Features

AMMAN — Somewhat controversial with Land Rover traditionalists when first launched in 2011, the compact Range Rover Evoque, however, popularised and broadened the brand’s appeal and accessibility to new group of consumers. 

If stark and different then, the original Evoque’s low, wide and heavily stylised design has gone on to inform virtually every Land Rover product since, including the recently launched second generation Evoque.

Introduced earlier this year with new technology, improved space, luxury and efficiency, the new Evoque closely follows the original’s basic design cues, albeit with a more bulging, rounded and haughty demeanor.

Rakish roofline

Slightly longer, taller and with a longer wheelbase for improved legroom, the new Evoque strongly resembles its predecessor, yet has a seemingly bigger and bulkier presence owing to a higher waistline, taller front and rear fascia and higher, slimmer lights. 

Replacing the outgoing model’s sharp angular lines and surfacing with bulbous body work, the new Evoque retains many reworked styling elements, including a slim grille and lights with a thin vent below; and an even larger

lower intake. Also present is a similar clamshell bonnet to lend a squinting and moody appearance to its LED matrix headlights.

Meanwhile bulging wheel-arches still interrupt a design element that trails off from the edge of the headlights, and from a side view, the new model retains the rakishly low coupe-like roofline with black pillars, although this time without the choice of a three-door coupe body style. 

Along with a higher waistline, the new Evoque features a more sharply rising ridged side line below its new pop-out door handles. From the rear, the new Evoque’s width is accentuated by wider rear lights and a huge lower bumper insert with faux exhaust ports, as driven with the sportier looking R-design package.

Subtle electrification

Powered by petrol and diesel versions of Jaguar Land Rover’s in-house developed 2-litre turbocharged 4-cylinder Ingenium engine in place of its predecessor’s similar Ford-sourced engine, the new Evoque uses a mild hybrid electric vehicle (MHEV) system for its most popular four-wheel-drive automatic gearbox models. 

Almost un-discernible in operation, the 48v MHEV system recovers kinetic deceleration energy and stores it in under-body batteries, which allows the engine to automatically switch off at under 17km/h when coming to a stop, and also powers an electric motor that assists the Evoque when accelerating and driving in heavy traffic.

Subtle and virtually undetectable, the Evoque’s electric assistance did; however, seem to compensate for expected turbo lag from idling with better immediate responsiveness than expected. 

Driven in the second to top specification P250 guise, the Evoque produces 245BHP at 5,500rpm and 269lb/ft torque throughout a broad, versatile and accessibly responsive 1,300-4,500rpm mid-range. 

Not much more powerful than its predecessor but somewhat heavier at  1,818kg, the Evoque P250’s MHEV system and slick-shifting 9-speed automatic gearbox with a broad range of ratios for performance, efficiency and versatility do make it slightly quicker and economic.

Settled and stable

A brisk drive with confident mid-range flexibility despite its heft, the Evoque P250 covers the 0-100km/h in 7.5-seconds, 80-120km/h in 5.1-seconds and is capable of 230km/h, but returns moderate 7.9l/100km fuel efficiency on the combined cycle. 

A refined drive with good sound insulation and a reassuringly stable ride at speed, the driven R-Dynamic package version was fitted with the second largest 20-inch alloy wheels and 235/50R20 tyres. 

Somewhat firm over rougher more damaged road segments and on gravel trails, this tyre option was fine on smoother roads and provided reasonable comfort over imperfections and gripped corners well. However, entry-level 18-inch wheels proved better on Jordanian roads.

Driven with fixed rate dampers rather than with optional adaptive dampers, the Evoque’s MacPherson strut front and integral link rear suspension with fluid-filled bushes were well set-up to provide a good mix of ride comfort, settled vertical control and good lateral body control through fast and tight corners for the vehicle’s height. 

Tidy into corners with little sign of under-steer, the Evoque was also reasonably agile for the segment and allowed one to easily shift weight to the rear outside wheel to tighten a cornering line. Meanwhile, its quick 2.31-turn electric-assisted steering was direct and refined, if somewhat clinical as driven with 20-inch wheels.     

Sophisticated solutions

Driving the front wheels under normal circumstances to minimise fuel consumption, the Evoque’s four-wheel-drive reengages the rear wheels for stability, traction and grip. 

Primarily designed for road use, but with genuine off-road ability, the Evoque is offered with numerous standard on- and off-road driver assistance systems, including adaptive control, steering assist, lane-keeping assist, blind spot monitoring and autonomous emergency braking. 

For off-road driving, the Evoque features Hill Descent, Gradient Release and All-Terrain Progress control systems, as well as a four mode Terrain Response system that leverages and adapts various driver aids, gearbox and throttle for different off-road conditions.

A classy and well-equipped vehicle with a good driving position, the Evoque has a pleasantly up-market feel and design as driven in the luxurious HSE trim level, with good quality materials used in the right places and sophisticated, uncluttered switchgear and infotainment screens. 

Spacious in the front, if slightly less so for tall and large occupants in the rear, the Evoque offers good front visibility, but addresses the less generous rear and over-shoulder visibility associated with its sharply descending roofline, ascending waistline and small glasshouse with a standard 360° reversing camera and high mounted rear camera for a wider view with the flick of a button. 

