KPDS 1992 İLKBAHAR
*** When it was formed many million years ago the earth was a
liquid. It is still cooling and many miles below the hard crust is still
hot. However, in some places the heat is closer to the surface.
These places are associated with volcanic activity or hot sulphur
springs. By drilling deep into the earth’s crust we can reach rocks
that are much warmer than those at the surface. Pumping water
down into contact with these rocks and extracting the steam so
produced is a source of energy that can be used to produce
electricity. It is called geothermal energy.
*** The Japanese have a special way of making decisions. They
call it the consensus system. This is how it works. When a firm is
thinking of taking a certain action, it encourages workers at all
levels to discuss the proposal and give their opinions. The purpose
is to reach consensus (general agreement). As soon as everyone
agrees on the right course of action, the decision is taken. Because
of this method, a group of workers, rather than a person, is
responsible for company policies. One advantage of this is that
decisions come from a mixture of experience from the top, the
middle and the bottom of an enterprise. Another advantage is that
junior staff frequently suggest ideas for change. A disadvantage,
perhaps, is that decision-making can be slow.
*** Rabies is a very frightening disease because once symptoms
develop it is always fatal. The disease is caused by a virus and it
affects many species of animals, particularly dogs, jackals, foxes
and bats. In Britain no indigenous case of human rabies has been
reported since 1902 but it is widespread among animals in most
parts of the world. Unfortunately, in the last 30 years the disease
has been spreading across Europe from the East, especially in
foxes, and has now reached Northern France. For this reason strict
animal quarantine laws are in force in Britain and it is rightly
regarded as a serious offence to attempt to evade them.
*** When we turn to the problem of fishing, we see that through a
UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, the world’s nations have
indicated that they recognize the risks of over-fishing. Nations can
now declare 200-mile exclusive economic zones and exclusive
fishing zones and control the catch at a level that is sustainable.
Developing nations seem to be beginning to benefit from the new
fisheries regime which offers the promise of allowing them to
manage fishing resources for optimum, that is long-term, benefits.
*** The exact number of people who died in the cyclone that struck
Bangladesh last year will probably never be known. Winds reaching
145 miles per hour hammered the country’s low-lying south-eastern
coast for nine hours, at one point driving a wall of water roughly 20
feet high across the area – one of the most densely populated
places in the world. It was the strongest storm ever recorded in the
region. The official news agency reported that 125.000 victims had
been confirmed dead, but it was believed that the toll was actually
much higher.
*** Written communication is the basis of much communication in
business. This includes letters, reports, memoranda, notices, telex,
and fax messages. Although written communication is a slower
form of communication than verbal or oral, it provides a record of
what is being discussed so that disagreements are avoided and
accuracy can be checked; it will also be more detailed than other
forms of communication, with the possibility of technical points
being explained and interpreted.
KPDS 1992 SONBAHAR
*** Nigeria is heavily dependent on the export of crude oil to finance
industrial development. 90% of Nigeria's exports by value are crude
oil. At current production rates, known reserves are only sufficient
until the end of the century. Industrialisation was boosted after I973
following the fourfold increase in oil prices. In the early 1980s
prices fell, and Nigeria lost important income. Oil production
peaked in 1974 when output reached 112 million tonnes.
*** Real depression cannot be as easily overcome as some people
often suppose. It usually passes with time - but the time can seem
endless. Activities giving companionship and a new interest can
help. But for the sufferer to talk, again and again, about the causes
of the depression helps most. People with depression need to be
listened to and encouraged to find their own solutions, not made to
feel yet more inadequate by good advice. They may need
professional counselling as well as the support of family and
friends.
*** Many art museums and galleries and many individuals in the
world faced financial problems in 1975 as the effects of world
recession deepened. On the surface, things seemed to continue as
before, with important exhibitions in major museums attracting
large crowds. But smaller galleries and the artists whose work was
shown by their resourceful proprietors fared less well, and over the
long term it is the work of young artists that determines the course
of art for the future.
*** Computers should never have acquired the exalted status they
now have. Fascinating and invaluable as they are, even the most
advanced have less brain power than a three-year-old. They do,
however, score on single-mindedness. The three-year-old uses his
brain not only to think but also to do tasks like seeing, hearing and
running about, which need incredibly rapid and sophisticated
electro-mechanical interactions - we too run on electricity. But the
computer just sits there and sends spacecraft to the moon or re-
organises the world banking system, which is very much easier.
That's why man’s dream of robot servants is still a long way off.
*** The dramatic growth of the world’s population in the twentieth
century has been on a scale without parallel in human history. Most
of this growth has occurred since 1950 and is known as the
population ‘explosion'. Between 1950 and 1980 the world
population increased from 2,5 to over 4 billion, and by the end of
the century this figure will have risen to at least 6 billion. Growth of
this size cannot continue indefinitely. Recent forecasts suggest that
the total population will level-out at between 10 and 15 billion in the
mid twenty-first century. Already there are encouraging signs that
the rate of increase in many less developed countries is beginning
to slow down.
*** Many substances, whether man-made or natural, can cause
harm to man or the environment. Some of these reach the
environment in waste streams; however, emission limits and
environmental quality standards can, in some instances, reduce the
amounts released. But some other substances cannot be controlled
in this way because they are released, not in industrial waste
streams, but through the use or disposal of products which contain
them. In many cases these substances pose little or no threat if the
product containing them is used and disposed of properly. The right
way to deal with them is usually through controls over their supply,
use and disposal.
 KPDS 1993 İLKBAHAR
*** The practical advantages of prefabrication are twofold: It is
quicker and it does away with uncertainty. Speed in building is
important in these days because of the high cost of land: the time
during which such an expensive commodity is out of use must be
reduced to a minimum. And, partly or wholly prefabricated methods
of construction save time on the job because parts are prepared in
the factory beforehand. Prefabrication does away with uncertainty
because it means that the whole building is made of standard parts
the behaviour of which is known and has been tested.
*** Computers can store vast amounts of information in a very
small space and are used by the banks to keep accounts, print out
statements and control transactions. They are also used by the
police to keep personal records, fingerprints and other details. In
the rapidly developing field of robotics computers are now being
used to control manual operations done by mechanics. These, too,
are taking over work, previously done by people in the manufacture
of cars, in weaving and in other industries. Computers play an
important role in controlling artificial satellites, decoding information
and communications generally. They are used to predict the
weather with increasing accuracy.
*** Looking ahead from the present position where food production
has kept ahead of population growth globally, but has fallen per
capita in 55 (mainly African) countries, it would seem that these
trends will continue. About 30 countries - most of them African - can
expect serious problems unless they reduce population growth and
give higher priority to agriculture and conservation. Though a
warmer, wetter earth with high CO2 levels is likely to be capable of
producing more food, the amounts will still be inadequate for many
poorer countries. In many cases, the population projections are
greater than the entire local land resources can support.
*** Psychology is literally the study of mind (or soul) but its areas
has broadened somewhat in the last century as we have learned
that one cannot consider the mind as totally isolated from the body,
and it now includes the study of human personality and behaviour.
It is important to realise that psychologists are first and foremost
trained as scientist rather than as medical experts and do not
necessarily take much interest in abnormalities of the brain and
mental processes.
*** Aid to underdeveloped countries takes many forms and it is
given for many reasons. Underdeveloped countries need aid to
provide finance for development projects; to provide foreign
exchange with which imports for development purpose can be
bought; and to provide the trained manpower and technical
knowledge they lack. The motives of the donor are not always
humanitarian. “Aid” can take a military form; it can be used to
support an incompetent or unjust government. Nor is aid always
beneficial to the recipient country. It may be wasted on ill-conceived
or prestige projects, or cause the government simply to relax on its
own efforts.
*** Both as a profession and a science, economics lost
considerable prestige during the recession of 1974-75. The crisis
that seized the western industrialised countries including Japan
was of a character not to be found in economics textbooks. Rate of
inflation exceeding 10% a year coupled with declining production
and high levels of unemployment. Hitherto, peacetime inflation had
been associated with high employment and an overactive
economy, while high rate of unemployment went with the recession
or depression. The next combination was apply called stagflation.
KPDS 1993 SONBAHAR
*** There are twelve and a half acres of land for each man, woman,
and child in the world today. However, only three and a half acres
of this land can be cultivated. If the population of the world reaches
six billion by the year 2000, there will be only one and a half acres
for each person. Man just increases his production of food. One
scientist has said that the world could support ten billion people if
better agricultural methods were used everywhere. The supply of
food can also be increased by the control of plant diseases, and by
the irrigation of desert lands. By using these ways and others, man
can feed himself and his fellow men.
*** Though there has always been a certain amount of concern
about pollution since the start of the Industrial Revolution, this was
largely an interest of relatively limited numbers of concerned
people. But during the 1960s there was a great upsurge of anxiety
which was reflected internationally by the calling of the Stockholm
UN Conference. In response to the rising public pressures, action
has been taken mainly in the industrial countries, even though
sometimes reluctantly and with many warnings from industry and
governments about the costs. However, in many areas there has
been a gratifying improvement.
*** For nearly a decade now, the manufacturing of automobiles has
been undergoing radical changes. The principle cause is the
introduction of new production and management techniques,
originally engineered by Toyota and subsequently applied by other
Japanese car manufacturers. This is called “lean” production. It
implies no less a revolution in the process of car manufacturing
than the mass production Henry Ford introduced at the beginning
of the century. In fact, lean production combines the advantages of
craft and mass production. A vital feature of this production
technique is that it achieves its highest efficiency, quality and
flexibility when all activities - form design to assembly - occur in the
same area.
*** Much in medicine which is now taken for granted was
undreamed of even as recently as 50 years ago. Progress in
diagnosis, in preventive medicine and in treatment, both medical
and surgical, has been so rapid as to be almost breathtaking.
Today a doctor retiring from active practice will among other things
have seen smallpox completely eradicated, tuberculosis become
curable, coronary artery disease relievable surgically. One aspect
of medicine still resistant to progress in understanding is the effect
of mind on body. Many of us still like to think that our bodies are
just something we have got into, like cars, that ill health is simply
something that has “gone wrong” in one system or another and that
therefore provided we find the appropriate expert to correct the
fault, we will recover.
*** National income is a measure of the total income accruing to the
residents in a country in return for services rendered. It therefore
consists of the sum of wages, salaries, profits and rents. But not all
these income accrues to persons; for instance, companies do not
distribute all their profits to shareholders and some nationalised
industries earn profits. This is part of national income but not of
personal income. On the other hand, some personal incomes are
not payments for services rendered. Such incomes are called
transfer incomes to emphasise that their payment does not add to
the national income, but only transfers income from one agent to
another. Included in this category are retirement pensions, family
allowances, and student grants.
*** According to the United Nations sources, world population in
mid-1985 was, 5,290 million, an increase of 90 million in one year.
More than half of the total live in Asia (56,9 per cent). Different
countries are at different stages in a demographic transition from
the stability provided by a combination of high birth rate and high
death rate to that provided by a combination of low birth rate and
low death rate. Their recent population history and current trend of
growth, the age-structure of their population, and consequently
their population potential for the near future are all widely different.
Most rapid growth is in Africa with rates of over 3 per cent in some
countries. In most European countries the rate is less than 1 per
cent.
 KPDS 1994 İLKBAHAR
*** Ever since Nobel prize-winner Linus Pauling first advocated
vitamin C as a common-cold war weapon more than 20 years ago,
researchers have been busy trying to verify that claim. But so far,
they've found little evidence that vitamin C prevents colds - in fact,
there are more studies that say it doesn't. But there is evidence that
it can keep coughing and sneezing to a minimum, and that low
levels of vitamin C in the body may be related to bronchitis.
*** Since early times it has been assumed that the actions of
animals are unconscious. Behaviour, in this view, stems almost
exclusively from instinct. If animals behave in ways that seem
pretty clever, they do so without thinking about it. Animals may
know things, the argument goes, but they don't know that they
know. Or do they know? Recent research reports suggest a
startling depth of intelligence among animals. Although no one can
yet 'prove' the existence of animal consciousness, the data offered
make a compelling case for at least considering it.
*** The first universities developed in Europe in the 12th century.
By 1600 Western Europe boasted 108 institutions of higher
learning, many of which had obtained special privileges from
existing regimes because of their close association with the
Church. In most European countries, universities were designed
primarily for the sons of nobility and gentry. Scholarly standards
were low, and scholarship was irrelevant for most professions.
Education for earning a livelihood in, say, medicine or law could be
acquired after college by serving as an apprentice.
*** The effects of sleep loss are subject to a number of popular
misconceptions. The belief that everyone must sleep 8 hours a
night is a myth. According to the results of a recent survey on the
subject, dults average about 7 to 7 1 / 2 hours of sleep per night,
and many individuals function effectively with 5 to 6 ours of sleep.
In fact, 20 percent of the population (slightly more in men) sleep
less than 6 hours per night. Another significant fact is that sleep
time decreases with age.
*** Until recently, many archaeologists took the view that civilized
communities first arose in Egypt, though only a very short time
before a similar development In Mesopotamia: a more recent
opinion is now that the earliest advances may have taken place in
Mesopotamia. Whichever view is followed, it is necessary to bear in
mind that geographical conditions in both regions were not
identical, and it can in fact be stated that in Mesopotamia
environmental factors were not as wholly favourable as In the
valley of the Nile.
*** Dates and periods are necessary to the study and discussion of
history, for all historical phenomena are conditioned by time and
are produced by the sequence of events. Periods especially, are
retrospective conceptions that we form about past events; they are
useful to focus discussion, but very often they lead historical
thought astray. Thus, while it is certainly useful to speak of the
Middle Ages and of the Victorian Age, those two abstract ideas
have deluded many scholars and millions of newspaper readers
into supposing that during certain decades called the Middle Ages,
and again during certain decades called Age of Victoria, everyone
thought or acted more or less in the same way- till at last Victoria
died or the Middle Ages came to an end. But in fact there was no
such sameness.
KPDS 1994 SONBAHAR
*** Society is, regrettably, less interested in the individual than in
the position which he occupies. One almost never asks a person
“Who are you?”, but one onstantly asks “What do you do?”. For one
reason or another, people are assorted into various categories
which determine the roles they are to play in society. This assorting
process, called social differentiation, goes on in all societies.
Women as a class have a status distinct from that of men, and
children have a status unlike that of adults.
*** Mercury has a number of interesting properties and a variety of
industrial uses. It expands at a constant rate through the range of
temperatures at which it is a liquid. Because of this property and
because it does not cling to glass, mercury is often used in
thermometers. At ordinary temperatures it evaporates very slowly
and can thus be left in an open container for long periods of time.
For this reason it is used in one type of barometer. Mercury is a
good electrical conductor and is used in sealed electrical switches.
An electric current passing through mercury vapour causes it to
give off light, hence its use in certain kinds of lamps.
*** Protoplasm, which is the fundamental basis of life, is constantly
undergoing physical and chemical change. Life, therefore, is the
resultant of these constantly occurring changes. There are two
great groups into which living things may be classed: plants and
animals. Both the plant and the animal kingdoms are very
extensive. It is customary, therefore, to regard the science of life
under two comprehensive heads, namely, botany which is the study
of plants, and zoology which is the study of animals. Both subjects
are subdivided into various specialised sections.
***Many observers, including policy makers, mistakenlyassume that
economic competition between nationsmust result in winners and
losers. It has beendemonstrated, however, that international
tradeincreases the wealth of all participants, even thosewith lower
productivity than their trading partners. Thereal issue, it appears, is
the way internationalcompetition affects all kinds of goods that any
countryproduces. It seems that the proper role of governmentis to
ensure that its people are prepared to compete inthose industries in
which they could or should have anadvantage.
***Those who visit the Mediterranean are invariably impressed with
its unity. Everywhere it is the same, for the shades of difference
here is less important than the resemblances. Yet this unity is the
result of aggressive contrast; sea and mountain, sea and desert,
sea and ocean! In these respects the Mediterranean is very
different from either central Europe, or high tablelands of Asia, the
Syrian and Saharan deserts, or even the Atlantic Ocean.
*** It is the opinion of most archaeologists that civilisation first
developed in the Middle East, where, of all the regions in the world,
natural conditions offered the greatest assistance to man in his
changeover from a life of nomadic wandering as a hunter to settled
occupation of the soil. The regular rise of the three larger rivers,
Nile Euphrates, and the Tigris; annual renewal of soil fertility by the
deposition of a layer of silt; and the generally warm climate,
favourable both to the growth of a rich plant-life, and to the
activities of man himself, were all special inducements to the
adoption of a way of life based on agriculture.
 KPDS 1995 İLKBAHAR
*** In Britain, the Queen is a constitutional monarch. In law she is
the head of the executive, an integral part of the legislature, head of
the judiciary, commander-inchief of the armed forces and temporal
head of the Church of England. In practice, the Queen's role is
purely formal: she reigns, but she does not rule. In all important
respects she acts only on the advice of her ministers. However, she
still plays an important role symbolically as Head of State and Head
of the Commonwealth.
*** Of all the environmental problems facing us today, global
warming is likely to have the most devastating effects. In order to
combat these, the emission of harmful gases must be reduced; for
this purpose, the rainforests, which absorb carbon dioxide in vast
quantities must be protected. Global warming will place a premium
on energy efficiency, for controlling global warming inescapably
means reducing the burning of fossil fuels. The two industries that
are most obviously going to be affected are the power suppliers
and the vehicle manufacturers, but since energy is consumed by
almost everything we manufacture, design or do, the effects will be
felt everywhere.
*** The 1970s were a period of marked economic recession in the
West. The effects were widespread, even the publishing sector was
badly hit. Inflation continued to push up the costs of paper and
printing, increasing the price of books generally and reducing the
amount of money available for the publication of new and
experimental work. There was a growing sense, in the world of
literature no less than in other spheres of production, that this crisis
must involve changes that would be neither simple nor temporary.
*** Built by the disconsolate Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his
wife, the Taj Mahal mausoleum has survived the rise and fall of
many empires and it attracted looters, too; over the years they
carried away the silver doors from its gates, the precious stones
from its marble wall: and the gold from its graves. But those were
small threats compared with the modern danger of pollution.
Emissions from the coal-fired steel foundries thermal power
stations, cars and an oil refinery in the industrial belt around Agra
are corroding and yellowing the Taj Mahal's white marble.
*** Usually educational processes involve not only learning, but
teaching as well. There is, however, no logical connection in this
case. Education can go on without any teaching. W e can say it
was a 'real education’ for someone to take a boat out on his own,
implying that he learnt something desirable without anybody having
been there to teach him the lesson. There are many forms of
learning that go on without teaching and ‘educative' learning does
not mean that the learning must take place in a teaching situation.
It may be argued that most things are learnt more rapidly and more
reliably in a classroom situation. But even so, learning is not
dependent upon teaching.
*** Since health care accounts for nearly one seventh of the
American national economy, any attempt to reform it enters a
minefield of explosive issues. President Clinton's health-care plan,
many experts say, might shake up the health-insurance industry so
violently that it could shrink from about 500 to as few as to 10
companies; costing thousands of jobs. Businesses complain that
new health-coverage contributions would be disastrous; there is
even talk that up to a million jobs will be lost as a consequence.
Though the American Medical Association has so far sent signals
that it would endorse the plan, the physicians themselves and the
taxpayers are extremely worried about it.
KPDS 1995 SONBAHAR
*** In one century of strenuous research a vast amount of source
material about Michalengelo has been collected, reviewed, edited
and annotated including letters, poems, contracts, receipts and
biographies. Biographical and artistic data have been checked and
rechecked, sometimes corroborating and sometimes correcting our
previous ideas, and an abundance of new facts has been revealed.
Long lost works have been rediscovered and every single known
piece has been studied in its formal and functional aspects. The
artist’s character, his daily habits, his working methods, his
personal attitudes and his artistic and political opinions have been
traced as well as the peculiarities of the people with whom he had
contact. Thus modern history of art has formed an image of
Michalengelo that is much nearer to truth than those presented by
his first biographers.
*** The fact that the brain is divided into a left and a right half is not
a new discovery. Once the skull is removed the division is obvious
to the naked eye and it is a common feature of brains throughout
the animal kingdom. What is interesting about this division in man
is that each half seems to have developed specialised functions,
the left side appearing to be better at some tasks and the right side
better at others. The most obvious difference in functioning is that
the left side of the brain receives sensations from and controls the
right side of the body and vice versa. The reasons for this are still
unclear. Despite a number of interesting theories there is no
obvious advantage in such a crossover.
*** For years the theory of higher education in the United States
operated something like this: men went to university to get rich, and
women went to university to marry rich men. During the 60s, as a
result of the fact that this theory lost much of its popularity, as the
nation began to recognize the folly of relegating women to a
secondary role, women soon joined men in what once were male
pursuits. This rebellious decade pushed women toward
independence, showed them their potential and compelled them to
take charge of their lives. Many women took this opportunity. Since
then famine autonomy has been the rule not the exception at least
among university women.
***The collection of foreign intelligence, which is the pursuit of a
special kind of information, is an indispensable service for any
government having even the most elementary international
associations. Nations must devise a strategy to provide for both
their security and well-being. History teaches us that responsibility
cannot be met without knowledge of the political, economic and
military capabilities and intentions of other nations. Indeed advance
knowledge of these matters, or its absence, could well settle the
fate of a great nation especially in an era when a single nation or
consortium of nations is capable of smashing another society in a
single stroke or of controlling it under the threat of poised
catastrophe. The well-being of any great nation will depend on
decisions taken by others, which must be foreseen, correctly
analysed and countered.
*** A subject in which there has been a lot of interest recently is the
acquisition of language. ‘Normal’ children - that is, those who have
not had a particularly rich early environment - usually begin talking
after the first year of their life. By eighteen months they have a
vocabulary of about half a dozen words; at two years a vocabulary
of more than a hundred words. The traditional view has been that
during the first year of life babies are not mature enough to learn
languages. Talking, however, is only the outer manifestation of the
development of the language. Long before he first utters a
meaningful word a baby can be observed responding to the
language of the others.
*** Economic dynamics have decisively shifted from the national
economy. From now on, any country and also any business,
especially a large one that wants to prosper will have to accept that
it is the world economy that leads and that domestic economic
policies will succeed only if they strengthen or at least do not impair
the country’s international competitive position. This may be the
most important - it surely is the most striking - feature of the
changed world economy.
 KPDS 1996 İLKBAHAR
*** Today, the United States is in the grip of a second Industrial
revolution. While the first, stretching from the 1870s to the 1970s,
shifted the main sector of the American economy from agriculture
to industry, the new revolution is shifting the economy away from
traditional "smokestack" manufacturing industries to those based
upon information, services and new technologies. It took the
country decades to accommodate the cultural and social changes
resulting from the first industrial revolution and it would be rashly
optimistic to assume that Americans will not face serious stresses
in coming to terms with the changes that are transforming the
workplace today.
*** A great many books have been written on computers, computer
programming languages, particularly Fortran. To produce another
book on Fortran, even the newest Fortran IV, probably seems
unreasonable to most, and it is with mild trepidation that, I, the
author, embark on this project. However, several good reasons can
be stated for doing just that. Most computer professionals will agree
that the field of computer and information science has quickly
become a valid discipline for academia and that rapid changes are
occurring in computer programming languages. Both of these facts
demand that a new direction be taken in presenting the subject.
*** Until the late l9th century most American museums and art
academies considered watercolor an amateur pursuit or a
preliminary to serious work in oils. Many American watercolorists
saw the medium as a holiday diversion, using portable paint boxes
and a free style to make what they called "snapshots" of their
travels. In contrast, a few recognised the exceptional capacity of
watercolours as a medium to provide clear and luminous colours in
works that would evoke the ever changing nature of lakes and
rivers they knew so well, and ultimately vie for supremacy with oil
paintings in major art collections.
*** "Human rights" is a fairly new name for what were formerly
called "the rights of man”. It was Eleanor Roosevelt in 1940s who
promoted the use of the expression "human rights" when she
discovered, through her work in the United Nations, that the rights
of men were not understood in some parts of the world to include
the rights of women. The "rights of man” at an earlier date had itself
replaced the original term "natural rights", in part, perhaps, because
the concept of natural law, with which the concept of natural rights
was logically connected, had become a subject of controversy.
*** After 1933 the Western World realised that it was living in
another age of absolutism, or rather, in an age of totalitarian
dictatorship far worse than the worst of the old absolute kings; such
regimes could be seen to be enforcing a "law" that was the
command hardly of a "sovereign" but of a cruel and genocidal
despot. It was ordinary people who protested: "This cannot be law.
Law, if it is to deserve the name of law, must respect at least some
basic rights to which every human being is entitled simply because
he is human."
*** The shopping centre emerged in the early 1900s in the suburbs
that encircled American cities. Suburbs of that time tended to be
chiefly residential and to depend on the traditional city centres for
shopping.The first suburban commercial centres had three
identifiable features; they consisted of a number of stores built and
leased by a single developer; they were usually situated at an
important intersection, and they provided plenty of free, offstreet
parking. These "shopping villages" resembled small-town shopping
districts, both in their architecture
which was carefully traditional, and in their layout, which integrated
them into the surrounding neighbourhood. The stores faced the
street and the parking lots were usually in the rear.
KPDS 1996 SONBAHAR
*** Certain features of the motorway undoubtedly ease the strain of
driving. Gradients and bends are so controlled as to obviate the
necessity of sharp braking and the absence of traffic approaching
from the other direction removes one of the commonest sources of
accidents. Many dangers remain, however, made more terrible by
the high speeds of vehicles. A collision at seventy miles an hour is
almost inevitably in its results. A mechanical defect in the car or a
puncture can lead to loss of control and catastrophe. The car
should be completely roadworthy and tyre pressures and treads
need to be checked at regular intervals.
*** The Antarctic is the most remote continent in the world and the
last to be discovered, but nevertheless constitutes about one tenth
of the world’s land surface. So far it has escaped the worst of
man’s destructive ingenuity but today it is threatened by man’s
insatiable appetite for natural resources, and seems to be in danger
of losing its pristine environment which serves as the perfect
natural laboratory for scientists to pursue knowledge for its own
sake.
*** Inflation is process of steadily rising prices, resulting in a
diminishing of the purchasing power of a given nominal sum of
money. In other words, you can buy fewer goods for 1 pound in
December than you could in January of the same year. One type of
inflation is known as demand-pull inflation. This occurs under
conditions of full employment, when demand exceeds supply of
goods; that is to say, when people want to buy more goods than
are available. The process of demand-pull inflation operates as
follows. An increased demand for goods leads to an increased
demand for labour, resulting in higher wages and salaries. This has
the effect of increasing costs of production and thus causes
increased prices. However, as wages and salaries are higher, the
increased demand for goods continues, and so the cycle goes on.
*** In the business world today, many companies are showing less
interest in the theoretical potential of their staff and more in what
they are actually doing at the time. As an alternative or supplement
to judging academic credentials, many firms have developed
“assessmentcentres” in which employees handle simulated
business problems, in a setting as close to real life as possible, to
demonstrate their competence or indicate the need for training.
Candidates for administrative jobs, for example, might work their
way through a sample in-box. Bosses find those promoted because
of their assessment-centre scores to be competent and the
candidates feel the system is fair. In fact, the systems can be
working well and giving satisfaction.
*** In Eminent Victorians Lytton Strachey portrays four dominating
personalities of the nineteenth century. He is, noticeably, free of
undue reverence for the great; indeed his satirical view of life
enables him to discover in them many flaws which were discreetly
overlooked by previous historians. Perhaps his portrayal of General
Gordon is the most controversial of all. Certainly he was a gifted
and gallant soldier, but was he also an unbalanced mystic and a
self opinionated eccentric? His portrait of Dr Arnold is also
disturbing. Was he a wise and foreseeing educationalist and
headmaster or try sternly imposing his will on the students in care?
The questions thus raised are intensely provocative and make
reading stimulating.
*** If the key to good nutrition is consuming a variety of foods, then
vegetables can truly stand as the cornerstone of a health diet. Of all
foods, they offer the most diversity. There are literally hundreds of
varieties available to us, and because of careful plant breeding,
today’s vegetable harvest is continually being expanded and
improved. In addition, vegetables are replete with nutrients. They
supply nearly all of the vitamins and minerals required for good
health, many of them – especially starchy vegetables like potatoes
and winter squash - contain complex carbohydrates, which furnish
us with energy. Most also provide dietary fiber, and a few, such as
lima beans and potatoes, can contribute significantly to our protein
intake. At the same time, vegetables contain no cholesterol, have
little or no fat, and are low in calories. In nutritional parlance,
vegetables are “nutrient dense” – that is, their store of nutrients is
relatively high for the number of calories they supply.
 KPDS 1997 İLKBAHAR
*** The unfavourable effects of cigarette smoking on the heart have
frequently been described, but the exact basis for these effects has
not been clarified. Some investigators believe nicotine to be culprit
and there has been some experimental work in animals indicating
that large doses of nicotine in conjunction with cholesterol feeding
and vitamin D could produce a disease of the arteries resembling
that seen in humans. An alternative explanation has been offered
by other scientists who have pointed to the possible role of carbon
monoxide being inhaled with the cigarette smoking.
*** Agriculture remains the most crucial area for development, here
it seems that the most intractable problems of resistance to change
exist. One may argue that scientific training in agriculture by itself is
unlikely to have any marked impact on agricultural output. Any
attempt at vocational training in agriculture presupposes that a
meaningful structure of incentive exists for the individual farmer to
increase his output, improve his techniques, and expand his range
of activities. Without such incentives and opportunities, agricultural
education can have little impact.
*** Some decades ago there was hardly such a subject as the
economics of education. Today it is one of the most rapidly growing
branches of economics. Together with health economics, it makes
up the core of the economics of human resources, a field of inquiry
which in the last few years has been silently revolutionising such
traditional subjects as growth economics, labour economics,
international trade, and public finance. Consequently, the
economics of education with its concept of human investment has
rapidly transformed large areas of orthodox economics.
*** Tigers grow to lengths of ten feet or more and can be bigger
than the largest lion. They have immense strength. They clutch
their prey to them, holding on with their claws, and depend on the
crushing bite of their powerful jaws to end the struggle. They swim
very well and can often be seen splashing about in water on very
hot days, since they apparently suffer from heat. When the air is
chilly, however, they avoid wet or damp vegetation. They can climb,
but do not approach the leopard’s ability in this. They can negotiate
treacherous rocky areas but generally prefer to stay on level
ground. They are not as well equipped with senses as one might
expect. They apparently depend on their hearing while hunting.
Their eyesight is not particularly good, they seem unable to spot
prey until it moves.
*** Scientists have long sought ways to define and measure human
intelligence. And while theories of intelligence have grown more
sophisticated since the 1800s when some believed mental abilities
were determined by the size of a person’s head, researchers still
do not agree about certain fundamental principles of human
thought. They, therefore, continue to debate such basic questions
as whether heredity or the environment is more important in
forming intelligence.
*** The novelist E. L. Doctorow is best known for his mixing fiction
with historical fact, by placing his stories within the framework of
public events. In fact, by integrating the front-page news of the 20th
century America with the lives of his characters, Doctorow gives
readers the ‘feel’ of an era, combining the unusual and the
commonplace. His latest novel ‘World’s Fair’ shows how the events
of the turbulent 1930s helped mold the sensibilities of his young
protagonist.
 KPDS 1997 SONBAHAR
*** In 1964 the United Nations Conference on Trade and
Development was held. For the first time the poorer nations of the
world came together to act as a pressure group on trading matters.
The Conference made the following recommendations. The
Developing countries should be given free access to world markets
for their manufactures and semi manufactures by the elimination of
quotas and tariffs. International commodity agreements should be
made for each major primary commodity in world trade to stabilise
commodity prices. Moreover, compensation schemes, whereby the
underdeveloped countries are compensated for the declining prices
of their primary products, were recommended for consideration.
The Conference also resolved that the developed countries should
aim to provide at least 1 per cent of their national income as aid for
the underdeveloped countries.
*** In earlier centuries it was thought that a great continent must
exist in the southern hemisphere, around the South Pole, to
balance the known land masses in the north. Its real extent was
better understood in the 18th century, particularly when Captain
Cook sailed for the first time south of the Antarctic Circle and
reached the edge of the icepack. A portion of the ice-covered
continent was first sighted by Edward Bransfield in 1820. Explorers
of several other nations also sighted portions of the coast-line in
other quarters and wrote detailed accounts of their observations.
However, in the light of these accounts, the first extensive
exploration was made by Captain James Clarke Ross in 1841
when a great part of the Antarctic was discovered.
*** Oceanography is the scientific study of the world’s oceans
which cover over 70 percent of the earth’s surface. The beginnings
of modern oceanography go back to the 1870s when, for the first
time, wide ranging scientific observations and studies of the oceans
were undertaken by British. Since then, oceanography has
developed into a highly technical and interdisciplinary science
which is now divided into several fields of study. These are
biological oceanography, which deals with the study of the marine
organisms and marine ecology, chemical oceanography, which is
concerned with the composition of sea water, and physical
oceanography, which studies ocean currents, tides, waves, and the
role played by the oceans in climate and weather. Geological
oceanography is also another branch of oceanography and is
mainly concerned with the formation, composition and evaluation of
the ocean basins. Oceanographic knowledge is essential to allow
exploitation of the enormous food, mineral and energy resources of
the oceans wi
*** In 1945, following the Second World War, the allies that is, the
United States, the Soviet Union, and Britain drew up and signed the
Potsdam Agreement. The main points of this agreement were that
militarism and Hitlerism should be destroyed; that industrial power
should be so reduced that Germany would never again be in a
position to wage aggressive war; that surplus equipment should be
destroyed or transferred to replace wrecked plants in allied
territories; that Germany should be treated as an economic whole,
and that local self-government should be restored on democratic
lines as rapidly as was consistent with military security.
*** The police are a regular force established for the preservation of
law and order and the prevention and detection of crime. The
powers they have vary from country to country and with the type of
government; the more civilised and democratic the state is, the less
police intervention there is. England, compared with other
countries, was slow to develop a police force, and it was not until
1829 that Sir Robert Peel’s Metropolitan Police Act established a
regular force for the metropolis. Later legislation established county
and borough forces maintained by local police authorities
throughout England and Wales.
*** The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
(IBRD) known as “the International Bank” or as “the World Bank” is
an agency of the United Nations established in 1945. It has the
primary function of making loans available to assist developing
countries. Usually, loans are made to finance specific projects of
investment in underdeveloped countries; and the Bank will normally
make a loan only if it is satisfied that the investment will yield a
revenue sufficient to enable the payment of interest on the loan,
and repayment of the sum lent. In 1983 the Bank made loans to the
value of $3.300 million. Thus a sizeable amount of lending is
channelled through the Bank, but it is clear that some projects of
great value to underdeveloped countries cannot be financed in this
way, because they would not yield returns quickly enough or large
enough to meet the Bank’s requirements for interest and
repayment.
 KPDS 1998 İLKBAHAR
*** Paper has been known in one form or another from very early
times. The papyrus reeds of the Nile swamps served the ancient
Egyptians for sheets upon which to inscribe their records. The
Chinese and Japanese, centuries later, were using something more
akin to modern paper in substance, an Asiatic paper-mulberry,
yielding a smooth fibrous material, being utilised. With the spread
of learning in Western Europe the necessity of a readier medium
made itself felt, and paper began to be manufactured from pulped
rags and other substances. Other papermaking staples were later
introduced, such as linen cotton and wood-pulp. The chief raw
material in the world paper industry now is wood-pulp, the main
exporters being the timber-growing countries of Canada, Sweden
and Finland.
*** The great expansion in energy demand over recent years has
been met to a large extent by petroleum oil. The total world
reserves of petroleum oil are still uncertain since large parts of the
world are still not fully prospected. The cutback in oil production
and the rise in the price of Middle Eastern oil following the 1973
Arab-Israeli war unleashed a worldwide energy crisis which
affected the economies of consumer countries. One result of this
crisis has been that Britain has increased its North Sea oil
production and become the fifth largest oil producing country in the
world.
*** In 1903 the United States signed a treaty with Panama, which
gave the United States rights in perpetuity ever a 16 km wide strip
of land extending across the narrowest part of Panama for the
purpose of building and running a canal. The canal built, now
known as the Panama Canal, connects the Atlantic and the Pacific
Oceans and is just over 80 km long. Its depth varies from 12 to 26
meters. It is constructed above sea-level, with locks and has been
available for commercial shipping since 3 August 1914. An
agreement was reached in 1978 for the waterway to be turned over
Panama by the end of the century.
*** When there has been a serious disaster such as an earthquake
or flooding, various relief efforts are rapidly put into effect. However,
experience has shown that it is usually impractical to attempt mass
immunisation immediately following a disaster and that, when
attempted, it detracts from the overall relief effort without producing
a discernible benefit. Effective immunisation requires prior planning
good systems of communication and transport and access to the
population at risk. These requirements cannot be met in the
immediate postdisaster period. Efforts to achieve mass vaccination
in the relief phase also drain whatever limited manpower,
communication facilities, and transportation exist.
*** Universities are institutions of higher education whose principal
objects are the increase of knowledge over a wide field through
original thought and research and its extensions by the teaching of
students. Such societies existed in the ancient world, notably in
Greece and India, but the origin of the University as we know it
today lies in medieval Europe, the word “universitas” being a
contraction of the Latin term for corporations of teachers and
students organised for the promotion of higher learning. The
earliest bodies to become recognised under this description were at
Bologna and Paris in the first half of the 12th century. Oxford was
founded by an early migration of scholars from Paris, and
Cambridge began with a further migration from Oxford. Other
universities sprang up all over Europe from the 14 th century
onwards.
*** Romanticism is a term for a movement in the arts, that is, in
music, painting, sculpture or literature, which seeks to give
expression to the artist’s feelings about his subject rather than to be
concerned with form and reality. The romantic view is that art is
nature seen through a temperament; the realist view, on the other
hand, is that art is a slice of life. In painting Delacroix (1789-1863)
is the romantic artist par excellence with his uncontrolled
expression of the passions and love of the exotic. In literature the
Romantic movement reached its finest form in the works of Goethe,
Schiller and Heine; in the poetry of Byron, Keats, Wordsworth,
Shelly and Blake; and in the writings of Victor Hugo. Since
Romanticism is partly a matter of temperament in the artist just as
Classicism is, it may be found at all times and places, although
whether or not it becomes predominant depends on contemporary
taste.
 KPDS 1998 SONBAHAR
*** Eliminating poverty is largely a matter of helping children born
into poverty to rise out of it. Once families escape from poverty they
do not fall back into it. Middle-class children rarely end up poor. The
primary reason poor children do not escape from poverty is that
they do not acquire basic mental skills. They cannot read, write,
calculate or articulate. Lacking these skills, they cannot get or keep
a well-paid job. The best mechanism for breaking this vicious circle
is to provide the poor with better educational opportunities. Since
children born into poor homes do not acquire the skills they need
from their parents, they must be taught these skills in school.
*** Not just in substance but in manner too, Robin Trevelyan, who
is the Prime Minister’s new righthand man, is a politician in the old
style. He avoids the flourish which characterises modern politicians.
His speeches are at best unemotional, at worst dull. He is all but
incapable of inspiring an audience. His face is inexpressive, solid
almost. He evades making promises and is completely lacking in
vision. He is a politician whose talent has never been to inspire the
mob.
*** Work is central in British culture. When someone asks one
‘What do you do?’, they really mean ‘What work do you do?’. When
a woman is asked ‘Do you work?’, what is meant is ‘Are you doing
a paid job?’. Yet many people without a paid job work at other kinds
of productive activities. Women, notably, perform an unpaid ‘double
shift’ in the home as housekeepers and mothers. To confine the
term ‘work’ to paid employment, therefore, restricts it far too
narrowly. There are many other kinds of work, some of which can
take more time and energy than we put into our paid employment
from the voluntary working in the garden to repairs to the house or
the car. In other cultures, work is not as highly valued as this; some
people value leisure more, and work only as much as they need in
order to provide basic necessities.
*** Alcohol, nicotine and caffeine are psychoactive drugs that are
freely available in our society. Their wide spread use shows that
they provide a common solution to the problems of vast numbers of
individuals. The extent and the nature of their use is not , however,
uniform but varies with the particular sub-culture involved. To take
alcohol, for example, there are wide differences between the
drinking habits and rituals of merchant, seamen and businessmen,
between Italians and Jews. Each sub-group in society will have a
conception of what the permissible and desirable effects of alcohol
are, how much it is necessary to drink to achieve this desired state;
what is normal and what is deviant drinking behaviour.
*** In the early 1970s, there was a great deal of optimism about
improving women’s position, ending male privilege and doing away
with gender divisions and even gender difference. Equal
opportunities legislation was enacted in many countries, and the
voice of the women’s movement was heard criticising
discrimination between the sexes in every sphere of working life.
Now it is clear that legislation can make only a marginal difference
to entrenched patterns of job segregation and inequality. The
voices of feminism, too, are varied; some demand equality with
men while others pursue the revaluation of women’s skills and
‘womanly’ virtues.
*** All of us are born, all of us will die; but there is infinite variety in
the nature and circumstances of these two events themselves and
in what happens to our bodies and our minds in between. Some
individuals, for example, are born without difficulty and grow
uninterruptedly during childhood and adolescence, suffering at
worst only minor infectious diseases and accidents. As adults, they
reproduce their kind. They age gradually until, in extreme old age,
they die peacefully without pain or discomfort. This is an idealised
picture of how we would like things to be, rather than the reality that
most people experience. Death comes to many of us, not when we
are old, but during or before birth, in infancy, in adolescence, in
early adulthood or in middle age.
 KPDS 1999 İLKBAHAR
*** The Amazon is the largest river in the world. It carries about a
quarter of the world's running water and is the second longest after
the Nile. Much of it is brown, brackish, piranha-infested and bitterly
cold. Ranging from narrow tributaries and raging rapids to stretches
of prodigious width and calm, the river's banks can take half a day
to reach. In parts, it can drop up to 40 metres in less than a
kilometre Furthermore, it runs through deep canyons and steep
gorges that have been carved out by its turbulent waters.
*** The great window-dresser Gene Moore seems to have been
self-taught. As a young man his main idea was to get away from
Birmingham, Alabama, then a town of steel and pollution. It was, he
said, the wrong place to be born in for anyone with dreams. He
dreamt of being a concert pianist and then of being a painter. But
he decided that he did not play very well, and presently gave up
painting. In New York in the 1930s he got various casual jobs. One
was with a store that decided he had flair and put him in its display
department, and that was the start of his career. He worked for a
number of shops promoting their wares, and built a reputation for
innovative ideas.
*** Pollution is no respecter of national boundaries today. But
environmental scientists can still be surprised by the distances that
large quantities of industrial pollutants can sometimes be carried by
winds. For instance, a group of chemists at the University of
Washington in Seattle have been involved in a case study of such
pollutants which reached the West Coast of America all the way
from Asia. They are keen to understand how such an event could
take place and to what extent it could have been forecast. In fact,
back in March 1997, pollutants such as carbon monoxide from Asia
had been spotted as far across the Pacific Ocean as Hawaii. Thus,
it seems increasingly likely that the West Coast of America is
particularly exposed to pollution from Asia.
*** Most poetry anthologies are assembled by poets. This is not
necessarily a good thing. They are in fact assembled for many
different reasons. Some resemble star charts, trying to define the
scope of the new and show us what direction poetry is heading.
Others turn their gaze on the past, seeking to define poetries of
earlier centuries or to identify influential currents of thinking and
feeling. Yet other anthologies strive to present enduring images of
the beautiful for the reader's pleasure, as if poems were bunches of
flowers.
*** Everybody needs vitamins and minerals to remain healthy. The
questions are, which ones, how much and when? And the answer
is surprisingly simple: take XXX. Actually, the Department of Health
has recognised 18 essential vitamins and mineral that we need on
a daily basis. The daily amount required of these vitamins and
minerals is termed the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA). XXX
meet this requirement and more. As a new vitamin complex, it
contains these 18 essential vitamins and minerals, plus a total of no
less than 31 other micro nutrients, including the complete
antioxidant group and folic acid. There is no more complete a
multimineral multivitamin on the market. So, because you don’t
always eat as you should, it makes sense to take XXX.
*** In Japan, there is a government investment and loan
programme, known as zaito. Unlike normal government spending,
zaito relies not on tax revenues but on people's savings. These are
drawn from the publicly-owned postal savings system, which by law
must place all deposits with zaito, and from the postal life-insurance
schemes and various pension funds. The finance ministry, which
has run zaito for more than 100 years, then lends the money out.
During the second World War, zaito financed Japan’s military build-
up. Afterwards, it paid for reconstruction and helped to channel low-
cost funds into such strategic industries as steel and car-making.
More recently, it has turned to “social” investments, such as
infrastructure projects and housing.
 KPDS 1999 SONBAHAR
*** Edison, one of the pioneers of modern technology, lacked
formal education. His understanding of literature, art, history and
philosophy was superficial. Also, despite the fact that he had
invented the phonograph and founded a recording company, his
musical taste was abominable. He is, therefore, sometimes
regarded with disdain by academic scientists, who often forget that
his ingenuity, inquiring spirit and tireless efforts contributed
significantly to the development of modern technology.
*** Under increasing social pressure in the late nineteenth century,
some universities opened their doors to a small number of women.
More significant, however, was the founding of many women's
colleges, frequently run by women. These colleges strove over the
years to maintain a curriculum equivalent to that of the largely male
universities. Therefore, many leaders of the women's college
movement saw themselves as social reformers. Although women
entered universities in large numbers in the first half of the
twentieth century, their participation was limited by their
professional objectives: teaching, social work, nursing, home
economics and the like were "women's fields".
*** Atmosphere is the gaseous envelope of the earth, and consists
of a mixture of gases and water vapour. The variability of the latter
is meteorologically of great importance. The ozone layer, which
absorbs solar ultraviolet radiation, especially lethal to plant life, lies
between 12 and 50 kilometres above the earth. The lower level of
the atmosphere, up to a height of about 12 kilometres, is known as
the troposphere, and it is in this region that nearly all weather
phenomena occur. This is the region of most interest to the
forecaster studying temperature, humidity, wind-speed and the
movement of air masses.
*** Edger Lawrence Doctorow is 55, and on almost anyone’s list he
is counted among the leading serious American novelists today.
Although he is not simply a writer of comedies, his books sell
widely, and three have been made into movies. Readers, some
critics excepted, have come to relish the blending of the fact and
fiction that marks his odd scrutiny of the American past. In his
recently published book, World’s Fair, he turns his historically
inventive method on himself drawing heavily on material taken from
his 1930s boyhood.
*** William Saroyan’s parents and relatives were Armenian
immigrants who settled in the farming area around Fresno,
California. Saroyan left school at fifteen and went to work, doing
odd jobs. During this time he read widely and began writing in his
distinctive natural style. By the late 1930s his many short stories,
novels and plays had established him as a writer. Many of his
stories have grown out of his experiences in the Armenian
community around Fresno.
*** For many years after Mt. Everest had been shown to be the
highest mountain in the world, political conditions in Nepal, lying
south of the summit, and in Tibet to the North, prevented
mountaineers from attending an ascent. At last in 1921 the Tibetan
authorities gave permission and the first expedition organised, as
were all subsequent expeditions by international joint committee,
was sent out. This was primarily a reconnaissance. Besides
mapping the Northern flank, it found a practicable route up to the
mountain. By 1939, six further expeditions had climbed on the
northern face. Some were hampered by bad weather, others by
problems previously little known, such as the effect of high altitudes
on the human body and spirit. Nevertheless, notable climbs were
accomplished, though the summit was never reached.
 KPDS 2000 İLKBAHAR
*** Heat-waves, if the temperature is high enough, above 40°0 for
instance, lead to wilting, and even death in plant, because of
structural damage to essential proteins. The problem is that plants
react by closing their pores when, due to a serious heat-wave, they
are subjected to water stress, so shutting down on transpiration
and conserving water. Just as the body would overheat
dangerously if it shut its pores to prevent sweating, so, in a plant,
the shutting of the pores will cause permanent damage, if not
death. Temperatures above -5°0 can damage most plants if lasting
for half an hour or more. High soil temperatures will also damage
roots and prevent nutrient uptake.
*** A conspicuous feature of cities in many countries, in particular
those of Western Europe, is that buildings and streets devastated
during the war are, once peace is reinstated, rebuilt in exactly the
same manner as they existed before. Enormous efforts are taken to
recreate the environment with total fidelity. This reflects the extent
to which ordinary people value the traditions and culture of the
past. In Japanese cities, however, one sees little evidence of such
respect for tradition. Tokyo presents an extreme example: it is quite
common these days for the appearance of a street or quarter to
change almost beyond recognition every year. In provincial cities as
well, one often finds that an absence of several years has rendered
a city almost unrecognisable.
***Modern education is almost exclusively focused on preparing
children for an urban future, as consumers in a global “free” market.
This makes a return to any sort of rural existence almost an
impossibility for those tutored by the Western education system in
the 21st century. The fact is that, for all the fashionable talk about
cultural diversity, schools, colleges and universities today prepare
their graduates poorly for anything other than a uniform urban
existence. We educate the young from country to city alike, to be
urban with urban appetites, skills, minds, dependencies and
expectations. And as globalised, future will overwhelmingly mean
an urban future, our graduates of tomorrow will be trained, above
all, to keep the wheels of the global economy running, with all the
implications that has for nature and society.
***People in other European countries have been wondering for
some time why and how Norway has stayed out of the European
Union. Austria, Finland, Sweden joined in 1994, almost without any
public debate, just a few months after their governments had
proposed the joining. By then, the Norwegians had been debating
the issue for 33 years, ever since their government had started the
drive towards unionisation. One reason for the success of
Norwegian resistance is that in both 1952 and 1967, when the
Norwegian government sent off applications for joining the EEC,
President De Gaulle of France rejected the proposals. He feared
that the inclusion of Norway, as of England, would complicate and
slow down EEC integration.
*** In its full force the Gulf Stream, which begins in the Gulf of
Mexico, carries warm water to a depth of up to 100 meters at rates
of up to 8 kilometres an hour, and penetrates right up into the Arctic
Circle to the north of Scandinavia, bearing with it a climate that
makes life just about tolerable, even in the thick of the winter. The
energy it carries in the form of heat is equivalent to 100 times the
entire use of energy in human societies across the world or put
another way, more than 27,000 times Britain's electricity generating
capacity. In terms of temperature the Gulf Stream heats the surface
over a wide area by at least 5°C. Were the-Gulf Stream to fail,
temperatures over northern Europe would fall by more than 10
centigrade degree during the winter months. Northern Europe
would have a climate comparable to that of Siberia: just how it
would support its current population is difficult to imagine.
*** Within a short time after the outbreak of the Second World War,
Britain was without imports of many vital pharmaceuticals that had
formerly come from Japan, Germany and the Far East. As a result,
the first wartime government set up systematic research into the
cultivation and medical use of herbs, By 1940, women's voluntary
organisations had been drawn into a national campaign to gather
wild herbs, Up and down the country, County Herb Committees
were organised to oversee the gathering, drying, distillation and
distribution of the medicinal herbs. Lay people were given brief
locally-based training in how to recognise herbs, store and dry
them. Farmers were given subsidies to farm certain naturally hard-
to-find herbs. By 1943, every county had its herb committee and
during the five years of the Second World War, over 750 tons of
dried herbs were gathered and turned into medicines.
 KPDS 2000 SONBAHAR
*** Restorative justice does not ask 'how do we punish?', but
instead asks 'how do we get people to take responsibility for what
they have done?'. Paying a fine, or even going to prison are easy
options for some people. They are all ways that offenders can
avoid taking responsibility, because in this way they never have to
face the human reality of what they have done. Prisons have been
called "universities for criminals". Young people go in for unpaid
fines, often for victimless crimes, and they come out with a degree
in burglary or worse. I am not saying that the answer is to tear
down all prisons. Far from it. There are people who are dangerous
to society, who the community will want to keep locked up. Prison
can also be part of a sentencing package under restorative justice.
But the vast majority of people in prison are not violent, and do not
need to be there. What they do need is to be brought face to face
with the human reality of the harm they have
caused, and they must be given an opportunity to rectify.
*** In the coming weeks, wine makers north of the equator will
oversee the harvesting and fermenting of the first vintage of the
millennium. But long before the finished product reaches the
shelves - before it even makes it out of the barrel, in some cases -
samples will be offered to exporters and distributors. A select group
of wine critics will also be given a taste. Most will record their
impressions in the extravagant prose that wine journalists
unfortunately love to use. Others will go one step further and assign
numerical grades. These days a high score is more effective than
mere praise. it can make a comparatively unknown wine into a
highly desirable one that everyone is seeking to buy.
*** One never finishes learning about art. There are always new
things to discover. Great works of art seem to look different each
time one stands before them. They seem to be as inexhaustible
and unpredictable as real human beings. It is an exciting world of
its own with its own strange laws and its own adventures. Nobody
should think he knows all about it, for nobody does. Nothing,
perhaps, is more important than just this: that to enjoy these works
we must have a fresh mind, one which is ready to catch every hint
and to respond to every hidden harmony: a mind, most of all that
has not been dulled by the terminology and ready-made phrases of
art appreciation. it is infinitely better not to know anything about art
than to have the kind of half-knowledge which makes for
snobbishness. The danger is very real.
*** In theory, the multimedia age should be killing off bookshops.
Who still has time to read books, what with surfing the Internet,
viewing scores of new digital television channels, and putting in
ever-longer hours at work? And presumably those few people who
do still read books will be buying them on the Internet. After all,
Amazon, a bookseller, is the most cited example of a successful
online retailer. So much for the theory. What about the practice?
This week the largest bookshop in Britain opened up in the old
Simpson's of Piccadilly in London. With 265,000 titles and 1.5
million books, the new branch of Waterstone's stretches over seven
floors. A department store, which once sold everything from sushi
to plus-fours, is now devoted entirely to one product - books. The
new Waterstone's is almost next door to Hatchards, a mere five-
storey bookshop, with a wellestablished clientele, and two smaller
bookshops. It is also less than a mile from Borders, another huge
bookstore in Oxford Street.
*** The seventeenth-century scientist Francis Bacon was the first to
insist that science be methodically separated from values so as to
make it truly 'neutral', or objective. In reality, he did nothing of the
sort. His 'scientific knowledge', instead of being value-free, set out
explicitly and purposefully to give humanity power over nature.
'Truth and utility are perfectly identical,' he wrote in his “Novum
Organum”, and 'that which is most useful in practice is most correct
in theory'. In effect, he merely replaced the old 'subjective' values of
'good' and 'evil' with the values of 'useful' and 'useless', or more
precisely 'of contributing or not contributing to man's domination
over or transformation of the natural world'. There were to be no
limits to this transformation. His goal was explicitly stated. It was to
'achieve all things achievable'. At least he was honest enough to
admit the fact. Modern science has followed Bacon's lead exactly,
but does not admit it.
*** If a greater proportion of the food people eat were to be locally
produced, this would be of great benefit to the farmer. A mix of
local, regional, national, and international production would still be
available; indeed, the goal would not be to put an end to the
international trade in food, but to avoid transporting food thousands
of miles when it could instead be produced next door. Such a shift
would help revitalise rural economies ruined by the global
economy. Less money would go into the hands of corporate
middlemen, and far more would remain in the hands of farmers,
This would especially be the case with the direct marketing of food
via farmers' markets and farm stands and other forms of
community supported agriculture. If farmers were not impelled to
specialise their production in a few global commodities, the trend
towards ever larger and more highly mechanised farms would slow
down. Moreover, since small farms use a proportionally higher
amount of human labour than mechanised inputs, a return to
smaller farms would help bring back some of the 700.000 farm jobs
the UK has lost during the last halfcentury of agricultural progress.
 KPDS 2001 İLKBAHAR
*** In the case of shallow tunnels or in urban areas it is often
possible. by means of carefully sited boreholes, to gain an idea as
to the nature of the ground and water conditions. Under high
mountains boring becomes expensive so reliance has to be placed
upon geological interpretations. As strata can vary so much,
surprises are often met with and techniques sometimes have to
change in a single tunnel. In the Severn railway tunnel (4 mls 628
yd long, completed in 1886) great quantities of water were
unexpectedly encountered and are still being pumped out.
*** As with all revolutions, the causes of the American Revolution
which separated the original thirteen American colonies from Great
Britain were social, economic and political and so inextricably
interwoven that it is difficult to appraise them. First there was the
distance from Great Britain and the environment of a new country
which, whether they willed it or not, had gradually over a period of
150 years turned Englishmen into Americans. The older stock was
largely English but the bulk of them, as a contemporary historian
commented. "knew little of the mother country, having only heard of
her as a distant kingdom, the rulers of which had in the preceding
century persecuted and banished their ancestors to the woods of
America". With each generation and with each move westward old
contacts were broken. Furthermore large groups of colonists had
come from Germany, Ireland and other parts of Europe and had no
ties with England and, in the case of the Irish, no affection.
*** Translation renders knowledge mobile. The task of the scientific
translator, no less than the literary translator, has been to create
new texts, to multiply sources into new languages, and thereby to
produce new "originals". Over time, translation itself has built a
great scientific library, ever more enriched, and accessible.
Although we may think of scientific translation as literal, mechanical
work, this has never been the case. The reasons for this are
complex, but have much to do with the lack of exact one to-one
correspondence among languages. Translating science always
involves interpretation, the remaking of an original. If it did not,
machine translation would have long ago rendered the scientific
translator extinct.
*** The ideal of a family life shared by all in 19th century England
survived into the early 20th century, until home life was seriously
dislocated in 1914 by World War I, which was a war on the largest
scale the world had ever known. But since the last decade of the
19th century new developments and inventions had been rapidly
affecting the home life of an increasing number of people. Town
and country were knit more closely together by easier railway
travel, cheap and efficient postal services, the popularity of the
bicycle, the development of the petrol engine and the cheap
popular newspaper; such things as these helped to break down
social formalities and to place women again on a more equal
footing with men.
*** Most people take it for granted prices will always nice and
understandably so. A 60-year-old American has seen them go up
by more than 1.000 % in his life time. Yet prolonged inflation is a
comparatively recent phenomenon. Until about 60 years ago prices
in general were as likely to fall as to rise. On the of the First World
War, for example, prices in Britain, over all, were almost exactly the
same as they had been at the time of London in 1666. Now the
world may be reverting to that earlier normality. The prices of many
things have fallen over the past 12 months or so. Not only
computers and video players, but a wide range of goods- from cars
and clothes to coffee and petrol - are in many countries, cheaper
than they were a year ago.
*** Water of doubtful purity for drinking can be rendered safe by
boiling and then can be cooled in water bags or in earthenware
containers, which must be protected from dust and flies when
boiling is not possible, drinking water can in many areas be
adequately sterilised by chlorination; one tablet of halazone is
added to one litre of water and allowed to stand for 30 minutes.
Water containing suspended matter should be filtered first. There
is, however the danger of a particularly serious infectious disease
in many regions of Africa, the Middle and Far East and South
America. In these regions the water of rivers, lakes and canal may
be infected, and the disease is acquired when the water comes in
contact with the skin.
 KPDS 2001 SONBAHAR
*** The great expansion in energy demand over recent years has
been met to a large extent by petroleum oil. The total world
reserves of petroleum oil are still uncertain since large parts of
world are still not fully prospected. The cutback in oil production
and the rise in the price of Middle Eastern oil following the 1973
Arab-Israel war unleashed a worldwide energy crisis. The result
has been that Britain has increased its north sea oil production and
has become the fifth largest oil producing country in the world.
*** The continent of South America looks as if it managed to
escape the attentions of the British Empire. However, this was
more because the British didn't need to exert formal control over
the countries and peoples of this continent. The Monroe doctrine
imposed by America, served British interests quite well enough.
The doctrine made it clear that the United States would not tolerate
foreign meddling in the Americas. This policy meant that Britain
could get all the benefits of trade and investment in South America
with very little of the administrative costs. In addition, it could be
reasonably safe in the knowledge that other European states
wouldn't be able to steal the markets through annexation. Britain
had very strong commercial links with South America, especially
with Argentina. In many ways, the influence and power that Britain
could hold over the policies of the individual South American states
meant that they could almost be termed as being part of Britain's
informal empire. The islands in the region that were formally
annexed were done so mostly out of strategic naval considerations.
*** Failing to discover any account of the purposes, for which
nature is arranged as it is, and finding the explanations actually
offered by the philosophers to be suspect and non illuminating,
Socrates abandoned all his effort to find out why things are as they
are by examining nature itself. He turned instead to the
examination of "logos" that is, statements, arguments, or in
general, words-as a way of discovering something true. The
distinctive feature of Socratic inquiries is that they took as their
immediate object not some phenomenon in the natural world but
some person and his ideas. Socrates hoped that by
methodologically and repeatedly examining someone's ideas he
might ultimately lead him to the discovery and establishment of the
truth.
*** Each year thousands of people are diagnosed with congestive
heart failure - a condition in which a weakened heart can't pump
much blood as the body needs. Drugs like beta-blockers help
stabilize many patients in the earliest stages of the disease. But
there aren't a lot of options for folks in the later stages. Heart
transplants are one solution, but they are short in supply. It is such
good news to hear that another type of mechanical pump, called a
left ventricular assist device, may be a viable alternative. Instead of
replacing the heart entirely, the device attaches to the organ's left
main chamber, boosting its output. The device is twice as likely as
drugs to keep patients alive after one year.
*** Hong Kong, with a population of about 6.8 million at mid-2000,
is a small but dynamic city which has earned an international
reputation as a leading commercial and financial center as well as
a highly efficient port. Subsequent historical and political events led
to the development of the manufacturing industry. Hong Kong has
also seen a rapid expansion of its services sector in the past two
decades, contributing over 85 per cent of Hong Kong's Gross
Domestic Product (GDP) in recent years. Hong Kong has a two-tier
system of representative government. At the central level, the
Legislative Council legislates, approves taxation and public
expenditure and raises questions on the work of the Government.
According to the Basic Law, the Legislative Council is to be
constituted by election.
*** College students who eat all their meals at one of the college or
university regulated food services are likely to be offered a well-
balanced diet. The offering of well-balanced meals does not
ensure, however, that the students make wise selections. In
addition many students eat their meals in restaurants or other
public eating-places where they may not be offered foods that
provide all the nutrients needed by the body. College students,
generally speaking, are well fed; few of them show extreme
deficiency symptoms. Many students, on the other hand, are
operating at a level below their achievement potential because of
the insufficiencies in their diet.
 KPDS 2002 İLKBAHAR

*** Does advertising encourage waste by persuading consumers to

buy goods that they do not need? In reply to this, it has been
pointed out that all the consumer really needs, is a bare minimum
of clothing, food and shelter, and that one of the distinguishing
marks of any civilized community is that it lives well above the
minimum subsistence level. Most advertising is designed to
influence the consumer's spending power. In western countries,
advertising has played a great part in bringing labour saving
equipment, and so a degree of leisure, and even luxury, to millions.
Advertising that encourages the public to want more is also claimed
to act as an incentive making people want to earn more in order to
buy the goods advertised, and therefore making them work harder.
For this reason advertising has been defended as having an
essential part to play in the move towards higher standards of *** Although the idea of the skyscraper is modern, the inclination to
living. The defenders of advertising also point out that it is not build upward is not. The Great Pyramids, with their broad bases,
solely concerned with encouraging the public to spend. Banks, reached heights unapproached for the next four millennia. But even
insurance companies and building societies are amongst the the great Gothic cathedrals, crafted of bulky stone into an aesthetic
commercial advertisers who encourage saving. of lightness and slenderness are dwarfed by the steel and
reinforced concrete structures of the 20th century. It was modern
building materials that made the true skyscraper structurally
possible, but it was the mechanical device of the elevator that
made the skyscraper truly practical. Ironically, it is also the elevator
that has had so much to do with limiting the height of most tall
buildings to about 70 or 80 stories. Above that, elevator shafts
occupy more than 25 percent of the volume of a tall building, and
so the economics of renting out space argues against investing in
greater height.

