Features

A more upmarket successor to Volkswagen’s first compact crossover SUV – or CUV – endeavour, the second generation Tiguan is a classier design, more refined drive and technologically advanced effort.

Competes with both mainstream and premium ends of an ever more popular family car segment the new Tiguan launched globally in 2016 and early this year in the Middle East.

Offered regionally in five trim levels and three driveline options, Variations include 148BHP 1.4-litre front-wheel-drive with 6-speed dual clutch DSG gearbox and 2-litre four-wheel-drive 7-speed DSG versions developing 177BHP or 217BHP Tiguan Sport 2.0 specification, as driven.

Distinct and defined

Built on a larger CUV version of the same MQB platform underpinning its superbly well rounded Golf family hatchback sister, the new Tiguan similarly reaps the benefits from increased lightweight aluminium content. Though a little longer and wider — and shorter — the new Tiguan nonetheless sheds 50kg over its predecessor for improved efficiency, performance and driving dynamic.

A distinctly sharper edged, mature and evolved design, the new Tiguan has a more contiguous, classy and sporting style than the model it replaces, with a particular emphasis on straight and level lines, from fascia, waistline and side ridged character line.

With a greater sense of the dramatic, including more muscular and chiselled surfacing, the new Tiguan’s more lines and broad fascia also emphasise a perception of width. Its level grille and headlights seem moodier, with deep-set lamps browed by LED strips. 

And with lower, descending roofline, justting spoiler, deeper lower front intakes, more defined sills and ridged character line extending to boomerang style rear lights, the latest Tiguan sits on the road with more presence and a sense of urgency. Driven in top Sport guise, the Tiguan features bumper integrated dual exhaust tips and larger more purposeful 19-inch alloys with 235/50R19 tyres.

Hot hatch heart

Powered by a turbocharged direct injection 2-litre four-cylinder engine the Sport 2.0 is the range-topping petrol version Tiguan, and comes with standard four-wheel-drive and 7-speed automated dual clutch gearbox. Borrowed from the Golf GTI hot hatch, it develops 217BHP at a broad 4500-620rpm band and muscular 258/b/ft torque throughout a wide and accessibly versatile 1500-4400rpm range. Refined and developed with efficient thermal management in mind, the Tiguan Sport’s engine spools up swiftly with only turbo lag from idling. More confident and noticeably quicker than 177BHP Tiguan models, the Sport is smoothly responsiveness, with flexibly confident mid-range and eager top-end.

Driving all four wheels and developing more traction from standstill, and with 7-speed DSG gearbox allowing for more aggressive lower gears, the larger heavier Tiguan Sport overcomes a 267kg weight disadvantage to match its nimble and more eager Golf GTI sister’s brisk 6.5-second 0-100km/h acceleration. 

And while this does not translate into similar performance or economy across the board, the Tiguan Sport’s 220km/h top speed and 7.8l/100km combined fuel efficiency are however impressive for its class. With progress underwritten by a broad and generous torque band, the Sport’s DSG gearbox delivers seamlessly swift and smooth shifts when operating in a sequence, whether in auto or manual mode.

Reassuring and refined

Underpinned by a shared platform and engine, the Tiguan Sport 2.0 drives with a tidy and adept manner, however it is not exactly a CUV version of the agile and eager Golf GTI. A different sort of driving experience, the larger and heavier and four-wheel-drive Tiguan has a heavier and perhaps slightly more comfortable and settled ride. If not as nimble, eager, adjustable and connected to winding roads and corners as the GTI, the Tiguan is however smooth, precise and reassuringly benign in its handling. Well controlling weight shifts through corners, the Tiguan Sport, however, remains taller and more comfortably setup than a hot hatch, and expectedly leans more when pushed.

Smooth and composed with terrific ride refinement and stability, the Tiguan is settled on rebound and comfortable over long distances and over imperfections, feeling slightly only firm over jagged bumps in the road, as driven with larger alloys and lower profile tyres.

With light yet direct steering, high and alert driving position and good visibility aided by optional parking assistance and rear and around view cameras, the Tiguan is easy to drive and manoeuvre on road. Meanwhile, its front-biased four-wheel-drive system reallocates power rearwards when additional grip is needed through corners or on low tractions surfaces.

Classy quarters

A refined and comfortable car-like CUV with MacPherson strut front and multi-link rear independent suspension, the Tiguan is very much designed to be driven on road. However, it is nonetheless equipped with a brake based electronic differential lock and Active Control driving modes, which utilise stability and traction control systems, and alter throttle and gearbox responses to maintain loose surfaces.

