Operation Desert Storm Was Not Won By Smart Weaponry Alone

Technology has long been a deciding factor on the battlefield, from powerful artillery to new weaponry to innovations in the seas and the skies. Twenty-five years ago, it was no different, as the United States and its allies proved overwhelmingly successful in the Persian Gulf War. A coalition of U.S. Army Apache attack helicopters, cruise missiles from naval vessels, and Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk “stealth fighters” soundly broke through Saddam Hussein’s army defenses in Kuwait during Operation Desert Storm, which became known as the “100-hour war”.

But for all the possibilities that this “Computer War” offered, Operation Desert Storm was not won by smart weaponry, alone. Despite the “science fiction”-like technology deployed, 90 percent of the pieces of ammunition used in Desert Storm were actually “dumb weapons”. The bombs, which weren’t guided by lasers or satellites, were lucky to get within half a kilometer of their targets after they were dumped from planes. While dumb bombs might not have been exciting enough to make the headlines during the attack, they were cheaper to produce and could be counted on to work. But frequency of use doesn’t change why history will remember Desert Storm for its smart weapons, rather than its dumb ones.

Adapted from http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/operation-desert-storm-was-not-won-smart-weaponry-alone-180957879/

Mauritius: gender roles and statuses

Division of Labor by Gender. The economic success of industry has led to low unemployment rates. This has changed the workplace and home life as women joined the workforce. This industrialization also led to women being promoted faster. According to the Minister of Women, Family Welfare, and Child Development, a quarter of all managers are now women. Women are the traditional homekeepers of the society. Between 1985 and 1991 the number of women working outside the home increased from 22 percent to 41 percent. With that trend continuing, hired housekeeping and child care have become relatively new and important industries.

The Relative Status of Women and Men. Historically, women have had subordinate roles in Mauritian society, Homewer, the Constitution specifically prohibits discrimination based on sex, and women now have access to education, employment, and governmental services. In March 1998 the Domestic Violence Act was passed. This gave greater protection and legal authority to combatdomestic abuse. In that same year it also became a crime to abandon one’s family or pregnant spouse for more than two months, not to pay food support, or to engage insexual harassment. Women are underrepresented in the government. The National Assembly has seventy seats, of which women hold five.

Reducing preventable harm in hospitals

Each year, in the United States, millions of patients are harmed while receiving care in hospitals.
They get infections, experience adverse reactions to drugs, develop dangerous bedsores or come
down with pneumonia from the very ventilators meant to help them breathe.
The estimates of the number of people who die each year as a result of hospital errors have ranged
[5] from as many as 98,000 in a landmark Institute of Medicine report from 1999 to as many as 440,000
in a 2013 study.
It’s believed that most of these deaths could be prevented if health care providers always adhered
to evidence-informed practices. In recent years, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services,
have sought to drive improvements by linking payments to hospital performance, including patient
[10] safety.
Amid the complexity, the chaotic pace and the increasing need for coordination, how can hospitals
do better to improve patient safety? How can they ensure, for example, that every single time a
patient receives a medication, precautions are taken to reduce the risks of an adverse drug reaction?
The big challenge is not just designing systems with better defenses; it is gaining acceptance for
[15] them, and properly implementing them. Over the past decade, for example, many hospitals have
adopted a key feature of aviation safety − checklists − to improve safety in areas where standard
protocols can save many lives, such as inserting central line catheters, using ventilators and while
performing surgery and assisting childbirth.
When the checklists are well implemented, the results of their use have been stunning. However,
[20] as checklists have proliferated, the results have been inconsistent, often because front-line
practitioners rejected them or adopted them halfheartedly. The devotion to protocol that pilots
see as integral to their professionalism is derided by some doctors as “cookbook medicine”. Atul
Gawande, a surgeon and contributor to The New Yorker, has said that the high value that physicians
place on autonomy and independence makes them reluctant to submit to checklists.
[25] So the big question is: how can health systems be made safer when success means changing the
attitudes and habits of health care professionals at a time when many are overwhelmed and deeply
frustrated by all of the demands being made on them? What does it take to get them to embrace,
with urgency, new ways of working?

The devotion to protocol that pilots see as integral to their professionalism is derided by some doctors as “cookbook medicine”. (l. 21-22)

Shoes with high heels are the fashion choice for many women around the world. However, a new study by Stanford University in the USA proves that wearing high heels over a long period of time can permanently injure the body. The study by a biomotion team from the University scanned the knees of healthy women as they walked at a normal pace in flat shoes, 1.5 inch heels and 3.5 inch heels. The results send a warning to women who want to wear high heels that they risk permanent damage to their knees. The researchers found that when women wear high heels, their knees are held in an awkward, bent position causing the joints to perform as though aged or damaged joints would – increasing the risk the condition known as osteoarthritis, which could require surgery.

Britain’s Daily Express newspaper reports a recent survey of 1,200 women that shows how popular high heels are. It said 93 per cent of women felt sexier and more feminine when they wore heels, 88 per cent said they considered themselves more stylish and 77 per cent said their heels made them feel slimmer. Most women prefer to ignore health warnings, and even the pain and discomfort of wearing heels, to look and feel good.