Optionally, a front mirror offers unrestricted views for off-road driving and maneuvering in tight confines.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: 2-litre, turbocharged, transverse 4-cylinders

Bore x stroke: 83 x 92.3mm

Compression ratio: 10.5:1 (+0.5:1)

Valve-train: 16-valve, DOHC, continuously variable valve timing, direct injection

Electric motor: Synchronous claw pole rotor

Battery: 46.2v lithium-ion 

Gearbox: 9-speed automatic, four-wheel-drive

Ratios: 1st 4.713; 2nd 2.842; 3rd 1.909; 4th 1.382; 5th 1.0; 6th 0.808; 7th 0.699; 8th 0.58; 9th 0.48

Reverse / final drive: 3.83 / 4.544

Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 245 (249) [183] @5,500rpm

Specific power: 122.6BHP/litre

Power-to-weight ratio: 129.4BHP/tonne (kerb)

Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 269 (365) @1,300-4,500rpm

Specific torque: 182.6Nm/litre

Torque-to-weight ratio: 192.8Nm/tonne (kerb)

0-100km/h: 7.5-seconds

80-120km/h: 5.1-seconds

Top speed: 230km/h

Fuel economy, combined: 7.9-litres/100km

CO2 emissions, combined: 180g/km

Fuel capacity: 67-litres

Length: 4,371mm

Width: 1,904mm

Height: 1,649mm

Wheelbase: 2,681mm

Overhang, F/R: 880/810mm

Track, F/R: 1,625/1,631mm

Ground clearance: 212mm

Water wading: 600mm

Approach/break-over/departure angles: 25°/20.7°/30.6°

Ascent / descent gradient: 45°

Side slope gradient: 35°

Towing, braked / unbraked: 1,800/750kg

Aerodynamic drag co-efficiency: 0.325

Headroom, F/R: 989/973mm

Shoulder room, F/R: 1,438/1,407mm

Legroom, F/R: 1,016/859mm

Boot capacity, min/max: 591-/1,383-litres

Unladen / kerb weight: 1,818/1,893kg

Suspension, F/R: Double wishbones / integral multi-link, anti-roll bars

Steering: Electric-assisted rack & pinion

Turning circle: 11.6-meters

Lock-to-lock: 2.31-turns

Brake discs, F/R: 349mm / 300mm

Tyres: 235/50R20

Environmental factors appear to play a bigger role than genetics in shaping children’s risk for cavities, a study of Australian twins suggests. 

Researchers followed 345 twins from 24 weeks’ gestation through six years of age, when they all had dental checkups. At age six, 32 per cent of the kids had tooth decay and 24 per cent of the children had advanced cavities. 

To see how much genetics might shape the risk of cavities, researchers looked at how often both kids got cavities in pairs of identical twins — who have identical genetic variations — and fraternal twins — who typically share about half of their variations. 

The risk of both siblings developing any form of tooth decay or advanced cavities was similar for identical and fraternal pairs, suggesting that genetics doesn’t explain much of the risk for these oral health problems. 

“Therefore, risk factors seem to be mostly environmental and are potentially modifiable,” said lead study author Mihiri Silva of the University of Melbourne and the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute at Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne. 

“This might debunk the idea that individuals are genetically destined to have poor teeth and should drive us to find ways of addressing the risk factors that we know are important for dental health,” Silva said by e-mail. 

Worldwide, an estimated 60 to 90 per cent of school age children have tooth decay, potentially resulting in pain, infection and hospitalisation, researchers note in Pediatrics. Toothache can also result in school absence, poor nutrition, compromised growth and development and impaired quality of life for children and parents alike. 

Childhood cavities are also the strongest predictor of poor oral health in adulthood, the study team writes. 

While some previous research has called into question the role genetics may play in causing cavities, research to date hasn’t offered a clear picture of what role environmental or lifestyle factors might play in this risk. 

In the current study, both twins had cavities in 29 pairs; in another 33 pairs of twins, just one child was affected. 

Both kids had advanced cavities in 26 pairs of twins, and another 31 pairs had just one child with advanced cavities. 

Three environmental factors in particular appeared to impact the risk of cavities: maternal obesity, defects in tooth enamel mineralisation, and lack of community water fluoridation. 

The study wasn’t a controlled experiment designed to prove whether or how any of these factors might directly cause tooth decay or cavities. 

But it’s possible maternal obesity might influence kids’ risk of oral health problems due to shared dietary or lifestyle habits in the household or biological processes that influence susceptibility to dental problems, Silva said. Obese mothers, for example, might be more likely to feed kids unhealthy food that can contribute to cavities. 

Fluoridation of drinking water, meanwhile, has been proven to reduce the risk of cavities but isn’t universally available in public drinking water. 

And defects in tooth enamel mineralisation that lead to weak enamel that can easily break down and form cavities may start developing in the womb and early childhood. This may be caused by certain medications taken by women during pregnancy or by children early in life, as well as by poor nutrition and certain diseases in early childhood. 

The good news is environmental factors like this can be controlled to help improve oral health. 

 “Based on the findings from all the existing research — including ours — parents and families should focus on practicing healthy habits in general including a diet low in sugar and regular toothbrushing,” Silva advised. 

