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id_900 | Animal minds: Parrot Alex In 1977 Irene Pepperberg, a recent graduate of Harvard University, did something very bold. At a time when animals still were considered automatons, she set out to find what was on another creatures mind by talking to it. She brought a one-year-old African gray parrot she named Alex into her lab to teach him to reproduce the sounds of the English language. I thought if he learned to communicate, I could ask him questions about how he sees the world. When Pepperberg began her dialogue with Alex, who died last September at the age of 31, many scientists believed animals were incapable of any thought. They were simply machines, robots programmed to react to stimuli but lacking the ability to think or feel. Any pet owner would disagree. We see the love in our dogs eyes and know that, of course, they has thoughts and emotions. But such claims remain highly controversial. Gut instinct is not science, and it is all too easy to project human thoughts and feelings onto another creature. How, then, does a scientist prove that an animal is capable of thinking-that it is able to acquire information about the world and act on it? Thats why I started my studies with Alex. Pepperberg said. They were seated- she at her desk, he on top of his cage-in her lab, a windowless room about the size of a boxcar. At Brandeis University, newspapers lined the floor; baskets of bright toys were stacked on the shelves. They were clearly a team-and because of their work, the notion that animals can think is no longer so fanciful. Certain skills are considered key signs of higher mental abilities: good memory, a grasp of grammar and symbols, self-awareness, understanding others motives, imitating others, and being creative. Bit by bit, in ingenious experiments, researchers have documented these talents in other species, gradually chipping away at what we thought made human beings distinctive while offering a glimpse of where our own abilities came from. Scrub jays know that other jays are thieves and that stashed food can spoil; sheep can recognize faces; chimpanzees use a variety of tools to probe termite mounds and even use weapons to hunt small mammals; dolphins can imitate human postures; the archerfish, which stuns insects with a sudden blast of water, can learn how to aim its squirt simply by watching an experienced fish perform the task. And Alex the parrot turned out tobe a surprisingly good talker. Thirty years after the Alex studies began; Pepperberg and a changing collection of assistants were still giving him English lessons. The humans, along with two younger parrots, also served as Alexs flock, providing Page 202the social input all parrots crave. Like any flock, this one - as small as it was - had its share of drama. Alex dominated his fellow parrots, acted huffy at times around Pepperberg, tolerated the other female humans, and fell to pieces over a male assistant who dropped by for a visit. Pepperberg bought Alex in a Chicago pet store where she let the stores assistant pick him out because she didnt want other scientists saying later that shed particularly chosen an especially smart bird for her work. Given that Alexs brain was the size of a shelled walnut, most researchers thought Pepperbergs interspecies communication study would be futile. Some people actually called me crazy for trying this, she said. Scientists thought that chimpanzees were better subjects, although, of course, chimps cant speak. Chimpanzees, bonobos, and gorillas have been taught to use sign language and symbols to communicate with us, often with impressive results. The bonobo Kanzi, for instance, carries his symbol-communication board with him so he can talk to his human researchers, and he has invented combinations of symbols to express his thoughts. Nevertheless, this is not the same thing as having an animal look up at you, open his mouth, and speak. Under Pepperbergs patient tutelage, Alex learned how to use his vocal tract to imitate almost one hundred English words, including the sounds for various foods, although he calls an apple a banerry. Apples taste a little bit like bananas to him, and they look a little bit like cherries, so Alex made up that word for them, Pepperberg said. It sounded a bit mad, the idea of a bird having lessons to practice, and willingly doing it. But after listening to and observing Alex, it was difficult to argue with Pepperbergs explanation for his behaviors. She wasnt handing him treats for the repetitious work or rapping him on the claws to make him say the sounds. He has to hear the words over and over before he can correctly imitate them, Pepperberg said, after pronouncing seven for Alex a good dozen times in a row. Im not trying to see if Alex can learn a human language, she added. Thats never been the point. My plan always was to use his imitative skills to get a better understanding of avian cognition. In other words, because Alex was able to produce a close approximation of the sounds of some English words, Pepperberg could ask him questions about a birds basic understanding of the world. She couldnt ask him what he was thinking about, but she could ask him about his knowledge or numbers, shapes, and colors. To demonstrate, Pepperberg carried Alex on her arm to a tall wooden perch in the middle of the room. She then retrieved a green key and a small green cup from a basket on a shelf. She held up the two items to Alexs eye. Whats same? she asked. Without hesitation, Alexs beak opened: Co-lor. Whats different? Pepperberg asked. Shape, Alex said. His voice had the digitized sound of a cartoon character. Since parrots lack lips (another reason it was difficult for Alex to pronounce some sounds, such as ba), the words seemed to come from the air around him, as if a ventriloquist were speaking. But the words-and what can only be called the thoughts - were entirely his. For the next 20 minutes, Alex ran through his tests, distinguishing colors, shapes, sizes, and materials (wool versus wood versus metal). He did some simple arithmetic, such as counting the yellow toy blocks among a pile of mixed hues. And, then, as if to offer final proof of the mind inside his birds brain, Alex spoke up. Talk clearly! he commanded, when one of the younger birds Pepperberg was also teaching talked with wrong pronunciation. Talk clearly! Dont be a smart aleck, Pepperberg said, shaking her head at him. He knows all this, and he gets bored, so he interrupts the others, or he gives the wrong answer just to be obstinate. At this stage, hes like a teenager; hesmoody, and Im never sure what hell do. | Firstly, Alex has grasped quite a lot of vocabulary. | n |
id_901 | Animal minds: Parrot Alex In 1977 Irene Pepperberg, a recent graduate of Harvard University, did something very bold. At a time when animals still were considered automatons, she set out to find what was on another creatures mind by talking to it. She brought a one-year-old African gray parrot she named Alex into her lab to teach him to reproduce the sounds of the English language. I thought if he learned to communicate, I could ask him questions about how he sees the world. When Pepperberg began her dialogue with Alex, who died last September at the age of 31, many scientists believed animals were incapable of any thought. They were simply machines, robots programmed to react to stimuli but lacking the ability to think or feel. Any pet owner would disagree. We see the love in our dogs eyes and know that, of course, they has thoughts and emotions. But such claims remain highly controversial. Gut instinct is not science, and it is all too easy to project human thoughts and feelings onto another creature. How, then, does a scientist prove that an animal is capable of thinking-that it is able to acquire information about the world and act on it? Thats why I started my studies with Alex. Pepperberg said. They were seated- she at her desk, he on top of his cage-in her lab, a windowless room about the size of a boxcar. At Brandeis University, newspapers lined the floor; baskets of bright toys were stacked on the shelves. They were clearly a team-and because of their work, the notion that animals can think is no longer so fanciful. Certain skills are considered key signs of higher mental abilities: good memory, a grasp of grammar and symbols, self-awareness, understanding others motives, imitating others, and being creative. Bit by bit, in ingenious experiments, researchers have documented these talents in other species, gradually chipping away at what we thought made human beings distinctive while offering a glimpse of where our own abilities came from. Scrub jays know that other jays are thieves and that stashed food can spoil; sheep can recognize faces; chimpanzees use a variety of tools to probe termite mounds and even use weapons to hunt small mammals; dolphins can imitate human postures; the archerfish, which stuns insects with a sudden blast of water, can learn how to aim its squirt simply by watching an experienced fish perform the task. And Alex the parrot turned out tobe a surprisingly good talker. Thirty years after the Alex studies began; Pepperberg and a changing collection of assistants were still giving him English lessons. The humans, along with two younger parrots, also served as Alexs flock, providing Page 202the social input all parrots crave. Like any flock, this one - as small as it was - had its share of drama. Alex dominated his fellow parrots, acted huffy at times around Pepperberg, tolerated the other female humans, and fell to pieces over a male assistant who dropped by for a visit. Pepperberg bought Alex in a Chicago pet store where she let the stores assistant pick him out because she didnt want other scientists saying later that shed particularly chosen an especially smart bird for her work. Given that Alexs brain was the size of a shelled walnut, most researchers thought Pepperbergs interspecies communication study would be futile. Some people actually called me crazy for trying this, she said. Scientists thought that chimpanzees were better subjects, although, of course, chimps cant speak. Chimpanzees, bonobos, and gorillas have been taught to use sign language and symbols to communicate with us, often with impressive results. The bonobo Kanzi, for instance, carries his symbol-communication board with him so he can talk to his human researchers, and he has invented combinations of symbols to express his thoughts. Nevertheless, this is not the same thing as having an animal look up at you, open his mouth, and speak. Under Pepperbergs patient tutelage, Alex learned how to use his vocal tract to imitate almost one hundred English words, including the sounds for various foods, although he calls an apple a banerry. Apples taste a little bit like bananas to him, and they look a little bit like cherries, so Alex made up that word for them, Pepperberg said. It sounded a bit mad, the idea of a bird having lessons to practice, and willingly doing it. But after listening to and observing Alex, it was difficult to argue with Pepperbergs explanation for his behaviors. She wasnt handing him treats for the repetitious work or rapping him on the claws to make him say the sounds. He has to hear the words over and over before he can correctly imitate them, Pepperberg said, after pronouncing seven for Alex a good dozen times in a row. Im not trying to see if Alex can learn a human language, she added. Thats never been the point. My plan always was to use his imitative skills to get a better understanding of avian cognition. In other words, because Alex was able to produce a close approximation of the sounds of some English words, Pepperberg could ask him questions about a birds basic understanding of the world. She couldnt ask him what he was thinking about, but she could ask him about his knowledge or numbers, shapes, and colors. To demonstrate, Pepperberg carried Alex on her arm to a tall wooden perch in the middle of the room. She then retrieved a green key and a small green cup from a basket on a shelf. She held up the two items to Alexs eye. Whats same? she asked. Without hesitation, Alexs beak opened: Co-lor. Whats different? Pepperberg asked. Shape, Alex said. His voice had the digitized sound of a cartoon character. Since parrots lack lips (another reason it was difficult for Alex to pronounce some sounds, such as ba), the words seemed to come from the air around him, as if a ventriloquist were speaking. But the words-and what can only be called the thoughts - were entirely his. For the next 20 minutes, Alex ran through his tests, distinguishing colors, shapes, sizes, and materials (wool versus wood versus metal). He did some simple arithmetic, such as counting the yellow toy blocks among a pile of mixed hues. And, then, as if to offer final proof of the mind inside his birds brain, Alex spoke up. Talk clearly! he commanded, when one of the younger birds Pepperberg was also teaching talked with wrong pronunciation. Talk clearly! Dont be a smart aleck, Pepperberg said, shaking her head at him. He knows all this, and he gets bored, so he interrupts the others, or he gives the wrong answer just to be obstinate. At this stage, hes like a teenager; hesmoody, and Im never sure what hell do. | At the beginning of study, Alex felt frightened in the presence of human. | n |
id_902 | Animal minds: Parrot Alex In 1977 Irene Pepperberg, a recent graduate of Harvard University, did something very bold. At a time when animals still were considered automatons, she set out to find what was on another creatures mind by talking to it. She brought a one-year-old African gray parrot she named Alex into her lab to teach him to reproduce the sounds of the English language. I thought if he learned to communicate, I could ask him questions about how he sees the world. When Pepperberg began her dialogue with Alex, who died last September at the age of 31, many scientists believed animals were incapable of any thought. They were simply machines, robots programmed to react to stimuli but lacking the ability to think or feel. Any pet owner would disagree. We see the love in our dogs eyes and know that, of course, they has thoughts and emotions. But such claims remain highly controversial. Gut instinct is not science, and it is all too easy to project human thoughts and feelings onto another creature. How, then, does a scientist prove that an animal is capable of thinking-that it is able to acquire information about the world and act on it? Thats why I started my studies with Alex. Pepperberg said. They were seated- she at her desk, he on top of his cage-in her lab, a windowless room about the size of a boxcar. At Brandeis University, newspapers lined the floor; baskets of bright toys were stacked on the shelves. They were clearly a team-and because of their work, the notion that animals can think is no longer so fanciful. Certain skills are considered key signs of higher mental abilities: good memory, a grasp of grammar and symbols, self-awareness, understanding others motives, imitating others, and being creative. Bit by bit, in ingenious experiments, researchers have documented these talents in other species, gradually chipping away at what we thought made human beings distinctive while offering a glimpse of where our own abilities came from. Scrub jays know that other jays are thieves and that stashed food can spoil; sheep can recognize faces; chimpanzees use a variety of tools to probe termite mounds and even use weapons to hunt small mammals; dolphins can imitate human postures; the archerfish, which stuns insects with a sudden blast of water, can learn how to aim its squirt simply by watching an experienced fish perform the task. And Alex the parrot turned out tobe a surprisingly good talker. Thirty years after the Alex studies began; Pepperberg and a changing collection of assistants were still giving him English lessons. The humans, along with two younger parrots, also served as Alexs flock, providing Page 202the social input all parrots crave. Like any flock, this one - as small as it was - had its share of drama. Alex dominated his fellow parrots, acted huffy at times around Pepperberg, tolerated the other female humans, and fell to pieces over a male assistant who dropped by for a visit. Pepperberg bought Alex in a Chicago pet store where she let the stores assistant pick him out because she didnt want other scientists saying later that shed particularly chosen an especially smart bird for her work. Given that Alexs brain was the size of a shelled walnut, most researchers thought Pepperbergs interspecies communication study would be futile. Some people actually called me crazy for trying this, she said. Scientists thought that chimpanzees were better subjects, although, of course, chimps cant speak. Chimpanzees, bonobos, and gorillas have been taught to use sign language and symbols to communicate with us, often with impressive results. The bonobo Kanzi, for instance, carries his symbol-communication board with him so he can talk to his human researchers, and he has invented combinations of symbols to express his thoughts. Nevertheless, this is not the same thing as having an animal look up at you, open his mouth, and speak. Under Pepperbergs patient tutelage, Alex learned how to use his vocal tract to imitate almost one hundred English words, including the sounds for various foods, although he calls an apple a banerry. Apples taste a little bit like bananas to him, and they look a little bit like cherries, so Alex made up that word for them, Pepperberg said. It sounded a bit mad, the idea of a bird having lessons to practice, and willingly doing it. But after listening to and observing Alex, it was difficult to argue with Pepperbergs explanation for his behaviors. She wasnt handing him treats for the repetitious work or rapping him on the claws to make him say the sounds. He has to hear the words over and over before he can correctly imitate them, Pepperberg said, after pronouncing seven for Alex a good dozen times in a row. Im not trying to see if Alex can learn a human language, she added. Thats never been the point. My plan always was to use his imitative skills to get a better understanding of avian cognition. In other words, because Alex was able to produce a close approximation of the sounds of some English words, Pepperberg could ask him questions about a birds basic understanding of the world. She couldnt ask him what he was thinking about, but she could ask him about his knowledge or numbers, shapes, and colors. To demonstrate, Pepperberg carried Alex on her arm to a tall wooden perch in the middle of the room. She then retrieved a green key and a small green cup from a basket on a shelf. She held up the two items to Alexs eye. Whats same? she asked. Without hesitation, Alexs beak opened: Co-lor. Whats different? Pepperberg asked. Shape, Alex said. His voice had the digitized sound of a cartoon character. Since parrots lack lips (another reason it was difficult for Alex to pronounce some sounds, such as ba), the words seemed to come from the air around him, as if a ventriloquist were speaking. But the words-and what can only be called the thoughts - were entirely his. For the next 20 minutes, Alex ran through his tests, distinguishing colors, shapes, sizes, and materials (wool versus wood versus metal). He did some simple arithmetic, such as counting the yellow toy blocks among a pile of mixed hues. And, then, as if to offer final proof of the mind inside his birds brain, Alex spoke up. Talk clearly! he commanded, when one of the younger birds Pepperberg was also teaching talked with wrong pronunciation. Talk clearly! Dont be a smart aleck, Pepperberg said, shaking her head at him. He knows all this, and he gets bored, so he interrupts the others, or he gives the wrong answer just to be obstinate. At this stage, hes like a teenager; hesmoody, and Im never sure what hell do. | As Alex could approximately imitate the sounds of English words, he was capable of roughly answering Irenes questions regarding the world. | e |
id_903 | Animal minds: Parrot Alex In 1977 Irene Pepperberg, a recent graduate of Harvard University, did something very bold. At a time when animals still were considered automatons, she set out to find what was on another creatures mind by talking to it. She brought a one-year-old African gray parrot she named Alex into her lab to teach him to reproduce the sounds of the English language. I thought if he learned to communicate, I could ask him questions about how he sees the world. When Pepperberg began her dialogue with Alex, who died last September at the age of 31, many scientists believed animals were incapable of any thought. They were simply machines, robots programmed to react to stimuli but lacking the ability to think or feel. Any pet owner would disagree. We see the love in our dogs eyes and know that, of course, they has thoughts and emotions. But such claims remain highly controversial. Gut instinct is not science, and it is all too easy to project human thoughts and feelings onto another creature. How, then, does a scientist prove that an animal is capable of thinking-that it is able to acquire information about the world and act on it? Thats why I started my studies with Alex. Pepperberg said. They were seated- she at her desk, he on top of his cage-in her lab, a windowless room about the size of a boxcar. At Brandeis University, newspapers lined the floor; baskets of bright toys were stacked on the shelves. They were clearly a team-and because of their work, the notion that animals can think is no longer so fanciful. Certain skills are considered key signs of higher mental abilities: good memory, a grasp of grammar and symbols, self-awareness, understanding others motives, imitating others, and being creative. Bit by bit, in ingenious experiments, researchers have documented these talents in other species, gradually chipping away at what we thought made human beings distinctive while offering a glimpse of where our own abilities came from. Scrub jays know that other jays are thieves and that stashed food can spoil; sheep can recognize faces; chimpanzees use a variety of tools to probe termite mounds and even use weapons to hunt small mammals; dolphins can imitate human postures; the archerfish, which stuns insects with a sudden blast of water, can learn how to aim its squirt simply by watching an experienced fish perform the task. And Alex the parrot turned out tobe a surprisingly good talker. Thirty years after the Alex studies began; Pepperberg and a changing collection of assistants were still giving him English lessons. The humans, along with two younger parrots, also served as Alexs flock, providing Page 202the social input all parrots crave. Like any flock, this one - as small as it was - had its share of drama. Alex dominated his fellow parrots, acted huffy at times around Pepperberg, tolerated the other female humans, and fell to pieces over a male assistant who dropped by for a visit. Pepperberg bought Alex in a Chicago pet store where she let the stores assistant pick him out because she didnt want other scientists saying later that shed particularly chosen an especially smart bird for her work. Given that Alexs brain was the size of a shelled walnut, most researchers thought Pepperbergs interspecies communication study would be futile. Some people actually called me crazy for trying this, she said. Scientists thought that chimpanzees were better subjects, although, of course, chimps cant speak. Chimpanzees, bonobos, and gorillas have been taught to use sign language and symbols to communicate with us, often with impressive results. The bonobo Kanzi, for instance, carries his symbol-communication board with him so he can talk to his human researchers, and he has invented combinations of symbols to express his thoughts. Nevertheless, this is not the same thing as having an animal look up at you, open his mouth, and speak. Under Pepperbergs patient tutelage, Alex learned how to use his vocal tract to imitate almost one hundred English words, including the sounds for various foods, although he calls an apple a banerry. Apples taste a little bit like bananas to him, and they look a little bit like cherries, so Alex made up that word for them, Pepperberg said. It sounded a bit mad, the idea of a bird having lessons to practice, and willingly doing it. But after listening to and observing Alex, it was difficult to argue with Pepperbergs explanation for his behaviors. She wasnt handing him treats for the repetitious work or rapping him on the claws to make him say the sounds. He has to hear the words over and over before he can correctly imitate them, Pepperberg said, after pronouncing seven for Alex a good dozen times in a row. Im not trying to see if Alex can learn a human language, she added. Thats never been the point. My plan always was to use his imitative skills to get a better understanding of avian cognition. In other words, because Alex was able to produce a close approximation of the sounds of some English words, Pepperberg could ask him questions about a birds basic understanding of the world. She couldnt ask him what he was thinking about, but she could ask him about his knowledge or numbers, shapes, and colors. To demonstrate, Pepperberg carried Alex on her arm to a tall wooden perch in the middle of the room. She then retrieved a green key and a small green cup from a basket on a shelf. She held up the two items to Alexs eye. Whats same? she asked. Without hesitation, Alexs beak opened: Co-lor. Whats different? Pepperberg asked. Shape, Alex said. His voice had the digitized sound of a cartoon character. Since parrots lack lips (another reason it was difficult for Alex to pronounce some sounds, such as ba), the words seemed to come from the air around him, as if a ventriloquist were speaking. But the words-and what can only be called the thoughts - were entirely his. For the next 20 minutes, Alex ran through his tests, distinguishing colors, shapes, sizes, and materials (wool versus wood versus metal). He did some simple arithmetic, such as counting the yellow toy blocks among a pile of mixed hues. And, then, as if to offer final proof of the mind inside his birds brain, Alex spoke up. Talk clearly! he commanded, when one of the younger birds Pepperberg was also teaching talked with wrong pronunciation. Talk clearly! Dont be a smart aleck, Pepperberg said, shaking her head at him. He knows all this, and he gets bored, so he interrupts the others, or he gives the wrong answer just to be obstinate. At this stage, hes like a teenager; hesmoody, and Im never sure what hell do. | Previously, many scientists realized that animals possess the ability of thinking. | c |
id_904 | Annually the average household spends on running electrical appliances: 82 on washing and drying, 49 on lighting, 38 on refrigeration of food, a rather wasteful 95 on the wide-screen TV, 17 powering computers, wireless networks and charging phones and, not surprising for the British, 23 on boiling the kettle for all those endless cups of tea. If families were more attentive and for example did not leave unnecessary lights on then they could save a considerable sum of money. Just appliances left unnecessarily on standby are guesstimated to waste 25 a year per household. The typical family's electricity bill could be quite significantly cut if we learnt to use electricity more frugally and became a little more attentive in order to reduce the waste. A trial showed an average saving of 75 a year on electricity bills which should prove a big incentive for most families. | You can infer that the average households annual electricity bill (net of taxes etc) is a little over 300 (the sum of all the individual items listed). | c |
id_905 | Annually the average household spends on running electrical appliances: 82 on washing and drying, 49 on lighting, 38 on refrigeration of food, a rather wasteful 95 on the wide-screen TV, 17 powering computers, wireless networks and charging phones and, not surprising for the British, 23 on boiling the kettle for all those endless cups of tea. If families were more attentive and for example did not leave unnecessary lights on then they could save a considerable sum of money. Just appliances left unnecessarily on standby are guesstimated to waste 25 a year per household. The typical family's electricity bill could be quite significantly cut if we learnt to use electricity more frugally and became a little more attentive in order to reduce the waste. A trial showed an average saving of 75 a year on electricity bills which should prove a big incentive for most families. | Were we to learn to use electricity more frugally and become a little more attentive in order to reduce the waste, we would hardly notice the difference in terms of the impact on our daily lives. | n |
id_906 | Annually the average household spends on running electrical appliances: 82 on washing and drying, 49 on lighting, 38 on refrigeration of food, a rather wasteful 95 on the wide-screen TV, 17 powering computers, wireless networks and charging phones and, not surprising for the British, 23 on boiling the kettle for all those endless cups of tea. If families were more attentive and for example did not leave unnecessary lights on then they could save a considerable sum of money. Just appliances left unnecessarily on standby are guesstimated to waste 25 a year per household. The typical family's electricity bill could be quite significantly cut if we learnt to use electricity more frugally and became a little more attentive in order to reduce the waste. A trial showed an average saving of 75 a year on electricity bills which should prove a big incentive for most families. | The main point of the passage is an account of the saving that could be made if we were more frugal with our use of electrical appliances. | c |
id_907 | Another group of people with a long history in Singapore are known as the Peranakans. The word peranakan in Malay means half-caste and the Peranakans are the descendants of Chinese immigrants who settled in the area and married Malay women. The groups of Chinese who travelled and settled in the region centuries ago were predominantly (if not entirely) men, and so a most were married to local women. The culture of the Peranakans is a mix of both Chinese and Malay traditions, and in most cases this group adopted the name and religion of their Chinese fathers, but retained the language and customs of their Malay mothers. Today, the Peranakan population speaks a version of Malay which borrows from Hokkien so much that Malay speakers often cannot understand the dialect. While the Peranakan culture is being preserved and revived by organisations in Singapore, there are just a few thousand Peranakan Malay speakers left on the island. | Arab and Indian traders settled in Singapore in the 1400s. | c |
id_908 | Another group of people with a long history in Singapore are known as the Peranakans. The word peranakan in Malay means half-caste and the Peranakans are the descendants of Chinese immigrants who settled in the area and married Malay women. The groups of Chinese who travelled and settled in the region centuries ago were predominantly (if not entirely) men, and so a most were married to local women. The culture of the Peranakans is a mix of both Chinese and Malay traditions, and in most cases this group adopted the name and religion of their Chinese fathers, but retained the language and customs of their Malay mothers. Today, the Peranakan population speaks a version of Malay which borrows from Hokkien so much that Malay speakers often cannot understand the dialect. While the Peranakan culture is being preserved and revived by organisations in Singapore, there are just a few thousand Peranakan Malay speakers left on the island. | Indians were the most recent of the three to arrive in Singapore. | e |
id_909 | Another group of people with a long history in Singapore are known as the Peranakans. The word peranakan in Malay means half-caste and the Peranakans are the descendants of Chinese immigrants who settled in the area and married Malay women. The groups of Chinese who travelled and settled in the region centuries ago were predominantly (if not entirely) men, and so a most were married to local women. The culture of the Peranakans is a mix of both Chinese and Malay traditions, and in most cases this group adopted the name and religion of their Chinese fathers, but retained the language and customs of their Malay mothers. Today, the Peranakan population speaks a version of Malay which borrows from Hokkien so much that Malay speakers often cannot understand the dialect. While the Peranakan culture is being preserved and revived by organisations in Singapore, there are just a few thousand Peranakan Malay speakers left on the island. | Mandarin is the main language of Singapore. | n |
id_910 | Another group of people with a long history in Singapore are known as the Peranakans. The word peranakan in Malay means half-caste and the Peranakans are the descendants of Chinese immigrants who settled in the area and married Malay women. The groups of Chinese who travelled and settled in the region centuries ago were predominantly (if not entirely) men, and so a most were married to local women. The culture of the Peranakans is a mix of both Chinese and Malay traditions, and in most cases this group adopted the name and religion of their Chinese fathers, but retained the language and customs of their Malay mothers. Today, the Peranakan population speaks a version of Malay which borrows from Hokkien so much that Malay speakers often cannot understand the dialect. While the Peranakan culture is being preserved and revived by organisations in Singapore, there are just a few thousand Peranakan Malay speakers left on the island. | Originally, many Chinese communities in Singapore couldnt communicate easily with each other due to linguistic differences. | e |
id_911 | Another group of people with a long history in Singapore are known as the Peranakans. The word peranakan in Malay means half-caste and the Peranakans are the descendants of Chinese immigrants who settled in the area and married Malay women. The groups of Chinese who travelled and settled in the region centuries ago were predominantly (if not entirely) men, and so a most were married to local women. The culture of the Peranakans is a mix of both Chinese and Malay traditions, and in most cases this group adopted the name and religion of their Chinese fathers, but retained the language and customs of their Malay mothers. Today, the Peranakan population speaks a version of Malay which borrows from Hokkien so much that Malay speakers often cannot understand the dialect. While the Peranakan culture is being preserved and revived by organisations in Singapore, there are just a few thousand Peranakan Malay speakers left on the island. | The Peranakan language is being increasingly used in Singapore | c |
id_912 | Ant Intelligence. When we think of intelligent members of the animal kingdom, the creatures that spring immediately to mind are apes and monkeys. But in fact the social lives of some members of the insect kingdom are sufficiently complex to suggest more than a hint of intelligence. Among these, the world of the ant has come in for considerable scrutiny lately, and the idea that ants demonstrate sparks of cognition has certainly not been rejected by those involved in these investigations. Ants store food, repel attackers and use chemical signals to contact one another in case of attack. Such chemical communication can be compared to the human use of visual and auditory channels (as in religious chants, advertising images and jingles, political slogans and martial music) to arouse and propagate moods and attitudes. The biologist Lewis Thomas wrote, Ants are so much like human beings as to be an embarrassment. They farm fungi, raise aphids* as livestock, launch armies to war, use chemical sprays to alarm and confuse enemies, capture slaves, engage in child labour, exchange information ceaselessly. They do everything but watch television. However, in ants there is no cultural transmission everything must be encoded in the genes whereas in humans the opposite is true. Only basic instincts are carried in the genes of a newborn baby, other skills being learned from others in the community as the child grows up. It may seem that this cultural continuity gives us a huge advantage over ants. They have never mastered fire nor progressed. Their fungus farming and aphid herding crafts are sophisticated when compared to the agricultural skills of humans five thousand years ago but have been totally overtaken by modern human agribusiness. Or have they? The farming methods of ants are at least sustainable. They do not ruin environments or use enormous amounts of energy. Moreover, recent evidence suggests that the crop farming of ants may be more sophisticated and adaptable than was thought. Ants were farmers fifty million years before humans were. Ants cant digest the cellulose in leaves but some fungi can. The ants therefore cultivate these fungi in their nests, bringing them leaves to feed on, and then use them as a source of food. Farmer ants secrete antibiotics to control other fungi that might act as weeds, and spread waste to fertilise the crop. It was once thought that the fungus that ants cultivate was a single type that they had propagated, essentially unchanged from the distant past. Not so. Ulrich Mueller of Maryland and his colleagues genetically screened 862 different types of fungi taken from ants nests. These turned out to be highly diverse: it seems that ants are continually domesticating new species. Even more impressively, DNA analysis of the fungi suggests that the ants improve or modify the fungi by regularly swapping and sharing strains with neighbouring ant colonies. Whereas prehistoric man had no exposure to urban lifestyles the forcing house of intelligence the evidence suggests that ants have lived in urban settings for close on a hundred million years, developing and maintaining underground cities of specialised chambers and tunnels. When we survey Mexico City, Tokyo, Los Angeles, we are amazed at what has been accomplished by humans. Yet Hoelldobler and Wilsons magnificent work for ant lovers, The Ants, describes a supercolony of the ant Formica yessensis on the Ishikari Coast of Hokkaido. This megalopolis was reported to be composed of 360 million workers and a million queens living in 4,500 interconnected nests across a territory of 2.7 square kilometres. Such enduring and intricately meshed levels of technical achievement outstrip by far anything achieved by our distant ancestors. We hail as masterpieces the cave paintings in southern France and elsewhere, dating back some 20,000 years. Ant societies existed in something like their present form more than seventy million years ago. Beside this, prehistoric man looks technologically primitive. Is this then some kind of intelligence, albeit of a different kind? Research conducted at Oxford, Sussex and Zurich Universities has shown that when desert ants return from a foraging trip, they navigate by integrating bearings and distances, which they continuously update in their heads. They combine the evidence of visual landmarks with a mental library of local directions, all within a framework which is consulted and updated. So ants can learn too. And in a twelve-year programme of work, Ryabko and Reznikova have found evidence that ants can transmit very complex messages. Scouts who had located food in a maze returned to mobilise their foraging teams. They engaged in contact sessions, at the end of which the scout was removed in order to observe what her team might do. Often the foragers proceeded to the exact spot in the maze where the food had been. Elaborate precautions were taken to prevent the foraging team using odour clues. Discussion now centres on whether the route through the maze is communicated as a left-right sequence of turns or as a compass bearing and distance message. During the course of this exhaustive study, Reznikova has grown so attached to her laboratory ants that she feels she knows them as individuals even without the paint spots used to mark them. Its no surprise that Edward Wilson, in his essay, In the company of ants, advises readers who ask what to do with the ants in their kitchen to: Watch where you step. Be careful of little lives. | City life is one factor that encourages the development of intelligence. | e |
