Polar Bears Adjust their Diet Because of Climate Change

【Unlocking Word Meanings】

　今日の単語・フレーズ

Read the following words/expressions found in today’s article. 

1. prey /preɪ/ (n.) – an animal that serves as food for other animals

Example: A lion’s favorite prey is zebra.

2. stalk /stɔk/ (v.) – to follow silently, usually in hunting

Example: The hunter stalked the deer before shooting it.

3. resilient /rɪˈzɪlyənt, -ˈzɪliənt/ (adj.) – can easily recover or adjust from a bad situation

Example: The resilient bears endured the food shortage by eating berries.

4. elusive /ɪˈlusɪv/ (adj.) – hard to catch or find

Example: The fishermen spent a lot of time just to catch the elusive fish.

5. scarcity /ˈskɛərsɪti/ (n.) – the state of having very limited resources

Example: The scarcity of clean water is a huge problem among people living near deserts.

【Article】

　ニュース記事

Read the text below.

American biologists say that Arctic [AHRK-tik] polar bears switch to alternative food as they face difficulty in hunting their usual prey. Because of climate [KLAHY-mit] change, the ice chunks in the Arctic region are now melting more quickly than it did in the past years. Because of this rapid ice melting, polar bears struggle to get their favorite meal–baby seals. Icy areas help polar bears stalk their prey, as seal pups are usually in the water. The bears often strike when the seals show their heads out of the water to breathe. But with the ice floors getting smaller, these predators have to find other sources of food. This situation led to a study by American biologists that analyzed how polar bears adjust their diet. According to Robert Rockwell, one of the authors, polar bears are more resilient than expected. Rockwell’s team gathered feces or bodily wastes of polar bears in Hudson Bay, Canada to identify what these animals eat. Results showed that plants were mainly present in the diet. The researchers also said that the bears seem to eat whatever is available in their surroundings. When seals are elusive, mothers and cubs eat berries while traveling in land areas, while adult males who often stay in shore [shohr] eat grass seeds. While the authors were impressed by the bears’ diet adjustment, experts noted how unhealthy this habit could be. Some bears might eat risky materials like snow mobile [MOH-beel] seats, batteries, and even chemical fluids from vehicles. Polar bears depend mainly on animal meat to survive. The adjustment may be good news, but it does not completely solve the bears’ problem of food scarcity.

【Viewpoint Discussion】

　ディスカッションテーマ

Enjoy a discussion with your tutor.  

Discussion A

         What can the authorities do to help polar bears with their food problem?

         Do you agree that the bears’ diet adjustment when food is scarce is not always good? Why or why not?

Discussion B

         What do you think are the other effects of climate change?

         How can the harmful effects of climate change be lessened?

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Man Provides Low-cost Prosthetic Arms for Sudanese Amputees

【Unlocking Word Meanings】

　今日の単語・フレーズ

Read the following words/expressions found in today’s article. 

1. amputee /ˌæmpyʊˈti/ (n.) – a person who lost a limb or a part of the limb

Example: The amputee now wears an artificial leg.

2. daunting /dɔntɪŋ, dɑntɪŋ/ (adj.) – having a tendency to discourage or frighten others

Example: The country’s situation after the war is daunting.  

3. war-torn /wɔr tɔrn/ (adj.) – disrupted and destroyed by war

Example: War-torn countries need a lot of help to rebuild their nations.

4. limb /lɪm/ (n.) – an arm or a leg

Example: His lower artificial limbs enable Ron to walk again after losing his legs. 

5. feat /fit/ (n.) – a very remarkable act or achievement

Example: Helping thousands of suffering children in Africa can be considered a feat.

【Article】

　ニュース記事

Read the text below.

