Features

TOKYO — As Japan celebrates the year of the dog, electronics giant Sony on Thursday unleashed its new robot canine companion, packed with artificial intelligence and Internet connectivity.

The sleek ivory-white puppy-sized “aibo” robot shook its head and wagged its tail as if waking from a nap when it was taken out of a cocoon-shaped case at a “birthday ceremony” held in Tokyo.

Seven-year-old boy Naohiro Sugimoto from Tokyo was among the first to get his hands on the shiny new toy, which he described as “heavy but cute”.

“The dog we had previously died... We bought this robot dog as we wanted a [new] family,” he said.

The 30-centimetre long hound-like machine comes complete with flapping ears and its eyes, made of a cutting-edge light-emitting display, can show various emotions.

Aibo is also fitted with an array of sensors, cameras and microphones and boasts Internet connectivity.

The owner can play with the pet remotely via smartphone and even teach it tricks from the office for the faithful hound to perform when its “master” gets home.

It builds up a “character” by interacting with people and while not always submissive, it is friendly towards those who are kind to it.

What the machine “learns” is stored in the cloud so its “character” can be preserved even in the event of hardware damage.

Photos it takes can also be shared.

But such cutting-edge canine technology does not come cheap, with the aibo costing nearly $3,000 for a three-year package, including software services such as data storage.

‘Touches a chord’

Aibo is not the Japanese electronic giant’s first foray into the animal robot entertainment world. 

Its earlier robot dog was put to sleep more a decade ago — a victim of business restructuring — shocking fans.

Sony rolled out the first-generation dog in June 1999, with the initial batch of 3,000 selling out in just 20 minutes, despite a hefty price tag of 250,000 yen ($2,200 at current rates).

Over the following years, more than 150,000 units were sold, with numerous models ranging from gleaming metallic-silver versions to round-faced cub-like models.

But by 2006, Sony was in trouble. Its business model was under pressure and it was facing fierce competition from rivals in all fields.

The robot dog, an expensive and somewhat frivolous luxury, had to go.

Yasuyuki Nakamura, another owner of the new generation Aibo — his third robot pet — said he was happy to see the dog back in Sony’s catalogue.

LAS VEGAS — Henrik Fisker unveiled his $129,000 electric luxury car on Tuesday, in a rebooted effort by the renowned auto designer to take on Tesla and other luxury automakers.

The Fisker EMotion, which made its debut at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, is part of a comeback effort for Henrik Fisker, a former BMW and Aston Martin designer whose first venture was halted in 2013 after selling only a few thousand vehicles.

This time, the company Fisker Inc. is pulling out all the stops for the vehicle, designed with butterfly doors and a sleek sportscar look, semi-autonomous driving, and a range of some 650 kilometres on a single charge.

The car, which is still two years from deliveries, “is a new take on the future of a luxury sedan”, Fisker told AFP on the CES show floor.

Fisker said the features such as the extended driving range “will make even people sitting on the fence [about electric cars] look at it”.

The new effort nonetheless faces an uphill battle in an industry where Tesla is showing rapid growth and other rivals from major automakers to startups — including one other making a debut at the tech show — are producing new electric cars.

Fisker is also working on its own battery technology aimed at improving range and speeding the charging time.

He hopes to have a charging system that can enable an extra 201 kilometres in nine minutes.

The company is also working on a solid state battery that Fisker maintained could achieve a full charge in one minute.

Taking on Tesla

Like Tesla, Fisker is also working on a more affordable vehicle that would be priced around $40,000 after the Emotion. And it has designed a self-driving shuttle bus called the Orbit that could also launch in the next few years.

Partnering with Fisker is California-based technology firm Quanergy, which is developing the LIDAR used for autonomous driving.

The Emotion uses five LIDAR sensors integrated into the body and “it’s the only LIDAR with no moving parts”, said Quanergy CEO Louay Eldada.

The launch by Fisker’s new company comes after a high-profile bankruptcy by Fisker Automotive.

Before launching his own venture and the Fisker Karma, Fisker designed vehicles including the BMW Z8 and Aston Martin DB89.

Other firms at CES appear to be making a play for Tesla clients with electric vehicles with autonomous capabilities.

China-based startup Byton announced this week it planned to launch a $45,000 electric car featuring a “digital” lounge with a panoramic display acting as a hub for navigation, entertainment and even monitoring the health of its occupants.

