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You don’t have to examine them closely in order to notice the similarity. One casual glance is enough to confirm the obvious fact that pet-owners and their pets resemble one another in an uncanny, unbelievable and unexplainable sort of way.

I did not give much credence to this belief initially. But recently I came across a photograph. It was of a golden retriever pup grinning wolfishly at the camera. The picture was taken 10 to 15 years back and for a moment I could not pinpoint who the snapshot reminded me of. And then, all of a sudden, it came to me in a flash. The happy puppy looked exactly like an unruly version of me. In a much younger and untidier form, but our dark eyes, rakish smile and unkempt hair looked completely identical. 

I never spotted this while he was alive. There was just no time for any kind of philosophical reflection then, as he kept me extremely busy. I could not prepare for his arrival because we adopted him on a whim, with no prior planning. He was tiny, a few weeks old, chocolate coloured bundle when I picked him up for the first time. He curled into my palm and clung to my shoulder refusing to let go. I had to bring him home. When I gave him a bath, all the dirt accumulated on his little body washed off, and he emerged as a light cream fluffy ball. 

We called him Zar and he was an absolute delight. When he was small, his favourite mode of travel was my lap. He loved attention and curious children stopped me in public places to ask if they could cuddle him. As he became bigger I had to start the tough job of house-training him. Many nights he would wake me up with a false whine and when I took him out into the garden to do his business, he would go on an unending sniffing trail. If I rushed him, he would come back indoors, and promptly piddle on the leg of my expensive sofa. 

The doggy biscuits were what he lived for, and I could make him do anything, if the reward was a crunchy cookie. When he grew older his body became stronger. Very soon he started resembling a huge gigantic lion. He was supposed to be our guard dog but was the friendliest mutt alive, and was more capable of jumping on a stranger and slobbering him with drool rather than biting him to death. 

Everything scared him, including the sound of his own bark. His greatest pastime was chasing cats, but if a particular vicious one hissed at him, he would come scurrying, to hide behind my back. From that safe position he would continue to snarl at them. 

Zar spent every moment of his life around me. So when he contacted leukaemia, we had to make one of the most agonising decisions we have ever made. The vet suggested that this was the kindest thing we could do and it was time to let him go. The melting brown eyes looked at me in complete trust, as I held him in my lap for one last time. The injection was painless and within minutes he stopped his laboured breathing.

His loss was devastating and I have still not completely recovered from it. The belated realisation that I resembled my dog is like a balm to my grieving soul.

Los Angeles Times (MCT) 

What determines behaviour?

That’s a question with a lot of partial answers. Upbringing. Genes. Brain chemistry. Peers. Sunday morning sermons. Inane values communicated in TV ads. The levels of various hormones in the fluid we marinated in as foetuses. The list goes on and on.

Many of these influences can be grouped under the nebulous category of “culture”. Examples of cultural influences on behaviour are numerous. Austrians, say, are more likely to ski than Tahitians. But some differences are less obvious. For example, monotheistic religions tend to come from desert cultures, while rain forest cultures tend to be polytheistic. And societies of people who make a living as nomadic pastoralists — herders of cows, camels, or goats — are more likely than hunter-gatherers to evolve “cultures of honour” built around warrior classes, retributive violence and clan feuds.

Some of the best-studied cultural contrasts are between “collectivist” and “individualistic” cultures, most commonly between East Asian cultures and that of the US Collectivist cultures are about cooperation, interdependence, the good of the group outweighing the needs of any individual. These are societies in which people are uncomfortable standing out in the crowd, hewing to the principle that “the tall sheath of wheat is the first to be cut down”. Individualistic cultures, in contrast, emphasise competition, independence, individual achievement and “looking out for No. 1”.

What do these cultural differences look like on psychological tests? When asked to draw a “sociogram” — a diagram of their social network, with circles representing themselves and their friends, connected by lines — Americans tend to place the circle representing themselves in the middle of the page, and make it larger than the other circles. East Asians typically draw the self circle smaller than the others.

When given a scenario in which a friend has cheated them in a business deal, Americans are likely to want to punish the jerk. East Asians are likely not to want to see their friends penalised.

When presented with a trio of items — a rabbit, a dog and a carrot — and asked which two go together, individualists tend to think in an analytical, categorical way — rabbits and dogs, because they’re both types of animals. Collectivists are likely to think in a more holistic, relational way, connecting rabbits and carrots, because if you think about a rabbit, you also must think about what it’s going to eat.

When briefly shown a picture of a complex scene, Americans are most likely in the first fraction of a second to look at the centre of the picture, and to remember the main object in it. East Asians, in contrast, are more likely to scan the periphery and remember the overall scene. And Americans find it easier to recall times when they influenced someone else than times when someone influenced them; with East Asians, it’s the opposite.

Naturally, not all members of a culture fit neatly into its norms. Nonetheless, numerous studies taking averages of study subjects have found large differences among cultures.