Defects in enamel “can be detected and treated early to reduce problems, so ensuring children have early dental check-ups starting at one year of age can minimise problems later”, Silva added. “Our study also shows that public health initiatives like community water fluoridation continue to be important for prevention of dental caries.”

PARIS — Up to 1 million species face extinction due to human influence, according to a draft UN report obtained by AFP that painstakingly catalogues how humanity has undermined the natural resources upon which its very survival depends.

The accelerating loss of clean air, drinkable water, CO2-absorbing forests, pollinating insects, protein-rich fish and storm-blocking mangroves — to name but a few of the dwindling services rendered by Nature — poses no less of a threat than climate change, says the report, set to be unveiled May 6.

Indeed, biodiversity loss and global warming are closely linked, according to the 44-page Summary for Policymakers, which distills a 1,800-page UN assessment of scientific literature on the state of Nature.

Delegates from 130 nations meeting in Paris from April 29, will vet the executive summary line-by-line. Wording may change, but figures lifted from the underlying report cannot be altered.

“We need to recognise that climate change and loss of Nature are equally important, not just for the environment, but as development and economic issues as well,” Robert Watson, chair of the UN-mandated body that compiled the report, told AFP, without divulging its findings.

“The way we produce our food and energy is undermining the regulating services that we get from Nature,” he said, adding that only “transformative change” can stem the damage.

Deforestation and agriculture, including livestock production, account for about a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions, and have wreaked havoc on natural ecosystems as well. 

‘Mass extinction event’ 

The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) report warns of “an imminent rapid acceleration in the global rate of species extinction”.

The pace of loss “is already tens to hundreds of times higher than it has been, on average, over the last 10 million years”, it notes. 

“Half-a-million to a million species are projected to be threatened with extinction, many within decades.”

Many experts think a so-called “mass extinction event” — only the sixth in the last half-billion years — is already under way.

The most recent saw the end of the Cretaceous period some 66 million years ago, when a 10-kilometre-wide asteroid strike wiped out most lifeforms.

Scientists estimate that Earth is today home to some eight million distinct species, a majority of them insects.

A quarter of catalogued animal and plant species are already being crowded, eaten or poisoned out of existence.

The drop in sheer numbers is even more dramatic, with wild mammal biomass — their collective weight — down by 82 per cent. 

Humans and livestock account for more than 95 per cent of mammal biomass.

Population growth 

“If we’re going to have a sustainable planet that provides services to communities around the world, we need to change this trajectory in the next 10 years, just as we need to do that with climate,” noted WWF chief scientist Rebecca Shaw, formerly a member of the UN scientific bodies for both climate and biodiversity.

The direct causes of species loss, in order of importance, are shrinking habitat and land-use change, hunting for food or illicit trade in body parts, climate change, pollution and alien species such as rats, mosquitoes and snakes that hitch rides on ships or planes, the report finds.

“There are also two big indirect drivers of biodiversity loss and climate change — the number of people in the world and their growing ability to consume,” said Watson.

Once seen as primarily a future threat to animal and plant life, the disruptive impact of global warming has accelerated.

Shifts in the distribution of species, for example, will likely double if average temperature go up a notch from 1.5ºC to 2ºC.

So far, the global thermometer has risen 1ºC compared with mid-19th century levels. 

The 2015 Paris Agreement enjoins nations to cap the rise to “well below” 2ºC. But a landmark UN climate report in October said that would still be enough to boost the intensity and frequency of deadly heatwaves, droughts, floods and storms.

Global inequity 

Other findings in the report say three-quarters of land surfaces, 40 per cent of the marine environment, and 50 per cent of inland waterways across the globe have been “severely altered”. 

Many of the areas where Nature’s contribution to human wellbeing will be most severely compromised are home to indigenous peoples and the world’s poorest communities that are also vulnerable to climate change.

More than 2 billion people rely on wood fuel for energy, 4 billion rely on natural medicines, and more than 75 per cent of global food crops require animal pollination. 

Nearly half of land and marine ecosystems have been profoundly compromised by human interference in the last 50 years.

Subsidies to fisheries, industrial agriculture, livestock raising, forestry, mining and the production of biofuel or fossil fuel energy encourage waste, inefficiency and over-consumption. 

The report cautioned against climate change solutions that may inadvertently harm Nature.

The use, for example, of biofuels combined with “carbon capture and storage” — the sequestration of CO2 released when biofuels are burned — is widely seen as key in the transition to green energy on a global scale.

But the land needed to grow all those biofuel crops may wind up cutting into food production, the expansion of protected areas or reforestation efforts.

TOKYO — You cannot hide your lying eyes: scientists have revealed that women can judge whether a man is likely to be unfaithful just by looking at his face but men are less able to spot a cheating woman.

Researchers at the University of Western Australia took a group of 1,500 people and showed them pictures of 189 Caucasian adults (101 men and 88 women), having first asked them if they had been unfaithful to their partners.

Respondents were then asked to rank these faces on a scale of one to 10, where one is “not at all likely to be unfaithful” and 10 is “extremely likely” to play the field.

The result, published in the journal Royal Society Open Science, was that “both men and women were accurate in assessing men’s, but not women’s, likelihood to cheat and poach”.