*** Though Italy's national boundaries have altered relatively little

since unification in the 1860s, national identity is qualified by sharp
internal differentiation. Economic and occupational structures,
standards of living, political loyalties, cultural traditions and even
language vary substantially between parts of the country. Only
since the 1970s has there existed a comprehensive system of
regional government with financial and legislative authority.
However, the division of powers between central and regional
governments is imprecise, and in practice the latter depend on
substantial resources from the former. In the absence of clear and
effective rules, relations between the regions and the central
government are determined by a process of political bargaining. In
this process, political alliances and personal linkages play a vital
role. In this respect, the Italian system may be defined as a kind of *** Land cleared of trees is exposed to erosion, which can be
federalism. severe in deforested areas having slopes greater than 15 to 17
percent. If land is not disturbed any further and new growth
becomes established, erosion may gradually subside. If, however,
vegetation on the cutover land is continually removed by man or
livestock, erosion will intensify, and environmental problems can be
severe. When a forest is removed from a slope, the rate of water
runoff is increased two to tenfold or more, depending on the degree
of clearing, slope, and rainfall. All too often this leads to flooding of
agricultural land in the lowlands. In Pakistan, for example, almost 2
million hectares of standing crops on the lowlands were destroyed
by floodwater in 1973, and about 10,000 villages were wiped out.
Since valuable soil is lost in floods, the quantity of the arable lands
*** Sir Philip Sidney was a 16th-century English poet and critic. His decreases. Alluvial silt deposited elsewhere is rarely usable enough
Defence of Poesyis the only major work of literary criticism in to compensate for such losses.
sixteenth-century England, a period during which Italy and France
produced large numbers of critical treatises, heavily influenced by
Aristotle's Poetics. By contrast, Sidney's text is highly eclectic,
drawing together aesthetic principles from several traditions and
emphasizing especially those principles that are of primary
importance to the Elizabethans: ideal imitation, moral teaching and
decorum. Looking back to Aristotle, Sidney defines poetry as an
imitation of nature, but links that imitation to his view of the poet as
maker. The poet imitates not the real nature we see but rather he
imitates an ideal nature. Sidney also makes large claims for the
didactic role of poetry, following Horace's idea that poetry teaches
by delighting.
 KPDS 2002 SONBAHAR

*** In modern times, it was perhaps the "gentleman scientists" of

the nineteenth century who came closest to a genuinely objective
form of scientific research. These privileged amateurs enjoyed a
financial independence which most scientists today cannot have,
and which enabled them to satisfy their scientific curiosity without
the need to please patrons. With the growth of scientific research
after World War II, science has become an expensive occupation.
Many scientists today look back upon the 1960s as a golden age of
modern-day science, when research was mainly funded by the
taxpayer, and scientific enquiry was seen by governments to be
part of the public good, and worth paying for. Today, the situation is
very different. "Academic freedom" is now often little more than an *** Fast-food is such a pervasive part of American life that it has
illusion for most scientists working at universities or in publicly- become synonymous with American culture. Fastfood was born in
funded research institutes. Moreover, science is now largely America and it has now swolleninto a $106-billion industry. America
dominated by the interests of the industrial world, and hence, exports fast-food worldwide and its attendant corporate culture, has
hardly deserves the name "science". probably been more influential and done more to destroy local food
economies and cultural diversity than any government propaganda
programme could hope to accomplish. No corner of the earth is
safe from its presence and no aspect of life is unaffected. Fast-food
is now found in shopping malls, airports, hospitals, gas stations,
stadiums, on trains, and increasingly, in schools. There are 23,000
restaurants in one chain alone, and another 2,000 are being
opened every year. Its effect has been the same on the millions of
people it feeds daily and on the people it employs. Fast-food
culture has changed how we work, from its assemblyline kitchens
filled with robotic frying machines to the trite phrases spoken to
customers by its poorly paid parttime workforce. In the United
*** Some people believe that meat consumption contributes to States, more than 57 per cent of the population eat meals away
famine and depletes the Earth's natural resources. Indeed, it is from home on any given day and they spend more money on fast-
often argued that cows and sheep require pasturage that could be food than they do on higher education, personal computers, or
better used to grow grain for starving millions in poor countries. even on new cars.
Additionally, claims are made that raising livestock requires more
water than raising plant foods. But both these arguments are
illogical. As for the pasturage argument, this ignores the fact that a
large portion of the Earth's dry land is unsuited to cultivation. For
instance, desert and mountainous areas are not suitable for
cultivation, but are suitable for animal grazing. However, modern
commercial farming methods prefer to raise animals in an enclosed
space feeding them on grains and soybeans. Unfortunately the bulk
of commercial livestock is not range-fed but stall-fed. Stall-fed
animals do not ingest grasses and shrubs (like they should), but *** Even though there have been truly significant advances in
are fed an unnatural array of grains and soybeans - which could be modern medicine, health problems still abound and cause untold
eaten by humans. The argument here, then, is not that eating meat misery. Although heart disease and cancer were rare at the
depletes the Earth's resources, but that commercial farming beginning of the 20th century, today these two diseases strike with
methods do. Such methods subject livestock to deplorable living increasing frequency, in spite of billions of dollars in research to
conditions where infections, antibiotics, and synthetic hormones are combat them, and in spite of tremendous advances in diagnostic
common. These all lead to an unhealthy animal and, by extension, and surgical techniques. In America, one person in three suffers
to an unhealthy food product. from allergies, one in ten has ulcers and one in five is mentally ill.
Every year, a quarter of a million infants are born with a birth defect
and undergo expensive surgery, or are hidden away in institutions.
Other degenerative diseases such as arthritis, multiple sclerosis,
diabetes, and chronic fatigue afflict a significant majority of
Americans. Further learning disabilities make life miserable for
seven million young people and their parents. These diseases were
extremely rare only a generation or two ago. Today, chronic illness
*** The chief triumph of this book is its depiction of Wellington. He afflicts nearly half of all Americans and causes three out of four
is not simply the famous British general who defeated Napoleon at deaths in the United States.
Waterloo. He remains a great general but he is also shown to have
had feet of clay inside his splendid boots. For example, the writer
dwells on Wellington's vanity and his unattractive lack of generosity
in sharing the credit for his victories. This is a splendid book. Never
less than interesting, but always trenchant. It redefines Wellington
without diminishing his achievements and ends by reminding us
that it was Napoleon who so forcefully articulated a wish that there
should be "a European code of laws, a European judiciary ... one
people in Europe". The ogre's dream is coming true.
 KPDS 2003 İLKBAHAR

*** It may be that golf originated in Holland but certainly Scotland

fostered the game and is famous for it. In fact, in 1457 the Scottish
Parliament, disturbed because football and golf had lured young
Scots from the more soldierly exercise of archery, passed an
ordinance that banned football and golf. James I and Charles I of
the royal line of Stuarts were golf enthusiasts, whereby the game
came to be known as "the royal and ancient game of golf". The golf
balls used in the early games were leather-covered and stuffed with
feathers. Clubs of all kinds were fashioned by hand to suit
individual-players. The great step in spreading the game came with
the change from the feather ball to the present-day ball introduced
in about 1850. In 1860, formal competitions began with the
establishment of an annual tournament for the British Open
championship. There are records of "golf clubs" in the United
States as far back as colonial days. However, it remained a rather *** The US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NITS)
sedate and almost aristocratic pastime until a 20-year-old Francis will soon be testing a controversial theory about the collapse of the
Ouimet of Boston defeated two great British professionals, Harry World Trade Center towers. According to an analysis by a leading
Vardon and Ted Ray, in the United States Open championship at fire-safety expert, had the fire-proofing insulation on the towers'
Brookline, Mass., in 1913. This feat put the game and Francis steel structures been thicker, the towers would have survived
Ouimet on the front pages of the newspapers and stirred a wave of longer and might even have remained standing after they were hit
enthuslasm for the sport by the hijacked planes. The work is being seized on by lawyers
representing victims' families and insurance companies. If
confirmed, it could also lead to changes in building codes. NIST is
responsible for drawing up the final report on the towers' collapses
and recommending if any changes are needed. It is widely
accepted that the collapses were caused by the failure of the
buildings' steel structure as it was weakened by the heat of the
fires.
*** The economic news from Europe was particularly disappointing
in the second half of 2002. Moreover, recent surveys from the
region imply little prospect of improvement in the near future.
Perhaps the most worrying aspect has been the sharp decline in
conditions in Germany-the area's largest and most important
economy. Domestic demand in Germany is very weak and, with the
global economy also struggling, Germany's manufacturers have not
been able to export their way out of trouble as they have done in
the past. With the economy in such a weak state, it is no surprise
then that European stock markets have followed the US stock
markets' downturn over the past 6 months. While individual share
pries may be lower and market valuations look attractive, the
economy does not. Recovery seems some way off and strong
equity performance from Europe's markets seems unlikely in 2003.
*** The long-expected decline in the dollar is now well under way.
For years economists have predicted that America's huge
currentaccount deficit would eventually cause its currency to
plunge. So far the dollar's slide has been fairly gradual: it is down
by 13% in tradeweighted terms over the past year, though it has
dropped by almost twice as much against the euro since its 2001
peak. As the decline seemed to pick up speed this week, John
Snow, George Bush's Treasury Secretary, declared that he favours
a "strong dollar policy". That was surely the wrong answer, even
leaving aside the debatable issue of whether cabinet secretaries
can influence the level of exchange rates. A weaker, not a stronger
dollar, is what the world needs now-so long as policymakers
*** Scientist who study earth's moon have two big regrets about the elsewhere respond appropriately. America promoted a strong dollar
six Apollo missions that landed a dozen astronauts on the lunar throughout the 1990s, when inflation was still thought to be the
surface between 1969 and 1972. The biggest regret, of course, is main enemy. Today it makes less sense. Even after its recent slide,
that the emissions ended so abruptly, with so much of the moon still the dollar seems overvalued. Moreover, with ample space capacity
unexplored. But researchers also lament that the great triumph of in America, deflation looks a bigger risk than inflation.
Apollo led to a popular misconception: because astronauts have
visited the moon, there is no compelling reason to go back. In the
1990s, however, two probes that orbited the moon raised new
questions about Earth's airless satellite. One stunning discovery
was strong evidence of water ice in the perpetually shadowed
areas near the moon's poles. Because scientists believe that
comets deposited water and organic compounds on both Earth and
its moon, well-preserved ice at the lunar poles could yield clues to
the origins of life.
 KPDS 2003 SONBAHAR

*** During the past few decades four East Asian economies - South
Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Hong Kong - have achieved the
fastest rates of economic growth the world has ever seen. In 1962
Taiwan stood between Zaire and the Congo on the global ranking
of income per head: by 1986 its neighbors were Greece and Malta.
In 1962 South Korea was poorer than Sudan: by 1986 it was richer
than Argentina. Today the four "dragons" account for 10 per cent of
manufactured exports worldwide, not far short of America's 12 per
cent. Understanding this miracle is the most urgent task in
development economics. But most economists are content to cite
the dragons as proof of their favorite theories - whatever those
theories may be. Free marketers point to the dragons' reliance on *** When Lyndon Johnson assumed the presidency, after the
private enterprise, markets and relatively undistorted trade regimes. assassination of John F. Kennedy, in November of 1963, he knew
Interventionists point with equal assurance to clever bureaucracies, that in order to accrue political capital he would initially need to
non-market allocation of resources and highly distorted trade champion goals and policies that Kennedy had already been
regimes. pursuing. Not long before his death Kennedy had scrawled the
word "poverty" on a piece of paper and circled it multiple times; this
note fell into the hands of his brother Robert and became a
symbolic justification for Johnson's declaration of the War on
Poverty, early in 1964. Similarly, many of the things that Johnson
pushed through Congress in his first two years as President, can
readily be seen as extensions of the avowed policies of the
Kennedy Administration. The details might have been different, but
historians generally agree that if Kennedy had lived out his first
term and won a second, America would have witnessed something
*** Although women have made huge strides in catching up with similar to the early years of Johnson's Great Society. On foreign
men in the workplace, a gender gap still persists both in wages and policy, too, Johnson at first strove consciously to follow his
levels of advancement. Commonly cited explanations for this gap predecessor. And some historians have argued that in this realm as
range from charges of sex discrimination to claims that women are well, Johnson indeed pursued a course that Kennedy had already
more sensitive than men to work versus family conflicts and thus introduced. If Kennedy had lived, according to this line of thinking,
less inclined to make sacrificesfor their careers. Now, however, two he would have continued a policy of antagonism towards Cuba and
new studies suggest that another factor may be at work: a deeply steady escalation of US involvement in Vietnam. Johnson certainly
ingrained difference in the way men and women react to believed that this was what Kennedy intended to do.
competition that manifests itself even at an early age. Apparently,
females tend to be far less responsive to competition than males -
a tendency with important implications for women and business. It
may hurt women in highly competitive labor markets, for example,
and hamper efficient job placement - especially for positions in
which competitiveness is not a useful trait.

*** The space shuttle and its rockets are huge - some 4.5 million
pounds at lift-off. About 85 per cent of that weight is fuel. Since it is
designed to work in a vacuum, the shuttle must carry not only fuel
but the oxygen to burn it. Because this is an inefficient way to go,
NASA engineers have recently tested an engine that gets some of
its oxygen on the run. This should reduce takeoff weights by half. A
spacecraft equipped with this engine would take off like a rocket.
But within minutes, incoming air would begin to supplement liquid
*** The Sahara desert takes up most of Egypt's land, so oxygen. Once the spacecraft reaches a speed of 1,500 miles per
overcrowding is a huge problem. Sixty-two million people live hour - twice the speed of sound - the liquid oxygen would shut off
squeezed together into the six million fertile acres along the Nile completely and the engine would burn fuel mixed with air.
delta and narrow river valley - just five per cent of the total area of Consequently the craft would accelerate to about ten times the
Egypt. Between 12 and 15 million people live in Cairo alone. Until speed of sound. When the air got too thin for the engine to breathe,
recently, it was impractical and dangerous to even consider moving the ship would shift back to rocket mode to punch its way into
into the southern desert, where temperatures regularly rise above space.
50 C and water is scarce and can only be reached using carefully
placed irrigation wells. But in the last 20 years a "New Valley" has
slowly been taking shape. Towns with industrial centres, tourist
areas and spacious apartment blocks are being constructed,
factories are springing up. The main development making this
possible is the construction of the vast Sheikh Zayed canal, also
known as the Toshka canal. Named for Sheikh Zayed al Nahya,
president of the United Arab Emirates, which is financially backing
the project, the canal is part of the irrigation scheme dreamed up by
the Egyptian government to make it possible for people to move
away from the traffic, pollution and bustle of Cairo. If a "second
Nile" cuts through the desert and water is distributed to surrounding
land, people and crops can thrive there as they do around the
existing Nile. The area isbecoming known as the New Valley.
 KPDS 2004 İLKBAHAR

*** Behavioural biologist Jane Atkinson and her colleagues have

been studying the subtleties of how crows steal food from one
another. Atkinson had been watching the birds at the beach as they
fed on fish, clams and other small animals in the intertidal zone.
She noticed that if a crow had found a particularly large meal that
couldn't be eaten in a single gulp, another crow would often come
by and try to steal the food away. Food theft is fairly common in the
bird world, so the crows' thievery wasn't unexpected. What really
intrigued Atkinson was that the birds employed two different tactics
to take the food. in some instances, the thieving bird would take an
aggressive approach - typically involving some chasing or physical
contact, such as pecking in other exchanges, however, the thief
would use a more passive method: merely approaching the other
bird secretively and steallng the food without any commotion at all. *** Throughout history, eyewitnesses have reported orange glows,
What the team wanted to know was: how did these tactics fit into fireballs or flashes in the days before and during an earthquake. it
the group foraging practices of the crows? was in 1968, however, that the first photographs of "earthquake
lights" were taken during a series of earthquakes in Japan. Some
showed red streaks across the sky. Others looked like a low blue
dawn from a distance. in 1999, floating bails of light in the sky were
broadcast on Turkish television, reportedly filmed the night before
the devastating earthquake of 7.4 on the Richter scale that killed
many thousand people in the Marmara region of Turkey. Mysterious
or not, repeated sightings of earthquake lights confirm their
existence. it has to be said that earthquake lights are a fairly
*** In many ways, Hollywood seems to exemplify the most joyless wellknown phenomenon, but we don't know what they mean, or
aspects of capitalism. The "industry", as it insists upon calling itself, what causes them. Seismologists have struggled far years to find a
packages artistic ideas and images as commodities and then reliable earthquake predictor. Could the lights hold the key?
values those commodities accordmg to how they "penetrate"
markets. The system's worrying inefliciency, of course, is that
studios never know what the public at large will want to buy. So
films are tested in front of preview audiences, revised according to
the audience's suggestions, tested again, and then marketed with a
vigour directly proportionate to the test scores. There are two
problems with this approach. The first is that the test-sample size is
minimal but can determine a film's fate. The second is that by the
time the test audience sees a film it's too late to change it very
much anyway, particularly when twenty, fifty or a hundred million
dollars has already been spent.
*** Much has been said and written about the declining numbers of
and disappointing lack of diversity among American college
students majoring in engineering. Among the factors cited to
explain this phenomenon are the lack of exposure of high school
students to the very idea of engineering and the fact that many
have insufficient mathematics and science background to gain
entrance to engineering school, even if they do identify the
profession as a possible career. This is unfortunate, for the ideas of
engineering should be integrated into the curricula not only of high
schools but also of middle and primary schools. Our children are
being done a disservice by not being exposed properly throughout
their education to engineering activities identifted as such. Arter all,
even pre-school children have the prerequisites in their play for
appreciating exactly what engineering is: design. Indeed, design is
*** Reading presents a real paradox to neurobiologists. It was only everywhere around them throughout their school day, even in their
invented a few thousand years ago, so there really has not been before-school and after-school activities. it need only be pointed out
enough time for our brain to evolve speciallzed ways to do it. How to them that they are designing something, and therefore being
do brain circuits produced by millions of years of evolution in a engirteers of sorts, in virtually everything that they do.
world without written words adapt to the specific challenges of
reading? We know we have to learn the skill but how does our
brain learn to read? in the social sciences, the majority of
researchers do not see a problem. There is a widespread view that
the brain is a completely adaptable organ, capable of absorbing
any form of culture. Yet recent findings from brain imaging studies
and neurophysiology throw new light on the organization of the
reading circuits in the brain. The findings contradict this simplistic
model of a brain that merely absorbs everything from its cultural
environment. And they suggest that the architecture of our brain is
limited by strong genetic constraints though it seerns that it has still
some degree of flexibility.
 KPDS 2004 SONBAHAR

*** Why are people prejudiced? Not surprisingly, theories of

prejudice have tended to focus on the more extreme forms of
prejudice, in particular when there is aggression and violence. At
the turn of the last century, it was popular to consider prejudice to
be an innate and instinctive reaction to certain categories of person
(e.g. certain races) much as animals would react in instinctive ways
to one another. This approach is no longer popular, as it doesn't
stand up well to scientific scrutiny. However there may be an innate
component to prejudice. There is some evidence that higher
animals, including humans, have an inherent fear of the unfamilier
and unusual, which might set the mould for negative attitudes
towards groups that are considered different in certain ways. There *** Europe and Japan do not use fuel economy standards to any
is also evidence for a mere exposure effect, in which, people's significant degree, but instead rely principally on high taxes to
attitudes towards various stimuli (e.g. other people) ,improve as a reduce gas consumption. Their average tax is more than $200 per
direct function of repeated exposure or familiarity with the stimulus gallon, while in the US, federal gas taxes are only 18 EURO per
provided that initial reactions to the stimuli are not negative. gallon and average state taxes 22 EURO per gallon. Higher prices
Another perspective rests on the belief that prejudices are learned. at the pump rusulting from higher taxes increase consumer
Indeed, it has been argued that hatred and suspicion of certain demand for cars with better fuel economy. They also encouarege
groups are learned early in life before the child even knows consumers to reduce their driving. Research shows that federal
anything about the target group and that this provides an emotional taxes on gasoline would have to increase by a bit less than 50 euro
framework that colours all subsequent information about an per gallon to cut gasoline consumptin in the US. Although a 50
experience with the group. EURO incerase is a lot compared with the present average total tax
of 40 EURO, it would raise retail gas prices to only a little more
than $2 per gallon, tax included. This is far below prices in Europe
and Japan. Even if federal taxes on gas were doubled, US retail
gas prices would still be much below those in other developed
nations.
*** By the early 19th century, the eminent French zoologist
Georges Cuvier believed he had found rock solid evidence for the
Biblical great flood. While studying the geological strata around
Paris, Cuvier found that fossils of sea creatures in one ancient layer
of chalk were overlaid by those of land creatures. Then just as
abruptly, the layer above contained sea creatures again, with the
top layer showing evidence of a vast and rapid inundation around
present day Paris. Cuvier regarded these sudden changes in the
fossil record as evidence for sudden catastrophes which
devastated life on Earth, of which the great flood was just the most
recent example. Cuvier's discoveries, published in 1812 won
support from a large number of eminent scientists such as the *** Throughout his working life, Shakespeare worked as an actor in
geologist Sir James Hall. However there were a few who were the midst of a troupe. We know little about his first years in London.
deeply sceptical, pointing out that the evidence of a global flood For a few years between 1585 and 1592 his name disappears
was far from conclusive. Most sceptical of all were the followers of altogether from the public records, and the most likely reason for
the Scottish geologist James Hutton. In 1795 he had published a this is that, for at least some of this time, he was working for one of
two volume text based on the view that the slow steady processes the city's acting companies. As a junior member, he would not be
that shape our planet today, such as erosion, were also crucially listed among the troupe's principal players. In the late 1580s
important in the distant past. theatrical activity in London was largely concentrated in Shoreditch
and Southwark districts of London. Shakespeara could have lived
anywhere, but Shoreditch, which would have been cheap and
convenient, is a likely candidate for a young actor. In his early
career Shakespeare may have moved from troupe to troupe in
order to survive. Whatever the case, working conditions must have
*** No child is too young to play and therefore to engage in been similar. Sundays, religious holidays and disasters aside, a
engineering, even though it is of a primitive kind. We all did so as company would perform a different play each afternoon of the
children ourselves when we devised our own toys and games and week, though some plays would be repeated in the weeks ahead.
sometimes even imaginary friends to enjoy them with us. The idea An actor usually had to keep at least 30 parts in his memory and a
of playfulness is embedded in engineering through the concepts of leading player such as Alleyn or Burbage must have kept in mind
invention and design. Not that engineering is trivial; rather, the nearly 500 lines a week.
heart of the activity is to give imagination its freedom to dream and
turn those dreams into reality. Children do experience the essence
of engineering in their earliest activities, yet there is seldom any
recognition that this is the case. They may hear the word
"engineer" only in connection with railroad locomotives and have no
idea that their playful activity could become a lifelong profession.
Engineers themselves are understandably reluctant to equate their
professional activity with mere child's play. After all, they studied
long and hard to master complicated knowledge of atoms and
molekules, stresses and strains, heat and power, current and
voltages, bits and bytes. They use computers for serious modelling
and calculation, not for fun and games. They design and build real
towers and bridges that test the limits of reliability and safety, not
the ones that totter and fall down with little consequence.
 KPDS 2005 İLKBAHAR

*** For two decades after World War II, mass production reigned
supreme. Mass production techniques pushed companies into
standardized products, long product life cycles, and rigid
manufacturing, emphasizing efficiency and low cost over flexibility.
Special orders cost more. But today's consumers are very choosy.
They want quality, value and products specially tailored to their
needs, but always at the lowest possible price. For now mass
customization has come to the fore. Mass customization uses
information technology to produce and deliver products and
services designed to fit the specifications of individual customers.
Companies can customize products in quantities as small as one ***Recent activity in several US church communities has seemed
with the same speed and low cost as mass production methods. almost unbelievable: churchgoers have gathered around huge fires
Mass customization systems use information taken from the and cheered as they cast Harry Potter books into the flames. They
customer to control the flow of goods. fear that the incredibly popular series about a school for young
wizards is spurring children and adolescents toward a life of
witchcraft and onto the dangerous path toward Satanism. For these
congregations, J.K. Rowling's books are none other than the work
of the devil herself. To most people, however, the Harry Potter
books and films are merely compelling adventure stories, not a
threat to children's psyches. But what has been forgotten in the
excitement of "Pottermania" is that boys and girls have been
fascinated by magic and sorcery for generations. Surveys about
magical practices among adolescents vary widely, but some
*** Before the Polish-born French-American mathematician Benoit indicate that as many as 44 per cent have shown some slight,
Mandelbrot made his mark on the world, scientists liked to forget passing interest in it. Although satanically motivated violence
about the imperfections and irregularities of nature. The study of occasionally makes headlines, research shows that less than 5 per
perfect squares, triangles and planes had dominated their field for cent of young people take part in more extensive witchcraft, and
over 2,000 years, since the Greek geometer Euclid wrote maths' very few end up in the kind of organized devil worship that can lead
oldest treatise "Elements" and provided us with the tools to to such acts as ritual murder.
measure these flawlessly smooth shapes. Early question about
how to measure the real shape of a tree, a coastline or anything
with a rough edge could not be tackled by Euclidean geometry and
had therefore been ignored. But Mandelbrot changed all this when
he invented fractal geometry, which enables us to measure
roughness. "My whole career has been one long, ardent pursuit of
the concept of roughness", he says. "The roughness of clusters in
the physics of disorder, of turbulent flows, of exotic noises, of
chaotic dynamical systems, of the distribution of galaxies, of
coastlines, of stock-price charts and of mathematical
constructions."
*** Everybody experiences tensions. Anxiety and tension are
essential functions of living, just as hunger and thirst are. They are
our selfprotecting reactions when we are confronted by threats to
our safety, well-being, happiness or self-esteem. So, while an
occasional encountering of anxiety and tension may be
disagreeable, it is quite normal, and it need not to be a cause for
concern. The time to become watchful is when emotional upsets
come frequently, shake us severely and fail to disappear after a
while.

*** Therapists have to be very careful before they make a diagnosis

of delusional disorder. A great many complaints are founded on
fact. It is possible that a patient is really being harassed at work,
that her husband is deceiving her, or that her business partner is
cheating her. Indeed, therapists must be careful not to mislabel
facts as delusions, a trap known as "the Martha Mitchell effect".
Martha Mitchell was the wife of former US attorney general John
Mitchell. In October 1972, he was accused of having ordered the
break-in at the Democratic campaign headquarters in the
Watergate Hotel in Washington, D.C. Mrs Mitchell repeatedly told
the press that her husband was being made a scapegoat to protect
the real culprit - President Richard M. Nixon. The White House
spread disinformation about Mrs Mitchell, saying she had a drinking
problem and implying that her statements were delusional. When
the scandal was ultimately unravelled, Mrs Mitchell's statements
were proved true and she was shown to be utterly sane and with no
drinking problem.
 KPDS 2005 SONBAHAR

*** We can only guess when Shakespeare wrote his plays. He may
have had his own writing "season" perhaps in the quieter winter
months, but he never stopped acting probably taking two or three
minor parts instead of a major one. He seems to have chosen for
himself the more static and undemanding roles in his plays, such
as old Adam in As You Like It and the Ghost in Hamlet. His
audiences included many habitual playgoers, and many must have
known Shakespeare and he must have known them. We can
imagine, as a recent biographer has said, "that there might have
been a complex, subtle communicative exchange when he
appeared in one of his own plays". In spring 1613, he purchased
his first property in London. He was renting it out by 1616, but may
oriçinally have entertained other intentions for the property. It would
certainly have been a handy place to stay, being near the Globe, *** We should care about dying languages for the same reason that
which was his theatre. Perhaps the destruction of the Globe in we care when a species of animal or plant dies. It reduces the
1613, which probably prompted him to sell his share in the theatre diversity of our planet. In the case of language, we are talking
company, altered his plans for it. He may not have given up acting, about intellectual and cultural diversity, not biological diversity, but
but his writing career was over by the end of that year. In 1614, he the issues are the same. As a result of decades of environmental
returned to his hometown, Stratford-upon-Avon, and died there in publicity and activism, most people have come to accept that
1616. biodiversity is a good thing. But linguistic diversity has not enjoyed
the same publicity. Diversity occupies a central place in
evolutionary theory because it enables a species to survive in
different environments. Increasing uniformity holds dangers for the
long-term survival of a species. The strongest ecosystems are
those which are most diverse. It has often been said that our
*** Family-owned companies are bad for business, a new study success in colonizing the planet can be accounted for by our ability
argues - at least when they dominate a large portion of a country's to develop diverse cultures which suit different environments.
economy. Outside the United States and Britain most major
corporations are in the hands of a few wealthy families, rather than,
as in the US and Britain, being owned by a wide network of
shareholders. The power of these small families often extends far
beyond the companies they own directly, thanks to a system of
"control pyramids" in which they exercise indirect control over a
large number of smaller companies. This concentration of
corporate power doesn't merely leave a high percentage of wealth
in the hands of billionaires it also retards growth, diminishes
efficiency, and limits economic freedom. Moreover, "a tiny elite that
cannot be sacked," as the study puts it, is likely to pursue
"economic entrenchment", in which property rights and financial *** The discovery of an ancient tomb in modern China is so
openness are restricted to protect a few families' economic and commonplace that it often annoys as much as excites, because it
political prerogatives or rights. can delay construction for months or even years. So when
archaeologists were called in last May to check structures
discovered during the expansion of a bone meal factory in a
southern suburb of Beijing, they weren't expecting to find anything
of great interest. To the archaeologists' surprise, the structures
were the remains of two traditional domed tombs, each over a
thousand years old. One was flooded and badly damaged, but the
other contained beautifully-preserved wall frescoes from the 10th
century. “It's only recently that the Chinese have been publishing
artifacts from ancient tombs, and it's unusual to see them in the
*** One of the greatest natural catastrophes the world will ever see Western press,” says Dr Jessica Rawson, Professor of Oriental Art
could be little more than a decade away. The film Super volcano and Archaeology at Oxford University.
traces the evolution of an enormous volcanic eruption, one that not
only wipes out several states of America but that threatens the
entire planet. But is such an eruption really possible? Well, super
volcanoes certainly aren't fiction. They're a normal part of the way
the Earth works and occur perhaps every 50,000 years. Every
statistic associated with a super-eruption is always wildly over-
exaggerated. Molten magma is blasted out at a rate 140 times
greater than the flow of water over the Victoria Falls. Ash and gas
are thrown more than 50km upwards to the edge of space before
falling over one percent of the Earth's surface. Enough ash would
pile up on the ground to bury Britain under a blanket 4m thick.
Further, devastating winds carrying burning gas and red hot ash
would scour the land surface over an area of 10,000 square
kilometers. Worst of all, a super-eruption is foIIowed by a dramatic
fall in global temperatures, leading to years and years of bitter cold
known as a volcanic winter.
 KPDS 2006 İLKBAHAR

*** Engineering is akin to writing or painting in that it is a creative

endeavor that begins in the mind’s eye and proceeds into new
frontiers of thought and action, where it does not so much find as
make new things. Just as the poet starts with a blank sheet of
paper and the artist with a blank canvas, so the engineer today
begins with a blank computer screen. Until the outlines of a design
are set down, however tentatively, there can be no appeal to
science or to critical analysis to judge or test the design. Scientific,
rhetorical or aesthetic principles may be called on to inspire, refine
and finish a design, but creative things do not come of applying the *** The natives of the Lewis Island know wind – sometimes too
principles alone. Without the sketch of a thing or a diagram of a well. Every winter the Atlantic gales come blasting across the
process, scientific facts and laws are of little use to engineers. northern tip of Scotland’s Outer Hebrides. The wind hardly slows
Science may be the theater, but engineering is the action on the down even after striking land; in the island’s marshy interior, gusts
stage. regularly exceed 160kph. Everyone stays indoors but the sheep.
Tourists arrive in summer, lured by mild temperatures and
unspoiled countryside; even so, there’s rarely a calm day. “The
weather here is changeable”, says Nigel Scott, spokesman for the
local government. “But the wind is constant”. The brutal climate
could finally be Lewis’s salvation. The place has been growing
poorer and more desolate for generations, as young people seek
sunnier prospects elsewhere. But now the energy industry has
discovered the storm-swept island. The multinationals AMEC and
British Energy are talking about plans to erect some 300 outsize
wind turbines across a few thousand hectares of moorland. If the
*** Just as every teenager thinks he is brighter than his parents, 500 million-pound project goes through, the array will be Europe’s
every decade considers itself superior to the one that came before. largest wind farm, capable of churning out roughly 1 per cent of
Over the past few months, we of the 2000 decade have made it Britain’s total electrical needs – and generating some badly needed
quite clear that we are morally heads above those who lived in the jobs and cash for the people of Lewis.
1990s. We’ve done it first by establishing a reigning cliché for that
period. Just as the 1960s are known for student unrest, the 1980s
for Reagan, Thatcher and the Yuppies, the 1990s will henceforth be
known as the second Gilded Age. They will be known as the age
when the real problems in the world were ignored while the illusions
of the dotcom types were celebrated. It was the age of effortless
abundance, cell phones on every ear, stock markets that only went
up and Mercedes sport utility vehicles. Never before had business
leaders enjoyed so much prestige, and never before had capitalism *** In this century, the wealth and success of nations will depend
had fewer mortal enemies. Bill Gates couldn’t be on enough like never before on the ability to produce and use knowledge.
business-magazine covers; tycoons like him felt free to assume the Universities have long been instrumental in generating knowledge
role of global sages, writing books with such weighty titles as “The and ideas. But in an increasingly globalized world, and in the face
Road Ahead. of rapid scientific change, they will need to think about a set of new
challenges and how best to prepare their students for the coming
decades. Universities will need to teach a new kind of literacy, in
which global awareness will play an important role. They also need
to deal with the dilemmas posed by the accelerating pace of
change brought on by scientific and technological advances. We
are on the brink of once-in-human-history progress in combating
disease through the application of modern science. Doctors will
have at their disposal blood tests that will tell you with substantial
predictive power how long you will live and from what diseases you
*** BBC4, a comparatively new TV channel, has a character of its are likely to suffer. The Internet and the application of information
own. From the start it aimed to be “a place to think”, and it was technology may well represent the most profound change in the
always designed as something “that the commercial market would way knowledge is disseminated since the printing press. We are
never do”, says Roly Keating, its controller and formerly head of close to understanding the first second of the history of the cosmos.
arts at the BBC. Its first week’s schedule indeed verged on a
parody of non-commercial TV, with township opera from South
Africa and a performance by a Senegalese singer in a London
church hall. A top-rated show will typically draw some 50,000
viewers – almost negligible in television terms. Yet that narrow
appeal makes BBC4 a model of what a publicly financed
broadcaster ought to do. It has roamed into territory where its
ratings-driven sister channel, BBC1, seldom dares to tread. Despite
a tiny 35m budget, it boasts an intelligent prime-time talk show and
a world news programme so internationally minded that its London
provenance is barely visible. BBC4 may wear its gravity a little too
heavily at times, but it supplies a variety and thoughtfulness
unavailable on prime time BBC1. The more the other BBC
channels chase the ratings, and the more that BBC4 refuses to be
dictated to by them, the more the channel looks like a model for
what BBC television could look like.
 KPDS 2006 SONBAHAR

*** Unlike the older forms of occultism, such as magic and

astrology, organized occultism is a modern phenomenon. Few of
the various organized occult movements have existed for more
than 150 years; some were formed as a belated countermovement
to the Enlightenment, when people began to follow rational schools
of thought. Today’s occult views are based on the idea that there
are events within nature, as well as within one’s spiritual life, which
seem mysterious and cannot be explained by science. Examples
include extrasensory perceptions such as telepathy and telekinesis,
and haunted places or people. Believers maintain that these
phenomena stem from unknown powers that can often be
accessed only by some people with special abilities.
*** In Finland now, everything is all right. Fifteen years after one of
the worst recessions any European country has seen, triggered by
the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Finns feel very content. Their
small country of a population of 5 million is the first in the World
Economic Forum’s list of the world’s most competitive countries,
and the second in its business-competitiveness index. It is also the
first in the OECD’s world ranking of educational performance and
has the second-highest share of research-and-development
spending in the European Union. Moreover, the country is reversing
its demographic decline and, hence, its fertility rate is one of the
highest in Europe. Perhaps best of all the Finns are facing
globalization without paranoia. Theirs is one of the few European
countries to have succeeded in businesses in which international
*** The assumption that a person’s attitudes determine his or her prices are falling because of global competition and technological
behaviour is deeply ingrained in Western thinking, and in many change. In most of Europe public opinion and even business élites
instances the assumption holds. However, research has shown that seem gloomily resigned to being overwhelmed by India and China.
the relationship between attitudes and behaviour is complex. A Finland suggests that this fate is not inevitable.
classic study conducted during the 1930s was the first to question
the link. A white professor travelled across the US with a young
Chinese couple. At that time, there was quite strong prejudice
against Asians, and there were no laws against racial
discrimination. The three travellers stopped at over 200 hotels,
motels and restaurants, and were served at all the restaurants and
all but one of the hotels and motels without problem. Later, a letter
was sent to all of the establishments visited,asking them whether or
not they would accept a Chinese couple as guests. Of the 128
replies received, 92 per cent said they would not. In other words,
these proprietors expressed attitudes that were much more *** Until the giant American energy company Enron collapsed, and
prejudiced than their behaviour. its director Kenneth Lay was imprisoned, his life had been a model
of the American dream of rising from rags to riches on the strength
of merit and hard work. His beginnings were socially and financially
very modest. He was born in Tyrone, Missouri, in 1942, as the son
of a preacher who was also a part-time salesman. He helped his
father make ends meet by cutting grass and delivering papers. His
start in the energy industry seemed similarly modest. After
obtaining a doctoral degree in economics from the University of
Houston, he got his start in the booming Texan oil industry. In 1985
he merged Houston Natural Gas with InterNorth of Nebraska
inorder to form Enron. As Enron became stronger, Mr Lay turned
increasingly to politics and was one of the biggest donors to the
*** When you stay as a guest in someone’s house, you give up Bush-Cheney campaign. After Mr Bush entered the White House,
your anonymity. This becomes quite a challenge if you are the kind Mr Lay had hopes of a seat in the cabinet, perhaps as energy
of person who cherishes independence. However, when you and secretary or even at the Treasury. However, for reasons that remain
your host are on the same wavelength, you can have a trip more unclear, Mr Bush overlooked him, so his professional life ended in
special than money can buy. Some years ago when I went to frustration.
Auckland, New Zealand, for the first time, my hosts were a couple,
about my age, whom I had met while travelling in Europe. They had
a full programme lined up for me. They drove me around and
showed me their favourite hot springs and also the beach where a
popular TV series had once been filmed. At mealtimes, they
introduced me to their favourite restaurants, where I sampled
cheeses from south New Zealand that don’tget exported, and fruits
grown locally. Normally such a tight schedule would make me
nervous, but I found myself happily relinquishing control to my
hosts, who truly understood the pleasures of their native country
and enjoyed sharing them. I couldn’t have encountered this New
Zealand on my own.
 KPDS 2007 İLKBAHAR

*** There seems no question but that the clock dial, which has
existed in its present form since the seventeenth century and in
earlier forms since ancient times, is on its way out. More and more
common are the digital clocks that mark off the hours, minutes, and
seconds in ever-changing numbers. This certainly appears to be an
advance in technology. You will no longer have to interpret the
meaning of “the big hand on the eleven and the little hand on the
five.” Your digital clock will tell you at once that it is 4:55. And yet
there will be a loss in the conversion of dial to digital, and no one
seems to be worrying about it. Actually, when something turns, it
can turn in just one of two ways, clockwise or counter-clockwise,
and we all know which is which. Clockwise is the normal turning
direction of the hands of a clock, and counter-clockwise is the
opposite of that. Since we all stare at clocks (dial clocks, that is),
we have no trouble following directions or descriptions that include *** The late Chinese Prime Minister, Chou-En Lai, upon being
those words. But if dial clocks disappear, so will the meaning of asked whether the French Revolution had been a good thing in
those words for anyone who has never stared at anything but world history, was reported to have said: “It is still too early to tell.”
digitals. Watching the Western media analyze the recent emergence of
China as a major investor in Africa and likely to become a new
factor to rival the historical EuroAmerican ascendancy in African
politics, one is even more justified in saying that it is “too soon to
tell” what the outcome of the Chinese love affair in Africa will be.
Besides China, India is also increasingly mentioned as a new
source of large-scale investments in Africa. For the moment, the
emergence of the Asian superpowers, themselves once in the
*** When Mozambique and South Africa ended their internal sphere of British imperialism, as investors and trading partners in
conflicts in the early 1990s, they enacted widescale amnesties, and Africa, seems to offer an opportunity of shaking the
in both countries the rule of law quickly improved. In each of them, “marginalisation” into which most African countries have fallen
political leaders opted to move past the violence and injustices of since the collapse of the Soviet bloc in 1989.
the past and to focus on the tasks of social and political
reconstruction. As part of that reconstruction, each country became
a multiparty democracy in which the accountability of leaders and
other key norms of the rule of law could finally take root. The
restoration of public security, meanwhile, allowed the provision of
basic services. And though their criminal-justice systems remained
woefully underfunded, both were finally able to start providing
citizens with basic protections. While the legal, social and political
improvements in South Africa between 1994 and 2004 were
impressive, in poorer Mozambique, the improvement was smaller
but still marked. *** Editors have two primary functions which sometimes overlap:
finding/selecting manuscripts, then polishing them for publication.
Acquisitions editors perform the first chore. The approach they
adopt depends on several factors. The idea for a college text, for
example, usually originates inside the publishing house; the
acquisition editor’s job is then to choose a suitable author to
produce the manuscript. In a trade book division, on the other
hand, the acquisitions editor may be more passive, carefully
reading manuscripts and queries that are mailed in, then
recommending the best of these for development as a book. In the
former case, the acquisitions editor may be knowledgeable in a
given area (economics, perhaps, or one of the sciences) while the
*** No human dream is more universal than the longing for a second type might be more of a generalist. Copyeditors, who whip
paradise on earth, a place free of the ravages of time and disease, the manuscript into shape for the press, must possess a superb
where the best in nature flourishes while the worst is forbidden to background in English and bring to their work high standards of
enter. By definition, such magical lands can’t be near at hand; they accuracy and thoroughness along with a remarkable attention to
must be remote and inaccessible – destinations to be reached by detail.
pilgrimage or a heroic journey. Ancient Tibetan Buddhist texts
spoke of just such a kingdom, where wise kings, blessed with long
life spans, await the day when they will take power over the world,
ushering in a golden age of peace and justice. This mythical
kingdom was called “Shambala,” and its location was believed to
be a valley in northern India. Said to be enclosed by a double ring
of snow-capped mountains, this fabled valley of Shambala
resembled a “mandala,” which is Buddhism’s circular symbol of the
unity of all creation. Known only to a few European enthusiasts of
Asia in the 19th century, the myth of Shambala was popularized in
the 20th century by the famous Russian mystic, Madame
Blavatsky, who claimed she received telepathic messages from the
mystic valley.
 KPDS 2007 SONBAHAR

*** Today, the Berlin Crisis of 1961, in which the Soviet Union
demanded that Western powers cut their ties with Berlin, may be
the mostforgotten crisis in the annals of the Cold War. Even most
Berliners who lived through the event remember little about it. Yet
this crisis over Berlin brought America and the Soviet Union, the
two superpowers of the post-World War II period, close to war. In
fact, since the very end of World War II, Berlin had been the
centrepiece of a struggle between these two superpowers. It was
here that World War II ended in 1945 when, following the
occupation and defeat of Nazi Germany by the allied armies of the
United States, Britain, and France from the west, and the Soviet *** Following World War II, European countries largely gave up
Union from the east, the city had been captured and divided into their colonial possessions and, by the 1950s and 1960s, had
the separate zones of East and West Berlin. Soon afterwards already begun to receive growing numbers of immigrants from their
Germany had itself split into East and West, and the border former colonies. In many instances, these included the
between the two had become the dividing line (the so-called “iron descendants of the slaves in the colonies, who had been forced to
curtain”) between Sovietcontrolled Eastern Europe and free, work. In this respect, Britain is a case in point. Though in small
capitalist Western Europe. Thus, situated behind this iron curtain numbers, Africans and Indians had come to Britain long before the
and stuck a hundred miles inside Eastern territory, West Berlin was tens of thousands who came as colonial immigrants in the 1960s
claimed, protected and supplied by the Western powers. In 1948, and thereafter. The first Africans who came to Britain were probably
Stalin imposed a blockade, cutting West Berlin off from its Western soldiers during the Roman possession of that country in antiquity.
suppliers. The United States responded with an airlift, keeping the In modern times, especially in the eighteenth and nineteenth
zone alive for more than 300 days before Allied access was centuries, African and Indian princes and scholars visited Britain.
restored. Others coming to Britain were in service positions; for instance,
inthe eighteenth century, black African and Indian young men were
fashionable as servants in the homes of the wealthy. Africans and
Indians also came to Britain as sailors and traders, and port towns,
such as London, Glasgow, Bristol, Cardiff and Liverpool, developed
small black populations in the early nineteenth century, some of
which persisted into the twentieth century. Relations between these
populationsand the native white population were varied, historians
*** Narva is a quiet northeastern Estonian town bathed in sea citing instances both of hostility and solidarity.
breezes. Though small, with a population of just over 72,000, it
occupies a large place in Russian history. It was here in 1700 that,
by attacking the Swedes, who were then in control of much of the
Baltic coast, Russia launched its final campaign in a centuries-long
quest to become a European power. The battle ended in defeat for
the Russians, but the war did not; by 1721 Russia had conquered
the Baltic territories as far southwest as Riga, the capital of
present-day Latvia, and had built a new capital, Saint Petersburg,
on the Gulf of Finland. Later in that century, Russia, through a *** A couple of months ago NASA asked the scientific community
partition agreement with Austria and Prussia, gained control of the what kinds of research it should conduct when it returns humans to
rest of the Baltics, and would retain them until the fall of the Soviet the moon. In doing so, NASA wanted prioritized research objectives
Union in 1991. for the robotic orbiters and landers that will be used primarily for
reconnaissance purposes prior to later explorations by astronauts
of the lunar surface. Recommendations made by scientists varied
greatly, but they can be summarized. The top priority that scientists
have recommended is the development of programmes for lunar
data analysis. Next is the exploration of the moon’s south pole,
which is called “the Aitken basin,” an impact scar mostly on the
moon’s back side. Then comes an instrument network for probing
the interior of the moon, and this is followed by rock samplereturns,
scientifically selected landing sites, and analysis of any icy polar
*** Set in 1941 in Leningrad, Helen Dunmore’s novel The Siege deposits.
opens with deceptively gentle scenes of Chekhovian melancholy.
After the death of her mother, 23-year-old Anna Levin, the
protagonist, gives up her artistic studies to look after her 5-yearold
brother and her politically suspect father Abraham, who, as a writer,
has fallen out of favour with Stalin’s cultural police. So she jumps at
the chance to make a drawing of the retired actress Marina
Petrovna, with whom Anna’s father might once have had a romantic
relationship. But Anna’s worries about art and romance are soon
swept away as the Germans besiege her native city. At this point,
Dunmore’s novel transforms abruptly as well, shifting from a
romantic narrative into a study of survival under most extreme
hardships. Anna’s abundant artistic creativity is put touse providing
food and fuel for her helpless family, and her drawing skills are
called on to sketch a neighbour’s starved baby so that the grieving
mother might remember her lost child. Indeed, the novel presents a
striking contrast between the gentle display of human emotions and
the rude dictates of survival under the most inhuman
circumstances.
 KPDS 2008 İLKBAHAR
*** In many primitive communities there is a taboo on mentioning a
man’s name except in certain special circumstances, because his
name is believed to contain within it something of himself, which
would be lost and wasted if his name were uttered without first
taking special precautions. This belief about words is widespread.
Among the more primitive and the uneducated, it is universal. A
remarkably matter-offact practical application of it occurs even in
the present day in the Tibetan prayer-wheel. If, thinks the Tibetan
peasant, a prayer uttered once does some good, then the same
prayer uttered many times will do more good. Therefore, since he
assumes that the efficacy lies in the prayer as an entity in itself, he
writes it round the rim of a wheel, and then frugally employs the
water of a mountain stream to turn it all day long, instead of
wastefully employing his own lungs and lips to say it again and
again.
*** Thomas Edison began conducting experiments during his
childhood. To start with, there were hundreds of unsuccessful
experiments but Edison eventually invented and patented 2,500
items, including the electric lamp and phonograph. He was
determined to “give laughter and light” to people, but, until he
actually managed to do so, most people ridiculed him. Without
losing hope, Edison attempted over 1,000 unsuccessful
experiments in his efforts to make an electric lamp. When people
told him he was wasting his time, energy, and money for nothing,
Edison exclaimed, “For nothing! Every time I make an experiment,
I get new results. Failures are stepping stones to success.”
Determined to give people electric lamps, Edison said he’d meet
his goal by early 1880. In October, 1879, he created his first electric
lamp, and in so doing, received much praise. People realized that
Edison’s invention was not affected by rain or wind, remaining
constant through bad weather. Just as he had hoped, Edison
provided people with light and laughter.
*** Questions of education are frequently discussed as if they bore
no relation to the social system in which and for which the
education is carried on. This is one of the most common reasons
for the unsatisfactoriness of the answers. It is only within a
particular social system that a system of education has any
meaning. If education today seems to deteriorate, if it seems to
become more and more chaotic and meaningless, it is primarily
because we have no settled and satisfactory arrangement of
society, and because we have both vague and diverse opinions
about the kind of society we want. Education is a subject which
cannot be discussed in a void: our questions raise other questions,
social, economic, financial, and political. And the bearings are on
more ultimate problems even than these: to know what we want in
education, we must know what we want in general, we must derive
our theory of education from our philosophy of life.
*** The distinction between “journalism” and “literature” is quite
futile, unless we are drawing such a violent contrast as that
between Gibbon’s Historyand today’s paper; and such a contrast
itself is too violent to have meaning. You cannot, that is, draw any
useful distinction between journalism and literature merely on a
scale of literary values, as a difference between the well-written
and the supremely wellwritten: a second-rate novel is not
journalism, but it certainly is not literature.The term “journalism” has
deteriorated, so let us try to recall it to its more permanent sense.
To my thinking, the most accurate as well as most comprehensive
definition of the term is to be obtained through considering the type
of mind, concerned with writing what all would concede to be the
best journalism. There’s a type of mind, and I have a very close
sympathy with it, which can only turn to writing, or only produce its
best writing, under the pressure of an immediate occasion; and it is
this type of mind which I propose to treat as the journalist’s. The
underlying causes may differ: the cause may be an ardent
preoccupation with affairs of the day, or it may be (as with myself)
laziness requiring an immediate stimulus, or a habit formed by early
necessity of earning small sums quickly. It is not so much that the
journalist works on different material from that of other writers,as
that he works from a different, no less and often more honourable,
motive.
*** Leonardo da Vinci is a member of a very small class of
“transformative geniuses,” not ordinary or common geniuses, who
have contributed abundantly to their fields, but rather the ones who
have created or defined entire fields. In literature, no one asks,
“Who was the greatest writer?” Honest debate can start at Number
Two. Shakespeare, the consensus choice as greatest writer, is a
member of this class of transformative geniuses. Similarly, Isaac
Newton is recognized as the greatest among scientists and
mathematicians; Ludwig van Beethoven, and possibly Bach and
Mozart, are the transformative geniuses among composers. The
most recent transformative genius the world has seen may have
been Albert Einstein, a scientist like Newton – and Time Magazine’s
“Man of the Century” for the 20 th century. In ranking artists,one
can start the debate at Number Three – a rank for which Raphael
and Rembrandt are candidates, or perhaps one of the great French
Impressionists, or the 20 th century’s most famous artist, Picasso.
The ranks of Number One and Number Two, however, are reserved
for Leonardo and Michelangelo, taken in either order. These two
are far above all other artists. Michelangelo lived a very long
lifetime of eighty-nine years, and was productive to the end.
Leonardo, on the other hand, lived sixty-seven years, and left
behind just a dozen paintings. And only a half of these are
incontrovertibly one hundred per cent by him. In contrast,
Rembrandt painted hundreds of paintings, 57 of himself alone; van
Gogh created nine hundred paintings in a period of nine years. So
how can we put Leonardo at the very pinnacle? The answer is
really quite simple: his dozen or so paintings include the Number
One and the Number Two most famous paintings in the history of
art – The Last Supperand Mona Lisa.
 KPDS 2008 SONBAHAR
*** The major sciences of the Hellenistic Age were astronomy,
mathematics, geography, medicine, and physics. The most
renownedof the early Hellenistic astronomers was Aristarchus of
Samos (310-230 B.C.), sometimes called the “Hellenistic
Copernicus.” His primary accomplishment was his deduction that
the Earth and the other planets revolve around the Sun. This view
was not accepted by his successors because it conflicted with the
teachings of Aristotle and also with the Greek conviction that
humanity, and therefore the Earth, must be at the centre of the
universe. Later, in the second century A.D., Aristarchus’s fame was
overshadowed by that of Ptolemy of Alexandria. Although Ptolemy
made few original discoveries, he systematized the works of others.
His principal writing, The Almagest,based on the view that all
heavenly bodies revolve around the Earth, was handed down to
medieval Europe as the classic summary of ancient astronomy.
*** The most significant political change in eastern Europe during
the late 1980s was the collapse of communism in East Germany
and the unification of East and West Germany. Although long
considered the most prosperous of the Soviet satellite countries,
East Germany suffered from severe economic stagnation and
environmentaldegradation. Waves of East Germans registered their
discontent with worsening conditions by massive illegal emigration
to the West. This exodus together with evidence of widespread
official corruption led to the resignation of East Germany’s long-
time, hard-line premier, Erich Honecker. His successor, Egon
Krenz, promised reforms, but he was nevertheless faced with
continuing protests and continuing mass emigration. In the end, on
4 November 1989, the government, in a move that acknowledged
its powerlessness to hold its citizens captive, opened its border with
Czechoslovakia. This move effectively freed East Germans to
travel to the West. In a matter of days, the Berlin Wall, which had
been the embodiment of the Cold War, the Iron Curtain, and the
division of East from West, was demolished by groups of ordinary
citizens. Jubilant crowds from both sides walked through the gaping
holes that now permitted men, women, and children to take the few
steps that symbolized the return to freedom and a chance for
national unity.
*** The causes of World War II were rooted in the peace settlement
at Versailles in 1919-1920. The peace had created as many
problems as it had solved. The senior Allied heads of state yielded
to demands that involved annexing German territory and creating
new states out of the eastern European empires. In doing so, the
peacemakers created fresh bitterness and conflict. The Versailles
treaty and its champions, such as US President Woodrow Wilson,
proclaimed the principle of self-determination for the peoples of
eastern and southern Europe. Yet the new states created by the
treaty crossed ethnic boundaries, involved political compromises,
and frustrated many of the expectations they had raised. The
unsteady new boundaries would be redrawn by force in the 1930s.
The Allied powers also kept up the naval blockade against
Germany after the end of World War I. This forced the new German
government to accept harsh terms that deprived Germany of its
political power in Europe. The blockade and its consequences
created grievances that made the German people feel angry and
completely humiliated.
*** The French Revolution transformed the political and diplomatic
landscape of Europe suddenly and dramatically. The transformation
of industry came more gradually. By the 1830s or 1840s, however,
writers and social thinkers in Europe were increasingly aware of
unexpected and extraordinary changes in their economic world.
They began to speak of an “industrial revolution,” one that seemed
to parallel the revolution in politics. The term has stayed with us.
The Industrial Revolution spanned the hundred years after 1780. It
represented the first breakthrough from an agricultural and
overwhelmingly rural economy to one characterized by large-scale
manufacturing, more capital-intensive enterprises, and
urbanization. It involved new sources of energy and power, faster
transportation, mechanization, higher productivity, and new ways of
organizing human labour. It triggered social changes with
revolutionary consequences for the West and its relationship with
the world. Of all these changes, perhaps the most important one
was to be seen in energy. Over the space of two or three
generations, a society and an economy that had traditionally drawn
on water, wind, and wood for most of its energy needs came to
depend on steam engines and coal. In other words, the Industrial
Revolution brought the beginnings of “the fossil fuel age.”
*** The Renaissance originated in Italy for several reasons. The
most fundamental reason was that Italy in the later Middle Ages
was the most advanced urban society in all of Europe. Unlike
aristocrats north of the Alps, Italian aristocrats customarily lived in
urban centres rather than in rural castles and consequently became
fully involved in urban public affairs. Moreover, since the Italian
aristocracy built its palaces in the cities, the aristocratic class was
less sharply set off from the class of rich merchants than in other
European countries. Hence, whereas in France or Germany most
aristocrats lived on the income from their lands while rich town
dwellers, called bourgeois in French, gained their living from trade,
in Italy so many town-dwelling aristocrats engaged in banking or
mercantile enterprises, and so many rich mercantile families
imitated the manners of the aristocracy that, by the fourteenth and
fifteenth centuries, the aristocracy and upper bourgeoisie were
becoming virtually indistinguishable. For instance, the noted
Florentine family of the Medici, which had emerged as a family of
physicians (as the name suggests), made its fortune in banking and
commerce, and rose into the aristocracy in the fifteenth century.
Obviously, social mobility as such brought about a great demand
for education in the skills of reading and counting necessary to
become a successful merchant, but the richest and most prominent
families sought above all to find teachers who would impart to their
sons the knowledge and skills necessary in politics and public life.
 KPDS 2009 İLKBAHAR

*** The 16 th century in England is generally known as the Tudor

period, which historically lasted from 1485 to 1603. Among the
famous Tudor sovereigns were Henry VII, Henry VIII, and Elizabeth
I. In fact, the early years of the Tudor period were marked by
significant changes in trade and in the arts of war. Henry VII made
commercial treaties with European countries. Economically,
England, which had always been a sheep-raising country, was by
now manufacturing and exporting significant amounts of cloth. As
lands were enclosed to permit grazing on a larger scale, people
were driven off the land to the cities, and London grew into a
metropolitan market with sophisticated commercial institutions. *** The Mississippi is one of the world’s great continental rivers, like
These changes had an impact on the traditional feudal social order, the Amazon in South America, the Congo in Africa, or the Volga
which also began to decline; also, due to the introduction of inEurope. Its waters are gathered from two-thirds of the US and,
cannons and firearms, the feudal system of warfare became together with the Missouri, which is its chief western branch, the
obsolete. Yet, it would be a mistake to imagine these changes as Mississippi flows some 6.400 kilometres from its northern sources
sudden and dramatic. In fact, it was a slow and long process in the Rocky Mountains to the Gulf of Mexico, which makes it one
whereby England was transformed into a modern sta of the world’s longest waterways. The Mississippi has been called
the “father of waters”. Through all its lower course, it wanders
along, appearing lazy and harmless. But people who know the river
are not deceived by its benign appearance, for they have had many
bitter struggles with its floods. They have had to learn that nothing
is to be gained by fighting against the rages of the mighty stream.
To control it, Americans have had to accept some of the river’s own
*** In the last third of the 19 th century, new technologies terms and to undertake the patient work of conserving and
transformed the face of manufacturing in Europe, leading to new rebuilding soil, grasslands and forests, far back where the waters
levels of economic growth and complex realignments among begin to gather.
industry, labour and national governments. Like Europe’s first
industrial revolution, which began in the late 18 th century and
centred on coal, steam and iron, this “second” industrial revolution
relied on innovation in three key areas: steel, electricity, and
chemicals. For instance, steel, which was harder, stronger and
more malleable than iron, had long been used as a construction
material. But until the mid-nineteenth century, producing steel
cheaply and in large quantities was impossible. That changed
between the 1850s and 1870s, as new and different processes for
refining and mass-producing alloy steel revolutionized the
metallurgical industry. Although iron did not disappear overnight, it
was soon eclipsed by soaring steel production. So, steel began to *** The Copernican revolution began over 500 years ago with the
be used for various purposes. In Britain, for example, shipbuilders realization that the Earth was not the centre of the universe, but we
made a quick and profitable switch to steel construction, and thus still await its grand finale: the anticipated discovery of life
kept their lead in the industry. Germany and the US, however, elsewhere. Where else might we find life? The vast scale of the
dominated the rest of the steel industry. By 1901, Germany was universe makes it virtually certain that there are other Earthlike
producing almost half as much steel as Britain and was able to settings. In our own solar system, Mars’s distance from the Sun
build a massive national and industrial infrastructure. makes it sufficiently Earth-like; so, especially with increasing
evidence for occasional liquid water, many are looking there for the
first signs of extraterrestrial life. Recently, however, a new
contender has emerged, and surprisingly it is from the cold outer
solar system: it is Jupiter’s moon Europa. As one of the four
*** In 1764, there was a serious quarrel over taxation between the satellites of Jupiter, discovered by Galileo in 1610, Europa is now
British government and its colonies in America. The British believed to have water in a liquid state, even though it is so far from
government continued to think of the colonists as British subjects. the Sun. Thus, the possibility of liquid water on Europa has opened
In 1700, there had been only 200.000 colonists, but by 1770 this the door to speculation about life on this satellite of Jupiter.
number rose to 2.5 million. Obviously, such large numbers needed
to be dealt with carefully. Some American colonists decided that it
was not lawful for the British government to tax them without their
agreement. Political opinion in Britain was divided. Some felt that
the tax was fair because the money would be used to pay for the
defence of the American colonies against French attack. But
several important politicians agreed with the colonists that there
should be “no taxation without representation”. Hence, in 1773, at
the port of Boston, a group of colonists threw a shipload of tea into
the sea rather than pay tax on it. The event became known as “the
Boston Tea Party”. The British government responded by closing
the port. But the colonists then decided to prevent British goods
from entering America until the port was opened again. The
colonists’ action was regarded as a rebellion, and the British
government decided to defeat it by force. Thus, the American War
of Independence got underway. The war lasted from 1775 until
1783. The British government had no respect for the colonists’
fighting ability. The result was a disastrous defeat for the British
forces. At the end of the war, Britain lostall the American colonies
except Canada.
 KPDS 2009 SONBAHAR

*** A key feature of globalization has been the transformation of the

world economy, highlighted by the rapid integration of markets
since 1970. In a series of historic changes, the international
agreements that had regulated the movement of people, goods,
and money since World War II were overturned. To begin with, the
postwar economic arrangements sealed by various treaties steadily
eroded in the late 1960s, as Western industrial nations faced a
double burden of inflation and economic stagnation. A crucial shift
in monetary policy occurred in 1971, when the United States
abandoned the postwar gold standard and allowed the dollar to
range freely. As a result, formal regulations on currencies,
international banking, and lending among states faded away. They *** Like nearly all the peoples of the ancient world, the Romans
were replaced with an informal network of arrangements managed took slavery for granted. Nothing in Rome’s earlier experience had
autonomously by large private lenders, their political friends in prepared it, however, for the huge increase in slave numbers that
leading Western states, and independent financial agencies such resulted from its western and eastern conquests. In 146 B.C., fifty-
as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. The five thousand Carthaginians were enslaved after the destruction of
economists and administrators who dominated these new networks their city; not long before, one hundred and fifty thousand Greek
steered away from the interventionist policies that had shaped prisoners of war had met the same fate. By the end of the second
postwar planning and recovery. Instead, they relied on a broad century B.C., there were a million slaves in Italy alone, making
range of market-driven models termed “neoliberalism.” Roman Italy one of the most slave-based economies known to
history. The majority of these slaves worked as agricultural
labourers on the vast estates of the Roman aristocracy. Some of
these estates were the result of earlier Roman conquests within
Italy itself. But others were constructed by aristocrats buying up the
land holdings of thousands of small farmers who found themselves
unable to compete with the great estate-owners in producing grain
for the market.
*** During the latter part of 1980, Iraq invaded Iran and hoped to
seize its southern oil fields. Iran counterattacked. The result was a
murderous eightyear conflict marked by the use of chemical
weapons and human waves of young Iranian radicals fighting the
Soviet-armed Iraqis. The war ended with Iran’s defeat, but not the
collapse ofits theocratic regime. In the short term, their long
defence of Iranian nationalism left the mullahs more entrenched at
home, while abroad they used their oil revenues to back grass-
roots radicalism in Lebanon and militants elsewhere who engaged
in anti-Western terrorism. Over the years, the strongest threats to
the Iranian regime ultimately have come from within, from a new *** The finest example of Byzantine architecture is the church of
generation of young students and workers who have discovered Saint Sophia (Holy Wisdom) in İstanbul, constructed by the
that their prospects for prosperity and democratic rights have not emperorJustinian in the sixth century. Evidently, its structural
changed much since the days of the shah. design was something altogether new in the history of architecture.
The central feature of the design was the application of the dome
principle to a building of square shape. The church was designed in
the form of a cross, with a magnificent dome over its central
square. The main problem for the architects was how to fit the
circumference of the dome to the square area it was supposed to
cover. The solution was to have four great arches spring from
pillars at the four corners of the square. The rim of the dome was
then made to rest on the keystones of the arches, with the curved
*** Until the late thirteenth century, European maritime commerce triangular spaces between the arches filled with masonry. The
had been divided between a Mediterranean and a North Atlantic result was an architectural framework of marvellous strength, which
world. Starting around 1270, however, Italian merchants began to at the same time made possible a style of imposing grandeur and
sail through the Strait of Gibraltar and on to the woolproducing delicacy. The dome itself hasa diametre of 107 feet and rises to a
regions of England and the Netherlands. This was the essential first height of nearly 180 feet from the floor. So many windows are
step in the extension of Mediterranean commerce and colonization placed around its rim that the dome appears to have no support at
into the Atlantic Ocean. The second step was the discovery by all but to be suspended in midair.
Genoese sailors, during the fourteenth century, of the Atlantic
island chains known as the Canaries and the Azores. Efforts to
colonize the Canary Islands and to convert and enslave their
inhabitants began almost immediately. But an effective conquest of
the Canary Islands did not begin until the fifteenth century, when it
was undertaken by Portugal and completed by Spain. The
Canaries, in turn, became the base from which further Portuguese
voyages down the west coast of Africa proceeded. They were also
the “jumping-off point” from which Christopher Columbus would sail
westward across the Atlantic Ocean in hopes of reaching Asia.
 KPDS 2010 İLKBAHAR

*** The heroic myths and epics of a society teach its members the
appropriate attitudes, behaviour, and values of that culture. These
myths are of particular interest and value to us. Not only are they
exciting adventure stories, but in these myths we see ourselves,
drawn larger and grander than we are, yet with our human
weaknesses as well as our strengths. As for heroes, they are the
models of human behaviour for their society. They earn lasting
fame by performing great deeds that help their community, and
they inspire others to emulate them. Heroes are forced by
circumstance to make critical choices where they must balance one
set of values against competing values. They achieve heroic *** The father of modern socialism, Karl Marx (1818-1883) was
stature in part from their accomplishments and in part because they barely known in the early nineteenth century. His reputation rose
emerge from their trials as more sensitive and thoughtful human later, after 1848, when a wave of revolutions and violent
beings. Yet heroes are not the same throughout the world. They confrontation seemed to confirm his distinctive theory of history and
come from cultures where individuals may earn fame in a variety of make earlier socialists’ emphasis on peaceful reorganization of
ways. This permits them to express their individuality. However, in industrial society seem naive. As a child, he grew up in Trier, in the
spite of their extraordinary abilities, no hero is perfect. Yet their western section of Germany, in a region and a family keenly
human weaknesses are often as instructive as their heroic interested in the political debatesand movements of the
qualities. Their imperfections allow ordinary people to identify with revolutionary era. His family was Jewish, but his father had
them and to like them, since everyone has similar psychological converted to Protestantism in order to be able to work as a lawyer.
needs and conflicts. Marx studied law briefly at the University of Berlin before turning
instead to philosophy and particularly to the ideas of Hegel. With
the so-called Young Hegelian, a group of rebellious students who
hated the narrow thinking of a deeply conservative Prussian
university system, Marx appropriated Hegel’s concepts for his
radical politics. His radicalism made it impossible for him to get a
post in the university. He became a journalist and, from 1842 to
1843, edited the Rheinische Zeitung (Rhineland Gazette). The
*** Our knowledge of the Mycenaean civilization in Greece is based paper’s criticism of legal privilege and political repression put it on a
primarily upon what archaeologists have been able to discover. collision course with the Prussian government, which closed it
Fortunately, they have located and studied the ruins of a number of down and sent Marx into exile – first in Paris, then Brussels, and
important Mycenaean sites both in Greece and in Troy, the site of eventually London.
Homer’s “Ilium” in Turkey. The material available to archaeologists
is very limited, due to the ravages of time, weather, fire, and theft.
The materials that have survived include objects such as jewelry,
pottery, metal utensils, and various kinds of weapons. In addition,
archaeologists have found a large number of clay tablets, inscribed
with a language called “Linear B,” which they can read. It now
becomes clear that the Mycenaean civilization in full bloom far
surpassed in complexity and wealth many of the Greek civilizations
that followed it. The Mycenaeans were an aggressive people who
loved fighting, hunting, and athletic contests. Their land was *** Oil has provided humanity with many benefits, including
mountainous and their soil rocky and dry. Therefore, they took to affordable energy to reduce our workloads and improve our
the sea and became fearsome raiders of other communities. In this mobility. Because oil is such an important and visible part of our
way they acquired extraordinary wealth. daily lives, and because it is exceptionally open to political
manipulations, it often receives an enormous amount of attention.
This is especially true whenever its price increases sharply, and
experts immediately get to work to diagnose the cause and
consequences of the price increase. In fact, the future of oil is not
that much different from its past: undoubtedly, oil production and
consumption will become cleaner and more efficient, but prices will
continue to be volatile, and the oil industry will continue to be
*** The loss of global biodiversity is occurring at an alarming rate. blamed for conflicts, corruption, and pollution. And for all the current
Since the 1970s, the area of tropical forests destroyed worldwide talk about the end of the oil age, it will remain a vital source of
exceeds the land mass of the European Union. Animal and plant energy as it is now, nearly a century after the first warnings about
species are disappearing. Overfishing has depleted stocks around soaring consumption and limited resources.
the world. Poor farming practices have depleted soils while allowing
the invasion of harmful species. Destruction of wetlands has left
low-lying areas extremely vulnerable to storms and natural
disasters. Especially in Europe, ecosystems have suffered more
human-induced damage than those on any other continent. Only
about 3 per cent of Europe’s forests can be classified as
undisturbed by humans, and the continent has lost more than half
of its wetlands. The spread of urbanization and the over-
exploitation of resources is having an enormous impact on
biodiversity.
 KPDS 2010 SONBAHAR