A British doctor, Tim Allardyce, said he regularly treats women with problems caused by wearing heels. “Because of the odd angle at which the feet are held in high-heeled shoes, it increases the downward pressure on the knees by 25 per cent, placing significant stress on the kneecaps, even when you’re standing still,” he explains. He added: “Standing and walking on the balls of your feet throws the skeleton out of its usual, healthy alignment, which means muscles and joints throughout the body have to compensate to maintain its centre of gravity and keep the body upright.”

Text

SODA’S NEW THREAT
Sure, soda can rot your teeth and make you fat, but that’s not all. Sugary drinks may increase your risk of heart disease, especially if you’re a heavy guy, say scientists from the University of California at Davis. In the study, overweight people who drank a fructose-sweetened beverage with a meal saw their triglyceride levels spike three times as high over 24 hours than people who drank a glucose-sweetened beverage. Triglycerides are fats in your blood, and high levels are thought to boost heart-disease risk. Your liver converts fructose to triglycerides, causing the spike, says study author Karen Teff, Ph.D. Most fruit juices also contains fructose, so dilute apple juice with equal parts water.
Men’s Health, October 2006, page 36.

Unsuitable for Young People

[1] …………………… Brazilians know Jorge Amado's work through television or film

adaptations.

A TV soap opera version of Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon starring Sonia Braga took the

country, then ……………….. military rule, by storm in 1975.

[5] Gabriela was a sexy migrant worker with whom Nacib, a bar owner of Arab origin, falls in

love in the small port of Ilheus, in Brazil's cocoa producing region.

A year later, Dona Flor hit the cinema screens, telling the story of a young woman

……………. after remarrying continued to go to bed with the spirit of her deceased,

debauched husband.

[10] The characters were credible - from the local political leaders in ……………….. white suits

to the pious small town ladies.

But the cocktail of sex and strong language kept many of Amado's novels off official school

reading lists for decades.

My Catholic school in Rio de Janeiro was …………………… those deeming his work

[15] unsuitable for young people.

But the popularity of his stories meant that by the time he died in 2001, buses loaded with

tourists stopped regularly outside his house.

Working for on demand startups like Uber and TaskRabbit is supposed to offer flexible hours and higher wages, but many workers have found the pay lower and the hours less flexible than they expected. Even more surprising: 8 percent of those chauffeuring passengers and 16 percent of those making deliveries said they lack personal auto insurance.

Those are among the findings from a survey about the work life of independent contractors for on demand startups, a booming sector of the tech industry, being released Wednesday.

“We want to shed light on the industry as a whole,” said Isaac Madan, a Stanford master’s candidate in bioinformatics who worked with two other Stanford students and a recent alumnus on the survey of 1,330 workers. “People need to understand how this space will change and evolve and help the economy.”

On demand, often called the sharing economy, refers to companies that let users summon workers via smartphone apps to handle all manner of services: rides, cleaning, chores, deliveries, car parking, waiting in lines. Almost uniformly, those workers are independent contractors rather than salaried employees.

That status is the main point of contention in a recent rash of lawsuits in which workers are filing for employee status. While the survey did not directly ask contractors if they would prefer to be employees, it found that their top workplace desires were to have paid health insurance, retirement benefits and paid time off for holidays, vacation and sick days – all perks of full time workers. Respondents also expressed interest in havingmore chances for advancement, education sponsorship, disability insurance and human relations support.

Because respondents were recruited rather than randomly selected, the survey does not claim to be representational but a conclusion one may come to is that flexibility of new jobs comes with a cost. Not all workers are prepared for that!

Directions: Answer questionaccording to the text.

TEXT

CYBERBULLYING ON THE RISE

Bullying among children and teenagers is not

something new but it is getting more and more common

by modern methods of communication.

Cyberbullying happens when an adolescent is

[5] put in danger by another child or teenager by photos or

text messages sent to cell phones or posted on social

networks. Sometimes cyberbullies send mails with

sexual comments or take passwords of other teenagers

and log on to websites with false identities. Children also

[10] play Internet games and make fun of each other in many

ways.

A study by a Canadian University shows that

half of the young people interviewed said that they suffer

bullying. One of the reasons is the great use of cell

[15] phones over the past years. Today’s children are

connected with each other electronically. They call

friends every time they want or communicate with them

on Facebook.

Cyberbullying is getting extremely popular

[20] because teens can stay anonymous. Many adolescents

act this way because they feel frustrated or angry and

want to punish somebody for something that happened

to them. At other times they do it just for fun or because

have nothing else to do. Parents usually don’t know their

[25] child is a cyberbully. They perceive it just when the

victim or the victim’s parents contact them.

This kind of bullying is not as inoffensive as

many people think. In some cases it can lead to suicide.

Many countries have organized campaigns to inform

[30] adults and children of its dangers.

There are a few ways to prevent cyberbullying.

First, it is important to show children that they have to

respect others and they are responsible for what they

do. For victims it is important not to play the bully’s game

[35] or answer their emails and text messages. It is also

important to get help from parents and teachers.

Often schools get involved. They bring together

the parents of victims and cyberbullies and talk with

them. Cyberbullying does not always end at school.

[40] Often, parents go to the police and accuse the bullies.