The scientists wanted to examine not only whether men and women could spot potential infidelity in each other but also whether it was possible to detect a possible “poacher” of the same sex.

They cited research showing that 70 per cent of people across more than 50 cultures report an attempt to poach someone else’s partner and 60 per cent saying they were successful.

The results were “not as expected”, the scientists admitted. Men were able to spot potential poachers among other men but even when other women were judging, the female of the species was inscrutable.

“Taken together, both men and women showed above-chance accuracy for men’s faces but not women’s faces. Therefore, perceived unfaithfulness may indeed contain some kernel of truth in male faces,” the scientists wrote.

What makes women suspect men might sleep around? 

According to the survey, it mainly boils down to perceived masculinity, although the researchers came up with another unexpected result, suggesting it is not the best-looking men that play away the most.

“Surprisingly, even though more attractive men were rated as more unfaithful, they were less likely to engage in actual mate poaching,” the study said.

Despite the findings, one of the scientists involved in the report cautioned against jumping to conclusions on a first date.

Although men are marginally more likely to betray infidelity with their features, it is still difficult to spot possible cheats from one individual’s face, said Yong Zhi Foo.

“If we are to rely solely on our first impressions to detect cheaters/poachers, then we will make substantial errors,” Foo told AFP.

“Our results must not be taken to mean that first impressions can be used in any everyday situations,” he added.

Do not underestimate online subscriptions that look not so expensive at first sight. They all add up in the end. Even a couple of dollars a month per account matter when you reach a significant number of subscriptions that you have to keep renewing and paying for, which is exactly the where we all are headed, whether we like it or not.

There is a major trend in the world of IT and it is about (not) buying software and services. And of course it is Internet-related. The big players in the game, and the smaller ones as well, do not want to let you do one-time purchases anymore, but rather to go for periodic subscriptions, monthly or yearly.

The two most notorious subscriptions were introduced by Adobe and Microsoft a few years ago. Adobe does not sell anymore lifetime software licenses, like it used to do for its leading applications like Photoshop and Illustrator; at least not when it comes to the latest versions. With the older ones, and provided you accept to live with that, you may be lucky and find a reseller that still has them in stock. Otherwise, and if you only want the latest and the very best, like Adobe CC Suite for example, only a periodic and rather expensive subscription will do. There is simply no other choice.

Microsoft is only just a little nicer. Whereas it strongly pushes you to use its Office 360 Suite (Word, Excel, etc.) through online subscriptions, you still have the option to buy regular, lifetime Office licences if you prefer.

The above two are but the tip of the iceberg. In addition to Adobe and MS-Office is a long, a very long list of services that now are very common and that more and more people are choosing to subscribe to every month.

If Adobe’s and Microsoft’s subscriptions are in the tens and hundreds of dollars, most of the other services are in the units only. Examples: Dropbox cloud storage professional is about $9 a month, just like Netflix video streaming. Spotify music streaming is a humble $5 and Amazon Prime $13. Bein TV sport channels vary but the cost averages $20 per month.

Teamviewer application, a very popular software frequently used to access other computers remotely, has also recently shifted from lifetime licensing to monthly subscriptions costing an average of $30 a month. Let us not forget our mobile phone and Internet monthly subscriptions, or the eventual ones to online newspapers that we may also have.

The list goes on and on and is extending every few months. Soon even the basic, essential MS-Windows operating is going to be on monthly subscription basis.

Analysing the cost of each service separately and evaluating its usefulness makes perfect sense, and in most cases it leads to the obvious conclusion: it is worth every dollar and it makes you save money in the end.

Indeed, one month of Netflix is less expensive than one evening out at the movies for two people. By letting you access other computers remotely, for whatever reason you may need to do that, Teamviewer makes you save not only precious time but direct, very tangible transportation cost.

The problem therefore is not in the feasibility or in the principle of subscribing to online services, but in the simple fact that you can easily reach $400 to $500 a month, in total subscriptions. This in no way is negligible for the typical, average household, given that it is only to use your computers, the Internet and to enjoy a little entertainment at home. Food, education, travel, rent, clothing, health expenses are not included! Just make sure you are aware of what is happening to you and you realise how much you are spending — or maybe saving.

At corporate level the IT industry is pushing businesses in the same direction, which is not to buy expensive and hard to maintain computer servers, but to subscribe to the cloud services that are slowly but surely replacing them. However, and contrary to families and households, big corporations have their accountants and auditors to remind them how much exactly they are spending.

One in five US children and young adults do not drink any water at all on a typical day, and a new study suggests they consume almost twice as many calories from sodas and sugary drinks as young people who do drink water. 

On any given day, kids who did not drink water consumed an average of 93 more calories from sugar sweetened beverages like sodas and juice drinks than young people who did drink some water. 

“These results are important because sugar-sweetened beverage consumption has been linked to many negative health conditions for children, including weight gain, dental caries and type 2 diabetes,” said lead study author Asher Rosinger, director of the Water, Health and Nutrition Labora tory at Pennsylvania State University. 

“Water is the healthiest drink people can consume, which is critical” for physical and mental health, Rosinger said by e-mail. 