*** In antiquity, prior to the third century B.C., physics had been a
branch of philosophy. It was made a separate, experimental
science by Archimedes of Syracuse, who lived between 287 and
212 B.C.. He not only discovered the law of floating objects, or
specific gravity, but also formulated with scientific exactness the
principles of the lever, the pulley, and the screw. Among his
memorable inventions were th compound pulley and the screw
propeller for ships. Although he has been considered the greatest
technical genius of antiquity, in fact he preferred to devote himself
to pure scientific research. Tradition relates that he discovered
“Archimedes’ principle,” that is, specific gravity, while pondering
possible theories in his bath; when he reached his stunning insight, *** Government planners and social scientists from many countries
he dashed out naked into the street crying “Eureka!” (“I have found are developing a number of strategies to help us adapt to global
it!”). warming. For example, what should people living in coastal areas
do? They can move inland away from the dangers of storm surges,
although this solution has high economic costs. An alternative plan,
which is also extremely expensive, is to build dikes to protect
coastal land. The Dutch, who have been doing this sort of thing for
several hundred years, have offered their technical expertise to
several developing nations threatened by a rise in sea level. We
also have to adapt to shifting agricultural zones. Many temperate
countries are in the process of evaluating semitropical crops to
determine the best ones to substitute for traditional crops if or when
the climate warms. Drought-resistant species of trees are being
developed by large lumber companies now, because the trees
*** The Romans were descended from a cluster of peoples who planted today will be harvested many decades later when global
had crossed the Alps into Italy during the second millenium B.C. warming may already get much worse.
and spoke a variety of Indo-European dialects. Recent
archaeological research has pushed the origins of the city of Rome
back to at least the tenth century B.C., several centuries earlier
than the traditional date 753 B.C., which the Romans themselves
considered their city’s foundation year. Rome’s strategic location
along the Tiber River brought it many different advantages. Trading
ships could navigate the Tiber as far as Rome, but no farther; the
city could thus serve as a port without being threatened by attack
from the sea. Rome’s famous hills increased the defensibility of the
site. In other words, as a city, Rome was situated at a junction *** In England, transportation had improved a great deal during the
across the Tiber, making it a major land and river crossroads. years before 1830, but moving heavy materials, particularly coal,
remained a problem. It is therefore significant that the first modern
railway, built in 1825 for the transportation of coal, ran from the
Durham coal field of Stockton to Darlington near the coast. Coal
had traditionally been transported short distances via tramways, or
tracks along which horses pulled coal carts. The Stockton-to-
Darlington railway was a logical extension of a tramway, designed
to answer the transportation needs arising from constantly
expanding industrialization. The man primarily responsible for the
design of the first steam railway was George Stephenson, a self-
educated engineer who had not learned to read until he was
seventeen. The locomotives on the Stockton Darlington line
*** When air pollution, including acid rain, is combined with other travelled at fifteen miles an hour, the fastest rate at which machines
environmental stresses, such as low winte temperatures, prolonged had yet moved goods overland. Soon they would move people as
droughts, insects, and bacterial, fungal, and viral diseases, it can well, transforming transportation in the process.
cause plants to decline and die. More than half of the red spruce
trees in the mountains of the northern United States have died
since the mid-1970s. Other tree species, such as sugar maples, for
example, are also dying. Many still-living trees are exhibiting
symptoms of forest decline, characterized by a gradual
deterioration and often eventual death. The general symptoms of
forest decline are reduced vigour and growth, but some plants
exhibit specific symptoms, such as yellowing of needles in conifers.
Air pollutants may or may not be the primary stress that results in
forest decline, but the presence of air pollution lowers plant
resistance to other stress factors. When one or more stresses
weaken a tree, then an additional stress may be enough to cause
death.
 KPDS 2011 İLKBAHAR

*** An Australian historian proposed that the key to understanding

Australia was “the tyranny of distance”. Australians were far
removed from their British ancestors, far from the centres of power
in Europe and North America and far from each other -with the
major cities separated by distances of some 800 km. Time,
however, has broken down that sense of distance. Australians
today do not see London or New York as the centre of the world.
The proximity to Asian economies like China is an economic
strength. Transportation and communications links have taken
away the sense of remoteness felt by past generations. However,
the technology that truly promises to end the tyranny of distance is
high-speed broadband, whose benefits we are still only beginning
to understand though it has already been a decade since the
frenzied dotcom era. That is why the Australian government is *** The idea that American Indians could have built something
rolling out the world’s most ambitious broadband project - a resembling a city was so foreign to European settlers that when
national network that will bring fibre to homes in more than 1,000 they encountered the Cahokia Mounds in Illinois in Midwest
cities and towns covering 93% of residences. Next generation America, they thought they must have been the work of a foreign
wireless and satellite technologies will cover the other 7%. The civilization: either the Phoenicians or the Vikings. Even today the
network will operate at lightning speeds and involve an estimated idea of an Indian city runs so contrary to American notions of Indian
investment of $40 billion through an independent state-owned life that no Anglo Saxon American can absorb it. The first person to
enterprise in partnership with the private sector. write an account of the Cahokia Mounds, the earliest and finest city
built by Indians, was Henry Brackenbridge in 1811. When he
reported his discovery, likening it to Egyptian pyramids,
newspapers widely ignored it. He complained of this to his friend,
former president Thomas Jefferson, and the word of “Cahokia” did
eventually get around. Unfortunately, most Americans were not
*** Not long afterthe Euro came into being in J anuary 1999, very interested. The United States was trying to get the Indians out
Germany was mocked as being the sick man of Europe, its of the way, not appreciate their history. The Indian Removal Act of
economic fortunes in sharp contrast to the fast-growing countries at 1830 which ordered the relocation of eastern Indians to lands west
the geographical borders of the new currency zone. More than a of the Mississippi was based on the assumption that Indians were
decade on, however, the tables have turned. Even as the nomadic savages with no ability to make good use of land.
peripheral economies of Spain, Greece and Ireland continue to Evidence of an ancient city, close to the size of Washington, D.C. at
struggle, 2012 will be the year in which Germany puts a firm stamp that time, would have spoiled the story line.
on the Euro zone. This will be felt in three related spheres: in
Germany’s new-found economic strength, in its preference for, and
insistence on greater honesty in public finances and in its growing
influence on the European Central Bank. Europe’s economy is set
to slow in 2012 as governments address their increasing budget
deficits. Germany will enjoy faster gross domestic product growth
than the average in the richer parts of the currency zone (whose
membership keeps on increasing). Germany is less burdened by
household debt and has a smaller budget deficit than almost all its *** Women seem to be particularly vulnerable to depression during
peers - and so has less need to raise taxes or curb public their reproductive years: Rates of the disorder are highest in
spending. The country is also better placed to benefit from the females between the ages of 25 and 45. New data indicate that the
boom in emerging markets. incidence of depression in females rises after giving birth. In 2007
Patricia Dietz reported that 10.4% of 4,398 mothers had been
depressed in the nine months following childbirth compared with
8.7% in the nine months before pregnancy and 6.9% during
pregnancy. More than half of the women with post natal depression
had also been depressed during or before pregnancy suggesting
*** In 1993, Frances Rauscher and her team published a scientific that a previous occurrence of depression may be the biggest risk
paper that changed the world. She had taken a number of students factor for acquiring the illness postpartum depression. But the
and randomly divided them into three groups. One group listened to hormonal changes that occur in a new mother’s body are also
Mozart’s Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major, the second group thought to contribute to postpartum depression. During pregnancy,
heard a standard relaxation tape, and the third sat in silence. a woman experiences a surge in blood levels of oestrogen and
Everyone then completed a standard test of spatial intelligence. progesterone. Then, in the first 48 hours after childbirth, the amount
Those who had listened to Mozart scored far higher than those in of these two hormones falls suddenly, almost back to normal levels.
the other two groups. Journalists reported the findings, with some This chemical instability could contribute to depression. Of course,
exaggerating the results, declaring just a few minutes of Mozart led hormonal flux does not fully explain postpartum depression. After
to a substantial, long-term increase in intelligence. The idea all, this biochemical fluctuation occurs in all new mothers and yet
spread, some reporting that even babies became brighter after only a relatively small proportion of them become depressed.
listening to Mozart. But when other scientists tried to replicate
Rauscher’s results, they concluded that the effect, if it existed, was
much smaller than was first thought. For instance, Glenn
Schellenberg had children learn keyboard skills, have voice
training, take drama classes or, as a control, do nothing. Clear IQ
improvements were observed in children who were taught
keyboard skills or given voice lessons, whereas those given drama
lessons were no different from the control group. It seems that the
focused attention and memorization required in certain tasks, not
just listening to Mozart, helps children’s self discipline and thinking.
 KPDS 2011 SONBAHAR

*** Americans tend to think that varieties of English are more

determined by region than by any other factor, such as age,
ethnicity, gender and social class. The linguist Henry Smith, for
instance, maintained that each region of American English is highly
distinctive. Scholars who have investigated the matter have been
influenced by the theory of dialect geography formulated in the 19
th century by European dialectologists. As a result, investigations
have presumed the idea of long-settled and stable regions – an
idea appropriate for Europe but less suitable to the more recent
and fluid settlement patterns of the US. Even so, American English
dialects are conventionally treated under four headings: North,
Coastal South, Midland, and West. The Northern dialect stretches
from New England to New York and was shaped by migration from *** The Dead Sea is a place of mystery: the lowest surface on
the 17 th century colonial settlements. The Coastal Southern earth, the purported sites of Sodom and Gomorrah, a supposed
dialect centres on the Atlantic port cities of the states of Virginia, font of curative waters and, despite its name, a treasure trove of
the Carolinas and Georgia, formed in a time of plantation and ranch unusual microbial life. Yet its future is anything but a mystery. After
agriculture. The Midland dialect is spoken between North and centuries of stability – owing to a delicate equilibrium between
South Midlands according to some dialectologists while others freshwater supply from the Jordan River and evaporation under the
emphasize its affiliation with its neighbours and describe it as relentless Middle Eastern sun – the sea is now disappearing.
Lower North and Upper South. Finally, the Western dialect is used Jordanians to the east, Israelis to the west and Syrians and
in the area that covers California and the Pacific Northwest. Lebanese to the north are pumping so much freshwater from the
river catchment that almost none reaches the sea. Israel and
Jordan are also siphoning water from the Dead Sea to extract
valuable minerals, hastening the decline. Thousands of sinkholes
have formed in the receding sea’s wake, curtailing tourism and
development along the border because no one can predict where
*** To succeed in school, children must master three skills – the next gaping hole will suddenly open, potentially swallowing
reading, writing and arithmetic – but not all students readily grasp buildings, roads or people. Concerned over losing a valuable
these basic skills. Among English-speaking children, an estimated natural and cultural resource, officials from Israel, Jordan and the
2 to 15% have trouble with reading or spelling, broadly classified as Palestinian Authorities have proposed an enormous conveyor
dyslexia. From 1 to 7% struggle to do math, a disability known as system that would steadily refill the Dead Sea with water from the
dyscalculia. Statistics vary but dyslexia appears to be more Red Sea to the south. Scientists are testing how the mixing of the
common among English speakers than among speakers of highly waters might affect the lake’s chemistry and biology.
phonetic languages such as Turkish and Italian. It is believed that
at least one child in most elementary school classes in the US
suffers from dyslexia. Both dyslexia and dyscalculia defy easy
explanation. Neither disorder is the result of faulty eyesight or
hearing, both of which can also delay language acquisition but are
easily corrected. Instead, children with dyslexia and dyscalculia
have working sensory organs, apparently normal sensory and
motor development and, sometimes, above-average intelligence.
After more than 15 years of research, investigators now believe *** For some people, living in an affluent area can actually be a
these conditions frequently involve so-called partial functional health hazard. This is the provocative conclusion of a study of the
deficits of the senses: In affected children, the eyes and ears death records of more than 8,000 people living in four major US
accurately register sights and sounds, letters, numbers and spoken cities. The ill effects of being poor or living in economically
syllables, but that information is misinterpreted as it is processed in disadvantaged areas have been demonstrated before, but it is
the brain. unusual to consider that poor people living in richer areas may be
no better off. Marilyn Winkleby, a researcher at Stanford University
in California, decided to look into this and was surprised to find that
the death rates in four Californian cities were actually highest for
poor people living in the richest neighbourhoods. Her study offers
two possible explanations: Poorer people living in rich areas may
have to pay proportionally more for housing, intensifying the effect
*** The First World War could be called the War of the Ottoman of poverty; alternatively, their health may suffer from the stress
Succession. It was, in part, a struggle between Austria and Russia caused by continually being reminded that they are at the bottom of
for domination in the areas in the Balkans once ruled by the the pile. Another researcher, Richard Wilkinson, from the University
Ottoman Empire. Its first shots were fired in the former Ottoman city of Nottingham in the UK, also suspects that stress is largely to
of Sarajevo. Throughout the summer and autumn of 1914, as the blame. He reviewed more than 150 studies and concluded that
European powers were locked in battle, the Ottoman government health is generally poorer when differences in income are larger.
hesitated. Finally, at the end of October, against the wishes of his
colleagues, Enver Pasha decided to attack Russian targets with the
new warships in the Black Sea. His decision led to war across
Europe, the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the end of stability
in the Middle East. Initially, the alliance between the Ottoman
Empire and the Central Powers worked well. In the first half of the
20 th century, Germany was not the source of horror that it later
became. Britain, France and Russia were the enemies to be feared
and resented. By comparison, Germany appeared friendly. The
Ottoman government calculated that its alliance with the Central
Powers would restore the glory of the empire, help it recover some
of the islands lost to Greece in 1913, and perhaps lead to an
extension of territory in Turkish-speaking central Asia.
 KPDS 2012 İLKBAHAR
*** Deception gains a slight edge over deception detection when
the interactions are few in number and are among strangers. If you
spend enough time with the people you interact with, they may leak
their true intent through their behaviour. However, when
interactions are anonymous or infrequent, behavioural cues cannot
be read against a background of known behaviour, so more general
attributes must be used. Because of the negative consequences of
being detected, people are expected to be nervous when lying. In
response to concern over appearing nervous, people may exert
control, trying to suppress behaviour, with possible side effects
detectable by the listener such as a planned, rehearsed
impression. Lying is also cognitively demanding. You must
suppress the truth and construct a falsehood that is plausible, then
tell it in a convincing way and remember the story. Cognitive load
appears to play the biggest role. When lies are not well-rehearsed,
people have to think too hard, and this causes several effects,
including overcontrol that leads to blinking and fidgeting less and
using fewer hand gestures, longer pauses and higher-pitched
voices. Of course, if self-deception is involved, you are less likely to
give off the normal cues of lying that others might perceive.
*** A behavioural pattern is considered to be innate when it is
essential for survival and already present at birth, as it is
predetermined by the genetic make-up of the organism. A reflex is
the simplest form of an innate behaviour. It is a programmed
reaction to an outside stimulus that is carried out unconsciously.
For example, the eyelids close automatically as soon as a draft of
air stimulates the surface of the eye and the pupils of a cat will
contract as soon as it looks into bright light. These are reflexes that
an organism does not have to learn; they are referred to as
unconditioned reflexes. An unconditioned reflex is always an
unconscious response, and therefore it is impossible to suppress it
at will. Such a reflex always requires a stimulus that triggers a
certain behaviour. Many unconditioned reflexes exist in order to
protect the organism, for example coughing, nausea, or the draw
back reflex of the body part that touches a hot object. Anatomically,
a reflex is based on a chain of stimulus and reaction, which is
referred to as a reflex arc. A well-known example is the knee jerk or
patellar reflex in humans, which is triggered by a light hit to the
patellar tendon in the knee. The knee jerk reflex is often used in
medicine to test the function of the spinal cord and associated
nerves. The real purpose of this reflex is to protect humans from
injury when tripping.
*** Relatively few people enjoy the opportunity to travel to other
countries. By far the most common form of travel is that by
residents of a country within that country. International travel,
although given high priority by segments of the populations of
industrialized nations, is still a minority activity. As a very rough
guide, we estimate that expenditure worldwide on domestic tourism
may be worth up to ten times that amount on international tourism.
Ironically, there are relatively few countries that collect domestic
travel and tourism statistics, while much more information is
available on international tourism. Why is this? First of all,
international travel involves, by definition, the crossing of a frontier.
It is therefore easier to observe and monitor. Domestic tourism
involves movement internally and is therefore more difficult to
research. Countries that only make use of registration forms at
hotels miss out on all aspects of domestic tourism that involve
staying in other accommodation establishments or with friends or
relatives. A number of countries do not even try to measure
domestic tourism due to its very nature. For example, in many
developing countries, very little domestic movement involves
staying in paid accommodation, and so it does not compete with
demand from international visitors.
*** During the 1990s, the country that was viewed by American
leaders and many others in the West as the most important
challenge for a transition to democracy was Russia. The Clinton
administration emphasized that one of its high priorities in foreign
policy was the success of the movement to democracy and a
market economy in the states of the former Soviet Union, in
particular Russia. A senior official asserted that “helping the
Russian people to build a free society and market economy is the
greatest strategic challenge of our time,” and that “Russia was the
single most important foreign policy priority” of the Clinton
administration. Russia was by far the largest of the former republics
of the Soviet Union in both population and land area. In addition, its
geographical location gave it influence on issues in several regions
in which the US was interested, and it had greater strategic military
capability than any other country except the US. On a deeper level,
Russia represented what remained of the former geopolitical and
ideological rival of the US. If the state that had been the core of the
superpower which was considered to be the main adversary of the
US and of democracy could, within a relatively short time, be
changed into an ideological soul mate of the US, the symbolic
implications would be profound.
*** Species diversity provides the foundation for individual
ecosystems and thus is the prerequisite for the functioning of the
biosphere. It is an immeasurable source of food and medicinal
products, and an irreplaceable resource as a gene pool. Due to the
increasing destruction and pollution of natural habitats, over-fishing
and hunting, humans are destroying the biological multitude of life,
and with that, the basis of their own well-being. The public is
concerned when a well-known species like the tiger, whale, or
mountain gorilla becomes endangered; however, the majority of
other cases are hardly ever noticed by the public. Apart from the
decline of species diversity within habitats, loss of genetic diversity
within individual species has also been observed. The destruction
of individual populations leads to a reduction in genetic
regeneration capacity within a species. For instance, selective
deforestation reduces the quality of the genetic material of affected
tree species, since only strong, healthy trees are logged and the
weaker ones are left behind. Humankind’s intentional or
unintentional introduction of exotic animal and plant species to new
habitats plays an important role as well. These so-called “neozic
species” can become a threat to local species and lead to their
complete extinction. For instance, the flightless Kiwi bird in New
Zealand is threatened with extinction by introduced rats and feral
cats.
 KPDS 2012 SONBAHAR

*** For hundreds of thousands of years, human civilizations tended

to barter for goods, trading shells and precious stones for food and
other important commodities. For the first evidence of money as
currency, we need to go back 5,000 years to where modern-day
Iraq now sits, to find ‘the shekel’. Though this was the first form of
currency, it was not money as we know and understand it today. It
actually represented a certain weight of barley, a kind of plant,
equivalent to gold or silver. Eventually, the shekel became a coin
currency in its own right. In much the same way, Britain’s currency
is called ‘the pound’, because it was originally equivalent to a
pound of silver. The ancient Greeks and Romans used gold and *** Although many community newspapers are justifiably proud of
silver coins as currency, with the Latin ‘denarius’ ultimately giving their hard-hitting local editorials, perhaps half of all community
birth to ‘dinar’ in various countries including Jordan and Algeria, papers carry no editorials at all. Publishers who refuse to
and providing the ‘d’ that served as an abbreviation for the British editorialize often claim that editorial harassing is resented in small
penny before decimalization in 1971. It also gives us the word for communities. Others are fearful of alienating readers and
money in Spanish and Portuguese – ‘dinero’ and ‘dinhero’. The first advertisers. Still others say they do not have enough time to
ever banknotes were issued in 7 th -century China, though it took develop polished, well-researched editorials on a regular basis.
another 1,000 years before the idea of paper money was adopted Many publishers are leaders in the commercial and political lives of
in Europe, by Sweden’s Stockholms Banco in 1661. their towns, and are so much a part of the local power structure that
their editorials would not be persuasive anyway. Those who
editorialize assert that editorials and opinion columns give identity
to their newspapers and leadership to their communities. Indeed,
some of the most inspired writing the US has produced – the
‘Crisis’ essays of Tom Paine, the Federalist Papers explaining and
defending the Constitution, the stirring commentary of William Allen
*** British scientists have begun studying a rare meteorite to reveal White of Kansas – first saw the light of day as editorial or column
more about the history of Mars. The rock, named ‘Tissint’ after the material in a community newspaper. Courageous hometown editors
Moroccan area where it crashed in July 2011, was recovered from regularly win Pulitzer Prizes and other professional honours for
the ground just five months later – not enough time to be too crusading editorials on local issues.
contaminated. “The Tissint sample is probably the most important
meteorite to have landed on the Earth in the last 100 years,” says
Dr. Caroline Smith, curator of meteorites at the Natural History
Museum in London. An analysis of the rock revealed its Martian
origin. It would have been removed from Mars when an asteroid
struck the planet, staying in space as debris before being attracted
by the Earth’s gravity. Of the 41,000 officially recognized
meteorites, 61 come from Mars and the Tissint rock is only the fifth
that was witnessed falling. Dr. Tony Irving of Washington University,
who performed some initial analysis on the sample, does not think *** Innovation is not a synonym for invention – an invention has to
there is much chance of finding fossilized life within it. But the be taken to the market to be regarded as innovation. Innovation
British team could reveal whether minerals have been affected by must change the way people do something. In an essay on
water or contain elements such as carbon. Smith says “We’re not creativity, Teresa Amabile and others describe innovation as ‘the
looking for microbes, but we’re looking for the chemical and successful implementation of creative ideas within an organization’.
environmental signatures to indicate whether Mars, at some point Creativity, which includes invention, is only the starting point for
in its past, may have provided a suitable environment for life to innovation, which is a necessary but not sufficient condition for it.
exist.” As Amabile implies, the business of innovation needs to be
managed all the way from the creative inspiration through to a
launchable product or service. Innovation is not restricted to
products and services. It might be internal to the business, in the
form of new and more effective organizational structures or
processes. It could be a new way of marketing or distribution, like
online grocery deliveries. By today’s thinking, innovation can also
*** While playing computer games is sometimes seen as a solitary be in the form of a significant improvement to an existing
pursuit, a study at Brigham Young University shows that it actually commodity. When you build a better product, not necessarily a
enhances social connections. Studying the effect of multiplayer revolutionary one, the whole world will want to buy it. A lot of small
online games on marriages, researchers found that in the 76% of types of innovation like this are more akin to continuous
the cases where the couple played together, games actually aided improvement, which makes up 85-90% of the average corporate
the relationship. In other words, couples that gamed together development portfolio.
stayed together. Games may have other effects on us too. The
famous psychologist, Philip Zimbardo, recently spoke out on the
subject. In his 1971 Stanford Prison Experiment, in which
volunteers were randomly assigned the roles of prisoner or guard,
he showed that human behaviour is heavily influenced by
environmental and social pressures. More recently, Zimbardo even
suggested that exposing children to morally ambiguous situations
in games could be useful in helping them develop their own moral
compass. One possibility is to explore virtual worlds through
computer games that could enable people to experience and
understand concepts that they would otherwise find difficult to
imagine. Games about society, populated by real people and open
to all, could help test how different cultural backgrounds could be
brought together in peace.
 YDS 2013 İLKBAHAR

