Features

It is funny how some of the devices that we used to consider as mere gadgets or toys, upon their initial introduction in the computer market, have made the grade in the end to become indispensable, professional tools — definitely not toys.

Even those working in the field were fooled at the beginning and I confess that in many an instance I was one of them.

Perhaps the most obvious such example is the smartphone camera. When it first came to life the overall quality of the pictures you could take was poor to mediocre. Usage, therefore, was limited to pictures meant just to have some fun, to give you a mere (often blurred) idea of the real thing, and certainly not to generate shots that you would preciously keep for the generations to come to show to.

Because of that and for a long time I kept carrying around my big, trusty Nikon DSLR camera, which weight, combined with that of the pro flashgun and the additional lenses made me a potential candidate for hernia.

Over the past two to three years, however, smartphone cameras have really come a long way, and in many aspects are now able to compete with full-size dedicated pro DSLR cameras, up to a certain extent of course. There are countless situations where these cameras can take shots that are fine, sharp, perfectly usable and enjoyable. In some cases, and unless you intentionally blow up the picture several times, you would be hard pressed to tell if it was taken with a smartphone or a DSLR camera. Where it still hurts are all situations of low light shooting. Here the big machines still make a difference.

The same story happened with the mouse that today we take for granted. When Apple launched it in the early 1980s, most of us thought that it was just to play computer games or to draw funny shapes on the screen. Computer professionals looked upon it with disdain. The rest is history. Can you today accomplish any computer task without a good mouse? There are even adapters that let you use a mouse with a smartphone or a tablet, adding non-negligible functionality and convenience to the already available touch screen.

Last but not least are laptop computers. We may have forgotten that when they were first introduced they were not only bulky but also terribly low in terms of performance, connectivity, storage, processing power, etc. Here too seasoned pros and demanding users considered them as a pitiful attempt to imitate the real thing, understand the full-size desktop computer.

It took a long while but nowadays any laptop made after say 2010 has enough technical resources and capability to match a desktop machine. The success and the progress are not even comparable with that of smartphone cameras. For indeed, there is still a difference between the actual performances of these two types of cameras, whereas a high-end laptop can perfectly match and even beat a desktop computer. The only difference here remains the price. For equal performance and capability a laptop is significantly more expensive than a desktop unit.

Next time the industry launches a new device that looks like a gadget I will refrain from laughing at it too soon.

A new calculator can help couples see their odds of success with in vitro fertilisation (IVF) before they start treatment, a recent study suggests. 

Doctors have traditionally been reluctant to estimate couples’ chances of having a baby before they complete at least one cycle of IVF, allowing clinicians to assess the quality of the eggs, sperm and embryos, in addition to individual characteristics such as age, weight and medical conditions. 

With the new pre-treatment calculator, however, women can get an estimate of their chances before that first cycle of IVF and it can be adjusted based on what doctors discover after that cycle is completed, said lead study author Dr David McLernon of the University of Aberdeen in the UK.

“I don’t think women would want to undergo their first cycle of IVF just to determine their chances in future cycles. I think their aim would be to have a baby in that first attempt,” McLernon said by e-mail. 

For the current study, researchers examined data on 113,873 women with 184,269 complete IVF cycles. 

Overall, 29 per cent of the women had a baby after one cycle and 43 per cent delivered an infant after six complete cycles, researchers report in The BMJ. 

Age was one pre-treatment indicator of the odds of success. Women who were 31 years old before the first cycle of IVF were 66 per cent more likely to have a baby than women who were 37 years old, for example. 

The number of years couples experienced infertility before trying IVF also factored into their odds of success before treatment. Couples were 9 per cent more likely to have a baby after three years of infertility than after six years.

Once IVF started, factors that influenced the odds of success included the woman’s age, the number of eggs retrieved in the cycle, whether the eggs were frozen and how developed the embryos were before being transferred from the lab into the woman’s uterus.

A greater number of eggs produced in a cycle increased the odds of success up to 13 eggs, but more than that might mean lower quality eggs and lower chances of a baby, the study found. 