Last year, Chinese-backed Faraday Future unveiled its premium electric vehicle, but since then have offered few clues on its availability.

Still, Tesla remains a target for both established automakers and startups.

“In my opinion Tesla is vulnerable,” said Jack Gold, an analyst who follows the tech sector and who was attending CES.

In addition to the companies presenting at CES, Gold said, there are a number of other Chinese firms which could use the shift in consumer trends to break into new markets.

“I think it’s a big opening for the Chinese. And the Chinese government is subsidising them.” 

The electronics show is often used to debut new automotive technology even though it takes place just days ahead of the big Detroit auto show.

A sampling of US emergency department records confirms that sticking anything smaller than your elbow in your ear is a good way to puncture an eardrum. 

About 66 per cent of patients treated for traumatic tympanic membrane perforations had hurt themselves by sticking “instruments,” in their ears, and nearly half of these cases involved cotton-tipped swabs. 

“In our experience, cotton tip applicators (Q-tips and similar products) are frequently the instrument that patients will use to clean their ears,” lead author Dr Eric Carniol, an otolaryngologist at the University of Toronto, told Reuters Health by e-mail. 

“Our conjecture is that the majority of these injuries were caused by patients trying to get their own ear wax out,” he said. 

The tympanic membrane, or eardrum, is a structure that transmits sounds from the outer ear to the bones inside the ear, and perforating the membrane can lead to hearing loss, Carniol and his colleagues write in JAMA Otolaryngology Head & Neck Surgery. 

Otolaryngologists (Ear, Nose and Throat doctors) see many patients in the office with tympanic membrane perforations that are most often caused by ear infections or trauma, Carniol noted. 

The current study focused on the traumatic causes of eardrum perforations. Many patients do not realise they can often injure the ear canal, push earwax further in (impaction), or even burst their eardrum, he said. 

The researchers looked at five years of records from 100 nationally representative emergency departments in the US and found over 900 visits for ear-related injuries. These represent almost 5,000 emergency department visits for tympanic membrane perforations nationally during the same period, the researchers write. 

About 60 per cent of patients were male, and most were 18 years old or younger. “Ear canal instrumentation” was the cause of injury in 61 per cent of cases, and 45 per cent of these specifically involved cotton-tipped applicators, the study found. 

For children from infants to 5 years old, foreign instruments were the cause of 86 per cent of injuries and for 6-to-12-year olds, it was 66 per cent. Among adults 37 to 54 years old, sticking foreign objects in the ears caused 53 per cent of perforations and among those 55 or older, it was 67 per cent. 

Besides cotton swabs, other objects included hairpins, toys, combs, pencils, straws, toothpicks and lollipop sticks. 

Water activity, such as water skiing and diving, was also an important cause of injuries particularly among teenagers and 19- to 36-year-olds, Carniol said. 

Still, he said, “If you’ve taken away nothing else from this interview and the article, it is please, do not use Q-tips to clean your ears.” 

Carniol said many patients come into his office asking how they should clean the wax from their ears. 

“Earwax is made in the outer 1/3 of the ear canal, and it is water-soluble. Therefore, after a shower, most people can get away with just using a washcloth to wipe the wax away from the ear,” he said. 

It is a nice study of emergency room visits for traumatic ear perforation, noted Dr Hamid Djalilian, a professor of clinical otolaryngology at the University of California, Irvine, who was not involved in the research. But the study “doesn’t capture all the patients who had this problem in the US because it doesn’t include patients who sought care in an outpatient setting such as an urgent care, primary care physician, or ear nose and throat specialist”, he told Reuters Health by e-mail. 

The ears have a self-cleaning mechanism, said Djalilian. “This means that the dead skin of the ear canal along with the earwax gradually move outward and come out of the ear on their own.” Therefore, using a Q-tip (or anything else) is almost never necessary and nearly always will just push in the wax deeper into the canal rather than remove wax. 

“A little bit of wax will stick to the Q-tip and make the user feel great about themselves that they accomplish something, but chances are approximately five to ten times more wax was pushed in,” Djalilian said. 

Using Q-tips (or other things) in the ear canal is also the leading cause of ear canal infections as it scratches the ear canal skin and allows bacteria to enter the skin causing an ear canal infection (otitis externa), he noted. 