*** History is one of the few school subjects commonly mandated in

education systems throughout the world. Furthermore, the use of
history textbooks to support student learning is an almost
universally accepted practice. However, the widespread
international presence of the humble history textbook should not
disguise its ideological and cultural potency. Indeed, essential to
understanding the power and importance of history textbooks is to
appreciate that in any given culture they typically exist as the
keepers of ideas, values and knowledge. No matter how neutral
history textbooks may appear, they are ideologically important,
because they often seek to inject the youth with a shared set of *** Imagine an industry that runs out of raw materials. Companies
values, national ethos and an incontrovertible sense of political go bankrupt, workers are laid off, families suffer and associated
orthodoxy. Textbooks stand as cultural artefacts that embody a organizations are thrown into turmoil. Eventually, governments are
range of issues associated with ideology, politics and values which forced to take drastic action. Welcome to global banking, recently
in themselves function at a variety of different levels of power, brought to its knees by the interruption of its lifeblood – the flow of
status and influence. Embedded in history textbooks are narratives cash. In this case, we seem to have been fortunate. In the nick of
and stories that nation states choose to tell about themselves and time, governments released reserves in order to start cash
their relations with other nations. Typically, they represent a core of circulating again. But what if the reserves had not been there?
cultural knowledge which future generations are expected both to What are we going to do when our supplies of vital materials such
assimilate and support. as fish, tropical hardwoods, metals like indium and fresh water dry
up? We live on a planet with finite resources – that is no surprise to
anyone – so why do we have an economic system in which all that
matters is growth – more growth means using more resources.
When the human population was counted in millions and resources
were sparse, people could simply move to new pastures. However,
*** Farmers in many countries utilize antibiotics in two key ways: at with 9 billion people expected around 2050, moving on is not an
full strength to treat animals that are sick and in low doses to fatten option. As politicians reconstruct the global economy, they should
meat-producing livestock or to prevent veterinary illnesses. take heed. If we are to leave any kind of planet to our children, we
Although even the proper use of antibiotics can inadvertently lead need an economic system that lets us live within our means.
to the spread of drug resistant bacteria, the habit of using a low
dose is a formula for disaster: the treatment provides just enough
antibiotic to kill some but not all bacteria. The germs that survive
are typically those that happen to bear genetic mutations for
resisting the antibiotic. They then reproduce and exchange genes
with other microbial resisters. As bacteria are found literally
everywhere, resistant strains produced in animals eventually find
their way into people as well. You could not design a better system
for guaranteeing the spread of antibiotic resistance. To cease the
spread, Denmark enforced tighter rules on the use of antibiotics in
the raising of poultry and other farm animals. The lesson is that *** Many athletes credit drugs with improving their performance, but
improving animal husbandry – making sure that pens, stalls and some of them may want to thank their brain instead. Mounting
cages are properly cleaned and giving animals more room or time evidence suggests that the boost from human growth hormone
to mature – offsets the initial negative impact of limiting antibiotic (HGH), an increasingly popular doping drug, might be caused by
use. the placebo effect. In a new double-blind trial funded by the World
Anti-Doping Agency, in which neither researchers nor participants
knew who was receiving HGH and who was taking a placebo, the
researchers asked participants to guess whether or not they were
on the real drug. Then they examined the results of the group who
guessed that they were getting HGH when, in fact, they had
*** “The Marshall Plan was not a simple program for transferring received a placebo. That group improved at four fitness tests
massive sums of money to struggling countries, but an explicit – measuring strength, endurance, power and sprint capacity. The
and eventually successful – attempt to reindustrialize Europe.” say study participants who guessed correctly that they were taking a
Erik Reinert and Ha-Joon Chang. It follows that if Africa really placebo did not improve, according to preliminary results presented
wants economic prosperity, it should study and draw valuable at the Society for Endocrinology meeting in June 2011. “The finding
lessons from the Marshall Plan’s dark twin: the Morgenthau Plan really shows the power of the mind” said Ken Ho,an endocrinologist
implemented in Germany in 1945. Reinert tells the story best: at the Garvan Institute in Sydney, Australia, who led the study. She
When it was clear that the Allies would win the Second World War, maintains that many athletes are reaping the benefits of the
the question of what to do with Germany, which in three decades placebo effect, without knowing whether what they are taking is
had precipitated two World Wars, reared its head. Henry beneficial or not.
Morgenthau Jr, the US secretary of the treasury, formulated a plan
to keep Germany from ever again threatening world peace.
Germany, he argued, had to be entirely deindustrialized and turned
into an agricultural nation. All industrial equipment was to be
destroyed, and the mines were to be flooded. This program was
approved by the Allies and was immediately implemented when
Germany capitulated in 1945. However, it soon became clear that
the Morgenthau Plan was causing serious economic problems in
Germany: deindustrialization caused agricultural productivity to
plummet. This was indeed an interesting experiment. The
mechanisms of synergy between industry and agriculture worked in
reverse: killing the industry reduced the productivity of the
agricultural sector.
 ÜDS FEN 2000 SONBAHAR
*** There are about forty distinct kinds of wild cats known to inhabit
the earth today. They range in size from the mighty Siberian tiger to
several little spotted species about the size of the average
domestic cat. The cats are the most efficient land predators left on
earth. They combine power, speed,patience, camouflage, and
considerable individual skill. All swim well, most climb with great
agility, and at least for short distances, most can move with
amazing swiftness. The African lion can reach a speed of almost
forty miles per hour when it charges.
*** Civil engineering offers a particular challenge because almost
every structure or system that is designed and built by civil
engineers is unique. One structure rarely duplicates another
exactly. Even when structures seem to be identical, site
requirements or other factors generally result in modifications.
Large structures like dams, bridges, or tunnels may differ
substantially from previous structures. The civil engineer must,
therefore, always be ready and willing to meet new challenges.
*** All our sources of power are ‘natural’; we have found that matter
can be turned into energy and energy into matter, but that nothing
can be created. We can convert one into the other with relative
ease, but all our power is based upon the control of natural
sources, in the sense that the energy or fuel is never man-made. It
already exists in the wind and in rivers; or it may be stored up as in
oil or coal.
*** To astronomers, the great accomplishment of the flights to the
moon was the bringing back of rocks from the lunar surface. It was
the first extraterrestrial material ever to reach Earth, with the
exception of meteorites. The lunar rocks seemed to show that the
moon was virtually free of water and of organic material and was,
therefore, a world utterly without life. In fact, this had been
suspected by astronomers, since the 1600s; but there had been
some hope of traces of air and water that might have made
possible very primitive life at the bacterial level, if nothing more.
*** We are warm-blooded animals. The temperature inside us is
generally higher than the temperature outside us. It follows from
this fact that, just as a kettle of hot water cools as it loses heat to
the air around it, so the human body is continually losing heat. But,
unlike the kettle, it does not cool down, for all the time fresh
quantities of heat are being generated inside. The body is both
making heat and losing some of it at the same time. The loss of
heat is controlled by a very delicate mechanism. The body
resembles a thermostat heater in that while it gives off heat it
manages to remain at the same temperature.
***Genetics is the study of mechanisms of the hereditary process.
Modern genetics began with the experiments of Gregor Mendel in
1865. He studied the inheritance of different factors in peas, and
found that some traits were "dominant" and some "recessive", the
"dominant" appearing in a ratio of very nearly three to one.Mendel's
results were ignored for many years until their rediscovery at the
beginning of the twentieth century.
*** Geologists are especially interested in the mineral content of
rocks. All rocks consist of one or more minerals, many of which are
needed as raw materials for industry or have properties which
make them valuable or useful. Gold, for example, is valuable.
Diamonds are both valuable and useful. Coal is also found in rocks,
usually underground and it is vitally important as fuel in modern life.
Britain is rich in coal because it was covered in dense forest more
than 300 million years ago. Coal is formed from the remains of
trees and the other plants which have gradually been compressed
and hardened in the rock structure of the earth.
*** Long after the discovery of electricity, man found that he could
use the great power to produce it. At first, he used natural
waterfalls.Later, man began to build dams to generate hydroelectric
power. Dams are immense structures which hold back the water of
a river and form a lake behind. The water is let through under
control and allowed to fall through pipes to the turbines below. The
rushing water drives the turbines, and as they revolve, they spin
electromagnets; these magnets generate electricity.
 ÜDS SAĞLIK 2000 SONBAHAR
*** Feeling the pulse is part of the doctors' routing in examining a
patient in hospitals. The nurse counts the pulse night and morning.
The pulse gives the doctor useful information about his patient's
condition, so helping him to diagnose the trouble. The cause of the
pulse is the beating of the heart. At each heart beat from four to six
ounces of blood are pumped into the main artery of the body, and
in consequence a wave of pressure goes along the arteries all over
the body. It is this wave which is the pulse the doctor feels at the
wrist. A beat of the heart is responsible for each wave.
*** Nobody should be ashamed of being depressed. It is either a
natural aspect of grief, or an illness which is treatable. It is normal
to be depressed after a divorce or the death of a loved one. But, in
today's rushing society, people may feel they should recover from
depression faster than is really natural. Recovery from mourning
should be expected to be a matter of many months, not weeks, and
nobody should be afraid to let this depression run its natural
course. In fact, trying to rush the pace or brighten up with
antidepressants is seldom the best route to a full recovery.
*** Studies show that more than two cups of coffee a day can
cause unpleasant symptoms such as nervousness, irritability,
stomach pain and insomnia. Thus, although many people build up
a certain tolerance for the stimulant experiments indicate that
caffeine users take longer to fall asleep than non-users and they
also wake up more often. The effects ofcaffeine are similar in
persons of all ages, but certain groups are particularly sensitive to
the drug, including the elderly, children, pregnant women, and
those suffering from heart disease, hypertension, and emotional
illness.
*** The presence of fever in a patient does not necessarily prove
that he is suffering from an infection. An accurate clinical diagnosis
will depend on several important factors - the age and the sex of
the patient, the clinical history and any physical signs which point to
a focus of infection. Whatever may be the underlying cause of
fever, the important thing is to keep the patient as comfortable as
possible. This will include keeping the temperature down. Further,
good nursing in clean surroundings with frequent bed-bathing will
add greatly to the patient's wellbeing and may even prove
lifesaving.
*** A bruise is caused by damage to the tissues under the skin,
which leads to bleeding. The common everyday bruise is due to the
tearing of some small blood vessels and to the escape of blood
beneath the surface: it usually causes no more than a slight bluish
discoloration and clears up without treatment. A severe blow,
however, may cause bruising in the muscles, usually accompanied
by tears in the fibers of the muscle: the pool of blood that results
may lead to a large and painful swelling.
*** Tooth decay is dealt with by drilling out the decayed matter and
filling up the resulting cavity. All decay and weakened areas must
be removed, otherwise decay will continue beneath the filling. The
cavity should be prepared so that the filling will stay in securely and
withstand pressure from chewing. High speed electric drills are now
usual and so is the use of an injection of a local anesthetic to make
the procedure painless. A lining of chemical element is put into the
prepared cavity to protect the pulp from heat and chemicals. The
filling, placed on top of this, is usually an amalgam of silver, tin,
copper, zinc alloy and mercury.
*** Colour blindness is a genetically transmitted condition in which
a person cannot detect all colours. The defect is more common in
men than in women. Most colour blind people can see only two
basic colours, and they tend to confuse other colours, especially
red with green. This impairment can bring about problems because
many colour blind people do not realize that their eyesight is
defective. They have learned to use the colour terms that everyone
else uses, and they are not aware that they do not see what others
see. There is a risk that their condition might place them in danger.
*** Excessive vitamin consumption is a potential problem. Some
people take unnecessarily large quantities of 3vitamins and
minerals for years, assuming that if a little is good for them, a lot
must be better. There is no evidence to support their convictions. In
fact, a study released last month in a public health journal says that
people who take supplements are not healthier and do not live
longer. According to researchers almost no one needs to take
them. Vitamin deficiencies are almost nonexistent in the West
except for among some elderly people whose diets do not usually
include sufficient fresh fruit and vegetables.
 ÜDS SOSYAL 2000 SONBAHAR
*** Any criminal justice system is an apparatus that society uses to
enforce the standards of conduct necessary to protect individuals
and the community. It operates by apprehending, prosecuting,
convicting, sentencing these members of the community who
violate the basic rules of group existence. The action taken against
lawbreakers is designed to serve three purposes beyond the
immediately punitive one. It removes dangerous people from the
community; it deters others from criminal behavior and it gives
society an opportunity to attempt to transform lawbreakers into law-
abiding citizens.
*** Chronic psychological stress depends much more on the person
than on what happens to him. Someone promoted above his
abilities will probably be under constant stress but some
personalities may not be aware of the pressure, or of not being up
to the job. On the other hand, someone in a position well within his
abilities may still find everything a strain. Perhaps it is because he
does not realize he can do it easily or because he wants to win
promotion; or simplybecause that is his way of going about things.
*** In a competitive economy, the consumer usually has the choice
of several different brands of the same product. Yet underneath
their labels, these products are often nearly identical. One
manufacturer's toothpaste tends to differ very little from another
manufacturer's. Two different brands of shampoo may vary only in
scent and color. And the tobacco in two different brands of
cigarettes frequently come from the same fields. This close
similarity means that a shopper has little reason to choose one
brand over another. Thus, manufacturers are confronted with a
problem: how to keep sales high enough to stay in business.
Manufacturers solve this problem by advertising.
*** A great deal of archaeological evidence has revealed the
importance of water supply systems in the ancient world. Probably
the most impressive system were built by the Romans, whose
aqueducts still stand in modern Italy, Spain, France and Turkey.
Rome itself had a water supply estimated at 50million gallons a day
or about 50 gallons a day for each resident of the city. The water
has delivered to fountains where people collected it in pots and
then carried it to their homes; only a few buildings and residences
had connections to the main pipelines.
*** The literature of any society reveals the values, the conflicts and
the experiences, both past and present of its members. Through
the literature of a people it Is possible to gain some insight into their
attitudes, beliefs and problems. Much of human experience is
similar because basically all men have similar needs, and the
reader may find his own concern voiced by character in a novel
written centuries before
*** The emergence of hew processes for producing goods and
services that provide better quality at lower cost them. Mass
production has transformed the nature of work. This is a
fundamental change in economic life. People perform a much more
central role in the new production system. There is now more
democracy in the workplace. A reduction of business hierarchies,
the creation of production teams, more worker participation in
decision making and employee ownership are some of the
indicators of this economic democracy. The heart of this process is
not technology; it's a new set of social relations in the workplace
which means that most workers now enjoy more work satisfaction.
*** The urge to dance is one of the most powerful of human
İnstincts. Nearly all dances from antiquity to the 19th century had
one important common characteristic. They alternated between
collective movements and solo twins, in which every dancer or
couple in succession would become the centre of attention and
then merge back into the crowd. Thus dancing expressed both the
communal and the individualistic impulse of humanity, holding the
two in delicate balance tothe benefit of healthy society.
*** The term "Third World" is used to denote the poor nations of
Africa, Asia and Latin America as opposed to the "Second World" of
communist developed nations. The terminology is far from
satisfactory, as there is a great social and political variation within
the "Third World". Indeed, there are some countries where extreme
poverty prevails, and these could be regarded as a "fourth" group.
 ÜDS FEN 2001 İLKBAHAR
*** Weeds are plants out of place, either as the wrong plant in
cultivated ground, or as any plant where none should be. They can
cause considerable financial loss through the cost of their control
and the damage they do to crops. Plants which become really
troublesome as weeds are those which persist despite man's
efforts to control them. Such persistency is due to several factors of
which perhaps the most important are prolific seed production,
coupled with die often remarkably long periods of dormancy of the
seed, and the ability of vegetative parts of some plants to survive
mechanical damage and adverse conditions and to set up new
plants. Weeds may be controlled by hand, by cultivation and other
mechanical means, by biological means and by chemical
weedkillers. Chemical weedkillers are widely used, either to give a
total kill and suppress all vegetation or to control weeds selectively
in crops.
*** A typical explosives factory is divided into two parts: the "non-
danger" and "danger" areas. The main business of the non-danger
area lies in the manufacture of nitric and sulphuric acids for the
nitration processes, including the recovery of these acids from the
waste products of nitration. Other raw materials are also prepared
in the non-danger area. The actual manufacture of explosives and
their mixing and packing are carried out in the danger area, subject
to rigorous safety measures. The main danger in manufacture is
ignition by spark, friction or impact, the latter two being especially
hazardous if the explosive is allowed to become contaminated with
gritty material. Naked lights, steel tools or anything which might
produce spark or flame are therefore excluded from the danger
buildings. Each building has a "clean" floor which may be
approached only in specially cleaned shoes, while the workers are
provided with factory clothing to ensure that grit is not carried into
the buildings.
*** The culmination of the classic age of the machine tool was the
work of Joseph Whitworth. His pre-eminence lay not so much in
any far-reaching innovations as in the quality and accuracy of the
workmanship he was able to obtain. It was Whitworth who
introduced the standard screw thread which was used in British
engineering until 1948, and it was he who revolutionised standards
of measurement. Indeed, the many measuring machines of the
second half of the 19 th century, though increasing the facility, did
not greatly increase the accuracy Whitworth had attained. At the
Great Exhibition of1851 his planing, slotting, shaking, drilling,
punching and shearing machines made him the outstanding
machine-tool maker of the age.
*** Just as railway bridges were the great structural symbols of the
19 th century, highway bridges became the engineering emblems
of the 20 century. The invention of the automobilecreated an
irresistible demand for paved roads and vehicular bridges
throughout the developed world. The type of bridge needed for cars
and trucks, however, is fundamentally different from that needed for
locomotives. Most highway bridges carry lighter loads than railway
bridges do, and their roadways can be sharply curved or steeply
sloping. To meet these needs, many turn-ofthe-century bridge
designers began working with a new building material: reinforced
concrete, which has steel bars embedded in it. And the master of
this new material was Swiss structural engineer Robert Maillart,
who designed some of the most original and influential bridges of
the modern era.
*** Strictly speaking the term "avalanche" should be restricted to
falls of snow and ice in mountainous regions but popular usage has
extended its meaning to cover rock fails and landslips in all
environments. The period of greatest danger from avalanches
proper is during a thaw, when melt-watermakes a good lubricant for
the snow and ice banked steeply against rock faces. The rising
cloud of white dust, the vertical grooves and patches of bare rock
formed by the scouring action, and the dull roar of the avalanche
are all common features of mountains above the permanent snow
line. Rock fragments may also be carried down, for the recurrent
freezing and thawing of water lodged in joints and crevices of the
rock forms a powerful agent of disintegration. The action is the
same as that which leads to burst pipes. Freezing causes
expansion of the water in the spaces of a joint and produces a
pressure sufficient to break the rock.
*** Aircraft landing-wheel brakes are fitted to all sizes of aircraft for
arresting motion after touch-down, for steering during taxiing by
differential control of port and starboard brakes, and to hold the
aircraft stationary while the engine is warmed-up or tested. Small
aircraft have simple two-shoe internal expanding brakes manually
operated and very similar to the standard road-vehicle brake, but
the larger machines require power-operated brakes using
compressed air or hydraulic pressure from compressors or pumps
driven by the engine. Besides being as light and compact as
possible, landing-wheel brakes must remain effective and balanced
during very high rates of energy dissipation due to the great weight
of the aircraft and the very high landing speeds.
*** The main advantages of electric traction on railways are that it
is both pleasant and efficient. It brings the removal of a smoke
nuisance from tunnels and from the vicinity of larger cities. Further,
owing to high acceleration, it is possible to provide a more frequent
and faster service on densely populated suburban lines. The track
capacity is improved by electrification on mountainous lines
because of increase of speed, both up and down the gradient,
generally using electric forms of braking in the latter case. Some of
the major electrification schemes of the world, for instance, those in
Switzerland and Sweden, have been largely dictated by the desire
to operate the railway system without dependence upon imported
fuel.
*** Botanic gardens may be regarded as having a threefold
function: to please and educate the public; to carry out
investigations regarding the economic value of native and foreign
plant products and acclimatisation of plants; and to act as centres
of information and scientific investigation in various fields of botany,
such as anatomy, morphology and physiology, for which museums,
libraries and laboratories are also needed. The search for drugs
and spices particularly has tempted men from early times to
explore all parts of the world and this has promoted a close link
between exploration and botanic gardens. One well-known botanic
garden is the Royal Botanic Garden at Edinburgh which was
founded in 1670 by Robert Sibbald for the cultivation of medical
plants. Since that date it has been removed to several different
sites. It is now one of the major botanic gardens in Britain with an
area of over 60 acres.
 ÜDS SAĞLIK 2001 İLKBAHAR
*** Aspirin used to be regarded as a safe cure for numerous ills,
and was widely used both in its soluble and insoluble form. Now,
however, it is not so well thought of. It is useful for the relief of
headache or other pains and it will reduce a fever for 2 or 3 hours
and so make a patient feel more comfortable, but except in very
rare cases it will cure nothing. Moreover, there have been some
very serious cases of poisoning as a result of taking aspirin. This is
why children's aspirins are not recommended, for they are often
nicely flavoured, so the children are tempted to eat them like
sweets. For small children, suitably small quantities of ordinary
adult soluble aspirin should be used after having checked the dose
with the doctor.
*** Some underweight people enjoy an active, healthy life, but
others are underweight because of smoking habits or poor health.
An underweight person, especially an older adult, may be unable to
preserve lean tissue during the fight against a wasting disease
such as cancer or a digestive disorder, especially when
accompanied by malnutrition. Without adequate nutrient and
energy reserves, an underweight person will have a particularly
tough battle against such medical stresses. In fact, many people
with cancer die, not from the cancer itself, but from malnutrition.
Underweight women may become infertile. Exactly how infertility
develops is unclear, but contributing factors include not only body
weight, but also restricted energy and fat intake and depleted body
fat stores.
*** For many years whooping cough has been regarded merely as
a bother to the patient and a nuisance to others; as, in fact, a trivial
disease. Unfortunately; this is not so: because statistics show that it
has caused more deaths than polio, diphtheria, scarlet fever, and
measles put together. Whooping cough begins in a child as an
ordinary cold with cough and slight fever, and this stage lasts for a
week or ten days. Then begins a series of coughs following in rapid
succession, during which time, the patient is unable to breathe. The
"whoop" is caused by the noisy in drawing of breath when the fit
stops. The face may become blue and congested. Bronchitis is
usually present, and bronchopneumonia may result as a
complication, so inoculation of all children before the disease has a
chance to strike them is most important.
*** Thalidomide was unique. In every animal test used in the late
1950s, it had a clean bill of health. It was chemically related to
other drugs which had been in use for a long time. Over-dosage
with thalidomide was unlikely to prove fatal. It was marketed in
Europe and in Britain as a "safe sedative". The tragic results that
followed its use by women in the early weeks of pregnancy are how
well known. Babies were born with severe deformities of limbs,
internal organs or both. That effect could not have been foretold
from any animal tests in use at that time. Since that date new drugs
have been subjected to strict testing in various animal species to
check the effect on foetal development, along with the older tests
for toxicity which had always been undertaken by well-known drug
companies.
*** Combined active and passive prophylactic immunisation is
designed to obtain both the immediate but temporary benefit of
protection: afforded by serum and the more remote but lasting
benefit afforded by vaccine injection. It has been used chiefly in
diphtheria. If, for example, this disease breaks out in a school, a
small dose of serum, such as 500 antitoxic units, may be injected at
once into all the children, and a first dose of diphtheria prophylactic
vaccine given simultaneously. A second dose of vaccine is
administered four weeks later. The serum confers passive
protection during the time that active immunity is developing. Since
the main effect of the serum passes off in 3-4 weeks and active
immunity is not established for 5-6 weeks, there may be a short
intermediate period of relative susceptibility, but it has been found
in practice that, provided the children are protected torn infection by
temporary segregation of carriers, there is very little risk of
diphtheria breaking out again. An outbreak can thus be brought to
an abrupt end.
*** Worms are intestinal parasites, but the only common types
found in Britain are . threadworms, the tiny thread-like worms which
cause irritability and itching in the skin of children, less often in
adults. Then there are round-worms, ' somewhat resembling the
ordinary -garden earthworm, which seldom lead to symptoms.
Finally the third group is the tapeworms which may reach a , length
of 3 or even 6 m. Many parasitic worms lead a double life, they
spend part of their life in the human intestine and the other part in
the muscles of another animal. The tapeworm, for example, while
in the human intestine, lays eggs which pass out of the body in the
excreta, and are then swallowed by various animals, especially in
those parts of the world where human excreta are used as manure
in the fields.
*** Typhus used to be known as "jail fever" because it was
frequent in prisons; but overcrowding, poverty, and bad hygienic
surroundings anywhere are suitable conditions for epidemics of
typhus. Improved conditions in industrialised countries have made
it unusual, since typhus is carried from one person to another by
infected body lice. Typhus comes on suddenly with a rise in
temperature to about 39 °C, but within four days it may be as high
as 42 °C. There may, or may not, be a rash at this time, and in the
second week, when the temperature is at its highest, there is
delirium, physical weakness, and a weak pulse.
*** Basic sanitary facilities are absent in many parts of the tropics,
particularly in rural areas, and this state of affairs is responsible for
the prevalence of preventable diseases such as hookworm
infection, dysentery and cholera. The solution lies in the provision
of toilet facilities which are suitable for the local conditions, and the
villagers must be educated to use them and to appreciate their
value to the community. In view of the need to improve the fertility
of the soil, local authorities are becoming increasingly interested in
simple methods of composting village waste, in this way
invigorating the soil with valuable humus without the risks of
infection involved in the old practices of direct application.
 ÜDS SOSYAL 2001 İLKBAHAR
*** If the term employment is used in its wider sense as meaning
work which is of economic value not only to the family but to the
community, women have at all times been thus employed. In
primitive societies and in agricultural communities women shared in
the productive work on the land, in the workshops and the home;
they took part in trade and they cared for the old, the sick and the
infirm at a time when there were no health and welfare services in
the modern sense. Indeed, in any society in which the productivity
of labour is low, women's active participation in the daily work is
indispensable. To this day, women work in the fields in all
agricultural communities; they spin and weave, do building work
and various other kinds of hard physical labour in many parts of the
world which have not yet reached the threshold of industrialisation.
*** If you wish to glimpse the ancient trophies of Pedra Furada, in a
difficult, mountainous area of northeastern Brazil, you must be
prepared to face intense dry heat, treacherous rocky ground,
sudden flooding, boulders falling from cliffs, aggressive snakes and
swarms of mosquitoes. It's worth it, though, for the archeological
treasures to be found there are exceptionally ancient. Rock
paintings - vivid depictions of prehistoric ways of life, including
dancing, hunting, war and sex rituals - have been dated at more
than 12,000 years old, while curious pebble structures, primeval
bonfires and early stone tools are up to 50,000 years old. The
discovery of the remains had a profound effect on our knowledge of
American prehistory, for they suggested that the first people in the
New World arrived not via a bridge of ice from Siberia but by sea
from Africa or possibly even Australia.
*** New evidence suggests that Noah's flood really did happen. A
recent expedition has confirmed that a huge flood occurred 7000
years ago in the Black Sea. The theory was first put forward last
year by marine geologists William Ryan and Walter Pitman. In their
book Noah's Flood, they argue that the great flood resulted from
the last ice age, which peaked 12,000 years ago. When the poles
froze, ocean levels dropped and cut off the Mediterranean from the
Black Sea, which dropped 150 m to become a lake with fertile
shores. When the ice thawed, the Mediterranean rose back up and
broke through what is now known as the Bosphorus with a force
equal to 200 Niagara Falls for a period of two years. The Black Sea
rose, consuming a mile of shore a day. Those who had settled
there fled, spreading their stories of the flood.
*** Mr Mellon senior was a Croesus whose golden touch gave him
a grip on much of American industry, including power, mining, civil
engineering and insurance. His son, Paul Mellon, was a very
different sort of person but no less remarkable. His achievement
was that he managed to dispose of more money and goods than
any other American of his time, but did it in an unobtrusive and
well-regarded way. The great capitalists of the 19th century,
particularly Andrew Carnegie and John Rockefeller, pioneered
American philanthropy. Carnegie said the same aggressive energy
that had made a capitalist rich should be employed to return his
profits to society. The man who died rich, died disgraced, Carnegie
thundered. Without necessarily agreeing with such strictures, Paul
Mellon set out to redistribute some of his wealth. Both men thought
that what America needed was culture. Carnegie had favoured
public libraries. Mr Mellon went for public art galleries.
*** Venice is famed for its architecture and for its paintings.
Venetian architecture reflects the Byzantine influence, though
Gothic became the main style in the 14th century; and the first
Renaissance building dates from the second half of the 15th
century. The Venetian school of painters did not come into
prominence until the 15th century. The best known of this school
are Gentile and Giovanni Bellini, Titian, Tintoretto and Veronese.
The centre of Venetian life is St Mark's square which is paved with
marble. Round this and the adjoining Piazzetta are grouped
buildings of great beauty and interest. At the eastern end of the
square is the basilica of St Mark, a fitting cathedral for the patriarch
of Venice.
*** Radical changes in the life of western society were brought
about by the new technical inventions of the 181 and 19th centuries
which resulted in a gradual but complete reorganisation of the
productive process. This is generally known as "the Industrial
Revolution". The outstanding feature of this industrial revolution
was the increasing specialisation of labour and, with it, the removal
of more and more industries from the home to the factory. At the
same time, a growing number of activities such as baking, soap
making and dressmaking were taken over by industry. These
changes profoundly affected the lives of women. Many of them
worked in the new factories for very low wages and for excessively
long hours; others worked at home for manufacturers.
*** Winchester is a cathedral city in England. Once a royal city and
residence of the kings of Wessex, Winchester competed with
London to be capital of England and rivalled Salisbury as a great
centre of learning. The progressively intensified agricultural use of
the land and the increasing population of the nearby towns and
villages gave prosperity to Winchester and turned it into a major
economic centre. Wool was an important local product, and its
collection and distribution formed part of the city's economy. Under
King Alfred, whose statue stands in the city, the cultural and
ecclesiastical life of Winchester became firmly established.
*** George Vancouver was a British naval explorer who served as a
seaman on Captain Cook's second voyage round the world (1772-
75) and as a midshipman on his third voyage (1776-80). He then
saw service in the West Indies. In 1791 he was placed in charge of
an expedition to the northwest coast of North America to seek for a
passage to the interior of the continent which was rumoured to exist
in those parts. On the outward voyage by the Cape of Good Hope,
a portion of the southwest coastline of Australia was examined, and
Tasmania, New Zealand and Hawaii were visited. Vancouver spent
three years in carefully surveying portions of the west coast of
North America. He was the first to circumnavigate Vancouver
Island, to which his name was given by the Spaniards
tocommemorate his achievement. The standard of his survey was
exceptionally high and worthy of his old captain, James Cook; and
his voyage practically disproved the existence of a water-passage
to the interior along these coasts.
 ÜDS FEN 2001 SONBAHAR
*** The Royal Society is the national academy of science for Great
Britain and Northern Ireland but, unlike other national academies, is
and always has been independent of state control; it is not
maintained by grants from public funds and manages its own
affairs. Since its foundation, however, kings, statesmen and
government departments have regularly sought its advice on
scientific matters; it has never hesitated to assist governments
when convinced that the national interest called for scientific action.
Within ten years of its foundation the society, at the invitation of
Charles II and his ministers, grappled with problems of national
food supply, arboriculture, naval architecture and navigation.
Throughout the 18 th century it worked with the admiralty on what
was then called “the problem of the longitude” in the solution of
which are associated the names of the astronomers Edmond
Halley and Nevil Maskelyne, the chronometer maker John Harrison
and the navigator James Cook. It found a cure for jail-fever and
advised on the protection of ships of war against lightning; it
organized a geodetic survey of the British Isles and appointed
scientific personnel to several Arctic and Antarctic expedition.
*** The first flight by a power driven manned aeroplane took place
in 1903 and its subsequent development as a military weapon was
so rapid that all the belligerents entered World War I totally
unprepared to defend themselves against it. The first bombing
raids, however, compelled the consideration of anti-aircraft
measures, and Britain, in particular, attacked by Zeppelin airships
and Gotha aircraft was forced to develop a range of specialized
anti-aircraft equipment which came to include guns, searchlights,
sound-locators and predictors, giving it a qualitative ascendancy in
this field retained until the end of World War II. Indeed the first night
attack on London caused such public consternation that its gun
defences had to be doubled within forty-eight hours and, though
they hit few planes, their presence was of great psychological
value.
*** Scientists can now speed up the process of genetic change
through biotechnology. Farmers need no longer wait patiently for
breeding to yield improved crops and animals, nor must they even
respect natural lines of reproduction among species. Laboratory
scientists can now select desirable traits from any of a number of
species and insert those traits into the genetic material of crops and
animals. Among the new products of biotechnology are tomatoes
that stay fresh much longer than the usual ones and so promise
less waste and higher profits. Normally, tomatoes produce a protein
that softens them after they have been picked. Scientists introduce
into a tomato plant a gene that is a mirror image of the one that
codes for the "softening" enzyme. This gene fastens itself to the
RNA of the native gene and blocks its action. A vine-ripe tomato
with this special gene rots more slowly than a normal tomato,
allowing growers to harvest at the most flavourful and nutritious red
stage. The tomatoes will still last much longer during shipping and
marketing than regular tomatoes harvested when green
*** To obtain power from the sun's rays is to use nuclear power
developed at no expense in a laboratory 93 million miles away, for
the radiant energy of the sun is maintained by nuclear
transformation of chemical elements occurring in the sun's interior
at temperatures of many million degrees, and at pressures of many
million atmospheres. The resources of solar power are enormous.
If 100 per cent efficiency could be secured in the transformation of
radiant solar energy into mechanical work, a horsepower per
square yard of ground surface would be available under cloudless
skies. The expense of collecting solar energy still prevents its
competition with the usual power sources .Yet, unless the vague
promise of safe thermonuclear power from oceans becomes
realized, solar power must supply the enormous and growing
requirements of posterity within two centuries. Because the ground
sources (coal, oil and uranium) as they near exhaustion will
become more costly than solar power.
*** The design of ships is governed by scientific principles and
economic considerations but in practice it has many of the qualities
of an art. The designer may be supplied with the precise and
detailed requirements of an owner or he may receive only the
barest outline of requirements such as the weight of cargo to be
carried and the speed. The dimensions chosen and the main
characteristics of the ship are governed by the trade in which the
vessel is to compete. High-density cargoes such as iron ore require
little cubic capacity; low-density cargoes such as bananas require
vast cubic capacity. The ports which the vessel must enter may
impose restrictions on length and draught. Passage through canals
may restrict both draught and breadth. The nature of the cargo may
determine the size of cargo holds and of the hatchways through
which the cargo is loaded and unloaded. Available facilities at the
ports to be entered affect the loading and unloading apparatus to
be installed in the vessel.
*** Erosion is regarded not merely as the physical removal of soil
by water and wind, but rather as the deterioration of all the
component parts of the habitat in which man and his crops and
livestock have to exist. Since there is no conclusive evidence for
any major climatic change in historic times to explain this
deterioration, we must conclude that the eroding ofthe total
environment has been due primarily to thoughtless destruction of
the vegetative cover. This has led to deterioration of the
microclimate above and below the surface, generally in the
direction of a general drying out of the soil which has exposed it to
erosive action of wind and rainfall of high intensity or frequency,
and to the loss of organic matter in the soil, thus reducing its
capacity to resist erosion by conserving the water that falls on the
surface. If everything possible is done within the total environment
to conserve the naturally planted or cultivated vegetation, this will
also ensure optimal conservation of soil and water.
*** The world's nuclear plants have accumulated vast stocks of
highly radioactive waste. Worldwide, high-level waste is currently
stored above ground, and no government has a clear policy on its
eventual disposal. While most experts believe that burying the
waste is the safest bet in the long term, the problem isfinding sites
that everyone can agree are geologically stable. Decaying
radioactive isotopes release heat. As a result, high-level waste
must be constantly cooled; otherwise, it becomes dangerously hot.
This is why many experts want to store waste above ground until it
has decayed and is cool enough to be stored safely in sealed
repositories several hundreds of metres below ground. According to
one recent theory, however, waste should be lowered down
boreholes drilled to 4 kilometres. The trick is to exploit heat
generated by the waste to fuse the surrounding rock and contain
any leaking radioactivity.
*** Sounds produced by continuous vibration tones are spreads
waves of compression through the air. Where there is a solid
boundary such asthe walls of a room the sound waves are reflected
so that the sounds within the room are prolonged beyond what they
would be in the open. The sounds produced by the voice or by a
musical instrument then reverberate through the room after the
actual tone production has ceased. When the sound waves strike
the walls some of the sound energy travels on and is either
absorbed in the material or may penetrate to the other side; but
with the usual hard, unyielding walls of which most buildings are
made, more than 90% of the sound energy is reflected back into
the room at each impact, so that some time must elapse before all
is spent. It is this reverberation which, in its excess, is the prime
cause of the faulty acoustics of many pre 20th century buildings.
 ÜDS SAĞLIK 2001 SONBAHAR
*** Europe faces "a serious risk of an uncontrollable resurgence of
malaria", warns the WHO in a new report. Drainage, drugs and
insecticides had eradicated malaria from the whole of Europe by
the 1960s. Now civil disorder and irrigation threaten to bring it back
unless controls are stepped up, the report says. It seems that more
European travellers are bringing malaria back from countries where
it is endemic, and the big fear is that local mosquitoes could
acquire the parasite from such travellers and re-establish a local
chain of transmission. Three recent cases in Luxembourg and two
in New York have fuelled concern over air travel as a means of
reintroduction. The cases in Luxembourg all occurred within a few
kilometres of the country's international airport, and were probably
caused by mosquitoes stowing away on aircraft coming in from the
tropics.
*** Headache, like backache, is one of the commonest types of
pain with which mankind is afflicted. It may arise under a diversity
of circumstances. A blow to the head causes pain, and after a
severe head injury with concussion, headaches may continue for
weeks or months. The coverings of the brain, or meninges, are
sensitive structures and, when inflamed, as in cases of meningitis,
or irritated (as with meningeal haemorrhage), headache may be a
prominent feature. The arteries of the brain are also sensitive, and
many kinds of headache are referable to arterial disease, more
especially to influences which distend the lumen of the arteries, or
which distend and then contract the arterial walls. But the brain
itself is insensitive and lacerations or gunshot wounds of the
cerebral substance may produce headache only in so far as the
bony skull and the meninges are at the same time damaged.
Tumours of the brain produce headache, not because the brain
tissue is involved, but because the raised intracranial tension alters
the diameter of the intracranial arteries.
*** People infected with tuberculosis are difficult to treat because
the bacteria can lie dormant in the body. In this state, they are
unaffected by antibiotics and do not spark an immune response.
But they can reactivate and cause disease when the body's
immune system is compromised. Some people believe that
proteinsthat deliver a wake-up call to dormant bacteria could be
used to fight tuberculosis. There are two ways wake-up proteins
might be used therapeutically. One is to trick the bacteria out of
dormancy so that they can be zapped with antibiotics. The other is
to use the proteins as vaccines. An injection of wake-up proteins
might prime the body to notice a subsequent infection earlier than
would otherwise be the case and attack the bacteria as they
activate.
*** Physical activity deserves attention in any program to reduce
coronary heart disease (CHD) risk. Some evidence suggests that
weight training can raise high-density lipoprotein (HDL) if
undertaken regularly, but frequent and sustained aerobic activity
may be more effective in lowering low-density lipoproteins (LDL)
and raising HDL. Furthermore, aerobic endurance-type activities,
such as brisk walking, undertaken faithfully for 30 minutes or more
as a daily or every-other-day routine can strengthen the heart and
blood vessels; alter body composition in favor of lean over fat
tissue; expand the volume of oxygen the heart can deliver to the
tissues at each beat and so reduce the heart's workload; change
the hormonal climate in which the body does its work in such a way
as to lower blood pressure; and bring about a redistribution of body
water that eases the transit of blood through the peripheral arteries.
These changes are so beneficial that some experts believe that
physical activity should be the primary focus of cardiovascular
disease prevention efforts.
*** The value of heat for the preservation of food has been known
for thousands ofyears, but it was not realized until the nineteenth
century that a very mild heat treatment far below boiling point,
made liquid foods such as milk keep much longer. The discovery
followed the work of the French scientist Louis Pasteur on wine and
beer. The process, called after him "pasteurization", is a carefully
controlled mild heat treatment. It was found that the process served
two purposes; it delayed the souring of milk, and it destroyed the
dangerous disease germs which sometimes occur in this product.
These germs include the bacteria which cause tuberculosis,
undulant fever, typhoid and paratyphoid fevers, dysentery,
diphtheria, scarlet fever and septic sore throat.
*** The brain, like all of the body's organs, responds to both
inherited and environmental factors that can enhance or diminish
its amazing capacities. One of the challenges researchers face
when studying the human brain is to distinguish among normal
age-related physiological changes, changes caused by diseases,
and changes that result from cumulative, extrinsic factors such as
diet. The brain normally changes in some characteristic ways as it
ages. For one thing, its blood supply decreases. For another, the
number of neurons, the brain cells that specialize in transmitting
information, diminishes as people age. When the number of nerve
cells in one part of the cerebral cortex diminishes, hearing and
speech are affected. Losses of neurons in other parts of the cortex
can impair memory and cognitive function. When the number of
neurons in the hindbrain diminishes, balance and posture are
affected. Losses of neurons in other parts of the brain affect still
other functions.
*** Haemorrhage is an escape of blood from the vessels through
which it normally circulates. The quantity lost may be microscopic,
or may amount to quite a large quantity; large haemorrhages
usually arise from a large artery or vein, while bleeding from a
capillary may be shown only by a minute red spot in the skin. Many
haemorrhages are trivial and require no specific treatment.
Examples of these are such common domestic accidents as cut
fingers and nose bleeds. Others form some of the major
emergencies of medicine. The principles of treatment are to arrest
haemorrhage, to combat shock by restoring normal blood volume,
and to keep the patient quiet, comfortable and confident.
*** In America, Britain and several other countries, the years after
World War II were notable for increased interest in, and research
on, methods of teaching retarded children. Today no one
educational procedure is generally accepted, but there is
agreement that teaching should so far as possible be individually
orientated. Obviously, special material must be used, suitable to the
child's chronological age and general interests, and a variety of
ways have been suggested to stimulate the apatheticand remedy
loss of confidence. Since inability to analyze spontaneously and
make deductions tends to characterize the intellectually dull, care
must be taken at all stages of teaching to break down material and
demonstrate each step clearly.
 ÜDS SOSYAL 2001 SONBAHAR
*** No eighteenth century king of England could have raised the
vast sums needed to build a Versailles, and no English nobleman
would have cared to compete with the German princelings in luxury
and extravagance. Still, it is true that the building craze did reach
England. The most striking example is Marlborough's Blenheim
Palace, which is on a massive scale. But this is an exception. The
ideal of the English eighteenth century was not the castle but the
country house. The architects of these country houses usually
rejected the extravagances of the Baroque style, it was their
ambition not to break any rule of what they considered 'good taste",
and so they were anxious to keep as closely as possible to the real
or pretended laws of classical architecture. Architects of the Italian
Renaissance who had studied and measured the ruins of classical
buildings with scientific care had published their findings in
textbooks to provide builders and craftsmen with patterns. The
most famous of these books was written by Andrea Palladio. This
book of Palladio's came to be considered as the ultimate athority
on all rules of taste in achitecture in eighteenth-century England. To
build one's villa in the Palladio manner was considered the last
word in fashion.
*** Throughoutthe history of music, composers have always sought
to find new and original means of expression. Without this urge no
progress could have been made. In our modem age, the desire to
experiment is stronger than itever was before. This is partly
because the instability of world affairs has given rise to a feeling of
unrest and insecurity, and partly because more people are being
better educated and concerned with culture. The arts are now, as a
result, more sophisticated, even more artificial. In the past the ideal
was the natural and spontaneous expression of beauty, but it no
longer is. In order to avoid the obvious and the commonplace,
some composers have, perhaps, moved too far from the main
stream of music, and this has sometimes led to eccentricity. But
there is a positive side to all this: there is a healthy lack of
complacency.
*** A state of war may be brought to an end in one of four ways. In
the first place, one belligerent may completely overrun the territory
of its enemy, whose armies and government are in consequence
entirely disrupted. This state of affairs, known as debellatio, came
to pass In the case of Germany in World War II. Secondly, states
may drift from a state of war to one of peace without any formalities
to mark the transition. Such was the case in the war between
Poland and Sweden in 1716. Thirdly, formal declarations of peace
may be made by one or both of the belligerents. An example of this
is seen in the joint resolution of the United States Congress of 1920
by which the war with Germany was terminated. Lastly, there
remains the most common method of ending a state of war,
namely, by making a treaty of peace. By this means belligerents
can define with precision the exact terms upon which they have
ended the conflict
*** By the 1950s, Africa was among the least developed of the
continents and. according to United Nations estimates, as much as
70% of its resources of land and labour were devoted to
subsistence production and only about 5% of its total population
was engaged in wage-earning employment But even with
agriculture there was increasing production for export: cocoa in
Ghana, groundnuts and ail-palm products in Nigeria, cotton in
Uganda, coffee in Kenya, and maize and sheep-rearing in southern
Africa were outstanding examples. Minerals were particularly
important in bringing about the opening up of the interior of Africa.
For centuries some parts, like the Gold Coast (now Ghana) had
produced gold, and during the 19 th century first diamonds and
then gold were discovered in South Africa, and since then
numerous other minerals have been exploited including copper and
cobalt.
*** Most large firms have marketing or advertising departments that
work in conjunction with their advertising agencies. Only one part of
the company's sales budget will be spent through the advertising
agency. Companies have their own sales force for calling on
wholesale and retail organizations. In many cases, they also
produce a proportion of their sales literature and shop display
material. But with the larger companies sales promotion efforts are
usually combined under a single marketing policy. which is often
worked out by the company itself in conjunction with its advertising
agency. The advertising agency may also be consulted over
packaging systems and the distributing of new products that are
being put on the market.
*** The term intelligence is often used by biologists as synonymous
with the capacity to learn. An animal that learns to adapt itself to a
wide range of situations is said to be more intelligent than one
whose behaviour is largely governed by instinct. In psychology, on
the other hand, so wide a definition is not satisfactory. The simpler
forms of teaming, at least, can scarcely be said to manifest
intelligence in any sense remotely consistent with the ordinary
meaning of the term. It is customary, therefore, to distinguish
between learning of a more or less repetitive and mechanical type
and the solving of genuinely new problems by creative means. It is
the latter rather than the former that we ordinarily ascribe to
intelligence and most psychologists allow their definition of this
term to be guided by popular usage.
*** Sir Walter Raleigh entered court under the protection of the Earl
of Leicester, and was soon in high favour with Queen Elizabeth.
Fuller's often quoted story of how Raleigh threw down his plush
cloak on a muddy road for the queen to walk on, lacks authority, but
it is in keeping with his faculty for quick decision and characteristic
of the romantic sentimentality pervading the Elizabethan court. He
owed his advancement to good looks, a plausible tongue, an
ingenious wit and magnificent clothes. But he was proud, haughty
and impatient, and everywhere except in his native Devon he made
numerous bitter enemies. He was consulted confidentially on Irish
affairs but at no time was he one of the Queen's official advisers,
possibly because Elizabeth, despite her affection for him, saw
through his ambitions and doubted his wisdom. But she was lavish
in her favours, and in a few years raised him to affluence.
*** Sir Robert Peel will always be remembered as the one who
created the Metropolitan police force but first he set about reducing
the savagery of the criminal law and he also introduced various
prison reforms. Such changes could not be risked without an
efficient police force. So in 1829 he set about creating just that. The
original characteristics of the new police were that they were to be
an organized non-military force of paid constables (with officers)
under two magistrates, as joint commissioners, responsible to the
home secretary, an office like that of Minister of the Interior. To
emphasize their civilian character, they wore as uniform a dark blue
highcollared swallow-tail coat and a heavy chimney-pot hat (not to
be superseded by the tunic and helmet until about 1865), and
carried no arms but only a truncheon. Until 1885 they had no
whistle, only a rattle for summoning assistance. Their earliest
instructions were prefaced with the following words which still
appear in the forefront of their standing orders: the primary object
ofan efficient police force is the prevention of crime is committed.
The protection of life and property, the preservation of public
tranquility, and the absence of crime, will alone prove whether the
objects for which the police we reappointed have been attained.
 ÜDS FEN 2002 İLKBAHAR
*** The Rhine - Ruhr area became the greatest industrial region of
Germany, because it had at its heart the great coal field of the
Ruhr. Mining is now almost entirely northeast and westwards
across the Rhine. The region contains the greater part of the
German iron, steel and heavy engineering industries. The great
integrated iron and steel plants mostly cluster on the Rhine
waterway. Specialized steel plants and engineering works are more
widespread. With a decline in coalmining and the dismantling after
World War II of certain steel plants,some of the older Ruhr towns
have diversified their industries considerably: vehicles, electrical
goods and clothing are now being produced.
*** Post war radar has been developed for an enormous range of
uses from police radar speed traps to the ballistic missile early
warning systems. At sea it is used on ships of all sizes from the
super tankers down to pleasure craft, and the air it guards military
and civilian aircraft against collisions. It is even used to keep track
of the orbital junkyard created by innumerable space launches.
Radar found an unexpected use in astronomy and space
navigation. Radar signals were bounced off the moon in 1946 and
reflections were obtained from Venus and the sun in the late 1950s.
Subsequently, radar maps were made of the moon and Venus - not
that such long ranges are essential for radar maps to prove
themselves useful. For example, satellite-borne radar aimed at the
earth has actually led to the discovery of previously unknown
remnants of a Mayan canal drainage system in Central America.
*** A contraption that automatically fits deer with a pesticide
impregnated collar is helping to tackle the menace of Lyme
disease, which is usually spread among people by ticks that live on
the deer. This disease is now one of the fastest spreading
infectious diseases in the US and can be fatal. Trapping and
treating every deer in a forest with pesticides isn't easy, so a
machine has been designed to do it. The animals are lured to a
feeding tray where have to place their heads in a V-shaped through
to get to the food. The machine keeps an open pesticide
impregnated collar at the ready, drooping next to the trough where
the deer will put its neck. As the animal takes the food, its neck
presses down on a switch that triggers a spring- loaded arm. This
propels one end of the open collar over the neck where it meets the
other end. The two ends join using Velcro, so within seconds of the
animal's arrival the collar is complete.
*** Transport represents 22 per cent of total energy consumption in
industrialized countries, mainly in the form of automobiles. Although
this is the fastest growth sector in such countries, the rate of
increase in road transport energy demand has slowed in most
developed countries since the late 1960s. This has reflected both
improved vehicle efficiency and a slowing down in the level of
acquisition of automobiles by households. These developments
have encouraged hopes that saturation levels may operate at lower
levels than sometimes projected. In developing countries, transport
represents 14 per cent of total energy consumption but the number
of automobiles is approximately 20/1000 people, compared to
600/1000 people industrialized countries. In attention to strictly
technical improvements that can be made to automobiles and
trucks, there is another important area of action which could help in
the solution of the problems, namely, system operation. In this
category, there is a variety of actions that could be performed more
efficiently such as transporting passengers and freight by other
means, such as bus and rail that would result in lower energy
consumption and therefore, lower emissions.
*** Britain has a target to deliver 10 per cent of its electrical power
from renewable resources by 2010. And despite what one might
hear from some quarters, superb natural and technical resources
already exist that could make this possible. All that is lacking is the
political will; but at present, the government seems reluctant to take
any positive action. At present "new" renewables, such as landfill
gas, wind, solar, wave power and small-scale hydropower
contribute around one per cent to the UK's electrical generating
capacity. Generating power from landfill gas is already fully
economic; but has limited scope for growth as the country moves
away from land filling waste. Energy recovery from waste is highly
controversial and also limited in capacity. So, if Britain is to meet
her interim target of five per cent by 2003 and 10 per cent by 2010,
she must look to other renewables for growth.
*** Glaciers originate in areas that lie above the limit of prominent
snow. Thus in tropical climates glaciers are only to be found at very
great heights, whereas in polar regions they flow into the sea. The
largest glaciers are found in regions receiving the heaviest
snowfall. The great glaciers of the Himalayas lie in the path of the
monsoon, which deposits on them the full measure of its vast water
vapour content. The largest glacierized areas after Antarctica are in
Greenland, North America, and in central and south central Asia. It
has been estimated that the volume of the world's glaciers and ice
sheets exceeds 11,000,000 cubic miles which, if returned to the
oceans, would raise the sea - level by some 200 ft, submerging all
existing seaports and much land besides.
*** The report, Dams and Development, which has been recently
published, provides stark evidence that the world's 45,000 large
dams which block over half of the world's rivers, have been failed
experiments. They have failed to produce as much electricity and
water, or control as much flood damage, as their backers claim.
They regularly suffer huge costoverruns and time delays. They
have made up to 80 million people homeless, and their benefits
have largely gone to the urban well-off not the rural poor they
displace. Moreover, their effects on ecosystems have been
disastrous.
*** Our understanding of submarine volcanic eruptions has
improved substantially in the past decade owing to the recent ability
to remotely detect such events and to respond rabidly with brief
surveys and sampling at the eruption site. But these data are
necessarily limited to observations after the event. In contrast, the
1998 eruption of the Axial volcano on the Juan de Fuce ridge was
monitored by on site sea-floor instruments. One of these
instruments, which measured bottom pressure, was overrun and
entrapped by the 1998 lava flow. The data recorded by this
discovered. The data recorded by this instrument reveal the
duration, character and effusion rate of an eruption on a mid-ocean
ridge.
 ÜDS SAĞLIK 2002 İLKBAHAR
*** Ionizing radiation has proved to be most valuable, for example,
in clinical diagnosis and radiotherapy. However, inadvertent
exposure to relatively high doses of ionizing radiation is capable of
injuring and killing cells, inducing mutations, producing
developmental abnormalities in fetuses exposed in utero, or even
producing latent cancers. On earth, it is impossible to escape
exposure to radiation. Cosmic rays bathe the earth continuously, as
do terrestrial concentrations of radionuclides, such as radon gas.
The two constitute natural "background" radiation. Few humans in
developed countries escape diagnostic X-rays, and many require
radiotherapy as a potential cure for various types of neoplasia, The
"early" injurious effects of radiation appear only when certain
cumulative levels of exposure to radiation have been exceeded.
However, the later appearing consequences may have no
thresholds; hence, the public's concern about the possible
carcinogen city of even low-level exposures.
*** For years, it has been assumed that obesity is the result of "too
much food and too little exercise". While this maxim is largely
correct, the etiology of obesity can be much more complex. There
is a well-documented familial tendency, but whether this is of
environmental or genetic origin is unclear. Studies of twins
separated at birth and living apart provide strong evidence for a
substantial genetic influence. Children of overweight parents, when
adopted by "lean" families, have a greater tendency to become
obese than do adoptees from non-obese natural parents. "Energy
efficiency" may contribute to obesity; with reserves of fat deposits
readily available to metabolize in the obese, a given amount of
activity requires a smaller expenditure of energy. This theory has
been invoked by those who complain that they "gain weight
whether they eat or not", and indeed there is evidence of
differences in energy efficiency among individuals. Similarly,
obesity has been attributed to abnormally low basal metabolic rates
(BMRs) since obese individuals do show lower BMRs. However,
this fact is due to an artifact of BMR measurement; a larger
proportion of the total fat mass of an obese person is inert,
lowmetabolizing fat, a fact that makes BMR calculations lower.
*** The site of a hospital needs careful consideration. More and
more people now agree that a hospital should, wherever possible,
be part of the community it serves. This makes for the convenience
of patients, particularly outpatients, and eases staff recruitment.
Whilst it may be necessary to serve small communities by
peripheral separate outpatient departments, in general, in-patient
and outpatient buildings should be on the same site. It is not,
however, always practicable to build extensively in a town or city,
and it is difficult to make provision for expansion. The actual design
of a hospital is also of great importance. Medicine is ever changing,
and it is difficult to forecast changes that lie ahead. Doctors
invariably call for flexibility in planning, which is really only
practicable if hospital construction is on ground-floor level and if the
wards and the special investigatory departments are so designed
that they can be readily extended.
*** The government of Britain is again looking at fluoridation of the
public water supply as a possible means of achieving nationwide
improvements in dental hygiene. To the casual observer, given the
highly erroneous impression that the presence of fluoride in
toothpaste is beneficial in the prevention of dental caries, such a
measure may understandably appear desirable and worthy of
public support. However, many water authorities across the country
have long understood the risks associated with fluoridation; but the
government and the various official organizations that support such
a measure continually deny these risks. It should be realized that
there are two forms offluoride. One of these is calcium fluoride,
which is a natural substance occurring in water at verylow levels of
0.01-1 parts per million and a substance which the various
organizations involved in promoting fluoridation constantly draw
attention to when attempting to justify their case. The other form of
fluoride is sodium fluoride, which occurs alongside various related
substances such as fluosilicic acid and is an extremely dangerous
industrial byproduct produced by such industries as aluminum,
ceramics, phosphate fertilizers and nuclear power. This form of
fluoride is an accumulative poison even more toxic than lead and
only slightly less toxic than arsenic.
*** The importance of early detection of deafness in childhood is
generally recognized. Detection is normally a two-stage process of
which the first is a screening test of hearing. Screening tests sift out
children with impaired hearing from those with normal hearing and
can be successfully administered at any time after the age of seven
months. Children who fail a screening test are given a diagnostic
test, as the second stage in the process, to determine the nature
and extent of their hearing loss. Both screening and diagnostic
tests must be appropriate to the developmental level of the children
to whom they are administered. Special techniques for testing
babies and young children have been evolved at Manchester
University. When deafness has been diagnosed, parents are
advised to seek guidance about the management and early training
of their children at the audiology clinics established by an
increasing number of local authorities and hospitals.
*** By far the most common sleep complaint is insomnia. About a
third of Americans have trouble failing asleep or staying asleep,
problems that result in listlessness and loss of alertness during the
day. Most of the time the distress is temporary, brought on by
anxiety about a problem at work or a sudden family crisis. But
sometimes sleep difficulties can extend for months and years.
Faced with a chronic situation, insomniacs frequently medicate
themselves with alcohol or drugs. Doctors warn that in most cases
sleeping pills should not be taken for longer than two or three
weeks. Such drugs can lose their effectiveness with time, and it
takes higher and higher dosages to work. People run the risk of
becoming dependent on the pills.
*** Asthma may be defined as a malady characterized by attacks
ofbreathlessness due to paroxysmal narrowing of the small bronchi
and bronchioles. Asthma may start at any age, but most commonly
in childhood. The typical attack starts suddenly with breathlessness
and wheezing, the difficulty being mainly in expiration. A small
amount of viscid mucus is usually expectorated towards the end of
the attack. Attacks may occur at any time, but especially during the
night or in the early morning. Their duration is variable, some
ending in an hour or so, others, especially if complicated by
bronchitis, continuing for days. The frequency of the attacks varies
from one or two a year to several daily. During attacks the lungs
become over-distended with air, since the obstruction to respiration
is greater in expiration than in inspiration and the muscles of forced
inspiration, which are brought into action, are stronger than the
expiratory muscles.
 ÜDS SOSYAL 2002 İLKBAHAR
*** In surveys of British public opinion, journalists typically rank
below politicians, lawyers and usedcar salesmen as trustworthy
characters. And yet we depend upon journalists to guide us through
today's rapidly evolving, information-rich "media age". The internet,
digital television and technologies as yet unborn all promise to
revolutionize how we learn about what's going on, in a world
increasingly shaped by the forces of economic globalization. But
there is surely no substitute for good-quality, probing journalism.
After all, it is the great crusading craft. It is the great support of
democracy. In every society, authority - whether government,
corporate or pressure group - needs to be constantly and
vigorously challenged by an independent press. In every society
too, that challenge rarely comes from the right. Indeed, in theory at
least, it should come from the campaigning, liberal media.
*** As one steps out of the busy commercial streets in front of the
station in a Japanese city and moves on into the side streets, one
often encounters old shops and historic temples and shrines which
hint at the former character of the city. It is in the side streets rather
than the mainroads that the original face of a city is to be found. But
even in antiquelooking houses in side streets, one can often see
that their interiors may have been rebuilt and their fittings replaced
in an attempt to keep abreast of the times. This applies in farming
villages as well as cities; old-style houses and buildings decrease
year by year, and in some cases the changes have been even
more radical than those which have occurred in the cities. But
although outward appearance and facilities may have been
renovated, there has surely been no renovation in the sensibilities
and attitudes of the people who live in these new environments.
*** In the past decade the term "internal marketing" has emerged in
many companies to describe the application of marketing internally
within the firm. This seems to be an area where practice appears
ahead of theory. Despite the existence of many internal marketing
programs no books, at least in English, have been published on
internal marketing and only a handful of articles have addressed
this important and emerging area. There are two key aspects to
this. One involves the notion of the internal customer. That is, every
person working within an organization is both a supplier and a
customer. Here we are concerned with getting staff to recognize
that both individuals and departments have customers and then
determining what can be done to improve levels of customer
service and quality levels within the organization. The second
aspect is concerned with making certain that all staff work together
in a manner that is attuned to the company's mission, strategy and
goals.
*** Hans C. Andersen, the Danish author, was born on 2 nd April at
Odense in Funen. His father, a poor shoemaker, was devoted to
reading and thinking, but died when Hans was a child. His mother
was a simple, uneducated woman, who after her second marriage
sank still deeper into poverty and took to drinking in her old age.
Andersen, who loved her dearly, has told her story in "She was
Worth Nothing". His grandmother did her best to spoil the boy, who
was given to daydreaming. After a very meager education in a
pauper-school it was intended to apprentice him to a tailor, but as a
fortune-teller had foretold that Odense would one day be
illuminated in his honor, his mother permitted him to go to
Copenhagen, where he tried to become an actor or a singer, but
cut a pitiable figure. Fortunately, kind people supported him.
Thanks to the support and guardianship of Jonas Collin, an
influential councilor of state, Andersen at the age of 17 was sent to
school. In 1828 he matriculated and at once began to write, mostly
plays and poems. In the 30s he traveled abroad twice. From 1835
his fairy tales began to appear in installments, and were soon
translated into almost all the European languages, and gained for
him a world reputation. The full acknowledgement of his own
countrymen, for which he longed so much, came much later. But it
came at last. He lived to see Odense, his native town, illuminated in
his honor as prophesied.
*** The advertising techniques and methods used today were for
the most part devised in Britain, Europe and America, and as a new
technique evolved in one country it was quickly taken up
elsewhere. The practice continues on a worldwide scale. The
simplification of the words and illustrations in advertisements has
come about as the result of the skill of copywriters, artists and
photographers combined with the findings of advertising research
workers. Advertisers have found it is often more effective to
concentrate on putting across one aspect of their product than to
go into lengthy descriptions. They have seized on the truth of the
saying that a picture can be worth a thousand words. Some critics
of advertising have argued that an advertiser should be content to
furnish the public with information about his product and draw the
line at persuasion, but in practice the dividing line between
informing and persuading is impossible to draw. Persuasion starts
at the point where information is first supplied, particularly when, as
must happen for reasons of space and time, the information given
is selective.
*** The growth of the importance of libraries in both the social and
the scientific spheres has led to a great development in library
science and in educational training for the profession of
librarianship. In Germany and France requirements for admission
to the profession of librarian have been laid down by the state; in
other countries where there are library schools and professional
examinations, professional qualifications are usuallyexpected
though they are not necessary for admission to the profession. The
American Library Association, founded in 1876, was the first such
association to be established in the world, and has been
responsible in no small measure for the advances in library
techniques in America and elsewhere. Library associations now
exist in most countries; the English Library Association, founded in
1878, holds national and local conferences, maintains an excellent
library and information bureau, promotes facilities for professional
education, conducts examinations (elementary, intermediate and
final) and maintains a register of qualified librarians.
*** The art of Leonardo da Vinci, like his character, is full of
conflicting tendencies and apparent contradictions. His tireless
curiosity, combined with his deep feeling for all living things, led him
as a scientist to explore the entire range of natural phenomena,
while at the same time a fantastic creative imagination caused him
as an artist to transform the results of his scientific researches in a
thousand ways. These two elements of his nature alternated
throughout his life and explain his restless changes of occupation
and the fact that he never devoted himself exclusively to painting
for very long at a time. Although in his versatility and scientific
interests he is usually regarded as the quintessence of the man of
the renaissance, yet some of the products of his tortured
imagination are a direct reminder of the middle ages. Even in his
artistic output conflicting tendencies are apparent. In the "Last
Supper" he reaches the peak of his renaissance classicism,
whereas in other works, such as the Anghiari cartoon, his sense of
restless movement clearly foreshadows the baroque. Finally, in the
"Deluge" drawings, he produces works, which are completely
unrelated to European art and suggest that of the Far East.
*** The extension of French as a second or acquired language is
particularly striking. This was to some extent the result of military
and political prestige, but the virtues of the language itself and
French cultural achievements actually played a much greater role.
The lead which France took in the 12 th century in literature and in
other domains made its language a sort of lingua franca of the
cultured classes of Europe; and in the 17 th and 18 th centuries
French was cultivated assiduously by the royal courts and the
upper classes of most European countries and was written by
many nonFrench authors. But even before the end of the 18 th
century French began to lose ground, and the movement was
accelerated by the revival of national sentiment in Europe at the
turn of the century and later by the rise of English under the
influence of Britain and America. Many things, however, have found
their supreme expression in French; and its precision, beauty and
eloquence make it a classical language in the true sense of the
word.
 ÜDS FEN 2002 SONBAHAR
*** William Willcocks was born 150 years ago in a tent beside a
canal in northern India, where his father worked for the colonial
government. He learnt his engineering in India before heading for
Egypt in 1883. There he rose to become director-general of
reservoirs, and a legend on the banks of the Nile. He built the first
Aswan dam, then the largest in the world, went on to revive the
ancient irrigation systems of Mesopotamia, and watered deserts
from south Africa to India. But he was deeply troubled by the
discovery that much of what his fellow water engineers did in their
colonial playgrounds was worse than useless.
*** The acronym ‘radar’, for radio detection and ranging, has been
credited to the US Navy, which used it officially towards the end of
1940, but the concept of radar is somewhat older. Hertz showed
that metals would reflect electromagnetic waves and Tesla is said
to have suggested using this phenomenon in a radar-like manner in
1899. A few years later a German, Christian Hulsmeyer, received
patents for a ship’s anticollision device. Also many radio engineers
and experimenters observed that passing aircraft or ships
interfered with their experiments. Although these features are all
suggestive of radar, none was actually radar unless the term is very
loosely defined. In the 1930s, however, several of the major powers
became aware of the military possibilities of radar and work on it
started immediately in the USA, Britain, France, Germany, Italy,
Japan and the Soviet Union. By the end of World War II, military
radar, and military radio navigation aids too, were well developed.
*** Aviation is about to go back to its roots. Nearly 100 years after
the Wright brothers’ first heavier-than-air powered flight, the US Air
Force is testing an experimental plane that uses “wing warping”,
which is the steering and control technique that kept Orville Wright
aloft in 1903. But this time round, it will be at supersonic speeds.
Unlike conventional aircraft wings, which use movable surfaces like
flaps on the wings and the tail, wing warping bends the entire wing.
The USAF call it “active aeroelastic wing” technology, and is
investing $41 million in the project in the hope that it will lead to
lighter, more manoeuvrable supersonic planes.
*** Like so many American waterways, the Chesapeake Bay, an
enormous, semi-saline body of water that is treasured for its
aquatic life, became badly polluted during the 20 th century. But it
has regained much of its biological vitality since the early 1970s,
thanks to concerted ecological stewardship. In this effort, the
Conowingo dam has provided valuable assistance.
Environmentalists are not often fond of dams, which have a habit of
trapping migratory fish and disrupting sensitive water ecosystems -
not to mention looking ugly. But the Conowingo dam on the
Susquehanna river in eastern Maryland is an exception. Since its
construction in 1928, the Conowingo dam has not only generated
electricity but also trapped vast amounts of sediment behind its
imposing walls. This was not a function the builders had planned
for, but in recent years its value has become clear. The water
flowing past the Conowingo dam is much cleaner than it would
otherwise be. Even America’s onceendangered national symbol,
the bald eagle, can be seen perching near the dam, waiting to
swoop down and seize a meal of fish by its talons.
*** More than half of astronauts suffer from space sickness, also
known as Space Adaptation Syndrome. Symptoms include
headaches, nausea, vomiting and poor concentration. The main
cause of space sickness is disorientation caused by exposure to
zero gravity conditions. The human body is used to a much
stronger gravitational field on Earth and organs in the inner ear,
along with canals that sense motion, tell the brain about the
location of the limbs relative to the ground. In other words, they’re
responsible for balance. Unfortunately, the signals from these
organs in the inner ear go wrong in zero gravity, leading to space
sickness. Over time though, the brain learns to ignore them and
relies instead on visual clues, such as the position of the feet, to
determine balance. Astronauts quickly readapt to Earth’s gravity
within a few days and there are probably no long-term effects from
this strange affliction.
*** Why do transformers hum? This is one of those questions which
seems easy but has surprising hidden depths. The simple
explanation is that electric currents create magnetic fields, and the
alternating current of mains electricity used by transformers creates
a magnetic field that changes at 50 cycles a second. This in turn
triggers a regular motion of the metal molecules inside the
transformer, known as magnetostriction. It’s this motion that makes
the surrounding air vibrate, creating the hum. But why does the
metal respond in this way? The answer lies in a property of the
electrons in the metal known as ‘spin’ - a property which can only
be explained by reference to Einstein’s theory of relativity, which is
beyond the understanding of most of us.
*** Time travel has been a favourite science fiction theme ever
since it was first used in H.G. Wells’s trailblazing novel “The Time
Machine”. But not everything it describes is science fiction:
travelling forward in time, for example, is a proven fact. Einstein’s
theory of relativity predicts that an observer moving relative to Earth
can leap into Earth’s future, and the effect has been confirmed
using atomic clocks. Dramatic time warps require speeds close to
that of light, which is possible in principle but would take a major
feat of engineering, not to mention a lot of money. Going back in
time is far more problematic. Relativity does not rule out an
observer being able to make a journey through space-time and
return to the past. But all scenarios so far discussed require exotic
circumstances.
*** In a biography of Bardeen, recently published, he does not fit
the popular stereotype of scientific genius, for he is surprisingly
sane and ordinary. As far as character goes, he had several assets.
To start with he was a notable team builder. Tenacious when it
came to attacking problems, he had the gift of breaking a large
problem down into smaller, more soluble parts and then
reassembling the whole. As a teacher, his habit of stopping to think
allowed his students to do so too. Government and industry valued
his advice - according to one commentator, he helped Xerox to
build one of the finest industrial laboratories in the world in the
fields of organic and disordered solids during the late 1970s. But,
perhaps, the most telling aspect of Bardeen’s character was his
willingness to share the credit with others. For example, he
deliberately stayed away from the meeting of the American
Physical Society in March 1957, at which his theory of
superconductivity was first presented, so that the contribution of his
young co-researchers would be recognised.
 ÜDS SAĞLIK 2002 SONBAHAR
*** An antibiotic that removes metals from the brain is emerging as
a prime candidate for treating Alzheimer's. This boosts a
controversial theory that blames the accumulation of metals, rather
than the formation of insoluble plaques, for the disease's
characteristic mental deterioration. The antibiotic, clioquinol, binds
to copper and zinc and is small enough to get into the brain. It is no
longer manufactured but was last used in the 1970s to treat
intestinal infections. Now, in various medical schools, efforts are
being made to resurrect the drug to treat Alzheimer's.
*** Some 54 million Americans have disabilities and that number
has been . increasing. It includes more than 10 million children with
developmental disabilities - a number accentuated by the fact that
50 per cent of children with disabilities are not identified until school
age. Early identification of developmental disabilities is crucial, as it
has been shown to improve , outcomes. A good example of this is
autism, where early identification and treatment can lead a child to
impressive gains in communication, social skills and learning. It's
also clear that having a developmental disability puts one at risk for
secondary conditions. The lack of recreational opportunities, for
example, can lead to the development of obesity as well as
withdrawal, depression and isolation. Again, early identification can
help prevent these problems.
*** Artificial sweeteners permit people to keep their sugar and
energy intakes down, yet still enjoy the delicious sweet tastes
oftheir favourite foods and beverages. The Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) has approved the use of four artificial
sweeteners - saccharin, aspartame, acesulfame potassium
(acesulfame-K) and sucralose. Two others have petitioned the FDA
and are awaiting approval -alitame and cyclamate. Saccharin,
acesulfame-K and sucralose are not metabolised in the body; they
pass through the kidneys unchanged. In contrast, the body digests
aspartame as a protein. In fact, aspartame is technically classified
as a nutritive sweetener because it yields energy, but for all
practical purposes, that energy is negligible. Some consumers
have challenged the safety of using artificial sweeteners.
Considering that all compounds are toxic at some dose, it is hardly
surprising that large doses of artificial sweeteners (or their
components or metabolic byproducts) have toxic effects. The
question to ask is whether their ingestion is safe for human beings
in quantities people normally use (and potentially abuse). The
answer is yes, except in the case of aspartame, which may present
a problem for certain people and so carries a warning on its label.
*** An ulcer is an erosion of the top layer of cells from an area,
such as the wall of the stomach or duodenum. This erosion leaves
the underlying layers of cells unprotected and exposed to gastric
juices. The erosion may proceed until the gastric juices reach the
capillaries that feed the area, leading to bleeding, and reach the
nerves, causing pain. If Gl bleeding is excessive, iron deficiency
may develop. If the erosion penetrates all the way through the Gl
lining, a life-threatening infection can develop. Many people naively
believe that an ulcer is caused by stress or spicy foods, but this is
not the case - at least not at first. The stomach lining in a healthy
person is well protected by its mucous coat. What, then, causes
ulcers to form? Three major causes of ulcers have been identified:
bacterial infection with Helicobacter pylori, the use of certain anti-
inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen and naproxen, and disorders
that cause excessive gastric acid secretion. The cause of the ulcer
dictates the type of drug treatment. For example, people with ulcers
caused by infection receive antibiotics, whereas those with ulcers