It also features Hill Descent Control to aid driving off-road, while standard safety systems are comprehensive and optional driver assistance systems include adaptive cruise control with Front Assist system, which includes Pedestrian Monitoring and automatic braking to prevent or mitigate collision severity.

Well-equipped with electronic stability control suite with electronic brakeforce distribution, brake disc wiper and brake assistance, the Sport model can optionally be equipped with knee and side airbags, and includes heads-up display, digital instrument cluster.

Standard equipment also includes ISOFIX child seat latches, rain sensing wipers, ambient lighting, panoramic sunroof and folding rear tables. Uncluttered, user-friendly and classy inside, the Tiguan’s cabin features quality materials and construction. Instrumentation is clear and seating well adjustable, supportive and comfortable, with good space and access front and rear to accommodate taller passengers in a row or increase luggage capacity.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

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

Bore x stroke: 82.5 x 92.8mm

Valve-train: 16-valve, DOHC, direct injection

Gearbox: 7-speed dual clutch automated, four-wheel-drive

Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 217 (220) [162] @4500-6200rpm

Specific power: 109.3BHP/litre

Power-to-weight: 130BHP/tonne

Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 258 (350) @1500-4400rpm

Specific torque: 176.4Nm/litre

Torque-to-weight: 209.7Nm/tonne

0-80km/h: 4.3-seconds

0-100km/h: 6.5-seconds

Top speed: 220km/h

Fuel consumption, urban/extra-urban/combined: 9.7-/6.7-/7.8-litres/100km 

CO2 emissions, combined: 180g/km

Fuel capacity: 60-litres

Length: 4486mm

Width: 1839mm

Height: 1646mm

Wheelbase: 2681mm

Overhang, F/R: 896/909mm

Track, F/R: 1576/1566mm

Headroom, F/R (w/sunroof): 1004/967mm

Minimum ground clearance: 180mm

Cabin width, F/R: 1503/1491mm

Luggage volume, min/max: 615/1655-litres

Unladen weight, minimum: 1669kg 

Steering: Electric-assisted rack & pinion

Turning Circle: 11.5-metres

Suspension, F/R: MacPherson struts/Multi-link

Tyres: 235/50R19

Middle East Studies for the New Millennium: Infrastructures of Knowledge

Edited by Seteney Shami and Cynthia Miller-Idriss

New York: The Social Science Research Council and NYU Press, 2016

Pp. 488

The result of a ten-year research project, this book explores the relationship between knowledge and power as it plays out in the field of Middle East Studies (MES) in the US. This might sound theoretical, but the book is very concrete; 17 scholars address a range of issues that often overstep the bounds of academia.

Due to the US’s fraught relations with the Middle East, and the region’s geopolitical importance, US foreign and domestic policies impact directly on MES, via legislation and funding, as do prevailing ideologies and the ways in which research, teaching and learning are organized at universities. 

Obviously, 9/11 was a turning point for MES (as for so much else), but it had a dual effect. While increasing interest in the area and government funding for relevant language programs, it also shone a critical spotlight on MES scholars who were taken to task by some for not having anticipated the escalation of militant Islamism. Attacks on academic freedom rose, as did demands that MES better serve “national security”.

Outlining the crises affecting MES, the editors contend that global events of the 21st century overturned previous thinking: “As the world sees increased militarism, deepened suspicions, swelled refugee flows, and renewed obstacles to the circulation of ideas and people, the happy assumptions of global flows and creative hybridities seem a thing of the past. These trends have implications for the field of MES and the ways in which knowledge about the region is produced.” (p. 2)

More than ever, MES became an embattled paradigm.

Successive chapters trace how MES developed past Oriental departments into area studies, how it is related to other disciplines, particularly the social sciences and humanities, how it has been affected by the restructuring of universities, and how it compares to other area studies. There is critical inquiry into the meaning of scientific

objectivity, and how US intervention in the areas under study impinges on how they are viewed. Although Orientalism was seriously challenged and often discarded, other intellectual trends, such as American exceptionalism, Cold War thinking, modernisation theory, liberal values and neoliberalism, have moulded MES into boxes not necessarily conducive to actually discovering the diverse reality of the region. 

The first section of the book examines the role of various disciplines in furthering or diverting MES. Taking examples from political science, sociology and economy, scholars note that the adoption of quantitative methodology has obscured the real issues and often made the social sciences complicit in US imperial strategy, especially after the revival of cultural essentialism which paints the region as backward and thus in need of intervention. “In the context of political science’s commitments to scientific objectivity and to the production, or at least protection, of the US liberal order, studying the Middle East has always been a vexed enterprise.” (p. 31)

“For area studies, the price of being admitted to mainstream sociology… was to concede that in-depth knowledge of world regions was of secondary importance to methodological rigor.” (p. 96)

As a counterweight, there is a survey of the history of sociology in the Middle East itself. 