My mother told me that I came into this world much before my actual date of arrival, and since then I have always been in a hurry. In fact, as the story goes, it was a freezing evening in Jullunder (a small town in Punjab) a day prior to Lohri — the festival that commemorates the passing of the winter solstice — that I decided to make my presence felt. 

But the kicks my infant-self gave my mum from inside her tummy were so gentle that she did not even consider them as actual labour pains, and refused to go to the hospital. Her Irish doctor, who used to love to cycle to the homes of his patients, had dropped in for a courtesy call and examined her, almost as an afterthought. He was horrified to discover that my mother was on the verge of giving birth and hot water and towels were sent for immediately. My grandmother rolled up her sleeves to step in as a nurse substitute, while my grandfather shouted out incoherent instructions, and then within moments I was welcomed into the family fold, roughly three weeks ahead of schedule!

As I was the only grandchild to be born in that antiquated manor, the incidence of my birth became a kind of folklore that was filled with many twists and turns, depending on who was relating it. Also, in all the confusion, nobody thought of informing the registration authorities, so I did not have a legal birth certificate at all. When I complained to my parents at a later stage, they said I must look at it as a blessing because it was entirely up to me to decide how old I wanted to be, and not get bogged down by some documented evidence.

This also meant that I could never get an astrological chart called “janam kundli” drawn up, because no one could pinpoint the exact time of my delivery. A request for one was made during my wedding, to match the horoscope of my bridegroom but my father stressed that he did not believe in such claptrap and the idea was unceremoniously dropped.

Like any other fifty-something woman, I get into a fit of despair on the eve of my birthday. No matter how hard I try, the feeling lingers on and reminds me of my own mortality. Till my parents were alive, mine was a normal happy family but somewhere along the way, a few disputes got aggravated and spoiled relationships. It pains me deeply to witness this but I can’t seem to be able to do anything about it.

Swami Vivekananda, the famous Hindu monk and philosopher, once said: “If you can stretch out a helping hand, do so. If you cannot, fold your hands, bless your brothers, and let them go their own way.” With the one hundred and fifty fifth birth anniversary of this great man coinciding with my birthday this year, I decide to take a leaf out of his book.

“Birthday quiz: If you want to be happy, be,” my husband says suddenly.

“Who wrote that?” he asks me.

“Complete the quotation first,” I request.

“That is it,” he stresses.

“I give up. I’ve become old,” I mutter.

“I can’t remember anything anymore,” I complain.

“Happy families are all alike — same author,” he prompts.

“Every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way,” I answer.

“Leo Tolstoy! Opening lines of Anna Karenina,” I exclaim.

“Bingo! Happy birthday,” he twinkles.

LAS VEGAS — Virtual aides battled to rule “smart homes” on the eve of the official opening of the Consumer Electronics show gadget gala here.

Samsung, LG Electronics, Panasonic and others touted a future in which homes, cars and pockets brim with technology that collaborates to make lives easier.

Google and Amazon are key players in the trend, with their rival Assistant and Alexa voice-commanded virtual aides being woven deeper into consumer electronics and vehicles. Samsung meanwhile is playing catch-up with its Bixby assistant.

“The biggest theme is the fight for the connected home between Google and Amazon,” Patrick Moorhead of Moor Insights & Strategy said during a day of back-to-back CES press briefings.

“The notion that there is this new layer that can replace apps and operating systems means the stakes are high.”

If voice-commanded assistants become the new norm for interacting with computers and the Internet, being the virtual aide of choice could be a powerful and profitable position.

“Competition is heating up for the smart assistant ecosystem, and the question is who is going to be the smart assistant of choice in 2018,” Gartner analyst Brian Blau told AFP at CES.

Apple and Google have big leads, since their rival digital assistants are already on millions of smartphones and computers, according to Blau.

“That is why Amazon is being so aggressive; they need millions of more endpoints for Alexa in people’s hands,” Blau said.

“The loser, if any, is Cortana, because nobody is talking about them,” he added, referring to Microsoft’s digital assistant.

But, Moorhead countered, Microsoft is likely playing to its strength by angling to be the dominant digital assistant in workplaces and Cortana is already on some half a billion computers powered by Windows 10 software.

LG robot snub

Consumer electronics titan LG proclaimed this year a “tipping point” for smart homes during a press event that featured an ignoble on-stage fail.