Of course, “Americans” and “East Asians” are pretty broad terms, and looking at differences within those cultures can also be interesting. That’s what a terrific new study in the journal Science does. Much of traditional Chinese agriculture is about rice farming, which is the epitome of collectivism. Entire villages labour together to maintain irrigation systems, and crops are planted in rotation, since the whole village is needed to harvest each family’s crop. But scattered throughout China are regions where wheat is farmed because it is too hilly to grow rice. In wheat country, each family works its own land.

Thomas Talhelm of the University of Virginia and an international team of collaborators looked at these two types of farmers in rural China, carefully controlling for such things as income, ethnicity, climate and patterns of disease. And it turned out that people in wheat-farming districts look like folks from individualistic cultures. They draw sociograms in which the circles representing themselves were significantly larger. They are more likely to want a sleazy friend punished, and they link rabbits to dogs rather than to carrots. People from wheat districts also showed two additional markers of individualistic cultures — higher divorce rates, and they file more patents.

Thus, accidents of geography — in this case whether someone was born in a hilly or a flat region — can alter how a person thinks in all sorts of unexpected realms. Perhaps next, the researchers should study the ways in which the mountain tribes of Pacific Palisades think differently about bunnies and friendships than the plains tribes of, say, Whittier.

But the main point of cool studies such as this one is simply to make us marvel at the subtlety of the factors that shape us.

ISLAMORADA, Florida — It’s easy to go online and get a 360-degree, ground-level view of almost any street in the United States and throughout the world. Soon, scientists hope people will be able to do the same with coral reefs and other underwater wonders.

US government scientists are learning to use specialised fisheye lenses underwater in the Florida Keys this week in hopes of applying “street view” mapping to research and management plans in marine sanctuaries nationwide. Some of the rotating and panoramic images will be available online as early as this week, including a selection on Google Maps, giving the public a window into ecosystems still difficult and costly to explore for long stretches of time.

It will be like scuba diving from your computer.

About 400,000 images have been produced so far of reefs off Australia and in the Caribbean, but this is the first time the technology is being used in US waters.

The images in the US will add scale and details to data that’s already been collected, and illustrate the successes and failures of coral restoration. They will also help scientists study the effects of warming ocean temperatures, pollution and hurricanes on reefs, officials said.

“This allows people who can’t get underwater to understand what we mean by putting up a special preservation area around this particular spot,” said Mitchell Tartt, chief of the conservation science division at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries.

The basketball-shaped, triple-lens SVII cameras use the same technology that’s used to produce Google Street View images of neighbourhoods on land. Instead of being placed on top of a car, the 65-kilogramme riggings are tethered to scuba divers and powered through the water by small motors. Smaller versions mounted on tripods also are being tested in the Keys this week.

In images previewed Monday by project director Richard Vevers, endangered elkhorn coral, bleached fields of dead coral and coral nurseries suspended like hanging plants in the Keys’ blue waters were in sharp focus as they rotated on screen.

In an hour-long dive, each camera can capture images over an area up to 20 times larger than what’s available with traditional underwater photography equipment, Vevers said. The technology also records GPS data and quickly stitches the images together into panoramic views or 360-degree views.

The cameras and training in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary for six NOAA officials are being paid for as part of a partnership with the Catlin Seaview Survey, funded by the global insurance company Catlin. Google also is a sponsor.

The images that have been produced so far from other Catlin surveys are being uploaded online to the Catlin Global Reef Record. The project also moves next into Southeast Asia, Vevers said.

While the main survey continues worldwide, the smaller cameras will be available for targeted projects within NOAA sanctuaries, such as gauging the effectiveness of preservation zones in California’s Monterey Bay sanctuary, or they could help measure the impacts of landslides that fall into the water.

The corporate sponsorship offers consistency in equipment, training and data, Vevers said.

Catlin’s sustainability director, John Carroll, would only say the cost was “fairly substantial”.

The benefit to the Bermuda-based company also would be substantial, he said, because there are a lot of insurable assets that depend on climate change.

“Clearly as an insurance company, we’re keen to help manage this risk because, you know, that’s our business,” Carroll said.

LOS ANGELES — Oscar-winning actor Robin Williams shot to fame for his madcap standup act and his offbeat alien Mork, but his most famous roles showed a depth of pain behind the comedian’s mask.

The wildly popular 63-year-old funnyman, whose career spanned almost four decades, was known for rapid-fire, stream-of-consciousness improvisations and impersonations.

On screen, his characters were often offbeat and eccentric — from the zany alien Mork from the planet Ork, the television role in the 1970s that first catapulted him to fame, to the divorced dad who transforms himself into a elderly British nanny in Mrs Doubtfire.

His skill at imitating voices was often showcased — as in his portrayal of the genie in the 1992 Disney adaptation of “Aladdin”, in which his character runs through a string of celebrity impressions.

But he also found success in darker roles, including an Oscar-winning turn as psychologist Sean Maguire, a Vietnam veteran and widower who counsels troubled genius Will Hunting.

‘I was shameful’

But for all Williams’ Hollywood success and outsize public persona, the comedian faced private demons, including recurring battles with drugs, alcohol and mental illness.