id_913 | Ant Intelligence. When we think of intelligent members of the animal kingdom, the creatures that spring immediately to mind are apes and monkeys. But in fact the social lives of some members of the insect kingdom are sufficiently complex to suggest more than a hint of intelligence. Among these, the world of the ant has come in for considerable scrutiny lately, and the idea that ants demonstrate sparks of cognition has certainly not been rejected by those involved in these investigations. Ants store food, repel attackers and use chemical signals to contact one another in case of attack. Such chemical communication can be compared to the human use of visual and auditory channels (as in religious chants, advertising images and jingles, political slogans and martial music) to arouse and propagate moods and attitudes. The biologist Lewis Thomas wrote, Ants are so much like human beings as to be an embarrassment. They farm fungi, raise aphids* as livestock, launch armies to war, use chemical sprays to alarm and confuse enemies, capture slaves, engage in child labour, exchange information ceaselessly. They do everything but watch television. However, in ants there is no cultural transmission everything must be encoded in the genes whereas in humans the opposite is true. Only basic instincts are carried in the genes of a newborn baby, other skills being learned from others in the community as the child grows up. It may seem that this cultural continuity gives us a huge advantage over ants. They have never mastered fire nor progressed. Their fungus farming and aphid herding crafts are sophisticated when compared to the agricultural skills of humans five thousand years ago but have been totally overtaken by modern human agribusiness. Or have they? The farming methods of ants are at least sustainable. They do not ruin environments or use enormous amounts of energy. Moreover, recent evidence suggests that the crop farming of ants may be more sophisticated and adaptable than was thought. Ants were farmers fifty million years before humans were. Ants cant digest the cellulose in leaves but some fungi can. The ants therefore cultivate these fungi in their nests, bringing them leaves to feed on, and then use them as a source of food. Farmer ants secrete antibiotics to control other fungi that might act as weeds, and spread waste to fertilise the crop. It was once thought that the fungus that ants cultivate was a single type that they had propagated, essentially unchanged from the distant past. Not so. Ulrich Mueller of Maryland and his colleagues genetically screened 862 different types of fungi taken from ants nests. These turned out to be highly diverse: it seems that ants are continually domesticating new species. Even more impressively, DNA analysis of the fungi suggests that the ants improve or modify the fungi by regularly swapping and sharing strains with neighbouring ant colonies. Whereas prehistoric man had no exposure to urban lifestyles the forcing house of intelligence the evidence suggests that ants have lived in urban settings for close on a hundred million years, developing and maintaining underground cities of specialised chambers and tunnels. When we survey Mexico City, Tokyo, Los Angeles, we are amazed at what has been accomplished by humans. Yet Hoelldobler and Wilsons magnificent work for ant lovers, The Ants, describes a supercolony of the ant Formica yessensis on the Ishikari Coast of Hokkaido. This megalopolis was reported to be composed of 360 million workers and a million queens living in 4,500 interconnected nests across a territory of 2.7 square kilometres. Such enduring and intricately meshed levels of technical achievement outstrip by far anything achieved by our distant ancestors. We hail as masterpieces the cave paintings in southern France and elsewhere, dating back some 20,000 years. Ant societies existed in something like their present form more than seventy million years ago. Beside this, prehistoric man looks technologically primitive. Is this then some kind of intelligence, albeit of a different kind? Research conducted at Oxford, Sussex and Zurich Universities has shown that when desert ants return from a foraging trip, they navigate by integrating bearings and distances, which they continuously update in their heads. They combine the evidence of visual landmarks with a mental library of local directions, all within a framework which is consulted and updated. So ants can learn too. And in a twelve-year programme of work, Ryabko and Reznikova have found evidence that ants can transmit very complex messages. Scouts who had located food in a maze returned to mobilise their foraging teams. They engaged in contact sessions, at the end of which the scout was removed in order to observe what her team might do. Often the foragers proceeded to the exact spot in the maze where the food had been. Elaborate precautions were taken to prevent the foraging team using odour clues. Discussion now centres on whether the route through the maze is communicated as a left-right sequence of turns or as a compass bearing and distance message. During the course of this exhaustive study, Reznikova has grown so attached to her laboratory ants that she feels she knows them as individuals even without the paint spots used to mark them. Its no surprise that Edward Wilson, in his essay, In the company of ants, advises readers who ask what to do with the ants in their kitchen to: Watch where you step. Be careful of little lives. | Ants can build large cities more quickly than humans do. | n |
id_914 | Ant Intelligence. When we think of intelligent members of the animal kingdom, the creatures that spring immediately to mind are apes and monkeys. But in fact the social lives of some members of the insect kingdom are sufficiently complex to suggest more than a hint of intelligence. Among these, the world of the ant has come in for considerable scrutiny lately, and the idea that ants demonstrate sparks of cognition has certainly not been rejected by those involved in these investigations. Ants store food, repel attackers and use chemical signals to contact one another in case of attack. Such chemical communication can be compared to the human use of visual and auditory channels (as in religious chants, advertising images and jingles, political slogans and martial music) to arouse and propagate moods and attitudes. The biologist Lewis Thomas wrote, Ants are so much like human beings as to be an embarrassment. They farm fungi, raise aphids* as livestock, launch armies to war, use chemical sprays to alarm and confuse enemies, capture slaves, engage in child labour, exchange information ceaselessly. They do everything but watch television. However, in ants there is no cultural transmission everything must be encoded in the genes whereas in humans the opposite is true. Only basic instincts are carried in the genes of a newborn baby, other skills being learned from others in the community as the child grows up. It may seem that this cultural continuity gives us a huge advantage over ants. They have never mastered fire nor progressed. Their fungus farming and aphid herding crafts are sophisticated when compared to the agricultural skills of humans five thousand years ago but have been totally overtaken by modern human agribusiness. Or have they? The farming methods of ants are at least sustainable. They do not ruin environments or use enormous amounts of energy. Moreover, recent evidence suggests that the crop farming of ants may be more sophisticated and adaptable than was thought. Ants were farmers fifty million years before humans were. Ants cant digest the cellulose in leaves but some fungi can. The ants therefore cultivate these fungi in their nests, bringing them leaves to feed on, and then use them as a source of food. Farmer ants secrete antibiotics to control other fungi that might act as weeds, and spread waste to fertilise the crop. It was once thought that the fungus that ants cultivate was a single type that they had propagated, essentially unchanged from the distant past. Not so. Ulrich Mueller of Maryland and his colleagues genetically screened 862 different types of fungi taken from ants nests. These turned out to be highly diverse: it seems that ants are continually domesticating new species. Even more impressively, DNA analysis of the fungi suggests that the ants improve or modify the fungi by regularly swapping and sharing strains with neighbouring ant colonies. Whereas prehistoric man had no exposure to urban lifestyles the forcing house of intelligence the evidence suggests that ants have lived in urban settings for close on a hundred million years, developing and maintaining underground cities of specialised chambers and tunnels. When we survey Mexico City, Tokyo, Los Angeles, we are amazed at what has been accomplished by humans. Yet Hoelldobler and Wilsons magnificent work for ant lovers, The Ants, describes a supercolony of the ant Formica yessensis on the Ishikari Coast of Hokkaido. This megalopolis was reported to be composed of 360 million workers and a million queens living in 4,500 interconnected nests across a territory of 2.7 square kilometres. Such enduring and intricately meshed levels of technical achievement outstrip by far anything achieved by our distant ancestors. We hail as masterpieces the cave paintings in southern France and elsewhere, dating back some 20,000 years. Ant societies existed in something like their present form more than seventy million years ago. Beside this, prehistoric man looks technologically primitive. Is this then some kind of intelligence, albeit of a different kind? Research conducted at Oxford, Sussex and Zurich Universities has shown that when desert ants return from a foraging trip, they navigate by integrating bearings and distances, which they continuously update in their heads. They combine the evidence of visual landmarks with a mental library of local directions, all within a framework which is consulted and updated. So ants can learn too. And in a twelve-year programme of work, Ryabko and Reznikova have found evidence that ants can transmit very complex messages. Scouts who had located food in a maze returned to mobilise their foraging teams. They engaged in contact sessions, at the end of which the scout was removed in order to observe what her team might do. Often the foragers proceeded to the exact spot in the maze where the food had been. Elaborate precautions were taken to prevent the foraging team using odour clues. Discussion now centres on whether the route through the maze is communicated as a left-right sequence of turns or as a compass bearing and distance message. During the course of this exhaustive study, Reznikova has grown so attached to her laboratory ants that she feels she knows them as individuals even without the paint spots used to mark them. Its no surprise that Edward Wilson, in his essay, In the company of ants, advises readers who ask what to do with the ants in their kitchen to: Watch where you step. Be careful of little lives. | The essay, In the company of ants, explores ant communication. | n |
id_915 | Ant Intelligence. When we think of intelligent members of the animal kingdom, the creatures that spring immediately to mind are apes and monkeys. But in fact the social lives of some members of the insect kingdom are sufficiently complex to suggest more than a hint of intelligence. Among these, the world of the ant has come in for considerable scrutiny lately, and the idea that ants demonstrate sparks of cognition has certainly not been rejected by those involved in these investigations. Ants store food, repel attackers and use chemical signals to contact one another in case of attack. Such chemical communication can be compared to the human use of visual and auditory channels (as in religious chants, advertising images and jingles, political slogans and martial music) to arouse and propagate moods and attitudes. The biologist Lewis Thomas wrote, Ants are so much like human beings as to be an embarrassment. They farm fungi, raise aphids* as livestock, launch armies to war, use chemical sprays to alarm and confuse enemies, capture slaves, engage in child labour, exchange information ceaselessly. They do everything but watch television. However, in ants there is no cultural transmission everything must be encoded in the genes whereas in humans the opposite is true. Only basic instincts are carried in the genes of a newborn baby, other skills being learned from others in the community as the child grows up. It may seem that this cultural continuity gives us a huge advantage over ants. They have never mastered fire nor progressed. Their fungus farming and aphid herding crafts are sophisticated when compared to the agricultural skills of humans five thousand years ago but have been totally overtaken by modern human agribusiness. Or have they? The farming methods of ants are at least sustainable. They do not ruin environments or use enormous amounts of energy. Moreover, recent evidence suggests that the crop farming of ants may be more sophisticated and adaptable than was thought. Ants were farmers fifty million years before humans were. Ants cant digest the cellulose in leaves but some fungi can. The ants therefore cultivate these fungi in their nests, bringing them leaves to feed on, and then use them as a source of food. Farmer ants secrete antibiotics to control other fungi that might act as weeds, and spread waste to fertilise the crop. It was once thought that the fungus that ants cultivate was a single type that they had propagated, essentially unchanged from the distant past. Not so. Ulrich Mueller of Maryland and his colleagues genetically screened 862 different types of fungi taken from ants nests. These turned out to be highly diverse: it seems that ants are continually domesticating new species. Even more impressively, DNA analysis of the fungi suggests that the ants improve or modify the fungi by regularly swapping and sharing strains with neighbouring ant colonies. Whereas prehistoric man had no exposure to urban lifestyles the forcing house of intelligence the evidence suggests that ants have lived in urban settings for close on a hundred million years, developing and maintaining underground cities of specialised chambers and tunnels. When we survey Mexico City, Tokyo, Los Angeles, we are amazed at what has been accomplished by humans. Yet Hoelldobler and Wilsons magnificent work for ant lovers, The Ants, describes a supercolony of the ant Formica yessensis on the Ishikari Coast of Hokkaido. This megalopolis was reported to be composed of 360 million workers and a million queens living in 4,500 interconnected nests across a territory of 2.7 square kilometres. Such enduring and intricately meshed levels of technical achievement outstrip by far anything achieved by our distant ancestors. We hail as masterpieces the cave paintings in southern France and elsewhere, dating back some 20,000 years. Ant societies existed in something like their present form more than seventy million years ago. Beside this, prehistoric man looks technologically primitive. Is this then some kind of intelligence, albeit of a different kind? Research conducted at Oxford, Sussex and Zurich Universities has shown that when desert ants return from a foraging trip, they navigate by integrating bearings and distances, which they continuously update in their heads. They combine the evidence of visual landmarks with a mental library of local directions, all within a framework which is consulted and updated. So ants can learn too. And in a twelve-year programme of work, Ryabko and Reznikova have found evidence that ants can transmit very complex messages. Scouts who had located food in a maze returned to mobilise their foraging teams. They engaged in contact sessions, at the end of which the scout was removed in order to observe what her team might do. Often the foragers proceeded to the exact spot in the maze where the food had been. Elaborate precautions were taken to prevent the foraging team using odour clues. Discussion now centres on whether the route through the maze is communicated as a left-right sequence of turns or as a compass bearing and distance message. During the course of this exhaustive study, Reznikova has grown so attached to her laboratory ants that she feels she knows them as individuals even without the paint spots used to mark them. Its no surprise that Edward Wilson, in his essay, In the company of ants, advises readers who ask what to do with the ants in their kitchen to: Watch where you step. Be careful of little lives. | In one experiment, foraging teams were able to use their sense of smell to find food. | c |
id_916 | Ant Intelligence. When we think of intelligent members of the animal kingdom, the creatures that spring immediately to mind are apes and monkeys. But in fact the social lives of some members of the insect kingdom are sufficiently complex to suggest more than a hint of intelligence. Among these, the world of the ant has come in for considerable scrutiny lately, and the idea that ants demonstrate sparks of cognition has certainly not been rejected by those involved in these investigations. Ants store food, repel attackers and use chemical signals to contact one another in case of attack. Such chemical communication can be compared to the human use of visual and auditory channels (as in religious chants, advertising images and jingles, political slogans and martial music) to arouse and propagate moods and attitudes. The biologist Lewis Thomas wrote, Ants are so much like human beings as to be an embarrassment. They farm fungi, raise aphids* as livestock, launch armies to war, use chemical sprays to alarm and confuse enemies, capture slaves, engage in child labour, exchange information ceaselessly. They do everything but watch television. However, in ants there is no cultural transmission everything must be encoded in the genes whereas in humans the opposite is true. Only basic instincts are carried in the genes of a newborn baby, other skills being learned from others in the community as the child grows up. It may seem that this cultural continuity gives us a huge advantage over ants. They have never mastered fire nor progressed. Their fungus farming and aphid herding crafts are sophisticated when compared to the agricultural skills of humans five thousand years ago but have been totally overtaken by modern human agribusiness. Or have they? The farming methods of ants are at least sustainable. They do not ruin environments or use enormous amounts of energy. Moreover, recent evidence suggests that the crop farming of ants may be more sophisticated and adaptable than was thought. Ants were farmers fifty million years before humans were. Ants cant digest the cellulose in leaves but some fungi can. The ants therefore cultivate these fungi in their nests, bringing them leaves to feed on, and then use them as a source of food. Farmer ants secrete antibiotics to control other fungi that might act as weeds, and spread waste to fertilise the crop. It was once thought that the fungus that ants cultivate was a single type that they had propagated, essentially unchanged from the distant past. Not so. Ulrich Mueller of Maryland and his colleagues genetically screened 862 different types of fungi taken from ants nests. These turned out to be highly diverse: it seems that ants are continually domesticating new species. Even more impressively, DNA analysis of the fungi suggests that the ants improve or modify the fungi by regularly swapping and sharing strains with neighbouring ant colonies. Whereas prehistoric man had no exposure to urban lifestyles the forcing house of intelligence the evidence suggests that ants have lived in urban settings for close on a hundred million years, developing and maintaining underground cities of specialised chambers and tunnels. When we survey Mexico City, Tokyo, Los Angeles, we are amazed at what has been accomplished by humans. Yet Hoelldobler and Wilsons magnificent work for ant lovers, The Ants, describes a supercolony of the ant Formica yessensis on the Ishikari Coast of Hokkaido. This megalopolis was reported to be composed of 360 million workers and a million queens living in 4,500 interconnected nests across a territory of 2.7 square kilometres. Such enduring and intricately meshed levels of technical achievement outstrip by far anything achieved by our distant ancestors. We hail as masterpieces the cave paintings in southern France and elsewhere, dating back some 20,000 years. Ant societies existed in something like their present form more than seventy million years ago. Beside this, prehistoric man looks technologically primitive. Is this then some kind of intelligence, albeit of a different kind? Research conducted at Oxford, Sussex and Zurich Universities has shown that when desert ants return from a foraging trip, they navigate by integrating bearings and distances, which they continuously update in their heads. They combine the evidence of visual landmarks with a mental library of local directions, all within a framework which is consulted and updated. So ants can learn too. And in a twelve-year programme of work, Ryabko and Reznikova have found evidence that ants can transmit very complex messages. Scouts who had located food in a maze returned to mobilise their foraging teams. They engaged in contact sessions, at the end of which the scout was removed in order to observe what her team might do. Often the foragers proceeded to the exact spot in the maze where the food had been. Elaborate precautions were taken to prevent the foraging team using odour clues. Discussion now centres on whether the route through the maze is communicated as a left-right sequence of turns or as a compass bearing and distance message. During the course of this exhaustive study, Reznikova has grown so attached to her laboratory ants that she feels she knows them as individuals even without the paint spots used to mark them. Its no surprise that Edward Wilson, in his essay, In the company of ants, advises readers who ask what to do with the ants in their kitchen to: Watch where you step. Be careful of little lives. | Some ants can find their way by making calculations based on distance and position. | e |
id_917 | Ant Intelligence. When we think of intelligent members of the animal kingdom, the creatures that spring immediately to mind are apes and monkeys. But in fact the social lives of some members of the insect kingdom are sufficiently complex to suggest more than a hint of intelligence. Among these, the world of the ant has come in for considerable scrutiny lately, and the idea that ants demonstrate sparks of cognition has certainly not been rejected by those involved in these investigations. Ants store food, repel attackers and use chemical signals to contact one another in case of attack. Such chemical communication can be compared to the human use of visual and auditory channels (as in religious chants, advertising images and jingles, political slogans and martial music) to arouse and propagate moods and attitudes. The biologist Lewis Thomas wrote, Ants are so much like human beings as to be an embarrassment. They farm fungi, raise aphids* as livestock, launch armies to war, use chemical sprays to alarm and confuse enemies, capture slaves, engage in child labour, exchange information ceaselessly. They do everything but watch television. However, in ants there is no cultural transmission everything must be encoded in the genes whereas in humans the opposite is true. Only basic instincts are carried in the genes of a newborn baby, other skills being learned from others in the community as the child grows up. It may seem that this cultural continuity gives us a huge advantage over ants. They have never mastered fire nor progressed. Their fungus farming and aphid herding crafts are sophisticated when compared to the agricultural skills of humans five thousand years ago but have been totally overtaken by modern human agribusiness. Or have they? The farming methods of ants are at least sustainable. They do not ruin environments or use enormous amounts of energy. Moreover, recent evidence suggests that the crop farming of ants may be more sophisticated and adaptable than was thought. Ants were farmers fifty million years before humans were. Ants cant digest the cellulose in leaves but some fungi can. The ants therefore cultivate these fungi in their nests, bringing them leaves to feed on, and then use them as a source of food. Farmer ants secrete antibiotics to control other fungi that might act as weeds, and spread waste to fertilise the crop. It was once thought that the fungus that ants cultivate was a single type that they had propagated, essentially unchanged from the distant past. Not so. Ulrich Mueller of Maryland and his colleagues genetically screened 862 different types of fungi taken from ants nests. These turned out to be highly diverse: it seems that ants are continually domesticating new species. Even more impressively, DNA analysis of the fungi suggests that the ants improve or modify the fungi by regularly swapping and sharing strains with neighbouring ant colonies. Whereas prehistoric man had no exposure to urban lifestyles the forcing house of intelligence the evidence suggests that ants have lived in urban settings for close on a hundred million years, developing and maintaining underground cities of specialised chambers and tunnels. When we survey Mexico City, Tokyo, Los Angeles, we are amazed at what has been accomplished by humans. Yet Hoelldobler and Wilsons magnificent work for ant lovers, The Ants, describes a supercolony of the ant Formica yessensis on the Ishikari Coast of Hokkaido. This megalopolis was reported to be composed of 360 million workers and a million queens living in 4,500 interconnected nests across a territory of 2.7 square kilometres. Such enduring and intricately meshed levels of technical achievement outstrip by far anything achieved by our distant ancestors. We hail as masterpieces the cave paintings in southern France and elsewhere, dating back some 20,000 years. Ant societies existed in something like their present form more than seventy million years ago. Beside this, prehistoric man looks technologically primitive. Is this then some kind of intelligence, albeit of a different kind? Research conducted at Oxford, Sussex and Zurich Universities has shown that when desert ants return from a foraging trip, they navigate by integrating bearings and distances, which they continuously update in their heads. They combine the evidence of visual landmarks with a mental library of local directions, all within a framework which is consulted and updated. So ants can learn too. And in a twelve-year programme of work, Ryabko and Reznikova have found evidence that ants can transmit very complex messages. Scouts who had located food in a maze returned to mobilise their foraging teams. They engaged in contact sessions, at the end of which the scout was removed in order to observe what her team might do. Often the foragers proceeded to the exact spot in the maze where the food had been. Elaborate precautions were taken to prevent the foraging team using odour clues. Discussion now centres on whether the route through the maze is communicated as a left-right sequence of turns or as a compass bearing and distance message. During the course of this exhaustive study, Reznikova has grown so attached to her laboratory ants that she feels she knows them as individuals even without the paint spots used to mark them. Its no surprise that Edward Wilson, in his essay, In the company of ants, advises readers who ask what to do with the ants in their kitchen to: Watch where you step. Be careful of little lives. | Ants use the same channels of communication as humans do. | c |
id_918 | Antibac is a company that produces cleaning products, such as antibacterial kitchen cleaner. In 2012, Antibac launched a new product, which claimed to be more efficient than any other domestic cleaner. In an attempt to promote this product, Antibac gave away free samples, advertised on local radio stations and placed an ad in a national newspaper. As a result of this, Antibacs new product made record-breaking sales figures in its first month. Antibac are now keen to carry out similar campaigns with its other products and hope to rival the current household names in domestic cleaning products. | Antibac is a household name in domestic cleaning products. | n |
id_919 | Antibac is a company that produces cleaning products, such as antibacterial kitchen cleaner. In 2012, Antibac launched a new product, which claimed to be more efficient than any other domestic cleaner. In an attempt to promote this product, Antibac gave away free samples, advertised on local radio stations and placed an ad in a national newspaper. As a result of this, Antibacs new product made record-breaking sales figures in its first month. Antibac are now keen to carry out similar campaigns with its other products and hope to rival the current household names in domestic cleaning products. | Antibacs product claims to be more efficient than other domestic cleaners. | e |
id_920 | Antibac is a company that produces cleaning products, such as antibacterial kitchen cleaner. In 2012, Antibac launched a new product, which claimed to be more efficient than any other domestic cleaner. In an attempt to promote this product, Antibac gave away free samples, advertised on local radio stations and placed an ad in a national newspaper. As a result of this, Antibacs new product made record-breaking sales figures in its first month. Antibac are now keen to carry out similar campaigns with its other products and hope to rival the current household names in domestic cleaning products. | Antibac gave away free samples of national newspapers. | n |
id_921 | Antibac is a company that produces cleaning products, such as antibacterial kitchen cleaner. In 2012, Antibac launched a new product, which claimed to be more efficient than any other domestic cleaner. In an attempt to promote this product, Antibac gave away free samples, advertised on local radio stations and placed an ad in a national newspaper. As a result of this, Antibacs new product made record-breaking sales figures in its first month. Antibac are now keen to carry out similar campaigns with its other products and hope to rival the current household names in domestic cleaning products. | Antibac gave away free sample of rival products. | n |
id_922 | Ants Could Teach Ants The ants are tiny and usually nest between rocks in the south coast of England. Transformed into research subjects at the University of Bristol, they raced along a tabletop foraging for food and then, remarkably, returned to guide others. Time and again, followers trailed behind leaders, darting this way and that along the route, presumably to memorise landmarks. Once a follower got its bearings, it tapped the leader with its antennae, prompting the lesson to literally proceed to the next step. The ants were only looking for food, but the researchers said the careful way the leaders led followers thereby turning them into leaders in their own right -marked the Temnothorax albipennis ant as the very first example of a non-human animal exhibiting teaching behaviour. Tandem running is an example of teaching, to our knowledge the first in a non-human animal, that involves bidirectional feedback between teacher and pupil remarks Nigel Franks, professor of animal behaviour and ecology, whose paper on the ant educators was published last week in the journal Nature. No sooner was the paper published, of course, than another educator questioned it. Marc Hauser, a psychologist and biologist and one of the scientists who came up with the definition of teaching, said it was unclear whether the ants had learned a new skill or merely acquired new information. Later, Franks took a further study and found that there were even races between leaders. With the guidance of leaders, ants could find food faster. But the help comes at a cost for the leader, who normally would have reached the food about four times faster if not hampered by a follower. This means the hypothesis that the leaders deliberately slowed down in order to pass the skills on to the followers seems potentially valid. His ideas were advocated by the students who carried out the video project with him. Opposing views still arose, however. Hauser noted that mere communication of information is commonplace in the animal world. Consider a species, for example, that uses alarm calls to warn fellow members about the presence . Sounding the alarm can be costly, because the animal may draw the attention of the predator to itself. But it allows others flee to safety. Would you call this teaching? wrote Hauser. The caller incurs a cost. The naive animals gain a benefit and new knowledge that better enables them to learn about the predators location than if the caller had not called. This happens throughout the animal kingdom, but we dont call it teaching, even though it is clearly transfer of information. Tim Caro, a zoologist, presented two cases of animal communication. He found that cheetah mothers that take their cubs along on hunts gradually allow their cubs to do more of the hunting going, for example, from killing a gazelle and allowing young cubs to eat merely tripping the gazelle and letting the cubs finish it off. At one level, such behaviour might be called teaching except the mother was not really teaching the cubs to hunt but merely facilitating various stages of learning. In another instance, birds watching other birds using a stick to locate food such as insects and so on, are observed to do the same thing themselves while finding food later. Psychologists study animal behaviour in part to understand the evolutionary roots of human behaviour, Hauser said. The challenge in understanding whether other animals truly teach one another, he added, is that human teaching involves a theory of mind teachers are aware that students dont know something. He questioned whether Franks leader ants really knew that the follower ants were ignorant. Could they simply have been following an instinctive rule to proceed when the followers tapped them on the legs or abdomen? And did leaders that led the way to food only to find that it had been removed by the experimenter incur the wrath of followers? That, Hauser said, would suggest that the follower ant actually knew the leader was more knowledgeable and not merely following an instinctive routine itself. The controversy went on, and for a good reason. The occurrence of teaching in ants, if proven to be true, indicates that teaching can evolve in animals with tiny brains. It is probably the value of information in social animals that determines when teaching will evolve, rather than the constraints of brain size. Bennett Galef Jr. , a psychologist who studies animal behaviour and social learning at McMaster University in Canada, maintained that ants were unlikely to have a theory of mind meaning that leaders and followers may well have been following instinctive routines that were not based on an understanding of what was happening in another ants brain. He warned that scientists may be barking up the wrong tree when they look not only for examples of humanlike behaviour among other animals but humanlike thinking that underlies such behaviour. Animals may behave in ways similar to humans without a similar cognitive system, he said, so the behaviour is not necessarily a good guide into how humans came to think the way they do. | Ants, tandem running involves only one-way communication. | c |
id_923 | Ants Could Teach Ants The ants are tiny and usually nest between rocks in the south coast of England. Transformed into research subjects at the University of Bristol, they raced along a tabletop foraging for food and then, remarkably, returned to guide others. Time and again, followers trailed behind leaders, darting this way and that along the route, presumably to memorise landmarks. Once a follower got its bearings, it tapped the leader with its antennae, prompting the lesson to literally proceed to the next step. The ants were only looking for food, but the researchers said the careful way the leaders led followers thereby turning them into leaders in their own right -marked the Temnothorax albipennis ant as the very first example of a non-human animal exhibiting teaching behaviour. Tandem running is an example of teaching, to our knowledge the first in a non-human animal, that involves bidirectional feedback between teacher and pupil remarks Nigel Franks, professor of animal behaviour and ecology, whose paper on the ant educators was published last week in the journal Nature. No sooner was the paper published, of course, than another educator questioned it. Marc Hauser, a psychologist and biologist and one of the scientists who came up with the definition of teaching, said it was unclear whether the ants had learned a new skill or merely acquired new information. Later, Franks took a further study and found that there were even races between leaders. With the guidance of leaders, ants could find food faster. But the help comes at a cost for the leader, who normally would have reached the food about four times faster if not hampered by a follower. This means the hypothesis that the leaders deliberately slowed down in order to pass the skills on to the followers seems potentially valid. His ideas were advocated by the students who carried out the video project with him. Opposing views still arose, however. Hauser noted that mere communication of information is commonplace in the animal world. Consider a species, for example, that uses alarm calls to warn fellow members about the presence . Sounding the alarm can be costly, because the animal may draw the attention of the predator to itself. But it allows others flee to safety. Would you call this teaching? wrote Hauser. The caller incurs a cost. The naive animals gain a benefit and new knowledge that better enables them to learn about the predators location than if the caller had not called. This happens throughout the animal kingdom, but we dont call it teaching, even though it is clearly transfer of information. Tim Caro, a zoologist, presented two cases of animal communication. He found that cheetah mothers that take their cubs along on hunts gradually allow their cubs to do more of the hunting going, for example, from killing a gazelle and allowing young cubs to eat merely tripping the gazelle and letting the cubs finish it off. At one level, such behaviour might be called teaching except the mother was not really teaching the cubs to hunt but merely facilitating various stages of learning. In another instance, birds watching other birds using a stick to locate food such as insects and so on, are observed to do the same thing themselves while finding food later. Psychologists study animal behaviour in part to understand the evolutionary roots of human behaviour, Hauser said. The challenge in understanding whether other animals truly teach one another, he added, is that human teaching involves a theory of mind teachers are aware that students dont know something. He questioned whether Franks leader ants really knew that the follower ants were ignorant. Could they simply have been following an instinctive rule to proceed when the followers tapped them on the legs or abdomen? And did leaders that led the way to food only to find that it had been removed by the experimenter incur the wrath of followers? That, Hauser said, would suggest that the follower ant actually knew the leader was more knowledgeable and not merely following an instinctive routine itself. The controversy went on, and for a good reason. The occurrence of teaching in ants, if proven to be true, indicates that teaching can evolve in animals with tiny brains. It is probably the value of information in social animals that determines when teaching will evolve, rather than the constraints of brain size. Bennett Galef Jr. , a psychologist who studies animal behaviour and social learning at McMaster University in Canada, maintained that ants were unlikely to have a theory of mind meaning that leaders and followers may well have been following instinctive routines that were not based on an understanding of what was happening in another ants brain. He warned that scientists may be barking up the wrong tree when they look not only for examples of humanlike behaviour among other animals but humanlike thinking that underlies such behaviour. Animals may behave in ways similar to humans without a similar cognitive system, he said, so the behaviour is not necessarily a good guide into how humans came to think the way they do. | Frankss theory got many supporters immediately after publicity. | n |