Sodas and other sugar-sweetened beverages add empty calories to children’s diets, and substituting water for these drinks can help minimise the risk that young people will become overweight or obese, Rosinger’s team notes in JAMA Paediatrics. 

For the current study, they examined dietary data collected from 2011 to 2016 on 8,400 kids and young adults ranging in age from two to 19 years old. On average, the survey participants were about 11 years old. 

Overall, they consumed about 132 calories a day of sodas and other sugary drinks, the study found. 

With any amount of water intake, kids’ average consumption of soda and sweet drinks dropped to 112 calories a day. 

Without any water, however, children’s average consumption of soda and sweetened beverages rose to 210 calories a day. 

Results did not appear to differ for boys versus girls, or based on family income levels. 

But race and ethnicity did appear to influence the interactions between water and soda consumption. 

When white children did not drink water, they averaged 237 calories a day from sugar sweetened beverages, compared with about 115 calories if they did drink water. 

Black youth who drank no water got 218 calories a day from sodas and sweet drinks, compared with 125 calories for water drinkers. 

And, Hispanic kids who did not drink water got 176 calories a day from sugar sweetened beverages, compared with 115 for water drinkers. 

The study was not a controlled experiment designed to prove whether or how drinking water might directly impact soda consumption, and it also was not set up to prove whether any negative health outcomes were directly caused by sugary drinks. 

Still, the results suggest that there may be an inverse relationship between kid’s sugary beverage intake and their water intake, said Christina Roberto, a researcher at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. 

“Kids who aren’t drinking water are drinking more sugary drinks instead compared to kids who drink water,” Roberto, who was not involved in the study, said by e-mail. “That suggests that getting kids to drink more water might help reduce their consumption of unhealthy sugary drinks, and both of those are important goals for promoting children’s health.” 

Parents need to make sure kids understand the importance of drinking water, said Jennifer Emond, a researcher at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. 

“Parents should encourage their kids to limit [sugar-sweetened beverages], including flavoured waters and sports drinks, and to choose water instead,” Emond, who was not involved in the study, said by e-mail. 

“Schools have a lot of influence on teens’ beverage choices, too,” Emond said. “Schools need to create a physical and social environment where sugary drinks, including sports drinks and flavoured waters, are not promoted, and where water is the chosen beverage.” 

WASHINGTON — A text-generating “bot” nicknamed Tobi produced nearly 40,000 news stories about the results of the November 2018 elections in Switzerland for the media giant Tamedia — in just five minutes.

These kinds of artificial intelligence programmes — available for nearly a decade — are becoming more widespread as news organisations turn to them to produce stories, personalise news delivery and, in some cases, sift through data to find important news.

Tobi wrote on vote results for each of Switzerland’s 2,222 municipalities, in both French and, German, for the country’s largest media group, according to a paper presented last month at the Computation + Journalism conference in Miami.

A similar automated programme called Heliograf has enabled The Washington Post daily to cover some 500 election races, along with local sports and business, since 2014.

“We’ve seen a greater acceptance of the potential for artificial intelligence, or robo-journalism, in newsrooms around the world,” said Damian Radcliffe, a University of Oregon professor who follows consumer trends and business models for journalism.

“These systems can offer speed and accuracy and potentially support the realities of smaller newsrooms and the time pressures of journalists.”

News organisations say the bots are not intended to displace human reporters or editors, but rather to help free them from the most monotonous tasks, such as sports results and earnings reports.

Jeremy Gilbert, director of strategic initiatives at The Washington Post, said Heliograf was developed as a tool to help the newspaper’s editorial team.

“The Post has an incredible team of reporters and editors and we didn’t want to replace them,” Gilbert told AFP.

‘Is this something we can automate?’

Gilbert said the bot can deliver and update stories more quickly as they develop, allowing reporters to concentrate on other tasks, and that reaction has been generally positive.

“The surprise was that a lot of people came up and said, ‘I do this story every week; is this something we can automate?’” Gilbert said.

“These weren’t stories that anyone wanted to do.”

Similar conversations are going on in newsrooms around the world. The Norwegian news agency NTB automated sports reports to get match results delivered within 30 seconds.

The Los Angeles Times developed a “quakebot” that quickly distributes news articles on temblors in the region and also uses an automated system as part of its Homicide Report.

The Associated Press has been automating quarterly earnings reports for some 3,000 listed companies, allowing the news agency to expand from what had been just a few hundred, and this year announced plans with its partner Automated Insights to deliver computer-generated previews of college basketball games.

Rival news agency Reuters last year announced the launch of Lynx Insight, which uses automated data analysis to identify trends and anomalies and to suggest stories reporters should write. 

Bloomberg’s computerised system called Cyborg “dissects a company’s earnings the moment they appear” and produces within seconds a “mini-wrap with all the numbers and a lot of context”, editor-in-chief John Micklethwait wrote last year, noting that one-fourth of the agency’s content “has some degree of automation”.

France’s Le Monde and its partner Syllabs deployed a computer programme that generated 150,000 web pages covering 36,000 municipalities in the 2015 elections.

One advantage of using algorithmically generated stories is that they can also be “personalised”, or delivered to the relevant localities, which can be useful for elections and sports coverage. 

Investigative

 robo-reporter?