A cute, table-top smart hub called CLOi went awry, with the voice-commanded, small snow-person shaped device quickly ignoring an LG executive.

“CLOi doesn’t like me evidently,” quipped LG US marketing vice president David VanderWaal.

“Even robots have bad days.”

Such moments are playfully referred to as “the curse of the live demo” in Silicon Valley.

LG is developing technology designed to enable its appliances, televisions and other devices adapt to users and collaborate to handle tasks.

The AI platform is “open” to utilising software made by other companies, LG chief technology officer I.P. Park said.

“The world has become just too complex for just any single company to insist on a proprietary, closed solution,” Park said.

LG collaborators include Google and Alexa creator Amazon, according to the South Korea-based consumer electronics titan.

Google Assistant is being integrated into LG products including televisions, headphones and smart speakers.

“Our goal at Google is to help people get things done in a natural, seamless way,” Google Assistant vice president of engineering Scott Huffman said.

Interacting with computers by speaking has proven a hit, and the ability of virtual aids to converse with people is expected to improve quickly, according to researchers from the Consumer Technology Association behind the annual CES gathering.

A LG ThinQ speaker with Google Assistant will be available in the “coming months”, according to Huffman.

LG’s vision for its artificial intelligence platform includes enabling appliances, cars, air conditioners and other “everyday” devices to adapt to users’ individual preferences as well as collaborate on tasks.

“Our products will learn from users to provide intelligent services, not the other way around,” Park said.

“You won’t have to study instruction manuals any more.”

Bixby branches out

Samsung Electronics used its press event to extol the South Korean company’s strategy of making its broad array of offerings connected and enhancing them with digital brains of Bixby virtual assistant.

“Televisions, refrigerators and more will understand you and your preferences, and tailor an experience that is right for you,” said Samsung global consumer electronics president H.S. Kim.

A new SmartThings application to be released by mid-year will consolidate command of Samsung devices and be a “remote control for your connected life,” Kim said.

Samsung is investing in improving Bixby so that it “intuitively understands you and figures out what you need before you ask”, according to Kim.

Samsung televisions sold in the US will have Bixby to respond to spoken requests or control other home devices.

Bixby was also being built into a “family hub” smart system in Samsung refrigerators with large touch-screens on doors.

Panasonic announcements included that it is working with Amazon to build Alexa smart assistant into “infotainment” systems it sells to carmakers.

“Alexa can help customers with thousands of things in the car — navigation, music, audiobooks and more,” said Alexa automotive vice president Ned Curic.

“This is a big step toward bringing Alexa to customers wherever they might need her, whether they’re at home or on-the-go.”

Panasonic also collaborates with Google to build Assistant smarts into some of its products.

LOS ANGELES — Sony’s “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” handily won the first box office weekend of 2018 over the launch of “Insidious: The Last Key” and “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” with $37 million at 3,801 North American locations.

The fourth instalment of the “Insidious” horror franchise scared up a surprisingly strong $29.6 million at 3,116 sites for Universal. Disney-Lucasfilm’s “The Last Jedi” followed in third with a 55 per cent decline to $23.7 million at 4,232 venues for a 24-day total of $572.6 million — the sixth-largest of all-time.

Fox’s third weekend of “The Greatest Showman” held nicely in fourth, declining only 12 per cent to $13.8 million at 3,342 theatres for a 19-day total of about $77 million. It was followed in fifth by Universal’s third session of “Pitch Perfect 3” with $10.3 million at 3,458 sites, lifting its 17-day take to a solid $86.1 million.

Fox’s fourth weekend of animated comedy “Ferdinand” finished sixth with $7.7 million at 3,156 venues, followed by Jessica Chastain’s “Molly’s Game” from STXfilms, which brought in $6.9 million after expanding to 1,608 sites from 271. Chastain received a Golden Globe nomination for best actress in a drama for her work in the film — whether or not she wins will be determined Sunday. The film also received a Producers Guild Award nomination on Friday for best film, a day after Aaron Sorkin’s script received a Writers Guild nom for adapted screenplay.

“Darkest Hour” ($6.1 million), “Coco” ($5.4 million) and “All the Money in the World” ($3.6 million) rounded off the top 10.