A man has brought hope to thousands of amputees in Sudan by providing artificial arms. This man is Mick Ebeling, the co-founder of Not Impossible Labs, a group that aims to create solutions for daunting health issues. Currently, Ebeling is helping out amputees in war-torn Sudan. Around 50,000 people lost their limbs in the Sudanese war, many of whom are children. What inspired Ebeling to help the amputees in Sudan is a heartbreaking story featured in an article from the Time Magazine. The article is about an American doctor living in Sudan’s Nuba Mountains and his patient Daniel Omar. Omar lost his arms to an Antonov bomb while he was taking care of his family’s cows. Ebeling started a group that could develop an inexpensive, 3-D printed arm in six hours. This effort is supported by Intel and Precipart, an engineering company. An arm would cost only $100 to make, an incredible feat considering that a standard prosthetic arm costs around $3,000 to $30,000. The project, which Ebeling called “Project Daniel,” was able to equip Omar with an arm. Now, Omar is more independent and is able to feed himself for the first time in two years. Also, he is now working at a hospital to help other amputees. To make sure that the project will continue even after he left Sudan, Ebeling trained local volunteers on how to do the 3-D printed arm. He left 3-D printers, laptops, and plastic materials to the volunteers. They are able to produce an arm a week while working only at night.

【Viewpoint Discussion】

　ディスカッションテーマ

Enjoy a discussion with your tutor.  

Discussion A

         Do you think other people should follow what Ebeling did to help the Sudanese amputees? Why or why not?

         How else can Sudanese amputees be helped? Explain.

Discussion B

         How do you think war-torn countries can be helped by other countries? Explain.

         How can wars be prevented?

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Three on Crime: Lone Wolf Terrorism; Solitary Confinement; Mental Illness & Violence

Decline in far-right, lone-wolf homicide since Sept. 11

Fatal incidents of far-right “lone-wolf” terrorism have been fewer in the past 10 years, according a new study. Scientists have examined characteristics of far-right, extremist homicides in the United States over the past decade. Relying on the Extremist Crime Database, the most comprehensive database of far-right homicides in the United States, the researchers identified three types of far-right, lone-actor terrorists.

Far-right "lone wolves" and "wolf packs" are terrorists who are affiliated with hate groups but execute their attacks alone or in small cells, respectively. Far-right "loner" terrorists are self-radicalized and do not associate with other extremists. Loner terrorists plan and execute their attacks on their own accord.

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"Overall, our findings indicate that the frequency of far-right violence -- in this case, homicides -- committed by so-called lone wolves has not experienced a recent increase as some have suggested," Gruenewald said. "More fatal attacks by far-right loners, lone wolves and lone-wolf packs occurred in the 1990s than in more recent years. In fact, there has been a downward trend since 2001. This finding questions claims by media, politicians and other researchers that far-right, lone-wolf attacks have increased and pose a growing threat to U.S. security."

Recent events -- the deadly shooting at Los Angeles International Airport in November and the 2011 Arizona shooting that killed six people and injured 14, including U.S. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords -- have focused attention on domestic far-rightist violence and other lone actors. Gruenewald and colleagues sought to confirm claims that far-right, lone-wolf attacks were on the rise and to fill in other critical gaps in research on far-right, lone-wolf terrorism.

Almost all far-right, violent suspects were white men
The researchers found a few commonalities across all terrorist suspect types and many important distinctions based on whether the suspect was a loner, lone wolf or member of a wolf pack. Almost all far-right, violent suspects were white men. Also, the vast majority of far-right attacks across all three categories did not involve bombs.

Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols anomalies
"Our study found that these attacks were carried out with firearms, knives or other blunt instruments, which makes the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing by far-rightists Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols an anomaly," Gruenewald said.

But similarities were few compared to many important differences based on terrorist suspect type. 

• Loners, typically in their late 30s, were more likely to target multiple victims. 
• They were primarily concerned with anti-government beliefs and focused more on single issues, such as abortion. 
• Roughly a third of this group affiliated with a single issue, compared to only 4 percent for lone wolves and none of the wolf-pack attacks. 
• Loners were more likely to target abortion providers and government officials, and most of their attacks -- 82 percent -- involved a firearm.

Suspects in all three categories suffered with mental illness, but evidence showed that a greater percentage of loners -- 40 percent, compared to 20 percent for lone wolves and only 3 percent for members of wolf packs -- suffered some type of psychological disorder.

Differences between lone wolves and wolf-pack members were subtler. Of the three groups, 

• lone wolves -- those suspects who affiliated with hate groups or far-right organizations but who executed their attacks alone -- were the most active in the far-right-wing extremist movement. 
• Victims of lone-wolf attacks were more likely to be non-white. 
• Lone wolves and especially members of wolf packs were proportionately more likely to be affiliated with neo-Nazism, many of them belonging to formal or informal groups of neo-Nazis. 
• On average, wolf-pack members were much younger, tending to be in their early 20s, as opposed to early 30s for lone wolves and late 30s for loner suspects.