id_924 | Ants Could Teach Ants The ants are tiny and usually nest between rocks in the south coast of England. Transformed into research subjects at the University of Bristol, they raced along a tabletop foraging for food and then, remarkably, returned to guide others. Time and again, followers trailed behind leaders, darting this way and that along the route, presumably to memorise landmarks. Once a follower got its bearings, it tapped the leader with its antennae, prompting the lesson to literally proceed to the next step. The ants were only looking for food, but the researchers said the careful way the leaders led followers thereby turning them into leaders in their own right -marked the Temnothorax albipennis ant as the very first example of a non-human animal exhibiting teaching behaviour. Tandem running is an example of teaching, to our knowledge the first in a non-human animal, that involves bidirectional feedback between teacher and pupil remarks Nigel Franks, professor of animal behaviour and ecology, whose paper on the ant educators was published last week in the journal Nature. No sooner was the paper published, of course, than another educator questioned it. Marc Hauser, a psychologist and biologist and one of the scientists who came up with the definition of teaching, said it was unclear whether the ants had learned a new skill or merely acquired new information. Later, Franks took a further study and found that there were even races between leaders. With the guidance of leaders, ants could find food faster. But the help comes at a cost for the leader, who normally would have reached the food about four times faster if not hampered by a follower. This means the hypothesis that the leaders deliberately slowed down in order to pass the skills on to the followers seems potentially valid. His ideas were advocated by the students who carried out the video project with him. Opposing views still arose, however. Hauser noted that mere communication of information is commonplace in the animal world. Consider a species, for example, that uses alarm calls to warn fellow members about the presence . Sounding the alarm can be costly, because the animal may draw the attention of the predator to itself. But it allows others flee to safety. Would you call this teaching? wrote Hauser. The caller incurs a cost. The naive animals gain a benefit and new knowledge that better enables them to learn about the predators location than if the caller had not called. This happens throughout the animal kingdom, but we dont call it teaching, even though it is clearly transfer of information. Tim Caro, a zoologist, presented two cases of animal communication. He found that cheetah mothers that take their cubs along on hunts gradually allow their cubs to do more of the hunting going, for example, from killing a gazelle and allowing young cubs to eat merely tripping the gazelle and letting the cubs finish it off. At one level, such behaviour might be called teaching except the mother was not really teaching the cubs to hunt but merely facilitating various stages of learning. In another instance, birds watching other birds using a stick to locate food such as insects and so on, are observed to do the same thing themselves while finding food later. Psychologists study animal behaviour in part to understand the evolutionary roots of human behaviour, Hauser said. The challenge in understanding whether other animals truly teach one another, he added, is that human teaching involves a theory of mind teachers are aware that students dont know something. He questioned whether Franks leader ants really knew that the follower ants were ignorant. Could they simply have been following an instinctive rule to proceed when the followers tapped them on the legs or abdomen? And did leaders that led the way to food only to find that it had been removed by the experimenter incur the wrath of followers? That, Hauser said, would suggest that the follower ant actually knew the leader was more knowledgeable and not merely following an instinctive routine itself. The controversy went on, and for a good reason. The occurrence of teaching in ants, if proven to be true, indicates that teaching can evolve in animals with tiny brains. It is probably the value of information in social animals that determines when teaching will evolve, rather than the constraints of brain size. Bennett Galef Jr. , a psychologist who studies animal behaviour and social learning at McMaster University in Canada, maintained that ants were unlikely to have a theory of mind meaning that leaders and followers may well have been following instinctive routines that were not based on an understanding of what was happening in another ants brain. He warned that scientists may be barking up the wrong tree when they look not only for examples of humanlike behaviour among other animals but humanlike thinking that underlies such behaviour. Animals may behave in ways similar to humans without a similar cognitive system, he said, so the behaviour is not necessarily a good guide into how humans came to think the way they do. | Cheetah share hunting gains to younger ones | e |
id_925 | Ants Could Teach Ants The ants are tiny and usually nest between rocks in the south coast of England. Transformed into research subjects at the University of Bristol, they raced along a tabletop foraging for food and then, remarkably, returned to guide others. Time and again, followers trailed behind leaders, darting this way and that along the route, presumably to memorise landmarks. Once a follower got its bearings, it tapped the leader with its antennae, prompting the lesson to literally proceed to the next step. The ants were only looking for food, but the researchers said the careful way the leaders led followers thereby turning them into leaders in their own right -marked the Temnothorax albipennis ant as the very first example of a non-human animal exhibiting teaching behaviour. Tandem running is an example of teaching, to our knowledge the first in a non-human animal, that involves bidirectional feedback between teacher and pupil remarks Nigel Franks, professor of animal behaviour and ecology, whose paper on the ant educators was published last week in the journal Nature. No sooner was the paper published, of course, than another educator questioned it. Marc Hauser, a psychologist and biologist and one of the scientists who came up with the definition of teaching, said it was unclear whether the ants had learned a new skill or merely acquired new information. Later, Franks took a further study and found that there were even races between leaders. With the guidance of leaders, ants could find food faster. But the help comes at a cost for the leader, who normally would have reached the food about four times faster if not hampered by a follower. This means the hypothesis that the leaders deliberately slowed down in order to pass the skills on to the followers seems potentially valid. His ideas were advocated by the students who carried out the video project with him. Opposing views still arose, however. Hauser noted that mere communication of information is commonplace in the animal world. Consider a species, for example, that uses alarm calls to warn fellow members about the presence . Sounding the alarm can be costly, because the animal may draw the attention of the predator to itself. But it allows others flee to safety. Would you call this teaching? wrote Hauser. The caller incurs a cost. The naive animals gain a benefit and new knowledge that better enables them to learn about the predators location than if the caller had not called. This happens throughout the animal kingdom, but we dont call it teaching, even though it is clearly transfer of information. Tim Caro, a zoologist, presented two cases of animal communication. He found that cheetah mothers that take their cubs along on hunts gradually allow their cubs to do more of the hunting going, for example, from killing a gazelle and allowing young cubs to eat merely tripping the gazelle and letting the cubs finish it off. At one level, such behaviour might be called teaching except the mother was not really teaching the cubs to hunt but merely facilitating various stages of learning. In another instance, birds watching other birds using a stick to locate food such as insects and so on, are observed to do the same thing themselves while finding food later. Psychologists study animal behaviour in part to understand the evolutionary roots of human behaviour, Hauser said. The challenge in understanding whether other animals truly teach one another, he added, is that human teaching involves a theory of mind teachers are aware that students dont know something. He questioned whether Franks leader ants really knew that the follower ants were ignorant. Could they simply have been following an instinctive rule to proceed when the followers tapped them on the legs or abdomen? And did leaders that led the way to food only to find that it had been removed by the experimenter incur the wrath of followers? That, Hauser said, would suggest that the follower ant actually knew the leader was more knowledgeable and not merely following an instinctive routine itself. The controversy went on, and for a good reason. The occurrence of teaching in ants, if proven to be true, indicates that teaching can evolve in animals with tiny brains. It is probably the value of information in social animals that determines when teaching will evolve, rather than the constraints of brain size. Bennett Galef Jr. , a psychologist who studies animal behaviour and social learning at McMaster University in Canada, maintained that ants were unlikely to have a theory of mind meaning that leaders and followers may well have been following instinctive routines that were not based on an understanding of what was happening in another ants brain. He warned that scientists may be barking up the wrong tree when they look not only for examples of humanlike behaviour among other animals but humanlike thinking that underlies such behaviour. Animals may behave in ways similar to humans without a similar cognitive system, he said, so the behaviour is not necessarily a good guide into how humans came to think the way they do. | Ants teaching behaviour is the same as that of human. | n |
id_926 | Anxieties about air and water pollution. Desertification and resource depletion are nothing new. It is increasingly accepted that the human impact on the environment is Intensifying compounded by population growth. The increasing pace of economic life and the spread of pollutants far beyond their places of origin. New scientific evidence- about global climate change, changes to ozone in the upper atmosphere and the reduction of biodiversity contributes to the growing concern. In addition highly publicized environmental disasters have led the public to conclude that the very license to operate conferred on stakeholders in business might be infringed by the environmental impact of corporate activities. | Restricting pollutants to their place of origin makes no difference to the impact of human activity on the environment. | c |
id_927 | Anxieties about air and water pollution. Desertification and resource depletion are nothing new. It is increasingly accepted that the human impact on the environment is Intensifying compounded by population growth. The increasing pace of economic life and the spread of pollutants far beyond their places of origin. New scientific evidence- about global climate change, changes to ozone in the upper atmosphere and the reduction of biodiversity contributes to the growing concern. In addition highly publicized environmental disasters have led the public to conclude that the very license to operate conferred on stakeholders in business might be infringed by the environmental impact of corporate activities. | Businesses that do not address their adverse impact on the environment run the risk of recrimination. | e |
id_928 | Anxieties about air and water pollution. Desertification and resource depletion are nothing new. It is increasingly accepted that the human impact on the environment is Intensifying compounded by population growth. The increasing pace of economic life and the spread of pollutants far beyond their places of origin. New scientific evidence- about global climate change, changes to ozone in the upper atmosphere and the reduction of biodiversity contributes to the growing concern. In addition highly publicized environmental disasters have led the public to conclude that the very license to operate conferred on stakeholders in business might be infringed by the environmental impact of corporate activities. | New scientific evidence has merely confirmed what was already known. | c |
id_929 | Anyone who manages an engineering organisation like Tata Motors can only be successful if he has the knowledge of the professional work that is carried on in the organisation. | In order to manage an engineering organisation like Tata Motors, it is essential to have an engineering education background. | e |
id_930 | Anyone who manages an engineering organisation like Tata Motors can only be successful if he has the knowledge of the professional work that is carried on in the organisation. | If you want to run any company, it is essential that you should know the professional work associated with it. | c |
id_931 | Aphantasia: A life without mental images Most people can readily conjure images inside their head known as their minds eye. But this year scientists have described a condition, aphantasia, in which some people are unable to visualise mental images. Niel Kenmuir, from Lancaster, has always had a blind minds eye. He knew he was different even in childhood. My stepfather, when I couldnt sleep, told me to count sheep, and he explained what he meant, I tried to do it and I couldnt, he says. I couldnt see any sheep jumping over fences, there was nothing to count. Our memories are often tied up in images, think back to a wedding or first day at school. As a result, Niel admits, some aspects of his memory are terrible, but he is very good at remembering facts. And, like others with aphantasia, he struggles to recognise faces. Yet he does not see aphantasia as a disability, but simply a different way of experiencing life. Minds eye blind Ironically, Niel now works in a bookshop, although he largely sticks to the non-fiction aisles. His condition begs the question what is going on inside his picture-less mind. I asked him what happens when he tries to picture his fiancee. This is the hardest thing to describe, what happens in my head when I think about things, he says. When I think about my fiancee there is no image, but I am definitely thinking about her, I know today she has her hair up at the back, shes brunette. But Im not describing an image I am looking at, Im remembering features about her, thats the strangest thing and maybe that is a source of some regret. The response from his mates is a very sympathetic: Youre weird. But while Niel is very relaxed about his inability to picture things, it is a cause of distress for others. One person who took part in a study into aphantasia said he had started to feel isolated and alone after discovering that other people could see images in their heads. Being unable to reminisce about his mother years after her death led to him being extremely distraught. The super-visualiser At the other end of the spectrum is childrens book illustrator, Lauren Beard, whose work on the Fairytale Hairdresser series will be familiar to many six-year-olds. Her career relies on the vivid images that leap into her minds eye when she reads text from her author. When I met her in her box-room studio in Manchester, she was working on a dramatic scene in the next book. The text describes a baby perilously climbing onto a chandelier. Straightaway I can visualise this grand glass chandelier in some sort of French kind of ballroom, and the little baby just swinging off it and really heavy thick curtains, she says. I think I have a strong imagination, so I can create the world and then keep adding to it so it gets sort of bigger and bigger in my mind and the characters too they sort of evolve. I couldnt really imagine what its like to not imagine, I think it must be a bit of a shame really. Not many people have mental imagery as vibrant as Lauren or as blank as Niel. They are the two extremes of visualisation. Adam Zeman, a professor of cognitive and behavioural neurology, wants to compare the lives and experiences of people with aphantasia and its polar-opposite hyperphantasia. His team, based at the University of Exeter, coined the term aphantasia this year in a study in the journal Cortex. Prof Zeman tells the BBC: People who have contacted us say they are really delighted that this has been recognised and has been given a name, because they have been trying to explain to people for years that there is this oddity that they find hard to convey to others. How we imagine is clearly very subjective one persons vivid scene could be anothers grainy picture. But Prof Zeman is certain that aphantasia is real. People often report being able to dream in pictures, and there have been reported cases of people losing the ability to think in images after a brain injury. He is adamant that aphantasia is not a disorder and says it may affect up to one in 50 people. But he adds: I think it makes quite an important difference to their experience of life because many of us spend our lives with imagery hovering somewhere in the minds eye which we inspect from time to time, its a variability of human experience. | Niel Kenmuir was unable to count sheep in his head. | e |
id_932 | Aphantasia: A life without mental images Most people can readily conjure images inside their head known as their minds eye. But this year scientists have described a condition, aphantasia, in which some people are unable to visualise mental images. Niel Kenmuir, from Lancaster, has always had a blind minds eye. He knew he was different even in childhood. My stepfather, when I couldnt sleep, told me to count sheep, and he explained what he meant, I tried to do it and I couldnt, he says. I couldnt see any sheep jumping over fences, there was nothing to count. Our memories are often tied up in images, think back to a wedding or first day at school. As a result, Niel admits, some aspects of his memory are terrible, but he is very good at remembering facts. And, like others with aphantasia, he struggles to recognise faces. Yet he does not see aphantasia as a disability, but simply a different way of experiencing life. Minds eye blind Ironically, Niel now works in a bookshop, although he largely sticks to the non-fiction aisles. His condition begs the question what is going on inside his picture-less mind. I asked him what happens when he tries to picture his fiancee. This is the hardest thing to describe, what happens in my head when I think about things, he says. When I think about my fiancee there is no image, but I am definitely thinking about her, I know today she has her hair up at the back, shes brunette. But Im not describing an image I am looking at, Im remembering features about her, thats the strangest thing and maybe that is a source of some regret. The response from his mates is a very sympathetic: Youre weird. But while Niel is very relaxed about his inability to picture things, it is a cause of distress for others. One person who took part in a study into aphantasia said he had started to feel isolated and alone after discovering that other people could see images in their heads. Being unable to reminisce about his mother years after her death led to him being extremely distraught. The super-visualiser At the other end of the spectrum is childrens book illustrator, Lauren Beard, whose work on the Fairytale Hairdresser series will be familiar to many six-year-olds. Her career relies on the vivid images that leap into her minds eye when she reads text from her author. When I met her in her box-room studio in Manchester, she was working on a dramatic scene in the next book. The text describes a baby perilously climbing onto a chandelier. Straightaway I can visualise this grand glass chandelier in some sort of French kind of ballroom, and the little baby just swinging off it and really heavy thick curtains, she says. I think I have a strong imagination, so I can create the world and then keep adding to it so it gets sort of bigger and bigger in my mind and the characters too they sort of evolve. I couldnt really imagine what its like to not imagine, I think it must be a bit of a shame really. Not many people have mental imagery as vibrant as Lauren or as blank as Niel. They are the two extremes of visualisation. Adam Zeman, a professor of cognitive and behavioural neurology, wants to compare the lives and experiences of people with aphantasia and its polar-opposite hyperphantasia. His team, based at the University of Exeter, coined the term aphantasia this year in a study in the journal Cortex. Prof Zeman tells the BBC: People who have contacted us say they are really delighted that this has been recognised and has been given a name, because they have been trying to explain to people for years that there is this oddity that they find hard to convey to others. How we imagine is clearly very subjective one persons vivid scene could be anothers grainy picture. But Prof Zeman is certain that aphantasia is real. People often report being able to dream in pictures, and there have been reported cases of people losing the ability to think in images after a brain injury. He is adamant that aphantasia is not a disorder and says it may affect up to one in 50 people. But he adds: I think it makes quite an important difference to their experience of life because many of us spend our lives with imagery hovering somewhere in the minds eye which we inspect from time to time, its a variability of human experience. | Aphantasia is a condition, which describes people, for whom it is hard to see images in their imagination. | c |
id_933 | Aphantasia: A life without mental images Most people can readily conjure images inside their head known as their minds eye. But this year scientists have described a condition, aphantasia, in which some people are unable to visualise mental images. Niel Kenmuir, from Lancaster, has always had a blind minds eye. He knew he was different even in childhood. My stepfather, when I couldnt sleep, told me to count sheep, and he explained what he meant, I tried to do it and I couldnt, he says. I couldnt see any sheep jumping over fences, there was nothing to count. Our memories are often tied up in images, think back to a wedding or first day at school. As a result, Niel admits, some aspects of his memory are terrible, but he is very good at remembering facts. And, like others with aphantasia, he struggles to recognise faces. Yet he does not see aphantasia as a disability, but simply a different way of experiencing life. Minds eye blind Ironically, Niel now works in a bookshop, although he largely sticks to the non-fiction aisles. His condition begs the question what is going on inside his picture-less mind. I asked him what happens when he tries to picture his fiancee. This is the hardest thing to describe, what happens in my head when I think about things, he says. When I think about my fiancee there is no image, but I am definitely thinking about her, I know today she has her hair up at the back, shes brunette. But Im not describing an image I am looking at, Im remembering features about her, thats the strangest thing and maybe that is a source of some regret. The response from his mates is a very sympathetic: Youre weird. But while Niel is very relaxed about his inability to picture things, it is a cause of distress for others. One person who took part in a study into aphantasia said he had started to feel isolated and alone after discovering that other people could see images in their heads. Being unable to reminisce about his mother years after her death led to him being extremely distraught. The super-visualiser At the other end of the spectrum is childrens book illustrator, Lauren Beard, whose work on the Fairytale Hairdresser series will be familiar to many six-year-olds. Her career relies on the vivid images that leap into her minds eye when she reads text from her author. When I met her in her box-room studio in Manchester, she was working on a dramatic scene in the next book. The text describes a baby perilously climbing onto a chandelier. Straightaway I can visualise this grand glass chandelier in some sort of French kind of ballroom, and the little baby just swinging off it and really heavy thick curtains, she says. I think I have a strong imagination, so I can create the world and then keep adding to it so it gets sort of bigger and bigger in my mind and the characters too they sort of evolve. I couldnt really imagine what its like to not imagine, I think it must be a bit of a shame really. Not many people have mental imagery as vibrant as Lauren or as blank as Niel. They are the two extremes of visualisation. Adam Zeman, a professor of cognitive and behavioural neurology, wants to compare the lives and experiences of people with aphantasia and its polar-opposite hyperphantasia. His team, based at the University of Exeter, coined the term aphantasia this year in a study in the journal Cortex. Prof Zeman tells the BBC: People who have contacted us say they are really delighted that this has been recognised and has been given a name, because they have been trying to explain to people for years that there is this oddity that they find hard to convey to others. How we imagine is clearly very subjective one persons vivid scene could be anothers grainy picture. But Prof Zeman is certain that aphantasia is real. People often report being able to dream in pictures, and there have been reported cases of people losing the ability to think in images after a brain injury. He is adamant that aphantasia is not a disorder and says it may affect up to one in 50 people. But he adds: I think it makes quite an important difference to their experience of life because many of us spend our lives with imagery hovering somewhere in the minds eye which we inspect from time to time, its a variability of human experience. | The author met Lauren Beard when she was working on a scene in her next book. | e |
id_934 | Aphantasia: A life without mental images Most people can readily conjure images inside their head known as their minds eye. But this year scientists have described a condition, aphantasia, in which some people are unable to visualise mental images. Niel Kenmuir, from Lancaster, has always had a blind minds eye. He knew he was different even in childhood. My stepfather, when I couldnt sleep, told me to count sheep, and he explained what he meant, I tried to do it and I couldnt, he says. I couldnt see any sheep jumping over fences, there was nothing to count. Our memories are often tied up in images, think back to a wedding or first day at school. As a result, Niel admits, some aspects of his memory are terrible, but he is very good at remembering facts. And, like others with aphantasia, he struggles to recognise faces. Yet he does not see aphantasia as a disability, but simply a different way of experiencing life. Minds eye blind Ironically, Niel now works in a bookshop, although he largely sticks to the non-fiction aisles. His condition begs the question what is going on inside his picture-less mind. I asked him what happens when he tries to picture his fiancee. This is the hardest thing to describe, what happens in my head when I think about things, he says. When I think about my fiancee there is no image, but I am definitely thinking about her, I know today she has her hair up at the back, shes brunette. But Im not describing an image I am looking at, Im remembering features about her, thats the strangest thing and maybe that is a source of some regret. The response from his mates is a very sympathetic: Youre weird. But while Niel is very relaxed about his inability to picture things, it is a cause of distress for others. One person who took part in a study into aphantasia said he had started to feel isolated and alone after discovering that other people could see images in their heads. Being unable to reminisce about his mother years after her death led to him being extremely distraught. The super-visualiser At the other end of the spectrum is childrens book illustrator, Lauren Beard, whose work on the Fairytale Hairdresser series will be familiar to many six-year-olds. Her career relies on the vivid images that leap into her minds eye when she reads text from her author. When I met her in her box-room studio in Manchester, she was working on a dramatic scene in the next book. The text describes a baby perilously climbing onto a chandelier. Straightaway I can visualise this grand glass chandelier in some sort of French kind of ballroom, and the little baby just swinging off it and really heavy thick curtains, she says. I think I have a strong imagination, so I can create the world and then keep adding to it so it gets sort of bigger and bigger in my mind and the characters too they sort of evolve. I couldnt really imagine what its like to not imagine, I think it must be a bit of a shame really. Not many people have mental imagery as vibrant as Lauren or as blank as Niel. They are the two extremes of visualisation. Adam Zeman, a professor of cognitive and behavioural neurology, wants to compare the lives and experiences of people with aphantasia and its polar-opposite hyperphantasia. His team, based at the University of Exeter, coined the term aphantasia this year in a study in the journal Cortex. Prof Zeman tells the BBC: People who have contacted us say they are really delighted that this has been recognised and has been given a name, because they have been trying to explain to people for years that there is this oddity that they find hard to convey to others. How we imagine is clearly very subjective one persons vivid scene could be anothers grainy picture. But Prof Zeman is certain that aphantasia is real. People often report being able to dream in pictures, and there have been reported cases of people losing the ability to think in images after a brain injury. He is adamant that aphantasia is not a disorder and says it may affect up to one in 50 people. But he adds: I think it makes quite an important difference to their experience of life because many of us spend our lives with imagery hovering somewhere in the minds eye which we inspect from time to time, its a variability of human experience. | Different people expressed their satisfaction that the problem of aphantasia and hyperphantasia has finally been recognized. | e |
id_935 | Aphantasia: A life without mental images Most people can readily conjure images inside their head known as their minds eye. But this year scientists have described a condition, aphantasia, in which some people are unable to visualise mental images. Niel Kenmuir, from Lancaster, has always had a blind minds eye. He knew he was different even in childhood. My stepfather, when I couldnt sleep, told me to count sheep, and he explained what he meant, I tried to do it and I couldnt, he says. I couldnt see any sheep jumping over fences, there was nothing to count. Our memories are often tied up in images, think back to a wedding or first day at school. As a result, Niel admits, some aspects of his memory are terrible, but he is very good at remembering facts. And, like others with aphantasia, he struggles to recognise faces. Yet he does not see aphantasia as a disability, but simply a different way of experiencing life. Minds eye blind Ironically, Niel now works in a bookshop, although he largely sticks to the non-fiction aisles. His condition begs the question what is going on inside his picture-less mind. I asked him what happens when he tries to picture his fiancee. This is the hardest thing to describe, what happens in my head when I think about things, he says. When I think about my fiancee there is no image, but I am definitely thinking about her, I know today she has her hair up at the back, shes brunette. But Im not describing an image I am looking at, Im remembering features about her, thats the strangest thing and maybe that is a source of some regret. The response from his mates is a very sympathetic: Youre weird. But while Niel is very relaxed about his inability to picture things, it is a cause of distress for others. One person who took part in a study into aphantasia said he had started to feel isolated and alone after discovering that other people could see images in their heads. Being unable to reminisce about his mother years after her death led to him being extremely distraught. The super-visualiser At the other end of the spectrum is childrens book illustrator, Lauren Beard, whose work on the Fairytale Hairdresser series will be familiar to many six-year-olds. Her career relies on the vivid images that leap into her minds eye when she reads text from her author. When I met her in her box-room studio in Manchester, she was working on a dramatic scene in the next book. The text describes a baby perilously climbing onto a chandelier. Straightaway I can visualise this grand glass chandelier in some sort of French kind of ballroom, and the little baby just swinging off it and really heavy thick curtains, she says. I think I have a strong imagination, so I can create the world and then keep adding to it so it gets sort of bigger and bigger in my mind and the characters too they sort of evolve. I couldnt really imagine what its like to not imagine, I think it must be a bit of a shame really. Not many people have mental imagery as vibrant as Lauren or as blank as Niel. They are the two extremes of visualisation. Adam Zeman, a professor of cognitive and behavioural neurology, wants to compare the lives and experiences of people with aphantasia and its polar-opposite hyperphantasia. His team, based at the University of Exeter, coined the term aphantasia this year in a study in the journal Cortex. Prof Zeman tells the BBC: People who have contacted us say they are really delighted that this has been recognised and has been given a name, because they have been trying to explain to people for years that there is this oddity that they find hard to convey to others. How we imagine is clearly very subjective one persons vivid scene could be anothers grainy picture. But Prof Zeman is certain that aphantasia is real. People often report being able to dream in pictures, and there have been reported cases of people losing the ability to think in images after a brain injury. He is adamant that aphantasia is not a disorder and says it may affect up to one in 50 people. But he adds: I think it makes quite an important difference to their experience of life because many of us spend our lives with imagery hovering somewhere in the minds eye which we inspect from time to time, its a variability of human experience. | Many people with aphantasia struggle to remember personal traits of different people. | n |
id_936 | Applications are now being accepted for the following courses; advanced and foundation Danish, intermediate Ukrainian, advanced, intermediate and foundation Bulgarian, and finally intermediate and foundation Russian. All of the courses will include an Introductory Workshop, with the exception of the non-European languages. You can pick up an application form from the Institute of Foreign Arts; applications will need to be submitted by 10th March 2007. A 10% deposit will need to be paid in advance before the commencement of the course and thereafter payments can be made in four quarterly instalments at the end of each quarter. By the fourth instalment the course will be completed. | The languages which the institute advertises courses for are all European | e |
id_937 | Applications are now being accepted for the following courses; advanced and foundation Danish, intermediate Ukrainian, advanced, intermediate and foundation Bulgarian, and finally intermediate and foundation Russian. All of the courses will include an Introductory Workshop, with the exception of the non-European languages. You can pick up an application form from the Institute of Foreign Arts; applications will need to be submitted by 10th March 2007. A 10% deposit will need to be paid in advance before the commencement of the course and thereafter payments can be made in four quarterly instalments at the end of each quarter. By the fourth instalment the course will be completed. | The Institute of Foreign Arts has all the application forms | n |
id_938 | Applications are now being accepted for the following courses; advanced and foundation Danish, intermediate Ukrainian, advanced, intermediate and foundation Bulgarian, and finally intermediate and foundation Russian. All of the courses will include an Introductory Workshop, with the exception of the non-European languages. You can pick up an application form from the Institute of Foreign Arts; applications will need to be submitted by 10th March 2007. A 10% deposit will need to be paid in advance before the commencement of the course and thereafter payments can be made in four quarterly instalments at the end of each quarter. By the fourth instalment the course will be completed. | The course lasts for a whole year | e |
id_939 | Applications are now being accepted for the following courses; advanced and foundation Danish, intermediate Ukrainian, advanced, intermediate and foundation Bulgarian, and finally intermediate and foundation Russian. All of the courses will include an Introductory Workshop, with the exception of the non-European languages. You can pick up an application form from the Institute of Foreign Arts; applications will need to be submitted by 10th March 2007. A 10% deposit will need to be paid in advance before the commencement of the course and thereafter payments can be made in four quarterly instalments at the end of each quarter. By the fourth instalment the course will be completed. | The institution only teaches European languages | c |
id_940 | Approximately 3 percent of the population say they have had a near-death experiencea sense of being dead or leaving one's body. Near-death experiences are reported across cultures, with written records of them dating back to ancient Greece. Not all of these experiences actually coincide with brushes with death one study of 58 such patients found 30 were not actually in danger of dying, although most of them thought they were. Out-of-body experiences are also now known to be common during interrupted sleep patterns that immediately precede sleeping or waking. For instance, sleep paralysis, or the experience of feeling paralyzed while still aware of the outside world, is reported in up to 40 percent of all people and is linked with vivid dreamlike hallucinations that can result in the sensation of floating above one's body. Research found that out-of-body experiences can be artificially triggered by stimulating the right temporoparietal junction in the brain, suggesting that confusion regarding sensory information can radically alter how one experiences one's body. | The sensation of floating above one's body occurs only when one is asleep. | c |
id_941 | Approximately 3 percent of the population say they have had a near-death experiencea sense of being dead or leaving one's body. Near-death experiences are reported across cultures, with written records of them dating back to ancient Greece. Not all of these experiences actually coincide with brushes with death one study of 58 such patients found 30 were not actually in danger of dying, although most of them thought they were. Out-of-body experiences are also now known to be common during interrupted sleep patterns that immediately precede sleeping or waking. For instance, sleep paralysis, or the experience of feeling paralyzed while still aware of the outside world, is reported in up to 40 percent of all people and is linked with vivid dreamlike hallucinations that can result in the sensation of floating above one's body. Research found that out-of-body experiences can be artificially triggered by stimulating the right temporoparietal junction in the brain, suggesting that confusion regarding sensory information can radically alter how one experiences one's body. | Approximately 97% of the population have not experienced a near-death experience. | n |
id_942 | Approximately 3 percent of the population say they have had a near-death experiencea sense of being dead or leaving one's body. Near-death experiences are reported across cultures, with written records of them dating back to ancient Greece. Not all of these experiences actually coincide with brushes with death one study of 58 such patients found 30 were not actually in danger of dying, although most of them thought they were. Out-of-body experiences are also now known to be common during interrupted sleep patterns that immediately precede sleeping or waking. For instance, sleep paralysis, or the experience of feeling paralyzed while still aware of the outside world, is reported in up to 40 percent of all people and is linked with vivid dreamlike hallucinations that can result in the sensation of floating above one's body. Research found that out-of-body experiences can be artificially triggered by stimulating the right temporoparietal junction in the brain, suggesting that confusion regarding sensory information can radically alter how one experiences one's body. | Near-death experience is only one type of out-of-body experience. | e |
id_943 | Architects marry only fair girls. Bimla is very fair. | Bimla was not married to an Architect. | n |
id_944 | Architects marry only fair girls. Bimla is very fair. | Bimla was married to an Architect. | n |