Many of the contributors argue for breaking out of narrow disciplinary confines, noting that “our collective interdisciplinary research on the ‘Middle East’ has helped complicate assumed universal phenomena, thus enabling a richer understanding of how spaces of all shapes and scales are situated products of particular connections between people, things, and ideas”. (p. 170)

The second section of the book covers how MES evolved and has been structured at various universities, and includes a very interesting survey of PhD dissertations on the Middle East in the years 2000-2010, to show what is actually being studied.

The final section is the most politically charged, as the contributors evaluate the consequences of the 21st century’s shift towards a global rather than regional focus, and the new priority assigned to studying neoliberal economies, political Islam and terrorism. While public knowledge and debate were skewed by government deception and its echoes in the media in the aftermath of 9/11, affecting the public’s view of the Iraq War, Palestine, the wars on Lebanon, etc., on the positive side, more scholars have engaged in public debates on academic freedom and the purpose of MES. The book wraps up with a challenge to MES scholars to focus their work on really meaningful topics, despite prevailing trends in other directions: “In part because of the remarkably constricted horizons of American political and social life and because of the imperial past of the region, we must confront the technical limits of our disciplines and the urgent need to address morally significant and momentous issues.” (p. 439)

AMSTERDAM — What is nicer after a long day than sinking your feet into comfortable slippers? But one Italian designer is hoping to show that shoes made from mushrooms can be just as cosy.

A pair of light brown slippers, bowls, lampshades and even a chair are also among the everyday objects that artist Maurizio Montalti has been fashioning from various fungi, such as the “mushrooms that you find in the forest when you take a walk”.

Montalti, 36, hopes one day his new, sustainable material could even replace plastic, made from diminishing fossil fuels and difficult to recycle.

“I started working with fungi as part of my design practice a few years ago,” he told AFP, saying he was seeking a “different vision” on the benefits of humans engaging “with species, which are usually disregarded, such as fungal organisms”.

His prime material is mycelium, the white, organic and underground part of a mushroom composed of a network of tiny threads. At first invisible to the human eye, the network can become so dense that it grows into a visible, furry mass. 

“Mycelium is a very interesting product because it is able to break down all leaves for instance, or all kinds of products that we don’t use anymore,” said Ilja Dekker, technician at the world’s only microbe museum, Micropia, in Amsterdam.

This means it can be used to make different products. 

“It can be used to build all types of things like vases, things that we can put inside our houses. But also to build our houses, as a building material to actually make a house,” she said.

Micropia, an interactive museum housed next to Artis, Amsterdam’s zoo, is hosting a small permanent exhibition of Montalti’s work as part of its mission to highlight how useful microbes are.

Cooking fungi

His concept of “growing design” allows objects to grow naturally with no external shaping, cutting or sculpting, much as plants do in the wild.

Placed into moulds made from wood, clay, plastic or plaster, the mushroom is left to gorge on organic matter like wood chips, straw, hay or linen. 

“They feed on such plant matter and while degrading it, they also extend their microscopic filamentous threads and they create this very interconnected network of threads which works as a binding glue, you could say as a natural glue,” said Montalti.

At some point the process has to be halted otherwise the ravenous fungi would just continue to grow, completely breaking down the organic matter.

So the mould is placed into a low-heat oven, which, in effect, cooks the fungus inside.

The fungi culture is “fully deactivated” leaving behind an “inert material, but still fully natural and fully compostable”, he said.

In this way, in 10 days a sand-coloured vase was created, or a whitish, rough chair which took 20 days to make.

“Every object is unique,” said Montalti, highlighting how the kind of fungus used, the organic food source or environmental conditions can all change the object’s look, colour and feel.

Natural resources

At the start of his research Montalti had been looking at using fungi to help break down materials, such as to stop pollution.

But it was when he “stumbled” upon the creation of a new material that he took a different turn.

Depending on what kind of fungi is used, the material it produces can be stiff or elastic, porous to water, brittle or resistant to heat.

The shoe industry is interested now in his work, hoping to replace traditional rubbers for instance.

There is also interest in it as “victimless leather”, which involves finding materials that resemble traditional animal leather but “do not involve any killing”.

“The ecological aspect and the ecological responsibility is rather paramount” to the whole project, Montalti said.

And he outlined a grand vision. “I foresee a future in the next 10 or 20 years where such materials will strongly impact our way of life.”

You know the drill: You haven’t had a good night’s sleep for a few days and now you don’t like what you see in the mirror — puffy eyelids, dark circles, sallow skin.

