Features

PARIS — Damage to the brain’s outer layer caused by smoking may be reversible after quitting, but it could take years, a study said Tuesday.

Brain scans of 500 Scottish septuagenarians confirmed a link between smoking and an acceleration of age-related thinning of the cortex — the outer layer of grey matter, researchers reported.

But they also pointed, for the first time, to potential for recovery after quitting.

The cortex of ex-smokers in the group “seems to have partially recovered for each year without smoking”, the multinational research team wrote in the Nature journal Molecular Psychiatry.

But they warned that: “Although partial recovery seems possible, it can be a long process.”

Many studies have linked cigarette smoking with cognitive decline and dementia, and some also with brain degeneration.

“Evidence suggests that smokers have, on average, slightly poorer global cognitive functioning in later life, as well as lower mean scores on several cognitive domains such as cognitive flexibility and memory,” said the study authors.

But it has never been shown whether the effects may be reversible.

For the new study, the team used people who had participated in the Scottish Mental Survey as schoolchildren in 1947, when their cognitive function was tested.

The survivors underwent MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scans again in 2007, and the results of 504 of them were analysed.

There were 36 current smokers, 223 ex-smokers and 245 who had never smoked in the group, which had an average age of 73, said the study paper.

There was no significant difference between their ages or childhood IQ, and the group was split just almost equally between men and women.

Analysis of the scans showed that current smokers “had a generally thinner cortex than those who had never smoked”, said the study.

‘Strong motivational argument’

As for the quitters, who had on average smoked about a pack a day for 30 years, “it took roughly 25 years without smoking for differences in cortical thickness to no longer be observed between ex-smokers and those that never smoked”, the authors wrote.

And they warned: “Heavy ex-smokers remained with a thinner cortex at age 73 years even after more than 25 years without smoking.”

The findings could mean that giving up smoking caused cortical thinning to decelerate to a rate slower than normal age-related thinning, to allow ex-smokers to “catch up”, the study said.

Or it could be that the cortex actually started to thicken and rebuild.

“Smokers need to be informed that cigarettes are associated with accelerated cortical thinning, a biomarker of cognitive ageing,” said the study.

“Importantly, cortical thinning can persist for many years after smoking cessation.

“The potential to at least partially recover from smoking-related thinning might serve as a strong motivational argument to encourage smoking cessation.”

SEOUL — Watch what you say in your living room. Samsung’s smart TV could be listening. And sharing.

Voice recognition technology in the South Korean company’s Internet connected TVs captures and transmits nearby conversations.

The potential for TVs to eavesdrop is revealed in Samsung’s smart TV privacy policy available on its website.

“Please be aware that if your spoken words include personal or other sensitive information, that information will be among the data captured and transmitted to a third party through your use of Voice Recognition,” the policy said.

For the voice command feature to work, the TV listens for speech which is translated by third-party software into text and sent back to the TV as a command. Samsung declined to name the software company. The TV also transmits other information including its unique identifier.

Samsung said data collection is aimed at improving TV performance but users can disable it.

In a statement, the company said it takes consumer privacy “very seriously”.

“We employ industry-standard security safeguards and practices, including data encryption, to secure consumers’ personal information and prevent unauthorised collection or use.”

It is not the first time that smart TVs sparked privacy concerns. In 2013, the owner of a LG Electronics smart TV revealed it was sending information about his viewing habits back to the company without consent and without encrypting data.

LG has also experimented with displaying targeted ads on its smart TVs, which requires collecting and utilising user data, such as their location, age and gender.

PARIS — Europe will launch an experimental “space plane” on Wednesday, a car-sized, wingless vessel whose 100-minute unmanned mission will inform the design of reusable spacecraft of the future.

Reentry is a major challenge for the aerospace industry — as illustrated when Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated in Earth’s atmosphere in February 2003, killing all seven crew.

Friction with the Earth’s atmosphere slows the returning craft, but also heats the outside to scorching temperatures.

If the reentry angle is too steep the craft will burn up, too shallow and it may bounce off the atmosphere or pierce through but completely miss its landing target.

These are the types of conditions that the European Space Agency’s Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV) are meant to test. 

“We are able to go (to space), we are able to stay in orbit. What we want to learn today is to close the loop, to return from orbit and this is one of the most complex disciplines in space activity,” IXV programme manager Giorgio Tumino told AFP.