Combining all these factors, researchers calculate that before treatment, a 30-year-old woman with two years of unexplained infertility has a 46 per cent chance of having a baby after one cycle of IVF and a 79 per cent chance of success over three complete cycles.

IVF can take a steep emotional and financial toll on couples, and the calculator cannot address every factor that may influence whether any given cycle of treatment results in a baby, the authors caution. 

It’s also possible that some factors not included in the calculator might still impact the odds of success for a given patient, noted Judy Stern, an obstetrics researcher at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Centre in Lebanon, New Hampshire. 

“To the degree that the patient understands that success rate, realises that it is an estimate only, and understands that additional factors not included in the model could influence the outcome, it can be helpful,” Stern, who was not involved in the study, said by e-mail. 

“It can also give false hope [or lack of hope] and it is thus important that patients thoroughly discuss these rates and their own specific situation with their providers,” Stern said. 

The calculator in the study does have some advantages over one from the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART) that many doctors currently use, said Dr Kevin Doody, SART president and a researcher at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. 

SART’s “Patient Predictor” calculator only goes up to three cycles and does not include some factors related to frozen embryos, Doody said by e-mail. 

At the same time, the current study’s “OPIS” calculator does not predict success based on the number of embryos transferred or examine the risk of twins, things the SART calculator does include, Doody said. 

“These models are great in that they demonstrate that success rates with IVF can be quite high, but some women will need to undertake several cycles,” Doody said. 

For many reasons I had to make four diverse trips to various destinations in a short span of two weeks. Before my body clock could adjust to a new time zone I was hopping on, or off, an airplane, all over again. This resulted in my brain being in a perpetual state of confusion, especially when I woke up in the mornings. I took several minutes to figure out where I was, why I was where I was, how did I get to where I was, and when would I get out of where I was, etcetera, etcetera. 

These journeys closely followed our daughter’s recent wedding last month, when I constantly wondered who would turn up that day: from the caterer, the photographer, the tent guy, the wedding planner, the DJ, the flowers chap and the electrician, I did not know whose payment was due. I did have a diary, of course I did, but despite jotting down everything I ended up paying some of them twice, while chasing the other poor fellows away without a single penny, for no fault of theirs.

In the midst of all this chaos I learned one important lesson, which is that one should not wish for anything in a casual manner, because more often than not, your wish is granted. And then one has to live with it. Take me for example. I always enjoyed travelling since it gave me a chance to visit different countries, imbibing distinct cultures and observe the flora and fauna of individual lands. I even liked the sound of the lilting foreign accents speaking in a language that I could not understand, but I loved hearing it anyway.

So the obvious choice for me was to take up flying as a profession. An eye test dissuaded me because I had something called colour blindness that in a politically correct world is nothing to feel ashamed about because it only goes to prove that I’m not a racist.

But medically it meant that I had an inability to distinguish between certain colours and I had trouble seeing red, green, blue, or mixtures of these colours. This condition resulted from an absence of colour-sensitive pigment in the cone cells of the retina — the nerve layer at the back of my eye. Most colour vision problems were inherited and approximately one out of twelve males, and one out of twenty women have colour blindness. I happened to be one of them. 

The second best thing to being a pilot was to become an airline passenger. I longed to be a frequent flyer and guess what? Abracadabra, soon I was one. Remember that bit about wishes being granted? I could barely contain my excitement. My bags were permanently packed and I was always ready to gallivant. I toured the globe, marvelling at all my expeditions. 

Presently the exhaustion caught up with me but if I stopped flying, my frequent flyer status would be downgraded. I could not allow that to happen but I wondered if my wish fulfilment was a blessing, or a curse. 

At a party yesterday, I refused a glass of wine. 

“I’m flying out tonight,” I offered my excuse. 

“You are a pilot?” a young man asked me. 

“I wanted to become one but I was rejected,” I said. 

“Gender discrimination?” he questioned

“Colour discrimination,” I explained. 

“Sue the racists, you heard me?” he exclaimed.

“Clearly,” I smiled. 