caused by drugs discontinue their use. In addition, all treatment
plans aim to relieve pain, heal the ulcer, and prevent recurrence.
*** Cataracts are age-related thickenings in the lenses of the eyes
that impair vision. If not surgically removed, they ultimately lead to
blindness. Cataracts occur even in well-nourished individuals as a
result of ultraviolet light exposure, oxidative stress, injury, viral
infections, toxic substances and genetic disorders. Many cataracts,
however, are vaguely called senile cataracts - meaning "caused by
aging". In the United States, morethan half of all adults 65 and
older have a cataract. Oxidative stress appears to play a significant
rolein the development of cataracts, and the antioxidant nutrients
may help minimize the damage. Studies have reported an inverse
relationship between cataracts and dietary intakes of vitamin C,
vitamin E and carotenoids. Taking supplements of vitamins C and E
seems to reduce the likelihood of developing age-related cataracts.
*** The treatment of hypochondriasis has traditionally been difficult.
Where it is secondary to another condition it usually resolves with
treatment of the primary disorder. For example, hypochondriasis,
which is secondary to depression, will usually resolve when the
depression is successfully treated. Recognition and early diagnosis
are important. Reassurance, combined with a serious appraisal of
symptoms and an explanation of psychological factors may then be
effective. It is not enough simply to tell the patient that there is
nothing wrong. It is important to acknowledge the patient's distress
and provide an alternative model, introducing psychological factors.
A dismissive attitude that "it is all in your head" is
counterproductive. Management regimes based on regular brief
appointments with one key doctor and avoiding admission to
hospital are useful. They have been found greatly to improve
physical functioning and cut costs on investigations and hospital
admissions by one third.
*** The birth of a younger infant whilst an older child is in the
toddler or preschool period is such a normal event that the proper
handling of the situation should be regarded as an integral part of
childcare. Put in its simplest terms, the problem is one of the older
child being displaced by the new baby as the centre of attention
and focus of his mother's affection. Such a displacement is
inevitable, but its effects on the older child can either be helpful to
his development (as when he accepts the baby with pleasure into
his family circle and so takes a step forward from the egotism of
babyhood) or harmful when jealousy predominates over any
pleasure in having a brother or sister and the child becomes hostile
to his mother and more demanding of her attention, returning to
many of the practices of babyhood which he had outgrown. Thus a
child or three or four may demand to sleep in his old cradle, to take
milk from the bottle or breast, to be constantly carried, or may
restart wetting the bed. Any or all of these symptoms may appear
transiently in a child who subsequently adapts well to the new
situation, but when they persist they indicate that the child is
receiving less attention and affection than he needs.
*** Morphine, which is given as a painkiller to many people with
cancer, might stimulate the growth of tumours, say researchers in
the US. Their worrying findings have been questioned by others in
the field, but all agree that further studies are urgently needed to
settle the issue. In test-tube experiments and in mice, Kalpna
Gupta and her colleagues found that morphine encourages the
growth of blood vessels, known as angiogenesis. The increased
blood supply accelerated the growth of breast tumours in mice.
Although the researchers have not yet looked for this effect in
people, Gupta warns that morphine could be harmful for patients
with any form of solid tumour that depends on a healthy blood
supply. She stresses that nobody should yet consider altering their
use of morphine because of her findings. "But clinical studies must
be done," she says.
 ÜDS SOSYAL 2002 SONBAHAR
*** Cinema today is all too often just about plot or special effects.
So really great films, successfully weaving together sound, image
and time to tell a really cinematic story, are always special. On
show in New York earlier this month was a remarkable example.
Alexander Sokurov's "Russian Ark" explores the 300 -year- long
history of the Hermitage museum in St. Petersburg, It takes you an
uncut 90 - minute walk through 35 of its historic rooms and halls.
This has never been done -before and the result demonstrates
impressively how much film can achieve.
*** For more than 40 years the radical thinker William Philips edited
Partisan Review, a magazine of small circulation and little money
but with a great deal of influence. Writers and commentators whose
words later commanded audiences of millions first saw their names
in print in a publication that might sell 15,000 copies if things were
going well. Mary McCarthy, Bernard Malomud and Saul Bellow
were apprentice contributors. Leading European writers such as
Jean Paul Sartre and Albert Camus were introduced to American
readers through the Review. The magazine was defending T. S.
Eliot, Franz Kafka and James Joyce long before their acceptance
as central to modern culture.
*** Southern Africa's food crisis looks like being the worst in a
decade. Around 14.5 million people are dangerously hungry, and
many have been reduced to eating wild leaves and herbs . One
might then expect food aid to be welcomed. But Zambia is refusing
to accept American donations because much of its corn and soya is
genetically modified. Zambia's president, Levy Mwanawasa, calls
he stuff "poison" and refuses to import, despite a warning from the
UN World Food Programme, on September 16th that relief supplies
in his country could run out in two weeks.
*** Afghanistan's terrain, climate and tradition of gardening make it
a good place for growing fruit. In the 1970s, export of fruits and
nuts provided about 40 % of the country's foreign exchange. About
60 % of the world's dried fruit came from Afghanistan. In the 1990s,
the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) helped to create over
300 fruit - tree nurseries throughout the country to replace orchards
destroyed during a decade of occupation by the Soviet Union.
Further fighting ruined more of Afghan agriculture, including the
vineyards of the Somali plain. But it was the lack of water and the
lack of money that devastated the country's orchards, most of
which are now in a sorry state. Such fruits and vegetables that are
being produced now are difficult to distribute or export because
many of the country's roads and bridges have been destroyed.
*** The global market for coffee has failed, and needs a complete
overhaul so that farmers can get more for their beans. The plunging
price of coffee over the past decade has certainly caused
regrettable misery for many farmers. Big coffee companies now
stand accused of placing profits before people. If efforts are made
to cut down on the profits, the companies will almost certainly fight
back to keep up their excessive profits. It is likely that they will win
because the trade barriers set by rich countries means that it is
hard for coffee farmers to change over and grow other crops.
*** When economists try to explain why the internet is more popular
in one country that another, they usually point to factors such as the
number of PCs. telephone lines or average years of schooling. But
something less quantifiable may be more important: trust. This, at
least, is the result of a recent study, which compared 17 countries.
The Internet's anonymity and vastness encourage
misrepresentation and fraud. Thus, people who are normally
suspicious (and there are a lot of them) lend to shun the medium,
while more trusting ones embrace it
*** Which European country has the worst record for shoplifting?
The answer is Britain and she holds the record now for the second
year running, according to a survey released on September 19th.
Britons not only steal more than their continental counterparts, they
are also less competent employees on the shop floor, resulting in
Britain having the worst overall rate of retail "shrinkage" –a
measure of losses by retailers from theft, mispricing and other
wastage. Continental Europeans are actually not much better.
Shrinkage is increasing alarmingly in some countries and is
generally on the rise. Denmark is a notable example. According to
one survey, shrinkage there is 9 % up on last year. Shrinkage costs
the European economy a surprisingly large amount, in fact, the
total annual cost has been estimated at around 830 billion which is
equivalent to a shocking 880 per person in the region. That is more
than the costs of the much-higher—profile car crime or domestic
burglary.
*** Sweden maintained a position of neutrality during both World
Wars and this, in part at least, enabled her to build up an elaborate
structure of welfare legislation that many larger nations were later
to imitate. The first major step was the establishment in 1911, of
old-age pensions. Economic prosperity based on its neutralist
policy enabled Sweden, together with Norway, to pioneer in public
health, housing, and job security programs. Forty-four years of
Socialist government were ended in 1976 with the election of a
conservative coalition. Presently, the Socialists were again returned
to power, only to be ousted in September 1991. The new coalition
of four conservative parties promised to reduce taxes and cut back
on the welfare state but not alter Sweden's traditional neutrality.
Under them, in a 1994 referendum, voters approved joining the
European Union. Although supportive of a European monetary
union, Sweden decided not to adopt the euro when it first appeared
in 1999.
 ÜDS FEN 2003 İLKBAHAR
*** It seems that a programme designed to destroy Columbia's
huge illegal drugs business could be poisoning farmers and
damaging the environment. Backed by 1.3 billion of US government
funds, drug enforcers routinely identify fields of coca plants and
opium poppies, and spray them from the air with herbicide. Around
120,000 hectares have been sprayed with the herbicide
"glyphosphate". But although glyphosphate is considered to be
relatively safe for humans and the environment, the Colombian
government has received over a thousand complaints from people
who claim to have suffered ill effects after coming into contact with
the chemical. Reported symptoms range from skin and eye
irritations to coughing and vomiting. Some critics suspect additives
to the spray are responsible. Others on the ground complained that
the spray had killed food crops when it drifted onto them from
nearby fields.
*** To understand topics such as the origin of the universe, the
ultimate fateof black holes and the possibility of time travel, we
need to understand how the universe works. We now have a good
idea about what the basic building blocks of matter might be.
Physics in the 20 th century was built on the twin revolutions of
quantum mechanics (a theory of matter) and Einstein's theory of
space, time and gravitation known as relativity. But it's extremely
unsatisfying to find two ultimate descriptions of reality when you're
looking for just one. Trying to unify the two theories presents
formidable technical and conceptual obstacles that have
challenged some of the finest theoretical physicists for decades.
*** In terms of pure science, the discovery that the universe is in
the grip of a strange "anti-gravity" force that is making it expand
ever faster, is the most significant of the last decade. The possibility
that such a force might exist has been known for years, with
theorists finding that it kept reappearing out of Einstein's theory of
gravity. For years they tried to avoid it coming up with all sorts of
arguments for why the force couldn't really exist. Now they're being
forced to face it, and to face the embarrassing fact that they can't
explain the single most important force in the universe.
*** Can coal ever become a friend of the environment? Coal-fired
power stations supply half the electricity used in America, and a
similar amount in many other industrial countries, but are
responsible for 80% of the power industry's emissions of carbon
dioxide the most worrisome of the so-called "greenhouse gases".
Because of special exemptions, much of the country's coal-derived
electricity comes from plants that are more than 30 years old. Many
of these plants are approaching the end of their commercial lives,
and the thought of having to replace a lot of dirty old power
stations, with new ones that will have to comply with the Clean Air
Act, is causing a nightmare in the power industry. Suddenly, energy
engineers are talking about "clean coal" technology. That message
has been heard before. There was similar excitement over clean
coal in the mid-1980s and early 1990s. Large sums of taxpayers'
money were handed out to firms developing clean coal. The
difference this time, say energy engineers, is that a number of
electricity suppliers have actually started building facilities that use
clean coal.
*** When it is completed late next year, a 39-storey apartment
building under construction in San Francisco will be the tallest
precast concrete structure ever built in an area of high seismic
activity. Its builders are using an innovative new structural
connection thatcould revolutionize the way buildings are built in
seismic zones. Conventional cast-in-place and precast systems
survive earthquakes by dissipating the energy through the
structure, often doing irreparable damage to themselves in the
process. The new connection, developed with help from the
University of Washington, consistsof high-strength steel reinforcing
cables and "mild" steel bars that stretch slightly during an
earthquake, then pull the building back into place. The steel
components also considerably reduce seismic energy before it can
attack the structure. This means less damage to beams, walls and
ceilings.
*** Air-starved soil could have been a key player in the largest
extinction ever tostrike Earth. The claim follows the discovery of a
rare mineral in ancient soil collected from Antarctica. The extinction,
at the end of the Permian period 250 million years ago, wiped out
virtually all marine life and some 70 per cent of land animals. But
the reason for the extinction, which preceded the rise of the
dinosaurs, has been a longstanding puzzle. Now a team of
geologists think they have found what could be a major factor in the
extinction. They collected fossilized soil samples that formed in
Antarctica just after the Permian period ended. The soil contained
noduleshaped minerals that have been identified as berthierine.
This iron-rich mineral forms only in environments where oxygen is
scarce. So, if the oxygen levels in the soil were low enough to allow
berthierine to form, then it follows that the soil would not have been
able to support plant life. Such intolerably low levels of oxygen
would be enough to kill the plants off completely.
 ÜDS SAĞLIK 2003 İLKBAHAR
*** Transplants of foetal eye tissue from aborted foetuses seem to
have improved the vision of two out of four people with a
degenerative eye disease. It is too early to be sure the
improvements are real and lasting, but on the strength of the
results, the team pioneering the surgery has asked regulators for
permission to carry out further operations. Before the experimental
surgery on her left eye a year ago, Elisabeth Bryant, who is 63,
could barely see anything with it. "Now I can see people's eyes,
noses and mouths when they're sitting across the room from me.
Like the other patients in the trial, she has advanced retinitis
pigmentosa, a hereditary disease that causes degeneration of the
retina. It affects around 1 in 3500 people in Western countries.
Those involved in the transplants admit that there is a danger of
creating false hope, but point out that the potential benefits of the
procedure are so great that work on it must continue. They believe
it could lead to a treatment for common diseases, such as age-
related macular degeneration, which is responsible for half the
blindness in Britain. This is a condition which seems to be on the
increase and occurring at younger age levels.
*** Fungi that infect the skin live only in the dead, topmost layer and
don't penetrate deeper. Some fungal infections cause no symptoms
or produce only a small amount of irritation, scaling and redness.
Other fungal infections cause itching, swelling, blisters and severe
scaling. Fungi usually make their homes in moist areas of the body
where skin surfaces meet: between the toes, in the groin and under
the breasts. Obese people are more likely to get these infections
because they have excessive skin folds. Strangely, fungal
infections on one part of the body can cause rashes on other parts
ofthe body that aren't infected. For example, a fungal infection on
the foot may cause an itchy, bumpy rash on the fingers. These
eruptions represent allergic reactions to the fungus.
*** What differences are there in intellectual function between men
and women? Major sex differences in function seem to lie
inpatterns of ability rather than in overall level of intelligence
(measured as IQ), although some researchers have argued that
there exists a small IQ difference favouring human males.
Differences in intellectual pattern refer to the fact that people have
different intellectual strengths. For example, some people are
especially good at using words, whereas others are better at
dealing with external stimuli, such as identifying an object in a
different orientation. Two individuals may have differing cognitive
abilities within the same level of general intelligence. Sex
differences in problem solving have been systematically studied in
adults in laboratory situations. On average, men perform better
than women at certain spatial tasks. In particular, men seem to
have an advantage in tests that require the subject to imagine
rotating an object or manipulating it in some other way. They also
outperform women in mathematical reasoning tests and in
navigating their way through a route. Women, on average, excel on
tests that measure recall of words and on tests that challenge the
person to find words that begin with a specific letter or fulfill certain
specific conditions. They also tend to be better than men at rapidly
identifying matching items and performing certain precision manual
tasks.
*** Today when you are ill, you may try three different medicines
before finding one that works - and sometimes none work at all. But
soon a simple test could determine which medicine would be most
effective before you begin treatment, saving you time, money and
possibly your life. Experts estimate that as many as 40% of people
taking medication respond less than perfectly to it. The result is that
2 million Americans are hospitalized for adverse drug reactions
each year; 100,000 die. With 20% complete and a rough draft of
the other 80%, the Human Genome Project will help eliminate such
adverse reactions. One of the first genetic tests to predict a
patient's drug response is being developed in Sweden. Only about
30% of Swedes with high blood pressure respond to ACE inhibitors
- a class of approximately 20 drugs that lower blood pressure. That
means the other 70% continue to suffer from high blood pressure
and are also exposed to the drug's side effects, which include
difficulty in breathing, kidney dysfunction and dizziness.
*** What would conversation be like without hand gestures?
Difficult, and in countries like Italy, perhaps unimaginable. It was
her travels to Italy, in fact, that inspired Jana Iverson, a
psychologist at the University of Chicago, to see whether we learn
gesturing from others or if it is an innate part of speaking. She
asked 24 children, 12 of whom had been blind from birth, to
compare the amounts of water in two identical glasses, then
compare them again after the water in one glass was poured into a
dish. (The blind children explored the water and receptacles with
their hands.) Asked how they arrived at an answer, both blind and
sighted children used the same gestures as they spoke, including
cupping one hand into a C shape and imitating the act of pouring.
Blind children gestured even when talking to an experimenter they
knew was blind. The fact that someone who had never seen
gestures before would gesture", says Iverson, "even to a partner
who they know can't see, suggests that gesturing and speaking are
tightly connected in some very fundamental way in our brains".
*** Recent research in Canada suggests that our arteries may
narrow slightly when we breathe in the sort of traffic pollutants
found in urban areas during rush hour. The small restriction in
blood flow may not be a problem for healthy people, but it could be
fatal for those with cardiovascular disease. Researchers at the
University of Toronto asked healthy volunteers to inhale a mixture
of ozone and particles less than 2.5 micrometers across for two
hours. The width of their brachial artery, a large vessel in the arm,
reduced by between 2 and 4%. Breathing ozone or particulates by
themselves, or breathing filtered air, did not cause constriction. It is
unclear how this effect is mediated, but there can be no doubt that
heart disease and airborne pollution are deadly allies. In the US, for
example, the Environmental Protection Agency has estimated that
air pollution contributed to 60,000 heartrelated deaths in 1996. With
the health stakes so high, environmental scientists have been given
the task of measuring levels of different particulates in the
atmosphere, and tracking them back to their source. A particle's
behaviour is partly determined by its density. But its size is the most
important factor, and the smaller particulates are, the more
potentially dangerous they are to health.
 ÜDS SOSYAL 2003 İLKBAHAR
*** Leonardo's importance as a painter may be summarized by
saying that he was the first master of the high Renaissance style,
and of all his scientific researches that which he most fully devoted
to this end was his study of light and shade. Many changes came
about in Italian painting around the turn of the 15th-16th century, for
which he more than anyone else was responsible. As regards
subject matter and composition, painting became less realistic and
more classical but as regards treatment it became more naturalistic
and closer to life, which was partly the result of increased
knowledge of anatomy and an interest in light and shade. Inhis rare
excursions into classical subjects, such as the "Leda", Leonardo's
approach is intensely personal. Indeed, drawings by Leonardo
which seem to derive from antique art are excessively rare and
there is no evidence of his interest in the celebrated collections of
Lorenzo the Magnificent or Pope Leo X, even though he was living
in close contact with both of these. This trend is not belied by the
"Last Supper" even though it epitomizes the spirit of classical art.
*** At first sight, doing away with paper and letting computers
register votes seems an attractive proposition, at least in theory.
Electronic votes can be easily counted and recounted. At a mock
election held in Palm Beach, USA, for instance, it took no more
than an hour to count all the votes. Ironically it is computer
scientists, not officials, who are counseling caution. There is no
way to verify that ballots are recorded, transmitted and tabulated
properly, argues one computer-science professor. For one thing, it
is theoretically impossible to determine whether computer systems
are free from programming bugs. Many people feel that elections
should not be paperless. They would like to see touch-screen
systems connected direct to a printer to produce physical evidence
of a voter's choice. Such a printout could be inspected by the voter
and kept as evidence in case there were problems with the
electronic voting system.
*** Chief imperial architect Sinan was in his eighties when he built
the Selimiye, which marks the zenith of his lifelong endeavour to
perfect the domed building. The Suleymaniye Mosque had taken
him nearly to the zenith of his creative power, but Selimiye was the
crown of his genius. The mosque was built to commemorate the
conquest of Cyprus, perhaps Selim ll's sole military achievement.
Either because no hilltop remained in Istanbul worthy of such a
monument or perhaps as a gesture of loyalty to a city where Selim
had spent nine years of his life, it was decided that the mosque
should be built in Edirne. The chosen site was the hill of Sanbayir
overlooking the city, and the acquisition of land commenced. In
those years horticulture was one of the main sources of income in
Edirne, and Sanbayir was covered with flower nurseries growing
principally tulips. The story goes that a woman who owned a small
tulip garden here objected to selling her land, and resisted official
pressure for a considerable time. Finally, they took her to see
Sinan, hoping the architect could persuade her. She agreed, but on
one condition, that in some part of the mosque there should be a
sign that there had once been a tulip garden. Sinan kept his word
and had an inverted tulip motif carved on one of the marble pillars
at the eastern corner of the muezzin's gallery in the centre of the
mosque.
*** Norway was transformed by the discovery of oil and gas in the
North Sea in the 1960s and its previously agricultural-based
economy saw an explosion of wealth. But since then a fierce but
seemingly misplaced sense of national pride appears to be
preventing Norwegian companies from making sensible business
decisions to capitalize on the natural advantages the country has
been handed. State intervention has supported entrepreneurial
business ever since, but now times are tougher. Companies in
other parts of Scandinavia have realized that in order to keep
ahead in a global economy, and win foreign market share, they not
only need greater financial power but also partners with local
knowledge. However, rather than taking a similar proactive
approach, Norwegian companies are adopting a defensive stance
and seem perplexed by a sudden wave of hostile takeover bids.
*** It is thought that sails were invented by the Egyptians around
3400 B.C. Harnessing wind power for sea transport was a crucial
factor in the development of civilisation, enabling Egyptian sailors
to carry the timber they needed from the thickly forested coasts of
Lebanon, and later taking them to Cyprus where there were
plentiful deposits of copper and to the coasts of Anatolia. Trade
began to flourish in the eastern Mediterranean, but ofthe thousands
of ships which came and went from Anatolian harbours, some were
inevitably wrecked in storms. The ships and cargoes which sank to
the seabed over the centuries are today providing illuminating
evidence about maritime and commercial history. Since the first
underwater excavations were carried out in Turkish coastal waters
in 1960, much has been discovered about shipbuilding technology
in antiquity and the commodities the ships were carrying.
Undoubtedly, the most important wreck excavated so far is the
Uluburun Wreck, which is the earliest of all, dating from the late
Bronze Age. This ship sank 3300 years ago and is accounted one
of the most important ten archaeological discoveries of the 20th
century. The gold seal of Queen Nefertiti and a two-leaf wooden
book, the oldest book in the world, are among the hundreds of
remarkable finds.
*** The serious writer is an interpreter, not an inventor. Like a good
actor, he is an intermediary between a segment of experience and
an audience. The actor must pay some consideration to his
audience: he must be careful, for instance,to face toward it, not
away from it. But the great actor is the one who is wrapped up in
the thoughts and feelings of the role he is playing, not the one who
is continually stealing glances at the audience to determine the
effect of his last gesture or bit of business. The actor who begins
taking his clues from the audience rather than from the script soon
becomes a "ham": he exaggerates and falsifies for the sake of
effects. The writer, too, though he must pay some consideration to
his reader, must focus his attention primarily on his subject. If he
begins to think primarily of the effect of his tale on his reader, he
begins to manipulate his material, to heighten reality, to contrive
and falsify for the sake of effects. The serious writer selects and
arranges his material in order to convey most effectively the feeling
or truth of a human situation. The less serious writer selects and
arranges his material so as to stimulate a response in the reader.
 ÜDS FEN 2003 SONBAHAR
*** The Michigan factory of a leading car manufacturing company
already has its place in industrial history. It is famous primarily on
account of record-breaking models produced there between 1927
and 1931. Now the refitted factory is back in the limelight as one of
the world's most architecturally advanced buildings. The height of
new technology will be its 42,000 square meter roof. Dubbed a
"living roof by the company, it consists of a ground-hugging plant
called sedum which is growing in a 7.6 cm-thick matlike material.
The sedum insulates the roof, reducing heating bills by as much as
five per cent and saving on replacement costs. It lasts twice as long
as a standard roof because it doesn't shrink or expand when the
temperature varies. It is also expected to become a habitat for
butterflies and birds. Embedded in the roof are 36 skylights that let
in natural light. On sunny days the factory will operate with up to
half of its lights switched off. The company also intends to clear the
soil around the factory to remove the chemical by-products of years
of steel manufacturing. The car company will plant native bushes,
flowers and trees that will break down polyaromatic hydrocarbons.
*** Ancient Babylonian manuscripts, Dark Age chronicles and New
Age prophecies, all speak of catastrophes striking the Earth with
devastating consequences; and all regard these disasters as
instances of divine punishment. Many describe global inundations -
floods that engulf continents, wiping out entire civilizations. Others
describe fires that rain down from the skies. Until recently few
scientists took these tales of catastrophe seriously, regarding them
as hangovers from a superstitious age. But today these ancient
accounts are regarded as potentially valuable evidence for events
that have played a key role in the history of our planet, from its very
formation 4.5 million years ago. These events are every bit as
catastrophic as the legends claimed: cosmic impacts that have
dealt severe blows to life many times in the past - and will do so
again. The dramatic view of Earth history now emerging could
hardly be more different from that held by many scientists even as
recently as the 1980s.
*** Central heating, available in the US since the early 19th century,
became popular only after the Civil War. Typically, coal-burning
furnaces fuelled the early systems. The furnaces warped and
cracked, causing gases to escape, and had to be stoked frequently.
It took years and countless small improvements, but by the mid-
1920s the systems had become reliable and, with the emergence
of oilfired furnaces, more convenient. Natural gas, which became
widely available with the building of a pipeline infrastructure after
World War II, had developed into the leading fuel by 1960. Its
acceptance resulted in part from its versatility - unlike oil, it can
power appliances such as clothes washers and dryers, ovens,
ranges and outdoor grills. Because it comes primarily from US and
Canadian fields, natural gas is also less vulnerable than oil is, to
war and embargo. Oil remains the predominant fuel in a few areas,
such as New England, where natural gas pipelines have not yet
thoroughly penetrated. Oil users in many regions have the
advantage of being able to buy a season's supply in advance at
favorable rates and, in contrast to most gas users, can easily
change their supplier.
*** The amount of engineering and exertion required to do work in
space came as a surprise in the early days of the manned space
program. For instance, when the astronauts Eugene Ceman and
Thomas Stafford launched into space aboard Gemini 9 on June
3rd, 1966, they had no way of knowing that a nightmare would
begin as soon as Ceman began a space walk. From the moment
he emerged from the capsule, everything Ceman did was much
harder than he had expected. Every weightless movement
triggered an equal opposite reaction, and he found himself
repeatedly flying out to the end of the umbilical cord connecting him
to the Gemini capsule and then rebounding in an unexpected
direction. Stafford finally ordered Ceman to forget about the 10-
million-dollar backpack and return to the capsule. Doing so turned
out to be the most alarming part of the space walk, as Ceman
discovered, that his pressurized suit wouldn't flex enough to allow
him back inside so that operation alone took him thirty laborious
minutes. Then the struggle to close the hatch was so prolonged
and difficult that Stafford decided he needed to lie, so the ground
crew would not panic. "Coming in, no problem" he fibbed as he and
Ceman improvised a lever to force the latch into position. It finally
closed.
*** From its birth during World War II, there is one task to which
cutting-edge computer technology has always been applied: code-
breaking. In 1943, mathematicians and engineers at Bletchley
Park, Buckinghamshire, built Colossus, the forerunner of the
modern electronic computer. Its task was to break the Lorentz
ciphers, used by Hitler and his generals for their most secret
communications. Consisting of thousands of valves, optical devices
and pulleys, Colossus looked ungainly but worked brilliantly. One of
its major triumphs was to reveal that Hitler had been taken in by
Allied deception tactics leading up to D-Day, thus clearing the way
for the real invasion in 1944. Ever since, government code-
breaking centers have bought the fastest supercomputers the
moment they emerge, During the Cold War, the key challenge was
to find and exploit the slightest weakness in the cipher systems
used by the Soviet Union, acknowledged to be the most secure in
the world. Their efforts ultimately led to the downfall of all of the
Soviet's "Magnificent Five" British spies.
*** The US company, "Scientific Applications and Research
Associates" (SARA) Inc, has developed crowd-dispersal weapons
for the US military that generate high-intensity sound waves. Sound
levels of 120 to 130 decibels cause pain and blurred vision; above
140 decibels, sound produces profound discomfort throughout the
body. Ear plugs are no protection. These acoustic systems have a
directed beam, projecting the sound in a narrow fan. They include
high-intensity sound generators with power levels of up to 60
kilowatts and are combustion driven, using a series of small
explosions to create a noise or drive a siren or whistle.
 ÜDS SAĞLIK 2003 SONBAHAR
*** Dark-skinned people require longer sunlight exposure than light-
skinned people: heavily pigmented skin arrives at the same plateau
of vitamin D synthesis in three hours as fair skin in 30 minutes. The
ultraviolet (UV) rays of the sun that promote vitamin D synthesis
are blocked by heavy clouds, smoke or smog. Differences in skin
pigmentation and smog may account for the finding that dark-
skinned people in northern, smoggy cities are more prone to
rickets. For these people, and for those who are unable to go
outdoors frequently, dietary vitamin D is most important. Deficiency
is especially likely in older adults because they typically drink little
or no milk, their exposure to sunlight is limited, and the skin, liver
and kidneys lose their ability to make and activate vitamin D with
advancing age. Depending on the UV radiation used, the UV rays
from tanning lamps and tanning booths may also stimulate vitamin
D synthesis but the hazards outweigh any possible benefits. If the
lamps are not properly filtered, people using tanning booths risk
burns, damage to the eyes and blood vessels, and skin cancer.
*** Despite millennia of preoccupation with every facet of human
emotion, we are still far from explaining in a rigorous physiological
sense this part of our mental experience. Neuroscientists have, in
modern times, been especially concerned with the neural basis of
such cognitive processes as perception and memory. They have for
the most part ignored the brain's role in emotion. Yet in recent
years, interest in this mysterious mental terrain has surged.
Catalyzed by breakthroughs in understanding the neural basis of
cognition and by an increasingly sophisticated knowledge of the
anatomical organization and physiology of the brain, investigators
have begun to tackle the problem of emotion. One quite rewarding
area of research has been the inquiry into the relation between
memory and emotion. Much of this examination has involved
studies of one particular emotion - fear -and the manner inwhich
specific events or stimuli come, through individual learning
experiences, to evoke this state. Scientists have been able to
determine the way in which the brain shapes how we form
memories about this basic, but significant, emotional event. We call
this process "emotional memory".
*** "Placebo" is a Latin word which means "I will please", in
medicine it has come to mean a treatment - a sugar pill or saline
injection - that, in itself, has no physical effect. In spite of this,
placebos have often been found to relieve physical symptoms such
as pain, swelling, inflammation, or even depression. Apparently, in
such cases, it is the act of treatment rather than the treatment itself
that is effective. Why there should be such a thing as the placebo
effect remains problematic. Many doctors have suggested that it
was selected by evolution as a means of managing the resources
of the immune system. Given that placebos seem to work, in part,
by suppressing the immune response, they may be a way of
conserving the body's energy at critical moments. Patients may
even get depressed to stop them from being too active and so
slowing recovery. It is a high price to pay, but then evolution is not a
merciful master.
*** In the search to heal wounds without leaving a scar, researchers
have looked at some 3,000 treatments. Many of these treatments
have not lived up to expectations, and none can induce repair that
leaves the skin in pristine condition. Now US and British scientists
have come up with three different recipes for advanced bandages
that give the repair of injured skin a quick start, but then break
down, leaving behind only healed tissue. This type of bandage
eliminates the need to change dressings, cuts the risk of infection
and sometimes makes scariess healing possible. When skin is
injured, the weave-like structure of collagen fibres is destroyed. To
minimize blood loss and infection, the body produces a quick fix by
using cells, called fibroblasts, which lay down thin linear strips of
replacement collagen. When skin cells grow on the replacement
collagen, they produce pale, less flexible material. Avoiding this
scar tissue means getting the body to rebuild the complex fibrous
structure of the original.
*** General levels of health in developed societies have steadily
improved over the last hundred years or so, largely because of the
introduction of public health services, and, indeed, the welfare
state. This progress, however, seems to bear little relationship to
the delivery of medicine. While scientific medicine has generated
some solutions, it has also produced deadly problems. Crucially, it
has led to a virtual takeover of healthcare by pharmaceutical
corporations and an acceptance that pharmaceutical medicine is
primary and best. Yet the extent of the damage done by drugs is
enormous. In the US in 2000 it was estimated that there were over
two million severe adverse drug reactions, of which 106,000 were
fatal. Similar calculations suggest that in England, adverse drug
reactions are the third most common cause of death. Drug
companies have always supported clinical medicine. Medicine's
high-ranking professional bodies were themselves set up with help
from pharmaceutical companies, and still receive grants for running
costs, hospitality, building and printing. Given this funding, is it
surprising that reports sponsored by such bodies so often criticize
the use of vitamins, food supplements, nutritional and alternative
medicine? Today, however, the corporatization of medicine is
gaining speed and reaches far beyond the professional institutions
of medicine.
*** According to the World Health Organization (WHO), around one
in four people suffers from mental health problems at some stage in
their lives, with depression being the single most common form. In
Britain, suicide now accounts for around 20 per cent of all deaths
among young people, with attempted suicide having increased by
50 per cent since 1990. Yet despite such stark statistics, the issue
of mental fitness remains way off the agenda. Instead, people are
relying on medication more than ever before which is like taking
painkillers hoping they will turn you into a long-distance runner.
How much better it would be if there were some way of training
ourselves to become mentally as well as physically fit. Now, it
seems, there is. It is a technique that has been around for a long
time, but only very recently has hard scientific evidence emerged to
back claims for its effectiveness. It does not involve any special
equipment or special diets, and best of all it is free. It is called
meditation.
 ÜDS SOSYAL 2003 SONBAHAR
*** The ability to recognize people automatically by analyzing bodily
characteristics such as fingerprints, faces and eyeballs, collectively
known as biometrics, has long been a goal of technologists and
governments alike. Plans for large-scale projects to incorporate
biometric scans into passports, identity cards and visas are now
under way in several countries. Since January 5 th the US has
been scanning foreigners from particular countries as they arrive at
its airports. Both the US and Europe plan to start issuing biometric
passports as soon as next year. Biometric identity cards are being
adopted in Hong Kong and Oman, and Britain plans to follow suit.
Biometric technology has been around for quite a while, but has not
been widely adopted, for good reason: while it can improve security
in some situations, its costs more frequently far outweigh its
benefits. Even the most advanced systems falsely reject a small
proportion of legitimate users, and falsely accept illegitimate ones.
At best, the introduction of biometric identity documents will
produce a marginal increase in security, at enormous cost. But at
worst, biometrics could, in fact, reduce security in several ways.
*** People are fascinated by juries. They are the focus of a
disproportionate number of novels and movies, and the 1995
murder trial of O.J. Simpson virtually brought the United States to a
standstill because people could not miss the exciting televised
court proceedings. Juries represent one of the most significant
decision-making groups, not only because they are presented as a
symbol of all that is democratic, fair and just in a society but also
because of the consequences of their decisions for defendants,
victims and the community. A case in point is the 1992 Los Angeles
riots, which were sparked by an unexpected 'not guilty' verdict
delivered by an all-white jury in the case of the police beating of a
black suspect. Juries are groups and thus are potentially prey to
the deficiencies of group decision-making. In addition to these
problems, there are a number of issues to do specifically with the
task confronted by juries. One issue is the influence of laws and
penalties on the jury. Harsh laws with stiff penalties tend to
discourage juries from convicting, which is quite the reverse of the
intention of legislators who introduce such laws. Juries have to deal
with enormous amounts of information presented in court. It has
been suggested that information delivered later in the trial is more
heavily weighted in decision-making. Further, inadmissible
evidence,that is the evidence given by witnesses or interjected by
counsel but is subsequently ruled to be inadmissible for procedural
reasons by the judge, still has an effect on jury deliberation.
*** A growing percentage ofthe American economy and of other
advanced industrial economies in Europe and Asia depends on
imports and exports. Foreign trade, both exports and imports,
accounts for a little over 25 per cent of the goods and services
produced in the United States, and even more in countries such as
Japan and Germany. This percentage will grow in the future. The
success of firms today and in the future depends on their ability to
operate globally. Globalization of the world's industrial economies
greatly enhances the value of information to the firm and offers new
opportunities to businesses. Today, information systems provide
the communication and analytic power that firms need for
conducting trade and managing businesses on a global scale.
Controlling the far-flung global corporation, which includes
communicating with distributors and suppliers, operating 24 hours a
day in different national environments and servicing local as well as
international reporting needs, is a major business challenge that
requires powerful information system responses. Globalization and
information technology also bring new threats to domestic business
firms: because of global communication and management systems,
customers now can shop in a worldwide marketplace, obtaining
price and quality information reliably, 24 hours a day. This
phenomenon heightens competition and forces firms to play in
open, unprotected worldwide markets. To become effective and
profitable participants in international markets, firms need powerful
information and communication systems.
*** Smoking has become unfashionable in most Western countries
over the past decade or more, yet its incidence remains high. Even
legislation against smoking in a shared work space and banning it
on public transport has had limited success, when measured by a
decline in the percentage of people still addicted to smoking. In
these countries, the highest rates of smoking tend to be found
among people in the 20-29 age group, teenage women and
working-class groups. Smokers tend to be well-informed about
illnesses related to their habit, such as lung cancer and heart
disease. Despite this knowledge, current smokers tend to
underestimate the risk of dying from smoking when compared with
former smokers and those who have never smoked. Antismoking
campaigns have used a wide variety of media and techniques to
discourage smoking. For example, one campaign adopted a
television commercial and poster, while another used a direct-mail
approach, along with radio advertisements. Various celebrities have
helped by performing at places of work and by recording verbal
messages. There have been different target groups. One campaign
aimed to reach women, who outnumber men in the under-18
smokers group, stressing the benefits of not smoking with respect
to health, beauty and fitness. Another used baby stickers. Another
campaign highlighted the benefits of a smoke-free workplace and
was conducted in major clothing chain stores, supplemented by
radio and television advertisements. There is a socially supportive
context nowadays to quit, and the recognition that passive smoking
is dangerous may help some in the future to quit permanently.
*** Gauguin began his career as a painter late in life. Born in Paris
in 1848 he was raised by his widowed mother in Peru, where his
paternal half Peruvian grandmother lived. "You know. I have Indian
blood, Inca blood, in me" he later wrote, "and it's reflected in
everything I do". At 17, Gauguin joined the French Navy and sailed
around the world, encountering many native cultures during the
ship's ports of call. In 1872, he married a Danish woman named
Mette Gad and they settled in Paris, where he worked as a
stockbroker for a decade. All the while, Gauguin collected
contemporary art by the impressionists -in particular Renoir, Monet,
Pissarro, who later became a friend, and Cezanne, whose primitive
style and sweeping colors affected him deeply. In 1883, at 35
Gauguin abruptly left his wife, his five children and his bourgeois
lifestyle to devote himself to art. He traveled to Brittany, where he
painted and sculpted, and to Martinique, where he discovered the
vibrant beauty of the tropics. Then he moved to Aries, in Provence,
where he and his friend Vincent van Gogh painted colorful
landscapes and planned their escape to Tahiti, which they imagined
as exotic, bountiful and free of stifling European mores.
*** The typical African-American seems uninterested in saving for
retirement. Statistics show that in recent years Americans in
general have become increasingly less disciplined about saving.
However, this trend is disturbingly prevalent among black
Americans. Only 59% of AfricanAmericans say they or their
spouses have saved for retirement, compared with 77% of white
workers, according to a recent survey. What are the reasons for
this disparity? Historically, there's been a cultural disconnection
between the retirement portrayed in the glossy brochures - lavish
vacations in high-priced villas - and the African-American reality.
Most blacks expect to go on working even after they have officially
retired, rather than lying around on a beach. Their experience in
retirement has never been like mainstream white America.
"Typically", they say, 'we work until we die". Researchers have
often attributed the savings gap for African-Americans to lower
wages or to a lower comfort level with the stock market. Those
factors do play a part, but even educated professional blacks
earning sixfigure incomes tend to ignore their retirement and follow
a wasteful way of life. Economists say the behavior mirrors that of
first-generation immigrants who engage in conspicuous
consumption. "Black professionals today are often first-generation
college graduates who, like other groups, want to symbolize that
they have succeeded."
 ÜDS FEN 2004 İLKBAHAR
*** A curious form of renewable-energy generation may be on the
horizon - with underwater turbines. These units harness the power
of tidally driven currents, which flow back and forth like clockwork,
making it possible to generate electricity on a predictable schedule.
In this respect, underwater turbines are more attractive than their
wind-driven counterparts, which are now employed widely to help
power electric grids. Underwater structures are also less likely to be
damaged by violent storms which have little effect on submerged
objects. And using underwater turbines sidesteps the common
objections to conventional hydropower - that damming a river stops
migrating fish and inundates land upstream. Underwater turbines
have long been used on a small scale. But soon now they will be
used on a large scale to produce megawatts of electric power.
*** Architects and engineers engage in design quite explicitly, and
they typically do so with distinct objectives. Architects tend to focus
on form over function, whereas engineers tend to do the opposite.
For most architects, the design of a building has firstly to do with
how it looks, both inside and out, and how it fits in with nearby
buildings. Architects are also expected to give considerable thought
to how the building will be used, how people will move through it,
how it will feel, although such considerations do not always seem to
be foremost in their minds judging by results, indeed, if architectural
criticism is taken at face value, architects do seem to be principally
concerned with the texture of a building's facade, the appearance
of its public spaces, the furniture with which it is filled. Architects
seem to pay close attention to details, even down to the nature of
the lighting fixtures and the hardware on doors and windows, but
not always to how they will be operated or how they will fulfill their
purpose. Nevertheless, such considerations collectively constitute
architectural and interior design.
*** Electric heating, which appeared in less than 1 per cent of
homes in the United States in 1950, now dominates most areas
with mild winters and cheap electricity, including the South and the
Northwest. Its popularity, at least in the South, was spurred by the
low cost of adding electric heating to new houses built with air-
conditioning. In the Northeast and Midwest, electricity has not been
a popular fuel because of its high cost for cold-weather heating and
because it delivers heat at 90 to 95°F, compared with 120 to 140°F
for gas and oil, which many in cold climates find preferable. In
some areas, such as California, electric heating has not progressed
because of building code restrictions. Bottled gas, which is
somewhat more expensive than utility gas, is the fuel ofchoice in
rural areas not served by utility pipelines. Wood, the dominant fuel
throughout the US economy until the 1880s, is the leading heating
fuel in just a few rural counties. Home heating, which accounts for
less than 7 per cent of all energy consumed in the US, has had a
commendable efficiency record: from 1978 to 1997, the amount of
fuel consumed for this purpose declined 44 per cent despite a 33
per cent increase in the number of housing units and an increase in
house size. This improvement came about thanks to better
insulation and more efficient equipment following the energy crisis
of the 1970s.
*** Biologists value marine organisms because their primitive
systems are good models for more complex organisms, such as
humans- Despite being genetically further from us than more
common research mammals, we share a surprising number of
evolutionary links with these basic animals. By understanding their
life processes and the way their systems react when things go
wrong, scientists hope to continue making important discoveries
that could help increase the chances of finding cures for serious
diseases such as cancer and AIDS. As research continues,
understanding increases about how our bodies and minds work,
but there is still a lot to learn. Obviously it takes a long time to work
out all the mechanisms, and there are still many new bioactive
compounds to be found in marine organisms. But by using sea
creatures to better understand human characteristics and
disorders, progress is being made.
*** Many people who are perfectly relaxed driving along the
highways become nervous when they get on an airliner, although
most knowfull well that flying is safer than driving. The statistics are
indeed clear on this point. For example, a paper published in 1991
documented the substantially lower risk of flying compared with
driving in the United States. Some of the many millions of
Americans who flew over the next few years probably derived
comfort from such hard facts. But now, a decade later, things have
changed. The hijacking of four large jets on September 11, 2001,
and the disastrous events that ensued led many to avoid flying in
the United States during the following months. For example, in the
fourth quarter of 2001, there was a drop of 18 per cent in the
number of passengers compared with the same time period in
2000. Many still avoid air-travel. Accordingly, it would be
appropriate to again calculate the risks involved in flying and
driving, taking into account the latest statistics, including the tragic
deaths of the passengers on those four hijacked planes.
*** The American chestnut was once the most common canopy
tree in the deciduous (non-evergreen) forests of the eastern United
States. It shaded areas from New England to Georgia until the
fungus Cryphonectria parasiticawiped out the species in the terrible
forest disaster of the early 20th century. The fungus continues to kill
chestnuts before they can mature. The vacuum left by the
chestnut's destruction is now filled with other species. Considerable
research has gone into understanding what happened to the
American chestnut. But some scientists remain interested in getting
to the root not of its destruction, but rather of the centuries of
dominance enjoyed by the massive, fragrant and economically
important tree.A team of scientists recently put forward the idea that
the American chestnut may have been engaged in the chemically
charged competition known as allelopathy. An allelopathic plant
releases potentially toxic substances into the environment through
its roots, its leaves or processes such as evaporation. Black walnut,
sycamore and sassafras trees are just a few known allelopaths that
limit the germination of competitor. It's likely that the list will soon
branch out to include chestnut. ---
 ÜDS SAĞLIK 2004 İLKBAHAR
*** For a drug to work, it has to get to the place in the body where
the problem lies, and that's why the science of pharmacokinetics is
important. Enough of the drug has to stay at the site of action until
the drug does its job, butnot so much that it produces severe side
effects or toxic reactions. Every doctor knows that selecting the
right dose is a tricky balancing act. Many drugs get to their site of
action through the bloodstream. How much time these drugs need
to work and how long their effects last, often depend onhow fast
they get into the bloodstream, how much of them gets into the
bloodstream, how fast they leave the bloodstream, how efficiently
they're broken down by the liver, and how quickly they're eliminated
by the kidneys and intestines.
*** In this experiment, patients were placed into a refrigerated
chamber for several minutes, and measurements were taken of
both their lung capacity and the temperature within their trachea.
On one of the experimental study days, the subjects were asked to
breathe entirely through their nose; on the other, their nose was
clipped tightly and they breathed through their mouth. The patients'
lung capacity dropped significantly on the mouth-breathing day
ofthe experiment; this correlated highly with a significant cooling of
the trachea. On the day they breathed only through their nose,
however, their lower airway function changed only minimally and
their intra-tracheal temperature remained close to normal. These
studies demonstrate that nasal breathing has an important
protective effect on the lower airways, most likely because the nose
is more effective at warming and moisturizing inspired air before it
passes into the lungs. In addition, a nose that is clear and free of
inflammation is better able to filter and remove airborne allergens
and pollutants than is the mouth.
*** The Norwegian-born psychologist Lovaas devised a highly
structured form of behaviour modification called "Applied
Behavioural Analysis" (ABA) as an aid for autistic children. The
theory behind ABA rests on the assumption that autistic children
have inefficient neurocircuits - specifically, connections that are not
as efficient as those found in normal children. In normal children, a
connection may go from A to B, but in the autistic brain the
connection may go from A to C to D to E before finally reaching B.
Inefficient connections result in more "noise", which is believed to
hinder social and cognitive development. Lovaas's therapy takes
advantage of the brain's ability to adapt and be retrained. When
people learn a particular skill, such as throwing a baseball, they are
reinforcing neurocircuits that are specific to that skill. When autistic
children are taught a specific behaviour through constant
repetition,the therapy is training the neurocircuits to respond in a
certain way and somehow teaching the brain to receive these
signals, which would otherwise be drowned out in a sea of noise. In
order to be effective, Lovaas has stressed that ABA therapy must
be started early, must be sufficiently intensive, and must be carried
out in part by the parents.
*** A British businessman, David Green, was determined to provide
India with good-quality, lowprice lenses for use in cataract surgery.
He got a group of expert engineers to design lenses that could be
produced cheaply, and got support to start a lens factory, as part of
Aurolab, in India. Now, the typical eye surgeon in India does 2,500
cataract operations a year as opposed to 125 or so in the US.
Thanks in part to such a steady demand and to India's cheap
labour, Aurolab today can sell roughly 700,000 lenses a year for as
little as $4 each and still make a profit. Aurolab, which operates as
an independent nonprofit organization, made money from the
beginning, it reinvests all proceeds into expanding its operations
and designing new products, such as sutures and eyeglasses. But
even at $4 a lens, how can the very poor afford eye surgery? At this
point the Aravind hospital provided the help that was needed. It set
up a scheme in which patients pay whatever they can. Those who
are relatively well-off pay more for their surgery, subsidizing the
very poorest, who pay nothing. Even with these subsidies, the
Aravind hospital makes $2 for every dollar it spends on cataract
surgery. This has enabled it to open up five more hospitals,
catering to some 100 million Indians.
*** The federal Elderly Nutrition Programme is intended to improve
older people's nutrition status and enable them to avoid medical
problems, live at home, and stay out of institutions. Its specific
goals are to provide low-cost, nutritious meals, opportunities for
social interaction and shopping assistance. The Elderly Nutrition
Programme provides for communal meal programmes.
Administrators try to select sites for communal meals so as to feed
as many eligible people as possible. Volunteers may also deliver
meals to those who are homebound either permanently or
temporarily; these efforts are known as Meals on Wheels. The
home-delivery programme ensures nutrition, but its recipients miss
out on the social benefit of the communal mealsites; every effort is
made to persuade older people to come to the shared meals, if
they can. All persons aged 60 years and older and their spouses
are eligible to receive meals from these programmes, regardless of
their income. However, should demand exceed supply, priority is
given to those who are economically and socially needy. An
estimated 25% of the nation's elderly poor benefit from these meals
every day of the week.
*** A chemical naturally produced in the body that works in a similar
way tocannabis is thought to hold the key to treating obesity. A
recent study found that oleylethanolamide (OEA) significantly
decreased the appetites of lab rats, with a resulting loss of weight.
Scientists are just beginning to understand OEA, which they
believe is manufactured in the small intestine. It is a naturally
occurring molecule in the same class of compound as cannabis'
active ingredient and acts on the same receptors. However, rather
than increasing the appetite,OEA has the opposite effect. The
chemical did not affect various functions of the rats', nervous
systems as other weight loss drugs do. "OEA is like a cousin to
cannabis - it has similar properties but a different personality. In this
case, it creates the opposite reaction", says the head researcher.
OEA could solve the problem of obesity, which greatly increases
the risk of diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, stroke and
some cancers.
 ÜDS FEN 2004 SONBAHAR
*** Florida's more than 1,000 miles of coastline contain about 150
drawbridges, more than are found in any other state. As these
bridges age and Florida grows and changes, many of them now
have to be replaced. But replaced with what? Recently there have
been very many controversies over drawbridges. One involved the
Belleair Beach Causeway, which was built in 1950. When it
approached the end of its 50-year lifespan, the choice for a
replacement came down to three options: a drawbridge the same
height as the existing span (21 feet above high tide) but wider, to
accommodate modern traffic levels; a drawbridge with a height of
45 feet; and a fixed span 65 feet tall. Each choice had its
advantages and disadvantages. The two drawbridges would have
created the least disruption in nearby communities. Opening a
drawbridge inconveniences motorists, however, and can cause a
dangerous delay for ambulances or in other emergencies. A
drawbridge also costs more to build and maintain. A high fixed span
would be cheaper and eliminate the delays, but it would require
extensive property acquisition to accommodate its approaches. It
would also tower over the area and block the views of many
residents, and some tall boats would be unable to fit underneath.
However after much debate and many hearings, the country board
settled on a high fixed span.
*** A new and quicker method to check or prove the existence of
weapons of mass destruction (WMD) is being developed. First, one
needs to know where they may be hidden and then a high-velocity
projectile can be fired at the target. High-tech sensors packed into
the projectile will then instantly beam back confirmation that the
weapons are there if indeed they are. It's a high-risk concept that
raises many questions, not least its technological feasibility and the
political protests that would follow if such a device were ever built
or used. But the US military is taking the idea seriously. Last year,
in a two-page research paper commissioned by the army, experts
from the Institute for Advanced Technology detailed real test results
of a prototype projectile designed to verify the existence of WMDs.
They say such a device offers a way to inspect for weapons without
permission or cooperation. To inspect reinforced concrete bunkers
or factory buildings suspected of housing WMDs, the researchers
designed a projectile that can penetrate several meters of
hardened concrete, without damaging its load of sensors. Its casing
is built from AerMet 100, a nickelcobalt steel with traces of
molybdenum and chromium. Heat-treating the casing after it is
made gives it an extremely hard surface. The tapering projectile is
230 millimeters long, with a maximum calibre of 45 millimeters.
*** To engineers, design typically has less to do with aesthetics and
appearance and more to do with fabrication and performance.
Engineers tend to focus on the structure behind the façade. They
worry about how the building will be built, how it will stand, whether
it will sway too much in the wind, whether it will survive an
earthquake, whether it will crack or leak. Engineers designing the
structural frame of hotel buildings take into account the strength
and stiffness of ballroom floors, where large crowds will gather and
rhythmic dancing will occur. Engineers are expected to think about
how a building will be heated and cooled, how air will circulate
among its spaces, how energy efficient it will be. In the ideal world,
the design efforts of architects and engineers complement each
other, resulting in a building that is both a joy to look at and a
pleasure to use. But all too often in practice, things do not work out
like that, and the users of the building pay the price. In most
buildings, the work of the architect masks, cloaks and hides the
work of the engineer. Engineering criticism is almost unheard of in
public discussions of building design, although it does sometimes
come to the fore when buildings fall down, as in the case of the
collapse of the World Trade Center towers.
*** At one point, during what was still a time of hopeful
experimentation with nuclear technology, the US considered using
atomic bombs to blow a trench through the isthmus of Panama.
The idea was to replace the 50-year-old Panama Canal, whose
locks were too narrow for the world's growing fleet of super-tankers
and aircraft carriers, with one that would be more suited to modern
conditions. The problem was not just the size of the locks but their
very existence. Ships don't simply sail through the Panama Canal;
they have to be lifted 85 feet to the elevation of the highest point
along the way and then brought down to sea level again. Each
ship's trip through requires 52 million gallons of fresh water, more
than most American cities use in a day, all of it flowing through
huge gravity-fed tubes. The source of this water supply is a vast
artificial lake whose dam also provides the electrical power for the
whole operation. To fill up and empty a single lock takes 40 minutes
on average, and when any one of the 12 locks shuts down for
maintenance, ship traffic can back up for days. Finally, with all that
complicated machinery, if the canal were to be sabotaged (as had
happened to the lockless Suez Canal in 1956), correcting the
damage might take years.
*** If the solar company's claims are borne out, its high- efficiency
cells will bring solar power closer to becoming a practical option for
home owners. The average power demand of a household is 2,000
to 3,000 watts. With solar cells around 20 per cent efficient, this
demand can be met with about 15 square meters of solar panels,
which is compact enough to fit on a rooftop. It has been estimated
that ready-to-install arrays will sell for around $10 per watt. That
cost may eventually fall further. For, as one spokesman for the
company said: “The trend is towards higher efficiency". Others
agree, but say silicon may not be the material that ultimately
delivers it. Thin films of cadmium telluride, for instance, are
showing promise in the lab. One London-based solar energy
systems supplier is very impressed with some new solar cells that
have just come on the market, both on account of their efficiency
and also because they are practical. They are very easy to connect
together," he points out, you can just put tabs on the sides of the
back contacts and connect one cell to another without wires."
*** Smoke is clouding our view of global warming, protecting the
planet from perhaps three-quarters of the greenhouse effect. That
might sound like good news, but experts say that, as the cover
diminishes in coming decades, we're in for a dramatic escalation of
warming that could be two or even three times as great as official
best guesses. This was the dramatic conclusion reached last week
at a workshop in Berlin. Scientists have suspected for a decade
that aerosols of smoke and other particles from burning rainforest,
crop waste and fossil fuels are blocking sunlight and counteracting
the warming effect of carbon dioxide emissions. Until now, they
reckoned that aerosols reduced greenhouse warming by perhaps a
quarter, cutting increases by 0.2°C. So the 0.6°C of warming over
the past century would have been 0.8°C without aerosols. But the
Berlin workshop concluded that the real figure is even higher
-aerosols may have reduced global warming by as much as three-
quarters cutting increases by 1.8°C. If so, the good news is that
aerosols have prevented the world getting almost two degrees
warmer than it is now. But the bad news is that the climate system
is much more sensitive to greenhouse gases than previously
guessed. In fact, warming could go up by 7 to10°C.
 ÜDS SOSYAL 2004 SONBAHAR
*** The German economy isn't getting any healthier. Growth
remains stagnant and businesses remain pessimistic about the
future. Real gross domestic product in the third quarter grew by
0.3%, after a 0.2% rise in the previous quarter. Household
spending was the main engine of growth in the period. Exports also
helped, rising 2.7%. The weakness came largely in business
investment, and construction spending also fell again. Government
loans slowed. Companies' views of current conditions have
stabilized. However, future expectations worsened, with the index
dropping to 95.8. That doesn't promise well for a rebound in
business spending. And recent rises in taxation and spending cuts
by the government could weigh on consumers.
*** Non-lethal weapons are typically given names that make them
sound ac ceptable; for example, the term "rubber bullet" was
adopted to suggest something soft and harmless. Jelly batons,
sponge grenades and bean bags sound like something from a
children's party, and you need to be aware that these "bean bags"
are canvas bags of lead shot. Similarly, the very term "stink bombs"
makes them sound like a practical joke instead of a chemical
warfare agent. Sometimes language is deliberately used to
mislead, as in the case of "rubber-coated bullets". These are steel
balls the size of marbles with a thin rubber coat, able to penetrate
the skull. There are also so-called "plastic bullets", which are high
velocity bul lets made of PVC.
*** The Postal Service has the longest history of monopoly power in
the country and has the distinction of being mentioned in the US
Constitution. In the past, the post office was impressive in using its
monopoly to maintain high wages despite a widespread reputation
for poor service. But these past accomplishments have been
severely diminished by its inability to control the entry of
competitors. First came FedEx Corp. and its associates, then the
fax machine, and then, most destructively, the Internet and e-mail.
The failure to get Congress to classify all these innovations as first
class mail and therefore the exclusive domain of the Postal Service
demonstrates a tremendous loss of muscle. Therefore, this
contestant fails to measure up and should probably not even be
nominated in the future.
*** Modern psychology considers childhood an extremely important
period of human development. Western culture views children as
vulnerable and requiring a great deal of attention, care and shelter
from harm. Many laws are designed to protect children from
dangerous toys, dangerous substances and even dangerous
parents. Our belief that all children ought to have a free public
education and that they should remain in school until adolescence
similarly reflects the view that childhood is a special and important
time. But these attitudes toward children reflect a relatively recent
conception of early development. The Greek and Roman
civilizations, for instance, which extended from about 600 B.C. to
about 400 A.D., are usually regarded as periods of great
enlightenment. Yet the status of children during those times was
hardly enviable. Although such great Greek thinkers as Plato and
Aristotle wrote of the importance of education, they also defended
practices that today would seem unthinkable. Infanticide, the killing
of newborns, was routine and viewed as an appropriate way to deal
with babies who were illegitimate, unhealthy or simply unwanted.
*** For more than ten years, Russia's relations with the advanced
countries of the western world had been a torrid and unsatisfying
mixture of unrequited love, misunderstanding and dashed hopes.
Actually, recently there have been big shifts on both sides. The
West is no longer trying to recast Russia in its own image. The
days are gone when politicians in the US used the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) as a foreign policy fund to promote particular
policies and politicians in Russia. These days, Russia runs itself
more or less as it likes. Its economic growth may be slow but it is
encouraging: Russia registered its third consecutive year of real
growth in 2001, with the average income up by 5% and at a time
when the world's big economies were sluggish. Although good
official connections in business still matter hugely, the days of
central planning are gone for good, as is the wild era of looting and
barter that followed the collapse of communism. Russia delivers its
oil and gas on ti me and is steadily paying off its foreign debts.
Compared with what might have happened, the outside world finds
that cheering.
*** Behavioral scientists have identified many powerful factors that
drive us to war - factors so numerous and so compelling that it is
hard to imagi ne how we will ever overcome them. Evolution seems
to have equipped us with strong tendencies to organize and kill. As
General John J. Pershing stated, "Men go to war because they
enjoy it." Like many mammals, we also possess the natural
tendency to protect our territory. Society is capable of suppressing
genetically-based tendencies, but when it comes to war, most
cultures actually fuel the flames. We deliberately instill nationalistic
pride in our children, and we teach them to assume roles and follow
orders which are all characteristics of the good soldier. In addition
we reduce the individuality of people by giving them uniforms; we
diffuse responsibility by having them use weapons in teams; we
dehumanize enemies by labeling them heathens, animals and so
on. Throw in financial incentives, some propaganda and a
charismatic leader or two, and we become more prone to war than
ever.
 ÜDS FEN 2005 İLKBAHAR
*** On 31 October 1994, a turboprop airliner heading for Chicago,
Illinois, crashed into a soybean field at Roselawn in Indiana. All 68
people aboard died. Although the weather was cold and damp that
day, no one could believe it when investigators revealed that the
crash was caused by a build-up of ice on the wings. Not only did
this modern plane have a fully functional de-icing system, but
according to US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) standards,
the French-built ATR-72 should have had no problems flying in the
cold, damp conditions. The pilots even knew their craft was icing up
and attempted to clear it, following de-icing procedures exactly.
*** It cannot be denied that buying locally grown food really does
offer big advantages, not just in freshness, but also in
environmental savings. Imported foods, especially those flown in
from the opposite hemisphere, use up huge amounts of jet fuel –
127 calories of fuelper calorie of Californian lettuce flown to Britain,
and 66 calories of fuel per calorie of South African carrot; that at
least is what a green research group based in London has
estimated. Much of that cost is hidden from consumers, because
air fuel attracts no tax – an advantage guaranteed by international
treaty. And under the Kyoto Protocol, carbon emissions from
international transports aren't added to national carbon-emission
tallies, because nobody can agree whose account to charge them
to. But the fuel used to import food and drink to Britain continues to
account for four million tonnes of CO2 emissions annually, which is
about 2.5 per cent of the national total.
*** In the first half of the 20th century, acid rain - whether natural or
unnatural - was a hidden phenomenon. By the 1950s, however, its
effects were becoming apparent to scientists in Scandinavia with
the loss of fish from mountain lakes. A network of rainwater
monitoring stations was set up across Europe, which very soon
proved the existence of acid rain as a result of human activities.
Acid rain was also charged with killing vast tracts of forest in
Germany. The effects of long-range sulphur pollution were looking
so worrying that the issue was placed before the world at the UN
Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm in 1972. The
outcome was that states are now responsible for ensuring that their
activities do not damage the environment of other states. This
paved the way for the development of programmes for reducing
long-range air pollution. The most important of these was the
Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution, attended
in 1979 by the world's leading industrial nations.
*** After a heavy rain one day 200,000 years ago, someone small
walked across some sand. Sand covered the tracks and eventually
they hardened into sandstone. More centuries passed, and the
sandstone eroded. Some construction workers on a break in
Nahoon, South Africa, discovered the tracks, which were thought to
be 30,000 years old. Now geologist Dave Roberts, at the Council
for Geoscience in Cape Town, has redated the impressions and
says they are 200,000 years old, the oldest human footprints on
Earth. "We have far more powerful dating techniques now", says
Roberts. He used thermoluminescence, a dating method that
measures when sand grains were last exposed to light. Only about
seven inches long, the prints clearly show five toes and a well-
developed arch.
*** By 2020, total meat consumption in developing countries is
predicted to have more than doubled. Yet livestock, especially in
wealthy countries, already munches its way through 36 per cent of
the world's grain harvest. All that grain exacts a heavy
environmental cost, because the increased demand pulls farmers
towards growing maize and soybean and away from pasture and
fodder crops such as alfalfa that do so much for soil health. And
grain-fed animals tend to be housed in huge feedlots, where
crowding causes disease and veterinary surgeons use more
antibiotics, and where vast mountains of manure pollute the
surroundings. Consumers could reverse many of these problems
by demanding meat from grass-fed livestock, or simply by eating
less meat. And as an added bonus for overfed Westerners, the
meat from grass-fed cattle is leaner than that from grain-fed
animals.
*** When it came to replacing the bridge at John's Pass, there were
certain special problems to be taken into consideration. The
previous bridge had had a life span of only 30 years, but in that
time the currents had caused extensive damage. But a more
serious problem connected with the currents is that the bridge has
to open on demand, rather than on a fixed schedule. Currents at
the inlet are particularly fierce, and making boats wait would be too
dangerous. This unpredictability makes life even tougher for
motorists. Yet a fixed bridge would make a stretch of the
Intracoastal Waterway impassable to boats taller than 65 feet, so
that option was ruled out almost immediately. When an examination
of the bridge's records showed that increasing the height would
reduce the frequency of closings only slightly, the state decided to
build a new drawbridge with the same height as the old one.
 ÜDS SAĞLIK 2005 İLKBAHAR
Despite all the attention we give to our hair, and putting aside the
fact that the first synthetic hair dyes were created in 1907, it has
really only been in the last 50 years or so that hair has been
scientifically studied. Before that, it was deemed too trivial to be
worthy ofthe attention, but the amount that scientists can now tell
about a person from the study of their hair,often simply by looking
at it under a microscope, is remarkable. Humans have around five
million body hairs which is as many as a chimpanzee has, although
ours are smaller and finer. They come in three types. An unborn
baby has a kind of fine down all over its body that begins to grow
about 12 weeks after conception. Normally, these "lanugo" hairs
are shed a few weeks before birth, although some premature
babies are born with them. After birth and throughout our lives,
humans are covered in short "vellus" hairs just a centimetre or two
long and with little or no pigment. Finally, the pigmented, thicker
hairs that grow in varying quantities on our heads, groin, armpits,
forearms and legs, and (on men) chests, stomachs and faces, are
"terminal" hairs.
*** Health care professionals may quickly dismiss alternative
therapies as ineffective and perhaps even dangerous, but their
clients think otherwise. In a survey of over 1,500 people, 1 out of
every 3 had used at least one alternative therapy in the past year
for a variety of medical complaints from anxiety and headaches to
cancer and tumours. Visits to alternative therapies outnumbered
visits to primary care physicians. Interestingly, those who seek
alternative therapies seem to do so not so much because they are
dissatisfied with conventional medicine, but because they find
these alternatives more in line with their beliefs about health and
life. Most often, people use alternative therapies in addition to,
rather than in place of, conventional therapies. Only a few of the
people surveyed saw an alternative therapist without also seeing a
physician; all of those with life-threatening conditions such as
cancer, diabetes or lung problems who used alternative therapies
saw a medical doctor as well. In fact, it seems that most people
seekalternative therapies for nonserious medical conditions or
health promotion. They simply want to feel better, and access is
easy.
*** The veterinarians who oversee laboratory animals often find
themselves in the position of having to perform procedures that
may not be in the best interest of their nonhuman patients. The
vet's goal then is to produce the best possible outcome for the
animal under the circumstances. When Larry Carbone started out
in that profession, he hoped to improve the condition of laboratory
animals while at the same time accommodating the needs of
researchers. Unfortunately, he found that, in practice, the ability of
veterinarians to advocate effectively for animals is limited by a
variety of factors. His new book is the fruit of the extensive
research he conducted to discover what determines how we view
laboratory animals and why policies concerning their care have
developed as they have. He examines the objectivity of those who
presume to know what these animals want and to speak for them,
showing that personal beliefs, theories and ideologies colour even
the most scientific reports.
*** Evidence from epidemiological studies carried out in the US
shows that a sedentary life-style increases the incidence of more
than 20 chronic diseases. One such study, a Nurses' Health Study,
concerned 70,000 female nurses aged 40 to 65 years, it was found
that, when nurses walked the equivalent of three or more hours per
week at a brisk pace, they had 30 per cent less coronary artery
disease, ischemic stroke and type-2 diabetes, as compared to
sedentary nurses. In another study, some site-specific cancers
were found to be also more prevalent when moderately active
females become inactive. Breast cancer rates rose 25 per cent
among the sedentary in one study, and each one-hour decrease of
recreational physical activity per week during adolescence was
associated with a 3 per cent increased risk of breast cancer.
Indeed, physical inactivity is now the third leading cause of death in
the US and contributes to the second leading cause, which is
obesity. Physical inactivity is one of the causes of at least 1 in 8
deaths.
*** A century ago, most people who suffered traumatic injuries or
contracted serious infections died soon afterward. Also those who
developed heart disease or cancer had little expectation of a long
life after the disease was diagnosed. Death was a familiar
experience, and most people expected little more than comfort care
from doctors. Today, death is often seen as an event that can be
deferred indefinitely rather than as an intrinsic part of life. The
leading causes of death for people over age 65 years are heart
disease, cancer, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease,
pneumonia and dementia. Medical procedures commonly extend
the lives of people who have these diseases, often giving people
many years in which quality of life and function are quite good.
Sometimes, however, procedures extend life, but the quality of life
and function decline.
*** Discussion about the use of antidepressants by children, which
is always a hot topic, boiled over in September when hearings
revealed that both the drug industry and the Food and Drug
Administration (FDA) had concealed strong evidence about the
dangers associated with the most widely prescribed drugs, a class
known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). The
analysis of the test results, which pharmaceutical companies had
failed to release to the public and which the FDA had sat on for a
year, indicated that these SSRIs double the suicide risk in
depressed juveniles yet help no more children in trials than
placebos do. The highprofile congressional and FDA hearings were
made all the more dramatic as parents recounted how their children
had moved from moderate depression to suicidal depression within
days of starting SSRIs. Some of these children had died during the
year of delayed FDA action.
 ÜDS SOSYAL 2005 İLKBAHAR
*** From birth to age 10, our developmental focus is on learning
how to be human beings - learning to move, to communicate,
tomaster basic skills. These often require the mastery of learned
social and cultural conventions, traditions, and rituals, such as
movements associated with various games, differences in spoken
or written languages, and our culture's definition of good manners.
The initial development is slow and awkward, but children generally
function at a rapid automatic level by age 10. Adults usually allow
young children to make mistakes. We smile indulgently and offer
support rather than criticism as toddlers trip and as 2-year-olds
make language errors. We are there principally to protect their
safety and to applaud their successes because we realize that
toddling leads to walking and running, and babbling leads to
speaking, reading and writing.
*** The reasons for language death range from natural disasters to
different forms of cultural assimilation. Small communities in
isolated areas can easily be wiped out by earthquakes, hurricanes,
tsunamis and other natural disasters. On 17th July 1998, a 7.1
magnitude earthquake off the coast of Papua New Guinea killed
more than 2.2Q0 people and displaced a further 10,000 people.
Many villages were destroyed; and some 30% of the villagers were
killed. The people in these villages had been identified as being
sufficiently different from each other in their speech to justify the
recognition of four separate languages, but the numbers were very
small. Moreover, as the survivors moved away to care centers and
other locations, these communities and thus their languages could
not survive the trauma of displacement.
*** In London's theatres, tastes seem to be changing. Though
audiences are not falling, that's mostly thanks to the allure of
musicals, not plays. The commercial London Theatres ran at 65%
capacity in 2003, the most recent year for which figures are
available. But this disguises a big difference between musicals and
plays. For the musicals, attendance averages 68% of capacity; for
plays, attendance is somewhat lower, at 56%. So if a show doesn't
contain some singing and plenty of dancing, half the chairs are
likely to remain empty. And In a business in which the costs are all
fixed, a few more tickets sold can make all the difference. However,
London's subsidized theatres are doing unusually well. For
example, at the National Theatre, which receives around £14
million in public money every year, attendance has been running at
over 90% of capacity for the past 20 months. That's partly thanks to
sponsorship and partly to aggressive programming.
*** In his three-and-a-half years in the job, the President of Harvard
University seems to have upset a large number of people. First, he
said students were getting too many "A" grades because of grade
inflation, {which was correct). Then he attacked a professor on
account of his extra-curricular activities. Now he has suggested that
one of the reasons women achieve less in science and maths is
that they have less innate ability. The President's -comments were
off the record; but he has since confirmed that he did draw attention
to the possibility that innate differences, rather than social factors,
such as education and treatment in the workplace, might have a
rote to play. This has resulted in a great deal of violent criticism
from many quarters. But, scientifically speaking is he correct?
*** Immigrants have long complained about US employers who
cheat or abuse them and threaten to have them deported if they
protest. Generally, the problem has been confined to the lowest
rungs of the workforce, such as Mexican farm hands who enter the
country illegally. But nowadays, the weak US economy has sparked
an outbreak of abusive treatment among the legions of professional
immigrant employees who flocked to the US on perfectly valid visas
during the late-1990s boom. Usually, theirs are the cases of
employers who do not pay full salary or benefits.
*** Spain's third-largest bank, Banco Popular, raised some
eyebrows recently when it agreed to buy Portugal's Banco Nacional
for $638 million. Shareholders voted overwhelmingly in approval of
the acquisition. Normally, however, Popular's approach is far more
conservative: a singleminded devotion to organic retail growth in its
home market as opposed to takeovers. Over the past decade, the
bank has worked hard to build its base, cultivating the market for
mortgages, consumer loans, and, recently, loans to small and
midsize businesses. As rivals looked to the New World and bought
up smaller banks at home. Popular expanded its retail network to
2,200 branches throughout Spain, it also added Internet and
telephone banking operations that are based in the branches. The
effort has paid off. In each of the past three years, the bank has
gained 300,000 customers.
 ÜDS FEN 2005 SONBAHAR
*** There have been stories in the press about mobile phones
sparking explosions at petrol stations. But according to the GSM
Association, a worldwide body for mobile phone makers, none of
these reports has ever been traced back to a real event. But there
is a real safety concern, and it's not about radio emissions from
mobiles as you might have thought. Instead, the GSM Association
says there is a theoretical risk that if a hand-held phone is dropped
and the battery separates from the phone, it could cause a spark
across the contacts. This is equally true of other battery-powered
devices such as torches, Walkmans and CD players. But it's far
more likely that mobile phones cause a hazard at petrol stations by
distracting their users while they're operating a petrol pump.
*** All multi-engined aircraft are designed to keep flying in the
event of engine failure. Losing thrust from one "side of an aircraft
unbalances it and causes the nose of the aircraft to turn in the
direction of the failed engine. Aircraft have a vertical stabilizer (the
upright at the back) to keep the aircraft's nose into the wind, with a
rudder attached to it for fine tuning. Moving the rudder into the
airflow creates a sideways force, which turns the aircraft around its
vertical axis. When this is applied in the direction of the failed
engine, the force created by the rudder will counteract the turn
induced by the uneven engine thrust. The vertical stabilizer and
rudder are sized to control the uneven thrust caused by an engine
failure at the most demanding limits or the flight envelope, as they
must be capable of generating powerful turning forces.
*** Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are among the most intense areas of
research in high-energy astrophysics, and they represent the
largest known explosions in the universe. Last year, NASA
launched the Swift satellite to rapidly locate and observe GRBs and
their afterglows at x-ray, ultraviolet and optical wavelengths. These
afterglow observations are particularly important for the
understanding or these enormous explosions that occur at
cosmological distances near the edge of the observable universe.
Amateur astronomers, due to their large numbers, their ability to
respond quickly to the randomly located GRBs and the availability
of highly sensitive CCD cameras, have been able to provide
important, early data on the optical afterglows of GRBs in the past
few years. Indeed, at least one optical afterglow from a GRB was
discovered by an amateur astronomer. Observations can be done