While news professionals acknowledge the limits of computer programmes, they also note that automated systems can sometimes accomplish things humans can’t.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution used a data journalism team to uncover 450 cases of doctors who were brought before medical regulators or courts for sexual misconduct, finding that nearly half remained licensed to practice medicine.

The newspaper used machine learning, an artificial intelligence tool, to analyse each case and assign a “probability rating” on sexual misconduct, which was then reviewed by a team of journalists.

Studies appear to indicate consumers accept computer-generated stories, which are mostly labelled as such.

A report prepared by researcher Andreas Graefe for Columbia University’s Tow Centre said one study of Dutch readers found that the label of computer-generated “had no effect on people’s perceptions of quality”.

A second study of German readers, Graefe said, found that “automated articles were rated as more credible”, although human-written news scored higher for “readability”.

Robot apocalypse?

Even though journalists and robots appear to be helping each other, fears persist about artificial intelligence spinning out of control and costing journalists’ jobs.

In February, researchers at the non-profit centre OpenAI announced they had developed an automatic text generator so good that it is keeping details private for now.

The researchers said the programme could be used for nefarious purposes, including to generate fake news articles, impersonating others online, and automate fake content on social media.

But Meredith Broussard, a professor of data journalism at New York University, said she does not see any immediate threats of robots taking over newsrooms.

She said there are many positive applications of artificial intelligence in the newsroom, but that for now, most programmes handle “the most boring” stories.

“There are some jobs that are going to be automated, but overall, I’m not worried about the robot apocalypse in the newsroom,” she said.

Abuse during childhood may cause physical changes to the human brain that in turn may render adults more vulnerable to depression, research suggests. 

In their study of people with major depressive disorder, two separate aspects of patients’ history were both linked with alterations in brain structure: childhood maltreatment, and more severe and recurrent depression. 

“It has been established for a very, very long time that childhood trauma is a major risk factor for the development of depression, and also that childhood trauma is associated with changes in the brain,” study author Nils Opel from the University of Münster in Germany told Reuters Health in a phone call. 

“What we did was to actually show that the alterations in the brain are directly connected to the clinical outcome. This is new.” 

The two-year observational study enrolled 110 patients, ages 18 to 60, who were hospitalised following a diagnosis of major depression. At the start, all participants had magnetic resonance imaging of the brain and answered a questionnaire that assessed the level of maltreatment they experienced as children. 

Over the next two years, more than two-thirds of participants experienced a relapse, according to a report in Lancet Psychiatry. 

The brain scans showed that abuse during childhood and recurring depression were linked to similar reductions in the surface area of the insular cortex — a part of the brain believed to help regulate emotion and self-awareness. 

“I think the most important implication of our study is that we can show that traumatised patients differ from non-traumatised patients in a way that they are at increased risk for more recurrent depression and that they are also different in terms of brain structure and neurobiology,” Opel said. 

It is unclear, however, whether the findings will eventually lead to new treatment approaches. 

Child and adolescent psychiatrist Morris Zwi, who recently retired from The Whittington Health NHS Trust in London, said that while the study results do not indicate whether changes in the brain observed can be reversed, they provide a starting point for more research. 

“There is a lot of interest in brain plasticity at the moment, a concept about the potential for brain cells to regenerate or change to meet the needs of the affected brain,” said Zwi, who was not involved in the study. 

“This is why it is important to know whether the changes observed in association with trauma and depression are transitory or permanent, which this study cannot show.” 

Zwi said therapy, or drugs targeting changes to brain structure, may hold some promise for these patients. 

Opel also sees potential in tailoring treatment to individual patients based on information from their brain scans. 

“What would be great in future is if we could use these data to predict which patient might need intensified or specialised care and then come up with personalised treatment approaches,” he said. 

America’s best selling truck with a history going back to 1948, the Ford F150 has also been the most advanced pick-up in its segment since the thirteenth generation was launched in 2015 with a lightweight aluminium body.

A staple work truck that popularly doubles as personal transport in the US and Middle East, the F150 model range has in recent years been expanding to include ever more luxurious, technologically advanced and well-equipped versions for comfort, convenience and pleasure, the latest face-lifted models now even feature a 10-speed automatic gearbox.

New twist, enduring recipe

Introduced last year and winner of this year’s Middle East Car Of the Year awards’ Best Truck category, the F150 update also includes new a flashier and more assertively bold exterior re-design, updated infotainment system and the new gearbox. With engines options carrying over mostly unchanged, the F150 range gains a new 3-litre turbo-diesel for select trim versions and a wider availability of the most powerful Raptor performance model’s 450BHP twin-turbo V6 petrol engine, which from 2019 will also be optionally available for the Limited trim model, alongside the 375BHP version featured here. 

A rugged workhorse that looks the part, the F150 features traditional body on frame construction, tough leaf spring and solid axle rear suspension, but is notable for being the only truck in its class to use military-grade aluminium body construction for a weight saving of up to 317kg, which in turn translates to improved efficiency, capability, handling and performance. A functional design, the F150, however, includes an aerodynamically honed cargo bed for improved airflow and reduced turbulence. Meanwhile, its big glasshouse and low waistline provides good road visibility for a vehicle of this vast size.

