105-02-Week 3: Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali knocked out by Parkinson's: doctors

Jun 7, 2016

By AFP

PARIS -- One of Muhammad Ali's greatest battles was not in the ring but against Parkinson's disease, which severely hampered his speech and motor skills in the last three decades of his life.

For many specialists, the crippling neurological disorder was no accident, but the tragic result of Ali's years as a boxer.

Ali was diagnosed with Parkinson's in 1984 at the age of 42, three years after he retired with 61 professional bouts under his belt.

At the time, experts spoke of "dementia pugilistica" or "punch-drunk syndrome" to describe brain damage seen in sportspeople who sustain multiple concussions over the course of their careers.

"We cannot say anything decisively but there are strong suspicions," Andre Monroche, head of the medical commission of the French contact sports federation, told AFP.

"We know now that repeated blows alter the nerve cells, especially in a brain that has not been rested," he said.

Jean-Frangois Chermann, a neurologist at Leopold Bellan Hospital in Paris, is categorical.

In a 2010 book on the impact of knockouts, Chermann wrote that Ali "at the end of his training sessions let down his guard and asked his sparring partner to give him blows to the head to show he was the strongest."

"There is a link between his current illness and that kind of practice," Chermann wrote.

Medical studies have long warned about the consequences from boxing and other sports where the head receives frequent impacts.

A 2008 study by the University of Heidelberg in Germany scanned the brains of 42 boxers and 37 non-boxers. In three of the boxers, they found "micro hemorrhages" in the brain — the likely result of the sharp impact of blows in the ring that damage soft, swirling cerebral tissue.

"These changes are most likely precursors for later severe brain damage such as Parkinson's disease or dementia," the authors said.

In 2013, a probe published in the journal Scientific Reports found "profound abnormalities" in the brain activity of retired American football players.

Unusual activity in the frontal lobe, observed in former National Football League (NFL) players as they carried out a cognitive test, matched records for heavy blows they had received to the head while on the field.

Around 30 percent of boxers develop neurological difficulties after their career, according to Chermann. "The more knockouts you suffer, the greater the risks."

Amateur boxers are even more at threat, he said. "They have more fights, are monitored less and spend less time working on their defense compared to the pros," Chermann said.

Second Impact Syndrome

Knockouts are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to head injuries sustained in a range of sports, from rugby and ice hockey, to skiing, judo and horse-riding, to name but a few.

While in boxing, you see the blows being landed, in other sports the injury may go unnoticed, Monroche said.

"It could also be a footballer who heads the ball a lot. In boxing there's a referee. In other sports, no-one intervenes."

Since Ali hung up his gloves, research has shown the importance of at least five days' rest for athletes who suffer a concussion, to avoid "second impact syndrome" — a condition blamed for dozens of fatalities among sportsmen and women every year.

French rugby has taken the matter in hand, introducing neurological monitoring for professional players in 2013. In the U.S., American football and ice hockey players are also closely watched for head injuries.



http://www.chinapost.com.tw/health/mental-health/2016/06/07/468471/p1/Muhammad-Ali.htm

Structure of the Lead：
     WHO-Muhammad Ali
     WHEN-Jun 7, 2016
     WHAT-Legendary boxer Muhammad Ali died on Friday at 74, decades after he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.
     WHY-There is a link between the current illness and that kind of practice (sports).
     WHERE-not mentioned
     HOW-not mentioned

Keywords：

   1. blows：（用拳，武器等的）一擊，毆打
   2. precursors：前兆
   3. neurological：神經學的；神經系統的
   4. intervenes：插進；介入；介於中間
   5. concussion：震動；衝擊；腦震盪

105-02-Week 2: Same Sex Marriage

Supreme Court Ruling Makes Same-Sex Marriage a Right Nationwide

Jun 26, 2015

By ADAM LIPTAK

WASHINGTON — In a long-sought victory for the gay rights movement, the Supreme Court ruled by a 5-to-4 vote on Friday that the Constitution guarantees a right to same-sex marriage.