with even a modest-size telescope, provided the observations are
made quickly enough.
*** Formerly, potatoes were grown on unirrigated land, which often
meant they were small and probably misshapen. Now, however,
farmers routinely irrigate their lands to produce products acceptable
to the fast-food industry for its French fries. But in Minnesota the
groundwater that farmers pump for potatoes has turned out to be
the same water that helps to sustain the Straight River, a major
trout fishery. Even modest pumping for potatoes, a federal study
eventually concluded, had the potential to reduce the river's flow by
one third during the irrigation season, with adverse impact on the
brown trout. For now, the trout are not in danger, but that could
change if Minnesota were to approve applications from farmers still
eager to see potato planting and irrigation widen.
*** If engineers waited for the development of scientific knowledge
to use and organize into technological achievements, ours would
be a very different world from what we know. In engineering, it is
not so much science as it is ingenuity that is applied to solve
problems and satisfy needs and wants. If this were not so, the
steam engine would never have been invented in the absence of
thermodynamics. The Wright Brothers would not have flown since
they had no aerodynamics textbooks. The astronauts would never
have landed on the Moon nor the rovers on Mars without firm
geological knowledge of their surfaces. Rather than following
scientific theories and discoveries, engineering leads them.
Operating steam engines prompted the development of
thermodynamics, actual powered flight drove aerodynamics, and
Moon and Mars missions brought back samples and sent back data
that led to increased scientific knowledge about those
extraterrestrial bodies.
*** The people of Blaenavon in South Wales were understandably
worried. The opencast mine only 1 kilometer north of their town had
served the great Blaenavon ironworks when they opened in the
Iate18"1 century. But it had been lying derelict for decades and now
British Coal Opencast wanted to mine the remaining 320,000
tonnes of coal. At opencast sites, for every tonne of coal recovered,
up to 40 tonnes of rock has tobe extracted. So, in the case of
Blaenavon, unless precautionary measures were taken, the air in
the town was going to be thick with dust. Precautionary measures
were taken, based on well-tried techniques. For instance, tall spray
masts were erected around dumps to provide a curtain of rain to
entrap and wash out dust from the air, and the wheels of every
vehicle leaving the site were washed. Further, reclaimed areas
were planted with trees and grass from day one. With these and
other measures this turned out to be a success story for all
concerned. In fact, during the entire mining and reclamation project
not a single complaint about nuisance dust was made to the local
authority.
 ÜDS SOSYAL 2005 SONBAHAR
*** To some people, branding is about the art of lying successfully
and creating value out of nothing. A good brand inspires trust, but
the relationship between the brand and the reality of the product
offered is frequently elastic. Branding is therefore an art and the
people who do it best are in great demand. In many business
segments entry is easy as barriers are low and there is scarcely
any means of differentiating yourproduct from that of the
competitor. Branding is all there is left to make a difference. Mobile
phone companies are a classic lease, in which one company can
copy the competitor's contracts.Each company offers virtually the
same handsets. Apart from network coverage, brand is everything.
Another classic example is airlines. Anyone can charter the same
Boeing 737and run an airline as long as it can secure slots. The
difference is finally down to service and marketing.
*** In an agreement made outside the courts in Basle, Switzerland,
Nigerian state representatives, Swiss federal officers and
executives from a dozen European banks have agreed on the
return of around 1.1 billion euros of the late dictator Sani Abacha's
investments, to Nigeria. The conclusion of what has been one of
the world's largest investigations into money laundering comes as a
huge relief to regulators and bankers in Switzerland, the UK,
Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and Jersey, the destinations that
provided safe havens for Abacha's stolen millions. In exposing just
how easily Abacha was able to make deposits of tens or hundreds
of millions of dollars in European banks that pride themselves on
watchfulness and integrity, the Nigerian investigators highlighted
major failings in both the legislative and executive competencies of
the European banking community. Reform has already taken place.
Undoubtedly more will follow, but the sorry tale of how Europe's
banks aided the dictator's outrageous years of theft cannot be
forgotten.
*** With their magnificent architecture and sophisticated
knowledge of astronomy, and mathematics, the Maya boasted one
of the great cultures of the ancient world. Although they had not
discovered the wheel and were without metal tools, the Maya
constructed massive pyramids, temples and monuments of stone
both in large cities and in smaller ceremonial centers throughout
the lowlands of the Yucatan Peninsula, which covers parts of what
are now southern Mexico and Guatemala and essentially all of
Belize. From celestial observatories, they tracked the progress, for
example, of Venus and developed, a calendar based on a solar
year of 365 days. They created their own system of mathematics,
using a base number of 20 with a concept of zero. And they
developed a hieroglyphic scheme for writing, one that used
hundreds of elaborate signs.
*** Almost 50 years ago, the scientist and novelist Charles Percy
Snow delivered a lecture at the University of Cambridge in which
he described a problematic situation that he termed "the two
cultures". According to C. P. Snow, as he came to be most
commonly known, it was the circumstances of his involvement in
both the physics and the writing communities, mostly in Britain, that
gave him an unusually diverse perspective on intellectual life at
mid-century. Although he noted thatmembers of the two groups that
he moved among had similar social origins, possessed comparable
intelligence and earned about the same amount of money, they
barely communicated with each other. Snow observed that their
intellectual, moral and psychological climates had so little in
common that they may as well have come from different parts of
the world. He feared that the intellectual life of the whole of western
society was increasingly being split into two polar groups
characterized by physical scientists and "literary intellectuals".
*** As for the lifestyle in the Netherlands, the Dutch have a
deserved reputation for being easygoing. But as with any country,
there are some surprises for newcomers to get used to. For
instance, the amount of bureaucracy strikes them as remarkable
when they first move to the Netherlands. Want to light a small fire in
your garden? You'll need permission from the local government.
Fancy painting your house? Better check with the government first.
A major problem is the tightening up of immigration laws on a large
scale. The problem is that the Netherlands is a small country that is
facing a lot of immigration, so they are making it tougher and
tougher. But, actually, racism is foreign to the Dutch culture. They
are very accepting; they take you as you are.
*** Patent laws do little or nothing to help poor countries dig their
way out of poverty, and could even make matters worse. That's the
controversial conclusion of an independent commission on
intellectual property rights appointed by the British government. Its
report, launched recently in Geneva, contains 50 radical
recommendations to help make these rights work to the advantage
of poor countries. Britain's Department for International
Development has already promised to look hard at the suggestions,
but it's unclear whether the rest of the international community will
listen. The World Trade Organization has persuaded most
countries to sign an intellectual property rights (IPR) agreement
that obliges them to impose Western style laws on everything from
patents to copyrights by 2006. But the new report argues that these
laws only benefit rich countries with strong traditions of invention,
and do little to aid the transfer of technology to poor countries. The
report argues that poor countries should be given a lot more
flexibility So as to customize those laws, and up to a decade longer
to do so. At present, many poor countries don't have intellectual
property laws at all. That means local inventors can't get protection
for their ideas, but it also means people can buy cheap versions of
medicine or software that have been patented elsewhere. Since
poor countries often have little to patent in the first place, the
benefits of having no laws can outweigh the disadvantages.
 ÜDS FEN 2006 İLKBAHAR
*** How have terrestrial organisms met the environmental
challenges of living on land? Life began in the oceans, but many
life forms have since adapted to terrestrial life in a sea of air. Every
single organism living on land has to meet the same environmental
challenges: obtaining enough water; preventing excessive water
loss; getting enough energy; and in polar regions, tolerating widely
varying temperature extremes. How those challenges are met
varies from one organism to another, and in large part explains the
diversity of life encountered on land today. Some animals avoid
colder temperatures by migrating to warmer climates for the winter,
whereas others avoid the cold by passing the winter in a dormant
state called hibernation. Many plants also spend winter in a
dormant state. The aerial parts of some plants die during the winter,
but the underground parts remain alive; the following spring they
resume metabolic activity and develop new aerial shoots. Many
trees are deciduous; that is, they shed their leaves for the duration
of their dormancy. Shedding leaves is actually an adaptation to the
“dryness” of winter. Roots cannot absorb water from ground that is
cold or frozen; by shedding its leaves the plant reduces water loss
during the cold winter months when obtaining water from the soil is
impossible.
*** Henrik-Jan van Veen has carried out a great deal of research
into spinning. This is especially true for “graveyard spins”, the term
for what happens when fighter pilots get so disoriented they
miscalculate how to get their plane back on course. They can end
up in a dangerous and often fatal spin. Van Veen works at a
research lab run by the Netherlands Organization for Applied
Scientific Research, the TNO. The range of research covered by
the TNO is vast, and it sees itself as a practical problemsolver. And
for the Dutch air force, the graveyard spin is certainly a problem
that needs solving. Van Veen’s specialty is “vibrotactile devices”,
which use vibrations to convey information. His latest project is a
vest studded all over with small discsthat can each vibrate
independently. In a test room, a pilot is strapped into a seat in a
“cockpit”. At the push of a button, the lights go out and the chair
starts spinning. After a while the chair is stopped. “He’ll think he’s
spinning the other way now”, says van Veen. The pilot is told to
correct the spin, but instead, he overcorrects massively, and the
chair begins spinning again. In the next test, the pilot dons van
Veen’s vest and is told that the patch of the vest that is vibrating will
indicate the direction he should force the joystick to correct a spin.
This time, when the chair stops spinning the pilot manages to keep
the seat still. Van Veen thinks the vibrotactile vest could do more
than save the lives of fighter pilots. He’s now working on linking the
system to a GPS receiver so that tourists in a foreign city or blind
people in an unfamiliar environment can use the vest to find their
way around.
*** For almost 200 years, the idea of cosmic events affecting life on
Earth was viewed as heretical by the church, which regarded
catastrophe as proof of divine intervention, and as nonsense by the
scientific establishment, which dismissed it as superstition. Yet in
the end, the sheer weight of evidence has swept away all doubt
about the reality of global catastrophes. Attempts to make scientific
sense of the many legends of global catastrophes date back to the
dawn of modern science itself, in the 17 th century. Following the
publication of Newton’s laws of motion and universal gravitation in
1687, Edmond Halley decided to apply them to the mystery of
comets. By studying records of their appearance, Halley argued
that the bright comets of 1456, 1531, 1607 and 1682 were in fact
one comet, laterknown as the “Halley” comet, that followed a vast
elliptical orbit around the Sun in agreement with Newton’s laws. But
Halley noted something else as well: a comet crossing the orbit of
the Earth might one day collide with us with devastating
consequences.
*** Except perhaps for some remote island dwellers, most people
have a natural tendency to view continents as fundamental,
permanent and even characteristic features of Earth. One easily
forgets that the world’s continental platforms amount only to
scattered and isolated masses on a planet that is largely covered
by water. But when viewed from space, the correct picture of Earth
becomes immediately clear. It is a blue planet. From this
perspective it seems quite extraordinary that over its long history,
Earth could manage to hold a small fraction of its surface always
above the sea — enabling, among other things, human evolution to
proceed on dry land. Is the persistence of highstanding continents
just an accident? How did Earth’s complicated crust come
intoexistence? Has it been there all the time, like some primeval
icing on a planetary cake, or has it evolved through the ages? Such
questions engendered debates that divided scientists for many
decades, but the fascinating story of how the terrestrial surface
came to take its present form is now partly resolved. That
understanding shows, remarkably enough, that the conditions
required to form the continents of Earth may be unmatched in the
rest of the solar system.
*** In his preface to Spaceflight Revolution, David Ashford recalls
how he started his research into rocket motors. As he later
explains, these were motors that would power aspace plane — one
that would launch space travellers and satellites cheaply and
reliably into orbit. That was 1961. Ashford admits he would
probably have taken another job if he’d known that, 42 years later,
satellites would still be launched by rockets descended from
ballistic missiles. The technology is there, but political and
budgetary decisions have so far stopped space planes getting off
the ground. But Ashford presents a compelling argument that a
small orbital space plane would cost relatively little to design and
develop — the equivalent of just two shuttle flights.
*** The Wireless Museum has several of the earliest crystal
wireless sets from the 1920s which ran on electromagnetic waves
with no external power source, and were easily made at home.
Valve radios, which came along in the 1930s, needed electricity to
heat up the valves and the museum has both mains and battery-
powered valve radios on display. The collection also has some rare
wartime civilian receivers — the only type of valve radio
manufactured during the Second World War. This was by order of
the government, because at this time most manufacturing was
focused on the war effort. There are also plenty of modern day
transistor radios including a collection of novelty radios dating from
the sixties and seventies.--
ÜDS SAĞLIK 2006 İLKBAHAR
*** Aging involves multiple harmful biological events that
accumulate in different tissues overtime and gradually reduce an
organism’s state of maintenance and function. Calendar time,
however, serves as an imperfect measurement of the physiological
processes involved in aging.We all know individuals who are the
same chronological age but appear to be very different when it
comes to physiological age. Rather than counting years — or gray
hairs, for that matter — modern gerontologists turn to biological
markers, or biomarkers, of aging. These physiological parameters
indicate an individual’s functional level and some biomarkers, such
as insulin levels, correlate with mortality. The presence of such
biomarkers depends indirectly on patterns of gene expression,
which are induced by a variety of internal or external stimuli.
*** Cardiac transplantation, once considered an experimental
procedure, has emerged as the therapy of choice for many
appropriately selected patients with life-threatening irremediable
heart disease. Congestive heart failure (CHF), the primary
indication for cardiac transplantation, is the most commonly
reported reason for hospital admission. A knowledge of cardiac
transplantation medicine is therefore important for all physicians, as
transplantation should be considered a therapeuticoption for many
of these patients. In the past, post-cardiac transplant care was
largely performed by specialized transplant physicians, primarily
cardiologists and cardiovascular surgeons. As survival after cardiac
transplantation has improved markedly over the last decade, the
population of patients who are long-term survivors after heart
transplantation has grown. Primary care physicians, as well as
cardiologists not based at cardiac transplant centres, often assist
inthe care of these patients, most often inconsultation with cardiac
transplant physicians. In addition, a physician may be called on to
assist in the management and evaluation of a potential cardiac
donor.
*** When a patient sees a doctor, the patient is seeking help –- to
regain or retain health. The physician’s task is to work for the
patient’s health. The doctor does so by treating disease, by
relieving discomfort, by assisting the patient with any disability, by
preventing premature death, and by maximizing contentment.
(Some have summarized these activities as tackling “the fiveD’s” of
health – disease, discomfort, disability, death, and dissatisfaction).
Often there is success in all these areas. In the best of
circumstances, the doctor is able to prevent disease and help the
patient remain healthy. In other cases, disease and death defeat
us. In some cases none of the goals are achieved, but even that
outcome must not stop us from trying. By focusing on the health of
the patient, the doctor tests the myriad activities of clinical medicine
against the health outcome of the patient.
*** Cancer describes a class of diseases characterized by the
uncontrolled growth of aberrant cells. Cancers kill by the
destructive invasion of normal organs through direct extension and
spreadto distant sites via the blood, lymph, or serosal surfaces. The
abnormal clinical behaviour of cancer cells is often mirrored by
biologic aberrations such as genetic mutations, chromosomal
translocations, expression of fetal or other discordant ontologic
characteristics, and the inappropriate secretion of hormones or
enzymes. All cancers invade or metastasize but each specific type
has unique biologic and clinical features that must be appreciated
for proper diagnosis, treatment and study. About 1.2 million new
cases of invasive cancer are diagnosed each year in the United
States, and about 500,000 people die annuallyof the disease.
Cancer is the second most deadly disease and is expected to
surpass heart disease early in the twenty-first century to top that
vicious list. Over the past half century, the frequency of most
cancers has been stable, but some dramatic changes have taken
place. Steady declines in stomach and uterine cancerhave
occurred, the latter undoubtedly due to routine cytologic screening
for cervical cancer. The cause of the decline in stomach cancer is
unknown. The most striking change has been the increases in lung
cancer in both men and women, undoubtedly related to smoking.
*** Medicine is not a science, but a profession that encompasses
medical science learning as well as personal, humanistic, and
professional attributes. Nonetheless, the delivery of Western
medicine depends totally on science and the scientific method.
Since Flexner issued his famous report on the subject in 1910,
American medical education has striven to develop a strong
scientific base as an integral part of medical education at every
level: premedical, medical, residency and continuing medical
education. Biomedical science is fundamental to understanding
disease, making diagnoses, applying new therapies and
appreciating the complexities and opportunities of new
technologies. The process of becoming a physician and being
committed to lifelong learning requires that one possess the
scientific base not only to acquire and appreciate new knowledge
but to see new ways for applying it to patient care as well. The
physician must be able to understand reports of current research in
the medical literature in order to grasp and evaluate the newest and
latest approaches, no matter how complicated the field may
become.
*** In the past, lead poisoning was thought to arise from
pica(abnormal ingestion) among children living in old, broken-down
houses with peeling layers of leadbased paints. In the past two
decades, lead intoxication has occurred with decreasing frequency.
This may in part be relatedto less use of lead in paint and leaded
gasoline; several studies relate environmental lead contamination
to traffic density patterns. In the United States, hundreds of
occupations involve potentially significant exposure. It is estimated
that more than 800,000 American workers have potentially
significant lead exposure. Lead and other metal workers or miners,
storage battery workers, and pottery makers are particularly heavily
exposed. Workers in auto manufacturing, ship building, paint
manufacture and printing industries are also at substantial risk, as
are house painters and those who repair oldhouses. In past
centuries lead was addedto wine to sweeten it, a deception that
was eventually made punishable by death. Recently, adding leadto
various herbal and folk medicines has resulted in poisoning. Bullets
left in the body can result in lead poisoning, especially if a joint is
involved, because synovial fluid appears to be a good solvent for
lead. The interval between the bullet getting embedded in the body
and clinical evidence of lead poisoning has ranged from 2 days to
40 years.
 ÜDS SOSYAL 2006 İLKBAHAR
*** The US Supreme Court is not aradical institution, nor is it likely
to become one asa result of any particular presidential election.
The risks for the judiciary in presidential elections are a lot lower
than many people imagine. This is not because there are no
significant ideological or methodological differences among judges.
Differences do exist, and they display party affiliation to some
extent. And they matter – not just on public issues such as abortion
rights and racial discrimination but also in those procedures that
actually guide the way lower courts handle a large variety of legal
cases. That said, the courts have pretty strong institutional
defences against radicalism of any kind. For one thing, the
judiciary’s power is spread among more than 800 federal judges,
no one of whose views matter all that much in the broad scheme of
things. Even onthe Supreme Court the idiosyncrasies or ideological
extremism of any one judge can have only a limited effect. Without
four likeminded judges, his or her views are just noise.
*** American schools need moretime if they are to teach efficiently.
The school year is fixed at or below 180 days in all but a handful of
states – down from more than 190 in the late nineteenth century,
when Saturday-morning sessions were common. The instructional
day is only about six hours, of which much is taken up with
nonacademic matters. In 1994, a national commission calculated
that in four years of high school a typical American student puts in
less than half as much time on academic subjects as do students in
Japan, France and Germany. Extending the school day orthe
school year can get expensive and complicated, and reducing
nonacademic electives and physical education brings complaints
from parents and students alike. But there is one quite cheap and
uncomplicated way to increase study time: add more homework.
You may not be surprised to learn that homework raises student
achievement, at least in the higher grades. For young children
homework appears not to be particularly helpful. Even among older
students it is hard to be sure of the extent to whichmore homework
may lead to higher achievement.
*** During the Renaissance, especially in the sixteenth century, it
was customary to debate the preeminence of the arts, particularly
as between painting and sculpture. The more commonly accepted
opinion is represented by Benvenuto Cellini, who thought that
sculpture is eight times as great as any other art based on drawing,
because a statue has eight views and they must all be equally
good. A painting, he said, is nothing better thanthe image of a tree,
man, or other object. In fact, the difference between painting and
sculpture isas great as between a shadow and the object casting it.
Leonardo, on the other hand, thought that painting is superior to
sculpture because it is more intellectual. By this he meant that as a
technique it is infinitely more subtle in the effects that it can
produce, and infinitely wider in the scope it offers to invention or
imagination. Michelangelo, when the question was referred to him,
in his wise and direct way said that things which have the same
end are themselves the same, and that therefore there could be no
difference between painting and sculpture except differences due
to better judgment and harder work.
*** Governments have learned tovalue innovation these days for
good reason. Far from being simply some missing factor in the
growth equation, innovation is now recognized as the single most
important ingredient in any modern economy. It actually accounts
for more than half of economic growth in America and Britain. In
short, it is innovation, more than the application of capital or labour,
that keeps the world economy going. As a result, economists have
decided that the innovators of the world are due some special
recognition. It is not possible to recognize all the countless
innovations that have helped to spread wealth, health and human
happiness around the world. But a handful of people who have
made the biggest contribution to the wealth-creation process in
their own fields over the past few years, have been nominated for
awards.
*** A nonprofessional-class working mother, who has been forced
unwillingly into the labour market, is oppressed by various unique
forces. She is oppressed by the fact that her work is oftentimes
physically exhausting, ill-paid, and devoid of benefits such as
health insurance and paid sick leave. She is oppressed by the fact
that it is impossible to put a small child in reliable day-care if you
make only a minimum wage, and she is oppressed by the terrible
child-care options that are available at an inexpensive rate. She is
oppressed by the fact that she has nothing to fall back on. If she is
out of work, and her child needs a visit to the doctor and antibiotics,
she may not be able to afford those things and will have to treat her
sick child with unprescribed medications, which themselves are far
from cheap.
*** Because a play presents its action through actors, its impact is
direct, immediate, and heightened by the actor’s skills. Instead of
responding to words on a printed page, the spectator sees what is
done and hears what is said. The experience of the play is
registered directly upon his senses. It may therefore be fuller and
more compact. Where the work of prose fiction may tell us what a
character looks like in one paragraph, how he moves or speaks in a
second, what he says in a third, and how his auditors respond in a
fourth, the acted play presents this material all at once.
Simultaneous impressions are not separated. Moreover, this
experience is interpreted by actors who may be highly skilled in
rendering nuances of meaning and strong emotion. Through facial
expression, gesture, speech rhythm, and intonation, they may be
able to make a speaker’s words more expressive than can the
reader’s unaided imagination. Thus, the performance of a play by
skilled actors, expertly directed, gives the playwright a tremendous
source of power.
 ÜDS FEN 2006 SONBAHAR
*** Over billions of years, life has evolved into a spectacular
diversity of forms – more than a million species presently exist. For
each, the source of its uniqueness is the particular combination of
proteins found within its cells. Yet in the midst of this diversity, the
similarities between living things are profound. For example,
although the fruit fly genome encodes about 14,000 different
proteins, and humans have two to three times that number, many
proteins are still recognizably similar in sequence and task,
reflecting their common ancestry. In fact, when scientists have put
human disease genes into flies, they often cause the same
symptoms in the insects as they do in people. Furthermore,
addition of a normal human gene can sometimes compensate for
the deletion of the same gene from the fly.
*** Carbon dioxide (CO2), like water and most other pure
substances, exists in solid,liquid, and gaseous states and can
undergo changes from one state to another. Solid CO2, however,
has an interesting property: at normal pressures, it passes directly
to the gaseous state without first melting to the liquid state. This
property, together with the fact that this change occurs at -78°C,
makes solid CO2useful for keeping materials very cold. Because
solid CO2cools other objects and does not leave a liquid residue, it
is called “dry ice”. As for liquid CO2, it is obtained by putting carbon
dioxide gas under pressure. When liquid CO2evaporates, it
absorbs large quantities of heat, cooling as low as -57°C. Because
of this property, it is often used as a refrigerant. If the compressed
gas from the evaporating CO2liquid is allowed to expand through a
valve, the rapidly cooled vapour forms solid carbon dioxide “snow”.
This CO2 snow is compacted into blocks and is the source of dry
ice.
*** The primary means of reproduction and dispersal for Earth’s
most successful plants is seeds, which develop from the female
gametophyte and its associated tissues. Seed plants show the
greatest evolutionary complexity in the plant kingdom and are the
dominant plants in most terrestrial environments. Seeds are
reproductively superior to spores for three main reasons. First, a
seed contains a multicellular, well-developed young plant with
embryonic root, stem, and leaves already formed, whereas a spore
is a single cell. Second, a seed contains a food supply. After
germination, the plant embryo is nourished by food stored in the
seed until it becomes selfsufficient. Because a spore is a single
cell, few food reserves exist for the plant that develops from a
spore. Third, a seed is protected by a resistant seed coat. Like
spores, seeds can live for extended periods of time at reduced
rates of metabolism, germinating when conditions become
favourable.
*** The most common view among scientists is that mathematics
and physics are quite different. Physics describes the universe and
depends on experiment and observation. The particular laws that
govern our universe, such as Newton’s laws of motion, must be
determined empirically and then asserted like axioms that cannot
be logically proved, merely verified. Mathematics, on the other
hand, is somehow independent of the universe. Results and
theorems, such as the properties of the integers and real numbers,
do not depend in any way on the particular nature of reality in which
we find ourselves. Mathematical truths would be true in any
universe.
*** The entire future of human space exploration rests on a patch of
lunar ice. For the past two years NASA has focused on designing a
new crew vehicle and launch system that could return astronauts to
the moon by 2018. The agency’s ultimate goal is to establish a
permanent lunar base and use it for a human mission to Mars. But
the grand plan depends on a risky prediction that NASA will find
water ice in a permanently shadowed crater basin at one of the
moon’s poles. Plentiful ice deposits would be an asset for lunar
colonists, who could use the water for life support or convert it to
hydrogen and oxygen rocket fuel. And two orbiters sent to the
moon in the 1990s, Clementine and Lunar Prospector, found
evidence of ice in perpetually shadowed polar areas where
consistently frigid temperatures would preserve the water carried to
the moon by comet and meteorite impacts. But somescientists
have disputed Clementine’s radar data, and the anomalous neutron
emissions observed by Lunar Prospector could have been caused
by atomic hydrogen in the lunar soil instead of ice.
*** Despite bacteria’s presence in all parts of the planet, their
diversity in the world’s soils is poorly understood. To better
understand what makes the organisms thrive, Duke University
researchers trekked far and wide to collect a few centimetres of dirt
as samples from 98 locations across North and South America,
then analyzed each sample for genetic variation. To their surprise,
the strongest predictor of high diversity was neutral pH. The acidic
soil of the Peruvian Amazon,for example, harboured far fewer
bacterial species than did the neutral dirt of the arid American
Southwest. “There are a lot of variables that didn’t turn out to be
very important,” says the researcher Robert Jackson, who adds
that a more complete search for different habitats might turn up
other stimulators of diversity, such as carbon abundance.
 ÜDS SAĞLIK 2006 SONBAHAR
*** Few recent papers in biology have received as much praise as
Woo Suk Hwang’s 2004 and 2005 announcements of cloning
human embryonic stem cells – or fallen as fast into disrepute with
the discovery that they were rank fakes. Embryonic stem cell (ESC)
research is no less promising today than it was before Hwang’s
deceit was revealed; most investigators continue to believe that it
will eventually yield revolutionary medical treatments. The fact that
no one has yet derived ESCs from cloned human embryos simply
means that the science is less advanced than has been supposed
over the past two years. Still, Hwang has badly undermined the
reputation of a field that already has more than its share of political
and public relations problems. Some longtime opponents of ESC
research will undoubtedly argue that Hwang’s lies only prove that
the investigators cannot be trusted to conduct their work ethically,
and the public may believe them.
*** The increasing visibility of homeless mentally ill individuals,
particularly in large cities, has aroused public concern and
prompted a move toward reinstitutionalization. However, an
important ethical issue is involved. If such people are not
readjusting to society, should they beinvoluntarily committed to a
mental hospital? One of the most cherished civil rights in a
democratic society is the right to liberty. It is essential that any
action toward commitment safeguard this right. Some experts
believe that legal action is warranted only if a person is potentially
dangerous to others. The rare, but highly publicized, occasions
when a mentally ill person experiencing a psychotic episode
attacks an innocent bystander have generated fears for public
safety. But dangerousness is difficult to predict. Studies have
shown that mental health professionals are poor at predicting
whether a person will commit a dangerous act. Moreover, the legal
system is designed to protect people from preventive detention.
*** Researchers are a step closer to understanding how
Alzheimer’s disease takes shape – literally. A sign of Alzheimer’s is
the presence of protein aggregates in the brain known as plaques.
They are made up of various lengths and conformations of the beta
amyloid protein. The proteins link end to end, forming long,
threadlike structures called fibrils. Now biologist Roland Riek and
his colleagues have constructed a three-dimensional model of the
fibrils based on their own experiments and earlier data published by
others. Riek says the model will help investigators to understand
protein structure, which could lead to better targeted drugs. For
example, molecules could be engineered to act as protein binding
partners, thus interfering with fibril formation. Such a sticky
molecule could also be used to diagnose the disease early. The
model work might lend insight to other neurological disorders that
involve fibril formation, such as Parkinson’s disease. Riek says his
group will extend the three-dimensional work to other variations of
the amyloid protein, because it undergoes many conformational
changes on its way to forming a fibril. “We need to try to trap them
in these intermediate states”, he explains.
*** Bats are creatures of the night that are commonly held in fear.
At first glance, those fears might seem to have some medical
justification. Long known as vectors for rabies, it is now thought that
bats may be the origin of some of the most deadly emerging
viruses, including SARS. From research with other viruses,
virologist Linfa Wang of the Australian Animal Health Laboratory
knew bats could get chronic infections from viruses while not
getting sick, making them ideal carriers for disease. Bats, civets
and a menagerie of other animals were often found caged near one
another in live-animal markets in Asia. So Wang hypothesized that
bats might harbour SARS as well. Wang and his colleagues
analyzed blood, throat and faecal swabs from 408 wild bats from
China. Genetic analysis revealed five bats, which represented three
of nine species of horseshoe bats tested, possessed viruses
closely related to SARS. They reported last September that the
genetic variation within those coronaviruses was far greater than
that seen in human or civet SARS. Therefore, bats, probably
having lived longer with the diseases, may be the origin of the
coronaviruses seen in other species.
*** Much work on aging brains has focused on their failings, but a
new study looks at how they succeed. In a University of Michigan at
Ann Arbor report on which brain regions respond to challenging
tasks, researchers found that aging brains function differently than
young brains. Cindy Lustig of Ann Arbor used functional magnetic
resonance imaging to observe the brains of young adults (aged 18
to 30) and seniors (65 to 92) as they tackled simple and difficult
mental exercises. For the easy tasks, brain activity was very
similar, but tougher challenges prompted differences. The seniors
activated several frontal brain regions that the young adults did not.
In addition, the younger people “turned off” parts of the brain not
used during the tasks, but the elders kept those regions active.
Lustig concludes that “older adults’ brains can indeed rise to the
challenge, at least in some situations, but they may do so
differently”.
*** Treating depression could change significantly following the
results of a small Canadian clinical trial that ended in 2005. The
procedure used in the study freed several patients from heavy
depression that had resisted medication, talk therapy and even
electroconvulsive (shock) treatment. Study co-author Helen S.
Mayberg cautions that any trial so small – just six patients – must
be considered provisional. Yet four of the six subjectsfelt dramatic
and lasting effects. University of Toronto neurosurgeon Andres
Lozano implanted battery-powered, pacemakerlike devices
underneath a patient’s clavicle, then ran flexible, hair-thin
electrodes to the subgenual cingulate, a well-buried cortical area
that Mayberg had previously found active in depressive or sad
states. The electrodes delivered pulses of four volts, 130 times a
second. Mayberg hypothesized that in badly depressed patients the
subgenual cingulate acts like a switch left open, allowing
depressive circuits to fire more than is necessary. Her results
suggest that the regular stimulation might moderate that activity. In
2005, after a year of living with the continuous impulses, the four
patients had lowered their scores on the Hamilton Depression
Rating Scale from the soul-deadening high 20s to between one and
eight – quite healthy.
 ÜDS SOSYAL 2006 SONBAHAR
*** The young child’s reliance on visual impressions is made clear
by an experiment on the conservation of number. If two rows of
checkers are matched one for one against each other, young
children will say, correctly, that the rows have the same number of
checkers. If the checkers in one row are brought closer together to
form a cluster, 5-year-olds say there are now more checkers in the
straight row – even though no checkers have been removed. The
visual impression of a long row of checkers overrides the numerical
equality that was obvious when the checkers appeared in matching
rows. In contrast, 7-year-olds assume that if the number of objects
was equal before, it must remain equal. At this age, numerical
equality has become more significant than visual impression.
*** In 1964, Kitty Genovese was murdered outside her home in
New York City late at night. She fought back, and the murder took
over half an hour. At least 38 neighbours heard her screams for
help, but nobody came to her aid. No one even called the police.
The American public was horrified by this incident, and social
psychologists began to investigate the causes of what at first was
termed “bystander apathy”. Their work showed that “apathy” was
not a very accurate term, however. It is not simple indifference that
prevents bystanders from intervening in emergencies. First, there
are realistic deterrents such as physical danger. Second, getting
involved may mean lengthy court appearances or other
entanglements. Third, emergencies are unpredictable and require
quick, unplanned action; few of us are prepared for such situations.
Finally, one risks making a fool of oneself by misinterpreting a
situation as an emergency when it is not. Researchers concluded
that “the bystander to an emergency situation is in an unenviable
position. It is perhaps surprising that anyone should intervene at all”
*** During the “hunger winter” of 1944 in Amsterdam, over 20,000
people died of starvation. Many of the city’s trees were cut down,
and the interiors of abandoned buildings broken up for fuel. When
peace came this once most beautiful and urbane of cities was in
urgent need of large-scale reconstruction. In the years following the
end of World War II in Europe, modern architecture had an
unprecedented opportunity to demonstrate a socially minded, urban
style. The consensus today is that in most places it failed. The
young Dutch architect Aldo van Eyck was one of the earliest critics
of the mechanistic approach taken by his modernist colleagues to
urban reconstruction. The failure of architecture and planning to
recreate forms of urban community and solidarity has become a
problem in post-war Europe, as so many acclaimed housing
estates, new towns, or newly designed urban quarters, around
Europe, have been troubled by vandalism, disrepair and
abandonment. Van Eyck saw this coming. In 1947 at the age of 28,
he went to work for the Office for Public Works in Amsterdam and,
as his first project, built a small playground. This was in line with his
belief that by promoting and shaping the daily “encounter” or
“inbetween-ness” of social space, architecture could humanize
cities and create public trust.
*** Not long ago, football was not a good example of globalization.
The labour market in international club football was highly
protected. National leagues like Italy’s Serie Aand Spain’s La
Ligaimposed quotas on their teams, allowing them to import only a
limited number of players. Some teams could have only two foreign
players on the field. This arrangement, however, began to crumble
in 1995, when the European court ruled that the difference of
treatment of nationals from other EU countries was
anticonstitutional. This permitted players to move freely within the
EU, and made the club teams much more multi-national. Now it is
not unusual for a majority of the players on a successful league
team to be foreign nationals.
*** Despite various scientific advances, in the early 1900s the
public still did not understand mental illness and viewed mental
hospitals and their inmates with fear and horror. Clifford Beers
undertook the task of educating the public about mental health. As
a young man, Beers developed a bipolar disorder and was confined
for 3 years in several private and state hospitals. Although chains
and other methods of torture had been abandoned long before, the
straitjacket was still widely used to restrain excited patients. Lack of
funds made the average state mental hospital –with its
overcrowded wards, poor food, and unsympathetic attendants –a
far from pleasant place to live. After his recovery, Beers wrote
about his experiences in the now-famous book A Mind That Found
Itself(1908), which aroused considerable public interest. Beers
worked ceaselessly to educate the public about mental illness and
helped to organize the National Committee for Mental Hygiene. In
1950, this organization joined with two related groups to form the
National Association for Mental Health. The mental hygiene
movement played an invaluable role in stimulating the organization
of child-guidance clinics and community mental health centres to
aid in the prevention and treatmentof mental disorders.
*** Each year in the touristic town of Agrigento, Sicily, hundreds of
illegally-built houses are bulldozed by the local government. New
construction in Agrigento, home to many ancient temples which
tourists come to see, has been banned since 1968. In spite of this,
hundreds of new and half-built houses can be seen in the hills
surrounding the archaeological park. Not only do these buildings
spoil the landscape, but many are also unsafe and unsanitary.
Some of the people living in these buildings pour sewage into the
sea and pile garbage on roadsides since their houses are illegal
and they aren’t allowed to use the city sewage system and garbage
service. Several of these houses are also built on dangerous cliffs,
sites that would never be allowed by Italy’s strict building codes.
 ÜDS FEN 2007 İLKBAHAR
*** During our visit in the summer of 1994 to the Chernobyl
Exclusion Zone, a region within a 30 km radius of the Chernobyl
Nuclear Power Plant, we were amazed by the diversity of mammals
living in the shadow of the ruined reactor only eight years after the
meltdown. During our excursion through the woods, we trapped
some of the local mice for examination in a makeshift laboratory.
We were surprised to find that, although each mouse registered
unprecedented levels of radiation in its bones and muscles, all the
animals seemed physically normal, and many of the females were
carrying normal-looking embryos. We found that the mice did not
have any obvious chromosomal damage. We wondered whether
the absence of injury could be explained by some sort of adaptive
change, perhaps a more efficient DNA-repair mechanism, after
many prior generations had been exposed to radiation. But when
we transplanted wild mice from uncontaminated regions into cages
in the Exclusion Zone and then examined their chromosomes, they
were likewise unaffected by the radiation. In at least this respect,
the mice seemed to have a natural “immunity” to harm from
radiation.
*** In an attempt to settle the question of whether ice exists on the
moon, NASA plans to launch the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter
(LRO) in 2008. Travelling in a polar orbit only 50 kilometres above
the moon’s surface, the probe will focus a high-resolution neutron
sensor on the suspected ice deposits to determine their precise
locations. But because the ice is probably buried and mixed with
lunar dirt, NASA will also need to land a probe to dig up and
analyze soil samples. This mission, scheduled for 2011, is a
challenging one because instruments operating in shadowed areas
cannot use solar power. The craft could land at a sunlit site and
send a battery-powered vehicle into a dark crater, but the batteries
would quickly die. A radioisotope thermal generator could provide
electricity using heat from plutonium decay, but NASA is leaning
against this option because it is expensive and controversial.
Another idea under consideration is sending a probe that could hop
from place to place on the lunar surface by restarting its landing
rockets, lifting the craft to 100 metres above its original landing site
and moving it to another spot in the crater basin to hunt for ice.
Investigating more than one site is crucial because the ice may be
unevenly distributed. Yet another alternative would be to fire
groundpenetrating instruments at several places in the shadowed
basin, either from a lander at the crater’s rim or from an orbiting
craft.
*** Stem cells, unlike all other cells in the body, can copy
themselves indefinitely. So-called adult stem cells are found in
many parts of the body, constantly rejuvenating the brain,
remodelling arteries so blood can bypass clogs, and growing new
skin to heal wounds. However, adult stem cells have more limited
power than embryonic stem cells, which can turn into any type of
cell in the body. Indeed, scientists are hoping that embryonic stem
cells could be turned into neurons to fix damaged brains, cardiac
cells to repair damaged hearts, or pancreatic cells to create insulin
for people with diabetes. Maybe they could even be used to
regenerate whole organs. To date, scientists worldwide have made
more than 100 different human embryonic cell lines. Still, the
existing lines have serious limitations. Most have been grown on a
lattice of mouse embryonic skin cells for support. Consequently, the
human embryonic cells are contaminated by mouse cells, and
though they’re still useful for research, they cannot at present be
used to develop therapies for humans.
*** The concentrations of methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2)
gases in the atmosphere have both risen dramatically since the
start of the Industrial Revolution. However, unlike its more familiar
greenhouse-gas cousin, atmospheric methane has recently
stopped increasing in abundance. This development wasn’t entirely
unanticipated, given that the rate of increase has been slowing for
at least a quarter-century. The recent stabilization of methane
levels is something that some scientists are trying very hard to
explain. Methane has many sources. Some are natural, such as
wetlands and plants, and some are the consequences of modern
society, such as landfills and wastewater treatment. Methane is
destroyed principally by its reaction with the hydroxyl radical (OH)
in the lower atmosphere. One theory about the stabilization of
methane levels is that deforestation has reduced the number of
plants contributing to atmospheric methane. Another idea is that an
increase in the prevalence of tropical thunderstorms may have
raised the amounts of the various nitrogen oxides high in the
atmosphere. There, these gases have the side effect of boosting
the production of OH, which in turn acts to destroy methane.
*** In 1980, the physicist Luís Alvarez and his son Walter advanced
a startling theory about the demise of the dinosaurs: that it was
caused by forces that came from beyond this world. They
hypothesized that perhaps a meteor impact had ended the age of
the dinosaurs. The primary evidence was that in soil core samples
taken in locations around the globe, iridium, a substance very rare
on Earth but prevalent on asteroids, had been found in a thin layer
of clay separating the fossil-rich rock of the late Cretaceous period
(the end of the dinosaur age) and the sparsely fossiled rock of the
Tertiaryperiod that followed. The Alvarezes hypothesized that a
very large extraterrestrial object had slammed into the planet,
sending an enormous fireball into the stratosphere, along with vast
amounts of debris. A great cloud of dust enshrouded Earth,
blocking sunlight for months, even years, and plants and animals
perished in the ensuing cold and dark. When the dust finally settled
back to Earth, it formed the telltale worldwide layer of iridium in the
clay. The scientific world was not impressed by the theory. Indeed,
some scientists scoffed at the Alvarezes’ hypothesis, but in 1990
scientists realized that a crater of 112 miles in diametre in Mexico
and dated at 65 million years old might be evidence that the
dinosaurs had indeed died out due to the effects of a giant meteor.
*** Mount Vesuvius in southern Italy is actually a volcano inside the
exploded skeleton of an older volcano. Looked at from above, the
remaining ridge of a much larger volcano can be seen on the north
side. This older volcano had probably erupted violently long before
human settlement. Southern Italy is unstable ground. The African
continental plate, on which most of the Mediterranean Sea rests, is
actually diving beneath the European plate. That kind of
underground collision produces molten rock, or magma, rich in
volatile gases such as sulfur dioxide. Under pressure underground,
these gases stay dissolved. But when the magma rises to the
surface, the gases are released. Accordingly, when volcanoes like
Vesuvius erupt, they tend to erupt explosively. To this day, in fact,
Vesuvius remains one of the world’s most dangerous volcanoes;
some 3.5 million Italians live in its shadow. Although monitoring
devices are in place to warn of the volcano’s activity, if there were a
major eruption with little warning, there could be a tremendous loss
of life.
 ÜDS SAĞLIK 2007 İLKBAHAR
*** The most common cause of cyanidepoisoning is smoke
inhalation. A source to the public is acetonitrilein the form of
artificial fingernail remover. Cyanide poisoning produces cellular
hypoxia by binding with the ferric iron of mitochondrial cytochrome
oxidase, disrupting the electron transport chain and the ability of
cells to use oxygen. Patients who inhale cyanide may rapidly
develop coma, shock, seizures, lactic acidosis, and respiratory and
cardiac arrest. Mild exposures following smoke inhalation are now
being described. Diagnosis may be difficult in these patients, and
emergency administration of an antidote may be lifesaving.
Patients with smoke inhalation who show evidence of lactic
acidosis should be suspected of cyanide poisoning. The body has a
natural enzyme, called “rhodanese”, which can complex cyanide
and sulphur to form mildly toxic thiocyanate. Intravenous
administration of sodium thiosulphate provides the sulphur
necessary to produce thiocyanate and is relatively safe.
Sodiumnitrite may also be administered, but its use is reserved for
the most critical cases only, because it causes hypertension and
methemoglobinemia.
*** When doctors suspect meningitis, they must quickly determine
whether it is from a bacterial, viral, fungal, or other type of infection
or from irritation caused by something other than an infection (for
example, a chemical). The possible causes are many, and the
treatment differs for each. The test usually used to diagnose
meningitis and determine its cause is the spinal tap, or lumbar
puncture. A thin needle is inserted between two bones in the lower
spinal column to withdraw a sample of cerebrospinal fluid from an
area just below the spinal cord. The doctor then examines the fluid
for bacteria under a microscope and sends a sample of it to the
laboratory to be cultured and identified. The bacteria can be tested
for susceptibility to treatment with different antibiotics. The sugar
level, an increase in protein, and the number and type of white
blood cells in the fluid also help determine the type of infection.
*** In dialysis with an artificial kidney, the rate of movement of
solute across the dialyzing membrane depends on four variables:
the concentration gradient of the solute between the blood and the
dialyzing fluid, the permeability of the membrane to the solute, the
surface area of the membrane, and the length of time that the blood
and fluid remain in contact with the membrane. Thus, the maximum
rate of solute transfer occurs initially when the concentration
gradient is greatest (when dialysis is begun) and slows down as the
concentration gradient is dissipated. In a flowing system such as
haemodialysis, in which blood and dialysate fluid flow through an
artificial kidney, the dissipation of the concentration gradient can be
reduced, and diffusion of solute across the membrane can be
optimized by increasing the flow rate of either or both the blood and
dialyzing fluid.
*** Stimulation of several areasof the hypothalamus in the brain
causes an animal to experience extreme hunger, a voracious
appetite, and an intense desire to search for food. The area most
associated with hunger is the lateral hypothalamic area. Damage to
this area sometimes causes the animal to lose desire for food,
sometimes causing lethal starvation. On the other hand, a centre
inthe hypothalamus that opposes the desire for food, called the
satiety centre, is located in the ventromedial nucleus. When this
centre is stimulated electrically, an animal that is eating food
suddenly stops eating and shows complete indifference to food.
However, if this area is destroyed bilaterally, the animal cannot be
satiated; instead, its hypothalamichunger centres become
overactive, so that it has a voracious appetite, resulting in
tremendous obesity.
*** The ultimate importance of the pulmonary ventilatory system is
to continually renew the air in the gas exchange areas of the lungs,
where the air is in proximity to pulmonary blood. These areas
include the alveoli, alveolar sacs, alveolar ducts and respiratory
bronchioles. However, during normal quiet respiration, the volumeof
air is only enough to fill the respiratory passageways down as far
as the terminal bronchioles, with only a small portion of the inspired
air actually flowing all the way to the alveoli. Some of the molecules
in the inspired air travel the final short distance to the alveoli
through diffusion, but most never reach the gas exchange areas of
the lungs, instead going to fill respiratory passages where gas
exchange does not occur, such as the nose, pharynx and trachea.
This air is called dead space airbecause it is not useful for the gas
exchange process; the respiratory passages where no gas
exchange takes place are called dead space. On expiration, the air
in the dead space is expired first, before any of the air from the
alveoli reaches the atmosphere. Therefore, the dead space does
not aid in removal of the expiratory gases from the lungs.
*** Virologist Robert Webster thinks that the H5N1 strain of the
avian influenza virus poses the most serious public health threat
since the Spanish flu pandemic of 1918, which killed an estimated
40 million to 100 million people worldwide. Although the H5N1
strain has so far shown no signs that it has acquired the ability to
transmit easily from person to person, Webster says that it is only a
matter of time before it does. For that to happen, Webster and
others believe that a version of the human flu virus, which is easily
transmittable between people, and the H5N1 avian virus would
have to infect the same mammalian cell at the same time and re-
combine their DNA. If H5N1 picks up those genes from the human
flu virus that enable it to spread from person to person, Webster
says that virtually nobody will have immunity to it, and many deaths
may ensue.
 ÜDS SOSYAL 2007 İLKBAHAR
*** The Roman city of Pompeii in A.D. 79 was a thriving provincial
centre, a few miles from the Bay of Naples, with a population of
between 10,000 and 20,000 people. Its narrow streets, made
narrower by street vendors and shops with cloth awnings for shade,
were full of shoppers, tavern-goers, slaves, and vacationers from
the North. A huge new aqueduct supplied running water from the
Lower Apennine mountains, which flowed from fountains
throughout the city, even in private homes. But the key to Pompeii’s
prosperity, and that of smaller settlements nearby like Oplontis and
Terzigna, was the region’s rich black earth provided by Mount
Vesuvius’ volcanic eruptions. “One of the ironies of volcanoes is
that they tend to produce very fertile soils, and that tends to tempt
people to live around them”, says geologist Philip Janey. Had
Roman knowledge in the summer of A.D. 79 been less
mythological and more geological, the Pompeiians might have
recognized the danger signs from Mount Vesuvius and escaped the
volcanic eruption that was to follow.
*** Artist Paul Cézanne wanted to make paint “bleed”. The old
masters, he said, painted warmblooded flesh and made the trees
look warm and alive, and he would too. He wanted to capture “the
green odour” of his Provence fields and “the perfume of marble
from Saint-Victoire”, the mountain that was the subject of so many
of his paintings. He was bold, spreading and slapping paint onto his
still-lifes with a palette knife. “I will astonish Paris with an apple”, he
boasted. In the years when his friends Manet, Monet, Pissarro and
Renoir were finally gaining acceptance, Cézanne worked furiously
and mostly in isolation, ridiculed by critics and mocked by the
public, sometimes tearing up his own canvases. He wanted more
than the quick impressions of the Impressionists, and devoted
himself to studying the natural world. He called himself a “slave to
nature”, but he knew that he could never completely capture the
natural landscape on canvas.
*** Angola’s emergence as a serious player in the global oil sector
has been underlined by the publication of its latest production
figures. After several years of slow output growth, the fruits of the
multi-billion dollar deepwater investment programme are finally
feeding through. Thus, production reached 1.3 million barrels a day
during the final quarter of 2005. With the new deepwater fields now
coming into production, the government’s target of producing 2
million barrels a day by 2008 now seems eminently within reach. In
the meantime, official Angolan government figures indicate that oil
production averaged 1.25 million barrels a day during the course of
2005, a steep jump on the year before. In addition, the
government’s estimate of proven oil reserves has finally been
increased from 5.4 billion barrels to 12.4 billion barrels. This shows
that, as sub-Saharan Africa’s second biggest oil producer after
Nigeria, Angola is in an excellent position to overtake countries
such as Libya and Algeria in the table of oil powers on the continent
as a whole.
*** Supporters of today’s international criminal tribunals say that
their work builds on the post-World War II tribunals in Nuremberg
and, to a lesser degree, Tokyo. As a matter of legal doctrine, that is
true. The category of “crimes against humanity”, for example, was
developed at Nuremberg and is now a central element in many
prosecutions. But there is a critical difference between now and
then. The courts in Nuremberg and Tokyo were part of a broader
political project that aimed to rehabilitate Germany and Japan,
respectively, both socially and economically, not simply to try guilt
or innocence or hand out harsh punishments. These were military
courts that operated with military efficiency, and the Allies could
then focus fully on the reconstruction of these countries. Yet, the
international courts for the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, and the
new International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague, on the other
hand, operate under civilian law and provide generous protection to
defendants. The result is a ballooning of the court timelines and
costs. For instance, it tookthe International Criminal Tribunal for
Rwanda (ICTR) 10 years to complete the same number of trials
that Nuremberg conducted in less than a year. Indeed, it is clear
that, because of their protracted proceedings and excessive costs,
today’s war crimes trials cannot serve the decisive political and
social function that Nuremberg did.
*** The ability to deal with numbers and mathematical concepts
reveals an interesting pattern of differences between girls and
boys. Girls usually begin counting before boys. Throughout the
primary-school years and middle school, girls are better at
computational problems, whereas boys do better with
mathreasoning problems. During this period, girls also tend to get
higher grades. By high school, however, boys begin to perform
better, especially at the higher levels of ability. Some psychologists
believe this advantage is genetic, but others think that it may
derive, in part, from males’ use of more effective strategies and
their lower level of anxiety when approaching mathematics
problems. It has also been suggested that the sex differences
come about to some degree because girls view math as a male
activity (and, therefore, have less interest in it) and because some
parents and teachers offer greater encouragement to males in this
area. Some studies support this analysis, but others do not. In this
area, too, biological and socialization factors probably combine to
produce the observed differences.
*** The printing press was first introduced into England by William
Caxton in the last quarter of the fifteenth century. During his earlier
travels in Europe, he had seen the newly invented system of
printing from moveable type in Germany. He set up his own press
in London in 1476. This initiated a major change in English
literature. Now books did not have to be laboriously copied by
hand. Soon, they would become relatively cheap. With books easily
obtainable, more people could learn to read, and more books would
be produced. The experience of literature would soon shift from the
breathless group of listeners gathered in a hall or around a fire,
hearing an old tale told once more, to the solitary individual, alone
with the thoughts and feelings of another person speaking from the
printed page.
 ÜDS FEN 2007 SONBAHAR
*** Robots make unlikely green warriors, but they could soon be
doing their bit for the environment. Trials of a Danish robot that
maps the position of weeds growing among crops suggest that
herbicide use could be reduced by 70 per cent if farmers used it to
adopt more selective spraying techniques. Actually, the robot drives
across fields scanning the ground for any weeds and noting their
positions. A later version will be able to kill the weeds too by
applying a few drops of herbicide. But the longer-term goal is to
avoid herbicides altogether by having the robot pluck the weeds out
of the ground rather than poisoning them. Although weedkilling
robots have already been put to work in the United States, they
cannot be used for agricultural purposes because they do not
distinguish between plant species and tend to treat anything green
as a weed. Instead, they are used to clear unwanted plants from
railways and airport runways.
*** The first documented scheme for in-flight refuelling came from a
young Russian aviator named Alexander de Seversky. His father
owned a plane and taught him to fly when he was in his early
teens. In 1917, when he was 23, Seversky proposed a method for
extending flight: One plane could carry extra fuel and deliver it to
another through a hose. After the Russian Revolution, Russia’s
new Bolshevik government sent him to the United States to study
aircraft design, and he stayed there when political developments
made his return to Russia dangerous. He got a job as an
aeronautical engineer for the US War Department and was
awarded the world’s first patent for air-to-air refuelling, in which
large fuel tankers would supply fuel to fighter aircraft while in flight.
Seversky went on to a distinguished career in airplane design and
achieved perhaps his greatest fame as the author of the influential
1942 book Victory through Air Power. He never put his refuelling
plan into action, though, and other aviators later came up with
ideas of their own.
*** One of the most pressing international priorities is to control the
dissemination ofnuclear materials that could be used in attacks by
terrorists or rogue states. Nuclear materials contain unstable
isotopes, which emit x-rays and gamma rays. The characteristic
energies of these photons provide a fingerprint revealing which
radioactive isotopes are present. Unfortunately, some isotopes that
occur in benign applications emit gamma rays with energies that
are very similar to those emitted by materials used in weapons,
which leads to ambiguous identifications and false alarms. This
problem has been worrying the United States, which is installing
thousands of radiation portal monitors to detect the gamma rays
emitted by nuclear materials carried by vehicles crossing the
Canadian and Mexican borders. One of the worst fears of the
authorities is that terrorists might smuggle highly-enriched uranium
into the country to build a crude Hiroshima-style atomic bomb.
*** The world now recycles just over 50 per cent of the paper it
uses. Reprocessing plants are being established in most countries.
However, trees will never be fully spared because of the use of
wood fibres themselves. Pure pulp is rich in water, which provides
for ample hydrogen bonding that holds fibres together when made
into paper. But each time a fibre is cleaned, de-inked and dried in a
reprocessing plant, only 80 per cent of the bonds are recovered.
After four or five recyclings, a fibre can no longer make strong
enough bonds. Engineers can do little that is economically viable to
overcome this physical limitation, so they focus on reducing the
cost of reprocessing fresher fibres. One main challenge is finding a
better way to neutralize “stickies”, which is the mess of adhesives
from stamps, labels, seals, tape, magazine spines and various
other sources, that jam the machinery. The industry has been
working for a decade to find a chemical process that will break
down stickies, but no full solution has been found yet.
*** Mount Everest is the highest mountain on Earth above sea
level, but it is not the world’s tallest. That honour goes to the
Hawaiian volcano Mauna Kea. When measured from its base on
the Pacific Ocean floor, it is about 1,000 metres taller than Mount
Everest. Mauna Kea is part of a 5,600-kilometre-long chain of
volcanoes stretching westward from the main Hawaiian island. This
volcanic chain is formed by small convection streams called “hot
spots”, just below the Earth’s crust, where magma rises from the
hotter parts of the mantle, the region between the crust and the
core of the earth. These hot spots melt sections of the tectonic
plates moving above them, causing magma and bits of the molten
plate to erupt onto the sea floor. Over time, the lava accumulates,
forming a mountain that rises above sea level. The moving tectonic
plates carry the newly-formed mountain away from its original
location, as newer volcanoes continue to form in the same spot.
*** Meteorites offer glimpses of the earliest stages of planetary
formation. Stony-iron meterorites come in two main classes:
pallasites and mesosiderites, and it was previously thought they
may have had similar origins. A new study, however, has revealed
that their oxygen isotope properties differ and that they come from
distinct places. Accordingly, the characteristics of mesosiderites
suggest they came from the third largest asteroid, Vesta, which is
the target of the NASA Dawn Mission. On the other hand, pallasites
are made of mixed core-mantle material from a disrupted asteroid,
indicating that extensive asteroid deformation was an integral part
of planetary enlargement in the early solar system.
 ÜDS SAĞLIK 2007 SONBAHAR
*** Pain is a signal that protects us from harmful stimuli. An excess
of any type of stimulus such as pressure, heat, cold, excessive
mechanical stretch, and specific chemical compounds stimulates
pain receptors. In the human body, pain receptors are the tips of
certain sensory neurons found in almost every tissue. However,
most internal organs are poorly supplied with pain receptors. For
this reason, pain from internal structures is often difficult to locate.
In fact, pain is often not projected back to the organ that is
stimulated. Instead, it is referred to an area just under the skin that
may be some distance from the organ involved. The area to which
the pain is referred is connected to nerve fibres from the same level
of the spinal cord as the organ involved.
*** Our kidneys excrete metabolic wastes and help regulate the
volume and composition of body fluids. Their vital function is
compromised in more than 13 million people in the United States
who suffer from kidney disease. In fact, kidney disease ranks fourth
in prevalence among major human diseases in the United States.
Kidney function can be impaired by infections, poisoning by
substances such as mercury, lesions, tumours, kidney stones,
shock or circulatory disease. For instance, one of the most
common kidney diseases both in the United States and in the world
is glomerulonephritis,which is related to the damage of the kidney’s
filtering units. The damage is thought to result from an autoimmune
response.
*** The causes of schizophrenia are unknown, although the
disease has a strong genetic component. Studies of identical twins
show that if one twin has schizophrenia, there is a 50% chance that
the other twin will have it, too. Since identical twins share identical
genes, this indicates that schizophrenia has an equally strong
environmental component, the nature of which has not been
identified. Current treatments for schizophrenia focus on brain
pathways that use dopamine as a neurotransmitter. Despite their
ability to alleviate symptoms, many of the drugs used to treat
schizophrenia have such negative side effects thatpatients
frequently stop taking them. Now that the human genome has been
sequenced, there is a vigorous effort under way to find the mutant
genes that predispose a person to the disease. This effort includes
sequencing DNA from families with a high incidence of
schizophrenia.
*** Protected inside the bony vertebrae of the spine is an inch-thick
gelatinous bundle of nervous tissue called “the spinal cord”, which
acts as the central communication conduit between the brain and
the rest of the body. Millions of nerve fibres carry motor information
from the brain to the muscles, while other fibres bring sensory
information from the body to the brain. In its structure and
functions, the spinal cord may be compared to a transcontinental
telephone cable jam-packed with wires, each of which carries
messages both ways. But what happens if that cable is cut?
Signals cannot get through, communication is lost, and the cable
must be repaired or replaced. In humans, though, this is not a
simple process due to the sensitive nature of the spinal cord. The
spinal cord is rarely severed because the vertebrae provide rigid
protection. However, a traumatic blow to the spinal column and
subsequent bleeding, swelling and scarring can crush the delicate
nerve bundles and prevent signals from passing. The result may be
a debilitating injury.
*** Immune deficiency, which in fact means an inadequate immune
response, may occur for several reasons. For example, it is a side
effect of most chemotherapy drugs used to treat cancer. Immune
deficiency also occurs naturally. Although the immune system is not
functional at birth, infants are protected by antibodies they have
received from their mother through the placenta, and infants who
breastfeed also receive antibodies from their mother’s milk. These
antibodies offer protection until the infant’s own immune system
develops during the first months of life. In rarecases, the immune
system fails to develop, leaving the child without immune
protection. Exposure to any virus or bacterium can be fatal to these
children. Therefore, they are sealed into sterile quarters to isolate
them from the microorganisms that are part of the normal world.
*** People who believe they may be infected with HIV, as well as
those who know they are, can benefit from various psychological
interventions. People with high-risk behaviours may have difficulty
deciding whether to be tested for HIV, and psychologists can
provide both information and support for these people. A significant
minority of homosexual and bisexual men, intravenous drug users,
and a larger proportion of heterosexual men and women with
multiple partners and inconsistent users of condoms have never
been tested for HIV. Indeed, an estimated 70% of people who are
HIV-positive have not been tested and thus do not know their HIV
status. Because HIV infection has a long incubation period, at-risk
heterosexual men and women may contaminate others for years
before they learn they have HIV. However, people learning of an
HIVpositive test result typically react with increased anxiety,
depression, anger and distress. Therefore, trained
psychotherapists are needed to help such people cope with their
diagnosis.
 ÜDS SOSYAL 2007 SONBAHAR
*** We commonly speak of both lawand laws,and these terms,
though not used with precision, point to two different aspects under
which legal science may be approached. The laws of a country are
thought of as separate, distinct, individual rules; the law of a
country, however much we may analyse it into separate rules, is
something more than the mere sum of such rules. It is, rather, a
whole, a system which orders our conduct and in which the
separate rules have their place and their relation to each other and
to the whole. Moreover, it is never completely exhausted by any
analysis, however far the analysis may be pushed, and however
much the analysis may be necessary to our understanding of the
whole. Thus, each rule which we call a law is part of the whole we
call the law. Lawyers generally speak of law; laymen more often of
laws.
*** Four years ago in 2003, when Paul Barrett first began planning
an ambitious book on Muslims in America, who would have thought
thatthe topic would still be of such urgent interest by the time it was
published early this year? But, if anything, intervening events have
made Barrett’s exploration of American Muslims more timely and
important than ever. With the United States even more deeply
embroiled in warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan, with sectarian conflict
exploding within the Muslim world, with tensions high among
Muslim populations in Europe, and with relations strained between
some leaders of the Christian and Islamic religions, readers need
as much information as they can get about Islam and its adherents.
In his book, Barrett notes that, despite being targets of suspicion in
the wake of the attacks of September 11, Muslims in America, as a
group, offer a perfect illustration of old-fashioned American
assimilation. Overall, they are prosperous, well-educated, politically
active, and successful in business and the professions.
*** Kierkegaard was one of the most original thinkers of the
nineteenth century in Europe. He wrote widely on religious,
philosophical, and literary themes. However, his peculiar manner of
presenting some of his leading ideas initially obscured their
fundamental significance. He developed his views in strong
opposition to prevailing opinions, such as certain metaphysical
claims about the relation of thought to existence. He reacted
against the ethical and religious theories of Kant and Hegel.
Moreover, he opposed the doctrines and ideas which were being
advanced by some of his contemporaries like Feuerbach and Marx.
His discussion of the human condition, which emphasizes the
significance of individual choice, has arguably been his most
striking philosophical legacy, particularly for the growth of
existentialism.
*** We have all heard people from other countries described in very
general terms. For instance, it has been said that “Germans work
hard” and “Americans are friendly”. Such generalizations or
stereotypes are very crude, and common sense tells us that not all
Germans work hard and not all Americans are friendly. At the same
time, there appears to be some truth in these generalizations since
people from different countries share different characteristics. What
these crude statements acknowledge, however, is that people from
differentcountries have distinctive cultures and social customs. A
society’s culture includes its customs, values, beliefs, ideas and the
artifacts it produces. Attitudes towards such things as work, leisure,
wealth, the role of women, and the value of education in one
society’s culture might be significantly different from the attitudes
and values found in another society’s culture. This is also the case
regarding attitudes found in different countries towards politics and
the political system.
*** The way in which British people view Britain’s role in the world is
still influenced by its past. Today Britain is an important regional
power, but in the recent past it was a world power. Until World War
II, Britain ruled the largest empire that the world has ever known.
Incredible as it may seem today, during the 1920s, almost one-fifth
of the world’s population lived under British rule. But the empire
disappeared rapidly during the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s as the
colonies that had made up the empire gained their independence.
In the aftermath of the empire, British leaders were not very
successful in adapting to play a much smaller part in world affairs.
However, Britain’s allies made it clear that they no longer saw
Britain as a major force in world politics. The “special relationship”
which was said to exist between Britain and the United States
weakened as other European countries, particularly Germany,
recovered after World War II. So, whereas London had been
recognized by American leaders as the “capital” of Europe during
the 1940s and the 1950s, Bonn was seen as the new capital of
Europe during the 1960s.
*** Developing markets, historically the domain of hyperinflation
and political manipulation, now enjoy high surpluses, thanks to
record commodity prices and severe fiscal discipline. Since 2001
these economies have achieved three times the average annual
per-capita economic growth of their developed counterparts and
now represent a quarter of global output. Stocks in emerging
markets are causing much excitement among investors. However,
too much excitement invites peril. Emerging markets have
undeniably changed in the past decade, but lately they are looking
overgrown, and even a minor crisis could send them tumbling. And
while the potential triggers for a fall have changed, they are still
there. As economies in the developing world get stronger,
governments are getting more assertive and meddling with both
companies and neighbouring countries, increasing political risk.
 ÜDS FEN 2008 İLKBAHAR
*** There were many heated debates in the nineteenth century
about the relationship between chemical reactions and living
organisms. Some scientists felt that fermentation was an activity of
living things and, therefore, could not take place outside of living
cells. This was proved by the work Louis Pasteur undertook for the
French wine industry. Indeed, in the 1850s, the French wine
industry was having serious trouble with wine that had spoiled. The
French emperor, Napoleon III, called in Pasteur to help. Pasteur
knew that the fermentation which produced wine was caused by
living yeast cells. But now he found that certain bacteria could also
carry out fermentation. He discovered that fermentation by bacteria
spoils wine because it produces vinegar (acetic acid) instead of the
alcohol produced by yeast. Pasteur suggested that the winemakers
heat the wine for a short time to destroy the bacteria. They were
horrified, but it worked. The process, pasteurization, is still
usedtoday, especially for milk.
*** Fossils are the remains of organisms which have endured for
fantastic periods of time. Fossils can be bones or teeth or even
plant or animal imprints preserved in rock since prehistoric times.
The appearance of fossils in rock has been a source of wonder and
fascination to man for centuries. The fossil of an ancient sea animal
was even found among the possessions of a prehistoric man. Many
people have tried to explain fossils. Aristotle believed they were the
remains of living creatures, but thought the creatures grew in the
rocks. Some people believed that fossils were placed in rocks by
evil spirits. Other explanationswere remarkably modern. For
example, Herodotus, an ancient Greek historian, observed fossil
seashells in the Libyan desert in 450 B.C. and guessed that the
Mediterranean Sea had once reached much farther south than it
does today.
*** A population is a group of individual organisms of the same kind
that are limited to some particular space. The most familiar
example is the human population, but there are also populations of
animals and plants everywhere on Earth. In fact, scientists regard a
population as a biological unit that has both structure and function.
The parts of a population are its individual members. The functions
of a population are similar to those of other biological units: growth,
development, and self-maintenance in a changing environment.
Individuals enter a population by birth and by moving in, that is, by
immigration. Individuals leave a population by death and by moving
out, that is, by emigration. If the environment of a population
remains the same, loss and replacement of members are in
balance. The population will be able to survive in that particular
environment. If the environment changes, however, loss or addition
of members increases or decreases the size of the population.
*** Pluto, which was until recently regarded as the outermost and
smallest planet in the solar system, has never been visited by an
exploring spacecraft. So little is known about it that it is difficult to
classify. Its distance from Earth is so great that the Hubble Space
Telescope cannot reveal its surface features. Appropriately named
for the Roman god of the underworld, it must be frozen, dark, and
dead. Its mean distance from the Sun is 5,900 million kilometres. In
fact, it has the most eccentric orbit in the solar system, bringing it at
times closer to the Sun than Neptune. Furthermore, there is
evidence that Pluto has an atmosphere, containing methane, and a
polar ice cap that increases and decreases in size with Pluto’s
seasons. It is not known to have water. The Hubble Space
Telescope’s faint-object camera revealed light and dark regions on
Pluto, indicating an ice cap at the north pole. It is not known if there
is an ice cap at Pluto’s south pole.
*** Today the world faces a growing crisis over the management of
its great rivers. In recent years, most of the great rivers in the world,
such as the Yellow River in China, the Indus, the Colorado, and the
Nile, have all periodically run empty because mankind has used
their every last drop.Indeed, there is a huge unmet demand in the
world for water. More than a billion people have no access to clean
drinking water, and while it is hoped that this figure will be halved
by 2015, nobody is sure where the water will come from. With
today’s trends, one-third of the world population will be seriously
short of water by 2025. Politicians in China, India, Pakistan, Egypt
and other waterstressed countries want their water engineers to
find solutions – and fast.
*** The huge ice sheet covering Greenland, which is the world’s
largest island, provides a habitat for many arctic species and holds
nearly 8 per cent of the world’s freshwater. It is, on average, 5,000
feet thick and is constantly being replaced as snow falls each
winter. Over the course of centuries, the snow compacts into ice,
which slides towards the ocean. In recent years, higher
atmospheric concentrations of heat-trapping gases have
accelerated that process. As temperatures rise, the top layers melt,
giving way to darker, heat-absorbing ice and liquid water. The
meltwater seeps down to the rock below, lubricating the ice mass
and speeding its slide into the sea.
 ÜDS SAĞLIK 2008 İLKBAHAR
*** Autism, from the Greek word for “self,” was first identified as a
disorder in 1943. Initially, it was thought to be a psychological
disorder brought on by cold or unemotional mothers, and curable
by intensive sessions of psychotherapy. During the 1960s,
specialists realized that autistics frequently had epilepsy and
abnormal brain scans, which led to the condition being recognized
as a brain disorder by the 1970s. Autism is now known to be a
hereditary neurological condition, about three times more common
in boys than girls. Usually, autistics lack the ability to relate
normally to other people and have an anxious desire to maintain a
routine, which evolves with age into intense interests or
obsessions. Many autistic people deliver monologues on topics
while unaware of other people’s comments or possible discomfort.
There are several related, but different, forms of autism. Depending
on the severity, symptoms can sometimes be alleviated with
carefully controlled antidepressants, although sufferers typically
find it difficult to function normally in society.
*** Because oxygen is one of the major substances required for
chemical reactions in the cells, it is fortunate that the body has a
special control mechanism to maintain an almost exact and
constant oxygen concentration in the extracellular fluid. This
mechanism depends principally on the chemical characteristic of
haemoglobin, which is present in all red blood cells. Haemoglobin
combines with oxygen as blood passes through the lungs. Then, as
the blood passes through the tissue capillaries, haemoglobin,
because of its own strong chemical affinity for oxygen, does not
release oxygen into the tissue fluid if too much oxygen is already
there. If the oxygen concentration is too low, however, sufficient
amounts are released to re-establish adequate tissue oxygen
concentration. Thus, the regulation of oxygen concentration in the
tissues depends principally on the chemical characteristics of
haemoglobin itself.
*** The evidence linking dietary fat with cancer is less conclusive
than for heart disease, but it does suggest an association between
total fat intake and some types of cancer. Dietary fat seems not to
initiate cancer development but to promote cancer once it has
arisen. Some studies report a relationship between specific cancers
and saturated fat or dietary fat from animal sources, which is mostly
saturated. Thus, health advice to reduce the risk of cancer parallels
that given toreduce the risk of heart disease: reduce total fat intake,
especially saturated fat. The relationship between dietary fat and
the risk of cancer differs for various types of cancers. In the case of
breast cancer, some studies indicate little or no association
between dietary fat and cancer. Others find that total energy intake
is a better predictor than the percentage of kcalories from fat. In the
case of prostate cancer, there does appear to be a strong
association with fat. This association appears to be due primarily to
saturated fat from meats; fat from milk or fish has not been
implicated in cancer risk.
*** People who fail to eat enough food to meet energy needs risk
nutrient deficiencies, including thiamin deficiency. Inadequate
thiamin intakes have been reported among malnourished and
homeless people. Similarly, people who derive most of their energy
from empty-kcalorie items, like alcohol, risk thiamin deficiency.
Alcohol contributes energy, but provides few, if any, nutrients and
often displaces food. In addition, alcohol enhances thiamin
excretion in the urine, doubling the risk of deficiency. Prolonged
thiamin deficiency can result in the disease “beriberi,” which was
first observed in East Asia when the custom of polishing rice
became widespread. Rice provided 80 per cent of the energy
intake of the people of that area, and ricehulls (the outer skin of
rice) were their principal source of thiamin. When the hulls were
removed, beriberi spread like wildfire. Because thiamin participates
in nerve processes, paralysis sets in when it islacking. The
symptoms of beriberi include damage to the nervous system as
well as to the heart and other muscles.
*** The single most effective step people can take against
hypertension is to find out whether they have it. At check-up time, a
health-care professional can provide an accurate resting blood
pressure reading. Under normal conditions, blood pressure
fluctuates continously in response to a variety of factors including
such things as talking or shifting position. Some people react
emotionally to the procedure, which raises the blood pressure
reading. For these reasons, if the resting blood pressure is above
normal, the reading should be repeated before confirming the
diagnosis ofhypertension. Thereafter, the blood pressure should be
checked regularly. In general, efforts to reduce high blood pressure
focus on weight control, because excess body fat, especially
abdominal fat, can precipitate hypertension. Indeed, weightloss
alone is one of the most effective nondrug treatments for
hypertension. Those who are using drugs to control their blood
pressure can often reduce or discontinue the drugs if they lose
weight. Even a modest loss of 5 kilograms may significantly lower
blood pressure.
*** Oral cancers develop in 30,000 Americans and cause 8,000
deaths each year, mostly in people over age 40. This represents
about 2.5 per cent of cancer cases and 1.5 per cent of all cancer-
related deaths. Clearly this is a high rate considering the small size
of the mouth in relation to the rest of the body. Along with cancers
of the lung and skin, cancers of the mouth are more preventable
than most other cancers. Non-cancerous and cancerous growths
can originate in any type of tissue in and around the mouth,
including bone, muscle, and nerve. Rarely, cancers found in the
mouth region have spread there from other parts of the body –
most commonly the lung, breast and prostate. Screening for oral
cancer should be an integral part of medical and dental
examinations because early detection is critical. Cancers less than
a half inch across can usually be cured easily. Unfortunately, most
oral cancers aren’t diagnosed until they’ve spread to the lymph
nodes of the jaw and neck. Because of delayed detection, 25 per
cent of oral cancers are fatal.
 ÜDS SOSYAL 2008 İLKBAHAR
*** The most important idea of the nineteenth century in Britain was
that everyone had the right to personal freedom, and this became
the basis of capitalism. This idea, which had originated with Adam
Smith in the eighteenth century, spread widely due to the popularity
of his book The Wealth of Nations. After Adam Smith, several
capitalist economists argued that the government should not
interfere in trade and industry at all. Fewer laws, they claimed,
meant more freedom, and freedom for individuals would lead to
happiness for the greatest number of people. These ideas were
eagerly accepted by the growing middle class. However, it soon
became very clear that the freedom of factory owners to do as they
pleased had led to slavery and misery for the poor, not to
happiness or freedom. By 1820, more and more people had begun
to accept the idea that the government must interfere toprotect the
poor and the weak. The result was a number of laws to improve