Rugged and responsive

An aggressive and evolutionary design highlighting a rugged persona with big Tonka truck chunkiness but without the clunky, clumsy and cartoonish aesthetic of some competitors, the F150 sits with a confident stance and has lots of presence, but nonetheless features a sense of dynamic tension. Featuring a ridged and stepped bonnet minimises the sheet metal from the top of the bonnet to the wheel-arch to reduce visual heft, the face-lifted F150’s chrome fascia is meanwhile dominated by a vast bonnet, while now features a huge horizontal bar that extends to partially bisect its similarly huge C-shaped headlight unit.

Advanced not just for its aluminium body in the truck segment, the F150’s availability of an advanced, downsized and prodigious direct injection twin-turbo 3.5-litre V6 ecoboost engine is just as forward thinking. Standard to the Limited specification model tested, the F150’s Ecoboost engine develops similar power and more torque than the model line’s more traditional 5-litre V8 Coyote engine. Producing 375BHP at a comparatively low 5,000rpm and a massive 470lb/ft torque at 2,500rpm, the F150 Limited is estimated to cover the 0-100km/h dash in around 6-seconds despite a hefty weight estimated at around 2,225kg.

Smooth and seamless

A gutsy engine with responsive quick-spooling turbos and little noticeable lag from idling, the F150’s Ecoboost delivers a broad and muscular mid-range sweet spot where overtaking is flexibly quick and effortlessly confident. Building to a potent top end, the F150 Limited’s power build up is underwritten by a wave of seemingly tireless and deep reservoir of torque. Driving all four wheels through a new 10-speed automatic gearbox in place of a 6-speed unit, the revised F150 is smoother, seemingly quicker and more versatile, with its broad and closely spaced ratios better utilising available output for enhanced response, performance, refinement, efficiency.

Better suited to hauling the F150’s not inconsiderable mass with greater ease and response, the combination of Ecoboost engine and 10-speed gearbox also provide a smooth shifts and a more seamless fluency of delivery. With one able to choose to drive in rear- or rear-biased 4WD Auto mode where power is sent to the front wheels when needed, the F150 deliver reassuring road-holding and seems well balanced through corners. Additionally, 4H mode locks four-wheel-drive for moderate off-roading, while 4L engages low ratios for more demanding routes, heavy towing, steep inclines and low traction surfaces.

Capable, convenient 

and comfortable

Refined, and stable at speed, the F150 rides comfortably and smoothly, and felt settled over imperfections and rebound for a truck with leaf spring rear suspension. With double wishbone front suspension and the lighter Ecoboost engine, not to mention lighter aluminium body, the F150 turns in with a tidier and more agile manner than expected. Leaning somewhat through corners, it nevertheless had good in class body control, and felt balanced and predictable, with slight easy managed oversteer if too much power is applied too early on exiting a corner. Meanwhile, steering was light and more intuitive than many similarly sized trucks and SUVs.

A capable truck with 238mm ground clearance, good off-road angles and optional electronically locking rear differential for off-road driving, the F150 can also haul a payload of 921kg in its 1,495-litre cargo bed, and tow up to 5,352kg. Spacious every which way inside with easy accessibility to its four-door Super Crew cabin, the F150 Limited features and automatically lowering running boards, the F150 also features intuitive layouts, and good quality leather upholstery, trim and dashboard textures.

Extensively equipped with huge levels of convenience, infotainment and safety features, the Limited specification includes standard lane-keeping assistance, 360 degree camera, Pro Trailer Backup Assist, while available equipment includes adaptive cruise control, blind spot warning, cross-traffic alert and pre-collision assistance including a pedestrian detection system. Limited specification also includes huge 22-inch wheels that proved smooth on Dubai roads, but one would expect that other available smaller wheels and higher tyre sidewalls would better suitable for Jordanian roads.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: 3.5-litre, all-aluminium, twin-turbo, in-line V6-cylinders

Bore x stroke: 92.5 x 86.7mm

Compression ratio: 10:1

Valve-train: 24-valve, DOHC, variable valve timing

Gearbox: 10-speed automatic, four-wheel-drive, low ratio transfer case, optional locking rear differential

Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 375 (380) [280] @5,000rpm

Specific power: 107.2BHP/litre

Power-to-weight: 168.5BHP/tonne (approximately)

Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 470 (637) @2,500rpm

Specific torque: 182.2Nm/litre

Torque-to-weight: 286.3Nm/tonne

0-100km/h: approximately 6-seconds (estimate)

Top speed: 170km/h (electronically governed)

Minimum fuel requirement: 91RON

Length: 5,889mm

Width: 2,030mm

Height: 1,962mm

Wheelbase: 3,683mm

Track: 1,717mm 

Seating: 5

Cargo bed height, length, width: 543, 1,705, 1,285-1,656mm 

Cargo volume: 1,495-litres

Fuel capacity, standard/optional: 87-/125-litres

Payload: 921kg

Gross Vehicle Weight Rating: 3,175kg (estimate)

Towing maximum: 4,854-5,352kg (depending on axle ratio)

Steering: Electric-assisted rack & pinion

Turning circle: 15.57-metres

Suspension, F/R: Double wishbones, coil springs/live axle, leaf springs

Brakes, F/R: Disc, 350 x 34mm/drum, 335 x 22mm

Brake callipers, F/R: twin/single

Tyres: 275/45R22

The Palestinians and British Perfidy; 

The Tragic Aftermath of the Balfour Declaration of 1917

C. W. Richard Long

Sussex Academic Press, 2018

This is the latest of a series of books that covered the Balfour Declaration and the performance of the British Mandate over Palestine 1920 – 1948. It also thoroughly discussed the controversial interpretation of the correspondence between Sharif Husayn and McMahon, and how the Sharif (and Arabs) were deceived by the British double talk and the French intrigue.