You splash some water on your face and hope no one notices. Besides, it doesn’t really matter if you look tired, you tell yourself. It’s not like anyone is going to notice, right?

Wrong.

It turns out that just two consecutive nights of restricted sleep can make you appear less attractive to others and, even worse, make them less interested in hanging out with you, according to a study in Royal Society Open Science.

“People seem to be able to tell when someone needs more sleep, and are more inclined to leave them alone in that case,” the authors wrote in the new work.

To come to this conclusion the researchers recruited 25 volunteers who agreed to deliberately limit their sleep for the good of science.

Member of this group, referred to as “subjects” in the paper, had their photo taken twice — once after two consecutive nights of normal sleep (about 7 1/2 hours) and again after two consecutive nights of poor sleep (about 4 1/4 hours).

In both sets of pictures the subjects were photographed in a grey T-shirt, with their hair pulled away from their faces, and were told not to wear makeup.

Next, the researchers showed the photos to a different set of 122 volunteers they called “raters”. These people were asked to rate the subjects on attractiveness, health, sleepiness and trustworthiness.

They also were asked how much they would like to socialise with the person in the photo.

The study authors found that overall, raters were less willing to socialise with tired-looking subjects compared with those who were well rested.

In addition, they also deemed the poorly rested subjects to be less attractive, less healthy and more sleepy compared with when they were well rested.

“Telling someone they look tired says more about your perception of them than you might think,” the authors wrote.

The study did not address the reason that a lack of sleep makes others want to avoid you, but the authors have a hypothesis. They explain that blood flow to the skin is strongly promoted by sleep. Perhaps when we don’t get enough sleep, that results in restricted blood flow to the skin, which in turn would make us look more pale and tired.

“We’re still not sure about this,” said Tina Sundelin, a post-doctoral student in psychology at both the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and New York University who led the work. “Hanging and swollen eyelids is probably due to something other than blood flow, but we haven’t looked into that yet.”

She added that not everyone looks worse after a few nights of bad sleeping.

“For some participants, it was very clear which condition the photo belonged to, and for others, there was virtually no difference between the two,” Sundelin said. “A couple of participants were even rated as more attractive after sleep restriction.”

Eating more fruits and vegetables may reduce the risk of peripheral artery disease, according to a study of more than 3.6 million individuals in the US.

“We hope that studies like this can be an important reminder of the role we as consumers have on heart disease and stroke,” Dr Jeffrey S. Berger from New York University School of Medicine told Reuters Health. “We often remember to take our medication, yet, studies like this should remind us to eat our fruits and veggies every day. Moreover, we should continue reminding our young generation of this importance now before disease develops.” 

Past research has linked fruit and vegetable consumption to a lower risk of coronary heart disease and stroke, but there has been little research into the effects of fruits and vegetables on arteries in the legs and arms, Berger’s team writes in Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology.

Peripheral artery disease, or PAD, usually arises as a narrowing of arteries to the legs that causes cramping, pain or tiredness in the muscles while walking or climbing stairs. It affects at least 8 to 12 million Americans. 

Risk for PAD increases with age, and with a history of smoking, diabetes or high blood pressure.

To investigate whether fruit and vegetable consumption influences risk for PAD, Berger’s team analysed dietary data on 3,696,778 men and women with an average age of about 65, around 234,000 of whom had PAD. 

The US Department of Agriculture/US Health and Human Services Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend at least two servings of fruit and at least three servings of vegetables each day, but only 29 per cent of participants in the study said they ate even three servings of fruits and vegetables daily. 

Nearly half said they consumed at least three servings of fruit and vegetables on fewer than half the days of the week.

Older white women were most likely to consume fruits and vegetables regularly, and younger black men were least likely to eat at least three servings daily. 

Fruit and vegetable consumption also varied by region, with those living in the Pacific states reporting the most regular consumption and those living in the South Central states reporting the least regular consumption. 

After adjusting for age, sex, race and other risk factors, the more fruits and vegetables the participants ate, the lower their likelihood of having PAD.

When researchers divided participants according to their smoking status, they found the relationship between fruit and vegetable intake and PAD was strongest among current smokers, less significant among former smokers and not significant among people who never smoked. 

“Unfortunately, fruit and vegetable intake is quite low across the entire United States,” Berger said by email. 

 “Something as simple as eating fruits and vegetables could have a major impact on the prevalence of a life-altering disease, such as peripheral artery disease,” he said. 

“Watch what you eat,” Berger advised. “And pay careful attention to eat fruits and vegetables every single day.” 

