Transportation Re-imagined

The transportation industry enables more than just a means of getting around. With the advance of high technology, changing consumer priorities, and the increased access to travel for much of the developed world, taking a car or train from point A to point B has evolved in ways not previously imagined. Digital technologies are a key component of the new mobility concept.
Next generation cars that can think for themselves have clear advantages over flesh-and-blood drivers: they don't get drunk or drowsy, daydream or get distracted by mobile phones and squabbling kids. As the driver is taken out of the equation, so too will a large proportion of accidents.
Worldwide, 1.24 million people die each year in road accidents and as many as 50 million are injured. Human error causes over 90 percent of these collisions. Driverless cars, which can sense other vehicles on the road as well as obstacles and lane markings, are already proving much safer than human-driven cars.
Driverless cars use a mix of GPS, cameras, complex scanners and sensors to detect vehicles, traffic signals, curbs, pedestrians and other obstacles. A central computer system analyzes the data to control acceleration, steering and braking. The software can simulate different eventualities to ensure safety on the road - and the results can be incorporated into the design and production process.
As well as detecting their surroundings using ultrasophisticated mapping systems, future cars will be able to communicate with each other, allowing as many cars as possible to fit on the roads. Connected vehicles will feature safety warnings that alert drivers of potentially dangerous conditions - impending collisions, icy roads and dangerous curves.
Experts say it's not the technology slowing our progress, but legal and practical issues such as who is responsible in the case of an accident, urban infrastructure planning, and the security of car computer systems. Once these details are worked out, and manufacturers have used sophisticated software tools to eliminate all potential problems, it won't be long until we're all a lot safer on the roads.
Disponível em: <http://ifwe.3ds.com/accelerating-transportationdreams-
reality#transportation-re-imagined> Acessado em 13 de
setembro de 2016.

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I've lived here for almost six years. I think this is a nice place and people are friendly. I have nothing to complain about. I've made friends and I've seen good things around here.
Lately, people have talked more to each other and the city has received more and more tourists from other countries. Tourism is very important here. Many people come here to spend their vacations and take a break.
I really like it here and I'm glad nothing bad has happened for a long time.
By Jane Honda.

Turn Off Your TV!

_{AUGUST 17, 2011}

By Alice Park

Sitting in front of the television may be relaxing, but spending too much time in front of the tube may take years off your life.
That’s what Australian researchers found when they collected TV viewing information from more than 11,000 people older than 25. The study found that people who watched an average six hours of TV a day lived an average 4.8 years less than those who didn’t watch any television. Also, every hour of TV that participants watched after age 25 was associated with a 22-minute reduction in their life expectancy.

A televisão faz parte da vida diária de boa parte das pessoas em todo o mundo.

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“The longer a child with autism goes without help, the harder they are to reach.”

Susan Calvin had been born in the year 1982, they said, which made her seventy five now. Everyone knew that. Appropriately enough, U. S. Robot and Mechanical Men, Inc. was seventy-five also, since it had been in the year of Dr. Calvin’s birth that Lawrence Robertson had first taken out incorporation papers for what eventually became the strangest industrial giant in man’s history. Well, everyone knew that, too. (…)

She went back to her desk and sat down. She didn’t need expression on her face to look sad, somehow.

“How old are you?” she wanted to know.

“Thirty-two,” I said.

“Then you don’t remember a world without robots.

There was a time when humanity faced the universe alone and without a friend. Now he has creatures to help him; stronger creatures than himself, more faithful, more useful, and absolutely devoted to him. Mankind is no longer alone. Have you ever thought of it that way?”

“I’m afraid I haven’t. May I quote you?”

“You may. To you, a robot is a robot. Gears and metal; electricity and positrons. Mind and iron! Human-made! If necessary, human-destroyed! But you haven’t worked with them, so you don’t know them. They’re a cleaner, better breed than we are.”

Treating the UK’s loneliness epidemic

Over a million people in the UK aged over 65 now experience chronic loneliness. This figure will only rise as our population ages. And research shows that severe loneliness affects people across their life course, including children and young people.

Chronic loneliness is as bad for our health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day and as damaging as obesity and physical inactivity. It is linked with depression, dementia and high blood pressure alongside a number of other conditions. Loneliness impacts on our struggling health and social care system, with evidence showing that those living with loneliness are far more likely to visit their local doctor or A&E. New research shows the health cost alone of loneliness is equivalent to some £12,000 per person over 15 years.

National and local policymakers are now waking up. Health and wellbeing boards across England are making loneliness a priority and the Welsh and Scottish governments have recently announced commitments to develop national cross-governmental strategies to address loneliness and social isolation.

We are calling on the UK government to follow suit and commit to the development of a UK-wide strategy for tackling loneliness and social isolation to help end this growing crisis.

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An electroencephalogram (EEG) is a test used for measuring and recording brain waves. Special sensors called electrodes are attached to your head. They're hooked by wires to a computer. The computer records your brain's electrical activity on the screen. Or it may record the activity on paper as wavy lines. Changes from the normal pattern of electrical activity can show certain conditions, such as seizures.

Four major brain waves exist: alpha has a frequency that ranges from 8 to 14 cycles per second (cps) and is found in the occipital part of the brain. Beta covers 14 to 30 cps. Delta wave includes frequencies that are below 5 cps. Theta wave covers the range between 5 and 8 cps. Alpha waves are more active during relaxation and light sleep. Nonetheless, their function is altered by deep mental activities. Beta waves, on the other hand, appear during mental concentrating periods.

Why It Is Done

An EEG may be done to:

· Check for epilepsy and see what type of seizures are occurring. EEG is the most useful and important test for checking if someone has epilepsy.

· Check for problems with loss of consciousness ordementia

· Help find out a person's chance of getting better after a change in consciousness.

· Find out if a person who is in a coma is brain-dead.

· Study sleep disorders, such as narcolepsy.

· Watch brain activity while a person is getting general anesthesia for brain surgery

· Help find out if a person has a physical problem or a mental health problem. Physical problems include problems in the brain, spinal cord, or nervous system.

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Airports ‘vunerable’ to attack

[1] The 2007 Glasgow International Airport attack was a
terrorist ramming attack which occurred on Saturday 30 June
2007, when a dark green Jeep Cherokee loaded with propane
canisters was driven into the glass doors of the Glasgow
[5] International Airport terminal and set ablaze. It was the first
terrorist attack to take place in Scotland. Security bollards
outside the entrance stopped the car from entering the
terminal, although the doors were damaged.
Security consultant Chris Yates said many of the changes
[10] put in place at Glasgow had been copied at other UK airports.
But he said that although some “weak points” in airport had
been addressed, others remained.
Since the attack, cars no longer drop off passengers
outside the main terminal building, which was fitted with
bomb-proof glass.
Fonte:BBC News GLOSSARY
(car) ramming attack – ataque no qual um veículo choca-se contra um local
propane canister – container de metal contendo gás propano
bollard – poste usado para manter um veículo fora de uma área em particular