Hatred toward racial and ethnic minorities
The overall most common ideological issue for both lone wolves and wolf-pack members was hatred and hostility toward racial and ethnic minorities. Not surprisingly, victims of both of these groups were more likely to be non-white. More than half of wolf-pack attacks involved knives (46 percent) or blunt objects (16 percent) as their primary weapons.

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Does solitary confinement fuel more crime?

Solitary confinement does not make supermax prison inmates more likely to re-offend once they're released, finds a study on the controversial penitentiaries. 

The study -- one of the first to examine recidivism rates among supermax inmates -- refute critics' claims that serving extended time in isolation leads to more crime. Super-maximum security units, known as supermax units or prisons within prisons, are designed to house problem inmates by keeping them isolated for as long as 23 hours a day.

Jesenia Pizarro, lead author on the study and MSU associate professor of criminal justice, said it wasn't time in isolation that was tied to repeated offenses for supermax inmates. Instead, it was the same factors that led inmates from the general prison population to re-offend -- in other words, they tended to be young drug offenders with prior convictions and disciplinary charges while in prison.

"Similar to inmates who served their time in the general prison population, supermax inmates released to parole supervision should receive help for drug and alcohol addictions and younger offenders should be steered back to educational programs," Pizarro said.
Proponents say supermax units keep corrections officers and other prisoners safe, while critics argue that such solitary confinement is cruel and unusual punishment that can lead to mental health issues among inmates and thus pose a greater threat to society upon their release.

Pizarro and colleagues analyzed the data of more than 800 supermax inmates in New Jersey, including their criminal histories, prison behavior and whether they re-offended during a five-year period following their release. 

"Interestingly," the study says, "these findings suggest that placement in supermax does not create unique challenges that result in recidivism."

*  *  *  *  *

Related Post:  Guilt vs. Shame Predict Recidivism

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Because supermax prisons have become a mainstay of the American correctional landscape, Pizarro said more research is needed to better understand the effects of serving extended time in isolation. Except in federal cases, prisoners are not sentenced to supermax units -- instead, it is an administrative decision made by a warden or hearing boards.

While many believe that only the "worst of the worst" are housed in supermax units, Pizarro said that's not necessarily the case. Gang members who are serving time for selling drugs, for example, can be sent to supermax even if they don't have violent histories. Critics say assignment to supermax units can be arbitrary and lacking due process.

*  *  *  *  *

Mentally ill more likely to be victims

Almost one-third of adults with mental illness are likely to be victims of violence within a six-month period, and adults with mental illness who commit violence are most likely to do so in residential settings. The study also finds a strong correlation between being a victim of violence and committing a violent act.

This research shows that almost one-third of adults with mental illness are likely to be victims of violence within a six-month period, and that adults with mental illness who commit violence are most likely to do so in residential settings. The study also finds a strong correlation between being a victim of violence and committing a violent act.

"We hear about the link between violence and mental illness in the news, and we wanted to look not only at the notion that the mentally ill are a danger to others, but the possibility that they are also in danger," says Dr. Sarah Desmarais, an assistant professor of psychology at NC State and lead author of a paper describing the work.

The researchers compiled a database of 4,480 mentally ill adults who had answered questions about both committing violence and being victims of violence in the previous six months. The database drew from five earlier studies that focused on issues ranging from antipsychotic medications to treatment approaches. Those studies had different research goals, but all asked identical questions related to violence and victimization.

Researchers found that:

• 23.9 percent of the study participants had committed a violent act within the previous six months. 
• 63.5 percent -- were committed in residential settings, not in public. 
• Only 2.6 percent of the violent acts were committed in school or workplace settings.

The researchers found that a significantly higher percentage of participants -- 

• 30.9 percent -- had been victims of violence in the same time period. 
• And of those 43.7 percent said they'd been victimized on multiple occasions.

"We also found that participants who had been victims of violence were 11 times more likely to commit violence," Desmarais says.