“Increasing fruit and vegetable intake is important and can have far reaching health benefits,” said Dr Michelle L. Redmond from University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita, who was not involved in the study.

To get people to up their intake of greens, she said by e-mail, “First, one must take into consideration factors that influence behaviours such as access and affordability of fresh fruits and vegetables [how do you change or lessen certain barriers to fruit/vegetable intake]. Then design interventions or campaigns that are tailored to specific audiences to motivate and increase fruit/vegetable consumption. Finally, there is also a need to increase nutrition literacy.” 

Getting people to eat more fruits and vegetables is a challenge in other countries, too, noted Dr Miguel A. Martinez-Gonzalez from University of Navarra Medical School in Spain, who was not involved in the study. 

As with almost everything, there are two categories of air travellers: the first are the ones who reach the airport at least three hours before their flight departure time, and the second are the rest of us. However much we try, we can just about manage to arrive at the check-in counter a minute or so before it closes.

It is not that I like being slotted in the second group, not at all. In fact I have tried every trick in the book to give myself ample interval between completing my security check and boarding the flight. I mean, the never-ending duty free counters at the humungous international terminals, are designed for a reason. And there, to browse around at a leisurely pace, contemplating what you want to spend your hard-earned money on needs lots of patience and time. 

Both of which are sadly lacking when I find myself sprinting on the conveyer sidewalk, from one corner to another. Interestingly, the golf-buggy type of electrical carts never stop for me because the attendants manning them think I am not elderly enough to warrant a free ride. Besides, there are many other people who delay my progress, like this particular young lady who did my body search the last time I flew out of Dubai.

After waving the hand held metal detector all around me, she glanced at my passport and appeared to be shocked at seeing my date of birth. Instead of putting the security clearance stamp on my boarding card, she kept asking me if I was indeed as old as my ID declared I was. When I answered in the affirmative, she wanted to know which moisturiser I used. I would have happily traded my tube of cold cream for a seat in the ‘‘senior citizen only’’ buggy, however the new travel restrictions barred me from carrying it, you see. 

On an aside, while discussing air travel in Amman, I must underline the latest witty one-line advertisements doing the rounds for the Hashemite Kingdom’s national carrier ‘‘Royal Jordanian’’. A day before America went to the polls in 2016 to pick a new president, the airline promoted flights to the US with an advert hinting at a likely travel ban ahead, should Donald Trump get elected. “Just in case he wins…travel to the US while you’re still allowed to”. 

Then, on March 22, when the US Department of Homeland Security announced that electronics “larger than a smartphone” would be forbidden as carry-on items for flights departing from 10 Middle Eastern and North African airports, including Amman’s Queen Alia International Airport, RJ spoke up again. The airline responded with a list of “12 things to do on a 12-hour flight with no laptop or tablet”, that included stuff like — say hello to the person next to you, read a book, meditate — and ended with a recommendation to “Do what we Jordanians do best… Stare at each other!”

These cheeky ads cheered all passengers from the serious side of the restrictions that included a potential for theft, damage or compromised data if laptops were checked in with the luggage. 

Recently, in Jordan, I was out of breath at the boarding gate once again. 

“No need to rush, we are celebrating Brexit,” the duty manager announced. 

“Since 1946,” he continued, showing me the latest RJ airline’s tweet on his cellphone.

The punch line made me burst into laughter.

“Happy Independence Day,” he smiled.

“Happy Independence day,” I echoed.

By Elizabeth Weise 

SAN FRANCISCO — Grit your teeth and let your computer update itself. That’s the advice of security experts, who say consumers should welcome those updates because they serve a crucial purpose highlighted by the victims of the WannaCry ransomware attack.

In the case of the massive cyber security offensive that hit computers in over 150 countries last week, users who had installed a Microsoft-issued patch were immune. Those that hadn’t could be hijacked.

In a world where computers and the software that runs them are under near-constant assault, updates allow companies like Microsoft, Apple and Google to keep customers safe — to the annoyance of many users.

“Think of this whole thing between the hackers and us, the average people, as an arms race. The hackers find a vulnerability, the companies find something to counter it,” said John Otero, a professor at St John’s University’s computer security programme.

But too many consumers turn off updates or refuse to install them when they pop up, either because they like their programmes as they are, or because they fear the updates themselves may be malicious, or simply because it’s too much work or downtime.

A study by the Pew Research Centre in January found that 14 per cent of consumers never updated their smartphone’s operating system and 42 per cent waited “until it was convenient”.

Younger users seem to be more onboard with updates. Pew found that 48 per cent of younger users, 18- to 29-year-olds, had their smartphones set to automatically install updates when they were available. But 13 per cent still said they never updated their systems.