id_945 | Are You Being Served? The worlds factory, it turns out, has a sizeable canteen attached, not to mention an office block and shopping mall. Last months official revision of Chinas gross domestic product revealed an economy worth 16 trillion yuan ($1.9 trillion) in 2004, 17% more than previously thought. Some $265 billion of the increase 93% of it was ascribed to the services sector. As a result, services share of the economy has jumped by nine percentage points, to 41%, compared with 46% for manufacturing and 13% for primary industries (mainly agriculture and mining). Where has all this extra activity come from? The bulk of it is obvious to any traveller in China. As people grow wealthier, they want more restaurants and bars, clothes stores, car dealerships, bookshops, private hospitals, English language classes and beauty salons. In many of these businesses, however, turnover and profits have not previously been captured by a statistical system geared to measuring factory production. The small, often private, companies that dominate these areas have also often been at pains to escape notice and therefore taxes. Li Deshui, commissioner of Chinas National Bureau of Statistics, confirms that most of the newly unearthed GDP comes from three categories. The first is wholesale, retail and catering; the second, transport, storage, post and telecommunications. While postal and telecoms services are still state-controlled and thus readily measured, more than a million small tracking and removal companies are not. The third activity is real estate, booming particularly in the coastal cities and increasingly inland too, leading to an influx of private money not least from overseas speculators. Property development has, in turn, boosted demand for architects, decorators, do-it-yourself stores and other building services. There is more to Chinas services boom than dishing up stir-fries, shipping boxes and fitting out apartments. Recent years have seen a surge in media and technology services, including the internet; in financial services such as leasing; and in education and leisure. In a small way, for example, China is starting to rival India as an outsourcing hub: less for call-centres that require excellent English than for such tasks as preparing reports and patent filings. In October Microsoft took a stake in a Chinese software firm in Dalian, a city in north-east China with a thriving outsourcing industry preparing tax returns and software for companies from Japan and South Korea. Chinas rapid economic growth is fuelling demand for accountants, lawyers, bankers and all manner of consultants, as Chinese companies expand and restructure. Specialists in marketing, advertising and public relations advise on the relatively new area of marketing products and developing brands. The new wealth has other consequences, too. China now has nearly a million security guards. It can offer its new rich everything from cosmetic surgeons to pet salons. Meanwhile, a huge new market is opening up for private educationfuelled by the combination of a poor public system, the preoccupation of middle-class parents with giving their (often) only child the best chances, and demand from business. Chinese families spend more on education than on anything except housing the market for courses, books and materials more than doubled from 2002 levels, to $90 billion in 2005. Richer households have also caused a tourism boom, which is still chiefly domestic, though more mainlanders are venturing overseas as visa restrictions are lifted. The World Travel & Tourism Council predicts that Chinas annual tourism market will more than triple to $300 billion within a decade. Chinas services sector, on this basis, is well-developed and roughly as large as those of Japan and South Korea were at a similar stage of development, notes the HSBC bank. In reality, it is bigger still, since the GDP revision cannot capture activities such as kerbside lending and tax-dodging cash transactions in property or entertainmentall of which Dong Tao, chief Asia economist at CSFB, another bank, reckons add another $220 billion to the economy. Even so, the 41% of GDP claimed by services in China remains below the 60-75% typical in developed countries. It is smaller even than Indias 52%. One reason for this is a bias towards manufacturingChinas real-men-make-stuff attitude, as Gordon Orr of McKinseys Shanghai office puts it. This has led to a plethora of ill-thought-through regulations for services, made worse by Chinas continuing suspicion of private business, which is mostly concentrated in the services sector. The lack of a national trucking licence, for example, means hauliers must get approval from each province to move goods across the country and unload them on to different trucks at each borderdelaying delivery and increasing spoilage and pilfering. In retailing, local governments often maintain inefficient supply chains, in part to protect local jobs. David Wei, head of B&Q in China, says his 48 do-it-yourself stores on the mainland are served by 1800 suppliers, compared with 600 suppliers in Britain for more than 300 stores. Worse, though China took an early decision to invite foreign direct investment into manufacturing, it has been reluctant to open up services. Diana Farrell, director of the McKinsey Global Institute, the consultancys think-tank, argues that allowing more foreign investment in services could bring not just capital and technology but a competitive dynamic. The presence of Carrefour and Wal-Mart has led to domestic copycats, creating innovation and productivity growth. | Some of the newly-discovered GDP comes from the education sector. | n |
id_946 | Are You Being Served? The worlds factory, it turns out, has a sizeable canteen attached, not to mention an office block and shopping mall. Last months official revision of Chinas gross domestic product revealed an economy worth 16 trillion yuan ($1.9 trillion) in 2004, 17% more than previously thought. Some $265 billion of the increase 93% of it was ascribed to the services sector. As a result, services share of the economy has jumped by nine percentage points, to 41%, compared with 46% for manufacturing and 13% for primary industries (mainly agriculture and mining). Where has all this extra activity come from? The bulk of it is obvious to any traveller in China. As people grow wealthier, they want more restaurants and bars, clothes stores, car dealerships, bookshops, private hospitals, English language classes and beauty salons. In many of these businesses, however, turnover and profits have not previously been captured by a statistical system geared to measuring factory production. The small, often private, companies that dominate these areas have also often been at pains to escape notice and therefore taxes. Li Deshui, commissioner of Chinas National Bureau of Statistics, confirms that most of the newly unearthed GDP comes from three categories. The first is wholesale, retail and catering; the second, transport, storage, post and telecommunications. While postal and telecoms services are still state-controlled and thus readily measured, more than a million small tracking and removal companies are not. The third activity is real estate, booming particularly in the coastal cities and increasingly inland too, leading to an influx of private money not least from overseas speculators. Property development has, in turn, boosted demand for architects, decorators, do-it-yourself stores and other building services. There is more to Chinas services boom than dishing up stir-fries, shipping boxes and fitting out apartments. Recent years have seen a surge in media and technology services, including the internet; in financial services such as leasing; and in education and leisure. In a small way, for example, China is starting to rival India as an outsourcing hub: less for call-centres that require excellent English than for such tasks as preparing reports and patent filings. In October Microsoft took a stake in a Chinese software firm in Dalian, a city in north-east China with a thriving outsourcing industry preparing tax returns and software for companies from Japan and South Korea. Chinas rapid economic growth is fuelling demand for accountants, lawyers, bankers and all manner of consultants, as Chinese companies expand and restructure. Specialists in marketing, advertising and public relations advise on the relatively new area of marketing products and developing brands. The new wealth has other consequences, too. China now has nearly a million security guards. It can offer its new rich everything from cosmetic surgeons to pet salons. Meanwhile, a huge new market is opening up for private educationfuelled by the combination of a poor public system, the preoccupation of middle-class parents with giving their (often) only child the best chances, and demand from business. Chinese families spend more on education than on anything except housing the market for courses, books and materials more than doubled from 2002 levels, to $90 billion in 2005. Richer households have also caused a tourism boom, which is still chiefly domestic, though more mainlanders are venturing overseas as visa restrictions are lifted. The World Travel & Tourism Council predicts that Chinas annual tourism market will more than triple to $300 billion within a decade. Chinas services sector, on this basis, is well-developed and roughly as large as those of Japan and South Korea were at a similar stage of development, notes the HSBC bank. In reality, it is bigger still, since the GDP revision cannot capture activities such as kerbside lending and tax-dodging cash transactions in property or entertainmentall of which Dong Tao, chief Asia economist at CSFB, another bank, reckons add another $220 billion to the economy. Even so, the 41% of GDP claimed by services in China remains below the 60-75% typical in developed countries. It is smaller even than Indias 52%. One reason for this is a bias towards manufacturingChinas real-men-make-stuff attitude, as Gordon Orr of McKinseys Shanghai office puts it. This has led to a plethora of ill-thought-through regulations for services, made worse by Chinas continuing suspicion of private business, which is mostly concentrated in the services sector. The lack of a national trucking licence, for example, means hauliers must get approval from each province to move goods across the country and unload them on to different trucks at each borderdelaying delivery and increasing spoilage and pilfering. In retailing, local governments often maintain inefficient supply chains, in part to protect local jobs. David Wei, head of B&Q in China, says his 48 do-it-yourself stores on the mainland are served by 1800 suppliers, compared with 600 suppliers in Britain for more than 300 stores. Worse, though China took an early decision to invite foreign direct investment into manufacturing, it has been reluctant to open up services. Diana Farrell, director of the McKinsey Global Institute, the consultancys think-tank, argues that allowing more foreign investment in services could bring not just capital and technology but a competitive dynamic. The presence of Carrefour and Wal-Mart has led to domestic copycats, creating innovation and productivity growth. | Chinas services sector is about the same size as Japans and South Koreas. | c |
id_947 | Are You Being Served? The worlds factory, it turns out, has a sizeable canteen attached, not to mention an office block and shopping mall. Last months official revision of Chinas gross domestic product revealed an economy worth 16 trillion yuan ($1.9 trillion) in 2004, 17% more than previously thought. Some $265 billion of the increase 93% of it was ascribed to the services sector. As a result, services share of the economy has jumped by nine percentage points, to 41%, compared with 46% for manufacturing and 13% for primary industries (mainly agriculture and mining). Where has all this extra activity come from? The bulk of it is obvious to any traveller in China. As people grow wealthier, they want more restaurants and bars, clothes stores, car dealerships, bookshops, private hospitals, English language classes and beauty salons. In many of these businesses, however, turnover and profits have not previously been captured by a statistical system geared to measuring factory production. The small, often private, companies that dominate these areas have also often been at pains to escape notice and therefore taxes. Li Deshui, commissioner of Chinas National Bureau of Statistics, confirms that most of the newly unearthed GDP comes from three categories. The first is wholesale, retail and catering; the second, transport, storage, post and telecommunications. While postal and telecoms services are still state-controlled and thus readily measured, more than a million small tracking and removal companies are not. The third activity is real estate, booming particularly in the coastal cities and increasingly inland too, leading to an influx of private money not least from overseas speculators. Property development has, in turn, boosted demand for architects, decorators, do-it-yourself stores and other building services. There is more to Chinas services boom than dishing up stir-fries, shipping boxes and fitting out apartments. Recent years have seen a surge in media and technology services, including the internet; in financial services such as leasing; and in education and leisure. In a small way, for example, China is starting to rival India as an outsourcing hub: less for call-centres that require excellent English than for such tasks as preparing reports and patent filings. In October Microsoft took a stake in a Chinese software firm in Dalian, a city in north-east China with a thriving outsourcing industry preparing tax returns and software for companies from Japan and South Korea. Chinas rapid economic growth is fuelling demand for accountants, lawyers, bankers and all manner of consultants, as Chinese companies expand and restructure. Specialists in marketing, advertising and public relations advise on the relatively new area of marketing products and developing brands. The new wealth has other consequences, too. China now has nearly a million security guards. It can offer its new rich everything from cosmetic surgeons to pet salons. Meanwhile, a huge new market is opening up for private educationfuelled by the combination of a poor public system, the preoccupation of middle-class parents with giving their (often) only child the best chances, and demand from business. Chinese families spend more on education than on anything except housing the market for courses, books and materials more than doubled from 2002 levels, to $90 billion in 2005. Richer households have also caused a tourism boom, which is still chiefly domestic, though more mainlanders are venturing overseas as visa restrictions are lifted. The World Travel & Tourism Council predicts that Chinas annual tourism market will more than triple to $300 billion within a decade. Chinas services sector, on this basis, is well-developed and roughly as large as those of Japan and South Korea were at a similar stage of development, notes the HSBC bank. In reality, it is bigger still, since the GDP revision cannot capture activities such as kerbside lending and tax-dodging cash transactions in property or entertainmentall of which Dong Tao, chief Asia economist at CSFB, another bank, reckons add another $220 billion to the economy. Even so, the 41% of GDP claimed by services in China remains below the 60-75% typical in developed countries. It is smaller even than Indias 52%. One reason for this is a bias towards manufacturingChinas real-men-make-stuff attitude, as Gordon Orr of McKinseys Shanghai office puts it. This has led to a plethora of ill-thought-through regulations for services, made worse by Chinas continuing suspicion of private business, which is mostly concentrated in the services sector. The lack of a national trucking licence, for example, means hauliers must get approval from each province to move goods across the country and unload them on to different trucks at each borderdelaying delivery and increasing spoilage and pilfering. In retailing, local governments often maintain inefficient supply chains, in part to protect local jobs. David Wei, head of B&Q in China, says his 48 do-it-yourself stores on the mainland are served by 1800 suppliers, compared with 600 suppliers in Britain for more than 300 stores. Worse, though China took an early decision to invite foreign direct investment into manufacturing, it has been reluctant to open up services. Diana Farrell, director of the McKinsey Global Institute, the consultancys think-tank, argues that allowing more foreign investment in services could bring not just capital and technology but a competitive dynamic. The presence of Carrefour and Wal-Mart has led to domestic copycats, creating innovation and productivity growth. | As visa restrictions are lowered, Chinese people are expected to spend more than$300 billion on tourism. | e |
id_948 | Are You Being Served? The worlds factory, it turns out, has a sizeable canteen attached, not to mention an office block and shopping mall. Last months official revision of Chinas gross domestic product revealed an economy worth 16 trillion yuan ($1.9 trillion) in 2004, 17% more than previously thought. Some $265 billion of the increase 93% of it was ascribed to the services sector. As a result, services share of the economy has jumped by nine percentage points, to 41%, compared with 46% for manufacturing and 13% for primary industries (mainly agriculture and mining). Where has all this extra activity come from? The bulk of it is obvious to any traveller in China. As people grow wealthier, they want more restaurants and bars, clothes stores, car dealerships, bookshops, private hospitals, English language classes and beauty salons. In many of these businesses, however, turnover and profits have not previously been captured by a statistical system geared to measuring factory production. The small, often private, companies that dominate these areas have also often been at pains to escape notice and therefore taxes. Li Deshui, commissioner of Chinas National Bureau of Statistics, confirms that most of the newly unearthed GDP comes from three categories. The first is wholesale, retail and catering; the second, transport, storage, post and telecommunications. While postal and telecoms services are still state-controlled and thus readily measured, more than a million small tracking and removal companies are not. The third activity is real estate, booming particularly in the coastal cities and increasingly inland too, leading to an influx of private money not least from overseas speculators. Property development has, in turn, boosted demand for architects, decorators, do-it-yourself stores and other building services. There is more to Chinas services boom than dishing up stir-fries, shipping boxes and fitting out apartments. Recent years have seen a surge in media and technology services, including the internet; in financial services such as leasing; and in education and leisure. In a small way, for example, China is starting to rival India as an outsourcing hub: less for call-centres that require excellent English than for such tasks as preparing reports and patent filings. In October Microsoft took a stake in a Chinese software firm in Dalian, a city in north-east China with a thriving outsourcing industry preparing tax returns and software for companies from Japan and South Korea. Chinas rapid economic growth is fuelling demand for accountants, lawyers, bankers and all manner of consultants, as Chinese companies expand and restructure. Specialists in marketing, advertising and public relations advise on the relatively new area of marketing products and developing brands. The new wealth has other consequences, too. China now has nearly a million security guards. It can offer its new rich everything from cosmetic surgeons to pet salons. Meanwhile, a huge new market is opening up for private educationfuelled by the combination of a poor public system, the preoccupation of middle-class parents with giving their (often) only child the best chances, and demand from business. Chinese families spend more on education than on anything except housing the market for courses, books and materials more than doubled from 2002 levels, to $90 billion in 2005. Richer households have also caused a tourism boom, which is still chiefly domestic, though more mainlanders are venturing overseas as visa restrictions are lifted. The World Travel & Tourism Council predicts that Chinas annual tourism market will more than triple to $300 billion within a decade. Chinas services sector, on this basis, is well-developed and roughly as large as those of Japan and South Korea were at a similar stage of development, notes the HSBC bank. In reality, it is bigger still, since the GDP revision cannot capture activities such as kerbside lending and tax-dodging cash transactions in property or entertainmentall of which Dong Tao, chief Asia economist at CSFB, another bank, reckons add another $220 billion to the economy. Even so, the 41% of GDP claimed by services in China remains below the 60-75% typical in developed countries. It is smaller even than Indias 52%. One reason for this is a bias towards manufacturingChinas real-men-make-stuff attitude, as Gordon Orr of McKinseys Shanghai office puts it. This has led to a plethora of ill-thought-through regulations for services, made worse by Chinas continuing suspicion of private business, which is mostly concentrated in the services sector. The lack of a national trucking licence, for example, means hauliers must get approval from each province to move goods across the country and unload them on to different trucks at each borderdelaying delivery and increasing spoilage and pilfering. In retailing, local governments often maintain inefficient supply chains, in part to protect local jobs. David Wei, head of B&Q in China, says his 48 do-it-yourself stores on the mainland are served by 1800 suppliers, compared with 600 suppliers in Britain for more than 300 stores. Worse, though China took an early decision to invite foreign direct investment into manufacturing, it has been reluctant to open up services. Diana Farrell, director of the McKinsey Global Institute, the consultancys think-tank, argues that allowing more foreign investment in services could bring not just capital and technology but a competitive dynamic. The presence of Carrefour and Wal-Mart has led to domestic copycats, creating innovation and productivity growth. | Dalian is a successful outsourcing center for Japan and Korea. | e |
id_949 | Are You Being Served? The worlds factory, it turns out, has a sizeable canteen attached, not to mention an office block and shopping mall. Last months official revision of Chinas gross domestic product revealed an economy worth 16 trillion yuan ($1.9 trillion) in 2004, 17% more than previously thought. Some $265 billion of the increase 93% of it was ascribed to the services sector. As a result, services share of the economy has jumped by nine percentage points, to 41%, compared with 46% for manufacturing and 13% for primary industries (mainly agriculture and mining). Where has all this extra activity come from? The bulk of it is obvious to any traveller in China. As people grow wealthier, they want more restaurants and bars, clothes stores, car dealerships, bookshops, private hospitals, English language classes and beauty salons. In many of these businesses, however, turnover and profits have not previously been captured by a statistical system geared to measuring factory production. The small, often private, companies that dominate these areas have also often been at pains to escape notice and therefore taxes. Li Deshui, commissioner of Chinas National Bureau of Statistics, confirms that most of the newly unearthed GDP comes from three categories. The first is wholesale, retail and catering; the second, transport, storage, post and telecommunications. While postal and telecoms services are still state-controlled and thus readily measured, more than a million small tracking and removal companies are not. The third activity is real estate, booming particularly in the coastal cities and increasingly inland too, leading to an influx of private money not least from overseas speculators. Property development has, in turn, boosted demand for architects, decorators, do-it-yourself stores and other building services. There is more to Chinas services boom than dishing up stir-fries, shipping boxes and fitting out apartments. Recent years have seen a surge in media and technology services, including the internet; in financial services such as leasing; and in education and leisure. In a small way, for example, China is starting to rival India as an outsourcing hub: less for call-centres that require excellent English than for such tasks as preparing reports and patent filings. In October Microsoft took a stake in a Chinese software firm in Dalian, a city in north-east China with a thriving outsourcing industry preparing tax returns and software for companies from Japan and South Korea. Chinas rapid economic growth is fuelling demand for accountants, lawyers, bankers and all manner of consultants, as Chinese companies expand and restructure. Specialists in marketing, advertising and public relations advise on the relatively new area of marketing products and developing brands. The new wealth has other consequences, too. China now has nearly a million security guards. It can offer its new rich everything from cosmetic surgeons to pet salons. Meanwhile, a huge new market is opening up for private educationfuelled by the combination of a poor public system, the preoccupation of middle-class parents with giving their (often) only child the best chances, and demand from business. Chinese families spend more on education than on anything except housing the market for courses, books and materials more than doubled from 2002 levels, to $90 billion in 2005. Richer households have also caused a tourism boom, which is still chiefly domestic, though more mainlanders are venturing overseas as visa restrictions are lifted. The World Travel & Tourism Council predicts that Chinas annual tourism market will more than triple to $300 billion within a decade. Chinas services sector, on this basis, is well-developed and roughly as large as those of Japan and South Korea were at a similar stage of development, notes the HSBC bank. In reality, it is bigger still, since the GDP revision cannot capture activities such as kerbside lending and tax-dodging cash transactions in property or entertainmentall of which Dong Tao, chief Asia economist at CSFB, another bank, reckons add another $220 billion to the economy. Even so, the 41% of GDP claimed by services in China remains below the 60-75% typical in developed countries. It is smaller even than Indias 52%. One reason for this is a bias towards manufacturingChinas real-men-make-stuff attitude, as Gordon Orr of McKinseys Shanghai office puts it. This has led to a plethora of ill-thought-through regulations for services, made worse by Chinas continuing suspicion of private business, which is mostly concentrated in the services sector. The lack of a national trucking licence, for example, means hauliers must get approval from each province to move goods across the country and unload them on to different trucks at each borderdelaying delivery and increasing spoilage and pilfering. In retailing, local governments often maintain inefficient supply chains, in part to protect local jobs. David Wei, head of B&Q in China, says his 48 do-it-yourself stores on the mainland are served by 1800 suppliers, compared with 600 suppliers in Britain for more than 300 stores. Worse, though China took an early decision to invite foreign direct investment into manufacturing, it has been reluctant to open up services. Diana Farrell, director of the McKinsey Global Institute, the consultancys think-tank, argues that allowing more foreign investment in services could bring not just capital and technology but a competitive dynamic. The presence of Carrefour and Wal-Mart has led to domestic copycats, creating innovation and productivity growth. | Officially, the largest sector in China is the service sector. | c |
id_950 | Are You Experienced? How we spend our money is changing. In the new experience economy, we pay to do things, not have things. Trevor Beattie, the advertising supremo, has earned millions by devising original and controversial publicity campaigns. His agency assembled the arresting FCUK logo for French Connection. However, he doesnt believe in amassing expensive emblems of success, instead lavishing his fortune on such ephemeral things as flights in a MiG jet, or flying his mum on Concorde. He says that buying a Porsche is the saddest thing in the history of money. Beattie is not alone in prizing memories above materialism. For a truly special birthday party, a Ferrari in a ribbon will no longer cut it. What the super-rich really want is their own private . Rolling Stones concert (cost: 2 million) or a trip into space (100,000, courtesy of Virgin Galactic). Even the rest of us dont particularly want stuff any more: wed rather enjoy a day at the races, a massage, a ride in a hot-air balloon, or a weekend cookery course run by a Michelin-starred chef. These are all symptomatic of the growing experience economy, which has evolved out of a culture of mass affluence. With our basic needs satisfied the disposable income of Britons is double what it was in 1980 we are becoming increasingly choosy about how we spend our money. Rather than upgrading our car or television, well spend the cash in coffee shops, hotels, restaurants, sports clubs, and theme parks. Well splash out on European city breaks or walking the Inca Trail. Experiences, in other words, the amount that British people spend on retail goods as a proportion of consumer spending has gone down in the past ten years. That money has migrated to restaurants, leisure and budget travel, as well as mobile phone calls. Even that most acquisitional of pursuits, shopping, has had to wake up to the experience economy. Shopping malls such as Bluewater have acknowledged the arrival of the experience economy by restyling themselves as destinations for a family day out. You can browse, dine, and take in a film; the shopping is optional. Companies such as Marks & Spencer recognise the trend, which is why theyve started putting coffee shops and bookshops in their stores. The experience of shopping is just as important to us as what we end up taking home. The experience economy was first predicted in a 1998 article in the Harvard Business Review by James Gilmore, an American business consultant who advocates, among other things, sleep deprivation as an idea booster. The idea was later expanded into The Experience Economy: Work is Theatre & Every Business a Stage. Written with B. Joseph Pine, the book posits that we are in the middle of a profound economic shift. Just as we moved from a goods to a service economy, now we are shifting from a service to an experience economy. Accordingly, to stand out in the marketplace, companies need to offer not just goods and services but experiences. Companies are no longer mere suppliers but stagers of events designed to be experienced. The newest retail stores prove the point: the flagship Toys R Us shop in Times Square in New York is no pile em high, sell em cheap emporium. Visitors are immersed in the Toys R Us experience as soon as they encounter the Ferris wheel at the front door. Other attractions include two floors designed as a Barbie house, and an animatronic dinosaur. Shoppers are called guests. The idea is to foster an emotional attachment between company and consumer, and hope that guests will want to acquire a memento that reminds them of the warm fuzzy feelings they had during the experience. The hippest companies of the moment Starbucks, Apple and, on a smaller scale, the drinks company Innocent are all admired within the business industry for their ability to connect emotionally with their consumers and for proving that people will pay a premium to buy into their world. An Innocent fruit smoothie, for example, costs about 2, much more than a non-branded smoothie. Magazine reviews of the Apple iPod, which always criticise its battery life and exorbitant price tag, are inevitably forgiving because of the iPods iconic design and an enduring affection for the companys perceived ability to do things differently. Visitors to Apples six British stores are encouraged to use an online concierge to help them to plan their trip, showing that progressive companies have bought in fully to the hospitality concept. The conveyor belt of business publishing also attests to the increasing importance of the customer experience. Pine and Gilmores groundbreaking offering was followed by such tomes as Priceless: Turning Ordinary Products into Extraordinary Experiences (which became required reading at IBM, Estee Lauder and Pizza Hut) and Making Meaning: How Successful Businesses Deliver Meaningful Customer Experiences. They all preach the same gospel: that, contrary to what companies think, not all consumers are focused on bagging the cheapest product. The buying experience is critical (which is why we have not all switched to Internet shopping or no-frills airlines). The most notable aspect of the experience economy is how much we are prepared to pay for a purely non-material experience, such as a day in a spa or a trip to Prague. A collision of social trends is responsible. This era is unique in the coming together of various trends such as globalism, multiculturalism, and a demographic shift in terms of longevity. There are more leisure activities around today than twenty years ago. We are aware of these other activities and cultures, and we now have the money to experience them. Now that we are living longer, we have more time to try different things. | Companies believe there is a clear limit to how much people will pay for experience. | n |
id_951 | Are You Experienced? How we spend our money is changing. In the new experience economy, we pay to do things, not have things. Trevor Beattie, the advertising supremo, has earned millions by devising original and controversial publicity campaigns. His agency assembled the arresting FCUK logo for French Connection. However, he doesnt believe in amassing expensive emblems of success, instead lavishing his fortune on such ephemeral things as flights in a MiG jet, or flying his mum on Concorde. He says that buying a Porsche is the saddest thing in the history of money. Beattie is not alone in prizing memories above materialism. For a truly special birthday party, a Ferrari in a ribbon will no longer cut it. What the super-rich really want is their own private . Rolling Stones concert (cost: 2 million) or a trip into space (100,000, courtesy of Virgin Galactic). Even the rest of us dont particularly want stuff any more: wed rather enjoy a day at the races, a massage, a ride in a hot-air balloon, or a weekend cookery course run by a Michelin-starred chef. These are all symptomatic of the growing experience economy, which has evolved out of a culture of mass affluence. With our basic needs satisfied the disposable income of Britons is double what it was in 1980 we are becoming increasingly choosy about how we spend our money. Rather than upgrading our car or television, well spend the cash in coffee shops, hotels, restaurants, sports clubs, and theme parks. Well splash out on European city breaks or walking the Inca Trail. Experiences, in other words, the amount that British people spend on retail goods as a proportion of consumer spending has gone down in the past ten years. That money has migrated to restaurants, leisure and budget travel, as well as mobile phone calls. Even that most acquisitional of pursuits, shopping, has had to wake up to the experience economy. Shopping malls such as Bluewater have acknowledged the arrival of the experience economy by restyling themselves as destinations for a family day out. You can browse, dine, and take in a film; the shopping is optional. Companies such as Marks & Spencer recognise the trend, which is why theyve started putting coffee shops and bookshops in their stores. The experience of shopping is just as important to us as what we end up taking home. The experience economy was first predicted in a 1998 article in the Harvard Business Review by James Gilmore, an American business consultant who advocates, among other things, sleep deprivation as an idea booster. The idea was later expanded into The Experience Economy: Work is Theatre & Every Business a Stage. Written with B. Joseph Pine, the book posits that we are in the middle of a profound economic shift. Just as we moved from a goods to a service economy, now we are shifting from a service to an experience economy. Accordingly, to stand out in the marketplace, companies need to offer not just goods and services but experiences. Companies are no longer mere suppliers but stagers of events designed to be experienced. The newest retail stores prove the point: the flagship Toys R Us shop in Times Square in New York is no pile em high, sell em cheap emporium. Visitors are immersed in the Toys R Us experience as soon as they encounter the Ferris wheel at the front door. Other attractions include two floors designed as a Barbie house, and an animatronic dinosaur. Shoppers are called guests. The idea is to foster an emotional attachment between company and consumer, and hope that guests will want to acquire a memento that reminds them of the warm fuzzy feelings they had during the experience. The hippest companies of the moment Starbucks, Apple and, on a smaller scale, the drinks company Innocent are all admired within the business industry for their ability to connect emotionally with their consumers and for proving that people will pay a premium to buy into their world. An Innocent fruit smoothie, for example, costs about 2, much more than a non-branded smoothie. Magazine reviews of the Apple iPod, which always criticise its battery life and exorbitant price tag, are inevitably forgiving because of the iPods iconic design and an enduring affection for the companys perceived ability to do things differently. Visitors to Apples six British stores are encouraged to use an online concierge to help them to plan their trip, showing that progressive companies have bought in fully to the hospitality concept. The conveyor belt of business publishing also attests to the increasing importance of the customer experience. Pine and Gilmores groundbreaking offering was followed by such tomes as Priceless: Turning Ordinary Products into Extraordinary Experiences (which became required reading at IBM, Estee Lauder and Pizza Hut) and Making Meaning: How Successful Businesses Deliver Meaningful Customer Experiences. They all preach the same gospel: that, contrary to what companies think, not all consumers are focused on bagging the cheapest product. The buying experience is critical (which is why we have not all switched to Internet shopping or no-frills airlines). The most notable aspect of the experience economy is how much we are prepared to pay for a purely non-material experience, such as a day in a spa or a trip to Prague. A collision of social trends is responsible. This era is unique in the coming together of various trends such as globalism, multiculturalism, and a demographic shift in terms of longevity. There are more leisure activities around today than twenty years ago. We are aware of these other activities and cultures, and we now have the money to experience them. Now that we are living longer, we have more time to try different things. | iPods are often criticised for being too expensive. | e |
id_952 | Are You Experienced? How we spend our money is changing. In the new experience economy, we pay to do things, not have things. Trevor Beattie, the advertising supremo, has earned millions by devising original and controversial publicity campaigns. His agency assembled the arresting FCUK logo for French Connection. However, he doesnt believe in amassing expensive emblems of success, instead lavishing his fortune on such ephemeral things as flights in a MiG jet, or flying his mum on Concorde. He says that buying a Porsche is the saddest thing in the history of money. Beattie is not alone in prizing memories above materialism. For a truly special birthday party, a Ferrari in a ribbon will no longer cut it. What the super-rich really want is their own private . Rolling Stones concert (cost: 2 million) or a trip into space (100,000, courtesy of Virgin Galactic). Even the rest of us dont particularly want stuff any more: wed rather enjoy a day at the races, a massage, a ride in a hot-air balloon, or a weekend cookery course run by a Michelin-starred chef. These are all symptomatic of the growing experience economy, which has evolved out of a culture of mass affluence. With our basic needs satisfied the disposable income of Britons is double what it was in 1980 we are becoming increasingly choosy about how we spend our money. Rather than upgrading our car or television, well spend the cash in coffee shops, hotels, restaurants, sports clubs, and theme parks. Well splash out on European city breaks or walking the Inca Trail. Experiences, in other words, the amount that British people spend on retail goods as a proportion of consumer spending has gone down in the past ten years. That money has migrated to restaurants, leisure and budget travel, as well as mobile phone calls. Even that most acquisitional of pursuits, shopping, has had to wake up to the experience economy. Shopping malls such as Bluewater have acknowledged the arrival of the experience economy by restyling themselves as destinations for a family day out. You can browse, dine, and take in a film; the shopping is optional. Companies such as Marks & Spencer recognise the trend, which is why theyve started putting coffee shops and bookshops in their stores. The experience of shopping is just as important to us as what we end up taking home. The experience economy was first predicted in a 1998 article in the Harvard Business Review by James Gilmore, an American business consultant who advocates, among other things, sleep deprivation as an idea booster. The idea was later expanded into The Experience Economy: Work is Theatre & Every Business a Stage. Written with B. Joseph Pine, the book posits that we are in the middle of a profound economic shift. Just as we moved from a goods to a service economy, now we are shifting from a service to an experience economy. Accordingly, to stand out in the marketplace, companies need to offer not just goods and services but experiences. Companies are no longer mere suppliers but stagers of events designed to be experienced. The newest retail stores prove the point: the flagship Toys R Us shop in Times Square in New York is no pile em high, sell em cheap emporium. Visitors are immersed in the Toys R Us experience as soon as they encounter the Ferris wheel at the front door. Other attractions include two floors designed as a Barbie house, and an animatronic dinosaur. Shoppers are called guests. The idea is to foster an emotional attachment between company and consumer, and hope that guests will want to acquire a memento that reminds them of the warm fuzzy feelings they had during the experience. The hippest companies of the moment Starbucks, Apple and, on a smaller scale, the drinks company Innocent are all admired within the business industry for their ability to connect emotionally with their consumers and for proving that people will pay a premium to buy into their world. An Innocent fruit smoothie, for example, costs about 2, much more than a non-branded smoothie. Magazine reviews of the Apple iPod, which always criticise its battery life and exorbitant price tag, are inevitably forgiving because of the iPods iconic design and an enduring affection for the companys perceived ability to do things differently. Visitors to Apples six British stores are encouraged to use an online concierge to help them to plan their trip, showing that progressive companies have bought in fully to the hospitality concept. The conveyor belt of business publishing also attests to the increasing importance of the customer experience. Pine and Gilmores groundbreaking offering was followed by such tomes as Priceless: Turning Ordinary Products into Extraordinary Experiences (which became required reading at IBM, Estee Lauder and Pizza Hut) and Making Meaning: How Successful Businesses Deliver Meaningful Customer Experiences. They all preach the same gospel: that, contrary to what companies think, not all consumers are focused on bagging the cheapest product. The buying experience is critical (which is why we have not all switched to Internet shopping or no-frills airlines). The most notable aspect of the experience economy is how much we are prepared to pay for a purely non-material experience, such as a day in a spa or a trip to Prague. A collision of social trends is responsible. This era is unique in the coming together of various trends such as globalism, multiculturalism, and a demographic shift in terms of longevity. There are more leisure activities around today than twenty years ago. We are aware of these other activities and cultures, and we now have the money to experience them. Now that we are living longer, we have more time to try different things. | Apple is considered to be a creative company. | e |