The craft is equipped with more than 300 sensors, including infrared cameras, and its maiden trip will seek to “really capture all the key phenomena that are unknown, are not predictable on the ground. You really need in-flight experience for this,” Tumino said.

The IXV sports an innovative body shape its designers hope will balance reliability with manoeuvrability.

Most reentry craft carrying astronauts have been flat-bottomed capsules landing with parachutes — a simpler design that offers little control for landing on target.

NASA’s winged Space Shuttle, on the other hand, could land accurately on an airstrip but was heavy, complex and expensive — and damage to heat-resistant panels on a wing is what caused the Columbia disaster. The shuttle has since been retired.

The IXV has a design somewhere between the two — an aerodynamic shape that creates the lift needed to fly, but without wings — called a “lifting body”.

Four thrusters and two hind steering flaps will stabilise and angle the craft, while ceramic thermal protection panels will shield it from temperatures up to 1,700 degrees Celsius on reentry — hot enough to melt metal.

The two-tonne, five metre-long plane is scheduled to be blasted into space on a Vega rocket from ESA’s space pad in Kourou, French Guiana, at 1300 GMT next Wednesday.

It will separate from the launcher about 18 minutes later, some 320 kilometres above Earth, and then climb to a height of about 450km before starting its descent at several times the speed of sound, recording valuable data along the way.

A parachute will deploy to slow the descent, and balloons will keep the craft afloat after splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, where it will be recovered by a ship for analysis.

“The IXV mission will test cutting-edge system and technology aspects to provide Europe with an independent reentry capability, and a building block for reusable space transportation systems,” said an ESA statement.

“ESA has developed the capabilities to deliver spacecraft into orbit, dock automatically with cooperative or non-cooperative targets and even land on celestial objects far away in our Solar System. 

“Mastering autonomous return from orbit and soft landing will open a new chapter.”

In its element on London’s tight and busy streets, the UK’s best-selling Ford Fiesta is affordable, agile, economical and sensible. With 131,254 Fiestas registered in the UK in 2014, it outsells the next best-selling Ford Focus (46,114) and its chief rival and third best-selling Vauxhall Corsa (49,471), according to Auto Express. 

More than just rational purchase, the unassuming Fiesta’s honest and fun character, with stylishly modern but unpretentious design, sublime combination of agile and engaging handling with supple and composed comfort, and generous equipment contribute much to its runaway success. 

Driven in turbocharged 1.0-litre manual gearbox five-door Zetec guise, the Fiesta proved a perky, petrol-pinching and practical week-long companion.

Feisty Fiesta

Classy and sporty in an unaffected and feisty manner, the Fiesta’s big gaping horizontally-slatted grille and squinting wraparound headlights wouldn’t look out of place on a sports car, while a sharply rising waistline and gently sloped roofline give way to a pert rear with tailgate spoiler and high-set diamond-like rear lights.

With prominent wheel-arches, sharp rising side crease, wheels pushed out far to corners and black lower bumper cladding, even the humblest entry-level Fiesta strikes a sense of urgency and forward motion that bring to mind its Fiesta WRC rally hero alter-ego. Completing the package is a choice of smart alloy wheels and colours, including fresh optional Candy Blue, as driven.

With its tall cabin, short sloped bonnet, upright seating, compact dimensions and big front glass the Fiesta provides good road visibility to place it on the road and easily park with exact confidence, and good front and rear headroom. A practical and well packaged supermini-class hatchback, the Fiesta’s uniformly shaped boot was able to accommodate four bags in its 290-litre volume (274l with spare tyre), and can further be expanded up to 974l (with tyre repair kit) when rear seats are folded down.

A practical and driver-focused place, the Fiesta’s supportive and upright seats and height/reach adjustable steering are set-up for an alert driving position. Design is modern and busy but user-friendly.

Perky and punchy

In landscape not short of Fiestas, the driven demo car’s unique ‘FMC 1’ (i.e. Ford Motor Company 1) personalised license plate stood out on a car so ubiquitously popular and affordable, given previous bearers included the iconic 1966 Ford GT40 Mk1 supercar. However, it nonetheless cheekily represented the Fiesta’s UK best-selling position and alluded to the significance of its 1-litre Ecoboost engine.