The “Jumanji” sequel has taken in $244.4 million in its first 19 days domestically. It’s the first weekend box office win for “Jumanji” — which has gone past “Justice League” as the ninth-largest domestic grosser among 2017 titles. “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” is also topping the $500 million mark worldwide.

Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, and Karen Gillan star in “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle”, a sequel to Robin Williams’ original, which was a 1995 hit with $262 million worldwide. “Welcome to the Jungle” follows four high schoolers in detention who wind up as video game characters facing an array of challenges.

“Insidious: The Last Key” came in far above expectations, which had been in the $16 million to $19 million range. It’s the latest horror title from Blumhouse Productions, which delivered low-cost horror hits last year for Universal with “Split”,  “Get Out”, and “Happy Death Day”. The franchise dates back to 2010 with “Insidious”, followed by “Insidious: Chapter 2” in 2013 and “Insidious: Chapter 3” in 2015 — which have grossed a collective $357 million worldwide.

Lin Shaye, who has starred in all three films, returns in “Insidious: The Last Key” as a parapsychologist whose haunted childhood comes to threaten her family and home in a follow-up to the events in “Insidious: Chapter 3”. It’s produced by “Insidious” regulars Jason Blum, Oren Peli, and co-creator James Wan and by Sony Pictures (through Stage 6 Films) with Blumhouse. Universal is the US theatrical distributor with Sony releasing in the rest of the world.

Overall domestic business was up 18.1 per cent to $165 million, according to comScore — a welcome sign after 2017 saw a 2.3 per cent decline in total grosses.

“2018 is off to a rollicking start with ‘Jumanji’s’ unexpected strength boosting the overall marketplace nearly 20 per cent ahead of the comparable weekend a year ago as the box office new year gives the industry cause to celebrate with an incredibly diverse lineup of titles driving patrons to theaters and a red hot awards season in full swing,” noted Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst with comScore. “Two years ago was not even as strong with a ‘Force Awakens’ driven marketplace ringing up sales of $159.1 million for the same weekend in 2016.”

Infiniti’s take on the premium compact hatchback segment, the Q30 is stylishly swooping, with a sportily agile, yet, composed driving experience to match its aesthetic. Designed to take on the likes of the Audi A3, Volkswagen Golf and its own Mercedes-Benz A-Class relation, the Q30 is practical, well-equipped and well-appointed inside. 

Not quite a straightforward family hatchback, the Q30 walks a fine line between the sportier coupe-like and crossover-influenced ends of the segment, and features both rakishly low roofline and discreetly taller ride height.

Stylishly swooping

European flavoured in how it drives with as most Infinitis are, the UK-built Q30, however, goes a step further and – and as part of a platform and technology sharing partnership — is based on a Mercedes-Benz underpinnings, mechanicals and other components that both its A-Class and the GLA-Class rivals are based on.

Ostensibly pitched at the former the Q30, however, leans somewhat toward the latter higher riding Mercedes and can rightly be viewed as a rival to other mild hatchback crossovers like the Volvo V40 Cross Country.

With gaping, weaving grille, scowling headlights and swooping, jutting lines and ridges combined with high ground clearance and low roofline, the Q30 has a dramatically stalking and urgently predatory posture, as if it is ready to leap forward. 

Complex yet fluent, its wavy lines, sculpted surfacing, sharply defined creases and wide and squat stance, are complemented by a big wheel-arches, well filled by large optional 19-inch alloys. From inside, its low seating and long and scalloped bonnet provide a distinctly sporty and hunkered down ambiance.

Mid-range muscle

The smaller of two Mercedes-sourced turbocharged direct injection four-cylinder engines available, the mid-range Q30 driven with 1.6-litre and dual clutch transmision (DCT) is tuned to develop 184lb/ft torque throughout a broad, flexible and highly accessible 1250-4,000rpm, and 154BHP at 5,300rpm.

Driving the front wheels through its slick and quick-shifting automated 7-speed gearbox, the Q30 powers its 1,469kg mass through the 0-100km/h acceleration benchmark in 8.9 seconds, and can attain a 215km/h top speed. Meanwhile, fuel consumption is restrained at 5.9-litre/100km on the combined cycle.