Microsoft significantly changed its update model with its Windows 10 operating system by allowing for automatically installed updates, with some flexibility about timing on the part of the user. Major upgrades can only be deferred for 180 days, with a 60-day grace period. And in a change from the past, its weekly security patches are now bundled together, whereas it used to be possible to choose which to install.

Many of the computers affected by WannaCry were running the Windows XP operating system, which could not initially be patched because Microsoft stopped supporting the programme in 2014 except for a high fee. In the case of WannaCry, Microsoft took the unusual step of issuing a free patch for Windows XP machines due to the severity of the threat.

As attacks increase, companies are increasingly pushing out updates.

“Apple used to only update their software once a year and now they do it monthly, mostly for security patches. Microsoft used to be able to go a year for a big update,” said Daniel Ladik, a professor who specialises in digital marketing at Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey.

Those ever-more-frequent updates also often include a mix of both security and general software changes — to the frustration of users. They complain some updates force them to reset preferences or that the updates cause crashes. The frequency and glitches have given updates a bad name, leading some consumers to ignore these persistent reminders.

Sometimes settings change, “so suddenly you’re getting push notifications even though you had them turned off so you’ve got to go back in and reset everything,” said Ladik.

‘No one wants to be interrupted’

That’s the challenge for the technology industry: To keep consumer data safe, software makers need to convince users to constantly maintain their programmes. But the more they interrupt consumers, who are increasingly tethered to their smart devices, the less these consumers want to play along.

A Google survey of security experts and regular web users in 2015 found a wide gap between the two when it comes to updates. A full 35 per cent of experts —but only 2 per cent of non-experts — said installing software updates was one of their top security practices.

Google thinks it is less a reluctance to install updates and more just not wanting to be hassled.

“No one wants to be interrupted in the middle of doing a task they’re concentrating on to pause and deal with something totally unrelated,” said Parisa Tabriz, a Google Chrome security expert. That is why the Google operating system is automatically updated, she said.

Grady Summers, chief technology officer with security company FireEye, thinks the fear of installing something that will crash a system or brick a device is overinflated, especially compared to the danger of getting hacked.

“The risk is minuscule compared to the risk you run by not patching. Companies like Microsoft and Google extensively test updates for compatibility. Unless you’re running very specialised software, you shouldn’t be concerned,” he said.

This leads to a mismatch between security concerns and consumer concerns.

Ladik tends to be of the ‘‘if you’re unsure, don’t do it’’, school of thought, figuring that for most devices he can skip somewhere between three and five updates before they stop working.

That outlook drives security professionals to distraction.

“The inconvenience experienced from potential changes due to patching is a fraction of the hassle involved in recovering from a compromise. Take the medicine, it’s far better than the disease,” said John Bock, a vice president of application security at Optiv, a computer security company.

Users do not always see it that way. “Sometimes the medicine is worse than the disease itself,” said Otero, a former commanding officer in the New York Police Department’s computer security unit.

To his mind, updates make sense for businesses, because they have a tech staff and can test systems when they install updates. Consumers don’t have that luxury. So he often waits a few days when an update comes out, keeping an eye on what others are writing online about the new code.

“Sometimes you’ll go on and see a couple of hundreds of people saying the same thing — ‘Don’t do it! It will break!’” said Otero.

Security experts say the reality is that most people do not remember to update. And waiting is becoming increasingly less safe.

“As attackers become more sophisticated and more automated, the time it takes them to exploit unpatched systems shrinks significantly. This means the risk of not auto-updating systems goes up in comparison to using an update that has not been verified in the field,” said Ayal Yogev, vice president of product management at SafeBreach.

One solution would be for companies to separate security updates from programme updates. That would let users choose security immediately but give them control over when they want to automatically update other aspects of programmes or operating systems, said Cooper Quintin, a staff technologist with the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco-based digital advocacy group.

“The branding of automatic updates has been severely tarnished in the public eye because of updates that break things or that drastically change the programme,” he said.

Eating a small amount of chocolate every week or so may decrease the risk of a common and serious type of irregular heart rhythm, according to a new study of people in Denmark.

People who ate chocolate one to three times per month were about 10 per cent less likely to be diagnosed with atrial fibrillation than those who ate the sweet treat less than once a month, researchers found.

“As part of a healthy diet, moderate intake of chocolate is a healthy snack choice,” said lead author Elizabeth Mostofsky, of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centre in Boston.

The study cannot say for certain that it was the chocolate that prevented atrial fibrillation, however.