“No longer may this liberty be denied,” Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote for the majority in the historic decision. “No union is more profound than marriage, for it embodies the highest ideals of love, fidelity, devotion, sacrifice and family. In forming a marital union, two people become something greater than once they were.”

Marriage is a “keystone of our social order,” Justice Kennedy said, adding that the plaintiffs in the case were seeking “equal dignity in the eyes of the law.”

The decision, which was the culmination of decades of litigation and activism, set off jubilation and tearful embraces across the country, the firstsame-sex marriages in several states, and resistance — or at least stalling — in others. It came against the backdrop of fast-moving changes in public opinion, with polls indicating that most Americans now approve of the unions.

The court’s four more liberal justices joined Justice Kennedy’s majority opinion. Each member of the court’s conservative wing filed a separate dissent, in tones ranging from resigned dismay to bitter scorn.

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In dissent, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said the Constitution had nothing to say on the subject of same-sex marriage.

“If you are among the many Americans — of whatever sexual orientation — who favor expanding same-sex marriage, by all means celebrate today’s decision,” Chief Justice Roberts wrote. “Celebrate the achievement of a desired goal. Celebrate the opportunity for a new expression of commitment to a partner. Celebrate the availability of new benefits. But do not celebrate the Constitution. It had nothing to do with it.”

In a second dissent, Justice Antonin Scalia mocked the soaring language of Justice Kennedy, who has become the nation’s most important judicial champion of gay rights.

“The opinion is couched in a style that is as pretentious as its content is egotistic,” Justice Scalia wrote of his colleague’s work. “Of course the opinion’s showy profundities are often profoundly incoherent.”

As Justice Kennedy finished announcing his opinion from the bench on Friday, several lawyers seated in the bar section of the court’s gallery wiped away tears, while others grinned and exchanged embraces.

Justice John Paul Stevens, who retired in 2010, was on hand for the decision, and many of the justices’ clerks took seats in the chamber, which was nearly full as the ruling was announced. The decision made same-sex marriage a reality in the 13 states that had continued to ban it.

Outside the Supreme Court, the police allowed hundreds of people waving rainbow flags and holding signs to advance onto the court plaza as those present for the decision streamed down the steps. “Love has won,” the crowd chanted as courtroom witnesses threw up their arms in victory.


In remarks in the Rose Garden, President Obama welcomed the decision, saying it “affirms what millions of Americans already believe in their hearts.”

“Today,” he said, “we can say, in no uncertain terms, that we have made our union a little more perfect.”

Justice Kennedy was the author of all three of the Supreme Court’s previous gay rights landmarks. The latest decision came exactly two years after his majority opinion in United States v. Windsor, which struck down a federal law denying benefits to married same-sex couples, and exactly 12 years after his majority opinion in Lawrence v. Texas, which struck down laws making gay sex a crime.

In all of those decisions, Justice Kennedy embraced a vision of a living Constitution, one that evolves with societal changes.

“The nature of injustice is that we may not always see it in our own times,” he wrote on Friday. “The generations that wrote and ratified the Bill of Rights and the Fourteenth Amendment did not presume to know the extent of freedom in all of its dimensions, and so they entrusted to future generations a charter protecting the right of all persons to enjoy liberty as we learn its meaning.”

This drew a withering response from Justice Scalia, a proponent of reading the Constitution according to the original understanding of those who adopted it. His dissent was joined by Justice Clarence Thomas.

“They have discovered in the Fourteenth Amendment,” Justice Scalia wrote of the majority, “a ‘fundamental right’ overlooked by every person alive at the time of ratification, and almost everyone else in the time since.”

“These justices know,” Justice Scalia said, “that limiting marriage to one man and one woman is contrary to reason; they know that an institution as old as government itself, and accepted by every nation in history until 15 years ago, cannot possibly be supported by anything other than ignorance or bigotry.”