It highlights the dedicated effort and the sophistication of the Zionist lobby lead by the well-connected Weizmann and the naivety of the Arab negotiators and leaders. All of which lead to the loss of Palestine and the dispersal of its indigenous population by a determined and persistent Zionist entity. Slowly but surely, it pursued its ambition not only to build a home (as the declaration called for) in the Holy Land, but also to control most of Palestine at the end of the mandate and complete its acquisition after the 1967 war.

The author Richard Long spent 26 years and most of his career in eight Arab Middle East countries with the British Foreign Office and the British Council, becoming subsequently director of the Islamic Studies at Newcastle University. Therefore, he is familiar with the region, its culture and history. This is his fifth book; other books covered Egypt and Iraq where British rule played a leading role in shaping their future. He is honest in expressing what he terms the “grievous wronging of the Palestinians in particular and the Arabs in general by my own country [Britain]”. It has become an establish fact that one nation (Britain) solemnly promised to second nation (Zionists) a country of a third (Arab Palestine). Long is honest in his recording and interpretation of history in that the Balfour Declaration call for an undefined Jewish National Home sought to disguise its true aim and the United kingdom purpose in issuing it was to turn Palestine into a Jewish state. Although the declaration call for undefined National Home sought to disguise that “The United Kingdom purpose in issuing it was to turn Palestine into a Jewish state”.

The book goes into details about the issue of the future of Palestine in the McMahon’s response to the Sharif of Mecca. In here, there was some ambiguity. Although the Sharif understanding was clear, McMahon’s correspondence was less clear. The Sykes-Picot Agreement which followed rapidly over the correspondence dashed all the Arab hopes of an independent Palestine by decreeing that after the war the territory would be internationally administered by the United Kingdom, France and Russia. The Balfour Declaration eighteen months later took a further giant miss-step and awarded it instead to the Jews.

This book is the most detailed, honest and a well-researched study of the circumstances leading to the Arab Revolt in 1915-1916, the McMahon’s correspondence and their ambiguity and double interpretation. The Sharif of Mecca thought that Britain promised him it would support an independent Arab entity in the whole of the Middle East, McMahon had a different interpretations and an ambiguous wording. The book details the events leading to the Balfour Declaration, the declaration itself and its tragic aftermath. The Arab violent reaction and Jews careful planning which gradually over thirty years of British rule over Palestine 1918-1948 ended by the emergence of Israel and its acquisition over most Palestine and expelling Palestinians, the indigenous population out of their land. It all ended in one of the longest outgoing conflicts, which after almost 100 years is still going, and causing instability and injustice in not only the Holy Land, but also affecting the whole of the Middle East and beyond.

Long explains the British excuse for the declaration. Britain wanted to implement and construct in Palestine a base, a backup to the Egyptian gateway protecting the Suez Canal route to India and that can only be obtained was to be put in the charge of trust worthy and cooperative Jews. The need for them to take this role, while keeping the French out, and was the unadmitted excuse for the Balfour Declaration. Feeling no need to consult them , Britain snatched Palestine away to the Jews who deceived many of their backers and supporters with the beguiling claim that the territory whose population of some 600,000, with Palestinians making up 93 per cent and only 7 per cent Jews, was a land without people which would be made available for a people without land. In the end, and after thirty years in a successful effort after the declaration, had brought to Britain less than nothing. In 1948, Britain had no one to hand Palestine over to and had lost all the prestige and the Middle East as well as in Haifa Port, the operating oil pipeline and the railway to Iraq which it had formally hoped to secure as its reward for its sponsorship of a National Home for the Jews over someone else’s land.

The British Mandate kept the Palestinians defenceless while arming the Jewish community. Its armed wing, the Hagana, attained a condition of professionalism during WWII, which the politically weak and geographically divided Arabs (and Palestinians) could not begin to match. Correspondingly, the 1948 (and later 1967) wars ended in a resounding loss to the Palestinians.

Long blames much of the Palestinians setback to the Palestinian family rivalry between the leading two Palestinian families of the Husaynys and the Nasheshibis, which blocked continued Arab effort and weakened Arab unity. In the view of some of independent observers Sheikh Amin Husayny (Arab leader) insistence on priority of domestic rivals over national preparedness was to condemn most of the Palestinians to exile. The author also blames Arab lack of political experience and maturity, which they displayed at great disadvantage at political negotiations, and their lack of knowledge of English (Lawrence was the major translator). All this placed them at great disadvantage versus the sophistication of Weismann (later Ben-Gurion) and colleagues and their influential connections and power of persuasion and intrigue.

Now, after more than 100 years we are in the middle of an on going conflict which seems never ending, and one which the declaration conspirators never envisaged or possibly intended.