Mostofsky and colleagues write in the journal Heart that eating cocoa and cocoa-containing foods may help heart health because they have a high volume of flavanols, which are compounds that are believed to have anti-inflammatory, blood vessel-relaxing and anti-oxidant properties.

Past studies have that found eating chocolate — especially dark chocolate, which has more flavanols — is tied to better measures of heart health and decreased risk for certain conditions like heart attacks and heart failure, they add.

There is not as much research on whether chocolate is also linked to a lower risk of atrial fibrillation, which occurs when the upper chamber of the heart beats irregularly.

At least 2.7 million people in the US have atrial fibrillation, which increases their risk for blood clots and resulting strokes, heart failure and other complications, according to the American Heart Association.

For the new analysis, the researchers used data collected for a long-term study of 55,502 people in Denmark. The men and women were between 50 and 64 years old when it began, and they provided information about their diets when they entered the study between 1993 and 1997.

The researchers then linked that diet data to Denmark’s national health registries to see who was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation.

Overall, about 3,346 cases of atrial fibrillation occurred over an average of 13.5 years.

Based on their diets at the beginning of the study period, people who ate one serving, about 28.35 grammes, of chocolate per week were 17 per cent less likely to be diagnosed with atrial fibrillation by the end of the study than people who reported eating chocolate less than once a month.

Similarly, those who ate 2 to 6 ounces per week were 20 per cent less likely to be diagnosed with atrial fibrillation, while those who ate more than an ounce of chocolate a day were 16 per cent less likely to have the condition.

Among women, the biggest risk reduction was tied to eating one serving of chocolate per week. For men, the biggest reduction came with eating two to six servings per week.

“I think our message here is that moderate chocolate intake as part of a healthy diet is an option,” Mostofsky told Reuters Health.

The researchers caution that they cannot account for unmeasured factors, such as kidney disease and sleep apnoea, that may influence the risk of atrial fibrillation. They also didn’t have data on the type of chocolate or the amount of flavanols participants ate. Their diets may have also changed over the nearly 14 years of data collection.

The data also suggests the participants who ate the most chocolate consumed more calories, but had a lower body mass index — a measure of weight in relation to height — than people who ate the least chocolate, noted Alice Lichtenstein, director and senior scientist at the Cardiovascular Nutrition Laboratory at Tufts University in Boston.

“It’s very likely — if I had to bet — that these people were more physically active,” said Lichtenstein, who was not involved in the new study.

She said people likely cannot get around the fact that they need to have a healthy diet, be physically active and not smoke to optimise their health.

“There is no quick fix,” she told Reuters Health. 

Doctors Sean Pokorney and Jonathan Piccini write in an accompanying editorial that the study’s findings are interesting and warrant further consideration despite their limitations.

“A double-blind randomised controlled trial is needed to evaluate the true efficacy of chocolate for the prevention of (atrial fibrillation) and such a trial would need to incorporate quantified doses of cocoa,” write Pokorney and Piccini, of Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina.

General Motors third and best attempt yet to crack the German-dominated premium executive saloon segment, the third generation Cadillac CTS is larger, lighter and more sophisticated car than the one it replaces. First arriving as a 2014 model year and very mildly updated for 2017, since driven, the current CTS is crucially offered for the first time with a downsized but effective entry-level 2-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine necessary to try to compete with the Audi A6, Mercedes-Benz E-Class and BMW executive car troika in high tax markets like Jordan.

Complex and contemporary

Closer in size, design and price to the now discontinued and more upscale STS model line than its own predecessors, the current CTS features a similar emphasis on width, with a broad, snouty and well-framed grille topped by a ridge bonnet and flanked by slim wrapover headlights positioned further to the side and lower. And like the STS, it features a long bonnet with short overhang in front contrasted with a short boot with long overhang at the rear for a more indulgent and luxurious road stance.

A more complex, evocative and better integrated evolution of Cadillac’s sharp angled and contemporary ‘art and science’ design language, the current CTS is a considerably more nuanced and mature interpretation. More layered and with more ridges, angles and surfacing definition, the new CTS flanks are notable more fluent.

A rising ridge running through the door handles adds movement, and makes its waistline seem lower than its predecessor’s almost featureless flanks. Updates include new grille and wheel designs and revised lower rear bumper with vertical exhaust openings to reflect the CTS vertical light cluster themes.

Flexible four-pot engine

Unchanged under the bonnet for 2017, the entry-level CTS is powered by an turbocharged direct injection 2-litre 4-cylinder engine with equal bore diameter and stroke length. Dense in power developed compared to displacement, the CTS 4-pot engine produces 268BHP at 5600rpm and 295lb/ft throughout a broad 3000-4500rpm peak torque band, 90 per cent of which is available during a wider 2100-5400rpm range.