He quit drinking and cocaine in the early 1980s, when his first son was born, but after 20 years sober, he started drinking again while filming in Alaska in 2003, he told the Guardian newspaper in 2010.

“It was that thing of working so much, and going ‘Fuck, maybe [drinking] will help?’ And it was the worst thing in the world,” he told the newspaper, adding, however, he did not start taking drugs again.

It took him another three years to get back to sobriety, after a family intervention led him to rehab, he said, blaming his drinking for the break-up in 2008 of his 19-year-second marriage.

“You know, I was shameful, and you do stuff that causes disgust, and that’s hard to recover from.”

It was health problems — and open heart surgery — in 2009 that he credits with being the true turning point.

“It breaks through your barrier, you’ve literally cracked the armour. And you’ve got no choice, it literally breaks you open. And you feel really mortal,” he said.

During the three-hour surgery, doctors replaced Williams’ aortic valve, repaired his mitral valve, and corrected an irregular heart beat.

The actor was also reportedly diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and in July 2014, he checked into a Minnesota rehab facility for help maintaining sobriety after a gruelling year-and-a-half of work.

A darker side

One of Williams’ most famous roles was as radio disk jockey Adrian Cronauer, whose loud and drawn out “Gooooooood morning, Vietnaaaaaam” started each broadcast and was the title of the film.

The character bucks authority on the air, bringing US troops the 1960s rock music and lifestyle they missed from home, playing unapproved songs and riffing in quick-fire improvisations in between.

Although he brings humour to his portrayal of the character, the film, set amid one of the longest and deadliest US wars abroad, is hardly a comedy.

And even his more light-hearted films touch on deeper sadness, including slapstick “Mrs Doubtfire”, the cross-dressing character created by divorced dad Daniel Hillard in desperation to see his kids, who were living with a wife who sees him as irresponsible.

Williams was beloved as inspirational prep-school teacher John Keating, in the “Dead Poets Society”, another character that defied authority with an unorthodox teaching style that ultimately gets him fired.

And in yet another dramatic role in “Awakenings”, Williams played Malcolm Sayer, a doctor with a ward full of catatonic patients. 

Sayer finds success with a treatment, shepherding his newly awakened charges into an unfamiliar world decades after their mental freeze, but it is ultimately temporary.

But Williams left behind his darker side in films for children, including as the voice behind the genie in Disney’s “Aladdin”, singing the iconic, and award-winning, song “Friends Like Me”, and in kids’ romp “Jumanji” about a board game that comes to life.

The question from a fan in a Sirius XM interview last year was innocent — what do you think you’d be doing if you didn’t become a comedian? — and within seconds Robin Williams was impersonating physicist Stephen Hawking getting a lap dance at a strip club.

“Now don’t sit on the keyboard!” Williams said, coaxing laughs from a few dozen people in a Manhattan studio.

How did he get there? Explaining it would take twice as long as it took to actually happen. Would anyone else in the world have made such a leap?

Not a chance. Williams, who died in an apparent suicide Monday, was a comic force of nature. The world got to know him as the wild alien in “Mork & Mindy”, a comedian who elevated improvisation to an art form and also demonstrated a rare versatility in more serious roles. He moved seamlessly from comedy to drama to tragedy to comedy again during a Hollywood heyday in the 1980s and 1990s. His Academy Award as a supporting actor in “Good Will Hunting” came in a drama.

In 1997, Entertainment Weekly magazine named Williams the funniest man alive, and the very next year listed him as one of the world’s 25 best actors — a double distinction that made him rare, if not unique.

He touched every generation and demographic, making his entrance in a 1970s comic generation with Steve Martin, John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd and Billy Crystal. He exploded onto the scene at a time when two schools of comedy dominated — “Saturday Night Live” and Johnny Carson — and Williams felt equally comfortable running with both crowds.

On a stage, in front of the lights, is where Williams shined most brightly. The riffs, tangents and impersonations came rushing at the audience, a seemingly endless torrent. It looked like onstage cocaine, a drug he abused in real life and, of course, made part of his comedy.

“Cocaine is God’s way of telling you you are making too much money,” he would say.

On a television talk show, hosts knew Williams barely needed to be wound up. Sometimes, he needed only an audience of one: Williams visited Christopher Reeve a week after the actor’s horseback riding accident, dressed in scrubs with a surgical mask and speaking in a Russian accent.

The roles became less prominent as he aged and a different generation took the spotlight. Last year CBS cast him as the star of a sitcom, “The Crazy Ones”, in which Williams played the colourful elder statesman at a New York ad agency. The network had high hopes for the comedy, which also starred Sarah Michelle Gellar, but they quickly faded and the show was cancelled after one season.

That didn’t make Williams unique — Michael J. Fox also failed in a recent return to television — but it was an indication that Williams was no longer a sure ticket to success.

Like many comedians, Williams often seemed driven by demons. He had a complicated personal life, suffered from depression and was treated for substance abuse, most recently earlier this summer. He did a few lines of cocaine with John Belushi on the last night of that comic’s life.