Though willing to spin past 6,000rpm when pushed hard through brisk countryside drives, the Q30 1.6t DCT’s engine’s best performance is to be had lower in the rev band. With maximum power arriving as early as 5,300rpm and broad and generous torque, the Q30 is just as effective riding its wave of mid-range muscle as one goes through gears using its steering-mounted paddle shifters. Responsive and with meaningful pull from low-end, the Q30 suffers little turbo lag from standstill, with front wheels soon scrambling to put power to ground.

Smooth and settled

Muscularly in mid-range and confidently capable of accumulating speed, the Q30 has a stable, settled and smoothly firm highway ride. Similarly committed through sweeping corners, the Q30’s wide optional 235/45R19 tyres provide good grip in and out of corners.

Turning tidy and crisp, the Q30 is resilient to understeer unless too much torque is unleashed through too tight a corner. With measured inputs, the Q30 well-claws into tarmac, as it weaves through narrow winding switchbacks. Steering is meanwhile quick, meaty and precise steering if not layered with nuance and road feel.

A fun car to drive briskly through sprawling, yet, narrow switchbacks, the Q30 feels planted, secure and grippy through corners, yet agile and adjustable. Turning in early and blasting through a corner, it is committed and eager, but with mid-corner lift-off, is also happy to shift its weight and tighten a cornering line before one comes back on the power. Riding with a buttoned down feel, the Q30 is settled and taut over crests and dips, and on rebound, while body control is taut and flat through corners.

Elegant and ergonomic

Smooth and reassuring yet slightly on the firm side with optional 19-inch alloy wheels, as driven, the Q30 is comfortable, but would be more forgiving with standard 18-inch wheels. Refined and quiet inside, the Q30’s cabin has a dark, sporty and ensconced ambiance. Driving position is highly adjustable, supportive, comfortable, ergonomic and spacious with good front visibility.

But with its rakish pillars and roofline, and bulging bodywork, the Q30’s rear parking monitor and sensors were particularly handy, and so would its optional blindspot warning.

Driven with dark fabric upholstery and glossy black trim, the Q30 had a stylish, sporty and elegant, but not overstated, ambiance, with logical and driver oriented layouts and design, including a chunky steering wheel.

Rear space was adequate with taller front occupants and better with seats slid further forward, while 430-litre boot volume is uniformly shaped and useful. Well-equipped, the Q30’s standard features include lane departure and collision warnings, rain sensing wipers, adaptive braking, cruise control, dual zone climate control and 7-inch infotainment system with Bluetooth, dual USB ports and voice recognition.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

• Engine: 1.6-litre, turbocharged, transverse 4-cylinders
• Bore x stroke: 83 x 73.7mm
• Compression ratio: 10.3:1
• Valve-train: 16-valve, DOHC, variable timing, direct injection 
• Gearbox: 7-speed dual clutch automated, front-wheel-drive
• 0-100km/h: 8.9-seconds
• Maximum speed: 215km/h
• Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 156 (154) [115] @5300rpm
• Specific power: 96.5BHP/litre
• Power-to-weight: 104.8BHP/tonne
• Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 184 (250) @ 1250-4000rpm
• Specific torque: 156.7Nm/litre
• Torque-to-weight: 170.1Nm/tonne 
• Fuel consumption, combined: 5.9-litres/100km
• CO2 emissions, combined: 136g/km
• Fuel tank capacity: 50-litres
• Length: 4425mm
• Width: 1805mm
• Height: 1495mm
• Wheelbase: 2700mm
• Track width, F/R: 1561/1559mm
• Aerodynamic drag co-efficient: 0.32
• Luggage volume: 430-litres
• Kerb weight: 1469kg
• Steering: Electric-assisted, rack and pinion
• Turning circle: 11.4-metres
• Suspension, F/R: MacPherson struts/multi-link
• Brakes: Ventilated discs, 295mm/discs, 295mm
• Tyres: 235/45R19

Price, starting from: JD30,900 (on the road, no insurance)

Space and Mobility in Palestine

Julie Peteet

US: Indiana University Press, 2017

Pp. 239

In her newest book, anthropologist Julie Peteet analyses the closure and separation regime, imposed by Israel on Palestinians under occupation, from every possible angle — moral, human, social, economic, legal, political, gender, corporal and psychological. Based on almost a decade of research and first-hand observation of the Wall, closed-off villages, curfews, identity card and permit requirements, checkpoints, terminals and segregated roads, she examines “the intersection of mobility and space, looking specifically at how access to space and thus to mobility devolve from racialised categories of ethnicity, religion and nationality”. (p. 2) 