Light and compact, the Fiesta’s 1.0 turbocharged direct injection 3-cylinder Ecoboost engine is a perky and frugal gem, which develops 99BHP at 6000rpm and 125lb/ft torque throughout 1400-4000rpm. Fitted with a stop/start system the Fiesta 1.0 returns penny-pinching 4.3l/100km fuel consumption and 99g/km CO2 emissions on the combined cycle.

Driving front wheels through a 5-speed manual gearbox with quick and snappy shifter and light and intuitive clutch pedal travel and pick-up, one faultlessly dials in slip or grip when launching off-the-line. Perky and punchy, the light 1101kg Fiesta dashes through 0-100km/h in 11.2-seconds and can attain 180km/h.

Responsive at low rpm, the Fiesta 1.0 is however punchier once it starts building towards its generously rich mid-range, which provides confident highway and B-road overtaking, nippy town driving and incline pulling power. With a distant off-beat 3-pot thrum, the smooth 1.0 Ecoboost relies on flywheel weights — rather than balancing shaft — and engine mounts to effectively damp vibrations, while an oil-lubricated cambelt is smooth and durable.

Darty drive

A rare frugal and sensible car that’s fun to drive, the Fiesta is feisty, perky, punchy and engaging drive. Darty and manoeuvrable through urban and country roads, the Fiesta’s quick and fuel-saving electric-assisted steering is well-calibrated to be sharp, exact and feelsome, and with an ultra light and compact engine over the driven front wheels, the Fiesta is eager and tidy turning into corners. Agile through corners the Fiesta turns on the proverbial coin, and with compact dimensions and narrow frame, zips through winding streets and switchbacks. With big footprint and well-judged chassis calibrations, the Fiesta is confident with intuitively good handling, willing and eager through corners at a brisk pace.

A nimbly agile car with flickable steering and communicative chassis, the Fiesta 1.0 Zetec rides on 195/55R15 tires, a well-chosen compromise between firmness for handling but leaning more for comfort and intuitive road feel.

A surprisingly comfortable car, the Fiesta dispatched the bumpiest and lumpiest of British roads with a supple fluency that took the edge of the sharpest imperfections. With its suspension set up for comfort, the Fiesta leans slightly through corners, but nevertheless remains composed and delivers a natural and predictable feel for its position, limits and the road. Refined and stable and on highways, the Fiesta was alert, engaging and reassuring at speed and settled and buttoned down on rebounds.

Practical package

A practical and well-packaged small car, the Fiesta Zetec tested featured good honest trim levels with soft textures in strategic places the driver most often comes into contact with, as well as leather multi-function steering wheel and gear knob.

Stylishly modern with big clear dials, the Fiesta’s interior is somewhat busy but user-friendly and welcoming, but the infotainment screen could do with being bigger and/or nearer.

Well equipped, the Fiesta Zetec featured a heated windscreen, which proved usefully quick-acting in defrosting. Other features include electric windows and mirrors, remote central locking, standard six-speaker audio system with USB, MP3 and Bluetooth compatibility, and numerous other standard and optional features, including parking sensors.

Well-equipped, the Fiesta Zetec scores the maximum five star EuroNCAP safety rating and comes with a host of standard safety features including a stiff body shell, all-round headrests and three-point seatbelts, Isofix childseat latches, hard biting front ventilated disc and rear drum brakes with ABS, electronic brakeforce distribution and emergency brake assistance, and driver, passenger, front side, curtain and driver’s knee airbags. Also available is an optional Active city Stop system, which can automatically brake to prevent collisions up to 30km/h.

Frugal yet fun

Well-rounded, frugal, punchy and prodigious, the Fiesta 1.0 Ecoboost is an ideal alternative to many hybrid cars in terms of real world fuel consumption and their antithesis in terms of its light, fun and uncomplicated approach to efficiency.