id_953 | Are You Experienced? How we spend our money is changing. In the new experience economy, we pay to do things, not have things. Trevor Beattie, the advertising supremo, has earned millions by devising original and controversial publicity campaigns. His agency assembled the arresting FCUK logo for French Connection. However, he doesnt believe in amassing expensive emblems of success, instead lavishing his fortune on such ephemeral things as flights in a MiG jet, or flying his mum on Concorde. He says that buying a Porsche is the saddest thing in the history of money. Beattie is not alone in prizing memories above materialism. For a truly special birthday party, a Ferrari in a ribbon will no longer cut it. What the super-rich really want is their own private . Rolling Stones concert (cost: 2 million) or a trip into space (100,000, courtesy of Virgin Galactic). Even the rest of us dont particularly want stuff any more: wed rather enjoy a day at the races, a massage, a ride in a hot-air balloon, or a weekend cookery course run by a Michelin-starred chef. These are all symptomatic of the growing experience economy, which has evolved out of a culture of mass affluence. With our basic needs satisfied the disposable income of Britons is double what it was in 1980 we are becoming increasingly choosy about how we spend our money. Rather than upgrading our car or television, well spend the cash in coffee shops, hotels, restaurants, sports clubs, and theme parks. Well splash out on European city breaks or walking the Inca Trail. Experiences, in other words, the amount that British people spend on retail goods as a proportion of consumer spending has gone down in the past ten years. That money has migrated to restaurants, leisure and budget travel, as well as mobile phone calls. Even that most acquisitional of pursuits, shopping, has had to wake up to the experience economy. Shopping malls such as Bluewater have acknowledged the arrival of the experience economy by restyling themselves as destinations for a family day out. You can browse, dine, and take in a film; the shopping is optional. Companies such as Marks & Spencer recognise the trend, which is why theyve started putting coffee shops and bookshops in their stores. The experience of shopping is just as important to us as what we end up taking home. The experience economy was first predicted in a 1998 article in the Harvard Business Review by James Gilmore, an American business consultant who advocates, among other things, sleep deprivation as an idea booster. The idea was later expanded into The Experience Economy: Work is Theatre & Every Business a Stage. Written with B. Joseph Pine, the book posits that we are in the middle of a profound economic shift. Just as we moved from a goods to a service economy, now we are shifting from a service to an experience economy. Accordingly, to stand out in the marketplace, companies need to offer not just goods and services but experiences. Companies are no longer mere suppliers but stagers of events designed to be experienced. The newest retail stores prove the point: the flagship Toys R Us shop in Times Square in New York is no pile em high, sell em cheap emporium. Visitors are immersed in the Toys R Us experience as soon as they encounter the Ferris wheel at the front door. Other attractions include two floors designed as a Barbie house, and an animatronic dinosaur. Shoppers are called guests. The idea is to foster an emotional attachment between company and consumer, and hope that guests will want to acquire a memento that reminds them of the warm fuzzy feelings they had during the experience. The hippest companies of the moment Starbucks, Apple and, on a smaller scale, the drinks company Innocent are all admired within the business industry for their ability to connect emotionally with their consumers and for proving that people will pay a premium to buy into their world. An Innocent fruit smoothie, for example, costs about 2, much more than a non-branded smoothie. Magazine reviews of the Apple iPod, which always criticise its battery life and exorbitant price tag, are inevitably forgiving because of the iPods iconic design and an enduring affection for the companys perceived ability to do things differently. Visitors to Apples six British stores are encouraged to use an online concierge to help them to plan their trip, showing that progressive companies have bought in fully to the hospitality concept. The conveyor belt of business publishing also attests to the increasing importance of the customer experience. Pine and Gilmores groundbreaking offering was followed by such tomes as Priceless: Turning Ordinary Products into Extraordinary Experiences (which became required reading at IBM, Estee Lauder and Pizza Hut) and Making Meaning: How Successful Businesses Deliver Meaningful Customer Experiences. They all preach the same gospel: that, contrary to what companies think, not all consumers are focused on bagging the cheapest product. The buying experience is critical (which is why we have not all switched to Internet shopping or no-frills airlines). The most notable aspect of the experience economy is how much we are prepared to pay for a purely non-material experience, such as a day in a spa or a trip to Prague. A collision of social trends is responsible. This era is unique in the coming together of various trends such as globalism, multiculturalism, and a demographic shift in terms of longevity. There are more leisure activities around today than twenty years ago. We are aware of these other activities and cultures, and we now have the money to experience them. Now that we are living longer, we have more time to try different things. | In Britain, the total amount of money spent on buying things has gone down in the last ten years. | n |
id_954 | Are You Experienced? How we spend our money is changing. In the new experience economy, we pay to do things, not have things. Trevor Beattie, the advertising supremo, has earned millions by devising original and controversial publicity campaigns. His agency assembled the arresting FCUK logo for French Connection. However, he doesnt believe in amassing expensive emblems of success, instead lavishing his fortune on such ephemeral things as flights in a MiG jet, or flying his mum on Concorde. He says that buying a Porsche is the saddest thing in the history of money. Beattie is not alone in prizing memories above materialism. For a truly special birthday party, a Ferrari in a ribbon will no longer cut it. What the super-rich really want is their own private . Rolling Stones concert (cost: 2 million) or a trip into space (100,000, courtesy of Virgin Galactic). Even the rest of us dont particularly want stuff any more: wed rather enjoy a day at the races, a massage, a ride in a hot-air balloon, or a weekend cookery course run by a Michelin-starred chef. These are all symptomatic of the growing experience economy, which has evolved out of a culture of mass affluence. With our basic needs satisfied the disposable income of Britons is double what it was in 1980 we are becoming increasingly choosy about how we spend our money. Rather than upgrading our car or television, well spend the cash in coffee shops, hotels, restaurants, sports clubs, and theme parks. Well splash out on European city breaks or walking the Inca Trail. Experiences, in other words, the amount that British people spend on retail goods as a proportion of consumer spending has gone down in the past ten years. That money has migrated to restaurants, leisure and budget travel, as well as mobile phone calls. Even that most acquisitional of pursuits, shopping, has had to wake up to the experience economy. Shopping malls such as Bluewater have acknowledged the arrival of the experience economy by restyling themselves as destinations for a family day out. You can browse, dine, and take in a film; the shopping is optional. Companies such as Marks & Spencer recognise the trend, which is why theyve started putting coffee shops and bookshops in their stores. The experience of shopping is just as important to us as what we end up taking home. The experience economy was first predicted in a 1998 article in the Harvard Business Review by James Gilmore, an American business consultant who advocates, among other things, sleep deprivation as an idea booster. The idea was later expanded into The Experience Economy: Work is Theatre & Every Business a Stage. Written with B. Joseph Pine, the book posits that we are in the middle of a profound economic shift. Just as we moved from a goods to a service economy, now we are shifting from a service to an experience economy. Accordingly, to stand out in the marketplace, companies need to offer not just goods and services but experiences. Companies are no longer mere suppliers but stagers of events designed to be experienced. The newest retail stores prove the point: the flagship Toys R Us shop in Times Square in New York is no pile em high, sell em cheap emporium. Visitors are immersed in the Toys R Us experience as soon as they encounter the Ferris wheel at the front door. Other attractions include two floors designed as a Barbie house, and an animatronic dinosaur. Shoppers are called guests. The idea is to foster an emotional attachment between company and consumer, and hope that guests will want to acquire a memento that reminds them of the warm fuzzy feelings they had during the experience. The hippest companies of the moment Starbucks, Apple and, on a smaller scale, the drinks company Innocent are all admired within the business industry for their ability to connect emotionally with their consumers and for proving that people will pay a premium to buy into their world. An Innocent fruit smoothie, for example, costs about 2, much more than a non-branded smoothie. Magazine reviews of the Apple iPod, which always criticise its battery life and exorbitant price tag, are inevitably forgiving because of the iPods iconic design and an enduring affection for the companys perceived ability to do things differently. Visitors to Apples six British stores are encouraged to use an online concierge to help them to plan their trip, showing that progressive companies have bought in fully to the hospitality concept. The conveyor belt of business publishing also attests to the increasing importance of the customer experience. Pine and Gilmores groundbreaking offering was followed by such tomes as Priceless: Turning Ordinary Products into Extraordinary Experiences (which became required reading at IBM, Estee Lauder and Pizza Hut) and Making Meaning: How Successful Businesses Deliver Meaningful Customer Experiences. They all preach the same gospel: that, contrary to what companies think, not all consumers are focused on bagging the cheapest product. The buying experience is critical (which is why we have not all switched to Internet shopping or no-frills airlines). The most notable aspect of the experience economy is how much we are prepared to pay for a purely non-material experience, such as a day in a spa or a trip to Prague. A collision of social trends is responsible. This era is unique in the coming together of various trends such as globalism, multiculturalism, and a demographic shift in terms of longevity. There are more leisure activities around today than twenty years ago. We are aware of these other activities and cultures, and we now have the money to experience them. Now that we are living longer, we have more time to try different things. | Some shopping malls have a cinema to enhance peoples shopping experience. | e |
id_955 | Are supermarkets to blame for the increase in obesity in the UK? Critics suggest that the low cost of high-fatty foods, such as ready meals, has led to the alarming rates of obesity in the UK. However, an opposing school of thought suggests that other factors are in fact to blame. One possible reason for this is the hectic life-style adopted by many people. In this way, ready-meals can be seen as a quick alternative for individuals who are balancing long- working hours with the demands of family life. Another possible reason for the escalating levels of obesity within the UK is a lack of physical exercise. Furthermore, levels of obesity may be reduced by education; teaching people which foods they should be eating and promoting regular exercise. | Ready-meals are a quick alternative for individuals with a busy life-style. | e |
id_956 | Are supermarkets to blame for the increase in obesity in the UK? Critics suggest that the low cost of high-fatty foods, such as ready meals, has led to the alarming rates of obesity in the UK. However, an opposing school of thought suggests that other factors are in fact to blame. One possible reason for this is the hectic life-style adopted by many people. In this way, ready-meals can be seen as a quick alternative for individuals who are balancing long- working hours with the demands of family life. Another possible reason for the escalating levels of obesity within the UK is a lack of physical exercise. Furthermore, levels of obesity may be reduced by education; teaching people which foods they should be eating and promoting regular exercise. | Fast food companies have led to an increased level of obesity in the UK. | n |
id_957 | Are supermarkets to blame for the increase in obesity in the UK? Critics suggest that the low cost of high-fatty foods, such as ready meals, has led to the alarming rates of obesity in the UK. However, an opposing school of thought suggests that other factors are in fact to blame. One possible reason for this is the hectic life-style adopted by many people. In this way, ready-meals can be seen as a quick alternative for individuals who are balancing long- working hours with the demands of family life. Another possible reason for the escalating levels of obesity within the UK is a lack of physical exercise. Furthermore, levels of obesity may be reduced by education; teaching people which foods they should be eating and promoting regular exercise. | Low cost of junk food may be to blame for the high levels of obesity. | e |
id_958 | Are supermarkets to blame for the increase in obesity in the UK? Critics suggest that the low cost of high-fatty foods, such as ready meals, has led to the alarming rates of obesity in the UK. However, an opposing school of thought suggests that other factors are in fact to blame. One possible reason for this is the hectic life-style adopted by many people. In this way, ready-meals can be seen as a quick alternative for individuals who are balancing long- working hours with the demands of family life. Another possible reason for the escalating levels of obesity within the UK is a lack of physical exercise. Furthermore, levels of obesity may be reduced by education; teaching people which foods they should be eating and promoting regular exercise. | Educating people on the benefits of exercise may reduce obesity. | e |
id_959 | Arson occurs when someone starts a fire or causes an explosion with the intent to destroy or damage any building, vehicle, or habitation. | Leon turns the kitchen-stove burners on high to heat his soup. A potholder catches on fire and sets his girlfriend's kitchen ablaze. This situation is the best example of Arson. | c |
id_960 | Arson occurs when someone starts a fire or causes an explosion with the intent to destroy or damage any building, vehicle, or habitation. | Ginger starts a fire in the fireplace and then leaves to run a quick errand. The curtains catch fire and the house begins to burn. This situation is the best example of Arson. | c |
id_961 | Arson occurs when someone starts a fire or causes an explosion with the intent to destroy or damage any building, vehicle, or habitation. | Brent sprinkles lighter fluid over the leather seats in his landlord's Mercedes convertible and then throws a lighted matchinto the car. This situation is the best example of Arson. | e |
id_962 | Arson occurs when someone starts a fire or causes an explosion with the intent to destroy or damage any building, vehicle, or habitation. | Samuel places his paper napkin on top of the candle at the table in a restaurant and jumps when it bursts into flames that spread up the window curtains. This situation is the best example of Arson. | c |
id_963 | Artificial artists Can computers really create works of art? The Painting Fool is one of a growing number of computer programs which, so their makers claim, possess creative talents. Classical music by an artificial composer has had audiences enraptured, and even tricked them into believing a human was behind the score. Artworks painted by a robot have sold for thousands of dollars and been hung in prestigious galleries. And software has been built which creates art that could not have been imagined by the programmer. Human beings are the only species to perform sophisticated creative acts regularly. If we can break this process down into computer code, where does that leave human creativity? 'This is a question at the very core of humanity, ' says Geraint Wiggins, a computational creativity researcher at Goldsmiths, University of London. 'It scares a lot of people. They are worried that it is taking something special away from what it means to be human. ' To some extent, we are all familiar with computerised art. The question is: where does the work of the artist stop and the creativity of the computer begin? Consider one of the oldest machine artists, Aaron, a robot that has had paintings exhibited in London's Tate Modern and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Aaron can pick up a paintbrush and paint on canvas on its own. Impressive perhaps, but it is still little more than a tool to realise the programmer's own creative ideas. Simon Colton, the designer of the Painting Fool, is keen to make sure his creation doesn't attract the same criticism. Unlike earlier 'artists' such as Aaron, the Painting Fool only needs minimal direction and can come up with its own concepts by going online for material. The software runs its own web searches and trawls through social media sites. It is now beginning to display a kind of imagination too, creating pictures from scratch. One of its original works is a series of fuzzy landscapes, depicting trees and sky. While some might say they have a mechanical look, Colton argues that such reactions arise from people's double standards towards software-produced and human-produced art. After all, he says, consider that the Painting Fool painted the landscapes without referring to a photo. 'If a child painted a new scene from its head, you'd say it has a certain level of imagination, ' he points out. The same should be true of a machine. ' Software bugs can also lead to unexpected results. Some of the Painting Fool's paintings of a chair came out in black and white, thanks to a technical glitch. This gives the work an eerie, ghostlike quality. Human artists like the renowned Ellsworth Kelly are lauded for limiting their colour palette - so why should computers be any different? Researchers like Colton don't believe it is right to measure machine creativity directly to that of humans who 'have had millennia to develop our skills'. Others, though, are fascinated by the prospect that a computer might create something as original and subtle as our best artists. So far, only one has come close. Composer David Cope invented a program called Experiments in Musical Intelligence, or EMI. Not only did EMI create compositions in Cope's style, but also that of the most revered classical composers, including Bach, Chopin and Mozart. Audiences were moved to tears, and EMI even fooled classical music experts into thinking they were hearing genuine Bach. Not everyone was impressed however. Some, such as Wiggins, have blasted Cope's work as pseudoscience, and condemned him for his deliberately vague explanation of how the software worked. Meanwhile, Douglas Hofstadter of Indiana University said EMI created replicas which still rely completely on the original artist's creative impulses. When audiences found out the truth they were often outraged with Cope, and one music lover even tried to punch him. Amid such controversy, Cope destroyed EMI's vital databases. But why did so many people love the music, yet recoil when they discovered how it was composed? A study by computer scientist David Moffat of Glasgow Caledonian University provides a clue. He asked both expert musicians and non-experts to assess six compositions. The participants weren't told beforehand whether the tunes were composed by humans or computers, but were asked to guess, and then rate how much they liked each one. People who thought the composer was a computer tended to dislike the piece more than those who believed it was human. This was true even among the experts, who might have been expected to be more objective in their analyses. Where does this prejudice come from? Paul Bloom of Yale University has a suggestion: he reckons part of the pleasure we get from art stems from the creative process behind the work. This can give it an 'irresistible essence', says Bloom. Meanwhile, experiments by Justin Kruger of New York University have shown that people's enjoyment of an artwork increases if they think more time and effort was needed to create it. Similarly, Colton thinks that when people experience art, they wonder what the artist might have been thinking or what the artist is trying to tel them. It seems obvious, therefore, that with computers producing art, this speculation is cut short - there's nothing to explore. But as technology becomes increasingly complex, finding those greater depths in computer art could become possible. This is precisely why Colton asks the Painting Fool to tap into online social networks for its inspiration: hopefully this way it will choose themes that will already be meaningful to us. | Moffat's research may help explain people's reactions to EMI. | e |
id_964 | Artificial artists Can computers really create works of art? The Painting Fool is one of a growing number of computer programs which, so their makers claim, possess creative talents. Classical music by an artificial composer has had audiences enraptured, and even tricked them into believing a human was behind the score. Artworks painted by a robot have sold for thousands of dollars and been hung in prestigious galleries. And software has been built which creates art that could not have been imagined by the programmer. Human beings are the only species to perform sophisticated creative acts regularly. If we can break this process down into computer code, where does that leave human creativity? 'This is a question at the very core of humanity, ' says Geraint Wiggins, a computational creativity researcher at Goldsmiths, University of London. 'It scares a lot of people. They are worried that it is taking something special away from what it means to be human. ' To some extent, we are all familiar with computerised art. The question is: where does the work of the artist stop and the creativity of the computer begin? Consider one of the oldest machine artists, Aaron, a robot that has had paintings exhibited in London's Tate Modern and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Aaron can pick up a paintbrush and paint on canvas on its own. Impressive perhaps, but it is still little more than a tool to realise the programmer's own creative ideas. Simon Colton, the designer of the Painting Fool, is keen to make sure his creation doesn't attract the same criticism. Unlike earlier 'artists' such as Aaron, the Painting Fool only needs minimal direction and can come up with its own concepts by going online for material. The software runs its own web searches and trawls through social media sites. It is now beginning to display a kind of imagination too, creating pictures from scratch. One of its original works is a series of fuzzy landscapes, depicting trees and sky. While some might say they have a mechanical look, Colton argues that such reactions arise from people's double standards towards software-produced and human-produced art. After all, he says, consider that the Painting Fool painted the landscapes without referring to a photo. 'If a child painted a new scene from its head, you'd say it has a certain level of imagination, ' he points out. The same should be true of a machine. ' Software bugs can also lead to unexpected results. Some of the Painting Fool's paintings of a chair came out in black and white, thanks to a technical glitch. This gives the work an eerie, ghostlike quality. Human artists like the renowned Ellsworth Kelly are lauded for limiting their colour palette - so why should computers be any different? Researchers like Colton don't believe it is right to measure machine creativity directly to that of humans who 'have had millennia to develop our skills'. Others, though, are fascinated by the prospect that a computer might create something as original and subtle as our best artists. So far, only one has come close. Composer David Cope invented a program called Experiments in Musical Intelligence, or EMI. Not only did EMI create compositions in Cope's style, but also that of the most revered classical composers, including Bach, Chopin and Mozart. Audiences were moved to tears, and EMI even fooled classical music experts into thinking they were hearing genuine Bach. Not everyone was impressed however. Some, such as Wiggins, have blasted Cope's work as pseudoscience, and condemned him for his deliberately vague explanation of how the software worked. Meanwhile, Douglas Hofstadter of Indiana University said EMI created replicas which still rely completely on the original artist's creative impulses. When audiences found out the truth they were often outraged with Cope, and one music lover even tried to punch him. Amid such controversy, Cope destroyed EMI's vital databases. But why did so many people love the music, yet recoil when they discovered how it was composed? A study by computer scientist David Moffat of Glasgow Caledonian University provides a clue. He asked both expert musicians and non-experts to assess six compositions. The participants weren't told beforehand whether the tunes were composed by humans or computers, but were asked to guess, and then rate how much they liked each one. People who thought the composer was a computer tended to dislike the piece more than those who believed it was human. This was true even among the experts, who might have been expected to be more objective in their analyses. Where does this prejudice come from? Paul Bloom of Yale University has a suggestion: he reckons part of the pleasure we get from art stems from the creative process behind the work. This can give it an 'irresistible essence', says Bloom. Meanwhile, experiments by Justin Kruger of New York University have shown that people's enjoyment of an artwork increases if they think more time and effort was needed to create it. Similarly, Colton thinks that when people experience art, they wonder what the artist might have been thinking or what the artist is trying to tel them. It seems obvious, therefore, that with computers producing art, this speculation is cut short - there's nothing to explore. But as technology becomes increasingly complex, finding those greater depths in computer art could become possible. This is precisely why Colton asks the Painting Fool to tap into online social networks for its inspiration: hopefully this way it will choose themes that will already be meaningful to us. | The non-experts in Moffat's study all responded in a predictable way. | n |
id_965 | Artificial artists Can computers really create works of art? The Painting Fool is one of a growing number of computer programs which, so their makers claim, possess creative talents. Classical music by an artificial composer has had audiences enraptured, and even tricked them into believing a human was behind the score. Artworks painted by a robot have sold for thousands of dollars and been hung in prestigious galleries. And software has been built which creates art that could not have been imagined by the programmer. Human beings are the only species to perform sophisticated creative acts regularly. If we can break this process down into computer code, where does that leave human creativity? 'This is a question at the very core of humanity, ' says Geraint Wiggins, a computational creativity researcher at Goldsmiths, University of London. 'It scares a lot of people. They are worried that it is taking something special away from what it means to be human. ' To some extent, we are all familiar with computerised art. The question is: where does the work of the artist stop and the creativity of the computer begin? Consider one of the oldest machine artists, Aaron, a robot that has had paintings exhibited in London's Tate Modern and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Aaron can pick up a paintbrush and paint on canvas on its own. Impressive perhaps, but it is still little more than a tool to realise the programmer's own creative ideas. Simon Colton, the designer of the Painting Fool, is keen to make sure his creation doesn't attract the same criticism. Unlike earlier 'artists' such as Aaron, the Painting Fool only needs minimal direction and can come up with its own concepts by going online for material. The software runs its own web searches and trawls through social media sites. It is now beginning to display a kind of imagination too, creating pictures from scratch. One of its original works is a series of fuzzy landscapes, depicting trees and sky. While some might say they have a mechanical look, Colton argues that such reactions arise from people's double standards towards software-produced and human-produced art. After all, he says, consider that the Painting Fool painted the landscapes without referring to a photo. 'If a child painted a new scene from its head, you'd say it has a certain level of imagination, ' he points out. The same should be true of a machine. ' Software bugs can also lead to unexpected results. Some of the Painting Fool's paintings of a chair came out in black and white, thanks to a technical glitch. This gives the work an eerie, ghostlike quality. Human artists like the renowned Ellsworth Kelly are lauded for limiting their colour palette - so why should computers be any different? Researchers like Colton don't believe it is right to measure machine creativity directly to that of humans who 'have had millennia to develop our skills'. Others, though, are fascinated by the prospect that a computer might create something as original and subtle as our best artists. So far, only one has come close. Composer David Cope invented a program called Experiments in Musical Intelligence, or EMI. Not only did EMI create compositions in Cope's style, but also that of the most revered classical composers, including Bach, Chopin and Mozart. Audiences were moved to tears, and EMI even fooled classical music experts into thinking they were hearing genuine Bach. Not everyone was impressed however. Some, such as Wiggins, have blasted Cope's work as pseudoscience, and condemned him for his deliberately vague explanation of how the software worked. Meanwhile, Douglas Hofstadter of Indiana University said EMI created replicas which still rely completely on the original artist's creative impulses. When audiences found out the truth they were often outraged with Cope, and one music lover even tried to punch him. Amid such controversy, Cope destroyed EMI's vital databases. But why did so many people love the music, yet recoil when they discovered how it was composed? A study by computer scientist David Moffat of Glasgow Caledonian University provides a clue. He asked both expert musicians and non-experts to assess six compositions. The participants weren't told beforehand whether the tunes were composed by humans or computers, but were asked to guess, and then rate how much they liked each one. People who thought the composer was a computer tended to dislike the piece more than those who believed it was human. This was true even among the experts, who might have been expected to be more objective in their analyses. Where does this prejudice come from? Paul Bloom of Yale University has a suggestion: he reckons part of the pleasure we get from art stems from the creative process behind the work. This can give it an 'irresistible essence', says Bloom. Meanwhile, experiments by Justin Kruger of New York University have shown that people's enjoyment of an artwork increases if they think more time and effort was needed to create it. Similarly, Colton thinks that when people experience art, they wonder what the artist might have been thinking or what the artist is trying to tel them. It seems obvious, therefore, that with computers producing art, this speculation is cut short - there's nothing to explore. But as technology becomes increasingly complex, finding those greater depths in computer art could become possible. This is precisely why Colton asks the Painting Fool to tap into online social networks for its inspiration: hopefully this way it will choose themes that will already be meaningful to us. | Justin Kruger's findings cast doubt on Paul Bloom's theory about people's prejudice towards computer art. | c |
id_966 | As More Tech Start-Ups Stay Private, So Does the Money Not long ago, if you were a young, brash technologist with a world-conquering start-up idea, there was a good chance you spent much of your waking life working toward a single business milestone: taking your company public. Though luminaries of the tech industry have always expressed skepticism and even hostility toward the finance industry, techs dirty secret was that it looked to Wall Street and the ritual of a public offering for affirmation not to mention wealth. But something strange has happened in the last couple of years: The initial public offering of stock has become declasse. For start-up entrepreneurs and their employees across Silicon Valley, an initial public offering is no longer a main goal. Instead, many founders talk about going public as a necessary evil to be postponed as long as possible because it comes with more problems than benefits. If you can get $200 million from private sources, then yeah, I dont want my company under the scrutiny of the unwashed masses who dont understand my business, said Danielle Morrill, the chief executive of Mattermark, a start-up that organizes and sells information about the start-up market. Thats actually terrifying to me. Silicon Valleys sudden distaste for the I. P. O. rooted in part in Wall Streets skepticism of new tech stocks may be the single most important psychological shift underlying the current tech boom. Staying private affords start-up executives the luxury of not worrying what outsiders think and helps them avoid the quarterly earnings treadmill. It also means Wall Street is doing what it failed to do in the last tech boom: using traditional metrics like growth and profitability to price companies. Investors have been tough on Twitter, for example, because its user growth has slowed. They have been tough on Box, the cloud-storage company that went public last year, because it remains unprofitable. And the e-commerce company Zulily, which went public last year, was likewise punished when it cut its guidance for future sales. Scott Kupor, the managing partner at the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, and his colleagues said in a recent report that despite all the attention start-ups have received in recent years, tech stocks are not seeing unusually high valuations. In fact, their share of the overall market has remained stable for 14 years, and far off the peak of the late 1990s. That unwillingness to cut much slack to young tech companies limits risk for regular investors. If the bubble pops, the unwashed masses, if thats what we are, arent as likely to get washed out. Private investors, on the other hand, are making big bets on so-called unicorns the Silicon Valley jargon for start-up companies valued at more than a billion dollars. If many of those unicorns flop, most Americans will escape unharmed, because losses will be confined to venture capitalists and hedge funds that have begun to buy into tech start-ups, as well as tech founders and their employees. The reluctance and sometimes inability to go public is spurring the unicorns. By relying on private investors for a longer period of time, start-ups get more runway to figure out sustainable business models. To delay their entrance into the public markets, firms like Airbnb, Dropbox, Palantir, Pinterest, Uber and several other large start-ups are raising hundreds of millions, and in some cases billions, that they would otherwise have gained through an initial public offering. These companies are going public, just in the private market, Dan Levitan, the managing partner of the venture capital firm Maveron, told me recently. He means that in many cases, hedge funds and other global investors that would have bought shares in these firms after an I. P. O. are deciding to go into late-stage private rounds. There is even an oxymoronic term for the act of obtaining private money in place of a public offering: Its called a private I. P. O. The delay in I. P. O. s has altered how some venture capital firms do business. Rather than waiting for an initial offering, Maveron, for instance, says it now sells its stake in a start-up to other, larger private investors once it has made about 100 times its initial investment. It is the sort of return that once was only possible after an I. P. O. But there is also a downside to the new aversion to initial offerings. When the unicorns do eventually go public and begin to soar or whatever it is that fantastical horned beasts tend to do when theyre healthy the biggest winners will be the private investors that are now bearing most of the risk. It used to be that public investors who got in on the ground floor of an initial offering could earn historic gains. If you invested $1,000 in Amazon at its I. P. O. in 1997, you would now have nearly $250,000. If you had invested $1,000 in Microsoft in 1986, you would have close to half a million. Public investors today are unlikely to get anywhere near such gains from tech I. P. O. s. By the time tech companies come to the market, the biggest gains have already been extracted by private backers. Just 53 technology companies went public in 2014, which is around the median since 1980, but far fewer than during the boom of the late 1990s and 2000, when hundreds of tech companies went public annually, according to statistics maintained by Jay Ritter, a professor of finance at the University of Florida. Todays companies are also waiting longer. In 2014, the typical tech company hitting the markets was 11 years old, compared with a median age of seven years for tech I. P. O. s since 1980. Over the last few weeks, Ive asked several founders and investors why theyre waiting; few were willing to speak on the record about their own companies, but their answers all amounted to Whats the point? Initial public offerings were also ways to compensate employees and founders who owned lots of stock, but there are now novel mechanisms such as selling shares on a secondary market for insiders to cash in on some of their shares in private companies. Still, some observers cautioned that the new trend may be a bad deal for employees who arent given much information about the companys performance. One thing employees may be confused about is when companies tell them, Were basically doing a private I. P. O. , it might make them feel like theres less risk than there really is, said Ms. Morrill of Mattermark. But she said it was hard to persuade people that their paper gains may never materialize. The Kool-Aid is really strong, she said. If the delay in I. P. O. s becomes a normal condition for Silicon Valley, some observers say tech companies may need to consider new forms of compensation for workers. We probably need to fundamentally rethink how do private companies compensate employees, because thats going to be an issue, said Mr. Kupor, of Andreessen Horowitz. During a recent presentation for Andreessen Horowitzs limited partners the institutions that give money to the venture firm Marc Andreessen, the firms co-founder, told the journalist Dan Primack that he had never seen a sharper divergence in how investors treat public- and private-company chief executives. They tell the public C. E. O. , Give us the money back this quarter, and they tell the private C. E. O. , No problem, go for 10 years, Mr. Andreessen said. At some point this tension will be resolved. Private valuations will not forever be higher than public valuations, said Mr. Levitan, of Maveron. So the question is, Will private markets capitulate and go down or will public markets go up? If the private investors are wrong, employees, founders and a lot of hedge funds could be in for a reckoning. But if theyre right, it will be you and me wearing the frown the public investors who missed out on the next big thing. | The typical tech company hitting the markets in 1990s was 5 years old. | n |
