutersDemocratic 2020 U.S. presidential candidate and U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) gives the keynote speech at Brown Chapel AME Church in Selma</div></div></div><ul class="summary-list"><li>Sen. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/who-is-cory-booker-bio-age-family-key-positions-2019-3">Cory Booker</a> introduced a Senate bill to research reparations for descendants of slaves.</li><li>"This bill is a way of addressing head-on the persistence of racism, white supremacy, and implicit racial bias in our country," Booker said. </li><li>Reparations has become a central issue in the 2020 race, and Booker is taking the lead with this bill.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Visit BusinessInsider.com for more stories.</a></li></ul>Sen. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/who-is-cory-booker-bio-age-family-key-positions-2019-3">Cory Booker</a> on Tuesday introduced a bill in the Senate to research reparations for descendants of slaves, stepping forward and taking the lead on an issue that's enveloped the 2020 Democratic field. "Since slavery in this country, we have had overt policies fueled by white supremacy and racism that have oppressed African-Americans economically for generations," <a href="https://www.booker.senate.gov/?p=press_release&amp;id=901">Booker said in a statement.</a> "This bill is a way of addressing head-on the persistence of racism, white supremacy, and implicit racial bias in our country."The New Jersey senator added that the bill aims to bring together the "best minds" to research the issue in order to "to right the economic scales of past harms and make sure we are a country where all dignity and humanity is affirmed."Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cory-booker-most-successful-2020-speech-yet-2019-4">Cory Booker may have just given his most powerful 2020 speech yet after a sleepy start to his campaign</a>The bill mirrors legislation already introduced by Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee in the House. As the 2020 presidential campaign season has picked up steam, the issue of reparations has emerged as a central topic of discussion and litmus test of sorts for candidates. A <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/majority-of-liberals-support-slavery-reparations-insider-poll-shows-2019-3">recent INSIDER poll</a> founds a majority of liberals support reparations for descendants of slaves, highlighting why a lane has opened for this conversation. Booker is the only direct descendant of slaves running in a broad field of Democratic candidates in 2020. He's made criminal justice reform and racial justice the primary causes of his political career, and the reparations bill falls in line with that trend. Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bernie-sanders-would-sign-reparations-research-bill-if-elected-president-2019-4">Bernie Sanders said he'd sign a bill to research reparations for descendants of slaves if elected president</a>In <a href="https://www.theroot.com/exclusive-sen-cory-booker-introduces-senate-bill-to-s-1833887948">an interview with The Root</a> earlier this week, Booker said he supports reparations as well as "economically designed programs with race as a conscious part of them that balance the scales and address pass ails - not just slavery, but even things that were going on into the 50s, 60s, and 70s, that were specifically race-conscious programs that were designed to disadvantage African-Americans."Booker went on to cite his "baby bonds" program, which would grant every native-born child in the US a set amount of money per year, which he's contended is a <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/03/01/698916063/2020-democrats-wrestle-with-a-big-question-what-are-reparations">"form of reparations."</a>Other 2020 candidates have expressed support for reparations in some form or another, and a number have said <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bernie-sanders-would-sign-reparations-research-bill-if-elected-president-2019-4">they'd sign a bill to form a commission to study the issue</a> if elected president. <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/starbucks-spend-more-money-coffee-chain-rewards-2019-4">5 sneaky ways Starbucks gets you to spend more money</a></h3> <div> </div> </div>

Cory Booker introduced a Senate bill to research reparations, taking the lead on an increasingly important issue for 2020 Democrats