The Fiesta 1.0 Ecoboost is also available in 123BHP guise and special Red and Black editions, with 138BHP and sportier style and suspension to bridge the gap between garden-variety models and the sublime Fiesta ST. One of the finest hot hatches, it is speculated that the 197BHP turbocharged 1.6-litre Fiesta ST might be joined by a yet hotter 250BHP four-wheel drive Fiesta RS version by 2017.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: 1-litre, turbocharged, transverse 3-cylinders

Bore x stroke: 71.9 x 82mm

Compression: 10:1

Valve-train: 12-valve, DOHC, direct injection

Gearbox: 5-speed manual, front-wheel-drive

Top gear/final drive ratios: 0.69:1/3.61:1

Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 99 (100) [74] @ 6000rpm

Specific power: 99.1BHP/litre

Power-to-weight: 89.9BHP/tonne

Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 125 (170) @ 1400-4000rpm

Specific torque: 170.1Nm/litre

Torque-to-weight: 154.4Nm/tonne

0-100km/h: 11.2-seconds

50-100km/h, in 4th: 14.7-seconds

Top speed: 180km/h

Fuel consumption, urban/extra-urban/combined: 5.3/3.7/4.3l/100km

CO2, combined: 99g/km

Length: 3969mm

Width: 1722mm

Height: 1495mm

Wheelbase: 2489mm

Track, F/R: 1465/1447mm 

Aerodynamic drag co-efficient: 0.328

Headroom, F/R: 993/945mm

Legroom, F/R: 1072/792mm

Luggage, min/max: 276/974-litres

Fuel capacity: 42-litres

Kerb weight: 1101kg

Steering: Electric-assisted rack & pinion

Turning circle: 10.1-metres

Suspension, F/R: MacPherson Struts/torsion beam

Brakes, F/R: Ventilated discs/drums

Tyres: 195/55R15

White City — Black City: Architecture and War in Tel Aviv and Jaffa

Sharon Rotbard

Translated by Orit Gat

London: Pluto Press, 2015

Pp. 244

First published in Hebrew 10 years ago, “White City — Black City” is part of a rare, but growing body of literature wherein Israelis take a hard, honest look at the consequences of how their state was founded and developed.

While so many focus on Jerusalem as the core of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Rotbard finds the relationship between Jaffa and Tel Aviv to be the most emblematic of how Israel was built, literally, on the ruins of Palestine, and also sidelined non-influential Jewish communities.

Rotbard is an architect, and from his perspective, architecture is always political, reflecting power relations: “Cities and histories are constructed in a similar manner — always by the victor, always for the victor, and always according to the victors’ record... the decision to demolish an old building or to conserve an existing one defines what is fated to be forgotten and what is worthy of remembrance.” (p. 3)

The white-black imagery of the title is pivotal for demolishing myths about Tel Aviv. It recurs throughout the book to dissect material reality, architectural visions, actual structures, and the racist, colonial prejudice that white is superior to black. 

While Tel Aviv is marketed as a modern, Bauhaus-style, white city erected on pristine sand dunes, Rotbard points out the “white lies” involved: It was actually built by levelling the dunes; its appearance was always more greyish; its architecture, though definitely European-inspired, was mostly contrary to Bauhaus concepts; and most of the land covered by today’s city was inhabited and cultivated long before its founding. 

The preferred inhabitants of the White City were also white, i.e., Ashkenazi (European-origin) Jews, but “whiteness” did not come naturally. It started with Zionist militias destroying Manshieh and Jaffa, and expelling their Palestinian inhabitants, and has continued with aggressive urban development projects that pushed poor, Mizrahi Jewish communities and immigrant workers southwards toward Jaffa.

Accordingly, “the white of Tel Aviv is also the white of the eraser, the Tipp-Ex. Tel Aviv is a predatory city, a wolf in sheep’s skin; the White City is the skin.” (p. 176)

Jaffa, which until 1948 was a prosperous, cosmopolitan commercial and cultural centre —Rotbard considers it to have been Palestine’s de facto capital, was designated as the Black City.

The orange orchards which had underpinned its wealth were destroyed, the land confiscated and citrus cultivation moved elsewhere. It became a dumping ground for industries “the White City considers too dangerous to be near its elite population”, but otherwise neglected by the municipality. 

Also “dumped” here were those who worked in undesirable sectors — “minorities who are distinguishable from mainstream Israeli society because of their religion, nationality or skin colour. But paradoxically, this has actually insured that the Black City is the most colourful, heterogeneous and cosmopolitan city space in the whole of Israel… the only urban space within the municipality which gives the impression that Tel Aviv might actually be the global city it advertises itself to be.” (pp. 64-66)

Jaffa’s separation from and subordination to Tel Aviv was a conscious decision of the Zionist elite, and greatly furthered by the infrastructural development undertaken by the British Mandate. How Tel Aviv was built and what happened to Jaffa as a result apply to Jewish settlement throughout the country.