id_967 | As More Tech Start-Ups Stay Private, So Does the Money Not long ago, if you were a young, brash technologist with a world-conquering start-up idea, there was a good chance you spent much of your waking life working toward a single business milestone: taking your company public. Though luminaries of the tech industry have always expressed skepticism and even hostility toward the finance industry, techs dirty secret was that it looked to Wall Street and the ritual of a public offering for affirmation not to mention wealth. But something strange has happened in the last couple of years: The initial public offering of stock has become declasse. For start-up entrepreneurs and their employees across Silicon Valley, an initial public offering is no longer a main goal. Instead, many founders talk about going public as a necessary evil to be postponed as long as possible because it comes with more problems than benefits. If you can get $200 million from private sources, then yeah, I dont want my company under the scrutiny of the unwashed masses who dont understand my business, said Danielle Morrill, the chief executive of Mattermark, a start-up that organizes and sells information about the start-up market. Thats actually terrifying to me. Silicon Valleys sudden distaste for the I. P. O. rooted in part in Wall Streets skepticism of new tech stocks may be the single most important psychological shift underlying the current tech boom. Staying private affords start-up executives the luxury of not worrying what outsiders think and helps them avoid the quarterly earnings treadmill. It also means Wall Street is doing what it failed to do in the last tech boom: using traditional metrics like growth and profitability to price companies. Investors have been tough on Twitter, for example, because its user growth has slowed. They have been tough on Box, the cloud-storage company that went public last year, because it remains unprofitable. And the e-commerce company Zulily, which went public last year, was likewise punished when it cut its guidance for future sales. Scott Kupor, the managing partner at the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, and his colleagues said in a recent report that despite all the attention start-ups have received in recent years, tech stocks are not seeing unusually high valuations. In fact, their share of the overall market has remained stable for 14 years, and far off the peak of the late 1990s. That unwillingness to cut much slack to young tech companies limits risk for regular investors. If the bubble pops, the unwashed masses, if thats what we are, arent as likely to get washed out. Private investors, on the other hand, are making big bets on so-called unicorns the Silicon Valley jargon for start-up companies valued at more than a billion dollars. If many of those unicorns flop, most Americans will escape unharmed, because losses will be confined to venture capitalists and hedge funds that have begun to buy into tech start-ups, as well as tech founders and their employees. The reluctance and sometimes inability to go public is spurring the unicorns. By relying on private investors for a longer period of time, start-ups get more runway to figure out sustainable business models. To delay their entrance into the public markets, firms like Airbnb, Dropbox, Palantir, Pinterest, Uber and several other large start-ups are raising hundreds of millions, and in some cases billions, that they would otherwise have gained through an initial public offering. These companies are going public, just in the private market, Dan Levitan, the managing partner of the venture capital firm Maveron, told me recently. He means that in many cases, hedge funds and other global investors that would have bought shares in these firms after an I. P. O. are deciding to go into late-stage private rounds. There is even an oxymoronic term for the act of obtaining private money in place of a public offering: Its called a private I. P. O. The delay in I. P. O. s has altered how some venture capital firms do business. Rather than waiting for an initial offering, Maveron, for instance, says it now sells its stake in a start-up to other, larger private investors once it has made about 100 times its initial investment. It is the sort of return that once was only possible after an I. P. O. But there is also a downside to the new aversion to initial offerings. When the unicorns do eventually go public and begin to soar or whatever it is that fantastical horned beasts tend to do when theyre healthy the biggest winners will be the private investors that are now bearing most of the risk. It used to be that public investors who got in on the ground floor of an initial offering could earn historic gains. If you invested $1,000 in Amazon at its I. P. O. in 1997, you would now have nearly $250,000. If you had invested $1,000 in Microsoft in 1986, you would have close to half a million. Public investors today are unlikely to get anywhere near such gains from tech I. P. O. s. By the time tech companies come to the market, the biggest gains have already been extracted by private backers. Just 53 technology companies went public in 2014, which is around the median since 1980, but far fewer than during the boom of the late 1990s and 2000, when hundreds of tech companies went public annually, according to statistics maintained by Jay Ritter, a professor of finance at the University of Florida. Todays companies are also waiting longer. In 2014, the typical tech company hitting the markets was 11 years old, compared with a median age of seven years for tech I. P. O. s since 1980. Over the last few weeks, Ive asked several founders and investors why theyre waiting; few were willing to speak on the record about their own companies, but their answers all amounted to Whats the point? Initial public offerings were also ways to compensate employees and founders who owned lots of stock, but there are now novel mechanisms such as selling shares on a secondary market for insiders to cash in on some of their shares in private companies. Still, some observers cautioned that the new trend may be a bad deal for employees who arent given much information about the companys performance. One thing employees may be confused about is when companies tell them, Were basically doing a private I. P. O. , it might make them feel like theres less risk than there really is, said Ms. Morrill of Mattermark. But she said it was hard to persuade people that their paper gains may never materialize. The Kool-Aid is really strong, she said. If the delay in I. P. O. s becomes a normal condition for Silicon Valley, some observers say tech companies may need to consider new forms of compensation for workers. We probably need to fundamentally rethink how do private companies compensate employees, because thats going to be an issue, said Mr. Kupor, of Andreessen Horowitz. During a recent presentation for Andreessen Horowitzs limited partners the institutions that give money to the venture firm Marc Andreessen, the firms co-founder, told the journalist Dan Primack that he had never seen a sharper divergence in how investors treat public- and private-company chief executives. They tell the public C. E. O. , Give us the money back this quarter, and they tell the private C. E. O. , No problem, go for 10 years, Mr. Andreessen said. At some point this tension will be resolved. Private valuations will not forever be higher than public valuations, said Mr. Levitan, of Maveron. So the question is, Will private markets capitulate and go down or will public markets go up? If the private investors are wrong, employees, founders and a lot of hedge funds could be in for a reckoning. But if theyre right, it will be you and me wearing the frown the public investors who missed out on the next big thing. | Marc Andreessen, the firms co-founder, expressed amazement with divergency in how investors treat public. | c |
id_968 | As More Tech Start-Ups Stay Private, So Does the Money Not long ago, if you were a young, brash technologist with a world-conquering start-up idea, there was a good chance you spent much of your waking life working toward a single business milestone: taking your company public. Though luminaries of the tech industry have always expressed skepticism and even hostility toward the finance industry, techs dirty secret was that it looked to Wall Street and the ritual of a public offering for affirmation not to mention wealth. But something strange has happened in the last couple of years: The initial public offering of stock has become declasse. For start-up entrepreneurs and their employees across Silicon Valley, an initial public offering is no longer a main goal. Instead, many founders talk about going public as a necessary evil to be postponed as long as possible because it comes with more problems than benefits. If you can get $200 million from private sources, then yeah, I dont want my company under the scrutiny of the unwashed masses who dont understand my business, said Danielle Morrill, the chief executive of Mattermark, a start-up that organizes and sells information about the start-up market. Thats actually terrifying to me. Silicon Valleys sudden distaste for the I. P. O. rooted in part in Wall Streets skepticism of new tech stocks may be the single most important psychological shift underlying the current tech boom. Staying private affords start-up executives the luxury of not worrying what outsiders think and helps them avoid the quarterly earnings treadmill. It also means Wall Street is doing what it failed to do in the last tech boom: using traditional metrics like growth and profitability to price companies. Investors have been tough on Twitter, for example, because its user growth has slowed. They have been tough on Box, the cloud-storage company that went public last year, because it remains unprofitable. And the e-commerce company Zulily, which went public last year, was likewise punished when it cut its guidance for future sales. Scott Kupor, the managing partner at the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, and his colleagues said in a recent report that despite all the attention start-ups have received in recent years, tech stocks are not seeing unusually high valuations. In fact, their share of the overall market has remained stable for 14 years, and far off the peak of the late 1990s. That unwillingness to cut much slack to young tech companies limits risk for regular investors. If the bubble pops, the unwashed masses, if thats what we are, arent as likely to get washed out. Private investors, on the other hand, are making big bets on so-called unicorns the Silicon Valley jargon for start-up companies valued at more than a billion dollars. If many of those unicorns flop, most Americans will escape unharmed, because losses will be confined to venture capitalists and hedge funds that have begun to buy into tech start-ups, as well as tech founders and their employees. The reluctance and sometimes inability to go public is spurring the unicorns. By relying on private investors for a longer period of time, start-ups get more runway to figure out sustainable business models. To delay their entrance into the public markets, firms like Airbnb, Dropbox, Palantir, Pinterest, Uber and several other large start-ups are raising hundreds of millions, and in some cases billions, that they would otherwise have gained through an initial public offering. These companies are going public, just in the private market, Dan Levitan, the managing partner of the venture capital firm Maveron, told me recently. He means that in many cases, hedge funds and other global investors that would have bought shares in these firms after an I. P. O. are deciding to go into late-stage private rounds. There is even an oxymoronic term for the act of obtaining private money in place of a public offering: Its called a private I. P. O. The delay in I. P. O. s has altered how some venture capital firms do business. Rather than waiting for an initial offering, Maveron, for instance, says it now sells its stake in a start-up to other, larger private investors once it has made about 100 times its initial investment. It is the sort of return that once was only possible after an I. P. O. But there is also a downside to the new aversion to initial offerings. When the unicorns do eventually go public and begin to soar or whatever it is that fantastical horned beasts tend to do when theyre healthy the biggest winners will be the private investors that are now bearing most of the risk. It used to be that public investors who got in on the ground floor of an initial offering could earn historic gains. If you invested $1,000 in Amazon at its I. P. O. in 1997, you would now have nearly $250,000. If you had invested $1,000 in Microsoft in 1986, you would have close to half a million. Public investors today are unlikely to get anywhere near such gains from tech I. P. O. s. By the time tech companies come to the market, the biggest gains have already been extracted by private backers. Just 53 technology companies went public in 2014, which is around the median since 1980, but far fewer than during the boom of the late 1990s and 2000, when hundreds of tech companies went public annually, according to statistics maintained by Jay Ritter, a professor of finance at the University of Florida. Todays companies are also waiting longer. In 2014, the typical tech company hitting the markets was 11 years old, compared with a median age of seven years for tech I. P. O. s since 1980. Over the last few weeks, Ive asked several founders and investors why theyre waiting; few were willing to speak on the record about their own companies, but their answers all amounted to Whats the point? Initial public offerings were also ways to compensate employees and founders who owned lots of stock, but there are now novel mechanisms such as selling shares on a secondary market for insiders to cash in on some of their shares in private companies. Still, some observers cautioned that the new trend may be a bad deal for employees who arent given much information about the companys performance. One thing employees may be confused about is when companies tell them, Were basically doing a private I. P. O. , it might make them feel like theres less risk than there really is, said Ms. Morrill of Mattermark. But she said it was hard to persuade people that their paper gains may never materialize. The Kool-Aid is really strong, she said. If the delay in I. P. O. s becomes a normal condition for Silicon Valley, some observers say tech companies may need to consider new forms of compensation for workers. We probably need to fundamentally rethink how do private companies compensate employees, because thats going to be an issue, said Mr. Kupor, of Andreessen Horowitz. During a recent presentation for Andreessen Horowitzs limited partners the institutions that give money to the venture firm Marc Andreessen, the firms co-founder, told the journalist Dan Primack that he had never seen a sharper divergence in how investors treat public- and private-company chief executives. They tell the public C. E. O. , Give us the money back this quarter, and they tell the private C. E. O. , No problem, go for 10 years, Mr. Andreessen said. At some point this tension will be resolved. Private valuations will not forever be higher than public valuations, said Mr. Levitan, of Maveron. So the question is, Will private markets capitulate and go down or will public markets go up? If the private investors are wrong, employees, founders and a lot of hedge funds could be in for a reckoning. But if theyre right, it will be you and me wearing the frown the public investors who missed out on the next big thing. | Not many investors were willing to speak on the record. | e |
id_969 | As More Tech Start-Ups Stay Private, So Does the Money Not long ago, if you were a young, brash technologist with a world-conquering start-up idea, there was a good chance you spent much of your waking life working toward a single business milestone: taking your company public. Though luminaries of the tech industry have always expressed skepticism and even hostility toward the finance industry, techs dirty secret was that it looked to Wall Street and the ritual of a public offering for affirmation not to mention wealth. But something strange has happened in the last couple of years: The initial public offering of stock has become declasse. For start-up entrepreneurs and their employees across Silicon Valley, an initial public offering is no longer a main goal. Instead, many founders talk about going public as a necessary evil to be postponed as long as possible because it comes with more problems than benefits. If you can get $200 million from private sources, then yeah, I dont want my company under the scrutiny of the unwashed masses who dont understand my business, said Danielle Morrill, the chief executive of Mattermark, a start-up that organizes and sells information about the start-up market. Thats actually terrifying to me. Silicon Valleys sudden distaste for the I. P. O. rooted in part in Wall Streets skepticism of new tech stocks may be the single most important psychological shift underlying the current tech boom. Staying private affords start-up executives the luxury of not worrying what outsiders think and helps them avoid the quarterly earnings treadmill. It also means Wall Street is doing what it failed to do in the last tech boom: using traditional metrics like growth and profitability to price companies. Investors have been tough on Twitter, for example, because its user growth has slowed. They have been tough on Box, the cloud-storage company that went public last year, because it remains unprofitable. And the e-commerce company Zulily, which went public last year, was likewise punished when it cut its guidance for future sales. Scott Kupor, the managing partner at the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, and his colleagues said in a recent report that despite all the attention start-ups have received in recent years, tech stocks are not seeing unusually high valuations. In fact, their share of the overall market has remained stable for 14 years, and far off the peak of the late 1990s. That unwillingness to cut much slack to young tech companies limits risk for regular investors. If the bubble pops, the unwashed masses, if thats what we are, arent as likely to get washed out. Private investors, on the other hand, are making big bets on so-called unicorns the Silicon Valley jargon for start-up companies valued at more than a billion dollars. If many of those unicorns flop, most Americans will escape unharmed, because losses will be confined to venture capitalists and hedge funds that have begun to buy into tech start-ups, as well as tech founders and their employees. The reluctance and sometimes inability to go public is spurring the unicorns. By relying on private investors for a longer period of time, start-ups get more runway to figure out sustainable business models. To delay their entrance into the public markets, firms like Airbnb, Dropbox, Palantir, Pinterest, Uber and several other large start-ups are raising hundreds of millions, and in some cases billions, that they would otherwise have gained through an initial public offering. These companies are going public, just in the private market, Dan Levitan, the managing partner of the venture capital firm Maveron, told me recently. He means that in many cases, hedge funds and other global investors that would have bought shares in these firms after an I. P. O. are deciding to go into late-stage private rounds. There is even an oxymoronic term for the act of obtaining private money in place of a public offering: Its called a private I. P. O. The delay in I. P. O. s has altered how some venture capital firms do business. Rather than waiting for an initial offering, Maveron, for instance, says it now sells its stake in a start-up to other, larger private investors once it has made about 100 times its initial investment. It is the sort of return that once was only possible after an I. P. O. But there is also a downside to the new aversion to initial offerings. When the unicorns do eventually go public and begin to soar or whatever it is that fantastical horned beasts tend to do when theyre healthy the biggest winners will be the private investors that are now bearing most of the risk. It used to be that public investors who got in on the ground floor of an initial offering could earn historic gains. If you invested $1,000 in Amazon at its I. P. O. in 1997, you would now have nearly $250,000. If you had invested $1,000 in Microsoft in 1986, you would have close to half a million. Public investors today are unlikely to get anywhere near such gains from tech I. P. O. s. By the time tech companies come to the market, the biggest gains have already been extracted by private backers. Just 53 technology companies went public in 2014, which is around the median since 1980, but far fewer than during the boom of the late 1990s and 2000, when hundreds of tech companies went public annually, according to statistics maintained by Jay Ritter, a professor of finance at the University of Florida. Todays companies are also waiting longer. In 2014, the typical tech company hitting the markets was 11 years old, compared with a median age of seven years for tech I. P. O. s since 1980. Over the last few weeks, Ive asked several founders and investors why theyre waiting; few were willing to speak on the record about their own companies, but their answers all amounted to Whats the point? Initial public offerings were also ways to compensate employees and founders who owned lots of stock, but there are now novel mechanisms such as selling shares on a secondary market for insiders to cash in on some of their shares in private companies. Still, some observers cautioned that the new trend may be a bad deal for employees who arent given much information about the companys performance. One thing employees may be confused about is when companies tell them, Were basically doing a private I. P. O. , it might make them feel like theres less risk than there really is, said Ms. Morrill of Mattermark. But she said it was hard to persuade people that their paper gains may never materialize. The Kool-Aid is really strong, she said. If the delay in I. P. O. s becomes a normal condition for Silicon Valley, some observers say tech companies may need to consider new forms of compensation for workers. We probably need to fundamentally rethink how do private companies compensate employees, because thats going to be an issue, said Mr. Kupor, of Andreessen Horowitz. During a recent presentation for Andreessen Horowitzs limited partners the institutions that give money to the venture firm Marc Andreessen, the firms co-founder, told the journalist Dan Primack that he had never seen a sharper divergence in how investors treat public- and private-company chief executives. They tell the public C. E. O. , Give us the money back this quarter, and they tell the private C. E. O. , No problem, go for 10 years, Mr. Andreessen said. At some point this tension will be resolved. Private valuations will not forever be higher than public valuations, said Mr. Levitan, of Maveron. So the question is, Will private markets capitulate and go down or will public markets go up? If the private investors are wrong, employees, founders and a lot of hedge funds could be in for a reckoning. But if theyre right, it will be you and me wearing the frown the public investors who missed out on the next big thing. | Marc Andreessen, the firms co-founder, expressed amazement with divergency in how investors treat public. | e |
id_970 | As More Tech Start-Ups Stay Private, So Does the Money Not long ago, if you were a young, brash technologist with a world-conquering start-up idea, there was a good chance you spent much of your waking life working toward a single business milestone: taking your company public. Though luminaries of the tech industry have always expressed skepticism and even hostility toward the finance industry, techs dirty secret was that it looked to Wall Street and the ritual of a public offering for affirmation not to mention wealth. But something strange has happened in the last couple of years: The initial public offering of stock has become declasse. For start-up entrepreneurs and their employees across Silicon Valley, an initial public offering is no longer a main goal. Instead, many founders talk about going public as a necessary evil to be postponed as long as possible because it comes with more problems than benefits. If you can get $200 million from private sources, then yeah, I dont want my company under the scrutiny of the unwashed masses who dont understand my business, said Danielle Morrill, the chief executive of Mattermark, a start-up that organizes and sells information about the start-up market. Thats actually terrifying to me. Silicon Valleys sudden distaste for the I. P. O. rooted in part in Wall Streets skepticism of new tech stocks may be the single most important psychological shift underlying the current tech boom. Staying private affords start-up executives the luxury of not worrying what outsiders think and helps them avoid the quarterly earnings treadmill. It also means Wall Street is doing what it failed to do in the last tech boom: using traditional metrics like growth and profitability to price companies. Investors have been tough on Twitter, for example, because its user growth has slowed. They have been tough on Box, the cloud-storage company that went public last year, because it remains unprofitable. And the e-commerce company Zulily, which went public last year, was likewise punished when it cut its guidance for future sales. Scott Kupor, the managing partner at the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, and his colleagues said in a recent report that despite all the attention start-ups have received in recent years, tech stocks are not seeing unusually high valuations. In fact, their share of the overall market has remained stable for 14 years, and far off the peak of the late 1990s. That unwillingness to cut much slack to young tech companies limits risk for regular investors. If the bubble pops, the unwashed masses, if thats what we are, arent as likely to get washed out. Private investors, on the other hand, are making big bets on so-called unicorns the Silicon Valley jargon for start-up companies valued at more than a billion dollars. If many of those unicorns flop, most Americans will escape unharmed, because losses will be confined to venture capitalists and hedge funds that have begun to buy into tech start-ups, as well as tech founders and their employees. The reluctance and sometimes inability to go public is spurring the unicorns. By relying on private investors for a longer period of time, start-ups get more runway to figure out sustainable business models. To delay their entrance into the public markets, firms like Airbnb, Dropbox, Palantir, Pinterest, Uber and several other large start-ups are raising hundreds of millions, and in some cases billions, that they would otherwise have gained through an initial public offering. These companies are going public, just in the private market, Dan Levitan, the managing partner of the venture capital firm Maveron, told me recently. He means that in many cases, hedge funds and other global investors that would have bought shares in these firms after an I. P. O. are deciding to go into late-stage private rounds. There is even an oxymoronic term for the act of obtaining private money in place of a public offering: Its called a private I. P. O. The delay in I. P. O. s has altered how some venture capital firms do business. Rather than waiting for an initial offering, Maveron, for instance, says it now sells its stake in a start-up to other, larger private investors once it has made about 100 times its initial investment. It is the sort of return that once was only possible after an I. P. O. But there is also a downside to the new aversion to initial offerings. When the unicorns do eventually go public and begin to soar or whatever it is that fantastical horned beasts tend to do when theyre healthy the biggest winners will be the private investors that are now bearing most of the risk. It used to be that public investors who got in on the ground floor of an initial offering could earn historic gains. If you invested $1,000 in Amazon at its I. P. O. in 1997, you would now have nearly $250,000. If you had invested $1,000 in Microsoft in 1986, you would have close to half a million. Public investors today are unlikely to get anywhere near such gains from tech I. P. O. s. By the time tech companies come to the market, the biggest gains have already been extracted by private backers. Just 53 technology companies went public in 2014, which is around the median since 1980, but far fewer than during the boom of the late 1990s and 2000, when hundreds of tech companies went public annually, according to statistics maintained by Jay Ritter, a professor of finance at the University of Florida. Todays companies are also waiting longer. In 2014, the typical tech company hitting the markets was 11 years old, compared with a median age of seven years for tech I. P. O. s since 1980. Over the last few weeks, Ive asked several founders and investors why theyre waiting; few were willing to speak on the record about their own companies, but their answers all amounted to Whats the point? Initial public offerings were also ways to compensate employees and founders who owned lots of stock, but there are now novel mechanisms such as selling shares on a secondary market for insiders to cash in on some of their shares in private companies. Still, some observers cautioned that the new trend may be a bad deal for employees who arent given much information about the companys performance. One thing employees may be confused about is when companies tell them, Were basically doing a private I. P. O. , it might make them feel like theres less risk than there really is, said Ms. Morrill of Mattermark. But she said it was hard to persuade people that their paper gains may never materialize. The Kool-Aid is really strong, she said. If the delay in I. P. O. s becomes a normal condition for Silicon Valley, some observers say tech companies may need to consider new forms of compensation for workers. We probably need to fundamentally rethink how do private companies compensate employees, because thats going to be an issue, said Mr. Kupor, of Andreessen Horowitz. During a recent presentation for Andreessen Horowitzs limited partners the institutions that give money to the venture firm Marc Andreessen, the firms co-founder, told the journalist Dan Primack that he had never seen a sharper divergence in how investors treat public- and private-company chief executives. They tell the public C. E. O. , Give us the money back this quarter, and they tell the private C. E. O. , No problem, go for 10 years, Mr. Andreessen said. At some point this tension will be resolved. Private valuations will not forever be higher than public valuations, said Mr. Levitan, of Maveron. So the question is, Will private markets capitulate and go down or will public markets go up? If the private investors are wrong, employees, founders and a lot of hedge funds could be in for a reckoning. But if theyre right, it will be you and me wearing the frown the public investors who missed out on the next big thing. | Private investors are bearing most of the risk. | e |
id_971 | As an institution the British public house, usually called a pub, has a very long tradition of selling alcoholic drinks, in particular beer, which people consume on the premises. In recent years, however, profits of British pubs have fallen by 20 per cent and many have reported a further worsening of their financial state since the introduction of a new law and a series of tax increases. The new law involved the banning of smoking in public places and this has led to a marked decrease in pub custom. The increase in taxes involves a series of above-inflation rises in the duty charged on alcohol sold both in pubs and off- licences (the name of licensed premises allowed to sell alcohol for home consumption) that has markedly increased the cost of drinking alcohol. The combined effect of the smoking ban and increase in the alcohol duty are reported to have led to the loss of many jobs in the pub trade. | The smoking ban has encouraged traditional pub customers to drink and smokeless. | n |
id_972 | As an institution the British public house, usually called a pub, has a very long tradition of selling alcoholic drinks, in particular beer, which people consume on the premises. In recent years, however, profits of British pubs have fallen by 20 per cent and many have reported a further worsening of their financial state since the introduction of a new law and a series of tax increases. The new law involved the banning of smoking in public places and this has led to a marked decrease in pub custom. The increase in taxes involves a series of above-inflation rises in the duty charged on alcohol sold both in pubs and off- licences (the name of licensed premises allowed to sell alcohol for home consumption) that has markedly increased the cost of drinking alcohol. The combined effect of the smoking ban and increase in the alcohol duty are reported to have led to the loss of many jobs in the pub trade. | The author is opposed to the new laws and the effects they are having on the pub trade and this is evidenced by the last sentence of the passage and the loss of jobs in the pub trade. | n |
id_973 | As an institution the British public house, usually called a pub, has a very long tradition of selling alcoholic drinks, in particular beer, which people consume on the premises. In recent years, however, profits of British pubs have fallen by 20 per cent and many have reported a further worsening of their financial state since the introduction of a new law and a series of tax increases. The new law involved the banning of smoking in public places and this has led to a marked decrease in pub custom. The increase in taxes involves a series of above-inflation rises in the duty charged on alcohol sold both in pubs and off- licences (the name of licensed premises allowed to sell alcohol for home consumption) that has markedly increased the cost of drinking alcohol. The combined effect of the smoking ban and increase in the alcohol duty are reported to have led to the loss of many jobs in the pub trade. | It is reasonable to infer that some pubs are operating at a loss or at no profit. | c |
id_974 | As the standard of living continues to improve in China, Chinese companies will eventually lose business to countries which pay their workers lower wages and can therefore offer lower production costs. | Chinese companies are paying higher wages than competitor countries. | n |
id_975 | As the standard of living continues to improve in China, Chinese companies will eventually lose business to countries which pay their workers lower wages and can therefore offer lower production costs. | Low production costs will help to attract business. | e |
id_976 | As the standard of living continues to improve in China, Chinese companies will eventually lose business to countries which pay their workers lower wages and can therefore offer lower production costs. | Production costs in China depend on the national standard of living. | e |
id_977 | As their name suggests, Asian carp are not indigenous to the United States, yet these invasive fish have become the subject of a Supreme Court lawsuit. Introduced in the US in 1831, carp were originally intended for consumption although today they are not widely eaten. Populations have flourished in the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers since the 1970s, when it is thought that they escaped from Midwestern fish farms during heavy flooding. Carp consume only plankton, although vast amounts of it, and some species of Asian carp can grow to over one hundred pounds. Not only are the fish a hazard to recreational boaters, they also compete with native species for food and space. Environmentalists fear that carp will infiltrate the Great Lakes, via locks connecting the Mississippi to Lake Michigan, where they would damage the ecosystem. They also fear that by crowding out species such as salmon, Asian carp would also be detrimental to the Great Lakes sports fishing industry. The US government currently spends $80 million per annum on Asian carp control, using methods such as toxins and underwater electric barriers designed to repel carp. Evidence of carp in Lake Michigan however has led anticarp activists to call for stronger measures, such as blocking off the locks on the Chicago canal. Business interests strongly oppose the closure of this major shipping lane for economic reasons, also arguing that forcing canal traffic onto the roads will cause pollution. | Anticarp activists are motivated by environmental concerns rather than business interests. | c |
id_978 | As their name suggests, Asian carp are not indigenous to the United States, yet these invasive fish have become the subject of a Supreme Court lawsuit. Introduced in the US in 1831, carp were originally intended for consumption although today they are not widely eaten. Populations have flourished in the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers since the 1970s, when it is thought that they escaped from Midwestern fish farms during heavy flooding. Carp consume only plankton, although vast amounts of it, and some species of Asian carp can grow to over one hundred pounds. Not only are the fish a hazard to recreational boaters, they also compete with native species for food and space. Environmentalists fear that carp will infiltrate the Great Lakes, via locks connecting the Mississippi to Lake Michigan, where they would damage the ecosystem. They also fear that by crowding out species such as salmon, Asian carp would also be detrimental to the Great Lakes sports fishing industry. The US government currently spends $80 million per annum on Asian carp control, using methods such as toxins and underwater electric barriers designed to repel carp. Evidence of carp in Lake Michigan however has led anticarp activists to call for stronger measures, such as blocking off the locks on the Chicago canal. Business interests strongly oppose the closure of this major shipping lane for economic reasons, also arguing that forcing canal traffic onto the roads will cause pollution. | Electric barriers are not a fully effective means of carp control. | n |
id_979 | As their name suggests, Asian carp are not indigenous to the United States, yet these invasive fish have become the subject of a Supreme Court lawsuit. Introduced in the US in 1831, carp were originally intended for consumption although today they are not widely eaten. Populations have flourished in the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers since the 1970s, when it is thought that they escaped from Midwestern fish farms during heavy flooding. Carp consume only plankton, although vast amounts of it, and some species of Asian carp can grow to over one hundred pounds. Not only are the fish a hazard to recreational boaters, they also compete with native species for food and space. Environmentalists fear that carp will infiltrate the Great Lakes, via locks connecting the Mississippi to Lake Michigan, where they would damage the ecosystem. They also fear that by crowding out species such as salmon, Asian carp would also be detrimental to the Great Lakes sports fishing industry. The US government currently spends $80 million per annum on Asian carp control, using methods such as toxins and underwater electric barriers designed to repel carp. Evidence of carp in Lake Michigan however has led anticarp activists to call for stronger measures, such as blocking off the locks on the Chicago canal. Business interests strongly oppose the closure of this major shipping lane for economic reasons, also arguing that forcing canal traffic onto the roads will cause pollution. | If allowed into the Great Lakes, Asian carp would prey on native salmon. | c |
id_980 | As their name suggests, Asian carp are not indigenous to the United States, yet these invasive fish have become the subject of a Supreme Court lawsuit. Introduced in the US in 1831, carp were originally intended for consumption although today they are not widely eaten. Populations have flourished in the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers since the 1970s, when it is thought that they escaped from Midwestern fish farms during heavy flooding. Carp consume only plankton, although vast amounts of it, and some species of Asian carp can grow to over one hundred pounds. Not only are the fish a hazard to recreational boaters, they also compete with native species for food and space. Environmentalists fear that carp will infiltrate the Great Lakes, via locks connecting the Mississippi to Lake Michigan, where they would damage the ecosystem. They also fear that by crowding out species such as salmon, Asian carp would also be detrimental to the Great Lakes sports fishing industry. The US government currently spends $80 million per annum on Asian carp control, using methods such as toxins and underwater electric barriers designed to repel carp. Evidence of carp in Lake Michigan however has led anticarp activists to call for stronger measures, such as blocking off the locks on the Chicago canal. Business interests strongly oppose the closure of this major shipping lane for economic reasons, also arguing that forcing canal traffic onto the roads will cause pollution. | Anticarp activists have demanded more drastic measures of carp control in the US Supreme Court. | n |