A far cry from the opulent land-yachts historically associated with America’s best-known luxury car brand, the Cadillac ATS Coupe is an agile and engaging compact two-door four-seat executive. Pitched squarely in a German-dominated segment, the ATS Coupe was benchmarked against the E46 generation BMW 3-Series in development. First released in 2012 in saloon form and 2014 as a coupe, the ATS has been upgraded for 2016 to remain competitive alongside newer Audi A5, Mercedes-Benz C-Class Coupe, BMW 4-Series and Infiniti Q60 rivals.

Offered in four engine variations, including two four-cylinder entry level models and range-topping twin-turbo ATS-V high performance guise, the ATS Coupe’s sweet and delicately balanced chassis would, however, seem best paired with second-to-top spec naturally aspirated 3.6-litre V6 engine. Fast and engaging but not over powered, the ATS Coupe 3.6L features a slight power hike and new gearbox. The ATS 3.6L may be refined and luxurious, but nevertheless has a certain visceral old school appeal, with eager and high revving naturally aspirated engine, 51:49 weight distribution and optional mechanical limited-slip differential, as tested.

Elegant and athletic

Probably the best design from Cadillac’s angular and now long-serving but modern “arts and science” design era, the ATS Coupe is better proportioned and more sophisticated and nuanced than cars like the previous generation CTS Coupe. Meanwhile, it is more elegant and viscerally athletic without being unnecessarily complicated, fussy or aggressive. Subtly well integrating Cadillac design features like vertical rear lights, wrap-over LED headlight and sharp creases, the ATS Coupe is lithe and understated next to more overtly styled stable-mates.

Virtually unaltered for 2016, with little use of shiny chrome finishing, the ATS Coupe’s relatively low waistline and bonnet, flowing roofline, pert rear and dual exhaust tips deck lend it a sense of forward motion. Its proportions are just right, with restrained wheel arches, and short front and slightly longer rear overhangs. Fitted with chrome style alloy wheels with 225/40R18 front and 255/35R18 rear tyres, the ATS Coupe has the right combination of steering feel at the front and grip at its driven rear wheels.

Eager and crisp

Revised to produce an additional 14BH and 10lb/ft for 2016, the ATS Coupe’s naturally aspirated direct injection 3.6-litre V6 engine develops 335BHP at 6800rpm and 285lb/ft at 5300rpm and now features cylinder deactivation for improved fuel efficiency. A refreshingly eager, progressive and somewhat high-strung engine in an age where turbocharged engines are de riguer, the ATS feels satisfyingly sporty. With meaningful pull from low-end and decent – if not excessive or bloated mid-range torque, the rev-hungry ATS rewardingly unleashes its maximum torque and power when pushed hard and deep towards its 7,200rpm rev limit.

Dispatching the 0-100km/h sprint in a lively 5.5 seconds, the ATS Coupe’s long-legged engine sears through revs in long accumulative sweeps, which along with precise throttle control, allow one to dial in exact increments of torque and power and intuitively control grip and slip at the rear, when slicing through corners. Eager and urgent in delivery, the ATS engine note rises to a screamingly gruff wail. Intense, free-revving and satisfying but slightly industrial in tone, one feels Cadillac missed a beat by not imbuing the ATS with more melodic, evocative and exotically Italianesque acoustics.

Control and agility

New for 2016 models, the ATS receives an 8-speed automatic gearbox. Developed in-house by General Motors, it is in general more responsive and has a better ratio spread than the 6-speed it replaces, and – in manual-shift “sport” mode – holds gears right against the rev limiter for more driver control, but still kicks down automatically. Almost as slick as ZF’s widely used 8-speed, the ATS gearbox is, however, occasionally reluctant to up-shift from fourth to fifth and fifth to sixth gears when revving hard with full throttle, and using manual mode paddle shifters. 

Driving the rear wheels through a an optional mechanical limited slip differential, the ATS Coupe reallocates power to the wheel best able to effectively put it down to tarmac, so reducing wheel spin when cornering aggressively and improving agility and handling ability. Meanwhile, optional adaptive magnetic dampers responsively adjust for supple ride comfort on straights and taut body control through corners, and features pre-set “sport” or “comfort” modes. Well controlled, poised and buttoned down in “sport” mode, the ATS could do with slightly firmer damping in “comfort” mode for more settled rebound control on choppy roads.