Over three in four organisations in India experienced more than 25 per cent more increase in <keyword id="569084" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Cyber-threats">cyber threats</keyword> or alerts amid the shift to mass remote working owing to the pandemic, a new Cisco report revealed on Thursday. As organisations in India witnessed a significant rise in the <keyword id="137092" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="cyber-security">cyber security</keyword> challenges, 65 per cent of those surveyed said they adopted cyber security measures to support remote working, according to networking giant Cisco's ‘<keyword id="10149809" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="future-of-secure-remote-work">Future of Secure Remote Work</keyword>' report. "As remote work continues to garner traction, organisations are turning their attention to building a robust cybersecurity foundation, with cloud security emerging as the top investment for 31 per cent of companies in reinventing their workplaces post Covid-19," said Vishak Raman, Director, Security Business, Cisco India &amp; SAARC. With users connecting from outside the corporate walls, secure access is the top cybersecurity challenge faced by the largest proportion of Indian organisations (68 per cent) when supporting remote workers. Other concerns raised by organisations in the country include data privacy (66 per cent) and protection against malware (62 per cent). "Cybersecurity is the top priority for 84 per cent of Indian organizations," said the report based on a survey of over 3,000 IT decision-makers globally, including India. "The pandemic has amplified the criticality of cybersecurity and brought new complexities to the fore," Raman said. Endpoints are a growing challenge for organisations to protect, as users connect from their home Wi-Fi or use their personal devices to connect to corporate applications. About two in three respondents stated that office laptops/desktops (66 per cent) and personal devices (58 per cent) posed a challenge to protect in a remote environment, followed by cloud applications at 42 per cent. "Over half (53 per cent) of the organisations in India said they expect more than half of their workforce to continue working remotely post-pandemic," the report stated. This compares to an average of just 28 per cent of organisations with more than half of their workforce working remotely before the pandemic. The report highlighted that 77 per cent of organisations in the region plan to increase their future investment in cybersecurity due to Covid-19. There are still challenges, though, that need to be addressed. According to the report, 60 per cent of Indian organisations said that having too many tools/solutions to manage was a challenge faced in reinforcing cybersecurity protocols for remote working, followed by a lack of employee education and awareness (55 per cent). "Greater focus must be laid on educating and building employee awareness as these endpoints will become the first line of defence for the organisation of the future," Raman said. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/kumar-mangalam-birla-says-cement-industry-is-recovering-and-analysts-find-evidence-of-it-outside-ultratech-too/articleshow/78791281.cms">EXCLUSIVE: Billionaire Kumar Mangalam Birla is surprised by the rebound in infrastructure and construction in India </a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/careers/news/hcl-tech-is-bringing-employees-back-to-offices-weekly-once-to-start-with/articleshow/78802219.cms">EXCLUSIVE: HCL Tech is bringing employees back to offices — once a week to begin with</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/thelife/news/luxury-icons-sabyasachi-and-oberoi-open-up-about-their-perfectionist-quirks-like-checking-the-color-of-egg-yolks-and-slashing-clothes-so-they-cant-hit-the-edit-table/articleshow/78771113.cms">Luxury icons Sabyasachi and Oberoi open up about their 'perfectionist quirks' like checking the colour of egg yolks and slashing clothes so they can’t hit the edit table</a>

Cyber threats increase by 25% during work from home leading many to adopt more stringent security measures