Rotbard gives a detailed description of the military strategy whereby Jaffa was conquered in 1948, and draws parallels to Israeli army operations in the West Bank and Gaza until today. “In this sense the Palestinian city of Rafah is no different to the Palestinian city of Jaffa, or Salama, or Abu Kabir; they all share a long history as victims of military, urban and architectural actions whose sole goal has been to create a new geography in their place using processes of demolition and effacement.” (p. 160)

Similarly, he compares the wall to the outer limits of the White City. While Rotbard does not use the term apartheid, the thrust of his argument points in this direction.

In challenging the official story of Tel Aviv, Rotbard analyses many aspects of Israeli policy and society from the differences between Labour’s and Likud’s approaches to urban planning and housing, to the links between ideology and physical space, and the implications of Israel’s militarism for architecture and culture more broadly.

This is a study not only of architecture’s socio-political impact, but of the consequences of colonialism, privatisation and real estate speculation.

Having chosen to live in the Black City, the author’s analysis is based on personal experience as well as extensive research and professional expertise. Linking between neighbourhood politics, city politics, national politics and global politics, this book is an important contribution to reconstructing the real history of Palestine/Israel.

NEW YORK — With one year under his belt, Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella has made strides in changing the focus of the technology giant that some feared was turning into a dinosaur.

Nadella, who took over from Steve Ballmer in February 2014, has been moving to make Microsoft more relevant in the new tech world led by mobile-focused rivals such as Apple and Google.

Microsoft, which can no longer rest on its PC dominance with its Windows operating system, has taken a page from the playbook of the late Steve Jobs at Apple — providing software like Office for free on rival devices like the iPad and Android-powered tablets.

Nadella also managed to surprise and wow people with Microsoft’s HoloLens goggles, delivering holograms and hitting a sweet spot between Google Glass and virtual reality headgear.

“He hasn’t solved all problems, but he’s made moves in the right direction strategically,” said J.P. Gownder, analyst at Forrester Research.

Even though many of the new things unveiled were in the works for years, Nadella appears to have injected new energy into the Redmond, Washington-based tech powerhouse.

Gownder said it was “a wise move” to bring popular Microsoft programmes like Word, Excel and PowerPoint to Android and Apple devices, because Windows has been slow to gain traction in the mobile universe.

“When you have software, you have to run that software where the customers are,” instead of using it as “a weapon” in a war of operating systems, he said.

In a move aimed at reaching a younger tech user base, Microsoft agreed in September to buy the Swedish group behind the hugely popular video game “Minecraft” for $2.5 billion, bolstering its gaming division.

The deal for Mojang gives Microsoft one of the best-known video games of all time — one which is played on game consoles as well as PCs and mobile devices.

‘A different company’

“Microsoft is a different company now. Microsoft is not making stupid mistakes,” said Trip Chowdhry, at Global Equities Research.

“This year is more of a reinvention and restrategising year. 2015 will be when the company may have some progress on initiatives like mobile and cloud.”

Nadella has made some missteps, notably in comments suggesting working women should trust “karma” when it comes to securing pay raises, but quickly moved to back away from the controversy.

He ordered the biggest reorganisation in Microsoft’s history, cutting some 18,000 jobs — or 14 per cent of the workforce — under a plan aimed at simplifying the corporate structure and integrating the mobile division of Finland’s Nokia.

Wall Street has been happy with the new leadership — Microsoft shares gained 36 per cent in Nadella’s first eight months, but pulled back in early 2015.

Windows 10 test

Nadella, 47, has been pressing cloud and mobile computing since taking the reins, and is seeing some progress in areas like the Azure cloud platform for business.

But Microsoft still faces a big test with its upcoming Windows 10 platform, which aims to keep PC users while also powering mobile phones and tablets.

Some 1.5 billion people around the world use Windows-powered computers and Microsoft is intent on renewing its relevance in an age of mobile computing. The new platform is being designed with feedback from millions of “insiders” testing early versions of the operating system.

Microsoft needs to remake its business, which had been based on one-time Windows license sales, to a new model for the mobile world, say analysts.