Alert and engaging

Riding on a stiff frame with MacPherson strut front and multi-link rear suspension, and benefitting from restrained 1,601kg weight, the ATS Coupe drives with a lithe, agile and eager sensibility. Quick, light and precise, its steering is intuitive, while front-end grip tidy into corners. Intuitive and balanced through corners, the ATS Coupe feels neutral and manoeuvrable. Responding well-to on throttle adjustments, it is predictable and engaging at the limit, happy to either shift weight to the outside rear tighten cornering lines or dig in faithfully and slingshot out onto a straight.

Stable and refined at speed, the ATS feels more alert than Germanically planted. Meanwhile, driving position is supportive, comfortable and well adjustable, with good front and side visibility. Front seating is well spaced with the absence of a sunroof improving headroom. Rear seats are useable but restricted for large and tall passengers. Pleasantly luxurious, the ATS cabin features a fair share of quality materials and decent fit and finish mixed with glossy black surfaces, while Alcantara trim segments unfortunately do not include the roof lining.

Somewhat busy inside in terms of layouts, controls, displays and light colours, the ATS is, however, very well-equipped with standard and optional infotainment systems, creature comforts and safety systems including blind spot and lane assistance, adaptive cruise control and forward collision and rear cross-path alerts. Revised for 2016, with upgraded technology which includes improved CUE infotainment system — now faster with better navigation and “phone projection” capability.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: 3.6-litre, all-aluminium, in-line V6 cylinders

Bore x Stroke: 95 x 85.6mm

Compression ratio: 11.5:1

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

Gearbox: 8-speed automatic, rear-wheel-drive, limited-slip rear differential

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: 3.93/3.27

Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 335 (340) [250] @6,800rpm

Specific power: 92BHP/litre

Power-to-weight: 209.2BHP/ton

Torque lb/ft (Nm): 285 (386) @5,300rpm

Specific torque: 106Nm/litre

Torque-to-weight: 241Nm/ton

0-100km/h: 5.5 seconds

Fuel consumption, city/highway:  11.76-/7.84 litres/100km

Steering: Variable electric-assisted rack & pinion

Turning circle: 10.97 metres

Lock-to-lock: 2.86 turns

Suspension: MacPherson struts/multi-link, adaptive magnetic dampers

Brakes, F/R: Ventilated discs 321 x 30mm/315 x 23mm

Tyres, F/R: 225/40R18/255/35R18

Price, starting from: JD68,000

A Country of Words: A Palestinian Journey from the Refugee Camp to the Front Page

Abdel Bari Atwan

London: Saqi, 2008

Pp. 285

For the title of his memoir, Abdel Bari Atwan chose a line from a Mahmoud Darwish poem: “We travel like other people, but we return to nowhere… We have a country of words.” This is emblematic of Atwan’s preoccupation with his lost homeland as well as his profession as a writer. The book’s subtitle sums up the course Atwan’s life followed, partly by design, partly by luck, and partly by virtue of his being Palestinian. 

Growing up in Deir Al Balah and Rafah refugee camps in the Gaza Strip, Atwan lived in several Arab countries and worked diverse jobs before emerging as an internationally acclaimed, UK-based journalist, editor and political commentator. While he became famous (infamous, in some quarters) for his 1996 in-depth interview with Osama Ben Laden, his greatest achievement was founding the first, truly independent, pan-Arab newspaper, “Al Quds Al Arabi”. 

In an engaging style, fact-filled yet intimate, Atwan covers a lot of ground in his memoir, from the basics of the Palestinian cause and half a century of tumultuous events, to the Arab scene in London, his family and their return visits to Gaza in the 1990s. He knows how to capture a situation with well-chosen details and readily shares his personal convictions and feelings. Though the second half of the book is filled with prominent names and events, Atwan’s account of growing up in Gaza is actually the most charming part of the narrative. His first memories are of his mother’s storytelling which warmed long, dark, winter nights as he and his siblings huddled on the floor around a wood fire. She told folk tales, ghost stories and more. “It was the stories from her past, though, that affected us most deeply and we loved to hear about Isdud, the small Mediterranean village she and my father lived in until the Nakba”. (p. 15) 

Like others in Gaza’s camps, his family’s economic situation was dire, and they were plagued by recurring Israeli attacks, but Atwan also portrays the lighter side — family togetherness, youthful escapades and a variety of larger-than-life camp personalities. 