A darkness seeped in during an interview with comedian Marc Maron in 2010, where Williams seemingly dismissed what would be a career highlight for many actors. “People say you’re an Academy Award winner,” he said. “The Academy Award lasted about a week and then one week later, people went, ‘Hey Mork!’”

Stand-up comedy was where Williams got the most satisfaction.

“You get the feedback,” Williams said in a 2007 interview with The Associated Press. “There’s an energy. It’s live theatre. That’s why I think actors like that. You know, musicians need it, comedians definitely need it. It doesn’t matter what size and what club, whether it’s 30 people in the club or 2,000 in a hall or a theater. It’s live, it’s symbiotic, you need it.”

In the 2013 Sirius appearance with Whoopi Goldberg, his comic colleague had no trouble encouraging a visit from Elmer Fudd, one of the many voices Williams could instantly slip into.

Instantly, “Elmer” was singing Bruce Springsteen: “I’m dwivin’ in my car...”

Ultimately, Williams had needs no one could meet. The millions of people he made laugh over nearly four decades in the public consciousness weren’t enough.

SAN FRANCISCO — Apple Inc. has been discussing how its “HealthKit” service will work with health providers at Mount Sinai, the Cleveland Clinic and Johns Hopkins as well as with Allscripts, a competitor to electronic health records provider Epic Systems, people familiar with the discussions said.

While the talks may not amount to anything concrete, they underscore how Apple is intent on making health data, such as blood pressure, pulse and weight, available for consumers and health providers to view in one place.

Currently, this data is being collected by thousands of third-party healthcare software applications and medical devices, but it isn’t centrally stored. Apple also hopes physicians will use this data to better monitor patients between visits — with the patient’s consent — so the doctors can make better diagnostic and treatment decisions.

Apple has not divulged much specific detail on HealthKit, which is expected to be incorporated into the iPhone 6 come September. But Apple intends HealthKit to become a lynchpin in a broader push into mobile healthcare — a fertile field that rivals Google and Samsung are also exploring.

The iPhone maker has previously disclosed partnerships with Nike Inc, Epic and the prestigious Minnesota-based Mayo Clinic, which boasts a suite of mobile apps. Mayo is reportedly testing a service to flag patients when results from apps and devices are abnormal, with follow-up information and treatment recommendations.

Dozens of major health systems that use Epic’s software will soon be able to integrate health and fitness data from HealthKit into Epic’s personal health record, called MyChart, according to a person briefed by Apple. Kaiser Permanente is currently piloting a number of mobile apps that leverage HealthKit, two people have said, and is expected to reach out to Apple to discuss a more formal partnership.

“Apple is going into this space with a data play,” said Forrester Research’s healthcare analyst Skip Snow. “They want to be a hub of health data.”

But some implementations with HealthKit may be a challenge due to a web of privacy and regulatory requirements and many decades-old IT systems, said Morgan Reed, executive director of ACT, a Washington-based organisation that represents mobile app developers.

“Everybody is knocking on the door,” he said. “But I doubt that HealthKit will merge with all the existing systems.”

Apple declined to comment on upcoming partnerships for HealthKit. An Allscripts spokesperson said it did not publicly discuss contractual or prospective agreements. Mount Sinai and Johns Hopkins’ press officers had no information to share at this time.

Cleveland Clinic associate chief information officer William Morris said the clinical solutions team is experimenting with HealthKit’s beta and is providing feedback to Apple. HealthKit and related services could become a means for some technology teams at budget-strapped hospitals to save time and resources, as mobile developers won’t have to integrate with dozens of apps and devices like fitness trackers or Glucometers as they have to now, he said.

Kaiser Permanente’s Brian Gardner, who leads a research and development group responsible for Kaiser’s mobile offerings, said many physicians are thinking about how to leverage patient-generated data from apps and devices.

“Apple has engaged with some of the most important players in this space,” said Gardner. “Platforms like HealthKit are infusing the market with a lot of new ideas and making it easier for creative people to build for healthcare.”

Long journey

Apple’s developer relations team has also been working with developers of popular fitness and medical apps, such as Mountain View, California-based iHealth Lab Inc.

Apple has taken pains to ensure that consumers are aware of how data is being collected and stored, said Jim Taschetta, chief marketing officer at iHealth Lab. For instance, an optional toggle will let patients decide if they wish to share data from third-party apps with Apple’s main health app. And if patients choose to store sensitive health data in iCloud, it’s encrypted when they’re in transit and at rest, one Apple employee said.

“It is consumer controlled and can be turned on or off at any time from the app that collects the data from the original source,” Taschetta said.

Health developers say Apple will not be immune to the challenges they have faced for many years, starting with safeguarding consumer privacy. And along with physicians and consumers, Apple will have to juggle the requirements of regulators at federal agencies or departments. Digital health accelerator Rock Health estimates that at least half a dozen government offices have a hand in some facet of mobile health.

HealthKit relies on the ability of users to share data. But depending on how that data is used, its partners — and potentially even Apple — may be subject to the requirements of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA.