Colin Gillis at BGC Partners said the plan appears to be working.

“We remain positive on the efforts to reshape Microsoft into a recurring revenue, subscription-based business,” he said.

Gillis said this means some “turbulence” as higher-margin software licence sales are replaced with lower-margin subscriptions.

Windows 10 will be crucial for Microsoft, which is hoping to win over developers as well as users with a platform that works on mobile devices as well as PCs.

According to Gownder, Windows 10 is “the best opportunity yet for Microsoft to come back in the game in mobile”.

AMMAN — At the end of January, The Jordan Times bade farewell to one of its longest serving soldiers — veteran proofreader Rajan Thonipurakal.

Rajan has worked at the JT for nearly 35 years, five years shy of the paper’s four decades.

“A calm, unassuming colleague who we take for granted, sun or storm, snow or floods, Raj would not miss a day of work, walking for hours in the snow if needed. They don’t make them like this anymore,” says Managing Editor Ica Wahbeh.

The soft-spoken, kind-hearted Rajan joined the ranks of the JT in the summer of 1981 for a salary of JD48 when his wife, Alice, took up a job as a nurse in Jordan.

A native of India’s southern state of Kerala with an MA in economics and a bachelor’s degree in education, he has proven himself as an integral part of JT’s proofreading department, the paper’s last and sturdiest line of defence.

Rajan sees every day on the job as a Tawjihi test, saying that he fails the exam if an error slips by him and is published the next day. 

“He is a true perfectionist. He used to stay awake all night after the newspaper went to print and then would buy the new issue to make sure there were no mistakes. When he did, he would sleep for a few hours before starting a new working day,” recalls Managing Editor Mahmoud Al Abed.

By 1988, after the couple had their first two children, Rajive and Annie, Alice returned to India to take care of them and Rajan stayed on, going home once a year on his annual leave.

The couple has a third child, Rahul, who was born in India in 1991.

On countless occasions, Rajan would bring the JT staff a treat to remind them of a happy event — be it Christmas, Eid, Independence Day or even Diwali and sometimes just because he felt like it.

Looking back at his three decades in Jordan and with the JT, the veteran proofreader has nothing but good memories.

“My 34 years in Jordan were very good. The people in Jordan... [and] the people at The Jordan Times are very polite,” he says.

Home News Editor Ranjana Barua, who has worked with Rajan for 14 years, says she cannot imagine the JT without him. “In a way, Raj has become synonymous with The Jordan Times.”

Agreeing with his colleagues, Raied Shuqum, lifestyle and sports editor says he will miss Raj’s smile and delightful demeanour. “He has a gentle soul and clean heart, which is rarely found these days. He has left a void that can never be filled again.”

Fifteen years ago, when he celebrated 20 years at the JT, Rajan said he wanted to bring his eldest son, Rajive, to Jordan to become a proofreader like him.

Today, Rajive is the world and Middle East editor.

Rajan’s easy-going attitude and his paternal aura have won him the respect and admiration of all JT staff members.

“Since I came to the newspaper, Rajan has been a mentor to me… He possesses a rare combination of vision, fairness and understanding. He has taken the proofreading section to the leading edge. Even more importantly though are the friendships he has developed. Every one trusts and loves him,” says proofreader Amjad Azzeh.

Though Rajan’s journey with The Jordan Times has come to a close, he has left an indelible mark on the newspaper that will endure.

Senior Reporter Khetam Malkawi thinks of him as “our Godfather”.

“We will miss seeing [Rajan] around, though we will never forget him,” she says.

Speaking at a farewell party held for Rajan, Chief Editor Samir Barhoum commended his exemplary years of service at the paper.

“You were the best ambassador of India in Jordan all the time and you will be the best ambassador of Jordan at home. You will be remembered by all of us... Thank you Rajan, from my heart.”

NEW YORK — It is universally acknowledged that the New York subway is grubby. What may come as a shock is that it contains DNA fragments linked to anthrax and bubonic plague.

Researchers from Cornell University have provided the first map of the subway’s microbes, identifying more than 1,688 types of bacteria and one station that even supports a “marine ecosystem”.

They say the vast majority of the bacteria is harmless to the 1.7 billion people who travel each year on 960 kilometres of track in passenger service in America’s largest city.