One is struck by the number of times Atwan landed in a new place virtually penniless, but survived and acquired beneficial experience, based on sheer determination and the art of living on next to nothing that he had acquired in childhood. After the 1967 occupation, there seemed to be no option other than leaving Gaza. He went to Amman intending to continue his education, but ended up sleeping on a roof and working in a factory and later as a driver. Though it proved impossible to continue his education due to lack of funds, he did acquire the valuable habit of reading. After two years, he left for Egypt, where he had relatives, and was able to finish secondary school in Alexandria, study journalism at Cairo University, and immerse himself in pan-Arab culture and politics. In retrospect, he credits Nasser’s generous pro-Palestinian policies for his degree: “Nasser’s vision had enabled me to turn my life around.” (p. 88) 

But with regime change, his plans to do an MA at Cairo University were aborted. In 1974, the authorities refused to renew his visa, citing his student activism, including speeches and writing against Sadat and other Arab leaders. He had to leave Egypt quickly and by chance was offered a job driving a wealthy business man to Tripoli. “With just one bag and no money at all, I set off across the desert towards Libya and an uncertain future.” (p. 115)

For the rather harrowing drive, the businessman paid him a pittance, so he was reduced to staying in a “hotel” where three residents shared a mattress by sleeping in shifts. In Libya, he sold his first story but was soon frustrated by the lack of professionalism in the press, and moved to Jeddah where he worked for “Al Medina”. This led to a job offer with “Al Sharq Al Awsat” which took him to London.

Here ends the story of arriving penniless, but not of Atwan’s struggle to remain independent. His political differences with “Al Sharq Al Awsat” came to a head during the First Intifada, pushing him to resign and start “Al Quds Al Arabi” in 1989. Twenty-four years later, after publication of this memoir, he resigned his post as editor-in-chief because he feared the funding offered to resolve the paper’s financial crisis would impose political constraints on its contents. Instead, he started the electronic Arabic daily, “Rai Al Youm”. Judging from this memoir, Atwan is very capable of adapting to all sorts of circumstances, but Palestine and journalistic independence are issues on which he will not compromise.

Skin-to-skin contact between mothers and newborns immediately after birth can be used to promote breastfeeding and may give babies a better start in life, according to a new review of existing evidence.

Women who had skin-to-skin contact with their naked babies right after delivery were more likely to breastfeed longer and be breastfeeding months later than women who did not have their babies placed on their skin right away, the researchers found. 

“The more you can do to place the mother and baby together and disturb them as little possible during that first hour, the better off they’ll be,” said lead author Elizabeth Moore, of the School of Nursing at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.

Moore and her colleagues write in the Cochrane Library November 25th that babies are often separated from their mothers at birth. The new review looked at whether placing naked babies on their mother’s bare chest improved breastfeeding and other health outcomes.

The review was coordinated by the Cochrane Collaboration, an international organisation that evaluates and reviews medical research.

The researchers looked through medical literature and found 46 randomised controlled trials to include in their review. The trials included 3,850 women and their newborns from 21 countries. All babies were healthy and most were born at term.

“We compared those trials to usual care, and usual care was very different depending on the trial,” said Moore. Trials from the 1970s may have separated mothers from their babies for hours. In more modern trials, babies might be swaddled in a blanket before being handed to the mother.

Compared to babies and mothers who received usual care, those who received skin-to-skin contact immediately after birth were about 24 per cent more likely to still be breastfeeding one to four months later.

Infants who received skin-to-skin care were also 32 per cent more likely to successfully breastfeed on their first try.

There was also evidence that women who got skin-to-skin contact breastfed longer and were more likely to exclusively breastfeed after leaving the hospital.