working conditions. For instance, one of the laws, which went into
effect in 1833, limited the number of hours that women and children
were allowed to work.
*** The seventeenth century is probably the first in English history
in which more people emigrated than immigrated. In the course of
the century, something over one-third of a million people, mainly
young adult males, emigrated across the Atlantic. The largest
single group made for the West Indies; a second substantial group
made for America, in particular Virginia and Catholic Maryland, and
even Puritan New England. The pattern of emigration was a
fluctuating one, but it probably reached its peak in the 1650s and
1660s. For most of those who emigrated, the search for
employment and a better life was almost certainly the principal
cause of their departure. For a clear minority, however, freedom
from religious persecution took precedence. Moreover, an
increasing number were forcibly transported as a punishment for
criminal acts. In addition to these transatlantic emigrants, an
unknown number emigrated to Europe and settled there. The
largest group were probably the sons of Catholic families making
for religious houses in France and elsewhere. There were also
some adventurers who were willing to fight in any cause if the pay
were good.
*** Ancient Greece consisted of a number of city-states, of which
Athens was one of the greatest. In the fifth century B.C., all citizens
native to Athens could both vote and speak in a government
assembly; but this, of course did not apply to women and slaves.
This system of “direct democracy” was feasible because Athens
was a small community. Each individual could be involved,
gathering collectively in the public square where decisions on
government matters, such as laws and foreign affairs, were made.
City administrators were expected to account for their decisions.
What counted in ancient Athens was the authority of the community
as a whole. This took precedent over the liberty of the individual.
The freedom of the individual to make private decisions, such as
choosing a religion, was restricted on the grounds that the interests
of society were paramount. However, this simple form of
democracy had its drawbacks. While subsequent political thinkers
praised the concept of directpolitical involvement, it was recognized
that this would be impractical in larger communities. Indeed,
societies with populations of thousands or millions would never be
able to manage the logistical problem of direct participation. It was,
therefore, natural that in modern times there emerged the idea of
representative democracy.
*** During the economic depression that affected the whole
Western world in the 1930s, with its mass unemployment, poverty
and other social ills, governments, for the mostpart, did nothing.
The accepted wisdom was that, given time, the free market would
solve its own problems and that government interference would
only make things worse. John Maynard Keynes, the British
economist who challenged this belief, argued that it was the proper
responsibility of governments to prevent both booms and
recessions in order to maintain gradual economic growth and
permanent full employment. He maintained that this could be done
by manipulating taxation, credit and public expenditure. If the
economy was growing too fast, then money and, therefore, demand
could be taken out of the economy by higher taxes, lower
government spending and by making it harder to borrow money. If
there was recession and growing unemployment, then the
government could put money into the economy through lower
taxes, higher public expenditure and easier credit. Thus, demand
could be encouraged. If, as a result, there was money in people’s
pockets, then more would be spent on goods and more people
would be needed to make the goods to fulfil the extra demand, and
this would reduce unemployment.
*** Since the dawn of civilization, the Middle East, a region at the
crossroads of Africa, Asia and Europe, has been important to large
and small powers alike, from the empires of the Eastto the imperial
powers of the West. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, which
transformed maritime travel between Europe and Asia, added to
European interest. The region’s other riches also encouraged
European intervention and rivalries. This resulted in a series of
confrontations between the Ottoman Empire and its European
adversaries, and finally in the collapse of the former and the direct
or indirect European colonization of large parts of the region in the
course of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. But what
added to the Middle East’s importance in the twentieth century was
oil, which was found in abundance in the Persian Gulf and in parts
of North Africa. Moreover, in the strategic context of the Cold War,
the region’s geopolitical importance provided an additional reason
for the superpowers to increase their role and presence.
*** Until the early 1960s, the picturesque ruins of Aphrodisias were
scattered in and around the very pretty village of Geyre, where the
houses had been built largely from remnants of the ancient city. But
the present excavations, which began in 1961, have now reached
such a scale that the village and its inhabitants have been moved
to another site nearby. Some of the superb sculptures unearthed
are now exhibited in a new museum, which is located in what was
once Geyre’s village square, while others can be seen around the
archaeological zone, one of the most interesting and beautiful sites
in all of Turkey. Surprisingly, the excavations at Aphrodisias have
unearthed remains of a settlement dating back to about 5,800 B.C.
The site seems to have been a very ancient shrine of Ishtar, the
fertility goddess of Nineveh and Babylon, who was one of the
predecessors of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love. In fact, the
earliest Greek sanctuary of Aphrodite on this site dates from the
sixth century B.C., and it was from this sanctuary during the next
four centuries that the cult of Aphrodite spread throughout the
Graeco-Roman world.
 ÜDS FEN 2008 SONBAHAR
*** Dark matter is the invisible and mysterious material that makes
up 22 per cent of the stuff in the universe. It is one of the greatest
scientific unknowns. It does not emit light; nor does it reflect light or
absorb it. While we are unable to see dark matter itself, we are able
to create maps of it. We can clearly pinpoint its location by
observing the effects of its mass on light from distant galaxies. This
can be explained with reference to Einstein, who points out that a
massive object will curve the fabric ofspace and that light will follow
this deformed path. So we can look at how light from galaxies has
been bent and, consequently, infer the quantity and location of the
matter that did the bending. In fact, by using this method, a team of
astronomers have recently managed to create the first three-
dimensional map of the immense structure of dark matter.
*** Using coal to make electricity accounts for about a third of
America’s carbon emissions. As a result, tackling emissions from
coal-fired power plants represents our best opportunity to make
sharp reductions in greenhouse gases. Fortunately, the United
States already has the technology to do that. Unfortunately, right
now the country is addicted to coal, a cheap, abundant power
source. Burning coal produces more than half the country’s
electricity, despite its immense human and environmental costs. Air
pollutants from coal-fired power plants cause somewhere between
20,000 and 30,000 premature deaths in the United States each
year. Besides, fifty tons of mercury are pumped into the
atmosphere annually from coal plants. In addition, the extraction of
coal, from West Virginia to Wyoming, devastates the physical
environment, and its processing and burning produce gigantic
volumes of waste.
*** According to the most accurate scientific theory ever created
and generally known as the standard model, all of space is filled
with a mysterious stuff called “the Higgs field”. Unlike magnetic or
gravitational fields, which vary from place to place (as, for instance,
the fact that things weigh more on Earth than on the surface of the
Moon), the Higgs field is exactly the same everywhere. What varies
is how the different fundamental particles interact with it. That
interaction, the theory goes, is what gives particles mass. In other
words, the Higgs field is what makes some particles, such as
protons and neutrons, relatively heavy, others (like electrons)
subatomic lightweights, and still others (like photons) utterly
massless. If photons weren’t so light, a person would be shredded
by a photon hailstorm every time he or she was exposed to a
sunbeam. Then again, if protons and neutrons weren’t so heavy,
one wouldn’t dare to go outside to sunbathe anyway. So without
mass and its affinity for gravity, there would be no galaxies, no
stars, and no us.
*** Hurricanes, which are circular storms spinning around a region
of low atmospheric pressure, are powered by energy released by
spiralling surface winds that draw heat from the ocean. Warmer
seas provide more energy and make hurricanes stronger. This is
what happened during Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, which
submerged New Orleans and the vicinity. In fact, according to
climate scientists, both the intensity and destructiveness of
hurricanes have increased markedly since the 1970s. In other
words, the energy released by an average hurricane appears to
have increased by about 70 per cent within the past 30 years. This
increase correlates very closely with rises in sea surface
temperatures. Furthermore, tropical oceans have warmed about
one degree Fahrenheit in the past 50 years, a rise that is believed
to be chiefly the result of global warming.
*** Rivers and streams generally support communities of organisms
quite different from those of lakes and ponds. A river or stream
changes greatly between its source and the point at which it
empties into a lake or the sea. Near the source, a stream’s water is
usually cold, low in nutrients, and clear. The channel is often
narrow, with a swift current that does not allow much silt to
accumulate on the bottom. Most of the organisms found here are
supported by the photosynthesis of algae attached to rocks or by
organic material, such as leaves, carried into the stream from the
surrounding land. Downstream, a river or stream generally widens
and slows. The water is usually warmer and may be cloudier
because of sediments and other particles suspended in it. Worms
and insects that burrow into the mud are abundant, as are
waterfowl, frogs, fish, and other water animals.
*** People have been pushing into forestlands for thousands of
years, but during the last century, scientists say, the rate of global
forest reduction has reached alarming levels. About 50 million
acres of forest are cleared every year. Much of Europe’s original
forests are gone. The forests of North America, which once
dominated the landscape, have shrunk by almost 40% in the last
two centuries to make room for people and meet the demand for
lumber and paper. Not only have many of the animals that depend
on these ecosystems disappeared, but various species of trees
have also been depleted. Timber farms on land that once sustained
natural forests have little of the biodiversity of the original forests,
with pesticides and other chemicals allowing the land to support
only a few kinds of life.
 ÜDS SAĞLIK 2008 SONBAHAR
*** Viral infections of the respiratory tract are certainly the most
common cause of infectious illness in most countries. People in all
age groups are susceptible, but for those at the extremes of life
these illnesses are particularly hazardous. Viral respiratory
infections are more common in children under the age of five years,
but in the first year of life, they are more severe. In the elderly,
degenerative processes of the heart or lungs make pneumonia a
more frequent and serious complication, and the same is true for
patients of all ages suffering from chronic cardiac disease or
chronic bronchitis. On the whole, the vast majority of viral
respiratory infections are mild though often uncomfortable
conditions, but sometimes the illness is severe and constitutes a
threat to life. Unfortunately, there isno method whereby the spread
of infection can be prevented. Adequate ventilation and avoidance
of crowds are clearly advisable.
*** As adolescents begin to assert their individuality, family tensions
increase, and battles are fought over clothes and hair styles, late
nights and so on. The doctor may find himself consulted; some
parents feel that, if their children get into trouble or disagree with
them, they must be ill. Others seek a referee or an accomplice in
the battle ofthe generations. Often the younger doctor in a
partnership has an advantage in dealing with such problems, being
able to bridge the generation gap and communicate well with both
parents and teenagers. Both generations need education about the
other and particularly about current norms of behaviour. Children
may have to be reminded that their parents also have rights, and
parents, especially those with unrealistic ambitions for their
offspring, or those determined to live their lives again through their
children, must be taught to give their children more independence.
*** Most of the functions of the brain are still unknown, and the
ones we know about are very poorly understood. The brain is
assumed to be the organ of higher mentalfunction, of the mind and
intellect, but there is surprisingly little evidence for this, and no one
has any idea what physical structures or mechanisms perform
these functions. The brain is known to control all bodily functions by
means of motor and other nerves which carry impulses from the
brain outwards to all parts of the body. Sometimes these are under
our voluntary control; mostly, they are involuntary, reflexive or
automatic. Reflexive actions are the result of impulses passed
inwards from the body towards the brain by means of sensory
nerves. Information arriving in the brain about various sensations
like heat, pain,touch, position, the need for saliva or gastric juice or
even the thought or smell of food are acted on in the various
“centres” in the brain.
*** Gingivitis is the inflammation of the gums. Under this condition,
the gums become red and swollen and bleed easily. An extremely
common condition, gingivitis can develop any time after a person’s
teeth come in, and it is almost always the result of inadequate
brushing and flossing, which allows plaque to remain along the
gumline of the teeth. Plaque, which is a soft, sticky film made up
primarily of bacteria, accumulates especially in faulty fillings and
around the teeth next to poorly cleaned partial dentures, bridges,
and orthodontic appliances. When plaque stays on the teeth for
more than 72 hours, it hardens into tartar, which can’t be
completely removed by brushing and flossing. Although plaque is
the main cause of gingivitis, other factors can make the
inflammation worse, especially pregnancy, puberty, and birth
control drugs.
*** Narrowly defined, fitness refers to the characteristics that enable
the body to perform physical activity. These characteristics include
flexibility of the joints, strength and endurance of the muscles,
including the heart muscle, and a healthy body composition. A
broader definition of fitness is the ability to meet routine physical
demands with enough energy reserve to rise to a sudden
challenge. This definition shows how fitness relates toeveryday life.
Ordinary tasks such as carrying heavy suitcases, opening a stuck
window, or climbing four flights of stairs, which might strain an unfit
person,are easy for a fit person. Still another definition is the body’s
ability to withstand stress, meaning both physical and psychological
stress. These definitions do not contradict each other; all three
describe the same wonderful condition of the body.
*** The immediate cause of obesity is the prolonged consumption
of a diet containing more calories than are needed to provide for
the body’s tissue repair, vital functions and physical activities. In
modern society, food has become very plentiful and attractive, and
the physical effort demanded by many occupations has diminished.
Most people in civilized communities eat more than they require,
and it is surprising that obesity is not more common than it is. It is
difficult to escape the conclusion that there exists some unknown
mechanism by which the body is enabled to get rid of the surplus
calories which would otherwise be stored as fat. If there were not
such a mechanism, obesity would be much more common.
 ÜDS SOSYAL 2008 SONBAHAR
*** In 1786 Sir William Jones, a British judge serving in India, made
a discovery that transformed knowledge about prehistory and
began the formal study of historical linguistics. Turning his spare
time towards the study of Sanskrit, the ancient language from
which the predominant languages of the South Asian subcontinent
derive, Jones discovered that Sanskrit shares features of grammar
and vocabulary with Latin and ancient Greek to an extent
inexplicable by sheer coincidence. His interest further aroused, he
then examined the early Germanic language called “Gothic”, the
ancient Celticlanguages of Europe, and Old Persian, and found
thatthey, too, exhibited marked similarities to Sanskrit. He
concluded that all these languages must have evolved from a
common but now-extinct linguistic source. In the early nineteenth
century, both this ancient language and the later languages that
derived from it, were labelled “Indo-European,” reflecting their wide
distribution from India and Ireland.
*** The Stone Age is, in fact, divided into various stages.
Dominating the period is the Palaeolithic Age, which most
anthropologists would extend down to roughly 11,000 B.C. Within
the Stone Age in general, however, scholars also speak of an
Upper Palaeolithic Era, beginning around 40,000 B.C. They draw
attention to some significant changes in human behaviour around
this date, including the appearance of sophisticated cave paintings,
and evidence of religious ideas. Humans also began producing the
most effective, finely crafted tools such as fishhooks, arrowheads,
and sewing needles made from organic materials, such as wood or
animal bone. Yet, despite these important developments, the basic
patterns of human life changed little during this era. Virtually all
human societies before 11,000 B.C. consisted of small bands of
hunter-gatherers that moved incessantly in search of food.
Because they could not stay in any one location for long, these
groups left no continuous archaeological record whereby we might
trace the development of their culture. Our knowledge of them is,
therefore, very limited.
*** By the end of the twentieth century, East Asia had become a
centre of industrial and manufacturing production. Especially China
began to establish commercial ties with the West in the 1970s and
became the world’s leading heavy industrial producer by the year
2000. Its state-owned companies acquired contracts from Western
firms to produce products cheaply and in bulk, for sale back to
home markets in the United States and Europe. Moreover, the
Chinese government established semicapitalist commercial zones
around major port cities like Shanghai. These commercial zones
were intended to encourage massive foreign investment on terms
that left China a favourable balance of trade for its huge volume of
cheap exports. Yet, in practice, they enjoyed only mixed success.
Problems in farming and a looming energy crisis hampered
prosperity and economic growth, but Hong Kong only managed to
maintain its traditional economic and cultural ties with the rest of
the world. However, in recent years, China has overcome most of
these problems and radically upgraded its economic performance.
*** In 1914, Europe had built a seemingly stable peace. Through
the complex negotiations of great power geopolitics, Europe had
settled into two systems of alliance: the Allied Powers which
consisted of Britain, France and Russia, and the Central Powers
that included Germany, Austria,and Italy. Within this balance of
power, the nations of Europe challenged one another for economic,
military, and imperial advantage. The rivalry for colonies abroad
accompanied a fierce arms race at home, where military leaders
assumed that superior technology and larger armies would result in
a quick victory in a European war. Indeed, inthe prevailing
atmosphere of international suspicion, such a war seemed likely to
many of Europe’s political and military leaders. Yet none of them
predicted thatthe war would break out so soon. Nor did many
expect that the assassination in June 1914 of the Austrian
archduke and his wife would spark off that war, which engulfed all
of Europe in just over a month’s time.
*** Since 1993, China has invested in more than fifty oil and gas
projects in some thirty nations. In particular, China has focused on
acquisitions and partnerships in Sudan and Iran. In Sudan alone,
China has reportedly spent $15 billion developing oil fields. In the
meantime, China has also begun to use its military to protect its oil
investments abroad. Reportedly, troops disguised as oil workers
patrol Chinese oil infrastructure in Sudan. Moreover, in recent
years, China has strengthened its military presence in the oil-and
gas-rich parts of the South China Sea, over which sovereignty is
still disputed. Perhaps most significant in the short term is China’s
relationship with Iran. With Saudi Arabia and Iraq clearly within the
American sphere of influence, China has been steadily courting
Tehran and aims to become the biggest buyer of Iranian oil. In
return for oil, China has supplied Iran not only with conventional
weapons but also with technology and materials that can be used
for the manufacturing of nuclear weapons.
*** The term “imperialism” means the process of extending one
nation’s control over another; it is a process that takes many forms.
Historians distinguish between “formal imperialism” and “informal
imperialism.” Formal imperialism is colonialism, and it was
exercised by the Europeans in the past mainly by direct rule: the
colonizing nations annexed territories outright and established their
own governments to subjugate and administer the peoples of these
territories. Sometimes formal imperialism was exercised through
indirect rule: the conquering nations reached agreements with
native leaders and governed them. There was no single practice of
colonial management, and resistance from the natives forced
colonial powers to shift strategies frequently. As for “informal
imperialism,” it refers to a more subtle and less visible exercise of
power, in which the stronger nation allows the weaker one to
maintain its independence while reducing its sovereignty. For the
Europeans in the past, informal imperialism took the form of carving
out zones of European sovereignty and privilege, such as treaty
ports, within other countries. Essentially it meant using European
economic, political, and cultural power to get advantageous treaties
or terms of trade. Informal imperialism was not only common, it
played an even more fundamental role in shaping global power
relations in the 18th and 19th centuries.
 ÜDS FEN 2009 İLKBAHAR
*** Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the ability of a digital computer or
computer-controlled robot to perform tasks commonly associated
with intelligent beings. The term is frequently applied to the project
of developing systems endowed with the intellectual processes
characteristic of humans, such as the ability to reason, discover
meaning, generalize, or learn from past experience. Since the
development of the digital computer in the 1940s, it has been
demonstrated that computers can be programmed to perform very
complex tasks, such as discovering proofs for mathematical
theorems or playing chess, with great proficiency. Still, although
there are continuing advances in computer-processing speed and
memory capacity, there are as yet no programs that can match
human flexibility over wider domains or in tasks requiring much
everyday knowledge. On the other hand, some extraordinary
programs have attained performance levels beyond those of
human experts and professionals engaged in certain specific tasks.
AI, in this limited sense, is used efficiently and found in applications
as diverse as medical diagnosis, computer search engines, and
voice or handwriting recognition.
*** According to a recent study by the University of Alberta,
parasitic sea lice are killing a population of young wild pink salmon
along Canada’s west coast in alarming numbers. The authors of
the study say that the entire wild population may be gone within
eight years. With their protective scales, adult salmon can safely
harbour the lice, but young salmon do not yet have the protective
scales,leaving them prone to deep, infection-prone wounds left by
the lice. Juveniles live in coastal waters, which are normally far
from parasite-carrying adults living farther out to sea. Now,
however, aqua farms are often located in these same waters,
destroying the young salmon’s safe haven. Scientists argue that
fish farms must be relocated or reduced, but so far, no government
regulations have been launched to this end.
*** Much has been said and written about the declining numbers of
and disappointing lack of diversity among college students majoring
in engineering. Among the factors cited to explain this paucity are
the lack of exposure of high school students to the very idea of
engineering and the fact that many have insufficient mathematics
and science background to gain entrance to engineering school,
even if they identify the profession as a possible career. This is
unfortunate, for the ideas of engineering should be integrated into
the curricula not only of high schools but also of middle and primary
schools. By not being exposed properly throughout their education
to engineering activities, children are being done a disservice. After
all, even preschool children have the necessary conditions in their
play for appreciating exactly what engineering is: design. Indeed,
design is practised throughout their school day, even in their
before- and after-school activities. It only should be pointed out to
them that they are designing something, and, therefore, are future
engineers in the making.
*** The magnets that are used most commonly, such as the ones
on compasses, those used for fridge decorations, and in many
other everyday tools, are called permanent magnets.This type of
magnet produces an external magnetic field that attracts or repels
iron, and it may lose its strength when mistreated. Inside a
magnetare groups of atoms called domains. The magnetizing
process, which exposes a material to increasingly strong magnetic
fields, aligns these domains in a single direction, where they
become locked in a crystalline structure. High heat, radiation,
strong electrical currents, or other nearby magnets, though, can
damage that structure, nudging the domains out of alignment and
diminishing the attractive force. Electromagnets, or non-permanent
magnets, a less familiar type, have magnetic fields that rely on an
electric current. They, thus, do not lose their strength; instead, the
strength of the field can be varied as needed. This makes them
appropriate for various applications, such as telephone receivers.
*** Glucose, nature’s most abundant sugar, may soon be
petroleum’s fiercest rival. Chemists have long searched for cheap,
renewable, and non-polluting alternatives to the 245 million tonnes
of petroleumbased plastics produced annually. For years, they
have been able to convert sugars into the chemical
hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), which can be used to make plastic.
But the process, which used acid catalysts to break the sugars
down, was costly and complicated by impurities and low yields.
Researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNLL)
in Washington replaced the acid catalyst with a metal catalyst,
chromium chloride, and used it to break down glucose, a sugar
found in plant starches and cellulose. The result: HMF yields
increased 10 to 70 percent over the old processes and impurities
were eliminated. The next step to replacing petroleum is to find a
low-impact renewable source for the glucose. Scientists hope to
soon obtain glucose from cellulose rather than from plant starches.
Cellulose is found in straw and sawdust, two waste products from
the agricultural and wood industries that do not require precious
farmland to be taken away from food crops.
*** Contrary to popular belief, underground fires are a surprisingly
frequent phenomenon, the fuel being coal and the fire travelling
along the seams, or the thin layers of rock or mineral. Such fires
travel slowly due to the limited supply of oxygen, but can burn for a
very long time: the underground fire at Burning Mountain Nature
Reserve in Australia is thought to have been continuing for the past
5,500 years. The number of such subterranean fires worldwide is
countless. According to one study, subterranean fires in China
alone are consuming some 200 million tonnes of coal a year and
pumping into the air as many pollutants as all the cars in the United
States. Along with numerous human-related factors, such fires are
also contributing substantially to global warming.
 ÜDS SAĞLIK 2009 İLKBAHAR
*** What controls our breathing? We obviously have some
conscious control over it because we can voluntarily hold our
breath for a short while or breathe faster and deeper. Most of the
time, however, automatic control centres in our brain regulate our
breathing movements. Automatic control is essential, for it ensures
coordination between the respiratory and circulatory systems and
the body’s metabolic needs for gas exchange. Anatomically, our
breathing control centres are located inparts of the brain called “the
pons” and “the medulla.” Nerves from the medulla’s control centre
signal the diaphragm and rib muscles to contract, making us inhale.
These nerves send out signals that result in about 10-14
inhalations per minute when we are at rest. Between inhalations,
the muscles relax, and we exhale. The control centre in the pons
smooths out the basic rhythm of breathing set by the medulla.
*** The vertebrae of the spinal column are separated by disks
made of cartilage. Each disk has a strong outer layer and a softer
inner part that acts as a shock absorber to cushion the vertebrae
during movement. If the disk degenerates, for example following an
injury or with aging, the inner part of the disk can bulge or rupture
through the outer layer. The ruptured inner part of the disk can
compress or irritate a nerve root and may even injure it. Most
ruptured disks are in the lower back and usually affect only one leg.
Such a rupture can cause pain not only in the lower back but also
down the sciatic nerve, which runs from the spinal column to the
buttocks, leg, and heel. Ruptured disks in the lower back can also
cause leg weakness, and a person may especially have difficulty
lifting the front part of the foot. A ruptured disk that is very large and
centrally located in the spinal column can affect nerves that
regulate bowel and bladder function, impairing the ability to
defecate or urinate and making urgent medical attention necessary.
*** A low calcium intake during the growing years limits the bones’
ability to achieve an optimal mass and density. Most people
achieve a peak bone mass by about age 30, and dense bones
protect against agerelated bone loss and fracture. Starting before
the age of 40, all adults lose bone as they grow older. When bone
loss reaches the point at which bones fracture under common,
everyday stresses, the condition is known as osteoporosis. Today,
worldwide, this is one of the most prevalent diseases of aging. For
instance, in the US, it afflicts more than 25 million people, mostly
older women. Unlike many diseases that make themselves known
through symptoms such as pain, shortness of breath, skin lesions,
tiredness, and the like, osteoporosis is silent. The body sends no
signals saying bone loss is occurring. Blood samples offer no clues
because blood calcium remains normal regardless of bone content,
and measures of bone density are rarely taken. However, there are
various strategies to protect against bone loss, and eating calcium-
rich foods is only one of them.
*** Josh Villa was 26 and driving home with a friend when his car
mounted the kerb and flipped over. Villa was thrown through the
windscreen, suffered massive head injuries and fell into a coma.
Almost a year later, there was still little sign of improvement. He
would open his eyes, but he was not responsive to any external
stimuli inhis environment. He was then enrolled in a six-week study
in which an electromagnetic coil was held over the front of his head
to stimulate the underlying brain tissue. Such transcranial magnetic
stimulation (TMS) has been investigated as a way of treating
migraine, stroke, Parkinson’s disease and depression, with some
promising results, but this is the first time it has been used as a
potential therapy for someone in a comalike state. Certain
improvements were observed; for instance, he began to say single
words. The case has been described as “intriguing,” but it has also
given rise to a lot of cautionary warning.
*** Muscles can obtain the carbohydrate they need, not only from
glycogen stores but also from sugar taken during activity, which
elevates blood glucose and enhances endurance. Normally, insulin
stimulates all the tissues of the body todrain glucose from the blood
and store it; however, this is exactly the opposite of what is needed
for performance. During physical activity, the body’s release of the
hormone epinephrinekeeps insulin from rising in response to
glucose entering the blood. Physical activity also enhances muscle
sensitivity to insulin so that the muscles become the primary
recipient of blood glucose. Consuming sugar is especially useful
during exhausting endurance activities lasting more than an hour.
Endurance athletes often run short of glucose by the end of
competitive events, and they are wise to take light carbohydrate
snacks or drinks periodically during activity. During the last stages
of an endurance competition, when glycogen is running low,
glucose consumed during the event can make its way slowly from
the digestive tract to the muscles and increase the body’s supply of
glucose enough to prevent exhaustion.
*** Fitness is determined more by the intensity of exercise than the
duration. Workouts should be energetic enough that the muscles
are somewhat sore the next day but fully recovered the day after
that. To strengthen the heart, exercise must be performed at an
intensity that increases heart rate at least 20 beats above the
resting heart rate. The harder a person exercises, the faster the
heart beats and the stronger the heart muscle becomes. Heart rate
is determined by how hard the skeletal muscles contract. When a
person starts to exercise, the skeletal muscles contract and
squeeze the veins near them, forcing blood towards the heart.
When the skeletal muscles relax, these veins fill with blood. The
alternating contraction and relaxation of the skeletal muscles serve
as a second heart, pumping extra blood to the heart. The increased
blood flow causes the heart to beat faster and more forcefully. So
the harder the skeletal muscles contract, the faster the heart beats.
 ÜDS SOSYAL 2009 İLKBAHAR
*** Of the wealth of geographical and cartographical data remaining
from the Eastern world and the Greeks, the Romans were
interested only in those elements that best suited their essentially
practical needs. They virtually abandoned the studies of
cosmography and mathematical geography, preferring to devote
maximum effort to land surveys carried out by specialized military
corps of land surveyors. From their topographical surveys and on-
the-spot reconnaissance of places and cities, they formulated their
itineraria scripta, publications similar in many respects to our tourist
guides, and their itineraria picta, a kind of road map on which they
stressed only those topographical features of use to travellers.
*** The greatest feat of civil engineering since Roman times was
the French achievement between 1666 and 1681 of the Languedoc
canal to link the Mediterranean Sea with the Atlantic Ocean. It was
conceived of by King Francis I and discussed by him with Leonardo
da Vinci. It was first surveyed in 1539. As a result of the civil and
religious disorders in France, however, nothing happened until
1661 when Pierre Riquet worked out a scheme for supplying
enough water to the summit of the canal. Jean Colbert secured the
interest of the young King Louis XIV, and in 1666 the work started.
The whole canal was 150 miles long with 102 locks, a tunnel, and 3
aqueducts. It evoked world admiration, and was the prototype of all
future European grand canal designs even though its usefulness to
France was quickly nullified by the rapidly increasing size of ocean-
going ships.
*** Pottery was one of man’s first artefacts. It is the presence of
pottery, rather than of the polished stone, that marks the passage
fromthe Mesolithic to the Neolithic Ages, when agricultural peoples
settled both in the Mediterranean area and in the Middle East. It is
commonly believed that the earliest pottery receptacles copied
those of other materials, such as gourds or baskets. From the
fingerprints on them, it is possible to deduce that they were made
principally by women. Originally, any decoration was indented; that
is, patterns were pressed into the soft clay, and it remained so for a
long period until new situations, at different times in different parts
of the world, produced painted decoration.As a widespread form of
culture, permanently bearing in its shapes and decoration the
character of individual periods and peoples, the finding of pottery
has been of supreme importance to the archaeologist.
*** Charlie Chaplin, who was born in Britain but spent most of his
life in the United States, is one of the pivotal figures in film history.
He is especially remembered for his work in the silent movies.
Chaplin knew that a successful scene was not simply about the
starring actor, butabout everything else. The only way to achieve
that unity was to get personally involved in every stage of the film;
from starring in his films to producing, directing, editing them, and
even to composing the music for them. It was not uncommon for
him to decide half-way through a film that an actor wasn’t suitable
for a certain role, and start over with someone new. This constant
attention to detail ran many features overtime and over-budget, but
the public reaction assured him and the studios that what he was
doing worked. Chaplin typically improvised his story in front of the
camera with only a basic framework of a script. But on
consideration, his art turned out to be firmly rooted, and could be
seen, for example, to draw much of its strength from his successful
fusion of English and American cultures and traditions.
*** The most important influence on the style of English furniture
was that of the Chippendale family. Chippendale furniture is the
creation of Thomas Chippendale, a London-based cabinet-maker.
His Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker’s Director, a folio of furniture
designs, was published in 1754 and had a wide circulation.
Chippendale himself never marked his creations, making it harder
today for collectors to locate original pieces. One of the best ways
to find original Chippendale furniture is to look for uneven joints and
tool marks, as the furniture was made entirely by hand and does
not have the perfect angles of a mass-produced product. Though
an article of furniture made in Chippendale’s manner may bear his
name, it is by no means an indication that it was actually made in
his workshop. The 18th century was a time when artisans were
beginning to exploit various styles, leading to widespread adoption
of his name in revivals of his style, so much so that dealers spoke
of “Chinese Chippendale”, “Gothic Chippendale”, and even “Irish
Chippendale”. Many of these later designs that attach his name
bear little relationship to his original concepts.
*** Although most cities seem to form by accident, for thousands of
years some of them have been designed. Whether for defence,
beauty, or practicality, urban designers have imposed their ideas of
what a city should be about. But ideas are subject to changing
needs and fashions. Centuries ago, a moat or a castellated wall
would have been essential. Now, greenery is in vogue. While
existing cities look for ways of becoming more environmentally
friendly, a number of new ones are planned that intend to be totally
green. One of these is Masdar. Masdar’s advertising states that
“one day, all cities will be built like this.” This is not the case. For
one thing, Masdar is experimental and a work in progress. What
emerges will not necessarily translate well elsewhere. Each green
city is unique, and getting it to work depends on its location and
economy.
 ÜDS FEN 2009 SONBAHAR
*** Palaeontology was once limited to digging up fossils and trying
to deduce their age with inaccurate methods. However, fossil
analysis improved dramatically in the 1960s, with the advent and
refinement of two techniques: radiometric dating and stratigraphy.
The first radiometric method was also known as carbon-14 dating,
and it was usable for specimens younger than 50,000 years. Later,
potassium-argon dating revolutionized the field by enabling
scientists to detect the radioactive decay of elements found
naturally in rocks and soil surrounding much older fossils.
Stratigraphy, which is the study of rock layering, actually was
developed well before the 1960s, but that was the decade
scientists began to better understand how geological conditions,
earthen layers, and fossil records all relate. The resulting
refinement of biostratigraphy, i.e., the study of the complete life of a
stratum of earth, allowed scientists to determine the environment
and lifestyle of human ancestors based on fossilized flora and
fauna found within the same layer as the hominine fossils. Since
the 1960s, DNA testing has come to be used widely. As all living
organisms have the same genetic code, scientists can use DNA
variations as a molecular clock. After splitting with a common
ancestor, each generation develops a constant rate of genetic
mutations. The molecular clock allows scientists to calculate how
long ago the split occurred based on the number of differences
between species. The method is now helping scientists map the
routes that humans took out of Africa.
*** Baleen whales and toothed whales each have a unique way of
vocalizing. Only baleen whales produce long sequences of deep
sounds known as whale songs. They have a larynx, an organ at the
top of the trachea, which may be involved in sound production.
Researchers are unclear about the organ’s role in the songs as
whale larynxes are unlike those of humans, which have vocal
chords. Toothed whales, on the other hand, rely on sequences of
high-pitched clicks and whistles for both echo location and
communication with their mates. Their phonic lips, a structure
analogous to human nasal passages, press together when air is
forced through them, vibrating the surrounding tissue. The sound
waves then penetrate an oily organ in the whale’s head, called the
“melon”, where they are focused into a beam of sound. When this
beam strikes a fish, the seabed, or another object, the sound is
reflected back to the whale as an echo. Toothed whales can thus
locate prey and navigate in total darkness. However, during their
long, deep dives, toothed whales cannot inhale air every time they
want to produce a sound. So they collect it in a sac at the back of
their head and reuse it.
*** The human population continues to grow by more than 75
million people annually. Since the first Earth Day in 1970, emission
rates have remained steady at about 1.2 metric tons of carbon per
person per year. Unfortunately, the 1997 Kyoto Protocol has had
little measurable effect on these per-capita emissions, even in the
countries that have agreed to national targets. More than any other
factor, population growth drives rising carbon emissions, and the
US Census Bureau and United Nations both project that the global
population, currently 6.6 billion, will surpass 9 billion before 2050.
The implication is that one of the best strategies for reducing future
greenhouse gas emissions ispopulation stabilization, as quickly as
can be achieved by noncoercive means.
*** Scientists are exploring waysof producing spider silk artificially,
a process difficult to repeat effectively. A spider’s silk gland is a very
efficient chemical factory. Inside its gland, the spider stores a
mixture of liquid proteins, which it is able to transform into light,
strong fibres. Artificial spider silk could have many applications,
from lightweight and durable packing materials to parachutes,
surgical sutures, and even bullet-proof vests. Producing it
synthetically is a twopart process: scientists must first manufacture
the proteins and then find a way to form them into superfine
threads. They have had success with the first part, by producing
proteins through genetic modification. Binding proteins into fibres
as thin and strong as spider silk, however, has proved to be a
challenge. Recently, however, a group of German scientists have
attempted to solve that problem by using a device modelled on a
spider’s glands. Like the arachnid method, the proteins are mixed
with potassium phosphate, and then the pH is lowered before
pressure is applied as the mixture flows through tiny channels,
hardening and binding the proteins. So far, researchers have been
able to make fibres of only a fraction of an inch long, but they hope
to be able to produce longer, stronger fibres in the future.
*** An organism discovered deep in the ground has taken
astrobiologists by surprise. The organism’s unique ability to live in
complete isolation from other species, or even light or oxygen,
suggests it could be the key to life on other planets. It was
discovered in fluid-filled cracks in a South African gold mine, nearly
three kilometres beneath the Earth’s surface. When US scientists
analyzed the fluid, they expected to find genes from a mix of
species.Instead, they found that 99.9 per cent of the DNA belonged
to just one bacterium, a previously unknown species. Such a self-
sufficient organism is virtually unheard of. It means that this
organism extracts everything it needs from an otherwise dead
environment. Almost all other known organisms on the Earth that
do not use sunlight directly do use some product of photosynthesis.
However, this newly-found organism gets its energy from the
radioactive decay of uranium in the surrounding rocks. It also has
genes to extract carbon and nitrogen from its environment, both of
which are essential for making proteins. Scientists believe that this
organism is just the type that could survive on a planet other than
the Earth.
*** A scientific view of something is always an intimate mixture of
theories and observed facts. The theories are broad, general ideas
together with arguments based on them. The arguments are
designed to show that, if the general ideas are accepted, then this
or the other thing ought to be observed. If this, that, or the other
actually is observed, then the theory is a good one; if not, then the
theoreticians have to think again. Thus, theoretical ideas and
arguments are continually subjected to the severe test of
comparison with the facts,and scientists are proud of the strictness
with which this is done. On the other hand, theories often suggest
new things to look for; in other words, they lead to predictions.
These predictions are frequently successful, and scientists are
entitled to be proud of that, too. But it follows that no theory is
immutable; any scientific view of any subject may, in principle, be
invalidated at any time by the discovery of new facts.
 ÜDS SAĞLIK 2009 SONBAHAR
*** The brain’s capacity for finding new informationprocessing
pathways is thought to explain the success of artificial cochleas,
which have been implanted in the ears ofapproximately 100,000
hearing-impaired people around the world. They typically have an
array of electrodes, each of which channels electrical signals
toward the auditory nerve. The electrodes can stimulate not just a
single neuron in the brain but many simultaneously. When cochlear
implants first appeared in the 1980s, many neuroscientists
expected them to work poorly, given their primitive design. But the
devices work well enough for some deaf people to converse over
the telephone, particularly after an adjustment period during which
channel settings are fine-tuned to provide the best reception.
Patients’ brains somehow figure out how to make the most out of
the strange signals. The surprising effectiveness of artificial
cochleas – together with other evidence of the brain’s adaptability –
has fuelled optimism about the prospects for brain/machine
substitution. A case in point is an ongoing project at the University
of Southern California that seeks to create implantable brain chips
that can restore or enhance memory.
*** By six months of age, the infant’s capacity to digest and absorb
a variety of dietary components as well as to metabolize and
excrete the resulting products is near the capacity of the adult.
Consideration of the long-term effects of inadequate or excessive
intakes during infancy now assumes greater importance. These
considerations about delivery of adequate amounts of nutrients are
the basis for many of the feeding practices advocated during the
second six months of life. Although it is clear that all nutrient needs
during this period can be met with reasonable amounts of currently
available infant formulas, addition of other foods after four to six
months of age is recommended. In contrast, the volume of milk
produced by many women may not be adequate to meet all nutrient
needs ofthe breast-fed infant beyond about six months ofage,
especially iron. Thus, for breast-fed infants, complementary foods
are an important source of nutrients. Complementary foods (i.e.,
the additional foods, including formulas, given to the breast-fed
infant) or replacement foods (i.e., food other than formula given to
formula-fed infants) should be introduced step by step to both
breast-fed and formula-fed infants, beginning between four and six
months of age.
*** Following the growth of biological knowledge in the past few
decades, a few researchers now believe extension of the human
lifespan might be within reach. Why do organisms – people
included – age in the first place? Like machines, people wear out.
However, a machine can usually be repaired. A good mechanic with
a stock of spare parts can keep it going indefinitely, to the point
where no part of the original remains. The question arises, of
course, of whether the machine is worth repairing. It is here that
people and nature disagree. From the individual’s point of view,
survival is a must. You cannot reproduce unless you are alive.
Since ageing is a sure way of dying, it is no surprise that people
want to stop it from advancing. Moreover, even the appearance of
ageing can be harmful. It reduces the range of potential partners
who find you attractive – since it is a sign that you are not going to
be around for a very long time to help bring up the baby – and this,
in turn, restricts your ability to reproduce. There is a paradox,
however: the individual’s evolved desire not to age is opposed by
another evolutionary force, the disposable soma. The soma is all of
a body’s cells apart from the sex cells. Its role is to get the sex
cells, and thus the organism’s genes, into the next generation. But
evolutionary logic seems to require the soma to age and die in
order for a species to continue. There is thus a premium on
reproducing early rather than conserving resources for a future that
may never come.
*** Individual “banks” of immune cells taken from pigs might one
day be used to boost our own immune systems or to fight HIV and
cancer. Our immune system’s T-cells, which play a key role in
fighting off diseases, are sharpened during childhood to attack
particular pathogens after encountering them. This flexibility
diminishes after a child reaches young adulthood, but researchers
at a US university have come up with a way to reviveit. According
to them, if a human’s immune cells are transferred into a young pig,
they could be brought up to maximum effectiveness (as in a child’s
body), then implanted back into the person they came from. The
research team has already had success with experiments where
human stem cells were injected into developing pig foetuses;
whenthe piglets were born, the injected cells had multiplied and
matured into a diverse range of human T-cells, alongside the pig’s
own immune cells, that were shown to be fully functional. The chief
researcher envisions this approach eventually being used to make
human cells that fight specific diseases. The necessary technology
is available now to introduce the technique widely, provided that
regulatory authorities can be convinced that it can be safely tested
in humans. However, the fearis that dormant pig viruses buried in
their DNA could be spread to humans. Another potential danger is
that humanderived cells might pick up surface molecules from the
pig. This could make the transferred cells themselves targets for
immune destruction. The pigs might also produce too few human
cells to fight disease.
*** Asthma is a life-threatening, allergy-driven lung disease
common in wealthy countries. But exactly what causes it is
unknown. Researchers at Washington University believe the direct
cause of asthma is a chemical distress signal produced in skin that
is damaged by another hazard of modern life: eczema. Unlike
asthma, it is not dangerous, so people rarely worry about it.
Nevertheless, 17% of children in America have it, and similarly high
figures are found in Australia, Britain, and New Zealand. What is
particularly intriguing is that many people with eczema go on to
develop asthma (in America, the figure is 70%). That compares
with an asthma prevalence of 4-8% in the general population. The
Washington University group theorizes that the link between the
two conditions is formed by thymic stromal lympho-poietin (TSLP),
a signalling molecule secreted by damaged skin cells that elicits a
strong immune response from the body to fight off invaders. Thus,
eczema-induced TSLP enters the bloodstream and, when it arrives
at the lungs, sensitizes them so that they react to allergens that
would not previously have bothered them. In other words, they
become asthmatic. Several experiments carried out by the
researchers, only on mice, have confirmed that skin damage
creates susceptibility to asthma by releasing TSLP.
*** Patients are admitted to critical care units from a variety of
settings, including the emergency department, medical or surgical
service, or operating room. Most critical carepatients are acutely
and severely ill, commonly with dysfunction or failure of more than
one organ system. The initial assessment must be rapid and focus
on real or potentially lifethreatening processes that require
immediate intervention. An example is the resuscitation of a patient
with cardiopulmonary arrest. The pace of resuscitation is
necessarily quick; physical examination may be restrictedinitially to
the central nervous, cardiovascular, and respiratory systems, and
interventions may be limited to the essential ABCs of airway,
breathing, and circulation. Later, continuous electrocardiographic
monitoring, measurement of blood pressure, and other standard
procedures should start. In general, management of the critically ill
patientshould be based on an understanding of physiology and
pathophysiology. Indeed, although the contributions of cell and
molecular biology to critical care medicine are substantial, the
critical care unit more resembles a physiology laboratory, since the
effects of its interventions can be directly observed.
 ÜDS SOSYAL 2009 SONBAHAR
*** Scottish philosopher and historian David Hume emerged as an
economist also with the publication of his Political Discourses. The
famous Adam Smith was a friend of his and may have been
influenced by Hume: they had similar principles, and both were
very good at illustrating and supporting these from history. Although
Hume did not formulate a complete system of economic theory, as
did Smith in his Wealth of Nations, he introduced several of the
new ideas around which the “classical economics” of the 18th
century was built. His economic philosophy can be understood from
his main arguments: that wealth consists not of money but of
commodities; that the amount of money in circulation should be
kept related to the amount of goods in the market; and that poor
nations impoverish the rest because they do not produce enough to
be able to take much part in trade. Beyond this, he urged society to
welcome the shift from an agricultural to an industrial economy,
without which civilization could not be achieved.
*** The people of Hong Kong have been experiencing an identity
crisis ever since the British returned the colony to China in 1997
and it became a Special Administrative Region with special
privileges (for 50 years). Although they are proud of their Chinese
ethnicity, culturally they have always felt overwhelmingly Western
and therefore much different from their cousins on the mainland.
Now they have a new worry: a growing threat to Hong Kong’s
economic success. The Chinese government recently announced
its plan to turn the city of Shanghai into a global financial and
shipping centre by 2020, a move that is seen as weakening Hong
Kong’s traditional and profitable position as international gateway to
mainland China. Even worse, China’s friendlier relationship with
former enemy Taiwan is already reducing transit commerce through
Hong Kong. After an economic contraction of almost 8% earlier this
year, Hong Kong is feeling real pain, and the jobless rate could
approach record levels. So the normally hands-off local
government has sprung into action: it has announced two rounds of
tax cuts and various handouts to the poor and to businesses. In
addition, the city’s long-term planners have recommended that
Hong Kong’s government focus on developing six fields – including
education, environmental-related industries, and medical
technology – in which Hong Kong already has an edge.
*** On July 1, 2009, the US state of California began enforcing a
new menu-labelling law that requires chain restaurants to post on
their menus the calories contained in their food items. Three other
states – Oregon, Maine, and Massachusetts – have already passed
similar regulations, as have 11 city and county governments. The
trend has gathered strength quickly, mostly because of concern
about the nation’s expanding waistlines. The next step is to deploy
the practice nationally, and the Congress is about to debate such a
law. Pressure for this type of move is coming from the obese, who
represent more than a third of American adults, and their
defenders. Overweight people often struggle to estimate the
number of calories they consume when eating out and make
mistakes when calculating how much food they should order.
Proponents of menu labelling hope that knowing what is in their
food may direct people to healthier items. In Los Angeles, for
example, officials optimistically predict that menu labelling could
prevent nearly 40% of the annual weight gain there. However, the
effect of menu labelling on dietary choices remains unclear, and the
regulations are too new to produce much evidence. Furthermore,
some critics of the trend believe the public-health benefits of the
new legislation are irrelevant. For them, the new regulations are
welcome as part of a consumer’s wide-ranging right to know.
*** Although an extension of the worldwide ban on ivory exports to
discourage the illegal killing of African elephants has been greeted
enthusiastically in many places, the rhinoceroses (rhinos) of
southern and eastern Africa are still paying with their lives for their
horns, which remain prized by the Chinese for their medicinal and
aphrodisiac qualities, and by the Yemenis for making dagger
handles. According to a group, called Traffic, thatmonitors the
wildlife trade throughout the world, this illegal business is on the
rise. Last month, the group called for stronger international
cooperation along smuggling routes and for more secure
management of legal horn stocks. For its part, Zimbabwe, where
there are a lot of illegal killings, has taken a very radical decision: it
says it will start dehorning its rhinos. Today only five species of
rhino survive in Africa and Asia. In the past, especially in the 19th
and 20th centuries, they were slaughtered on a large scale by white
hunters. By the 1960s, fewer than 70,000 black rhinos were left in
Africa, and, over the next two decades, illegal hunters wiped out
96% of them. But since 1995, thanks to vigorous conservation
efforts, the number of black rhinos has gone up again, to around
3,700. The number of white rhinos has nearly doubled over the
same period, to over 14,500.
*** Many governments these days feel that the path to happiness
for society as a whole lies through spending on the welfare of its
youngest members: their health, education, and general well-being.
A recent report from a leading international organization, the
OECD, examined these efforts among its 30 member countries in
order to learn if the aim was being achieved. Specifically, the
researchers investigated 21 variables that were then grouped into
six main categories. The results surprisingly showed that while
some kinds of spending on children do work, many should be
improved or scrapped. Also, total government spending per child
was seen to vary considerably, as did outcomes, but the correlation
between these was not strong. Moreover, the differences in
spending levels among countries were not directly linked to their
relative levels of prosperity. For example, rich Sweden is, as
expected, kind to its children, but poorish Hungary turns out to be
generous, too. Up-and-coming South Korea might be expected to
be a bit reluctant to part with so much money, but the stinginess of
Switzerland is totally unexpected. Children’s lobbies always want
more funds, but the OECD report suggests that more money does
not reliably yield better results. America has one of the highest
levels of spending per child, and among the worst outcomes. In
contrast, Australia spends less, with better outcomes.
*** He is young, dark, and handsome, with a beautiful light tenor
voice, and he swept the Latin Grammy Awards in 2008. But should
Juan Esteban Aristizabal, better known as Juanes, perform his
songs at an upcoming “peace concert” in the Cuban capital,
Havana? The debate over this Colombian rock star, who is based
in the US city of Miami, has been raging on that city’s Spanish-
language radio and television shows. Older Cuban-Americans, who
left Cuba in the immediate aftermath of the 1959 revolution there,
vehemently oppose the concert. They argue that it is just the latest
attempt by the Cuban regime to manipulate public opinion.
Traditionally, these older exiles have held all the political power in
Miami. But younger ones are pushing back, especially when it
comes to the arts. Beyond the overall Cuban-American community,
the Juanes concert is seen as a potential great turning point in US-
Cuban relations. A successful outcome could smooth the way for a
further softening in American policy towards Cuba. Artists other
than Juanes have attempted this kind of bridge-building with Cuba
before; for example, left-leaning musicians like Bonnie Raitt and
The Police appeared there in 1999, but they had an overtly political
agenda. However, Juanes himself, who is widely admired for his
humanitarian work in his native Colombia, denies having any
thought of politics. “My only message is one of peace, of
humanitarianism, and of tolerance,” he said recently.
 ÜDS FEN 2010 İLKBAHAR
*** Solar panels turn the sunlight into energy when the sun shines
directly on them, but as soon as the sunlight decreases, sodoes
efficiency. A new antireflective film coating could help panels collect
sunshine at 96 per cent efficiency from nearly any angle. The
newly-developed film consists of seven layers of nanoscopic silicon
and titanium-oxide rods arranged in increasing densities, with the
topmost nearly as porous as air. This funnel-like structure captures
light from almost every direction and focuses it onto the
photovoltaic panel while also inhibiting reflection. The film, which is
about one hundredth as thick as a human hair, could easily be
applied to any solar panel and would help collect 20 per cent more
light while eliminating the need for the expensive hardware usually
used to rotate solar panels as the sun moves. Before the new film
can be marketed, the nanoscientists who developed the film must
find a way to protect the outermost layers from wind and heat, a
process that might take another year.
*** The hope with biofuels is that they can offer a carbon-neutral
energy source, because the crops that are grown for fuel will
remove as much carbon from the atmosphere as will be released
when they are eventually burned. This is basically the same thing
that happens when we burn coal or oil. The difference is that in the
caseof the latter, the carbon was absorbed hundreds of millions of
years ago, and this is part of the problem. Humans will take just a
few hundred years to burn through tens of millions of years of oil
deposits. To grow enough crops to keep up with our current
demand will require lots of additional lands to be cleared for
agriculture. If rainforests are cleared to plant sugar cane, all the
carbon that is currently locked in the trees will be released. The
other problem is that adding nitrogen fertilizer to these crops
releases nitrogen oxide, which is another greenhouse gas. A recent
study showed that burning maize biofuels actually increases
greenhouse gas emissions for this reason. However, this is more
the fault of the choice of biofuel crop and the production method
rather than a flaw in the biofuel concept as a whole. The shrub
“jatropha”, for instance, can be grown on land too poor for trees or
other crops to grow on, and is already used for biodiesel in India,
Cambodia, and some African countries.
*** Cats are famous for their aversion to water. However, the fishing
cat, a wild Asiatic species, has no such tendency. In fact, these
felines, about twice the size of typical house cats, prefer to be in
proximity to water, making their homes in the near rivers and
marshes. As their name indicates, the cats fish for their meals,
sitting by the water and tapping their paws to create ripples on the
surface that resemble insect movements to lure their prey. Their
webbed front paws help the fishing cats to remain dry while
scooping fish, frogs, and snails out of shallow water. However, they
also dive right in to grab large fish and birds in their jaws. Once in
the water, the cats can swim on the surface or even glide
underwater. Their flat tails, significantly shorter than those of house
cats, serve as rudders, helping them to adjust direction below the
water surface. Unfortunately, habitat loss and overfishing have
decreased the number of these cats by about 50 per cent over the
past three generations. Recently, the International Union for the
Conservation of Nature (IUCN) changed the status of these cats to
“endangered” from the less-severe “vulnerable”.
*** It is to a plant’s advantage to be visually attractive to a specific
pollinator so that those animals will seek out and concentrate on
that particular plant during their search for nectar. This keeps pollen
from being spread to other plant species, where pollination won’t
take place. Flowers appeal to their pollinators’ sensory systems by
using signals such as alluring odours or colours. Flowers pollinated
by nocturnal animals like bats and moths, which rely more on
hearing than smell and sight, usually have dull colours but powerful
scents. Flowers pollinated by daytime animals like birds and bees,
however, rely on a range of colours. Birds see a spectrum
somewhat similar to ours but are especially receptive to red, so
blossoms pollinated by them tend to be red or orange. Bees, on the
other hand, see a different spectrum composed of yellow, blue,
green, and ultraviolet. Flowers pollinated by bees, hence, tend to
be in those colours and usually have special markings that are
visible only in ultraviolet. Like runway lights, these markings guide
insects to the right place to land and find nectar, and in the process,
pollinate the plant.
*** A 37,000-year-old baby mammoth could help to explain why the
ancient species became extinct as well as giving an insight into
climate change. Researchers at a Japanese medical school carried
out a computed tomography (CT) scan of the mammoth, which was
found frozen in Northern Siberia. They produced some high-
resolution 3D pictures which are being analyzed to find out about
the animal’s internal organs and diet, and to work out how she died.
The mammoth’s tissues and skeleton have been studied at a
zoological museum in Russia. Air samples from her lungs will also
be analyzed for clues to the Earth’s atmosphere at the time of her
death. The mammoth, named Lyuba, was found by a reindeer
herder buried in permafrost. She is unusual because of the
proportionof her body that is preserved. According to one expert
working on Lyuba, with fossils, scientists generally get only bones
and teeth, but this specimen is special in that there are also the
organs and muscles. The same expert notes that it will be
interesting to see how this animal managed to adapt to life high in
the Arctic and was able to survive, especially in the Ice Age.
*** Several years ago, biochemists studying marine ecosystems
noticed something unusual: a sponge thriving in the middle of a
coral reef that was dying from bacterial infection. The researchers
identified a substance made by the sponge in order to defend itself
from harmful microbes. They realized that it was a natural
antibacterial molecule called “ageliferin”. This molecule can break
down the formation of a protective biofilm coating that bacteria use
to shield themselves from threats,including antibiotic drugs. Now
the same researchers are using this natural compound to create
innovative ways to fight drugresistant bacteria. They have recently
modified the structure of ageliferin to make it more potent and
formulated to help conventional medications combat otherwise
drug-resistant bacteria, such as staph and cholera. The newly-
developed chemical does not stop bacteria from proliferating, but it
allows the antibiotic to work again. The researchers hope
eventually to incorporate the altered ageliferin as a helper drug
within commercial antibiotic products, allowing them to fight off
formerly drug-resistant strains of diseases.
 ÜDS SAĞLIK 2010 İLKBAHAR
*** A new vaccine that may offer lifetime protection against the flu
has shown promise in human trials. It works on the deadly type A
strain, responsible for pandemics. Current flu vaccines work by
giving immunity against two proteins, called haemagglutinin and
neurominidase, found on the surface of flu viruses. However, as
these proteins continually mutate, vaccines have to be reformulated
every year to keep on working. The new vaccine, known as ACAM-
FLU-A, gets around this problem by homing in on a protein called
M2, found on all type A strains, that does not mutate so readily. The
vaccine could be quickly produced in response to a flu outbreak.
The doses can be mass produced and used at any time, because
there is no need to identify the most prevalent strains. In theory, a
single injection could offer lifetime protection. Whether this will work
in practice is a matter for future trials.
*** The loss of one sense encourages the development of the four
others. This has now been demonstrated convincingly in a study by
a team of doctors. During five days, volunteers takingpart in the
study were blindfolded and asked to carry out exercises designed
to stimulate the sense of touch. When their brains were then tested
using an MRI, an area of the visual cortex was shown to have been
activated as if, being underused, this area was brought in to help
the subjects when they had to rely on touch. About 24 hours later,
after the blindfolds came off, the participants lost this aptitude.
Previously, scientists had always believed that the brain was
organized into distinct and highly-specialized systems. This new
study, however, shows that the human brain has the ability to
reorganize itself. In addition, the rapid reversibility of the process
suggests that it is not based on the creation of new nervous
connections but on the activation of previously inhibited zones.
*** Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is an anxiety disorder
that can develop after exposure to a terrifying event or ordeal.
While many scientific studies focus on the molecular mechanisms
for learning and memorization, scientists need to address the
“unlearning” process to tackle PTSD. Researchers have discovered
that a receptor for glutamate, the most prominent neurotransmitter
in the central nervous system, plays a key role in the unlearning
process. They made this discovery in experiments where they
trained mice to fear a sound by coupling it with an electric shock to
the foot. They found that if, following this fear conditioning, the mice
are repeatedly exposed to the sound without the electric shock,
their fear eventually subsides. However, mutant mice lacking the
gene-coding for metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 (mGluR5) are
unable to shake off their fear of the now harmless sound. The
researchers believe that a similar mechanism might be perturbed in
PTSD sufferers and that metabotropic glutamate receptor 5
(mGluR5) may provide a potential target for new therapeutic
treatments.
*** A team of scientists have recently identified one of the
molecules responsible for the tubular shape of blood vessels.
Originally known for regulating blood vessel development for
life,the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) proteins analyzed
by the research team have proven to be more interesting than
initially thought. The team found that a certain variation of VEGF
attracts an “instructor” protein. When this variant, with the instructor
protein attached, docks with a receptor on the surface of a cell, a
signal telling the cell to form a tube-like shape with its neighbours is
sent to it. When the instructor cell is absent, the cells line up next to
one another to form a sheet. Scientists believe that not only could
this contribution allow blood vessels to be created from stem cells,
but the discovery might be employed in other tube-like structuresin
the body, such as the lungs and the intestines. Far from being
confined to blood vessels, the discovery thus opens the door to
resolving the problem of three-dimensional reconstruction of organs
from stem cells.
*** A study by a group of scientists has resulted in a major step
forward in overcoming drug addiction. As addiction was known to
cause molecular changes in the brains of addicts, causing their
neurons to transmit much stronger signals of dopamine, a
messenger molecule involved in reward-seeking behaviours, the
scientists were hoping to prove experimentally that certain key
proteins in the dopamine-producing neurons influence drug
addiction. It was an inspired guess, as the study found that mice in
which these key proteins had been selectively switched off
displayed clear addictive behaviour. For instance, mice in which the
CluR1 protein was switched off showed a much longer period of
dependence. Conversely, re-administration of cocaine after a long
break immediately re-ignited the addiction, but mice whose NR1
protein had been deactivated resisted relapsing into addictive
behaviours. The ability of these proteins to determine addictive
behavioural patterns makes them fascinating.
*** A deficiency in Vitamin D is known to cause various diseases
due to insufficient calcium or phosphate in the bones. Vitamin D is
actually an umbrella term that covers a group of steroid molecules.
Of these, only Vitamin D3 requires sunlight to synthesize. It is
formed in the skin of all mammals when light energy is absorbed by
a precursor molecule called 7-dehydrocholesterol. A recentstudy
found that at the height of summer, two minutes’ exposure of the
face and arms to the sun, three to four times a week, could supply
enough Vitamin D3. This rose to 15 minutes in the winter. Ironically,
Vitamin D deficiency, which may also lead to skin cancer, is actually
very common in some of the sunniest but most underdeveloped
countries in the world. This is not because of malnutrition or a lack
of dietary supplements, as most people mistakenly think. In fact, it
is because very dark skin colour slows the rate of Vitamin D3
production by a factor of six, and people in these countries are
usually heavily veiled when outside, as well. In addition, wearing
sunscreen with a sun protection factor greater than eight will also
block Vitamin D3 production.
 ÜDS SOSYAL 2010 İLKBAHAR
*** Several EU member states enjoy long-standing political and
economic links with Latin America. In fact, it was in the 1960s and
1970s that the EU first began expanding its ties to the region
through a series of diplomatic initiatives and agreements aimed at
promoting democracy, addressing development issues, and
boosting trade and investment. Moreover, the EU actively worked
for peace in the troubled Central American region in the 1980s. In
the meantime, the accession in 1986 of Spain and Portugal to the
EU furtherstrengthened region-toregion ties. EU engagement in
Latin America increased during the 1990s as a formal political
dialogue was put in place to advance issues of common interest,
including how the EU and Latin America together can act in concert
with other nations and international organizations to address global
issues and challenges.
*** For the past 300 years, musicians and scientists have puzzled
over the unparalleled quality of classical Cremonese violins made
by the Italian master Antonio Stradivari. These classical violins
have become the benchmark against which the sound of all other
violins is compared. There are many theories as to the “secret” of
Stradivarius violins. What was obviously first explored was the
exact size of the violins and ratio of the parts to each other.
Although instrument makers have disassembled their violins,
calibrated every dimension of the pieces to within the hundredth of
an inch, and replicated the measurements perfectly in new
instruments, they have failed to duplicate the Stradivarius magic. It
is also well-known that the density of the material through which a
sound propagates influences significantly the vibration efficiency of
the material, therefore the tonal qualities of the instrument. It is also
a widely held belief that Stradivari’s well-guarded varnish formula
was not just a protective coating of the instrument, but actually the
most important secret to his violins.
*** A company’s public relations officer is responsible for creating
and maintaining relationships between clients and customers.
Through areas such as brand management, advertising, media
relations and crisis management, public relations officers seek to
foster interest, trust and belief in the company and its products.
They are aware of how best to carry this out when dealing within
their own nations and cultures. However, when dealing with a
foreign audience, it is critical thatcross-cultural differences are
recognized. By way of illustrating the impact cross-cultural
awareness can have on the success or failure of a public relations
campaign, a brief example can be cited: an American company
tried to sell its toothpaste in Southeast Asiaby emphasizing that it
“whitens your teeth”. Theyfound out that the local natives chew
betel nuts to blacken their teeth because they found it attractive.
*** The Agta Negritos of the Philippines, a present-day tribal
people, are an example of a culture whose women and men share
all subsistence activities. Most interestingly, the Agta Negritos
women hunt large game with bows, arrows, and hunting dogs. The
women are prevented from hunting only during late pregnancy and
the first few months after giving birth. Teenagers and women with
older children are the most frequent hunters. The women space
their children to allow for maximum mobility. They keep their birth
rate down through the use of herbal contraceptives. By studying
these ethnographic examples and by questioning the assumptions
that have been made about female and male roles in prehistory,
anthropologists have concluded that Western society’s traditionally
low view of women’s status is by no means universal.
*** Satellite images of the upper Amazon Basin in Brazil taken
since 1999 have revealed hundreds of circles, squares, and other
geometric shapes once hidden by the Amazon rain forests. They
hint at a previously unknown ancient society that flourished in the
Amazon. Now researchers estimate that nearly ten times as many
such structures, of unknown purpose, may exist undetected under
the Amazon forest cover. The discovery adds to evidence that the
hinterlands of the Amazon once teemed with complex societies,
which were largely wiped out by diseases brought to South America
by European colonists in the 15th and 16th centuries. Since these
vanished societies had gone unrecorded, earlier research had
suggested that soils in the upper Amazon were too poor to support
the extensive agriculture needed for such large, permanent
settlements. The researchers say “We found that this view is
wrong, and there is a lot more to discover in these places”.
*** Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001,
Americans understandably rallied around the flag. Having just
suffered the deadliest attack ever on the US soil, a great majority of
the people believed another attack was imminent. But Americans
also had enormous faith the “Global War on Terror” would help
keep them safe. Just one month after 9/11, for instance, 94 per
cent of Americans fully approved of how the fight against terrorism
was being handled. The United States then quickly went to war in
Afghanistan, closing down a terrorist camp and capturing or killing
a number of high-level al Qaeda operatives in the process.
However, since 2001, terrorists have found their targets on almost
every continent, with bombings in Bali, London, Madrid, Istanbul,
and elsewhere. Now Americans appear less convinced that their
country is winning the war on terror. In the face of persisting
threats, including a growing number of terroristattacks around the
world, numerous reports show that Americans are losing faith in
their government’s ability to wage the war successfully and to
protect them from the terrorists’ next major attack.
 ÜDS FEN 2010 SONBAHAR
*** Wildfires are an important environmental hazard in many
geographical areas. Those areas most prone to wildfires have wet
seasons followed by dry seasons. Vegetation that grows and
accumulates during the wet season dries out enough during the dry
season to burn easily. When lightning hits the ground, it ignites the
dry organic material, and a fire spreads through the area. Actually
fires have several effects on the environment. First, burning frees
the minerals that are locked in organic matter. The ashes remaining
after a fire are rich in potassium, phosphorus, calcium, and other
minerals essential for plant growth. Thus, vegetation flourishes
following a fire. Second, fire removes plant cover and exposes the
soil, which stimulates the germination of seeds requiring bare soil,
and encourages the growth of shade-intolerant plants. Third, fire
can cause increased soil erosion because it removes plant cover,
leaving the soil more vulnerable to wind and water.
*** Moisture is removed from humid air by mountains, which force
the air to rise. As it gains altitude, the air cools, clouds form, and
precipitation occurs, primarily on the windward slopes of the
mountains. As the air mass moves down on the other side of the
mountain, it is warmed, thereby lessening the chance of
precipitation of any remaining moisture. This situation exists on the
west coast of North America, where precipitation falls on the
western slopes of mountains that are close to the coast. The dry
lands on the sides of the mountains away fromthe prevailing wind
are called “rain shadows.” Generally, differences in elevation, in the
steepness and direction of slopes, and in exposure to sunlight and
prevailing winds may produce local variations in climate known as
“microclimates,” which can be quite different from their overall
surroundings. For an organism, the microclimate of its habitat isof
primary importance, because that is the climate an organism
actually experiences and knows how to cope with.
*** Today scientists draw attention to some of the potential
consequences of global warming on wildlife. They point out that
each species reacts to changes in temperature differently. Some
species will undoubtedly become extinct, particularly those with
narrow temperature requirements, those confined to small reserves
or parks, and those living in fragile ecosystems, whereas other
species may survive in greatly reduced numbers and ranges.
Ecosystems considered most vulnerable to species loss in the
short term are polar seas, coral reefs, mountains, coastal wetlands,
tundra, taiga, and temperate forests. On the other hand, some
species may be able to migrate to new environments or adapt
themselves to the changing conditions in their present habitats.
Also, some species may be unaffected by global warming, whereas
others may emerge from it as winners, with greatly expanded
numbers and ranges. Those considered most likely to prosper
include weeds, pests, and disease-carrying organisms that are
already common in many different environments.
*** Commercial logging, mostly for export abroad, accounts for 21%
of tropical deforestation. Most tropical countries allow commercial
logging to proceed at a much faster rate than is sustainable. For
example, in parts of Malaysia, current logging practices remove the
forest almost twice as fast as the sustainable rate. If thiscontinues,
Malaysia will soon experience shortages of timber and will have to
start importing logs. When that happens, Malaysia will have lost
future revenues, both from logging and from harvesting other forest
products, from its newly vanished forests. Moreover, in addition to
commercial logging, cattle ranching also causes deforestation. In
fact, approximately 12% of tropical rainforest destruction is done to
provide open rangeland for cattle. After the forests are cleared,
cattle can be raised on the land for six to ten years, after which time
shrubby plants take over the range. Much of the beef raised on
these ranches, which are often owned by foreign companies, is
exported to fast-food restaurants.
*** In the early part of the twentieth century, the experiments
carried out by Ernest Rutherford and his colleagues led to the idea
that at the centre of an atom there is a tiny but massive nucleus. At
the same time that the quantum theory was being developed and
that scientists were attempting to understand the structure of the
atom and its electrons, investigations into the nucleus itself had
also begun. An important question to physicists was whether the
nucleus had a structure, and what that structure might be. In fact, it
has so far turned out that the nucleus is a complicated entity, and
even today, it is not fully understood. However, by the early 1930s,
a model of the nucleus had been developed that is still useful.
According to this model, a nucleus is considered as an aggregate
of two types of particles: protons and neutrons. A proton is the
nucleus of the simplest atom which is hydrogen. The neutron,
whose existence was ascertained only in 1932 by the English
physicist James Chadwick, is electrically neutral as its name
implies. These two constituents of a nucleus, neutrons and protons,
are referred to collectively as “nucleons.”
*** Earth and Venus, being roughly the same size and distance
from the sun, are often regarded as twin planets. So it is natural to
wonder how the crust of Venus compares with that of our own
world. Although centuries of telescopic observations from Earth
could give no insight, beginning in 1990 the Magellan space
probe’s orbiting radar penetrated the thick clouds that enshroud
Venus and revealed its surface with stunning clarity. From the
detailed images of landforms, planetary scientists can surmise the
type of rock that covers Venus. It seems that our sister planet is
completely covered by rocks of basaltic composition, which are
very much like the dark, finegrained rocks that line the ocean
basins of Earth. Magellan’s mapping, however, failed to find
extensive areas comparable to Earth’s continental crust.
 ÜDS SAĞLIK 2010 SONBAHAR
*** Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases are the most common
diseases which affect many people in the world. Approximately, 1
million people in the world suffer from Parkinson’s disease, a motor
disorder characterized by difficulty in initiating movements and
slowness of movement. Patients often have a masked facial
expression, poor balance, and a flexed posture. Like Alzheimer’s
disease, which is characterized by confusion, memory loss, and a
variety of other symptoms, Parkinson’s disease is progressive, and
the risk increases with age. The incidence of the Parkinson’s
disease is about 1% at the age of 65, and about 5% at the age 85.
Parkinson’s disease appears to result from a combination of
environmental and genetic factors. Evidence for a genetic role
includes the fact that some families with an increased incidence of
Parkinson’s disease carry a mutated form of the gene for a protein
which is important in normal brain function. The symptoms of
Parkinson’s disease result from the death of neurons in the mid-
brain. As a result, at present, there is no cure for Parkinson’s
disease, although various treatments can help control the
symptoms.
*** Gene replacement therapy is being developed for several
genetic diseases. Because many difficulties are inherent in treating
most serious genetic diseases, scientists have dreamed of
developing actual cures. Today, genetic engineering is bringing
these dreams closer to reality. Such therapy could take two main
forms. One approach would be to introduce copies of a normal
gene into a fertilized egg, using modifications of the technology
already used to produce transgenic animals. In some transgenic
animals the introduced gene can remain stable from generation to
generation, constituting a true “genetic cure.” However, this
approach raises such complex ethical problems that it is not being
actively pursued at this time. A second strategy – to introduce the
normal gene into only some body cells (somatic cell gene therapy)
– is receiving increased attention today. The rationale is that,
although a particular gene may be present in all cells, it is
expressed only in some. Expression of the normal allele in only the
cells that require it may be sufficient to give a normal phenotype.
Although this approach presents a number of technical obstacles,
which must be overcome, gene therapies for a number of genetic
diseases are undergoing development or are being tested on
patients in clinical trials.
*** The pirate look is a time-honoured way to fix children’s “lazy
eye”. The patch over the good eye forces the weak one to work,
thereby preventing its deterioration. Playing video games helps,
too. The neural cells corresponding to both eyes then learn to fire in
synchrony so that the brain wires itself for the stereo vision required
for depth perception. Left untreated past a critical age,lazy eye, or
amblyopia, can result in permanently impaired vision. New studies
are now showing that this condition, which affects up to 5 per cent
ofthe population, could be repaired even past the critical age. What
is more, amblyopia may provide insights into brain plasticity that
could help treat a variety of other disorders related to faulty wiring,
including schizophrenia, epilepsy, autism, anxiety, and addiction.
These ailments are not neurodegenerative diseases that destroy
part of the neural circuitry. So, if the defective circuits could be
stimulated in the right way, the brain could develop normally.
*** Many drugs, whether prescribed or abused, affect the nervous
system. While about 25% of all prescribed drugs are taken to alter
psychological conditions, almost all the commonly abused drugs
affect mood. In particular, levels of serotonin and dopamine are
thought to influence mood. For example, when excessive amounts
of norepinephrine are released, people feel energetic and
stimulated, whereas low concentrations of this neurotransmitter
reduce anxiety. Habitual use of almost any mood-altering drug can
result in psychological dependence, in which the user becomes
emotionally dependent on the drug. When deprived of it, the user
craves the feeling of euphoria (well-being) that the drug induces.
Some drugs induce tolerance after several weeks. This means that
response to the drug decreases, and greater amounts are required
to obtain the desired effect. Tolerance often occurs because the
liver cells are stimulated to produce more of the enzymes that
metabolize and inactivate the drug. Use of some of the drugs, such
as heroin, tobacco, and alcohol, may also result in addiction
(physical dependence), in which physiological changes occur that
make the user dependent on the drug. Addiction can also occur
because certain drugs, such as morphine, have components similar
to substances that body cells normally manufacture on their own.
The continued use of such a drug causes potentially dangerous
physiological effects.
*** Anyone who has spent even a little time with an autistic boy or
girl soon becomes familiar with the behaviours that set these
children apart. But how do parents and doctors know if a baby has
autism? Early diagnosis has proved difficult, but if it were possible,
it would lead to much moreeffective treatment for the younger a
child is the more malleable is the brain. So, the inability to detect
autism until a child is two or three years old is a terrific
disadvantage, as it eliminates a valuable window of treatment
opportunity, when the brain is undergoing tremendous
development. Researchers, however, are closing in on techniques
that could detect autism in babies as young as six months and
perhaps even at birth. The results of these new tests are expanding
the understanding of autism and raising hopes for much earlier,
specialized care that could improve a toddler’s chances for a more
normal life as a child, teenager and adult.
*** For humans to be able to hear a sound, it must be both loud
enough and within the right frequency range – as measured by the
number of vibrations per second, or hertz (Hz). The average person
is most sensitive to sounds in the 1,000-5,000 Hz range, and most
lose the ability to hear very high frequencies (above around 20,000