But disease-causing bacteria that are resistant to drugs were found in 27 per cent of samples.

Two were found with DNA fragments of anthrax and three with a plasmid associated with bubonic plague, albeit at very low levels.

Yet there has not been a single reported case of the plague in New York since the PathoMap project began in June 2013.

The study’s senior investigator, Christopher Mason, says the research shows the resilience of the human body and that the bacteria is not enough to pose a threat to our health.

“The presence of these microbes and the lack of reported medical cases is truly a testament to our body’s immune system, and our innate ability to continuously adapt to our environment,” he said.

Perhaps most striking is that 48 per cent of the samples matched no known organism, which the study said highlighted “the vast wealth of unknown species that are ubiquitous in urban areas”.

In October 2012, Hurricane Sandy caused havoc across the city and submerged South Ferry Station in Lower Manhattan in ocean water.

Two years later, the majority of bacteria at the station are “more commonly associated with fish species, marine environments or very cold Antarctic environments”, the study found.

It also found that Penn Station, one of New York’s busiest transit hubs, has a vast bacterial ecology that shifts by the hour.

New York has the seventh largest subway in the world in terms of annual ridership, behind Tokyo, Beijing, Moscow and other cities in the Far East, but ahead of Mexico City, Hong Kong and Paris.

Human DNA was only the fourth most abundant species, behind two insects, the Mediterranean fruit fly and the mountain pine beetle.

The researchers say they collected 1,457 DNA samples from all 466 open stations on all 24 lines.

TOKYO — College-educated and gainfully employed 36-year-old Eriko Sekiguchi should be a sought-after friend or date, planning nights on the town and faraway resort vacations. But she works in Japan, a nation where workaholic habits die hard.

Often toiling 14 hours a day for a major trading company, including early morning meetings and after-hours “settai”, or networking with clients, she used just eight of her 20 paid vacation days last year. Six of those days were for being sick.

“Nobody else uses their vacation days,” said Sekiguchi, who was so busy that her interview with The Associated Press had to be rescheduled several times before she could pop out of the office.

The government wants to change all that.

Legislation that will be submitted during the parliamentary session that began January 26 aims to ensure workers get the rest they need. In a break with past practice, it will become the legal responsibility of employers to ensure workers take their holidays.

Japan has been studying such legislation for years. There has been more impetus for change since 2012 as a consensus developed that the health, social and productivity costs of Japan’s extreme work ethic were too high.

Part of the problem has been that many people fear resentment from co-workers if they take days off, a real concern in a conformist culture that values harmony.

After all, in Japan, only wimps use up all their vacation days.

Most of the affected workers are “salarymen” or “OL” for office ladies like Sekiguchi, so dedicated to their jobs they can’t seem to go home. They are the stereotypes of, and the power behind, Japan Inc.

That has come with its social costs. Sekiguchi worries she will never get married or even find a boyfriend, unless he happens to be in the office. She wishes companies would simply shut down now and then to allow workers to take days off without qualms.

The workaholic lifestyle and related reluctance of couples to raise children have long been blamed as a factor behind the nose-diving birth rate that’s undermining the world’s third-biggest economy.

Working literally to death is a tragedy so common that a term has been coined for it: “karoshi”. The government estimates there are 200 karoshi deaths a year from causes such as heart attacks or cerebral haemorrhaging after working long hours. It’s aware of many cases of mental depression and suicides from overwork not counted as karoshi.

About 22 per cent of Japanese work more than 49 hours a week, compared with 16 per cent of Americans, 11 per cent of the French and Germans, according to data compiled by the Japanese government. South Koreans seem even more workaholic, at 35 per cent.

Barely half the vacation days allotted to Japanese workers are ever taken, an average of nine days per individual a year.

The problem in Japan in some ways parallels the situation of American workers, many of whom don’t get guaranteed paid vacations at all. But those who get them usually do take all or most of them.

Japanese must use their vacations for sick days, although a separate law guarantees two-thirds of their wages if they get seriously ill and take extended days off.

That means workers save two or three vacation days for fear of catching a cold or some other minor illness so they can stay home, said Yuu Wakebe, the health and labour ministry official overseeing such standards.

Wakebe himself routinely does 100 hours of overtime a month, and took only five days off last year, one of them for staying home with a cold. He managed to take a vacation to Hawaii with his family.