id_981 | As their name suggests, Asian carp are not indigenous to the United States, yet these invasive fish have become the subject of a Supreme Court lawsuit. Introduced in the US in 1831, carp were originally intended for consumption although today they are not widely eaten. Populations have flourished in the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers since the 1970s, when it is thought that they escaped from Midwestern fish farms during heavy flooding. Carp consume only plankton, although vast amounts of it, and some species of Asian carp can grow to over one hundred pounds. Not only are the fish a hazard to recreational boaters, they also compete with native species for food and space. Environmentalists fear that carp will infiltrate the Great Lakes, via locks connecting the Mississippi to Lake Michigan, where they would damage the ecosystem. They also fear that by crowding out species such as salmon, Asian carp would also be detrimental to the Great Lakes sports fishing industry. The US government currently spends $80 million per annum on Asian carp control, using methods such as toxins and underwater electric barriers designed to repel carp. Evidence of carp in Lake Michigan however has led anticarp activists to call for stronger measures, such as blocking off the locks on the Chicago canal. Business interests strongly oppose the closure of this major shipping lane for economic reasons, also arguing that forcing canal traffic onto the roads will cause pollution. | Heavy flooding in the 1970s resulted in Asian carp proliferating in the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers. | n |
id_982 | Asia is the worlds largest continent and stretches from the Baring Sea in the east to Turkey and Europe in the west. Its southern border comprises many islands, includ- ing those that make up Indonesia. Since independence of colonial powers, Asian economies have boomed. First were Japan, Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea and later Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. More recently China and India have enjoyed rapid economic growth. The south-west and central parts of the continent are deserts. The Himalayan mountains divide the cold north from the tropical south. The people of Asia make up over two-thirds of the worlds population and they live in the birthplace of the worlds earliest civilizations. | More of the worlds population live in Asia than in any other continent. | e |
id_983 | Asia is the worlds largest continent and stretches from the Baring Sea in the east to Turkey and Europe in the west. Its southern border comprises many islands, includ- ing those that make up Indonesia. Since independence of colonial powers, Asian economies have boomed. First were Japan, Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea and later Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. More recently China and India have enjoyed rapid economic growth. The south-west and central parts of the continent are deserts. The Himalayan mountains divide the cold north from the tropical south. The people of Asia make up over two-thirds of the worlds population and they live in the birthplace of the worlds earliest civilizations. | Post-colonial growth first occurred in Singapore. | n |
id_984 | Asia is the worlds largest continent and stretches from the Baring Sea in the east to Turkey and Europe in the west. Its southern border comprises many islands, includ- ing those that make up Indonesia. Since independence of colonial powers, Asian economies have boomed. First were Japan, Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea and later Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. More recently China and India have enjoyed rapid economic growth. The south-west and central parts of the continent are deserts. The Himalayan mountains divide the cold north from the tropical south. The people of Asia make up over two-thirds of the worlds population and they live in the birthplace of the worlds earliest civilizations. | The continent of Antarctica is smaller than Asia. | e |
id_985 | Asia is the worlds largest continent and stretches from the Baring Sea in the east to Turkey and Europe in the west. Its southern border comprises many islands, includ- ing those that make up Indonesia. Since independence of colonial powers, Asian economies have boomed. First were Japan, Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea and later Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. More recently China and India have enjoyed rapid economic growth. The south-west and central parts of the continent are deserts. The Himalayan mountains divide the cold north from the tropical south. The people of Asia make up over two-thirds of the worlds population and they live in the birthplace of the worlds earliest civilizations. | Civilization began in the continent of Asia. | e |
id_986 | Asia is the worlds largest continent and stretches from the Baring Sea in the east to Turkey and Europe in the west. Its southern border comprises many islands, includ- ing those that make up Indonesia. Since independence of colonial powers, Asian economies have boomed. First were Japan, Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea and later Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. More recently China and India have enjoyed rapid economic growth. The south-west and central parts of the continent are deserts. The Himalayan mountains divide the cold north from the tropical south. The people of Asia make up over two-thirds of the worlds population and they live in the birthplace of the worlds earliest civilizations. | The colonial era was a disaster for Asia. | n |
id_987 | Asian Space 2 Satellite Technology The space age began with the launch of the Russian artificial satellite Sputnik in 1957 and developed further with the race to the moon between the United States and Russia. This rivalry was characterized by advanced technology and huge budgets. In this process there were spectacular successes, some failures, but also many spin-offs. Europe, Japan, China, and India quickly joined this space club of the superpowers. With the advent of relatively low cost high performance mini-satellites and launchers, the acquisition of indigenous space capabilities by smaller nations in Asia has become possible. How, in what manner, and for what purpose will these capabilities be realized? A. Rocket technology has progressed considerably since the days of fire arrows' (bamboo poles filled with gunpowder) first used in China around 500 BC, and, during the Sung Dynasty, to repel Mongol invaders at the battle of Kaifeng (Kai- fung fu) in AD 1232. These ancient rockets stand in stark contrast to the present- day Chinese rocket launch vehicles, called the Long March' , intended to place a Chinese astronaut in space by 2005 and, perhaps, to achieve a Chinese moon- landing by the end of the decade. B. In the last decade there has been a dramatic growth in space activities in Asia both in the utilization of space-based services and the production of satellites and launchers. This rapid expansion has led many commentators and analysts to predict that Asia will become a world space power. The space age has had dramatic affects worldwide with direct developments in space technology influencing telecommunications, meteorological forecasting, earth resource and environmental monitoring, and disaster mitigation (flood, forest fires, and oil spills). Asian nations have been particularly eager to embrace these developments. C. New and innovative uses for satellites are constantly being explored with potential revolutionary effects, such as in the field of health and telemedicine, distance education, crime prevention (piracy on the high seas), food and agricultural planning and production (rice crop monitoring). Space in Asia is very much influenced by the competitive commercial space sector, the emergence of low cost mini-satellites, and the globalization of industrial and financial markets. It is not evident how Asian space will develop in the coming decades in the face of these trends. It is, however, important to understand and assess the factors and forces that shape Asian space activities and development in determining its possible consequences for the region. D. At present, three Asian nations, Japan, China, and India, have comprehensive end-to-end space capabilities and possess a complete space infrastructure: space technology, satellite manufacturing, rockets, and spaceports. Already self- sufficient in terms of satellite design and manufacturing, South Korea is currently attempting to join then ranks with its plans to develop a launch site and spaceport. Additionally, nations in Southeast Asia as well as those bordering the Indian subcontinent (Nepal, Pakistan, and Bangladesh) have, or are starting to develop, indigenous space programmes. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has, in varying degrees, embraced space applications using foreign technology and over the past five years or so its space activities have been expanding. Southeast Asia is predicted to become the largest and fastest growing market for commercial space products and applications, driven by telecommunications (mobile and fixed services), the Internet, and remotesensing applications. In the development of this technology, many non-technical factors, such as economics, politics, culture, and history, interact and play important roles, which in turn affect Asian technology. E. Asia, and Southeast Asia in particular, suffers from a long list of recurrent large-scale environmental problems including storms and flooding, forest fires and deforestation, and crop failures. Thus the space application that has attracted the most attention in this region is remote sensing. Remote sensing satellites equipped with instruments to take photographs of the ground at different wavelengths provide essential information for natural resource accounting, environmental management, disaster prevention and monitoring, land-use mapping, and sustainable development planning. Progress in these applications has been rapid and impressive. ASEAN members, unlike Japan, China, and India, do not have then own remote sensing satellites, however most of its member nations have facilities to receive, process, and interpret such data from American and European satellites. In particular, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore have world-class remote sensing processing facilities and research programmes. ASEAN has plans to develop (and launch) its own satellites and in particular remote sensing satellites. Japan is regarded as the dominant space power in Asia and its record of successes and quality of technologies are equal to those of the West In view of the technological challenges and high risks involved in space activities, a very long, and expensive, learning curve has been followed to obtain those successes achieved. Japan' s satellite manufacturing was based on the old and traditional defense and military procurement methodologies as practiced in the US and Europe. F. In recent years there have been fundamental changes in the way satellites are designed and built to drastically reduce costs. The emergence of small satellites and then quick adoption by Asian countries as a way to develop low-cost satellite technology and rapidly establish a space capability has given these countries the possibility to shorten their learning curve by a decade or more. The global increase of technology transfer mechanisms and use of readily available commercial technology to replace costly space and military standard components may very well result in a highly competitive Asian satellite manufacturing industry. G. The laws of physics ore the same to Tokyo as in Toulouse, and toe principles of electronics and mechanics know no political or cultural boundaries. However, no such immutability applies to engineering practices and management; they are -very much influenced by education, culture, and history. These factors, in turn, have an affect on costs, lead times, product designs and, eventually, international sales, Marty Aston nations are sending their engineers to be trained in the fast Highly experienced, they return to work in toe growing Aslan space industry. Mil this acquisition of technical expertise, coupled perhaps with the world-renowned Japanese manufacturing and management techniques, be applied to build world-class satellites and reduce costs? | Koalas are easily infected with human contagious disease via cuddling | n |
id_988 | Asian Space 2 Satellite Technology The space age began with the launch of the Russian artificial satellite Sputnik in 1957 and developed further with the race to the moon between the United States and Russia. This rivalry was characterized by advanced technology and huge budgets. In this process there were spectacular successes, some failures, but also many spin-offs. Europe, Japan, China, and India quickly joined this space club of the superpowers. With the advent of relatively low cost high performance mini-satellites and launchers, the acquisition of indigenous space capabilities by smaller nations in Asia has become possible. How, in what manner, and for what purpose will these capabilities be realized? A. Rocket technology has progressed considerably since the days of fire arrows' (bamboo poles filled with gunpowder) first used in China around 500 BC, and, during the Sung Dynasty, to repel Mongol invaders at the battle of Kaifeng (Kai- fung fu) in AD 1232. These ancient rockets stand in stark contrast to the present- day Chinese rocket launch vehicles, called the Long March' , intended to place a Chinese astronaut in space by 2005 and, perhaps, to achieve a Chinese moon- landing by the end of the decade. B. In the last decade there has been a dramatic growth in space activities in Asia both in the utilization of space-based services and the production of satellites and launchers. This rapid expansion has led many commentators and analysts to predict that Asia will become a world space power. The space age has had dramatic affects worldwide with direct developments in space technology influencing telecommunications, meteorological forecasting, earth resource and environmental monitoring, and disaster mitigation (flood, forest fires, and oil spills). Asian nations have been particularly eager to embrace these developments. C. New and innovative uses for satellites are constantly being explored with potential revolutionary effects, such as in the field of health and telemedicine, distance education, crime prevention (piracy on the high seas), food and agricultural planning and production (rice crop monitoring). Space in Asia is very much influenced by the competitive commercial space sector, the emergence of low cost mini-satellites, and the globalization of industrial and financial markets. It is not evident how Asian space will develop in the coming decades in the face of these trends. It is, however, important to understand and assess the factors and forces that shape Asian space activities and development in determining its possible consequences for the region. D. At present, three Asian nations, Japan, China, and India, have comprehensive end-to-end space capabilities and possess a complete space infrastructure: space technology, satellite manufacturing, rockets, and spaceports. Already self- sufficient in terms of satellite design and manufacturing, South Korea is currently attempting to join then ranks with its plans to develop a launch site and spaceport. Additionally, nations in Southeast Asia as well as those bordering the Indian subcontinent (Nepal, Pakistan, and Bangladesh) have, or are starting to develop, indigenous space programmes. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has, in varying degrees, embraced space applications using foreign technology and over the past five years or so its space activities have been expanding. Southeast Asia is predicted to become the largest and fastest growing market for commercial space products and applications, driven by telecommunications (mobile and fixed services), the Internet, and remotesensing applications. In the development of this technology, many non-technical factors, such as economics, politics, culture, and history, interact and play important roles, which in turn affect Asian technology. E. Asia, and Southeast Asia in particular, suffers from a long list of recurrent large-scale environmental problems including storms and flooding, forest fires and deforestation, and crop failures. Thus the space application that has attracted the most attention in this region is remote sensing. Remote sensing satellites equipped with instruments to take photographs of the ground at different wavelengths provide essential information for natural resource accounting, environmental management, disaster prevention and monitoring, land-use mapping, and sustainable development planning. Progress in these applications has been rapid and impressive. ASEAN members, unlike Japan, China, and India, do not have then own remote sensing satellites, however most of its member nations have facilities to receive, process, and interpret such data from American and European satellites. In particular, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore have world-class remote sensing processing facilities and research programmes. ASEAN has plans to develop (and launch) its own satellites and in particular remote sensing satellites. Japan is regarded as the dominant space power in Asia and its record of successes and quality of technologies are equal to those of the West In view of the technological challenges and high risks involved in space activities, a very long, and expensive, learning curve has been followed to obtain those successes achieved. Japan' s satellite manufacturing was based on the old and traditional defense and military procurement methodologies as practiced in the US and Europe. F. In recent years there have been fundamental changes in the way satellites are designed and built to drastically reduce costs. The emergence of small satellites and then quick adoption by Asian countries as a way to develop low-cost satellite technology and rapidly establish a space capability has given these countries the possibility to shorten their learning curve by a decade or more. The global increase of technology transfer mechanisms and use of readily available commercial technology to replace costly space and military standard components may very well result in a highly competitive Asian satellite manufacturing industry. G. The laws of physics ore the same to Tokyo as in Toulouse, and toe principles of electronics and mechanics know no political or cultural boundaries. However, no such immutability applies to engineering practices and management; they are -very much influenced by education, culture, and history. These factors, in turn, have an affect on costs, lead times, product designs and, eventually, international sales, Marty Aston nations are sending their engineers to be trained in the fast Highly experienced, they return to work in toe growing Aslan space industry. Mil this acquisition of technical expertise, coupled perhaps with the world-renowned Japanese manufacturing and management techniques, be applied to build world-class satellites and reduce costs? | commercial competition constitutes a boosting factor to Asian technology development. | e |
id_989 | Asian Space 2 Satellite Technology The space age began with the launch of the Russian artificial satellite Sputnik in 1957 and developed further with the race to the moon between the United States and Russia. This rivalry was characterized by advanced technology and huge budgets. In this process there were spectacular successes, some failures, but also many spin-offs. Europe, Japan, China, and India quickly joined this space club of the superpowers. With the advent of relatively low cost high performance mini-satellites and launchers, the acquisition of indigenous space capabilities by smaller nations in Asia has become possible. How, in what manner, and for what purpose will these capabilities be realized? A. Rocket technology has progressed considerably since the days of fire arrows' (bamboo poles filled with gunpowder) first used in China around 500 BC, and, during the Sung Dynasty, to repel Mongol invaders at the battle of Kaifeng (Kai- fung fu) in AD 1232. These ancient rockets stand in stark contrast to the present- day Chinese rocket launch vehicles, called the Long March' , intended to place a Chinese astronaut in space by 2005 and, perhaps, to achieve a Chinese moon- landing by the end of the decade. B. In the last decade there has been a dramatic growth in space activities in Asia both in the utilization of space-based services and the production of satellites and launchers. This rapid expansion has led many commentators and analysts to predict that Asia will become a world space power. The space age has had dramatic affects worldwide with direct developments in space technology influencing telecommunications, meteorological forecasting, earth resource and environmental monitoring, and disaster mitigation (flood, forest fires, and oil spills). Asian nations have been particularly eager to embrace these developments. C. New and innovative uses for satellites are constantly being explored with potential revolutionary effects, such as in the field of health and telemedicine, distance education, crime prevention (piracy on the high seas), food and agricultural planning and production (rice crop monitoring). Space in Asia is very much influenced by the competitive commercial space sector, the emergence of low cost mini-satellites, and the globalization of industrial and financial markets. It is not evident how Asian space will develop in the coming decades in the face of these trends. It is, however, important to understand and assess the factors and forces that shape Asian space activities and development in determining its possible consequences for the region. D. At present, three Asian nations, Japan, China, and India, have comprehensive end-to-end space capabilities and possess a complete space infrastructure: space technology, satellite manufacturing, rockets, and spaceports. Already self- sufficient in terms of satellite design and manufacturing, South Korea is currently attempting to join then ranks with its plans to develop a launch site and spaceport. Additionally, nations in Southeast Asia as well as those bordering the Indian subcontinent (Nepal, Pakistan, and Bangladesh) have, or are starting to develop, indigenous space programmes. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has, in varying degrees, embraced space applications using foreign technology and over the past five years or so its space activities have been expanding. Southeast Asia is predicted to become the largest and fastest growing market for commercial space products and applications, driven by telecommunications (mobile and fixed services), the Internet, and remotesensing applications. In the development of this technology, many non-technical factors, such as economics, politics, culture, and history, interact and play important roles, which in turn affect Asian technology. E. Asia, and Southeast Asia in particular, suffers from a long list of recurrent large-scale environmental problems including storms and flooding, forest fires and deforestation, and crop failures. Thus the space application that has attracted the most attention in this region is remote sensing. Remote sensing satellites equipped with instruments to take photographs of the ground at different wavelengths provide essential information for natural resource accounting, environmental management, disaster prevention and monitoring, land-use mapping, and sustainable development planning. Progress in these applications has been rapid and impressive. ASEAN members, unlike Japan, China, and India, do not have then own remote sensing satellites, however most of its member nations have facilities to receive, process, and interpret such data from American and European satellites. In particular, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore have world-class remote sensing processing facilities and research programmes. ASEAN has plans to develop (and launch) its own satellites and in particular remote sensing satellites. Japan is regarded as the dominant space power in Asia and its record of successes and quality of technologies are equal to those of the West In view of the technological challenges and high risks involved in space activities, a very long, and expensive, learning curve has been followed to obtain those successes achieved. Japan' s satellite manufacturing was based on the old and traditional defense and military procurement methodologies as practiced in the US and Europe. F. In recent years there have been fundamental changes in the way satellites are designed and built to drastically reduce costs. The emergence of small satellites and then quick adoption by Asian countries as a way to develop low-cost satellite technology and rapidly establish a space capability has given these countries the possibility to shorten their learning curve by a decade or more. The global increase of technology transfer mechanisms and use of readily available commercial technology to replace costly space and military standard components may very well result in a highly competitive Asian satellite manufacturing industry. G. The laws of physics ore the same to Tokyo as in Toulouse, and toe principles of electronics and mechanics know no political or cultural boundaries. However, no such immutability applies to engineering practices and management; they are -very much influenced by education, culture, and history. These factors, in turn, have an affect on costs, lead times, product designs and, eventually, international sales, Marty Aston nations are sending their engineers to be trained in the fast Highly experienced, they return to work in toe growing Aslan space industry. Mil this acquisition of technical expertise, coupled perhaps with the world-renowned Japanese manufacturing and management techniques, be applied to build world-class satellites and reduce costs? | Koalas will fight each other when food becomes scarce. | n |
id_990 | Asian Space 2 Satellite Technology The space age began with the launch of the Russian artificial satellite Sputnik in 1957 and developed further with the race to the moon between the United States and Russia. This rivalry was characterized by advanced technology and huge budgets. In this process there were spectacular successes, some failures, but also many spin-offs. Europe, Japan, China, and India quickly joined this space club of the superpowers. With the advent of relatively low cost high performance mini-satellites and launchers, the acquisition of indigenous space capabilities by smaller nations in Asia has become possible. How, in what manner, and for what purpose will these capabilities be realized? A. Rocket technology has progressed considerably since the days of fire arrows' (bamboo poles filled with gunpowder) first used in China around 500 BC, and, during the Sung Dynasty, to repel Mongol invaders at the battle of Kaifeng (Kai- fung fu) in AD 1232. These ancient rockets stand in stark contrast to the present- day Chinese rocket launch vehicles, called the Long March' , intended to place a Chinese astronaut in space by 2005 and, perhaps, to achieve a Chinese moon- landing by the end of the decade. B. In the last decade there has been a dramatic growth in space activities in Asia both in the utilization of space-based services and the production of satellites and launchers. This rapid expansion has led many commentators and analysts to predict that Asia will become a world space power. The space age has had dramatic affects worldwide with direct developments in space technology influencing telecommunications, meteorological forecasting, earth resource and environmental monitoring, and disaster mitigation (flood, forest fires, and oil spills). Asian nations have been particularly eager to embrace these developments. C. New and innovative uses for satellites are constantly being explored with potential revolutionary effects, such as in the field of health and telemedicine, distance education, crime prevention (piracy on the high seas), food and agricultural planning and production (rice crop monitoring). Space in Asia is very much influenced by the competitive commercial space sector, the emergence of low cost mini-satellites, and the globalization of industrial and financial markets. It is not evident how Asian space will develop in the coming decades in the face of these trends. It is, however, important to understand and assess the factors and forces that shape Asian space activities and development in determining its possible consequences for the region. D. At present, three Asian nations, Japan, China, and India, have comprehensive end-to-end space capabilities and possess a complete space infrastructure: space technology, satellite manufacturing, rockets, and spaceports. Already self- sufficient in terms of satellite design and manufacturing, South Korea is currently attempting to join then ranks with its plans to develop a launch site and spaceport. Additionally, nations in Southeast Asia as well as those bordering the Indian subcontinent (Nepal, Pakistan, and Bangladesh) have, or are starting to develop, indigenous space programmes. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has, in varying degrees, embraced space applications using foreign technology and over the past five years or so its space activities have been expanding. Southeast Asia is predicted to become the largest and fastest growing market for commercial space products and applications, driven by telecommunications (mobile and fixed services), the Internet, and remotesensing applications. In the development of this technology, many non-technical factors, such as economics, politics, culture, and history, interact and play important roles, which in turn affect Asian technology. E. Asia, and Southeast Asia in particular, suffers from a long list of recurrent large-scale environmental problems including storms and flooding, forest fires and deforestation, and crop failures. Thus the space application that has attracted the most attention in this region is remote sensing. Remote sensing satellites equipped with instruments to take photographs of the ground at different wavelengths provide essential information for natural resource accounting, environmental management, disaster prevention and monitoring, land-use mapping, and sustainable development planning. Progress in these applications has been rapid and impressive. ASEAN members, unlike Japan, China, and India, do not have then own remote sensing satellites, however most of its member nations have facilities to receive, process, and interpret such data from American and European satellites. In particular, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore have world-class remote sensing processing facilities and research programmes. ASEAN has plans to develop (and launch) its own satellites and in particular remote sensing satellites. Japan is regarded as the dominant space power in Asia and its record of successes and quality of technologies are equal to those of the West In view of the technological challenges and high risks involved in space activities, a very long, and expensive, learning curve has been followed to obtain those successes achieved. Japan' s satellite manufacturing was based on the old and traditional defense and military procurement methodologies as practiced in the US and Europe. F. In recent years there have been fundamental changes in the way satellites are designed and built to drastically reduce costs. The emergence of small satellites and then quick adoption by Asian countries as a way to develop low-cost satellite technology and rapidly establish a space capability has given these countries the possibility to shorten their learning curve by a decade or more. The global increase of technology transfer mechanisms and use of readily available commercial technology to replace costly space and military standard components may very well result in a highly competitive Asian satellite manufacturing industry. G. The laws of physics ore the same to Tokyo as in Toulouse, and toe principles of electronics and mechanics know no political or cultural boundaries. However, no such immutability applies to engineering practices and management; they are -very much influenced by education, culture, and history. These factors, in turn, have an affect on costs, lead times, product designs and, eventually, international sales, Marty Aston nations are sending their engineers to be trained in the fast Highly experienced, they return to work in toe growing Aslan space industry. Mil this acquisition of technical expertise, coupled perhaps with the world-renowned Japanese manufacturing and management techniques, be applied to build world-class satellites and reduce costs? | it takes decade for the eucalyptus trees to recover after the fire. | c |
id_991 | Asian Space 2 Satellite Technology The space age began with the launch of the Russian artificial satellite Sputnik in 1957 and developed further with the race to the moon between the United States and Russia. This rivalry was characterized by advanced technology and huge budgets. In this process there were spectacular successes, some failures, but also many spin-offs. Europe, Japan, China, and India quickly joined this space club of the superpowers. With the advent of relatively low cost high performance mini-satellites and launchers, the acquisition of indigenous space capabilities by smaller nations in Asia has become possible. How, in what manner, and for what purpose will these capabilities be realized? A. Rocket technology has progressed considerably since the days of fire arrows' (bamboo poles filled with gunpowder) first used in China around 500 BC, and, during the Sung Dynasty, to repel Mongol invaders at the battle of Kaifeng (Kai- fung fu) in AD 1232. These ancient rockets stand in stark contrast to the present- day Chinese rocket launch vehicles, called the Long March' , intended to place a Chinese astronaut in space by 2005 and, perhaps, to achieve a Chinese moon- landing by the end of the decade. B. In the last decade there has been a dramatic growth in space activities in Asia both in the utilization of space-based services and the production of satellites and launchers. This rapid expansion has led many commentators and analysts to predict that Asia will become a world space power. The space age has had dramatic affects worldwide with direct developments in space technology influencing telecommunications, meteorological forecasting, earth resource and environmental monitoring, and disaster mitigation (flood, forest fires, and oil spills). Asian nations have been particularly eager to embrace these developments. C. New and innovative uses for satellites are constantly being explored with potential revolutionary effects, such as in the field of health and telemedicine, distance education, crime prevention (piracy on the high seas), food and agricultural planning and production (rice crop monitoring). Space in Asia is very much influenced by the competitive commercial space sector, the emergence of low cost mini-satellites, and the globalization of industrial and financial markets. It is not evident how Asian space will develop in the coming decades in the face of these trends. It is, however, important to understand and assess the factors and forces that shape Asian space activities and development in determining its possible consequences for the region. D. At present, three Asian nations, Japan, China, and India, have comprehensive end-to-end space capabilities and possess a complete space infrastructure: space technology, satellite manufacturing, rockets, and spaceports. Already self- sufficient in terms of satellite design and manufacturing, South Korea is currently attempting to join then ranks with its plans to develop a launch site and spaceport. Additionally, nations in Southeast Asia as well as those bordering the Indian subcontinent (Nepal, Pakistan, and Bangladesh) have, or are starting to develop, indigenous space programmes. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has, in varying degrees, embraced space applications using foreign technology and over the past five years or so its space activities have been expanding. Southeast Asia is predicted to become the largest and fastest growing market for commercial space products and applications, driven by telecommunications (mobile and fixed services), the Internet, and remotesensing applications. In the development of this technology, many non-technical factors, such as economics, politics, culture, and history, interact and play important roles, which in turn affect Asian technology. E. Asia, and Southeast Asia in particular, suffers from a long list of recurrent large-scale environmental problems including storms and flooding, forest fires and deforestation, and crop failures. Thus the space application that has attracted the most attention in this region is remote sensing. Remote sensing satellites equipped with instruments to take photographs of the ground at different wavelengths provide essential information for natural resource accounting, environmental management, disaster prevention and monitoring, land-use mapping, and sustainable development planning. Progress in these applications has been rapid and impressive. ASEAN members, unlike Japan, China, and India, do not have then own remote sensing satellites, however most of its member nations have facilities to receive, process, and interpret such data from American and European satellites. In particular, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore have world-class remote sensing processing facilities and research programmes. ASEAN has plans to develop (and launch) its own satellites and in particular remote sensing satellites. Japan is regarded as the dominant space power in Asia and its record of successes and quality of technologies are equal to those of the West In view of the technological challenges and high risks involved in space activities, a very long, and expensive, learning curve has been followed to obtain those successes achieved. Japan' s satellite manufacturing was based on the old and traditional defense and military procurement methodologies as practiced in the US and Europe. F. In recent years there have been fundamental changes in the way satellites are designed and built to drastically reduce costs. The emergence of small satellites and then quick adoption by Asian countries as a way to develop low-cost satellite technology and rapidly establish a space capability has given these countries the possibility to shorten their learning curve by a decade or more. The global increase of technology transfer mechanisms and use of readily available commercial technology to replace costly space and military standard components may very well result in a highly competitive Asian satellite manufacturing industry. G. The laws of physics ore the same to Tokyo as in Toulouse, and toe principles of electronics and mechanics know no political or cultural boundaries. However, no such immutability applies to engineering practices and management; they are -very much influenced by education, culture, and history. These factors, in turn, have an affect on costs, lead times, product designs and, eventually, international sales, Marty Aston nations are sending their engineers to be trained in the fast Highly experienced, they return to work in toe growing Aslan space industry. Mil this acquisition of technical expertise, coupled perhaps with the world-renowned Japanese manufacturing and management techniques, be applied to build world-class satellites and reduce costs? | Koalas can still be seen in most of the places in Australia. | c |