HIPAA protects personally identifiable health information — such as a medical report or hospital bill — stored or transmitted by a “covered entity”, like a care provider or health plan. Patient-generated information from a mobile app, for instance, has to be protected once the data is given to a covered entity or its agent.

Joy Pritts, recently departed chief privacy officer for the Office of the National Coordinator for Healthcare IT (ONC), said Apple may need to re-determine its responsibility to safeguard data with each new partnership.

For instance, if Apple and Nike team up to collect running data, neither would be subject to HIPAA, she said. But if Apple gets and stores clinical information on behalf of the Mayo Clinic, both would likely have to abide by HIPAA.

To smooth its path at a time when some other high-profile health-oriented initiatives have run into trouble in Washington — including the US Food and Drug Administration’s decision to crack down on genetic testing firm 23andMe — Apple has consulted or hired health experts and attorneys, who are well-versed on privacy and regulatory requirements. Senior officials have paid a visit to key government offices, including the FDA and the ONC. Apple is expected to roll out HealthKit, so that providers — and not Apple — are responsible for adhering to privacy requirements.

But there’s the question of reliability. Joshua Landy, a Toronto-based internal medicine and critical care doctor, said physicians will need to learn over time which apps are useful for clinical purposes and safe to recommend to patients.

TORONTO — Too many things to do and not enough time to do them? New apps are designed to act as personal time assistants to get tasks done and improve productivity.

Timeful, a free iPhone app available in the United States and Canada, uses artificial intelligence to schedule tasks in users’ calendars based on meetings and events they are already committed to. It also estimates how long it will take to do the tasks.

“Time is by far the most precious resource we have and by far the one we manage the poorest,” said Dan Ariely, co-founder of the California-based company Timeful.

Users connect their iCloud, Google or Outlook calendars to integrate their existing meetings and events. They can also add to-do items and habits they would like to establish.

“There’s a cacophony of things that say ‘do me’. We provide algorithmic help to make them more concrete, because if it’s not in your schedule, it’s unlikely to get done,” said Yoav Shoham, a co-founder of Timeful.

The app determines when users are most likely to complete certain tasks and takes into account when they are most productive to schedule them, and factors the information into the algorithm. The app also calculates when and where a task is most likely to be completed.

“Time, like money, is about opportunity cost,” said Ariely. “Every minute you’re not focused during your productive hours is a waste.”

Other personal assistant apps available that aim to make people more productive include Tempo for iPhone, and Sunrise for iPhone and Android.

Although the apps do not create schedules, they include additional context about meetings, such as directions, to improve productivity. Tempo also provides drive time, and insights about people and companies associated with each event.

But not everyone is convinced an app is needed for time management.

“An app could be helpful, but [productivity] is more about the discipline of planning more than it is about a particular tool,” said Mark Ellwood, president of Toronto-based Pace Productivity.

“We have found time spent with planning correlates with results, regardless of whether someone is using an app, a piece of paper, or the back of an envelope,” he added.

Ellwood said one possible risk of using an app is that it could take longer to manage tasks within it than it would just write it down, which would defeat the purpose.

He added that productivity is about focusing on high-priority items, which requires discipline.

“I could have the world’s best to-do list or app and still procrastinate, and still work on things that don’t need to get done,” he said.

“Ultimately it’s the person that decides what to do with their time. The intelligence needs to be in your head, not the machine,” he added.

USA Today (MCT)

ACME, Michigan — The next-generation of the Chevrolet Volt, one of the first plug-in cars of the modern age, will get a load of new technology and will make its world debut in January at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, says Tim Mahoney, chief marketing officer for Chevrolet,

Mahoney, speaking at the annual industry Management Briefing Seminars here near Traverse City,did not provide any details for the extended-range plug-in hybrid. But Automotive News reports that the next version will trade its 1.4-litre four-cylinder engine for a 1-litre three-cylinder engine. It will also get a fifth seat.

Mahoney also showed a photo that hints at the look of the new car — a sculpted rear deck lid and a new emblem for the Volt.

After sales for the first-generation Volt underwhelmed, GM is under pressure to deliver significant advancements. California-based Tesla Motors will introduce a pure-electric vehicle in the Volt’s price range by the end of 2017.

“The overall general value proposition for the consumer has to improve and that means basically increasing the benefit and reducing the cost,” IHS Automotive analyst Tom Libby said. “It’s very important to Chevrolet and GM because it gets so much visibility.”

Former GM CEO Dan Akerson once projected annual Volt sales of 60,000, but even after cutting the price by $5,000 a year ago to about $35,000, Volt sales fell 9 per cent in the first seven months of 2014 to 10,635 units. Chevy says it has sold 65,000 since Volt went on sale in 2010.

One encouraging sign: 69 per cent of Volt sales are people trading in vehicles from competing brands, including the Toyota Prius, Mahoney said.. But though sales rose 13 per cent last month, it is now outsold in most months by the smaller all-electric Nissan Leaf, and faces competition from the more expensive all-electric Tesla Model S.