Hz) with age. Even so a sizeable proportion of the population do
seem to remain sensitive to the very low frequency “infrasound”.
High-frequency sounds have more than just audible effects as
teenagers in Swindon discovered in 2006. Tired of having crowds
of youngsters collecting around the town theatre, the owners
installed the Mosquito, a device that emits sonic energy at very
high frequencies. Only the teenagers could hear it and it forced
them to meet elsewhere.
 ÜDS SOSYAL 2010 SONBAHAR
*** When Timemagazine declared its 2006 person of the year to be
“You”, the magazine was pointing to an undeniable reality: anyone
with an Internet connection can be a reporter, political
commentator, cultural critic, or media producer. Around the same
time, the media scholar H. Jenkins and his colleagues published a
paper appreciating the “participatory cultures” of creation and
sharing, mentorship, and civic engagement that were emerging
online, especially among young people. AlthoughTimedid not
explicitly frame participation in the new media as a youth
phenomenon, most of the fifteen “citizens of digital democracy” who
were featured in its December 13 article were under the age of
thirty-five. Jenkins and his colleagues strongly suggest that young
people are especially well-poised to take full advantage of Web 2.0.
On the other hand, ever since digital technologies were made
available, scholars, educators, policymakers, and parents have
been debating their implications for young people’s literacy,
attention spans,social tolerance, and tendency for aggression.
Considerable strides are now being made in scholarship in many of
these areas.
*** The last decade has seen notable changes in disability policy in
Europe. Changed assumptions about the concept of disability have
been reflected in the adoption of new national and pan-European
legislation. As a consequence, the policy which has sought to
separate and segregate people with disabilities in “special schools”,
labour markets, residential accommodation and transport has, to
some degree, and in some countries, been reconsidered. Attempts
have been made to develop an integrated approach, opening up
jobs, services and housing to all people irrespective of their ability
or disability. A key element of this new approach has been the
recognition that segregation and exclusion is not a necessary
consequence of a physical or intellectual impairment, but the result
of conscious policy choices based on false assumptions about the
abilities of the people with disabilities. The new approach
recognizes the role which discrimination plays in disadvantaging
people with disabilities and, conversely, how legislation seeks to
combat elements of disability discrimination and creates equality of
opportunity for people with disabilities.
*** When prehistoric man returned home from a hunt, he was
almost certainly asked the question we would like to ask today:
“What happened?” Quite possibly, he replied in a factual manner,
providing a short report of the land covered, the number of animals
spotted, and the results. His face-to-face communication was
limited only to those within the sight and sound of the speaker.
Either because of this or because he thought his communication
should be recorded in more permanent form, the caveman
eventually began to draw his message, the report of his latest
adventurous hunt, on the wall of the cave. This opened up a whole
range of possibilities: The wall was there twenty-four hours a day,
seven days a week. The caveman could go about his other
business, whatever that may have been, and still know that his
message was being communicated, for the audience was
communicating not with the caveman himself, but with the wall.
This was the beginning of mass communication – impersonal
communication with a diverse audience that has a limited
opportunity to respond – and much was gained from it.
*** Although the United Statesand the Soviet Union became allies
during World War II, there seemed to be little doubt that their
opposing ideologies would ultimately produce a cold war. The cold
war was a global phenomenon and was clearly conditioned by the
political, economic, and social aspirations of the two superpowers.
Between 1945 and 1989 Europe became a testing ground for the
cold war itself. The Soviets were convinced that Eastern European
buffer states had to be created to protect the Soviet Union from
future invasions. As for the United States, the Truman Doctrine,
Marshall Plan, and NATO were all intended to keep Russian
ideology within its own borders. When the cold war came to an end
following the collapse of the Berlin Wall in November 1989, the
Soviet ideology was considered a spent force in Eastern Europe.
*** For the present, NASA appears to be committed to maintaining
its human spaceflight program, whatever the cost. However, in the
next decade, it may discover that it does not need human
characters to tell compelling stories. Insteadof gazing at posters of
astronauts, children are now playing with toy models of Mars
rovers. The next generation of space adventurers is growing up
with the knowledge that one can visit another planet without
boarding a spacecraft. Decades from now, when those children are
grown-ups, some of them will lead the next great explorations of
the solar system. Sitting in quiet control rooms, they will send
instructions to far-away probes already launched and make the
final adjustment that points us towards the stars.
*** From the mid-fifteenth century on, most of Europe had enjoyed
steady economic growth, and the discovery of the New World
seemed the basis of greater prosperity to come. By the middle of
the sixteenth century, however,the situation changed. Nothing like
the upward price trend that affected Western Europe in the second
half of the sixteenth century had ever happened before. Since
Europe’s population began to grow vastly and the food supply
remained constant, food prices were driven sharply higher by the
increased demand. At the same time, wages stagnated or even
declined. On the other hand, the enormous influx of silver from
Spanish America into Europe, where much of it was minted into
coins, caused a dramatic increase in the volume of money in
circulation. This, of course, fuelled the spiral of rising prices.
 ÜDS FEN 2011 İLKBAHAR
*** The book by physicist Lee Smolin, The Trouble with Physics,is
an all-out attack on string theory in theoretical physics. String
theory aims to unify the laws governing all physical forces by
combining quantum mechanics with general relativity. It is not very
intuitive as it posits the existence of 10 space-time. Smolin points
out that, not once in its 30 years of existence, has string theory
been validated by a test result. Although they acknowledge this
weakness, the theory’s advocates claim that it helps to clarify a
number of concepts and, most important of all, it holds the promise
of a grand unification. Smolin’s historical account is both brilliant
and lively. The most interesting feature of the book is his
sociological analysis of the way in which string theory has taken
root in academic circles and the mechanisms that allowed it to gain
its present almost total dominance. How can a community of like-
minded scientists have secured such a powerful position that it is
now able to determine the course of research, to monopolize public
funding and to decide careers, to the point of abolishing all
alternative approaches? Indeed, his analysis is applicable to many
other fields and disciplines.
*** The sheer scale of European information storage systems and
the interoperability of numerous existing databases inevitably raise
a string of privacy questions. This explains the public mistrust of
these technologies. In France, the Edwige police database for
retrieving information on all kinds of activists from age 13 has been
met with public outrage. In Germany, the creation of a vast
“antiterrorist” database has provoked a wave of protest. The UK is
also regularly attacked by ethical questions concerning its database
of DNA fingerprints from 4.5 million individuals involved in a major
or minor crime. No wonder people have grave concerns. How much
trust can be placed in digital data storage tools when, in 2007, a
British company simply mislaid the personal data of 25 million
individuals or when, in 2008 confidential information on 30 million
clients of a German bank appeared on the internet for 48 hours?
The biggest danger is not that these tools could be used by officials
who are dishonest about civil liberties, but that they are not secure
from external intrusion or negligence. The architecture of these
security systems ought to be foolproof.
*** Are we born with a limited number of heart cells or is the heart
able to generate new ones? To this long- debated question,
researchers at the Karolinska Institute have come up with an
answer: Heart cells are continually replaced. The renewal rate is 1
% per year up to age 20 years and decreases over the years,
reaching 0.5% in the ’70s. Thus, over a lifetime, less than half of
the myocardial cells are renewed. The method used by Jonas
Frisenna and his team to uncover the heart’s ability to produce new
cells is totally Innovative. They determine the age of heart cells
using the carbon-14 dating method. Following the aerial nuclear
explosions conducted during the Cold War in the 1950s, large
quantities of this radioactive isotope were released into the
atmosphere and absorbed by plant, animal and human cells and
DNA. But since the Nuclear Test Ban, these quantities of carbon-14
have decreased quite rapidly. Scientists have analyzed the carbon-
14 content of the DNA of heart cells of people born before and after
the nuclear tests to determine when these cells were generated.
The results of this study open new perspectives in the search for
therapies to alleviate cell death in myocardial infarction.
*** Stars are believed to begin life as collapsing masses of
hydrogen gas. which are called “protostars”. As collapsing masses
start contracting, they heat up. When the temperature in them
reaches 10 million degrees, nuclear fusion begins and forms
heavier elements, mainly helium at first. The energy released
during these reactions balances the gravitational force, and the
young star stabilizes as a main- sequence star. The tremendous
brightness of stars comes from the energy released during these
thermonuclear reactions. After billions of years, as helium is
collected in the core and hydrogen is used up, the core contracts
and heats further. The envelope expands and cools, and the star
becomes a red giant. The next stage of stellar evolution depends
on the mass of the star. Stars of residual mass less than 1.4 solar
masses cool further and became white dwarfs, eventually fading
and going out altogether. if the star’s residual mass is greater than
two or three solar masses, it may contract even further and form a
black hole, which is so dense that no matter or light can escape
from it.
*** Ozone molecules in the stratosphere absorb incoming solar
ultraviolet radiation. With depletion of the ozone layer, more
ultraviolet radiation reaches the Earth's surface. Excessive
exposure to ultraviolet radiation is linked to a number of human
health problems. These include cataracts, skin cancer, and a
weakened immune system. However, this is not the end of the list.
Much scientific evidence also documents crop damage from
exposure to high levels of ultraviolet radiation. Moreover, biologists
are seriously concerned that the ozone hole over Antarctica could
damage plankton that forms the base of the food web for the
surrounding ocean. A 1992 study confirmed that increased
ultraviolet radiation is penetrating surface waters around Antarctica.
This extra amount of ultraviolet radiation is negatively affecting
Antarctic phytoplankton. The productivity of Antarctic phytoplankton
has declined by at least 6% to 12% as a result. If the productivity of
phytoplankton continues to decline, the complex food web of
Antarctica, which includes fishes, seals, penguins, whales, and vast
populations of birds, will beat risk.
*** Proteins are of central importance in the chemistry of life. These
macromolecules serve as structural components of cells and
tissues; growth and repair, as well as maintenance of the organism
depend on an adequate supply of these compounds. Many proteins
serve as enzymes, molecules that speed up the thousands of
different chemical reactions that take place in an organism. The
protein constituents of a cell are the clues to its lifestyle. Each cell
type has characteristic types, distributions, and amounts of protein
that determine what the cell looks like and how it functions. A
muscle cell differs from other cell types by virtue of its large content
of the proteins myosin and actin, which are largely responsible for
its appearance as well as for its ability to contract. The protein
haemoglobin, found in red blood cells, is responsible for the
specialized function of oxygen transport. Although carbohydrates
and lipids tend to have the same structures, among different
species, most proteins are species-specific; that is, their structures
vary from species to species. The specific proteins present are
largely responsible for differences among species.
 ÜDS SAĞLIK 2011 İLKBAHAR
*** The common cold is a misery, a nuisance and a financial burden
which costs the United States economy alone an estimated $5
billion every year. The main problem is that it is not caused by one
virus, but by a family of viruses of over 200, making it impossible to
vaccinate against. Once infected, all one can really do is to ease
the symptoms. Drugs relieve sinus pain and headache, while
decongestants reduce blood flow to mucus membranes, unblocking
the stuffy nose. More powerful symptomatic treatments are unlikely.
Medication that carries even the slightest risk of side effects would
never be approved to treat a condition which, for most people, is
non-lethal, but simply a nuisance. Yet, for the sufferers of chronic
lung diseases, such as asthma and bronchitis, colds can be deadly.
For these people, the new drugs that are being developed could
offer a lifeline. Antiviral drugs, which target the virus directly, are
currently in development. These could kill up to half of the cold-
producing viruses, greatly lowering the chance of infection.
*** It is generally believed that DNA was discovered by the
Cambridge scientists Francis Crick and James Watson, who won a
Nobel Prize in 1962 for revealing its purpose. In fact, everyone is
wrong: DNA was actually discovered in 1869, and its purpose
revealed years before Crick and Watson. In fact, the real credit
should have gone to Oswald Avery and his team at Rockefeller
University, New York, who, in 1944, used bacteria to show that DNA
passed genetic information from one organism to another. The
trouble was that all the experts, including even those who advised
the Nobel committee, then claimed that DNA was too simple to do
this and could not possibly carry all the information needed to build
a living organism. This was almost impossible. Thus, Avery was
repeatedly denied the prize. However, by the early 1960s the Nobel
committee agreed, and accepted Avery and his team had been
right all along and deserved the Nobel Prize. But, by then it was too
late as Avery had died in 1955. This is one of the sad stories in
science.
*** The ear feels blocked when the air pressure in the space behind
the eardrum, that is to say, the middle ear, is different from external
air pressure. Normally this is not a problem because air is supplied
to the middle ear from the outside through a narrow tube at the
back of the nose, which is called “the Eustachian tube". This is
usually closed, but yawning or swallowing opens it up sufficiently to
permit the Internal and external pressures to equalize. Tilting the
head back also helps because of the way in which the Eustachian
tube is positioned in the head. If the tube is blocked, as when we
have a cold, a difference in pressure gradually builds up. This
stretches the eardrum and makes sounds seem muffled. Problems
can also arise when there is a rapid change in external pressure
during an aircraft descent or an underwater dive. This is one of the
reasons why infants and children start crying while the aircraft is
descending. The secret in all cases is to use your cheek and throat
muscles to create a pressure that opens up the Eustachian tube.
*** A person’s emotional state is not just signalled to others by
facial expression, but by body posture as well. This is the finding of
researchers at the Harvard Medical School. They showed seven
people some images of body posture - happy, fearful, and
emotionally neutral like opening a door or pouring a glass of water.
The subjects' emotional response to these images was evaluated
by studying their brain activity with functional magnetic resonance
imaging (fMRI) scans. It was found that viewing fearful whole- body
expressions produced higher activity in areas known to process
emotional information than viewing images of meaningful but
emotionally neutral body actions. In contrast, viewing happy
postures produced higher activity in areas of the brain that process
visual information. The research showed that when it comes to
conveying emotion, the body could be just as important as the face.
However, almost all the studies so far into the perception of
emotion have focused mainly on the brain activity generated by
images of facial expressions. Further developments on these
evaluations will follow after the invention of more advanced
devices.
*** Scientists have thought about the brain’s intricate form for
centuries. In the early 1800s, German physician Franz Joseph Gall
proposed that the shape of a person’s brain and skull spoke
volumes about that individual’s intelligence and personality which is
a theory known as “phrenology”. This influential, even though
scientifically unsupported, idea led to the collection of “criminal” ,
“degenerate" and “genius” brains. Then, in the latter part of the
19th century, Swiss anatomist Wilhelm His claimed that the brain
develops as a sequence of events guided by physical forces.
British polymath D’Arcy Thompson built on that foundation,
showing that the shapes of many structures, biological and
Inanimate, result from physical self-organization. Provocative
though they were, these early suppositions eventually faded from
view. Phrenology became known as a pseudoscience, and modern
genetic theories replaced the biomechanical approach of the 19th
century and furthered our understanding of the structure of the
human brain. Thus, no matter how exciting the theories may be
more reliable information is a prerequisite for their acceptance.
*** The revelation that H2S is produced in the cardio-vascular
system and helps to control blood pressure caught the attention of
many researchers who had been looking for novel ways to protect
the heart against damage from oxygen deprivation, as occurs when
a clot prevents blood from bringing oxygen to the heart, leading to
the death of cardiac tissue. In 2006, Gary Baxter reported that in
isolated rat hearts, which were first provided with saline solution to
mimic blood supply and then deprived of the saline to mimic a heart
attack, administering H2S to these isolated hearts before halting
the saline supply reduced the extent of cardiac muscle damage.
Later, David Lefer showed that mice engineered to produce more
H2S in the heart were better able to tolerate oxygen deprivation
caused by a clot and more resistant to the damage that often
ensues when blood flow is restored to tissues after a period of
deprivation. Findings such as these suggest that H2S could be
used to prevent or treat hypertension, heart attacks and strokes in
humans. But the gas’s ability to relax blood vessels means that its
potential applications could extend to other blood vessel problems
too - including erectile dysfunction.
 ÜDS SOSYAL 2011 İLKBAHAR
*** Nowadays, we all like to think we have got past the racist
nonsense of previous centuries, when even the most eminent
scientists, white ones, of course, declared white people to be the
pinnacle of human progress and other races to be inferior. We now
accept that no race is superior to another. There is no question that
most societies have made enormous progress in eliminating such
overt racial prejudice. But an unsettling study published by
researchers in the United States suggests that there is still a long
way to go. Even today, the study finds, Americans of various races
still unconsciously dehumanize their black fellow citizens by subtly
associating them with apes. In an experiment in which students
were subliminally flashed a photo of either an African- American or
a European-American face, and then shown a blurry picture of an
ape, those shown the black face were quicker to recognize the ape.
More troubling still, this association is not just confined to
psychologists’ tests: It also appears to bias people’s judgements
about whether specific instances of police violence are justified.
*** Best known for his novels 20,000 Leagues Under the Seaand
Around the World in 80 Days,Jules Verne, the French science
fiction pioneer, has always been a major cultural figure in his native
land, France. His hometown of Amiens continues to remember his
contributions with parades, exhibitions and literary conferences.
Yet, in the English-speaking world, Jules Verne has been
pigeonholed as merely a young boy’s adventure writer, even
though he was successfully able to foresee heavier-than-air flying
machines and moon voyages. In addition, twentieth century
pioneers such as the polar explorer Richard Byrd, the rocket
scientist Wernher von Braun and the astronaut Neil Armstrong have
all said that Jules Verne’s writings inspired them. But now, Jules
Verne enthusiasts are pushing for a reconsideration of the writer as
an influential literary figure, whose 64 novels and stories - of
admittedly varying literary quality - offer not only startling
prophecies but also offer provide a sharp commentary on the
Europe and America of his day.
*** A battle between traditional and progressive educators has
raged since the 1930s, when modern approaches to musical
teaching were first proposed. Stephanie Pitts, author and editor of
the British Journal o f Music Education,charts the course of this
battle in her book A Century of Change in Music Education.Both
camps argued for music’s inclusion in the school curriculum, but
their justifications and proposed teaching methods conflicted. On
the one hand, declared traditionalists, music was a body of
knowledge made up of the great symphonies and folk songs of
Britain's repertoire. Students could be taught to appreciate and sing
this “national songbook” as part of a cultural education. This was
the method that dominated the classroom for decades, and is still
part of the primary school approach. On the other hand, responded
the progressives, if music was an expression of our inner psyche,
then children should be encouraged to play and experiment in
order to learn more about themselves. “Bring something to make
noise with", they shouted.
*** For centuries, when one country disapproved of another
country’s behaviour, political leaders sought ways to communicate
their displeasure short of going to war. That is the idea behind
economic sanctions. Sanctions allow countries to punish another
government without having to resort to violence. At least, that was
the idea. But a recent study reveals that sanctions actually make it
far more likely that two states will eventually meet on the battlefield.
The researchers examined more than two hundred cases of
sanctions and found that, when sanctions are added to the mix,
military conflict is extremely likely to occur between two countries
than if sanctions had not been imposed at all. Because countries
generally prefer to enact sanctions that are not especially costly to
themselves, target countries often interpret the action as a lack of
resolve. This interpretation may lead the country being sanctioned
to become provocative in its actions, which may in turn pave the
way for a military confrontation.
*** The most striking achievement of the successful Danish
economy probably relates to labour market dynamism. Such an
achievement Is hard to find throughout the rest of the world. The
unemployment rate has been brought down from a previously high
level and is now amongst the lowest across Europe. The Danish
labour market model has been called “flexlcurity" which Is a
combination of flexibility and security. How is it possible to blend
labour market flexibility, as in the British model, with a generous
unemployment benefit system, as in the continental European
model, while still maintaining high job security and satisfaction
levels? The Danish labour market model is based on three pillars.
First, moderate employment protection makes it easy for firms to
adjust their workforce to new conditions - easy to fire, easy to hire.
Second, a generous unemployment benefit system protects job
losers against significant drops in income, especially for those at
the lower end of the income scale, where job insecurity is also
highest. Third, active labour market policies are used extensively to
bring relevant qualifications to the unemployed and to test
availability for work.
*** Few operas are as rooted in one place as Benjamin Britten’s
Peter Grimes.The title character is a dark- souled fisherman who
goes mad after the death of his apprentice. Grimes was the
invention of the poet George Crabbe, who grew up in Aldeburgh, on
the eastern coast of England, in the later part of the eighteenth
century. Crabbe apparently based Grimes on a detested local
character. Montaga Slater, the opera’s librettist, wove his
elaboration of the tale into various Aldeburgh settings. Britten, who
was a resident of the same town for most of his adult life, brilliantly
evoked its sights and sounds in his music - the crying of gulls, the
creaking of buoys, the endless booming of the waves. The obvious
way to stage Grimesis to re-create the original setting of Aldeburgh
and let Britten’s flawless score do the rest. This was the approach
taken by Tyrone Guthrie, who first directed the opera at Covent
Garden's famous opera house, in 1947.
 ÜDS FEN 2011 SONBAHAR
*** Early in the 20th century, volcanologist Giuseppe Mercalli
created a scale to categorize earthquakes based on the level of
damage incurred. This Mercalli intensity scale ranges from Level 1,
which is registered only by seismographs, to Level 12, which
results in severe changes on the Earth’s surface and the
destruction of almost all buildings. The more popular and more
scientific Richter scale, developed by Charles Francis Richter,
calculates the intensity of an earthquake as “magnitude” (M) on a
logarithmic scale. The M-value is determined from the distance
between the hypocenter of the earthquake and the seismological
recording station, as well as the amplitudes recorded on
seismographs. Earthquakes with magnitudes less than 2.0 are not
perceivable by people. Each number on the Richter scale
represents an earthquake ten times more powerful than the number
below it. Today, scientists use the more precise moment-magnitude
scale. To calculate the M-value, this scale multiplies the area of the
fault’s rupture by the distance moved along the fault. The study and
measuring of earthquakes is crucial in aiding scientists and
engineers with planning for future occurrences, especially because
there could be deadly consequences.
*** Saving the planet might be the selfless motive for driving electric
cars, but most owners derive the greatest pleasure from the silence
of their vehicles. However, it’s a pleasure soon to disappear as
lawmakers in Europe and the US prepare rules to make them
noisier. The argument is that pedestrians would be safer, especially
those with impaired vision and hearing. Although some figures from
the US do suggest that proportionately there are higher collision
rates with electric vehicles, conclusive data is nevertheless scarce.
Do people really navigate the urban jungle using only their ears? Or
indeed the latest diesel-engined vehicles, which, at low speeds, are
very quiet? In fact, electric cars offer a rare opportunity to cut both
chemical and noise pollution and we should embrace them. The
sound made by internal-combustion engines is just an unwelcome
waste product. Some people may find it useful, but then so did
those who gathered up the dung from all our horse-driven carriages
to use as fertiliser. Insisting that electric cars make a noise would
be like passing a law in the early 20th century, obliging drivers of
the new-fangled “motor vehicle” to deposit a load of well-rotted
compost on the side of the road every 50 miles.
*** Calculus was independently developed by Gottfried Wilhelm
Leibniz and Isaac Newton in the late 17th century. Leibniz based
his theory on the use of geometric processes to solve mathematical
problems. He viewed a curve as being made up of infinitely small
segments, whereby the slope of the tangent could be calculated for
each segment. He recognized the relationship between differential
and integral calculus. Newton, on the other hand, was more
interested in solving a physics problem: how to determine the
instantaneous speed of an accelerating object. He viewed a curve
as a reflection of constant acceleration and imagined a point as an
infinitely small segment of a line. The time interval between
observations of an object’s motion could be reduced to the point
that the change in speed disappears. Thus, acceleration or
deceleration can be calculated as the sum of the instantaneous
speeds of the observed object. Leibniz was later accused of
stealing Newton’s ideas from the correspondence exchanged by
the two, and the Royal Society of London, influenced by Newton,
erroneously pronounced him guilty. However, Leibniz’s system
eventually became the dominant form of calculus, thanks to its
elegant notation and simplicity.
*** For decades, Germany has had some of the most enlightened
energy policies in Europe. It has long been admired for setting
world-leading growth in wind and solar. But, its decision to end
nuclear power by 2022 will set back efforts to decarbonize the
electricity supply by 10 crucial years, and could prove expensive for
every household in Europe. Germany’s sudden about-turn, like all
decisions on nuclear energy, was highly political. Last year, the
government, headed by Angela Merkel, made the sensible but
unpopular decision to extend the life of Germany’s nuclear plants to
2036 as a “bridge technology” towards “the age of renewable
energy”. But, after the disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear
plant in Japan, public hostility intensified and Merkel retreated. The
U-turn may help her in the 2013 federal elections, but it is a major
step back for the climate. About 23% of Germany’s electricity
comes from nuclear and 17% from renewable energy sources.
That’s a 40% share for zero-carbon in total. The government has
admirable plans to raise renewable electricity to 35% of
consumption by 2020. However, even this planned increase falls
5% short of filling the hole in zero-carbon electricity left by
abandoning nuclear power.
*** The fate of the dinosaurs may have been sealed half a billion
years before life even appeared, by two geological time bombs that
still exist near our planet’s core. A controversial new hypothesis
links massive eruptions of lava that coincided with many of the
Earth’s largest extinctions to two unusually hot sections of mantle
2,800 kilometres beneath the Earth’s crust. These sections formed
just after the Earth itself, 4.5 billion years ago. If the hypothesis is
correct, they have periodically burst through the planet’s crust,
creating enormous oceans of lava which poisoned the atmosphere
and wiped out entire branches of the tree of life. Debates still rage
over what caused different mass extinctions, including the one that
wiped out the dinosaurs. An asteroid that smashed into the Earth
65 million years ago is no doubt partially to blame for the demise of
the dinosaurs. But, a less-known school of thought has it that this
and other extinctions occurred when cracks in the crust let huge
amounts of lava pour out from the centre of the Earth. Each event
flooded at least 100,000 square kilometres, leaving behind distinct
geological regions known as large igneous provinces (LIPs), such
as India’s Deccan traps, which were formed during the time when
the dinosaurs became extinct.
***There have been very few studies comparing the microbiological
safety of organic and conventional food production. In theory,
organic food could be more prone to microbial contamination due to
the lack of preservatives and the use of animal waste or manure as
fertilisers are more commonly referred to. However, the results of
the present studies have not been conclusive due to a number of
factors, including a small sample size and a failure to take into
account seasonal and regional variations. Clearly, organic and
conventional foods are susceptible to contamination by pathogenic
microorganisms at every point in the food chain. It can occur during
production from manure and water, during processing from
environmental sources and during the final handling and packing,
possibly as a result of poor human sanitation. One area where
organic production systems might pose a higher risk is through the
use of newer untreated manure as fertiliser. Studies carried out on
organic and conventional produce found that E. coli contamination
was 19 times greater on organic farms that used manure or
compost less than 12 months old than on farms that used older
materials. Though the risks are reduced as manure matures,
researchers have found that many pathogenic organisms such as
E. coli and salmonella can still survive up to 60 days or more in
compost and in the soil, depending on temperature and the
condition of the soil.
 ÜDS SAĞLIK 2011 SONBAHAR
*** Conservation biologists are applying their understanding of
population, community, ecosystem, and landscape dynamics in
establishing parks, wilderness areas, and other legally protected
nature reserves. Choosing locations for protection often focuses on
biodiversity hot spots. These relatively small areas have a large
number of endangered and threatened species and an exceptional
concentration of endemic species, those that are found nowhere
else. Together, the “hottest” of Earth’s biodiversity hot spots total
less than 1.5% of Earth’s land but are home to a third of all species
of plants and vertebrates. There are also hot spots in aquatic
ecosystems, such as certain river systems and coral reefs.
Because endemic species are limited to specific areas, they are
highly sensitive to deprivation of their natural environment. At the
current rate of human development, some biologists estimate that
loss of habitat will cause the extinction of about half of the species
in terrestrial biodiversity hot spots in the next 10 to 15 years. Thus,
biodiversity hot spots can also be hot spots of extinction. They rank
high on the list of areas demanding strong global conservation
efforts. Concentrations of species provide an opportunity to protect
many species in very limited areas. However, species
endangerment is truly a global problem, and focusing on hot spots
should not detract from efforts to conserve habitats and species
diversity in other areas.
*** A contagious tumour threatens to wipe out the famous
Tasmanian devil, a ferocious marsupial animal. Could contagious
cancers arise in humans, too? Given that humans have great
genetic diversity and can avoid behaving in ways that would foster
tumour transmission, it might seem safe to assume that our species
can readily avoid the fate of the Tasmanian devil. Indeed, if a
person were bitten by an infected Tasmanian devil or by a dog with
the canine transmissible tumour, the person’s genetic makeup,
being so different from that of the animals, would probably ensure a
strong immune response able to detect and kill the invading cells.
Thus, the bitten individual would not get sick or start spreading the
disease to others. There are grounds for concern, though.
Contagious cancers could, in theory, arise in a group of great apes
with low genetic diversity because of population declines. If they
were hunted by human populations with many members having
impaired immunity, the close contact might enable tumour cells to
transfer to humans and then spread. Such conditions exist where
humans with a high HIV prevalence hunt endangered apes.
Although this scenario is possible, we suspect that cross-species
transmission is not the most likely way that a contagious cancer
would arise in humans. We hold this view in part because no
known cases of cross-species transmission of the dog cancer have
occurred in nature, although the disease has been experimentally
transferred to related canines in the laboratory.
*** Proper diet is an important contributor to preventing tooth
cavities. Although all carbohydrates can cause tooth decay to some
degree, the biggest culprits are sugars. All simple sugars have the
same effect on the teeth, including table sugar and the sugars in
honey, fruits, and milk. Whenever sugar comes in contact with
plaque, Streptococcus mutans bacteria in the plaque produce acid
for about twenty minutes. The amount of sugar eaten is irrelevant;
the amount of time the sugar stays in contact with the teeth is the
important issue. Thus, sipping a sugary soft drink over an hour is
more damaging than eating a candy bar in five minutes. A person
who tends to develop cavities should eat sweet snacks less often.
Rinsing the mouth after eating a snack removes some of the sugar;
brushing the teeth is more effective. In fact, brushing prevents
cavities from forming on the sides of the teeth, and flossing gets
between the teeth where a brush can’t reach. Drinking artificially
sweetened soft drinks also helps, though diet colas contain acid
that can promote tooth decay. Drinking tea or coffee without sugar
can also help people avoid cavities, particularly on exposed root
surfaces.
*** Patients with hearing loss not correctible by medical therapy
may benefit from hearing amplification. Contemporary hearing aids
are comparatively free of distortion and have been miniaturized to
the point where they often may be contained entirely within the ear
canal. To optimize the benefit, a hearing aid must be carefully
selected to conform to the nature of the hearing loss. Digitally
programmable hearing aids are now widely available and allow
optimization of speech intelligibility and improved performance in
difficult listening circumstances. Aside from hearing aids, many
assistive devices are available to improve comprehension in
individual and group settings, to help with hearing television and
radio programs, and for telephone communication. For patients
with severe to profound sensory hearing loss, the cochlear implant
– an electronic device that is surgically implanted into the cochlea
to stimulate the auditory nerve – offers socially beneficial auditory
rehabilitation to most adults with acquired deafness. New trends in
cochlear implantation include its use for patients with only partial
deafness, preserving residual hearing and allowing both acoustic
and electrical hearing in the same ear, as well as bilateral cochlear
implantation.
*** In 1883, Sigmund Freud was a young neurologist living in
Vienna and struggling to make ends meet. Like many doctors, he
became interested in a South American drug that was all the rage,
cocaine. On April 30, 1883, he took a dose of pure cocaine for the
first time. He evaluated its effects on mood, strength and reaction
times and wrote up his findings in a pamphlet called Über Coca, or
“On Cocaine”. His comments read: “Long, intensive physical work
is performed without any fatigue… This result is enjoyed without
any of the unpleasant after-effects that follow exhilaration brought
about by alcohol… Absolutely no craving for the further use of
cocaine appears after the first, or even after repeated taking of the
drug.” Like other doctors of his time, Freud failed to recognize that
cocaine is highly addictive – he actually recommended it as a
treatment for morphine addiction. But, he did make one fascinating
observation. Applied to the tongue or nose, cocaine produces a
profound local numbing. Freud mentioned this to his colleague Karl
Koller, an eye specialist who immediately saw its potential and later
used it to transform eye surgery. In non-addictive forms, cocaine’s
offspring are now widely used as local anaesthetics in medicine. If
Freud had followed through with his original insight, that cocaine is
an anaesthetic, he would probably have stayed a neurologist and
never found the time to invent psychoanalysis.
*** Most people are surprised to learn that fat has some virtues.
Only when people eat either too much or too little fat does ill health
follow. It is true, though, that in our society of abundance, people
are likely to encounter too much fat. Fat is actually a subset of the
class of nutrients known as lipids, but the term “fat” is often used to
refer to all the lipids. The lipid family includes triglycerides (fats and
oils), phospholipids, and sterols, all important to nutrition. The
triglycerides provide the body with a continuous fuel supply, keep it
warm, and protect it from mechanical shock; their component fatty
acids serve as starting materials for important hormonal regulators.
The phospholipids and sterols contribute to the cells’ structures,
and the sterol cholesterol serves as the raw material for some
hormones, vitamin D, and bile. In foods, triglycerides are the solid
fats and liquid oils. The triglycerides carry with them the four fat-
soluble vitamins – A, D, E, and K – together with many of the
compounds that give foods their flavour, texture, and palatability.
Fat is responsible for the delicious aromas associated with sizzling
meat and hamburgers on the grill, onions being sautéed, or
vegetables in a stir-fry. Of course, these wonderful characteristics
lure people into eating too much from time to time.
 ÜDS SOSYAL 2011 SONBAHAR
*** Since its economic reform began in 1978, China has gone from
being a poor developing country to the second-largest economy in
the world. It has also emerged from isolation to become a political
superpower. Its meteoric rise has been one of the most important
global changes of recent years. However, when it comes to science
and technology, most people think of China as being stuck in the
past and only visualize a country with massive steelworks and vast
smoking factories. That may have been true a few years ago, but it
is no longer the case. Very quietly, China has become the world’s
second largest producer of scientific knowledge, surpassed only by
the US, a status it has achieved at an awe-inspiring rate. If it
continues on its current trajectory, China will overtake the US
before 2020 and the world will look very different as a result. The
historical scientific dominance of North America and Europe will
have to adjust to a new world. In the West, people are largely
familiar with research systems in which money, people, and output
stay roughly the same from year to year. Research spending in
Europe and North America has outpaced economic growth since
1945, but not by a dramatic amount. Not so with China.
*** In 1895, Alfred Nobel drafted a holograph will, replacing one that
left his vast fortune essentially to relatives, servants, and friends.
The new will, for which Nobel will be forever remembered,
substantially reduced his personal bequests. It directed that his
estate be invested conservatively and that the income from these
investments be used to establish annual prizes to be awarded with
no reservations regarding nationality to those people whose
activities are deemed to be of the greatest benefit to humankind in
the fields of physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature,
and peace. Nobel’s will was disputed legally for more than three
years. Eventually, a system was established for the distribution of
the income in the form of Nobel Prizes, the first set of which were
awarded in 1901. As the income from the Nobel trust has
increased, the size of each award has grown to the point that in
2005, the typical prize was worth over $1.3 million, more than thirty
times what the same award had been worth fifty years earlier. The
list of Nobel laureates, which has now been expanded to include a
sixth field, economics, contains the names of international giants in
their fields. The Nobel legacy is great because of the endowment
he established to recognize those who contribute most to the
benefit of humankind.
*** Since early 2010, global food and oil prices have been on a
sustained and synchronized upward trend. According to a recent
survey by the United Nations, it is estimated that oil price increases
will reduce growth in some developing Asia-Pacific economies, as
well as putting pressure on inflation and adversely affecting current
accounts. High oil prices will increase costs for domestic industry
and push up the price of imports and reduce demand for exports.
Food prices have increased by up to 35%. While adverse climatic
conditions have affected supply in many countries, increasing
conversion of food crops into biofuels, export bans, and heightened
speculative activity in food commodities have exaggerated the price
surge. Rising food prices are having dire effects on the poor, and
reserving hard won development gains. Due to the higher food and
energy prices, up to 42 million additional people across Asia and
the Pacific may remain in poverty in 2011 in addition to the 19
million already affected in 2010. In the worst-case scenario, in
which food price inflation doubles in 2011 and the average oil
prices rises up to 130$ per barrel, achieving the Millennium
Development Goal for many least developed countries would be
postponed for at least a half decade.
*** To fully understand unemployment, one must consider the
causes of recorded long-term unemployment, that is, the
government assistance programs. For one thing, government
assistance increases the measure of unemployment by prompting
people who are not working to claim that they are looking for work
even when they are not. The work registration requirement for
welfare recipients, for example, compels people who otherwise
would not be considered part of the labour force to register as if
they were a part of it. This requirement effectively increases the
measure of unemployment in the labour force even though these
people are better described “noemployed” – that is, not actively
looking for work. Similarly, unemployment insurance induces
people to say they are job hunting in order to collect benefit. These
programs also contribute to long-term unemployment by providing
an incentive, and the means, not to work. Each unemployed person
has a “reservation wage” – the minimum wage he or she insists on
getting before accepting a job. Unemployment insurance and other
social assistance programs increase the wage, causing an
unemployed person to remain unemployed longer.
*** The recent dramatic unrest in the UK is described as the world’s
first decentralized riots, facilitated by social media such as Twitter
and the BlackBerry Messenger network. But deep psychological
forces are also at play. In times of social unrest, violent acts that
would usually seem extreme can quickly become the norm among
groups of people identifying with each other in terms of age, social
status or other attributes. When people see looting and rioting
happening elsewhere, it shows them what can be realized. Feeling
empowered, they think they can do pretty much what they like, and
they have a good time doing it. They simply don’t think of it as
unacceptable as they would at other times. Such collective action is
driven by social identity – by people sharing a common social
place. It is too early to know what the rioters might have in
common, but it is suspected that it boils down to social class and is
defined by economic deprivation. They seem to be targeting the
middle class. It’s like a kind of class warfare on the streets of
Britain. Alienation from their families, the local community and
mainstream society stops agitators from caring about the harm they
cause others. It is necessary to challenge the rioters’ current
perception that there are no opportunities for a better future.
*** Lower birth-rates and longer lives lead to population aging,
which matters for many reasons, but first and foremost because of
the costs of retirement. These costs are borne principally by the
government and funded through taxes on the working-age
population. The old-age-dependency ratio – that is, the population
aged 65 and over divided by the population aged 15 to 64 – is a
key indicator of population aging. Other things being equal, the tax
rate for pensions will be proportional to this ratio. In the developed
world, this ratio rose from .12 in 1950 to .21 today, and is estimated
to increase to .44 in 2050. If, in the developed countries, the elderly
in 2050 are to receive the level of benefits given to the current
elderly, then the level of payroll taxes needed to fund government
pensions will more than double by 2050. Due to higher fertility and
immigration, the US population is projected to remain younger than
those of other OECD countries, and the pension problem will be
less severe. Health costs, however, pose an even more difficult
problem due to the socialized health-care system for the elderly in
the US. As the population ages and spending per elderly person
rises, government spending on health care will likely soar.
 ÜDS FEN 2012 İLKBAHAR
*** Scientists were initially unconvinced that the decrease in the
number of amphibians – animals such as frogs that live on land and
in water – was real, because amphibian populations are notorious
for fluctuating widely. However, after statistical evidence showed
that the declines were far more widespread than would reasonably
be expected by chance, most researchers agreed that something
was seriously wrong. Reports of declines and extinctions
accelerated during the 1990s, and the observations indicated that
something specific and troubling was happening to amphibians. At
one locale in Costa Rica, 40 per cent of the local amphibian
species disappeared over a short period. The loss of amphibian
species not only contributes to the world’s biodiversity crisis but
also has remarkable implications for the ecosystems where the
declines occur. Without amphibians, links to food webs are broken,
and other organisms suffer in often unpredictable ways. Although
some of the earliest amphibian declines were recorded in the US,
much of the scientific literature focuses on decreases in tropical
countries, where losses have often been more dramatic and have
involved a larger number of species. This has led to the curious
problem of declines in temperate amphibian species receiving
insufficient attention.
*** As well as being the largest mountain range on the planet, the
Himalayas is also one of the youngest. Just seventy million years
ago, a very short time in geological terms, the Himalayas did not
exist. As the Indo-Australian tectonic plate collided with the
Eurasian plate at the rate of about 15 centimetres a year, the ocean
floor in between began to rise up to form the mountain range. This
means that much of the rock out of which these towering peaks are
made was formed at the bottom of an ocean, only to be lifted up
thousands of metres into the air. The evidence for this extraordinary
journey is not difficult to find. If you look closely at any piece of
Himalayan limestone, you will see it has a chalky, granular
structure. What you are looking at are the remains of sea creatures.
Given a relatively short timescale and a bit of pressure, these
biological remains are quickly converted into solid rock. Limestone
can also be formed by the direct precipitation of calcium carbonate
from water, although the biological sedimentary form is more
abundant. We know that the Himalayan limestone is predominantly
biological because we have found fossils at the top of Mount
Everest. There is perhaps no better example of the endless
recycling of Earth’s resources that has been going on since its
formation almost five billion years ago.
*** Noise drives many species of marine animals to change their
behaviour markedly – their calling, feeding and migration patterns –
sometimes onto a beach and ending their lives. Fish like cod and
haddock in the Barents Sea have been found to escape from the
area when oil-prospecting air guns start firing, drastically reducing
fish catches for days. Large baleen whales communicate over vast
distances in the same frequencies that ship propellers and engines
generate. On most days, the area over which whales in coastal
waters can hear one another shrinks to only 10 to 20 per cent of its
natural extent. Christopher W. Clark studies endangered northern
right whales, whose habitat includes busy shipping lanes for the
port of Boston. “Shipping noise is always there,” Clark says. “It
doesn’t have to be fatal to be problematic over time. The whales’
social network is constantly being ripped and reformed.” Unable to
communicate, individual whales have trouble finding each other
and spend more time on their own. The problem is getting steadily
worse for another reason. As we are making more noise, we are
also making the ocean better at transmitting it. Seawater is
absorbing less sound as carbon dioxide from fossil-fuel burning
seeps into the ocean and acidifies it.
*** Humans have evolved to work best in the atmosphere and
gravity that exist on the Earth’s surface. To survive in space,
astronauts have to take an Earth-like environment with them such
as fresh oxygen, which is circulated around the craft for them to
breathe. The main difference in space is the weightlessness
causing astronauts to float around. As soon as astronauts go into
space, their bodies start adapting to this weightlessness. Muscles,
bones, heart and blood all undergo changes. At least half of all
astronauts suffer an unpleasant reaction to weightlessness. On the
Earth, gravity exerts a force on our bodies, which gives us weight
and keeps us rooted to the ground. It also pulls body fluid
downwards. In space, astronauts lose their sense of balance. They
can feel sick, and go off their food. It can take two weeks for the
digestive system to fully adjust. Therefore, NASA plans no
spacewalks during the first three days of a mission, because an
astronaut who vomits inside a spacesuit risks suffocation.
*** It is safe to bet that a flying motorcycle will never be a practical
transportation option. Yet, this process has not stopped an
engineering firm in California from playing the long odds. The
company is building a prototype called the Switchblade, and it
hopes to sell a do-it-yourself kit as early as 2015. Attractive design
and the promise of having air and ground transport in one package
have kept alive dreams of a flying vehicle. A three-wheel design
was chosen because it meets the definition of a motorcycle, which
is not as highly regulated as cars are. For example, motorcycles do
not need bumpers, which would make a flying vehicle heavier and
more expensive. As the company envisions it, occupants would sit
in the aerodynamic Switchblade, in climate-controlled luxury with
an instrument display that switches from air to ground readings on
landing. The Switchblade will succeed, the company believes,
because it will transform easily between transportation in the air
and on the ground. If pilots encountered bad weather while flying,
they could put down at an airstrip, fold in the wings and finish the
trip by travelling on the ground with no manual disassembly. The
reality, however, is more complicated, given that aircraft are
prohibited from operating on roads and tightly regulated as to how
close they can fly to homes, military installations and
environmentally sensitive areas.
*** NASA’s Deep Space Network is responsible for tracking,
commanding and receiving data from space probes throughout the
solar system. Some of the spacecraft are so far away and they use
such small transmitters that radio signals received from them are
about 20 million times weaker than a watch battery. To receive such
weak signals, the Deep Space Network uses huge dish-shaped
antennae up to 70 meters across. To dispatch commands to the
most remote spacecraft, the same giant dishes are used to send
radio signals from immensely powerful, 400-kilowatt transmitters.
The Deep Space Network’s antennae are located at three sites –
Madrid (Spain), Canberra (Australia), and California (the US). The
sites were chosen because they are roughly 120 degrees and a
third of the way round the world from each other. As the Earth
turns, at least one of the stations is always in contact with a space
probe. This ensures a 24-hour observation, with overlapping time to
transfer the radio link to the next station. The sites are also
surrounded by mountains, which protect them from radio
interference.
 ÜDS SAĞLIK 2012 İLKBAHAR
*** The Marylebone Health Centre in London, which opened in
1987, was the first National Health Service practice to employ
complementary therapists, and it is the subject of a long-term
research study into the effectiveness of integrated medicine. The
team comprises three full-time and two part-time family doctors, an
osteopath, homeopath, naturopath, acupuncturist, massage
therapist and a counsellor. Conventional medicine is still the
foundation of the practice, but doctors have the option of
suggesting a therapy if they consider it appropriate for the patient’s
condition. Dr. Sue Morrison, who is in charge of the practice, says
that she could not now imagine working without complementary
therapies. “We have found that we can contain problems –
emotional as well as physical – that are usually difficult to look after
in normal practice.” Integrated medicine may also be a part of the
reason why the Marylebone Health Centre has a low referral rate to
specialists and a drug-prescribing rate that is half of the national
average. At the Marylebone Health Centre, patient care is
“relationship-centred”, meaning that the alliance of patient and
practitioner is central to all treatment and healing, which is a key
element in integrated medicine.
*** Psychology’s involvement in health dates back to the beginning
of the 20th century, but at that time, few psychologists were
involved in medicine. The psychosomatic medicine movement
sought to bring psychological factors into the understanding of
disease, but that view gave way to the biopsychosocial approach to
health and disease. By the 1970s, psychologists had begun to
develop research and treatment aimed at chronic disease and
health promotion. This research and treatment led to the founding
of two new fields: behavioural medicine and health psychology.
Behavioural medicine is concerned with applying the knowledge
and techniques of behavioural research to physical health,
including prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation. Health
psychology strives to enhance health, prevent and treat disease,
identify risk factors, improve the health care system and shape
public opinion regarding health issues. Health psychology overlaps
with behavioural medicine, and the two professions have many
common methods of diagnosis and treatment. However,
behavioural medicine is an interdisciplinary field, whereas health
psychology is a speciality within the field of psychology that is
concerned with issues of physical health.
*** Insulin, a hormone released from the pancreas, controls the
amount of sugar in the blood. When people eat or drink, food is
broken down into materials, including the simple sugar glucose,
that the body needs to function. Sugar is absorbed into the
bloodstream and stimulates the pancreas to produce insulin. Insulin
allows sugar to move from the blood into the cells. Once inside the
cells, it is converted to energy, which is either used immediately or
stored as fat or glycogen until it is needed. The levels of sugar in
the blood vary normally throughout the day. They rise after a meal
and return to normal within about 2 hours after eating. Once the
levels of sugar in the blood return to normal, insulin production
decreases. The variation in blood sugar levels is usually within a
narrow range, about 70 to 110 milligrams per decilitre (mg/dL) of
blood. If people eat a large amount of carbohydrates, the levels
may increase more. People over 65 tend to have slightly higher
levels, especially after eating. If the body does not produce enough
insulin to move the sugar into the cells, the resulting high levels of
sugar in the blood and the inadequate amount of sugar in the cells
together produce the symptoms and complications of diabetes.
***The hygiene hypothesis was first described in 1989 by David P.
Strachan, a British epidemiologist, who noticed that the more
children in a family, the lower the rates of allergies and eczema.
Children in large families tend to exchange colds and other
infections more often than children with fewer siblings, and this
increased exposure to pathogens perhaps protected these children
from allergies. That same year, Erika von Mutius, an epidemiologist
at Munich University, was looking into the effect of hygiene on
asthma. Children from dirtier East Germany, she was shocked to
find, had dramatically less asthma than their West German
counterparts living in cleaner, more modern circumstances. The
East German children had likely been exposed to many more
viruses and bacteria. According to the hygiene hypothesis,
exposure in early childhood to infectious agents programs the
immune system to mount defences against disease-causing
viruses, bacteria and parasites. Better sanitary conditions deprive
the immune system of this training, so the body fights against
harmless particles as if they were deadly threats. The resulting
allergic reaction leads to the classic signs of asthma. However,
although much data supports the hygiene hypothesis for allergies,
the same cannot be said for asthma. Contrary to expectations,
asthma rates have increased drastically in urban areas in the US
that are not particularly clean.
*** “You are what you eat” says an old proverb. Yet, what if it were
literally true? What if material from our food actually made its way
into the control centres of our cells, taking charge of fundamental
gene expression? That is in fact what happens, according to a
recent study in China of plant-animal microRNA transfer.
MicroRNAs are short sequences of nucleotides – the building
blocks of genetic material. For the study, blood samples from 21
volunteers were tested for the presence of microRNAs from crop
plants, such as rice, wheat, potatoes and cabbage. The results of
the study revealed that the subjects’ bloodstream contained 30
different microRNAs from commonly eaten plants, and it appears
that they alter cell function. For example, a specific rice microRNA
was shown to inhibit the genetic receptor that controls the removal
of cholesterol from the bloodstream. The suggestion that plant
microRNAs play a role in controlling human physiology highlights
the fact that our bodies are highly integrated ecosystems. These
findings may also illuminate our understanding of co-evolution, a
process in which genetic changes in one species trigger changes in
another. For example, our ability to digest the lactose in milk arose
after we domesticated cattle. Could the plants we cultivated have
altered us as well?
***A key strategy in keeping the body free from infection is to
prevent the entry of harmful organisms in the first place. Barrier, or
passive immunity, acts as a first line of defence against pathogens,
providing protection via the physical and chemical barriers
presented by the various surfaces of the body. These include both
external surfaces such as the skin and mucus-lined internal
surfaces like the airways and the gut. Each body surface forms an
initial physical barrier to infection, and this is then supplemented by
a variety of secreted substances that exhibit antimicrobial
properties such as enzymes, which break down bacteria. Additional
vital mechanisms function to expel or flush out microbes from the
body like coughing, sweating and urination. If barrier immunity is
breached, for instance by a skin wound, and pathogens enter the
body, the innate immune system then becomes actively involved.
Key to this is the activation of an inflammatory response and the
deployment of immune cells. Tissue damage results from
inflammation, which helps to prevent microbes from spreading. The
capillary walls in the affected area become more penetrable,
enabling immune cells to access the infected tissue. Damaged cells
release chemicals that attract immune cells once they have
migrated from the bloodstream.
 ÜDS SOSYAL 2012 İLKBAHAR
*** Studies reveal that even subtle, artificial or seemingly
unimportant exclusion can lead to strong emotional reactions. A
strong reaction makes sense when you are rejected or ignored by
your family or close friends, because they are important to you. It is
more remarkable that intense feelings of rejection can emerge even
when people close to us are not involved. We can feel awful even
after people we have never met simply look the other way. This
reaction serves an important function. It warns us that something is
wrong, that there exists a serious threat to our social and
psychological well-being. Psychologists argue that belonging, self-
esteem, a sense of control over your life and a belief that existence
is meaningful constitute four fundamental psychological needs that
we must meet to function as social individuals. Exclusion threatens
all these needs. Even in a verbal or physical dispute, individuals
are still connected. Total exclusion, however, cuts all bonds. Worse
than this, the imposed silence forces us to think about the event in
detail, generating self-critical thoughts in our search for an
explanation. This forced isolation also makes us feel helpless: You
can fight back, but no one will respond. Finally, exclusion makes
our very existence feel less meaningful because this type of
rejection makes us feel isolated and unimportant.
*** A symbol is a term or a picture that may be familiar in daily life,
yet possessing specific connotations in addition to its obvious
meaning. It implies something vague or hidden from us. Thus, a
word or an image is symbolic when it implies something more than
its immediate meaning. It has a wider “unconscious” aspect that is
never precisely defined or fully explained. As the mind explores the
symbol, it is led to ideas that lie beyond the grasp of reason. Since
there are many things beyond the range of human understanding,
we use symbolic terms to represent concepts that we cannot define
or fully comprehend. This is one reason why historically all religions
have employed symbolic language or images. However, this
conscious use of symbols is only one aspect of a psychological fact
of great importance. Man also produces symbols unconsciously
and spontaneously, in the form of dreams. It is not easy to grasp
this point, but we must if we are to know more about the ways in
which the human mind works.
*** The economic realm of human activity, looked at from the
perspective of the entire human experience, can best be seen not
simply as a progressive development of freedom, but rather as a
series of phases in which new freedoms are made possible only by
determining new limits and new responsibilities. So long as
humankind respects those new lines of authority, freedom
prospers. Without those limits, on the other hand, freedom dies.
Legislative bodies around the world that fail to pass environmental
laws in the name of freedom have an understanding of freedom
that is ultimately self-destructive. We must learn, before it is too
late, that the gift of freedom does not mean tearing down walls but
relocating them. Just as a line is defined by the empty space that
surrounds it, so is freedom defined by the boundaries around its
edges. If we fail to appreciate this basic law of nature, if we
continue to demand – on the level of the nation-state – freedom
without limits and responsibility, we risk punishing our children or
our children’s children.
*** Do people everywhere experience embarrassment in the same
way? This is a difficult question to address empirically. Most cross-
cultural research has focused on people’s self-reports of their
experiences, feelings and expressions, which may or may not
correspond to what actually happens in social interactions. Another
tricky issue is how to translate terms for emotions into different
languages. In English, there are separate terms for shame and
embarrassment, and research suggests that the two emotions are
different. Embarrassment tends to be over less serious errors and
almost always happens in the presence of others. Shame seems to
be reserved for more serious social violations and can be
experienced alone. Smiling, which readily occurs in
embarrassment, is unlikely to follow a shameful event. However,
the boundary between events that elicit embarrassment or shame
is undefined. In many cultures, the same word is used to describe
both. For example, in Oriya, a language in India, the word “lajya”
refers to a variety of emotional states, including embarrassment as
well as shame. Many Asian languages also use one word for the
two emotions, although some Asian cultures have multiple words
that deal with saving face, shame and so on.
*** Yasuni National Park in Ecuador is considered by many
scientists to be the single most biodiverse spot on the planet, but
one in danger of being lost. Oil companies have found rich deposits
beneath the park’s trees and rivers worth billions of dollars.
Ecuador is a small country in which a third of the population lives
below the poverty line and petroleum already makes up more than
half of its export revenue. It badly needs the money that oil
companies and consumers will be only too happy to provide if
further drilling is allowed to go forward. If Ecuador follows the usual
path of development, that’s exactly what will happen, with
disastrous consequences for the park. However, there may be
another way. Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa told the
international community that his country would be willing to cease
drilling and leave Yasuni intact in exchange for donations equal to
$3.6 billion over 13 years, or about half the expected market value
of the park’s oil deposits. The Yasuni Plan, while conserving the
park’s unique biodiversity, would be a first for global environmental
policy, recognizing that the international community has a financial
responsibility to help developing nations preserve nature.
*** China and India need to fix their economies and societies, and
to do so, they have to deal with some grim news. Growth is
slowing, though in China’s case that helps cool an overheated
economy. In both countries, exports are falling, inflation is at painful
levels, income inequality is reaching great proportions, and
injustices like land grabs are sparking widespread protests. The
two countries have lifted countless millions of the unemployed out
of poverty, but countless other millions – youths, workers and
farmers – remain marginalized and desperate for decent
livelihoods. While China does not follow the rules, India has too
many rules to follow. China is struggling to contain assets, deal with
bad loans and to rebalance its economy away from state-directed
investment to consumer-led growth. India’s reputation, meanwhile,
has been so damaged by bureaucratic corruption that the country’s
top corporations have hired US consultancy firms to make a so-
called “credible India” campaign. However, it seems that India
needs to do lots of work to overcome its bad reputation and there is
no guarantee that it will be able to do so.
 ÜDS FEN 2012 SONBAHAR
*** We humans long assumed that our visual system stood at the
top of evolutionary success. Our knowledge of colour vision was
primarily based on what humans see: researchers easily performed
experiments on colour perception in humans. Although scientists
obtained supporting information from a variety of other species by
recording the firing of neurons, we remained unaware until the early
1970s that many vertebrates, mostly animals other than mammals,
see colours in a part of the spectrum that is invisible to humans: the
ultraviolet. In fact, the discovery of ultraviolet vision began with
studies of insects conducted by Sir John Lubbock, who discovered
sometime before 1882 that in the presence of ultraviolet light, ants
would pick up their young and carry them to dark areas or to areas
illuminated by longer wavelengths of light. In the mid-1900s, Karl
von Frisch and his students showed that bees and ants not only
see ultraviolet light as a distinct colour but use ultraviolet in skylight
as a compass. The finding that a great number of insects perceive
ultraviolet light misleadingly gave rise to the idea that this spectral
region provides a private sensory channel that avian predators like
eagles and vultures cannot see. Nothing, however, could have
been further from the truth. Subsequent research showed that
birds, lizards, turtles and many fish have ultraviolet receptors in
their retinas.
*** Scientists have urged national leaders for years to tackle
climate change, based on the assumption that all nations should
take steps in harmony for the success of their prevention efforts.
But as anyone who has watched the past 15 years of international
climate negotiations can attest, most countries are still reluctant to
take meaningful steps to lower their production of greenhouse
gases, much less address issues such as how to help developing
countries protect themselves from the extreme effects of climate
change. Mayors and urban managers are taking over as they have
a keener sense about how changing weather patterns will affect
their cities’ political and economic futures. Indeed, within months
after Hurricane Katrina’s landfall, the C40 Cities Climate
Leadership Group launched in London in October 2005, and the
World Mayors Council on Climate Change (WMCCC) got its start in
Kyoto that December. As of June 2011, more than 190 mayors and
other local authorities, representing some 300 million people from
around the world, have also signed a voluntary pact sponsored by
the WMCCC to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. They are
tackling climate change, as their cities are suffering from floods,
rising sea levels and heat waves. They are innovating ways to
reduce carbon dioxide emissions, prevent further changes in
weather patterns and benefit from transportation systems that
protect the environment.
*** Forget drilling into the ocean floor to tap into ever-decreasing
supplies of oil, because there could soon be a new fuel source
beneath the waves – seaweed. A technique has been developed to
convert sugars in seaweed into a fuel that can be used to power
cars. Biofuels are currently produced from crops such as corn and
sugar cane, but these sources are also in demand for use as food,
and their production requires large amounts of land, fresh water
and fertiliser. Seaweed requires none of these and has the
advantage of not containing lignin, a strong strand of sugars that
stiffens plant stalks but is difficult to turn into biofuel. Researchers
at Bio Architecture Lab in California have been able to produce
bioethanol from kombu, an edible brown seaweed. Bioethanol can
be blended with petrol and used in engines with little or no
modification. Brown seaweed has high sugar content and also
grows more quickly than the red or green species. The only
potential stumbling block is growing enough of the stuff. Several
thousand tonnes are farmed annually for food, but if it is going to be
used widely as a fuel, billions of tonnes would be required. But Bio
Architecture Lab is still forging ahead, launching a seaweed biofuel
pilot project in 2013. It hopes to commercialize seaweed-sourced
fuels within three to four years.
*** Astronomers have a reputation for bringing us stunning
discoveries: new planets and galaxies on the edge of the known
universe. But now they are on the trail of the most notable finding of
all: evidence for a whole new universe beyond our own. For
millennia, philosophers have insisted everything we see is part of
the all-encompassing totality called the universe. And for centuries,
astronomers have been mapping its immensity, using more and
more powerful telescopes to probe deeper into space. It seemed
clear, however, that there was a limit to what they could see, as
they were examining what was comprehensible for them. Since the
discovery of cosmic expansion, they believed there must be a final
frontier, but today, there is mounting excitement that it may be
possible to probe beyond this far horizon. According to the latest
theories in cosmology, what has been regarded as the universe
might be just one of an infinite number making up something far
grander – the Multiverse. But the Multiverse model is highly
problematic; the biggest difficulty is that the existence of such
parallel universes can be neither verified nor falsified. No less
amazing, an orbiting observatory, named Planck, has revealed
many features about our universe such as its age and size since it
was launched in 2009, and astronomers believe it may be able to
travel the Multiverse and do even more.
*** For decades, nets and sprays have been the only effective
methods for controlling the mosquitoes that cause malaria.
However, Spanish chemist Pilar Mateo thinks she can do better
with her invention of embedding pesticides in microcapsules stirred
into house paints at her Valencia company. The insecticides are
released from the paint slowly, remaining effective for two to four
years, while sprays need to be reapplied at least every six months.
“The paint acts like a vaccine for houses,” she says. The amounts
of pesticides released from the paint are harmless to people but are
devastating to insects, according to the tests made by scientists.
The paint has already been approved for use in fifteen countries,
including China and England. Mateo is seeking approval in the US
and a recommendation from the World Health Organization. She
says she has received offers to buy her patent but refuses to sell
out. Instead, her new venture, another company in Africa, will
produce it commercially at a factory in Ghana and employ a great
number of workers. “By taking production outside Spain, we can
reduce the cost and make it more accessible,” she says. Her idea
is to sell the paint as an affordable alternative to sprays. After years
of donating paint to poor people in Latin America, Mateo wants to
fund her broader humanitarian efforts. “It’s not just the insects that
are the problem”, she says, “It’s the poverty.”
*** Typing in passwords could be a thing of the past, thanks to
technology that can read your thoughts. A new discovery brings
cognitive biometrics very close to reality. In cognitive biometrics,
the response of your nervous system to a stimulus is measured,
then used to identify you. A series of letters or images are flashed
up on a screen and your P300 wave – a type of electrical activity in
the brain – is measured using electrodes attached to your head.
When a pre-defined word, letter or image is shown, recognition by
the user generates their signature, P300 wave. Until now, users
have been shown different letters or symbols in different parts of a
screen. But tests at the universities of Essex and Wolverhampton
have found that the system identifies individuals most accurately if
all characters appear in the same location. This also reduces the
chances of criminals spotting the brain word by tracking eye
movement. As there is no keyboard involved, it is much harder for
someone intent on fraud to get access to a password. “You still
have to keep your password secure,” says Dr. Palani Ramaswamy.
“It’s just that the way of entering the password is more resistant to
fraud.” Accuracy still needs to be improved before cognitive
biometrics can come into mainstream use. “Once accuracy is close
to 100 percent, it can be used for high-security military applications
and financial transactions as well,” he maintains.
 ÜDS SAĞLIK 2012 SONBAHAR
*** Alzheimer’s disease is a chronic, degenerative condition of the
brain cells. Some risk factors can be avoided, but others, such as
increasing age and genetic properties, are inevitable. It is now the
third most common cause of death in the developed world, with
more women than men affected. The first symptom is often an
impaired memory for recent events, which can be difficult to
distinguish from the normal age-related decline in memory. As the
disease progresses, forgetfulness may hinder routine activities
such as cooking and household chores. Those affected may be
aware of their memory difficulties, so they can deal with the
problem by, for example, writing notes or letting someone else
manage decisions for them. In the late stages of the disease, the
changes in memory and behaviour are marked. Sufferers cannot
compensate for their memory lapses and become confused. They
may develop paranoid behaviour like jealousy or accusations of
theft, and may experience visual hallucinations. People in
advanced stages cease to recognize even their family members
and close friends. They may also refuse to eat, develop
unsteadiness and increasingly lose weight.
*** Environmental health has biologic, chemical, physical and
sociological components, including the immediate and future
conditions in which people live. In colonial America, little attention
was paid to community hygiene and sanitation, and there was
almost a complete lack of community organisation for better health
services. During this time, epidemics of cholera, smallpox and
dysentery continually occurred. Although such epidemics were
attributed to environmental health hazards such as overcrowding,
inadequate housing and impure water, little was done to improve
these conditions. Early attempts to ensure environmental health
included a law in 1610 that prohibited the throwing out of water
from dirty clothes into the street, and required people to do the
necessities of nature outside the town. Those who violated the law
were often subjected to strict penalties. Such measures were more
concerned with the aesthetics of the environment than with related
health consequences, and environmental practices were frequently
directed at keeping the environment attractive.
*** Digestible microchips embedded in drugs may soon tell doctors
whether a patient is taking their medications as prescribed. These
sensors are the first ingestible devices approved by the US Food
and Drug Administration (FDA). To some, they signify the beginning
of an era in digital medicine. The sandparticle sized sensor consists
of a minute silicon chip containing trace amounts of magnesium
and copper. When swallowed, it generates a slight voltage in
response to digestive juices, which conveys a signal to the surface
of a person’s skin where a patch then relays the information to a
mobile phone belonging to a health care provider. Currently, the
FDA and the analogous regulatory agency in Europe have only
approved the device based on studies showing its safety and
efficacy when implanted in placebo pills. But scientists hope to
have the device approved within other drugs in the near future.
Medicines that must be taken for years, such as those for drug-
resistant diabetes, and for the elderly with chronic diseases, are top
candidates. Proponents of digital medical devices predict they will
provide alternatives to blood tests, MRIs and CAT scans. Other
gadgets in the pipeline include implantable devices that wirelessly
inject drug at pre-specified times and sensors that deliver a
person’s electrocardiogram to their smartphone.
*** Vitamin C boosts the immune system by strengthening the
action of white blood cells that destroy harmful bacteria and
viruses, such as cold and flu viruses. It is also an important
antioxidant, protecting the watery internal parts of cells from the
damaging effects of excess free radicals, and it works in
partnership with vitamin E which protects the fatty outer part of the
cells. Moreover, vitamin C can help to prevent cholesterol from
becoming oxidised, a phenomenon now thought to be the precursor
to the furring of arteries – the reduction of blood flow through
arteries. High intakes of vitamin C are also linked with lower levels
of stomach cancer. In addition, vitamin C improves the absorption
of iron from non-meat sources, so ensuring a regular intake is
useful if you are a vegetarian. Also, it has mild antihistamine
properties, thus allergy sufferers may find it helpful. Furthermore,
when we are under physical or mental stress, vitamin C is depleted
from our adrenal glands; it plays a regulatory role in the production
of the hormone cortisone that helps us cope with the pressures of
life.
*** Just a few decades ago, doctors would dispense sleeping pills
as if they were sweets. Today, sleeping pills are no longer
considered to be an appropriate solution to chronic sleeplessness.
As they treat only the symptoms of insomnia, any improvement in
sleep can only be temporary, thereby perpetuating the cycle of
insomnia and drug-induced sleep. Ironically, many people initially
turn to sleeping pills, as insomnia has left them helpless and out of
control. However, pills can become a trap that escalates feelings of
dependency, lowered self-esteem and guilt. Then insomniacs end
up having to cope with two stressful problems: insomnia and
dependency on sleeping pills. Most patients prefer non-drug
approaches like avoiding caffeine and nicotine, but they do not
know how best to escape the sleeplessness. However, some
doctors guide their patients by prescribing the smallest possible
dose, to be used only after two consecutive nights of bad sleep. As
an alternative to supplement the pills, professionals provide such
sleep aids as antihistamines which produce drowsiness as a side
effect. Also, synthetic melatonin has recently been marketed and
publicized as a natural sleeping pill. Although several studies found
that melatonin was effective for promoting sleep, the studies
focused on normal sleepers, not insomniacs. All in all, it seems that
careful implementation of new behavioural patterns provides the
most promising results to sufferers.
*** There are several factors that increase the risk of cancer.
Mutations that affect genes are believed to contribute to the
development of cancer. These genes produce proteins that
regulate growth and alter cell division and other basic cell
properties. Cancer-causing genetic mutations may result from the
damaging effects of drugs and viruses. Additionally, environmental
factors such as air pollution and radiation increase the risk of
cancer. Some chemicals like pesticides are known to cause cancer,
and many others are suspected of doing so, but more study is
needed to identify those chemicals that increase the risk. The
threat of cancer may also vary according to geographical features.
This geographic variation in cancer risk is multifactorial: a
combination of genetics, diet and environment. For example, the
Japanese, who follow a diet that mainly includes smoked foods,
have high rates of colorectal cancer. When they immigrate to the
US and eat a Western diet, the risk level declines to that of the US.
Age is another risk factor. While some cancers like Vilms’ tumor
occur almost exclusively in children, cancers of the lungs and
kidneys are more common in older people, probably due to
constant exposure to carcinogens and weakening of the body’s
immune system. However, not all people who are exposed to
carcinogens or who have other risk factors develop cancer.////
 ÜDS SOSYAL 2012 SONBAHAR
*** Although Aeschylus is considered to be the first great innovator
of Western drama, it is sometimes difficult to judge the full extent of
the innovations he introduced, since no plays by his predecessor,
Thespis, have been preserved. What we know about Greek drama
before Aeschylus suggests that it had developed gradually out of
choral lyrics, occasionally interrupted by short dialogues between
the chorus and a single speaker or singer representing an
individual character. Aeschylus took the decisive step of introducing
a second actor, thus enabling for the first time a dialogue or conflict
between two individuals to take place on the stage and in front of
an audience. The innovations made possible by Aeschylus’s
introduction of a second character are very significant. In addition,
an actor could leave the stage and reappear in the guise of another
character, thus permitting an increase in the overall number of
persons represented. In his later plays, Aeschylus used three
actors, allowing him to feature a large number of characters, as in
The Libation Bearers, the second play of the Oresteia trilogy.
*** Outside forces have played a major part in the birth and
development of Middle Eastern states as well as in shaping the
environment in which these states have operated. Since
Napoleon’s intervention in Egypt in the late 18th century, European
powers have been an important part of the Middle East’s make-up
– its politics, socio-economic development and external orientation.
It was the European powers who took control of significant areas of
the region from the 19th century, and they gave rise to the downfall
of the Ottoman Empire and shared its spoils in the early 20th
century. It was the same set of European powers that formed new
states from territories under their control. But in the second half of
the 20th century, the nature of outside intervention changed
somewhat. As a penetrated regional system, the Middle East, for all
its active internal dynamics (nationalism, the Arab-Israeli War, etc.),
was by the 1950s subject to the influence of strategically-driven
calculations made by the world’s two superpowers: the US and the
USSR. The superpowers’ calculations not only directly affected
politics of the region, but also the environment where the local
forces were taking shape. For over a generation, the Cold War
between superpowers was the framework of the Middle East’s
regional system, from North Africa in the west to the borders of the
Soviet Caucasus and Central Asia.
*** Recent research suggests that not only can children
differentiate between two languages at an early age, but also show
cognitive benefits from being exposed to a second language
starting as early as infancy. In a study in 2009 of ‘crib bilinguals’,
cognitive psychologists Agnes Kovács and Jacques Mehler used a
visual test to measure cognitive flexibility in preverbal seven-month-
olds. Kovács and Mehler wanted to see how quickly the infants
could adapt to changing rules. They taught the infants a pattern
consisting of speech-like sounds. At the end of the sequence, a
visual reward in the form of a puppet would appear in one part of a
computer screen. The infants were expected to learn that a given
sound pattern predicated the appearance of the puppet in that
location. Both bilingual and monolingual infants showed that they
associated the sound sequence with the puppet’s location equally
well by looking in the right place for the puppet to appear. But when
Kovács and Mehler modified the sequence – and moved the
puppet – the bilingual infants adjusted, switching their anticipatory
gaze to the new location. The monolingual infants, however,
continued to look for the puppet in the original location.
*** A credit rating agency measures credit worthiness of institutions
from companies to governments and assesses their ability to pay
back a loan. The top three credit rating agencies are Standard and
Poor’s (S&P), Fitch Ratings and Moody’s. Each rating agency has
developed its own rating system. Fitch Ratings developed its
system in 1924, which was later adopted by S&P. Both use a
system of letter sliding from the best rating ‘AAA’ to the lowest ‘D’
for borrowers already defaulting on payments. In detail, ‘AAA’
represents the best quality borrowers that are reliable and stable
without any foreseeable risk to future payments, while ‘D’ means
the institution has defaulted on payment obligations, having failed
to pay back the loans – S&P and Fitch Ratings assert it will keep on
doing so. Moody’s follows a different rating system. It argues that
their ratings have a superior approach that considers not only the
likelihood of default, but also the severity of the default. In addition,
S&P and Fitch Ratings are only interested in how likely a borrower
is to default, whereas Moody’s cares how long the default is likely
to last. Most importantly, S&P does not care what the recovery
value will be – the amount of money that the lender will end up with
after the borrower has defaulted. Moody’s, by contrast, tries to
figure out the expected losses, which makes it more preferable.
*** Today, the European Union is home to more than 20 million
immigrants, who represent about 4 percent of the total EU
population and make valuable contributions to European society.
These new arrivals fill gaps in the labour market that EU workers
cannot or do not wish to fill, helping to address the demographic
decline in Europe’s working age population. Properly managed,
immigration can help contribute to the EU’s long-term economic
development and competitiveness. At the same time, ensuring the
security and prosperity of the EU population remains vital. The key
is to streamline and simplify the legal immigration process, enforce
measures against illegal immigrants, secure the external borders
and support the Member States’ efforts to promote the integration
of immigrants so they become full participants in EU society. One of
the EU’s more remarkable achievements is the creation of its single
market, where people, goods, services and capital move freely
throughout the 27 EU Member States. The flip side of this free
movement, however, is that the reduced internal border controls
necessitate strengthened external borders. Each border state bears
a particular responsibility for defending its portion of the EU’s
borders and with it, the security of the entire EU.
*** Humans are preoccupied with vitality; that is, a concern with the
generation, transmission, continuation and protection of life itself.
The obvious social tie formed around this preoccupation is the
family. However, numerous individual families of a nation
understand themselves to be just that; thus, the continuation of the
nation into the future is regarded as entailing the continuation of the
families into the future. Anthropological studies reveal that humans
have always formed not only families, but also larger groups of
which families are a part. Parents transmit to their own offspring not
only their flesh and blood – genetic properties in a broader term –
but also their cultural inheritance; the language, traditions, customs
and so forth – of the larger group, of the nation. This cultural
inheritance is usually viewed by the parents as being quite precious
to their existence. This intergenerational transmission of one’s
culture may be part of the reason for the tendency to view the
nation as a form of kinship, because what is being transmitted is a
part of one’s self to one’s descendants.
*** *** *** *** *** *** ***