“It is actually a worker’s right to take paid vacations,” he said. “But working in Japan involves quite a lot of a volunteer spirit.”

Younger workers feel uncomfortable going home before their bosses do. Working overtime for free, called “sah-bee-soo zahn-gyo”, or “service overtime”, is prevalent.

Job descriptions also tend to be vague, especially in white-collar occupations, meaning a person not coming in translates to more work for others in his or her team.

The new law will allow for more flexible work hours, encouraging parents to spend more time with their children during summer months, for instance, when school is closed.

Although Japan is notorious for hard work, it’s equally known for inefficiency and bureaucracy. Workers sit around in the name of team spirit, despite questionable performance and productivity.

Experts say the law is a start, while acknowledging the roots of the dilemma lie deep.

When night falls in Tokyo, groups of dark-suited salarymen can be seen, drinking at drab lantern-bobbing pubs under the train tracks, unwinding before heading home. They laugh, guzzle down their beers and pick at charcoal-broiled fish.

Ask any of them: they haven’t taken many days off. One said the 12 days he took off last year were too many.

Japan’s work ethic, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said, is “a culture that falsely beatifies long hours”.

Doesn’t the name sound good? Even before knowing what it actually represents you are inevitably drawn and want to find out more about it. Anything that promises more than “just” reality must be good.

Augmented Reality (AR) comes new in a long series of high-tech imaging techniques that never cease to amaze us. From simple graphics, to 3D, animation, then 3D animation and VR (Virtual Reality), and last but not least CGI (Computer Generated Imagery), AR brings a big, a huge plus to the world of digital imaging.

An example will illustrate it best. Take out your smartphone, point it to a simple still image of say the English archaeological site of Stonehenge (we call it the target picture) and watch your phone’s screen turn into a movie showing you the site in all its splendour, with a text and sound detailed explanation about its history. It will immerse you in the world of Stonehenge.

Another example. Point your smartphone to a still picture of a human’s heart and watch a 3D animation about arteries transplant surgery with incredible details and realism.

In a way AR is a combination of VR and CGI.

Instead of using a still image as a target picture you can just point the smartphone (or a tablet, or any digital device able to perform the trick, for that matter) to the real thing, i.e. Stonehenge for instance, if you happen to be there. The AR application will not only recognise the landmark but also its GPS position, therefore perfectly identifying it and then displaying the pertaining video, 3D animation or any other information about it.

In architecture, and arts in general, AR offers an invaluable tool for understanding structures and working on them. Another example, this time in the world cosmetics and beauty, and that, arguably, would attract women more particularly. Choose the proper AR application, select a manufacturer like Revlon, L’Oréal or Shiseido to name a few, point your smartphone to your face (think selfie!) and see yourself in various kinds and doses of foundation, lipstick, eye shadow, mascara and so forth, as if you had bought the products and tried them on, without really having to.

Merchants’ catalogues of products can greatly benefit from AR. By pointing a smartphone or tablet to the target picture of a given product one can explore it in glorious 3D motion, learning everything about it before buying it thanks to the “augmented” (hence the name) information.

Because the information, the 3D photos or animation, the videos that AR usually provides come in high definition and are made in digital from the ground up, quality is outstanding and constitutes an exhilarating experience for the viewer.

Though it really picked up in a noticeable manner around 2010 and is making waves now, AR actually started circa 1990 in the USA with professor Caudell who initially developed software to monitor the cabling construction in aircrafts for Boeing. This saved the company the trouble of coming up with traditional user manuals that, compared to AR would be expensive, slow and time consuming, hard and long to update, etc.

The future of AR is bright and beyond discussion. It falls in the same category as cloud usage — there’s no going back. Most AR application runs under the two main OS for mobile computing, Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS.

As for the field of education, AR is not just helping but is expecting to change education in a radical manner somewhere between 2020 and 2025. When children can point a mobile device to say a driving wheel and then start learning all about driving and traffic rules and regulations with attractive information, well presented, in high definition, nothing can be more motivating or stimulating. But AR is a visual experience and no text-based explanation can give a true feel of what it is or how it works!

Soon AR will be as common as sending a selfie to your friend via Whatsapp. Soon there will be a law stipulating “no AR while driving”!