“The Volt has done what it is supposed to do,” Mahoney said. But he expects greater sales with the second generation. “It is easier to explain because it is a known commodity.”.

GM has always felt that having a plug-in with a back-up gas engine would be a key advantage of the Volt compared to the pure electrics like Leaf and Tesla. It says that Volt drivers use the car’s electric range for 65 per cent of their miles driven, yet have peace of mind that they don’t have to find an electric charger to keep driving.

GM is trumpeting customer satisfaction ratings of the car. It just needs more customers. The Volt has had few quality problems, but it hasn’t struck a chord with the masses and GM is losing money on the car. Tesla, by contrast, has gained momentum on small volume of the Model S sedan, an ultra-luxury all-electric car with a range up to 480 kilometres per charge, and prices that range between $80,000 and $115,000.

GM is also racing to develop a pure-electric car with a range of about 321km in the price range of the current Volt, that would compete directly with Tesla.

“The Volt and Model S are not apples-to-apples for a number of reasons, but eventually what I want to see from GM is to have a pure electric vehicle with range comparable to Tesla’s Gen-3 vehicle,” said David Whiston, a Morningstar analyst.

Dave Sullivan, an analyst with AutoPacific, said he does not consider the current Volt a flop. But he said GM needs to deliver substantial improvements for the new one, including a longer-range gas generator and more appealing interior design.

For example, the current version of the Volt has only four seats because the 1800-kg T-shaped battery pack takes up the space that would otherwise be used for the middle of the back seat.

“This was kind of uncharted territory for most automakers, and definitely it got people noticing that GM is not just a pickup truck and SUV company, but they’re very capable of doing other things as well,” Sullivan said.

Among the most hallowed of automotive brands Alfa Romeo has been responsible for some of the most evocative and beloved cars to grace the road. On the cusp of model expansion and overhaul that will see it become the BMW-rivalling premium brand among its’ Fiat-Chrysler parent company’s portfolio, the Alfa Romeo 4C stands as a sort of figurehead or purist expression of revered Italian brand’s sporting lineage and values.

A lusty, raw and ultra lightweight mid-engine two-seater the 4C is a bona fide sports car successor to Alfa’s larger, more luxurious and indulgent 8C halo model. Utilising assiduous weight-saving measures, contemporary high-tech solutions and lasciviously racy styling, the 4C is in spirit a miniature exotic Italian super car.

Precise packaging

Hand built on dedicated production lines at Maserati’s Modena plant like its rarer V8-engined Alfa 8C predecessor, the 4C is however less extravagantly-priced and isn’t based on a shortened Maserati platform. Instead it uses a bespoke carbon-fibre monocoque and aluminium subframes. Weighing just 65kg, the Alfa 4C’s lightweight carbon-fibre monocoque also provides the suspension with a rigid platform to deliver enhanced handling and ride.

Built to extract performance and handling ability through weight reduction and compact size the Alfa 4C’s design, construction and components reflects this Lotus-like ethos of ‘adding lightness’. With compounded benefits weight reduction allows for the use of yet lighter components, like un-assisted rack and pinion and four-cylinder engine to great effect.

A more affordable Italian exotic and darty compact sports car, the Alfa 4C’s design, construction and components also take packaging and production and running costs into careful consideration. To fit into its tight centre engine bay the Alfa 4C is driven by a transversely-mounted 1.75-litre turbocharged engine and shorter and wider 6-speed automated dual-clutch gearbox, lifted and modified from service in the front-drive Alfa Romeo Giulietta QV hatchback.

Using sophisticated double wishbone front suspension and hardcore four-piston Brembo brakes in front, the 4C rationally incorporates better packaged and less costly MacPherson strut rear suspension — suitably evolved for sports car application — and single-piston brakes. Similarly light alloy wheels are mated to slimmer and better feeling 205/40R18 front tyres.

Prodigious four-pot power

Powered by a lighter aluminium block version engine also used in the Giulietta QV, the prodigious 1.75-litre turbocharged unit also sees revised intake and exhaust manifolds and the use of crankshaft counterweights rather than balancing shafts for service in the 4C.

However it retains the wet-sump lubrication — presumably for less weight, cost and complexity and better packaging — rather than a lower centre-of-gravity dry-sump. With low weight, aggressive gearing and clever ‘scavenging’ technology to reduce lag and allow its turbo to spool up swiftly the 4C is quick off-the-line.

And with 80 per cent of maximum torque at 1700rpm and the full 258lb/ft available throughout a broad 2200-4250rpm band, the 4C’s on-the-move acceleration and flexibility are muscular, effortless and flexible.

Riding on a rich wave of mid-range torque, 4C viciously builds-up towards its maximum 237BHP at 6000rpm and can tear through the 0-100km/h sprint in 4.5-seconds (4.2-seconds according to some unofficial accounts) and onto a 258km/h maximum — during test drive at Alfa Romeo’s Balocco proving grounds near Turin, the 4C would touch 200km/h with remarkable verve.