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A librarian is leading the <keyword id="6361455" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="church">church</keyword>'s fight against <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pastors-quit-after-qanon-radicalize-congregation-2021-3">misinformation</a> by holding online media workshops.</li><li>Rachel Wightman is teaching church congregants to identify fake <keyword id="6355005" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="news">news</keyword>, and fact-check their sources.</li><li>White evangelicals are more likely to believe in conspiracy theories, recent polls show.</li></ul>A local librarian from <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/800000-vaccinated-people-in-minnesota-only-89-got-covid-19-2021-3">Minnesota</a> is leading the fight against <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pastors-quit-after-qanon-radicalize-congregation-2021-3">misinformation in Christian churches</a> by holding online media training for congregations across the country.Rachel Wightman works full-time at Concordia University, St.Paul, but started teaching six-week seminars part-time after watching a worrying number of people in her community became misguided by online <keyword id="535763" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Misinformation">misinformation</keyword>.The presidential election prompted Wightman to give her first workshop at her local Mill City Church in Minneapolis in early 2020. But the coronavirus pandemic paired with the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/george-floyd-protests-defining-history-politics-election-black-lives-matter-2020-6">Black Lives Matter protests</a> made her workshops a lot more pertinent, so she decided to organize more.The BLM movement, in particular, hit close to home - Wightman's church was only a few miles away from where <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/uk-protests-black-lives-matter-police-statues-2020-7">George Floyd was killed</a>, and for most of the summer months, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/13-concrete-changes-sparked-by-george-floyd-protests-so-far-2020-6">the city was gripped by protests.</a>Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/california-pastor-risks-arrest-million-dollar-fines-church-mask-services-2021-2">HOLY WAR: A California pastor who believes ventilators are killing people is holding massive, mask-free services - and he refuses to shut down</a>"I remember the day our pastor was talking about racism and saying we have to check our inputs, meaning we have to get inputs from people who are different in order to understand this issue," Wightman told Insider. "That was the moment for me where it really clicked. I knew I had to continue giving people tools to get to these inputs."In the last few weeks, the librarian has become inundated with requests from other pastors from around the US asking her to give her workshops to their congregations. The need for such training seems to be as urgent as ever: Over the last year, churches have become engulfed in conspiracy theories and health misinformation, in some cases <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pastors-quit-after-qanon-radicalize-congregation-2021-3">even prompting pastors to leave their congregations.</a>Recent polls show that white evangelicals have one of the highest levels of vaccine skepticism in the United States. According to a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/02/16/covid-vaccine-misinformation-evangelical-mark-beast/">Washington Post/ABC News</a> poll published in January, just under a third of US adults say they will probably or definitely not get the vaccine, compared to 44% of those who identify as white evangelicals.Another poll by the Christian research organization <a href="https://lifewayresearch.com/2021/01/26/half-of-u-s-protestant-pastors-hear-conspiracy-theories-in-their-churches/">Lifeway Research</a> found that more than 45% of protestant pastors said they had often heard congregants repeating conspiracy theories."As a librarian, I'm seeing this huge information landscape every day, and I feel like it's incredibly overwhelming for people," Wightman said. "We've all spent this past year in this hyped-up environment where everything feels urgent and stressful, so I try to encourage people to take some space and say: 'Okay, I'm going to figure out how to slow down and make sense of everything around me.'"<div type="image" title="rachel wightman librarian" height="1239" width="1653" msid="81897683" hostid="261"></div>Due to the pandemic, Wightman meets most of her students on Zoom. Together they talk about everything from how to identify fake photographs, the ways in which algorithms work, fact-checking sources, and how to avoid being judgmental when friends post something inaccurate online.Wightman stressed that while the training is a good space to talk about all the information people find online, it is also "politically neutral." "We're not here to talk about your opinion on the latest legislation or our president. We are here to talk about how do you evaluate what you're finding online ... and how that overlaps with your faith," she said.For the librarian, it is also important to keep faith at the center of her teachings."I want to also bring in this perspective of Christianity. As Christians, we need to ask ourselves, if you have this faith of loving your neighbors, in what spaces does your faith show up?'"The librarian said her workshops had been received well by many churchgoers, who vary in age and race. Many are also taking the training to help family members who have succumbed to online misinformation, Wightman said. <div type="image" title="trump capitol religion" height="1000" width="1334" msid="81897685" hostid="261"></div>Dr. Christopher Douglas, a professor of English at the University of Victoria, specializing in Christian literature, politics, and epistemology, thinks having training is essential in this day and age."Misinformation is in some sense baked into white evangelical churches as many of them reject science, scholarship, and mainstream journalism," Douglas told Insider. "It's a small step from disputing the science of evolution and climate change to doubting the efficacy of masks and vaccines in fighting the pandemic because it all comes from a common source, which is mainstream 'secular' science."Douglas believes 2020's pandemic and election exacerbated this problem as many feel like their political opponents are trying to "destroy Christian America and to take away what they call their 'religious freedoms.'"This is why Christian churches need training like Wightman's, Douglas said. "Public institutions like libraries, colleges, and universities all have a role to play in developing critical thinking and critical media literacy skills," he said.Even though Wightman is balancing her new work with a full-time job, she said she's proud of what she's accomplished so far and hopes to continue doing more workshops in the future."A lot of people think librarians just sit around and read all day, so it's been fun to bust that myth open a bit," said Wightman. "We're teachers, we're about connecting people with information, and so be able to do that in a new way that feels so relevant is very exciting."

Christians are increasingly falling victim to online falsehoods. Meet the librarian leading the fight against conspiracy theories and health misinformation.

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Christians are increasingly falling victim to online falsehoods. Meet the librarian leading the fight against conspiracy theories and health misinformation.

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