id_992 | Asian Space 2 Satellite Technology The space age began with the launch of the Russian artificial satellite Sputnik in 1957 and developed further with the race to the moon between the United States and Russia. This rivalry was characterized by advanced technology and huge budgets. In this process there were spectacular successes, some failures, but also many spin-offs. Europe, Japan, China, and India quickly joined this space club of the superpowers. With the advent of relatively low cost high performance mini-satellites and launchers, the acquisition of indigenous space capabilities by smaller nations in Asia has become possible. How, in what manner, and for what purpose will these capabilities be realized? A. Rocket technology has progressed considerably since the days of fire arrows' (bamboo poles filled with gunpowder) first used in China around 500 BC, and, during the Sung Dynasty, to repel Mongol invaders at the battle of Kaifeng (Kai- fung fu) in AD 1232. These ancient rockets stand in stark contrast to the present- day Chinese rocket launch vehicles, called the Long March' , intended to place a Chinese astronaut in space by 2005 and, perhaps, to achieve a Chinese moon- landing by the end of the decade. B. In the last decade there has been a dramatic growth in space activities in Asia both in the utilization of space-based services and the production of satellites and launchers. This rapid expansion has led many commentators and analysts to predict that Asia will become a world space power. The space age has had dramatic affects worldwide with direct developments in space technology influencing telecommunications, meteorological forecasting, earth resource and environmental monitoring, and disaster mitigation (flood, forest fires, and oil spills). Asian nations have been particularly eager to embrace these developments. C. New and innovative uses for satellites are constantly being explored with potential revolutionary effects, such as in the field of health and telemedicine, distance education, crime prevention (piracy on the high seas), food and agricultural planning and production (rice crop monitoring). Space in Asia is very much influenced by the competitive commercial space sector, the emergence of low cost mini-satellites, and the globalization of industrial and financial markets. It is not evident how Asian space will develop in the coming decades in the face of these trends. It is, however, important to understand and assess the factors and forces that shape Asian space activities and development in determining its possible consequences for the region. D. At present, three Asian nations, Japan, China, and India, have comprehensive end-to-end space capabilities and possess a complete space infrastructure: space technology, satellite manufacturing, rockets, and spaceports. Already self- sufficient in terms of satellite design and manufacturing, South Korea is currently attempting to join then ranks with its plans to develop a launch site and spaceport. Additionally, nations in Southeast Asia as well as those bordering the Indian subcontinent (Nepal, Pakistan, and Bangladesh) have, or are starting to develop, indigenous space programmes. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has, in varying degrees, embraced space applications using foreign technology and over the past five years or so its space activities have been expanding. Southeast Asia is predicted to become the largest and fastest growing market for commercial space products and applications, driven by telecommunications (mobile and fixed services), the Internet, and remotesensing applications. In the development of this technology, many non-technical factors, such as economics, politics, culture, and history, interact and play important roles, which in turn affect Asian technology. E. Asia, and Southeast Asia in particular, suffers from a long list of recurrent large-scale environmental problems including storms and flooding, forest fires and deforestation, and crop failures. Thus the space application that has attracted the most attention in this region is remote sensing. Remote sensing satellites equipped with instruments to take photographs of the ground at different wavelengths provide essential information for natural resource accounting, environmental management, disaster prevention and monitoring, land-use mapping, and sustainable development planning. Progress in these applications has been rapid and impressive. ASEAN members, unlike Japan, China, and India, do not have then own remote sensing satellites, however most of its member nations have facilities to receive, process, and interpret such data from American and European satellites. In particular, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore have world-class remote sensing processing facilities and research programmes. ASEAN has plans to develop (and launch) its own satellites and in particular remote sensing satellites. Japan is regarded as the dominant space power in Asia and its record of successes and quality of technologies are equal to those of the West In view of the technological challenges and high risks involved in space activities, a very long, and expensive, learning curve has been followed to obtain those successes achieved. Japan' s satellite manufacturing was based on the old and traditional defense and military procurement methodologies as practiced in the US and Europe. F. In recent years there have been fundamental changes in the way satellites are designed and built to drastically reduce costs. The emergence of small satellites and then quick adoption by Asian countries as a way to develop low-cost satellite technology and rapidly establish a space capability has given these countries the possibility to shorten their learning curve by a decade or more. The global increase of technology transfer mechanisms and use of readily available commercial technology to replace costly space and military standard components may very well result in a highly competitive Asian satellite manufacturing industry. G. The laws of physics ore the same to Tokyo as in Toulouse, and toe principles of electronics and mechanics know no political or cultural boundaries. However, no such immutability applies to engineering practices and management; they are -very much influenced by education, culture, and history. These factors, in turn, have an affect on costs, lead times, product designs and, eventually, international sales, Marty Aston nations are sending their engineers to be trained in the fast Highly experienced, they return to work in toe growing Aslan space industry. Mil this acquisition of technical expertise, coupled perhaps with the world-renowned Japanese manufacturing and management techniques, be applied to build world-class satellites and reduce costs? | new coming human settlers caused danger to koalas. | e |
id_993 | Asian Space 2 Satellite Technology The space age began with the launch of the Russian artificial satellite Sputnik in 1957 and developed further with the race to the moon between the United States and Russia. This rivalry was characterized by advanced technology and huge budgets. In this process there were spectacular successes, some failures, but also many spin-offs. Europe, Japan, China, and India quickly joined this space club of the superpowers. With the advent of relatively low cost high performance mini-satellites and launchers, the acquisition of indigenous space capabilities by smaller nations in Asia has become possible. How, in what manner, and for what purpose will these capabilities be realized? A. Rocket technology has progressed considerably since the days of fire arrows' (bamboo poles filled with gunpowder) first used in China around 500 BC, and, during the Sung Dynasty, to repel Mongol invaders at the battle of Kaifeng (Kai- fung fu) in AD 1232. These ancient rockets stand in stark contrast to the present- day Chinese rocket launch vehicles, called the Long March' , intended to place a Chinese astronaut in space by 2005 and, perhaps, to achieve a Chinese moon- landing by the end of the decade. B. In the last decade there has been a dramatic growth in space activities in Asia both in the utilization of space-based services and the production of satellites and launchers. This rapid expansion has led many commentators and analysts to predict that Asia will become a world space power. The space age has had dramatic affects worldwide with direct developments in space technology influencing telecommunications, meteorological forecasting, earth resource and environmental monitoring, and disaster mitigation (flood, forest fires, and oil spills). Asian nations have been particularly eager to embrace these developments. C. New and innovative uses for satellites are constantly being explored with potential revolutionary effects, such as in the field of health and telemedicine, distance education, crime prevention (piracy on the high seas), food and agricultural planning and production (rice crop monitoring). Space in Asia is very much influenced by the competitive commercial space sector, the emergence of low cost mini-satellites, and the globalization of industrial and financial markets. It is not evident how Asian space will develop in the coming decades in the face of these trends. It is, however, important to understand and assess the factors and forces that shape Asian space activities and development in determining its possible consequences for the region. D. At present, three Asian nations, Japan, China, and India, have comprehensive end-to-end space capabilities and possess a complete space infrastructure: space technology, satellite manufacturing, rockets, and spaceports. Already self- sufficient in terms of satellite design and manufacturing, South Korea is currently attempting to join then ranks with its plans to develop a launch site and spaceport. Additionally, nations in Southeast Asia as well as those bordering the Indian subcontinent (Nepal, Pakistan, and Bangladesh) have, or are starting to develop, indigenous space programmes. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has, in varying degrees, embraced space applications using foreign technology and over the past five years or so its space activities have been expanding. Southeast Asia is predicted to become the largest and fastest growing market for commercial space products and applications, driven by telecommunications (mobile and fixed services), the Internet, and remotesensing applications. In the development of this technology, many non-technical factors, such as economics, politics, culture, and history, interact and play important roles, which in turn affect Asian technology. E. Asia, and Southeast Asia in particular, suffers from a long list of recurrent large-scale environmental problems including storms and flooding, forest fires and deforestation, and crop failures. Thus the space application that has attracted the most attention in this region is remote sensing. Remote sensing satellites equipped with instruments to take photographs of the ground at different wavelengths provide essential information for natural resource accounting, environmental management, disaster prevention and monitoring, land-use mapping, and sustainable development planning. Progress in these applications has been rapid and impressive. ASEAN members, unlike Japan, China, and India, do not have then own remote sensing satellites, however most of its member nations have facilities to receive, process, and interpret such data from American and European satellites. In particular, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore have world-class remote sensing processing facilities and research programmes. ASEAN has plans to develop (and launch) its own satellites and in particular remote sensing satellites. Japan is regarded as the dominant space power in Asia and its record of successes and quality of technologies are equal to those of the West In view of the technological challenges and high risks involved in space activities, a very long, and expensive, learning curve has been followed to obtain those successes achieved. Japan' s satellite manufacturing was based on the old and traditional defense and military procurement methodologies as practiced in the US and Europe. F. In recent years there have been fundamental changes in the way satellites are designed and built to drastically reduce costs. The emergence of small satellites and then quick adoption by Asian countries as a way to develop low-cost satellite technology and rapidly establish a space capability has given these countries the possibility to shorten their learning curve by a decade or more. The global increase of technology transfer mechanisms and use of readily available commercial technology to replace costly space and military standard components may very well result in a highly competitive Asian satellite manufacturing industry. G. The laws of physics ore the same to Tokyo as in Toulouse, and toe principles of electronics and mechanics know no political or cultural boundaries. However, no such immutability applies to engineering practices and management; they are -very much influenced by education, culture, and history. These factors, in turn, have an affect on costs, lead times, product designs and, eventually, international sales, Marty Aston nations are sending their engineers to be trained in the fast Highly experienced, they return to work in toe growing Aslan space industry. Mil this acquisition of technical expertise, coupled perhaps with the world-renowned Japanese manufacturing and management techniques, be applied to build world-class satellites and reduce costs? | photos taken by satellites with certain technology help predict some natural catastrophes prevention and surveillance. | e |
id_994 | Asian Space 2 Satellite Technology The space age began with the launch of the Russian artificial satellite Sputnik in 1957 and developed further with the race to the moon between the United States and Russia. This rivalry was characterized by advanced technology and huge budgets. In this process there were spectacular successes, some failures, but also many spin-offs. Europe, Japan, China, and India quickly joined this space club of the superpowers. With the advent of relatively low cost high performance mini-satellites and launchers, the acquisition of indigenous space capabilities by smaller nations in Asia has become possible. How, in what manner, and for what purpose will these capabilities be realized? A. Rocket technology has progressed considerably since the days of fire arrows' (bamboo poles filled with gunpowder) first used in China around 500 BC, and, during the Sung Dynasty, to repel Mongol invaders at the battle of Kaifeng (Kai- fung fu) in AD 1232. These ancient rockets stand in stark contrast to the present- day Chinese rocket launch vehicles, called the Long March' , intended to place a Chinese astronaut in space by 2005 and, perhaps, to achieve a Chinese moon- landing by the end of the decade. B. In the last decade there has been a dramatic growth in space activities in Asia both in the utilization of space-based services and the production of satellites and launchers. This rapid expansion has led many commentators and analysts to predict that Asia will become a world space power. The space age has had dramatic affects worldwide with direct developments in space technology influencing telecommunications, meteorological forecasting, earth resource and environmental monitoring, and disaster mitigation (flood, forest fires, and oil spills). Asian nations have been particularly eager to embrace these developments. C. New and innovative uses for satellites are constantly being explored with potential revolutionary effects, such as in the field of health and telemedicine, distance education, crime prevention (piracy on the high seas), food and agricultural planning and production (rice crop monitoring). Space in Asia is very much influenced by the competitive commercial space sector, the emergence of low cost mini-satellites, and the globalization of industrial and financial markets. It is not evident how Asian space will develop in the coming decades in the face of these trends. It is, however, important to understand and assess the factors and forces that shape Asian space activities and development in determining its possible consequences for the region. D. At present, three Asian nations, Japan, China, and India, have comprehensive end-to-end space capabilities and possess a complete space infrastructure: space technology, satellite manufacturing, rockets, and spaceports. Already self- sufficient in terms of satellite design and manufacturing, South Korea is currently attempting to join then ranks with its plans to develop a launch site and spaceport. Additionally, nations in Southeast Asia as well as those bordering the Indian subcontinent (Nepal, Pakistan, and Bangladesh) have, or are starting to develop, indigenous space programmes. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has, in varying degrees, embraced space applications using foreign technology and over the past five years or so its space activities have been expanding. Southeast Asia is predicted to become the largest and fastest growing market for commercial space products and applications, driven by telecommunications (mobile and fixed services), the Internet, and remotesensing applications. In the development of this technology, many non-technical factors, such as economics, politics, culture, and history, interact and play important roles, which in turn affect Asian technology. E. Asia, and Southeast Asia in particular, suffers from a long list of recurrent large-scale environmental problems including storms and flooding, forest fires and deforestation, and crop failures. Thus the space application that has attracted the most attention in this region is remote sensing. Remote sensing satellites equipped with instruments to take photographs of the ground at different wavelengths provide essential information for natural resource accounting, environmental management, disaster prevention and monitoring, land-use mapping, and sustainable development planning. Progress in these applications has been rapid and impressive. ASEAN members, unlike Japan, China, and India, do not have then own remote sensing satellites, however most of its member nations have facilities to receive, process, and interpret such data from American and European satellites. In particular, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore have world-class remote sensing processing facilities and research programmes. ASEAN has plans to develop (and launch) its own satellites and in particular remote sensing satellites. Japan is regarded as the dominant space power in Asia and its record of successes and quality of technologies are equal to those of the West In view of the technological challenges and high risks involved in space activities, a very long, and expensive, learning curve has been followed to obtain those successes achieved. Japan' s satellite manufacturing was based on the old and traditional defense and military procurement methodologies as practiced in the US and Europe. F. In recent years there have been fundamental changes in the way satellites are designed and built to drastically reduce costs. The emergence of small satellites and then quick adoption by Asian countries as a way to develop low-cost satellite technology and rapidly establish a space capability has given these countries the possibility to shorten their learning curve by a decade or more. The global increase of technology transfer mechanisms and use of readily available commercial technology to replace costly space and military standard components may very well result in a highly competitive Asian satellite manufacturing industry. G. The laws of physics ore the same to Tokyo as in Toulouse, and toe principles of electronics and mechanics know no political or cultural boundaries. However, no such immutability applies to engineering practices and management; they are -very much influenced by education, culture, and history. These factors, in turn, have an affect on costs, lead times, product designs and, eventually, international sales, Marty Aston nations are sending their engineers to be trained in the fast Highly experienced, they return to work in toe growing Aslan space industry. Mil this acquisition of technical expertise, coupled perhaps with the world-renowned Japanese manufacturing and management techniques, be applied to build world-class satellites and reduce costs? | It is not easy to notice that koalas are ill. | e |
id_995 | Asian Space 2 Satellite Technology The space age began with the launch of the Russian artificial satellite Sputnik in 1957 and developed further with the race to the moon between the United States and Russia. This rivalry was characterized by advanced technology and huge budgets. In this process there were spectacular successes, some failures, but also many spin-offs. Europe, Japan, China, and India quickly joined this space club of the superpowers. With the advent of relatively low cost high performance mini-satellites and launchers, the acquisition of indigenous space capabilities by smaller nations in Asia has become possible. How, in what manner, and for what purpose will these capabilities be realized? A. Rocket technology has progressed considerably since the days of fire arrows' (bamboo poles filled with gunpowder) first used in China around 500 BC, and, during the Sung Dynasty, to repel Mongol invaders at the battle of Kaifeng (Kai- fung fu) in AD 1232. These ancient rockets stand in stark contrast to the present- day Chinese rocket launch vehicles, called the Long March' , intended to place a Chinese astronaut in space by 2005 and, perhaps, to achieve a Chinese moon- landing by the end of the decade. B. In the last decade there has been a dramatic growth in space activities in Asia both in the utilization of space-based services and the production of satellites and launchers. This rapid expansion has led many commentators and analysts to predict that Asia will become a world space power. The space age has had dramatic affects worldwide with direct developments in space technology influencing telecommunications, meteorological forecasting, earth resource and environmental monitoring, and disaster mitigation (flood, forest fires, and oil spills). Asian nations have been particularly eager to embrace these developments. C. New and innovative uses for satellites are constantly being explored with potential revolutionary effects, such as in the field of health and telemedicine, distance education, crime prevention (piracy on the high seas), food and agricultural planning and production (rice crop monitoring). Space in Asia is very much influenced by the competitive commercial space sector, the emergence of low cost mini-satellites, and the globalization of industrial and financial markets. It is not evident how Asian space will develop in the coming decades in the face of these trends. It is, however, important to understand and assess the factors and forces that shape Asian space activities and development in determining its possible consequences for the region. D. At present, three Asian nations, Japan, China, and India, have comprehensive end-to-end space capabilities and possess a complete space infrastructure: space technology, satellite manufacturing, rockets, and spaceports. Already self- sufficient in terms of satellite design and manufacturing, South Korea is currently attempting to join then ranks with its plans to develop a launch site and spaceport. Additionally, nations in Southeast Asia as well as those bordering the Indian subcontinent (Nepal, Pakistan, and Bangladesh) have, or are starting to develop, indigenous space programmes. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has, in varying degrees, embraced space applications using foreign technology and over the past five years or so its space activities have been expanding. Southeast Asia is predicted to become the largest and fastest growing market for commercial space products and applications, driven by telecommunications (mobile and fixed services), the Internet, and remotesensing applications. In the development of this technology, many non-technical factors, such as economics, politics, culture, and history, interact and play important roles, which in turn affect Asian technology. E. Asia, and Southeast Asia in particular, suffers from a long list of recurrent large-scale environmental problems including storms and flooding, forest fires and deforestation, and crop failures. Thus the space application that has attracted the most attention in this region is remote sensing. Remote sensing satellites equipped with instruments to take photographs of the ground at different wavelengths provide essential information for natural resource accounting, environmental management, disaster prevention and monitoring, land-use mapping, and sustainable development planning. Progress in these applications has been rapid and impressive. ASEAN members, unlike Japan, China, and India, do not have then own remote sensing satellites, however most of its member nations have facilities to receive, process, and interpret such data from American and European satellites. In particular, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore have world-class remote sensing processing facilities and research programmes. ASEAN has plans to develop (and launch) its own satellites and in particular remote sensing satellites. Japan is regarded as the dominant space power in Asia and its record of successes and quality of technologies are equal to those of the West In view of the technological challenges and high risks involved in space activities, a very long, and expensive, learning curve has been followed to obtain those successes achieved. Japan' s satellite manufacturing was based on the old and traditional defense and military procurement methodologies as practiced in the US and Europe. F. In recent years there have been fundamental changes in the way satellites are designed and built to drastically reduce costs. The emergence of small satellites and then quick adoption by Asian countries as a way to develop low-cost satellite technology and rapidly establish a space capability has given these countries the possibility to shorten their learning curve by a decade or more. The global increase of technology transfer mechanisms and use of readily available commercial technology to replace costly space and military standard components may very well result in a highly competitive Asian satellite manufacturing industry. G. The laws of physics ore the same to Tokyo as in Toulouse, and toe principles of electronics and mechanics know no political or cultural boundaries. However, no such immutability applies to engineering practices and management; they are -very much influenced by education, culture, and history. These factors, in turn, have an affect on costs, lead times, product designs and, eventually, international sales, Marty Aston nations are sending their engineers to be trained in the fast Highly experienced, they return to work in toe growing Aslan space industry. Mil this acquisition of technical expertise, coupled perhaps with the world-renowned Japanese manufacturing and management techniques, be applied to build world-class satellites and reduce costs? | Space technology has enhanced literacy of Asia. | n |
id_996 | Asian Space 2 Satellite Technology The space age began with the launch of the Russian artificial satellite Sputnik in 1957 and developed further with the race to the moon between the United States and Russia. This rivalry was characterized by advanced technology and huge budgets. In this process there were spectacular successes, some failures, but also many spin-offs. Europe, Japan, China, and India quickly joined this space club of the superpowers. With the advent of relatively low cost high performance mini-satellites and launchers, the acquisition of indigenous space capabilities by smaller nations in Asia has become possible. How, in what manner, and for what purpose will these capabilities be realized? A. Rocket technology has progressed considerably since the days of fire arrows' (bamboo poles filled with gunpowder) first used in China around 500 BC, and, during the Sung Dynasty, to repel Mongol invaders at the battle of Kaifeng (Kai- fung fu) in AD 1232. These ancient rockets stand in stark contrast to the present- day Chinese rocket launch vehicles, called the Long March' , intended to place a Chinese astronaut in space by 2005 and, perhaps, to achieve a Chinese moon- landing by the end of the decade. B. In the last decade there has been a dramatic growth in space activities in Asia both in the utilization of space-based services and the production of satellites and launchers. This rapid expansion has led many commentators and analysts to predict that Asia will become a world space power. The space age has had dramatic affects worldwide with direct developments in space technology influencing telecommunications, meteorological forecasting, earth resource and environmental monitoring, and disaster mitigation (flood, forest fires, and oil spills). Asian nations have been particularly eager to embrace these developments. C. New and innovative uses for satellites are constantly being explored with potential revolutionary effects, such as in the field of health and telemedicine, distance education, crime prevention (piracy on the high seas), food and agricultural planning and production (rice crop monitoring). Space in Asia is very much influenced by the competitive commercial space sector, the emergence of low cost mini-satellites, and the globalization of industrial and financial markets. It is not evident how Asian space will develop in the coming decades in the face of these trends. It is, however, important to understand and assess the factors and forces that shape Asian space activities and development in determining its possible consequences for the region. D. At present, three Asian nations, Japan, China, and India, have comprehensive end-to-end space capabilities and possess a complete space infrastructure: space technology, satellite manufacturing, rockets, and spaceports. Already self- sufficient in terms of satellite design and manufacturing, South Korea is currently attempting to join then ranks with its plans to develop a launch site and spaceport. Additionally, nations in Southeast Asia as well as those bordering the Indian subcontinent (Nepal, Pakistan, and Bangladesh) have, or are starting to develop, indigenous space programmes. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has, in varying degrees, embraced space applications using foreign technology and over the past five years or so its space activities have been expanding. Southeast Asia is predicted to become the largest and fastest growing market for commercial space products and applications, driven by telecommunications (mobile and fixed services), the Internet, and remotesensing applications. In the development of this technology, many non-technical factors, such as economics, politics, culture, and history, interact and play important roles, which in turn affect Asian technology. E. Asia, and Southeast Asia in particular, suffers from a long list of recurrent large-scale environmental problems including storms and flooding, forest fires and deforestation, and crop failures. Thus the space application that has attracted the most attention in this region is remote sensing. Remote sensing satellites equipped with instruments to take photographs of the ground at different wavelengths provide essential information for natural resource accounting, environmental management, disaster prevention and monitoring, land-use mapping, and sustainable development planning. Progress in these applications has been rapid and impressive. ASEAN members, unlike Japan, China, and India, do not have then own remote sensing satellites, however most of its member nations have facilities to receive, process, and interpret such data from American and European satellites. In particular, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore have world-class remote sensing processing facilities and research programmes. ASEAN has plans to develop (and launch) its own satellites and in particular remote sensing satellites. Japan is regarded as the dominant space power in Asia and its record of successes and quality of technologies are equal to those of the West In view of the technological challenges and high risks involved in space activities, a very long, and expensive, learning curve has been followed to obtain those successes achieved. Japan' s satellite manufacturing was based on the old and traditional defense and military procurement methodologies as practiced in the US and Europe. F. In recent years there have been fundamental changes in the way satellites are designed and built to drastically reduce costs. The emergence of small satellites and then quick adoption by Asian countries as a way to develop low-cost satellite technology and rapidly establish a space capability has given these countries the possibility to shorten their learning curve by a decade or more. The global increase of technology transfer mechanisms and use of readily available commercial technology to replace costly space and military standard components may very well result in a highly competitive Asian satellite manufacturing industry. G. The laws of physics ore the same to Tokyo as in Toulouse, and toe principles of electronics and mechanics know no political or cultural boundaries. However, no such immutability applies to engineering practices and management; they are -very much influenced by education, culture, and history. These factors, in turn, have an affect on costs, lead times, product designs and, eventually, international sales, Marty Aston nations are sending their engineers to be trained in the fast Highly experienced, they return to work in toe growing Aslan space industry. Mil this acquisition of technical expertise, coupled perhaps with the world-renowned Japanese manufacturing and management techniques, be applied to build world-class satellites and reduce costs? | Koalas like to hold a person's arm when they are embraced. | e |
id_997 | Asian Space 2 Satellite Technology The space age began with the launch of the Russian artificial satellite Sputnik in 1957 and developed further with the race to the moon between the United States and Russia. This rivalry was characterized by advanced technology and huge budgets. In this process there were spectacular successes, some failures, but also many spin-offs. Europe, Japan, China, and India quickly joined this space club of the superpowers. With the advent of relatively low cost high performance mini-satellites and launchers, the acquisition of indigenous space capabilities by smaller nations in Asia has become possible. How, in what manner, and for what purpose will these capabilities be realized? A. Rocket technology has progressed considerably since the days of fire arrows' (bamboo poles filled with gunpowder) first used in China around 500 BC, and, during the Sung Dynasty, to repel Mongol invaders at the battle of Kaifeng (Kai- fung fu) in AD 1232. These ancient rockets stand in stark contrast to the present- day Chinese rocket launch vehicles, called the Long March' , intended to place a Chinese astronaut in space by 2005 and, perhaps, to achieve a Chinese moon- landing by the end of the decade. B. In the last decade there has been a dramatic growth in space activities in Asia both in the utilization of space-based services and the production of satellites and launchers. This rapid expansion has led many commentators and analysts to predict that Asia will become a world space power. The space age has had dramatic affects worldwide with direct developments in space technology influencing telecommunications, meteorological forecasting, earth resource and environmental monitoring, and disaster mitigation (flood, forest fires, and oil spills). Asian nations have been particularly eager to embrace these developments. C. New and innovative uses for satellites are constantly being explored with potential revolutionary effects, such as in the field of health and telemedicine, distance education, crime prevention (piracy on the high seas), food and agricultural planning and production (rice crop monitoring). Space in Asia is very much influenced by the competitive commercial space sector, the emergence of low cost mini-satellites, and the globalization of industrial and financial markets. It is not evident how Asian space will develop in the coming decades in the face of these trends. It is, however, important to understand and assess the factors and forces that shape Asian space activities and development in determining its possible consequences for the region. D. At present, three Asian nations, Japan, China, and India, have comprehensive end-to-end space capabilities and possess a complete space infrastructure: space technology, satellite manufacturing, rockets, and spaceports. Already self- sufficient in terms of satellite design and manufacturing, South Korea is currently attempting to join then ranks with its plans to develop a launch site and spaceport. Additionally, nations in Southeast Asia as well as those bordering the Indian subcontinent (Nepal, Pakistan, and Bangladesh) have, or are starting to develop, indigenous space programmes. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has, in varying degrees, embraced space applications using foreign technology and over the past five years or so its space activities have been expanding. Southeast Asia is predicted to become the largest and fastest growing market for commercial space products and applications, driven by telecommunications (mobile and fixed services), the Internet, and remotesensing applications. In the development of this technology, many non-technical factors, such as economics, politics, culture, and history, interact and play important roles, which in turn affect Asian technology. E. Asia, and Southeast Asia in particular, suffers from a long list of recurrent large-scale environmental problems including storms and flooding, forest fires and deforestation, and crop failures. Thus the space application that has attracted the most attention in this region is remote sensing. Remote sensing satellites equipped with instruments to take photographs of the ground at different wavelengths provide essential information for natural resource accounting, environmental management, disaster prevention and monitoring, land-use mapping, and sustainable development planning. Progress in these applications has been rapid and impressive. ASEAN members, unlike Japan, China, and India, do not have then own remote sensing satellites, however most of its member nations have facilities to receive, process, and interpret such data from American and European satellites. In particular, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore have world-class remote sensing processing facilities and research programmes. ASEAN has plans to develop (and launch) its own satellites and in particular remote sensing satellites. Japan is regarded as the dominant space power in Asia and its record of successes and quality of technologies are equal to those of the West In view of the technological challenges and high risks involved in space activities, a very long, and expensive, learning curve has been followed to obtain those successes achieved. Japan' s satellite manufacturing was based on the old and traditional defense and military procurement methodologies as practiced in the US and Europe. F. In recent years there have been fundamental changes in the way satellites are designed and built to drastically reduce costs. The emergence of small satellites and then quick adoption by Asian countries as a way to develop low-cost satellite technology and rapidly establish a space capability has given these countries the possibility to shorten their learning curve by a decade or more. The global increase of technology transfer mechanisms and use of readily available commercial technology to replace costly space and military standard components may very well result in a highly competitive Asian satellite manufacturing industry. G. The laws of physics ore the same to Tokyo as in Toulouse, and toe principles of electronics and mechanics know no political or cultural boundaries. However, no such immutability applies to engineering practices and management; they are -very much influenced by education, culture, and history. These factors, in turn, have an affect on costs, lead times, product designs and, eventually, international sales, Marty Aston nations are sending their engineers to be trained in the fast Highly experienced, they return to work in toe growing Aslan space industry. Mil this acquisition of technical expertise, coupled perhaps with the world-renowned Japanese manufacturing and management techniques, be applied to build world-class satellites and reduce costs? | Ancient China had already deployed rockets as a military purpose as early as 500 years ago. | c |
id_998 | Asparagus is a perennial and wild asparagus is found growing in light, well-drained soil across Europe, northern Africa and central Asia. People from all over the world enjoy eating it. The most sought-after domesticated varieties are from Canada and they prefer a soil with a ph of around 6.5. The domesticated varieties grow best in a humus-rich medium and will then each produce around half a kilo of crop. In the spring the plant sends up the spears that if left will open to form new foliage but for the first six weeks of each season these are cut when they are around 10 centimetres tall. After the cutting season the spears are allowed to mature so that the plants can re-establish themselves. The spears of the cultivated varieties are far thicker than those that grow in the wild and the crown (the shallow root ball) much larger, but the flavour of wild asparagus is superior. In the autumn the female plants fruit to produce small inedible berries. | All asparagus plants like a soil with a ph of 6.5. | n |
id_999 | Asparagus is a perennial and wild asparagus is found growing in light, well-drained soil across Europe, northern Africa and central Asia. People from all over the world enjoy eating it. The most sought-after domesticated varieties are from Canada and they prefer a soil with a ph of around 6.5. The domesticated varieties grow best in a humus-rich medium and will then each produce around half a kilo of crop. In the spring the plant sends up the spears that if left will open to form new foliage but for the first six weeks of each season these are cut when they are around 10 centimetres tall. After the cutting season the spears are allowed to mature so that the plants can re-establish themselves. The spears of the cultivated varieties are far thicker than those that grow in the wild and the crown (the shallow root ball) much larger, but the flavour of wild asparagus is superior. In the autumn the female plants fruit to produce small inedible berries. | It can be inferred from the passage that when the author describes the fruit as inedible he means that humans cant eat it. | e |
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