Aggressively boosted at 1.45-bar, the 4C’s engine surges ferociously at high revs, and calming just after throttle lift-off from near its 6500rpm redline. Nestled intimately behind the driver with little noise buffering, the raspy four-pot engine rips through revs ever more audibly. Satisfyingly overlapped with induction hissing and turbo whine, acoustics are punctuated by dump-valve huffs, chirps and crackles.

Responsive reflexes

An agile corner carving hero, the 895kg flyweight Alfa 4C is at its best as it rapidly negotiates fast bends, tight corners and chicanes. With its firm suspension, low profile tyres and road-hugging wide track, the low-slung 4C corners with poised flat body control and through chicanes, sudden weight transfers are well managed.

A tiny sports car measuring 3,989mm long and with a 2,380mm wheelbase, the Alfa 4C zips through winding track sections with zippy and eager agility, while un-assisted steering delivers accurate feel and feedback. Somewhat light for a couple of degrees from on-centre, the 4Cs weighs up nicely when loaded up through a tight bend, and delivers tactile feel for the road and the car’s grip limits.

Flicking the direct and quick 2.7-turn steering into a corner, the 4C turns in tidily and crisply, with good feel and grip delivered from its slim front tyres, and with automated dual clutch paddle-shifters mean one rarely needs to take hands off the wheel. But if pushed too fast and too hard into a turn, a faint hint of under-steer gives warning of grip limits, while meatier 235/35R19 rear tyres provide vice-like grip, especially when loaded up through corners.

That said, the 4C doesn’t seem averse to tightening its cornering line by playfully twitching out the rear slightly on throttle lift-off to correct under-steer, but one didn’t really explore this much as track driving was done with stability controls on.

Using an electronic limited-slip differential rather than a mechanical component that would add weight, cost and complexity within its tight engine bay, the Alfa 4C’s system works by selectively braking the spinning inside wheel to mimic a mechanical system.

The trade-off for its turbocharged power, weight-saving and economy and efficiency advantages is that the 4C’s throttle control isn’t as crisply precise and responsive as a well-sorted naturally aspirated engine throughout the rev range.

For best cornering fluency, precision, predictability and grip, one needs to keep the 4C in its sweet and responsive mid-range when boost is building, and avoid low-rev lag or sudden high rev surge when dialling in power for on-throttle exit from a corner’s apex.

Driver-focused

Though a small car, the Alfa 4C’s comfortable and supportively seats larger and taller drivers with adjustable sports seat and adjustable chunky steering wheels and headroom, while access over wide sills is easy. To save weight the 4C uses simple mats over exposed carbon and thinly padded seats and dashboard, while the passenger seat is fixed.

Steering-mounted paddle-shifters allow one to manually fire-off the 6-speed dual clutch gearbox’s seamlessly crisp cog changes without taking hands off the wheel, while Alfa’s DNA driving mode selector allows one to sharpen up throttle and gearbox responsiveness in Race mode. Cabin layout is driver-focused with controls within easy reach and a driver-tilted centre console with the optional A/C controls. 

With hunkered down cabin, muscularly curvy rear haunches, round rear lights and side intakes, the Alfa 4C’s design is a tightly paged and evocative take on the classic mid-engine Italian sports car. From shield-like grille, optional telephone dial alloy wheels, across its bonnet, roofline and flanks, the 4C emits a sense of dynamic tension and is viewed best when in motion, and more specifically when showing off its agile cornering ability.

Though pared down and lightweight, the 4C’s cabin features stylish leathers, while a 110-litre storage compartment offers a measure of practicality. Firm but not uncomfortable and stable at high speed on a smooth track, the 4C has good front visibility for precisely positioning, but rear visibility is limited.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: 1.75-litre, turbocharged 4-cylinders

Bore x stroke: 83 x 80.5mm

Compression ratio: 9.5:1

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

Maximum boost: 1.45-bar

Layout: mid-mounted, transverse

Gearbox: 6-speed automated dual-clutch, rear-wheel-drive

Gear ratios: 1st 4.154:1; 2nd 2.269:1; 3rd 1.435:1; 4th 0.978:1; 5th 0.755:1; 6th 0.622:1

Final drive: 4.118:1

Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 237 (240) [177] @ 6000rpm

Specific power: 136BHP/litre

Power -to-weight ratio: 264.8BHP/tonne

Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 258 (350) @ 2200-4250rpm

Specific torque: 101Nm/litre

Torque-to-weight ratio: 391Nm/tonne

0-100 km/h: 4.5-seconds

Top speed: 258km/h

Weight distribution, F/R: 41 per cent/59 per cent

Construction: Carbon-fibre monocoque, aluminium subframes

Suspension, F/R: Double wishbones anti-roll bars/MacPherson struts

Steering: Rack & pinion

Lock-to-lock: 2.7-turns

Turning circle: 12.1-metres

Brakes, F/R: Perforated, ventilated discs, 305mm/292mm

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

Braking, 100-0km/h: 36-metres

Maximum lateral acceleration: 1.1g

Tyres, F/R: 205/40R18/235/35R19 (optional)

Contemporary Arab-American Literature: Transnational Reconfigurations of Citizenship and Belonging

Carol Fadda-Conrey

New York and London: New York University Press, 2014

Pp. 243

In the view of Carol Fadda-Conrey, Arab-American literature not only expresses the respective authors’ memories, dreams, thoughts and imaginations, but also contains the potential to redefine concepts of citizenship and belonging.