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Story Sources:

1. Materials provided by University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.  Jeff Gruenewald, Steven Chermak, Joshua D. Freilich. Far-Right Lone Wolf Homicides in the United States. Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, 2013.  
2. Materials provided by Michigan State University. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. J. M. Pizarro, R. E. Narag. Supermax Prisons: What We Know, What We Do Not Know, and Where We Are Going. The Prison Journal, 2008.
3. Materials provided by North Carolina State University. Sarah L. Desmarais, Richard A. Van Dorn, Kiersten L. Johnson, Kevin J. Grimm, Kevin S. Douglas, Marvin S. Swartz. Community Violence Perpetration and Victimization Among Adults With Mental Illnesses. American Journal of Public Health, 2014.

Humans Can Smell Diseases

【Unlocking Word Meanings】

　今日の単語・フレーズ

Read the following words/expressions found in today’s article. 

1. overdrive /ˈoʊvərˌdraɪv/ (n.) – an intensely high level of activity

Example: Our body experiences an overdrive during exercise.  

2. elicit /ɪˈlɪsɪt/ (v.) – to produce or bring about something

Example: Physical exercise elicits heavy breathing and sweating.

3. stale /steɪl/ (adj.) – referring to food or drink that is no longer fresh

Example: I threw the stale bread into the garbage can.

4. ramp up /ræmp ʌp/ (phrasal v.) – to greatly increase the level of something

Example: Eating chocolates and candies ramps up a diabetic’s sugar level. 

5. saline /ˈseɪlin, -laɪn/ (adj.) – containing salt

Example: Seawater is highly saline.

【Article】

　ニュース記事

Read the text below.

A new study claims that people can actually smell when a person is sick or has a certain disease. Professor Mats Olsson of Sweden’s Karolinska Institute led a team of researchers to look into the ability of humans to detect disease by smelling. The scientists say that a person’s immune system can go into an overdrive after a few hours of exposure to bacteria. This overactivity elicits a certain smell that may be a sign of a particular illness. According to the researchers, scientific evidence shows that diseases actually have particular smells. For example, a diabetic person may smell of acetone while a person suffering from scrofula, an infection of the lymph nodes, may smell like stale beer. To further prove this claim, the researchers asked eight healthy people to participate in the study. Some participants were injected with a form of lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a toxin made from bacteria and is known to ramp up the immune system. The rest of the participants, on the other hand, were injected with a saline solution. Within four hours, the participants wore very tight shirts to absorb their sweat. Afterwards, 40 volunteers were then asked to smell the shirts. The volunteers reported that the shirts from the group injected with LPS had a more intense and unpleasant smell. They also noted that the said shirts had an unhealthier smell.   From these results, the researchers inferred that the greater immune system response a person has, the unhealthier his or her sweat would smell. While further research is still required, researchers say that this result is very significant especially in identifying markers for illnesses.

【Viewpoint Discussion】

　ディスカッションテーマ

Enjoy a discussion with your tutor.  

Discussion A

         Do you think the sense of smell can really distinguish certain illnesses? Why or why not?

         Do you agree that the result of this study is significant? Explain.

Discussion B

         Why is it important to detect illnesses in advance? Explain.

         What are other ways of detecting illnesses early on? Explain.

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Conjunctions & Pronouns are the Language of Love

According to new research out of Texas Tech, conjunctions and pronouns are more effective in predicting a love match than good looks and fast cars.  Which is good, because if there's two things I lack it's good looks and a fast car.  In fact, I don't have a car at all.  Nor much of that other thing, either.

Here's the gist of this research in one declarative sentence:  "People who use the same kinds of function words are more likely to find a match."  To wit:

After analyzing speed dating results, researchers discovered a positive correlation of function-word similarity with speed-daters’ odds of going on a second date and long-term couples’ odds of still being together three months after the study. Language similarity became an even better predictor of relationship stability when compared to other related variables, such as the perceived similarity with one’s date, perceived relationship quality, and how many words people spoke to each other during each conversation.

Here's the report in full, conjunctions, pronouns and all:  

Conjunction junction, what’s your function? Hooking up people using similar phrases, according to one Texas Tech University researcher.

Molly Ireland, a visiting assistant professor in the Department of Psychology who studies human dialogue, said people who use the same kinds of function words are more likely to find a match.

Function words include personal pronouns such as he, she, it, articles such as “a” “an” or “the” and conjunctions such as and, or, but, and nor.

“Conversations between romantic partners make up some of the most important dialogue in most adults' lives,” Ireland said. “Romantic relationships have a huge influence on our health and well-being, and I think that conversation is a big part of what makes those relationships succeed or fail at every stage -- from first dates to marriages.”