Peteet’s mode of analysis is relational, allowing her to draw sharply defined conclusions as to what exactly Israel wants with this system, and how it impacts on Palestinians’ daily lives and their political future. Simply put, whenever the space available to Israelis expands, that available to Palestinians shrinks. “In this context, time, like space, is decidedly relational as well as polyrhythmic. Piece by piece, an infrastructure that immobilises Palestinians and enables Israelis to move with relative ease and speed has taken shape.” (p. 144)

With Israel, Jerusalem and much of the West Bank mainly closed off to most Palestinians, they are not only separated from Israelis, but also from each other, and confined to limited enclaves, Gaza being the extreme example. “Palestinians are simultaneously locked in and locked out, stranded in a web of immobilising devices.” (pp. 63-4)

The book shows with multiple examples how this lack of mobility constricts and sometimes rules out Palestinian access to jobs, education, health care, political organising, and even their own land, and highlights the less obvious effects, such as the disruption of family and social ties — and of peace of mind. As much as the closure system seems highly regimented with strict rules as to where and how one can go, what permits are needed, etc., it is also unpredictable. Never knowing if a checkpoint will be open, or how long one will have to wait, wreaks havoc on daily schedules and plans, and has caused the death of patients seeking medical care. Indeed, a new form of control has been instated: “Control through the creation of calibrated chaos, the changing of rules and procedures with no warning or explanation, is enacted daily at checkpoints and in applying for permits… Unpredictability is the new norm.” (p. 38)

So is interminable waiting. This reinforces the perception that closure is not so much about security, as a form of collective punishment.

Much has been written about the Wall and other aspects of closure, but “Space and Mobility in Palestine” distinguishes itself by placing this system in a historical, regional and global context. Closure is framed as the current phase of the Israeli settler-colonial project in Palestine. In the post-Oslo period, Israel has eyed the chance to control all the land and resources of historical Palestine, but must grapple with the demographic issue. By making Palestinian lives so difficult, even impossible, Israel hopes to push them to emigrate, enacting gradual, “voluntary”, ethnic cleansing. “In essence, Palestinians inhabit a prison from which they are encouraged to escape.” (p. 9) 

Enclosed and basically abandoned in their scattered enclaves, Palestinians resemble other “unwanted” population groups the neoliberal world over. Peteet compares the fortified Israeli colonies to gated communities, which are “flourishing globally as elites and states partition and barricade space in an attempt to exclude and lock out the anticipated violence of the have-nots, cast alternatively as criminals or terrorists”. (pp. 61-2)

She compares and contrasts the Palestinian situation with that of Native Americans, Afro-Americans under Jim Crow laws and today’s mass incarceration system, and apartheid South Africa. 

Regionally, Peteet draws parallels to the reorganisation of space according to sectarian lines as happened in Iraq in the wake of the US invasion, in Lebanon during the civil war and most recently in Syria.

Though elements of the closure regime were put in place in the 1990s, Peteet points out that its development into a totalising system corresponded with the US-proclaimed “war on terror” and Israel’s enhancement as a high-tech “anti-terror” arms and security equipment supplier and trainer in the global arena. With its arms industry flourishing like never before, Israel has less interest in entering into Arab markets or peace. Conflict management has become the order of the day. By bringing in these regional and global parallels, Peteet sets the ever-growing overlap between Israeli and US strategies in relief. 

Perhaps most importantly, Peteet gives voice to the Palestinian perspective: how coping with closure affects their lives and their thinking, how they analyse Israel’s aims, what they expect in the future, and what possibilities they see for resistance. To get this perspective, Peteet not only interviewed scores of West Bank and Jerusalem Palestinians, she travelled with them from one town and village to another on trips made long and arduous by having to circumvent settler-only spaces and roads. She waited with them at checkpoints, and attended protests against the Wall and land confiscation. Extensive quotes from those she interviewed and her first-hand impressions are interspersed throughout the text, adding vitality, authenticity and a deeply human dimension to her incisive analysis.

People with heart disease have better long-term survival odds when they are married, a recent US study suggests. 

Compared to divorced, widowed and never-married peers, who were up to 71 per cent more likely to die during a follow-up of several years, married patients also had fewer heart risk factors like high blood pressure and were more likely to be on heart medications. 