While Arab-American lives are often complicated by having multiple roots, and threatened by racialised discrimination, Fadda-Conrey points out the ultimate advantage of living on what Edward Said called “constantly shifting ground”: “It equips him or her with a revisionary perspective that opposes an uncritical and unquestioned attachment to a nation or a collective [whether in the US or the Arab world].” (p. 129)

This heightened consciousness positions Arab-American authors to enter uncharted territory, ever wary of narrow and stagnant definitions of US citizenship.

The book focuses on Arab-American writing from the 1990s onward. This is the literature produced by second- and third-generation immigrants who began to dispute the need to assimilate, and to contest negative representations of Arabs, Muslims and Arab-Americans. Rather than seeing their connection to the Arab world as hindering their belonging in America, they seek its potential enrichment of the US social, political and cultural scene. In their writing and art, they explore the nature and significance of their transnational and translocal connections as “the main discursive vehicle for defying exclusionary and uniform types of US citizenship”. (p. 3)

While situating themselves primarily in the American landscape, their works most often address experiences of displacement, exile and dispossession caused by the political and military conflicts in the Arab world, especially in Palestine and Lebanon. They demand a deeper recognition of their particular cultural background than is usually accorded by token multiculturalism.

Many if not most of these writers came of age in the second half of the 20th century as US involvement in the Arab countries was rising and often took the form of military intervention or foreign policies detrimental to Arab peoples’ interests, such as the US’ unilateral support to Israel. In the author’s view, “it is these military operations and foreign policies, as well as their construction of Arabs and Muslims as Other, that primarily position Arab-Americans at the forefront of radical transnational reimaginings of the US nation-state and concomitant reconceptualisation of dominant citizenship and belonging.” (p. 8-9)

The same factors give Arab-Americans’ insight a strong anti-imperialist and anti-Orientalist slant.

In this analytical framework, Fadda-Conrey examines the work of poets, novelists, essayists and a few visual artists according to themes. The works of Lawrence Joseph, Suheir Hammad, Naomi Shihab Nye, Diana Abu Jaber, Joseph Geha and others are approached from how they rework memories of Arab homelands inherited from their parents or grandparents. Other writers, such as Mohja Kahf, Susan Muaddi Darraj, Samia Serageldin and Pauline Kaldas, are examined for how they portray Arab-Americans undertaking temporary returns or rearrivals to ancestral homelands. The third theme covered is how the transnational identities of Arab-Americans produce translocal spaces that change the concept of belonging in America. Writers explored in this category include Rabih Alameddine, Etel Adnan, Edward Said, Laila Halaby and Randa Jarrar.

This book can be read as an introduction to Arab-American literature or as a reference to enrich one’s understanding of this relatively new and exciting field. Fadda-Conrey writes with passion and analytical precision about a topic in which she is obviously well versed and deeply involved.

WASHINGTON — Older people who do not get enough vitamin D face a much higher risk of dementia or Alzheimer’s disease, the largest study of its kind on the topic said.

People get vitamin D from sunlight and from oily fish like salmon, tuna or mackerel, as well as milk, eggs and cheese. It is also available in supplement form.

Reporting in the journal Neurology, international researchers found that people who were severely deficient in vitamin D were more than twice as likely to develop dementia and Alzheimer’s disease as people who got enough.

The findings were based on a study of 1,658 adults aged 65 and over, who were healthy and able to walk without assistance.

The participants were followed for six years. By that point, 171 participants had developed dementia and 102 had Alzheimer’s disease.

Those who were moderately deficient in vitamin D had a 53 per cent increased risk of developing dementia of any kind. Those who were severely deficient saw their risk increase to 125 per cent over those with adequate levels of Vitamin D.

Similar numbers were noted for Alzheimer’s disease: those who were moderately deficient were 69 per cent more likely to develop this type of dementia, and the severely deficient were 122 per cent more likely to get Alzheimer’s.

“We expected to find an association between low vitamin D levels and the risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, but the results were surprising — we actually found that the association was twice as strong as we anticipated,” said lead author David Llewellyn at the University of Exeter Medical School.

“Clinical trials are now needed to establish whether eating foods such as oily fish or taking vitamin D supplements can delay or even prevent the onset of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.”

He added that the study stops short of showing whether or not vitamin D deficiency causes dementia, only that it shows there is a link that deserves further research.

Some 44 million people worldwide have dementia, a number that is expected to triple by 2050.

About 1 billion around the globe are thought to have low vitamin D levels.

The elderly can be particularly vulnerable to such a deficiency because their skin is less adept at converting sunlight into vitamin D.