Evidence also suggested babies did better after receiving skin-to-skin contact after birth. They had higher scores on a measure evaluating their heart and lung function, had higher blood sugar levels and had a similar body temperature to their swaddled counterparts.

“It’s just something that if at all possible should happen,” Moore told Reuters Health. 

Skin-to-skin contact should begin as soon as possible and last for at least 60 minutes, she said. The hour will give babies time to recover from the birthing experience, find the mother’s nipple and latch on.

“It’s not something you can do in just 15 minutes,” she said.

Moore said more research is needed on skin-to-skin contact after caesarean births and among babies born near full term.

“I think skin-to-skin care or contact is a no-cost intervention that improves outcomes for mothers and babies,” said Jeannette Crenshaw, of Texas Tech University Health Sciences Centre School of Nursing in Lubbock.

Crenshaw, who is presently involved in a study of skin-to-skin contact after caesarean sections, said the current findings confirm the results of earlier, less rigorous studies that showed similar benefits.

“We need to adjust our processes, normal routines and make system changes to make the best practice available to mothers and babies,” said Crenshaw.

They have already adversely affected sales of cameras, scanners and printers by fulfilling their functions, by practically replacing them. How far will smartphones go, replacing more and more devices, albeit sometimes only partially and not performing as well as the originals?

Few digital tools are as versatile and multifunctional as smartphones. Suffice it to see the number of apps available out there and that can do a zillion things.

Even when software applications alone are not enough to perform certain tasks, designers succeed in creating physical attachments, small extension hardware to the smartphone that works in conjunction with the app and does the trick.

SanDisk company has recently announced USB flash drives that you connect directly to a smartphone the same way you would do it to a laptop or desktop machine. This gives you instant, removable storage of up to 128GB, on the go — et voilà. Who needs a laptop then?

By adding an iRig (tradename) interface to your smartphone and downloading an appropriate app, you turn your handset into an incredibly powerful electric guitar effect box. The musical instrument plugs into the iRig that is the size of a pack of cigarettes, and the app allows you to play and choose amongst a mind-blowing variety of guitar sounds.

You can output the sound either to a headphone or to an external amplifier of your choice; even a 200-watt Marshall if you like. For about $50 (excluding the Marshall price, it’s understood…), this lets you achieve what used to cost 15 to 20 times more and was a rather bulky setup, before smartphones were invented.

But the best is probably yet to come. Medical diagnosis possible at home is what will really constitute a new revolution; and it’s on its way. Checking heart rate and other simple vital signs is already available, as is glucose monitoring for diabetes affected patients. Heart rate does not require any addition external advices, just press your finger gently against the camera’s lens and the smartphone’s app will measure it in a few seconds. Glucose monitoring requires the addition of a pocketsize attachment, just like the guitar effect box, and that lets you monitor your glucose level. 

But the smartphone industry is preparing for much more important medical applications and the future of home medicine will go much further.

It is expected that MRI scanning with a smartphone will be possible sooner than we may think. This will open the door to early cancer detection, at home. As incredible as it may sound it is true. And to think that the first hospital MRI scanners operating in Jordan some 20 or 25 years ago were as big and heavy as a car and as expensive as buying an apartment!

MRI scanning with a smartphone was tested experimentally as early as in 2011 at Massachusetts General Hospital, in the USA. It was done with a small 0.5 tesla magnet, by scanning small body parts. Big MRI hospital scanners usually have magnets of about 10 teslas. Research, mainly in the USA and in Japan, indicates that practical MRI scanners that attach to smartphones may become household items in five to seven years.

The smartphone market is still hot despite occasional disappointments and failures. The ill-fated Samsung Galaxy Note 7 with its exploding batteries was such an example. But despite the negative impact on its manufacturer, it does not really seem really affected by the temporarily setback and there are already rumours on the Web of the upcoming Galaxy S8 smartphone. In the meantime the misfortune of the Note 7 is benefitting the local Jordanian market that has recently seen the price of the Galaxy S7, the nearest thing to the Note 7 and still a top of line, excellent handset, being dropped to under JD500.