“We measured biomarkers including cholesterol, high blood pressure and presence of diabetes. True, unmarried patients are dying more because they have these conditions. But just the marital status in and of itself is an independent risk factor,” senior study author Dr Arshed Quyyumi of Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta told Reuters in a phone interview. 

Quyyumi and his team looked at the relationship between marital status and incidence of cardiovascular death, heart attack and death from any cause in 6,051 men and women who had their clogged heart arteries cleared at Emory Healthcare hospitals between 2003 and 2015. Follow-up ranged from 1.7 to 6.7 years, averaging about three and a half years. 

Overall, the unmarried patients were 1.45 times as likely as the married patients to experience a cardiovascular event leading to death, 1.52 times as likely to have a heart attack and 1.24 times as likely to die from any cause during the follow-up period, the researchers report in the Journal of the American Heart Association. 

Widows fared the worst, with a 71 per cent higher likelihood of heart attack or cardiovascular death compared to married patients. Divorced, separated and never-married patients had about 40 per cent higher odds for those events. 

Past research has found that being married is associated with better health and survival overall, the study team notes, although the mechanisms involved need further study. 

“It’s a culmination of factors,” said Dr Rahul Potluri of Aston Medical School in Birmingham, UK, who was not involved in the study. “Benefits of marriage include the impetus to look after one’s health.”

People who live close to gyms, pools and playing fields weigh less and have smaller waistlines than their counterparts residing farther away from exercise facilities, a UK study suggests. 

Living far away from fast food outlets also appeared to help people maintain a lower weight and trimmer waist, although this connection was not as strong as the proximity of gyms, researchers report in the Lancet Public Health. 

“It is likely that communities without the neighbourhood resources needed to encourage a healthy lifestyle put their residents at a higher risk of obesity,” said senior study author Steven Cummins of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. 

“This could be improved by restricting the number of new fast food outlets in a neighbourhood and how close they can be to people’s homes, incentivising operators of physical activity facilities to open in residential areas with few facilities, or funding local authorities to provide such facilities,” Cummins said by e-mail. 

Globally, more than 1.9 billion adults are overweight or obese, according to the World Health Organisation. The condition contributes to a variety of common medical problems including heart disease, diabetes and certain cancers. 

For the study, researchers examined data on weight, waist measurements and body fat for more than 400,000 men and women ranging in age from 40 to 70. 

The study used data collected between 2006 and 2010 that included demographic characteristics like household income, as well as what types of eating and exercising options were available near people’s home addresses. 

To determine exercise opportunities, researchers looked for indoor and outdoor facilities for sports and leisure activities such as gyms, swimming pools and playing fields. They did not consider public parks or cycling and walking paths. 

On average, people had just one exercise facility within 1 kilometre of home. And almost one-third of participants had no options this close to where they lived, the study found. 

People typically had to travel just 1.1 kilometres to reach a fast food outlet. Nearly one in five people had a fast food restaurant within a half-kilometre of home. 

Better access to exercise options translated into a healthier weight. 

Compared to people who had no facilities near home, people who had at least six places to work out weighed less, had a 1.22 centimetre slimmer waistline, and had a body fat percentage that was 0.81 per cent lower on average. 

At the same time, people who lived at least 2 kilometres from a fast food outlet had a waistline 0.26 centimetres smaller than individuals who lived less than a half-kilometre away, the study also found. 

One limitation of the study is that not all fast food restaurants may have been included in the database, the authors note. The study also did not account for the proximity of healthy dining establishments near home, or the type of food and workout options close to where people worked. 

The study was not a controlled experiment designed to prove whether or how neighbourhood characteristics like the availability of gyms or greasy spoons might impact obesity rates. 

It is hard to rule out the possibility that healthier people may choose to live near the amenities they need to stay healthy, said Pablo Monsivais, author of an accompanying editorial and a nutrition and exercise researcher at Washington State University in Spokane. 

But the study still suggests that where we live matters, Monsivais said by e-mail. 

“Individually, each of us makes choices that affect whether we maintain a healthy weight or put on pounds, but these choices are shaped by the environments we inhabit,” Monsivais added. “This study looked at just a few features of the environment, but research shows that things like green space, walkability, noise, air quality and the availability of healthy food choices all seem to matter for our health and body weight.”