Driving the rear wheels through a standard 8-speed automatic gearbox, this allows the 1651kg CTS to accelerate through the 0-100km/h benchmark in 6.6-seconds and onto a 240km/h maximum. 

Responsive and quick-spooling with only slight turbo lag from idle, the CTS’ broad torque-rich rev range allows for confident on the move acceleration and flexibility. Underwritten by generous torque, the CTS develops maximum power at a relatively low revving but accessible 5600rpm. However, more peaky delivery nearer to its 6400rpm rev limit would have been more rewarding. Smooth operating in mid-range, the CTS is happy to rev high but isn’t at its smoothest as the tachometer needle reaches for the red line. Meanwhile, good fuel efficiency and a large fuel tank provide good driving range.

Balanced and settled

Driving the rear wheels through an 8-speed automatic gearbox, the CTS 2.0L Turbo’s numerous rations allow for a combination of responsive low-end acceleration, mid-range versatility and efficient and refined motorway cruising. Developed in-house by GM, the CTS’ 8-speed does a fine job and features adjustable auto and manual driving modes. However, it didn’t seem quite as slick, quick or seamlessly shifting as ZF-sourced 8-speed auto gearboxes. 

Meanwhile, the CTS front-engine and rear-drive coupled with short front and long rear overhangs provide near perfect 50:50 weight distribution and agile balance through corners.

Balanced and predictable through corners, the CTS’s relatively long wheelbase means that grip levels are good, and when at the limit, rear slippage is progressive with stability controls switch off. Meanwhile its weight distribution and quick steering ratio make it eager, direct and tidy turning in, if not layered with road feel. With its balance, the CTS is rewarding in, through and out of corners, especially when driven a lower gear is selected to ensure smooth, responsive and progressive throttle control as one comes back on power when exiting.

Comfortable cruiser

Though capable and confident in terms of handling, the most abiding impression of the CTS is its stable, settled and seemingly heavy on the ground ride quality. Reassuring and indulgent on the motorway and cruising through the city, the CTS planted ride quality is almost Germanic in character, with good vertical pitch and rebound control. Comfortable over imperfections and with good body control through corners, the CTS can be slightly stiff over sudden and jagged bumps and cracks owing to its low profile tyres. However, optional adaptive magnetic dampers provide improved ride suppleness and better body lean control.

Comfortable and ergonomic in front, the CTS cabin features low-mounted and well-adjustable seats and steering, with controls within easy rear and good front visibility, while rear visibility is aided by a rearview camera. Rear seat space is fine, while boot space is adequate, if not segment leading. Luxurious with good materials, leathers and soft textures in prominent places, the CTS layout is somewhat busy with buttons and various instrument cluster light colours. Well-equipped with numerous standard and optional comfort, convenience and safety equipment, the CTS capable and advanced CUE infotainment system requires a few minutes for familiarisation, but has also been updated for 2017.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: 2-litre, turbocharged in-line 4-cylinders

Bore x Stroke: 86 x 86mm

Compression ratio: 9.5:1

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

Gearbox: 8-speed automatic, rear-wheel-drive

Gear ratios: 1st 4.62 2nd 3.04 3rd 2.07 4th 1.66 5th 1.26 6th 1.0 7th 0.85 8th 0.66

Reverse/final drive ratios: 3.93/3.85

Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 268 (272) [200] @5600rpm

Specific power: 134.1BHP/litre

Power-to-weight: 162.3BHP/tonne

Torque lb/ft (Nm): 295 (400) @3000-4500rpm

Specific torque: 200.2Nm/litre

Torque-to-weight: 242.2Nm/tonne

Rev limit: 6400rpm

0-100km/h: 6.6-seconds

Top speed: 240km/h

Fuel consumption, city/highway: 11.2/7.6-litres/100km

Fuel capacity: 72-litres

Length: 4966mm

Width: 1833mm 

Height: 1454mm

Wheelbase: 2910mm

Track, F/R: 1560/1567mm

Unladen weight: 1651kg

Weight distribution, F/R: 50 per cent/50 per cent

Headroom, F/R: 995/952mm

Legroom, F/R: 1081/899mm

Shoulder room, F/R: 1446/1392mm

Hip room, F/R: 1366/1353mm

Cargo volume: 388-litres

Steering: Variable electric-assist rack & pinion

Turning circle: 11.3-metres

Lock-to-lock: 2.6-turns

Suspension F/R: MacPherson struts/multi-link

Brake discs, F/R: Ventilated 321mm/315mm

Brake callipers, F/R: 4-/1-pistons

Tyres: 245/40R18