In a recent study, she and others looked at 40 speed dates between heterosexual males and females and analyzed the daters’ language using special computers.

When analyzed, researchers discovered a positive correlation of function-word similarity with speed-daters’ odds of going on a second date and long-term couples’ odds of still being together three months after the study, Ireland said.

Language similarity became an even better predictor of relationship stability when compared to other related variables such as the perceived similarity with one’s date, perceived relationship quality, and how many words people spoke to each other during each conversation.

“We were surprised by how well language similarity predicted relationship stability above and beyond these other variables,” she said. “People also aren’t very good at predicting ahead of time what they'll find attractive on a date. So in a way, language predicts what people want in a partner better than they do themselves.”

Ireland said the study highlights the importance of language and language style with social behavior, she said, and content might not be as important. She and other researchers think language-style matching reflects attention to one’s conversation partner as opposed to oneself or the surroundings and similarity between partners’ thinking styles.

“It’s easy in relationships or on dates to focus on superficial things like your own appearance or the topics your partner is talking about,” she said. “But the fact is that most first dates have pretty similar content. People talk about their likes and dislikes – music, hobbies and majors for college students. None of that really matters though if you're not paying attention to each other or adopting similar mindsets.”

I can see it now.  After a first date, the woman carefully parsing the man's sentences to analyze his grammar, and the guy thinking, as always, about her "huge tracts of land."  Guys don't change much.  Do we?

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Story Source:  Materials provided by Texas Tech University.  "Language of love: Matching conjunctions, pronouns could spell a match better than good looks and fast cars." ScienceDaily. 

Norway Library Offers Free E-Books

【Unlocking Word Meanings】

　今日の単語・フレーズ

Read the following words/expressions found in today’s article. 

1. e-book /ˈiˌbʊk/ (n.) – a book version read through computers or gadgets

Example: Famous novels can now be ordered online as e-books.

2. genre /ˈʒɑnrə/ (n.) – specific class or category in arts and literature

Example: Most of the known books today are in the fantasy genre.

3. copyrighted /ˈkɒpiˌraɪtd/ (adj.) – protected by a legal right that prevents others to republish a material

Example: Some copyrighted books can be downloaded in illegal websites.

4. bestselling /ˈbɛstˈsɛlɪŋ/ (adj.) – successfully sold many copies

Example: The publisher of the bestselling Harry Potter book series continues to make good profit.

5. out of stock /aʊt ʌv stɒk/ (idiom) – not available

Example: The latest edition of the book is currently out of stock.

【Article】

　ニュース記事

Read the text below.

The National Library of Norway now offers free e-book versions of various popular books. Readers can access online books of different genres through the website “bokhylla” [bou-KHEE-la] (bookshelf in Norwegian). National Library head Vigdis Moe Skarstein [veg-dis mou SKAR-stahyn] said digitizing books is important in preserving these works for future generations. While most e-book collections from other libraries come from old books, works published until year 2000 are available in bokhylla. The website operates legally since the authors of the copyrighted books have agreed with this project. The National Library signed an agreement with a group called Kopinor that represents major authors and publishers. Kopinor gets paid for every e-book page and the organization distributes the money among its members. While these online books are free, only Internet users in Norway and foreign researchers can view the books in the website. Also, readers cannot download the e-books. Authors can request for the removal of their work. So far, the site has removed 3,500 books. Most of them are school and children’s books, which have good sales in the market. Bestselling novels by famous authors mostly compose the 135,000 e-books available in bokhylla. Another 115,000 will soon be added. Norway has been successful in its  attempt to make e-books mainly because of its agreement with Kopinor. With this partnership, there is less complication in copyright issues. Before, many countries tried to digitize collections in their national libraries but got stuck in copyright problems. According to Skarstein, the project does not seem to affect the sales of the printed books. Instead, bokhylla serves as a way to make some out of stock books available.

【Viewpoint Discussion】

　ディスカッションテーマ

Enjoy a discussion with your tutor.  

Discussion A

         Do you approve of bokhylla’s project? Why or why not?

         If you were an author, would you let your work be available as free e-book? Kindly explain.

Discussion B

         What are the most important books in your country?

         Why should these books be preserved?

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