Justice Kennedy rooted the ruling in a fundamental right to marriage. Of special importance to couples, he said, is raising children.

“Without the recognition, stability and predictability marriage offers,” he wrote, “their children suffer the stigma of knowing their families are somehow lesser. They also suffer the significant material costs of being raised by unmarried parents, relegated through no fault of their own to a more difficult and uncertain family life. The marriage laws at issue here thus harm and humiliate the children of same-sex couples.”

Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen G. Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan joined the majority opinion.

In dissent, Chief Justice Roberts said the majority opinion was “an act of will, not legal judgment.”

“The court invalidates the marriage laws of more than half the states and orders the transformation of a social institution that has formed the basis of human society for millennia, for the Kalahari Bushmen and the Han Chinese, the Carthaginians and the Aztecs,” he wrote. “Just who do we think we are?”

The majority and dissenting opinions took differing views about whether the decision would harm religious liberty. Justice Kennedy said the First Amendment “ensures that religious organizations and persons are given proper protection as they seek to teach the principles that are so fulfilling and so central to their lives and faiths.” He said both sides should engage in “an open and searching debate.”

Chief Justice Roberts responded that “people of faith can take no comfort in the treatment they receive from the majority today.”

Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., in his dissent, saw a broader threat from the majority opinion. “It will be used to vilify Americans who are unwilling to assent to the new orthodoxy,” Justice Alito wrote. “In the course of its opinion, the majority compares traditional marriage laws to laws that denied equal treatment for African-Americans and women. The implications of this analogy will be exploited by those who are determined to stamp out every vestige of dissent.”

Gay rights advocates had constructed a careful litigation and public relations strategy to build momentum and bring the issue to the Supreme Court when it appeared ready to rule in their favor. As in earlier civil rights cases, the court had responded cautiously and methodically, laying judicial groundwork for a transformative decision.

It waited for scores of lower courts to strike down bans on same-sex marriages before addressing the issue, and Justice Kennedy took the unusual step of listing those decisions in an appendix to his opinion.

Chief Justice Roberts said that only 11 states and the District of Columbia had embraced the right to same-sex marriage democratically, at voting booths and in legislatures. The rest of the 37 states that allow such unions did so because of court rulings. Gay rights advocates, the chief justice wrote, would have been better off with a victory achieved through the political process, particularly “when the winds of change were freshening at their backs.”

In his own dissent, Justice Scalia took a similar view, saying that the majority’s assertiveness represented a “threat to American democracy.”

But Justice Kennedy rejected that idea. “It is of no moment whether advocates of same-sex marriage now enjoy or lack momentum in the democratic process,” he wrote. “The issue before the court here is the legal question whether the Constitution protects the right of same-sex couples to marry.”


Later in the opinion, Justice Kennedy answered the question. “The Constitution,” he wrote, “grants them that right.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/27/us/supreme-court-same-sex-marriage.html?_r=0

Structure of the Lead：

     WHO-Supporters of same-sex marriage

     WHEN-Jun 26, 2015

     WHAT-the Supreme Court ruled by a 5-to-4 vote on Friday that the Constitution guarantees a right to same-sex marriage.

     WHY-not mentioned

     WHERE-Washington

     HOW-not mentioned

Keywords：

   1. culmination：頂點；高潮的到達

   2. litigation：訴訟，爭訟

   3. orientation：定位，方針（或態度）的確定

   4. egotistic：自負的

   5. incoherent：無條理的；不一貫的

105-02-Week 1: Alpha Go

The Taiwan Brain Behind AlphaGo: Aja Huang

Mar 14, 2016

By Olivia Yang

Go, also know as Weiqi, is considered one of the hardest and most complicated board games in the world. As a result, it has always been a goal for scientists to create an AI to beat world champions in the game.

AlphaGo, an AI developed by Google’s subsidiary company DeepMind, has amazed people around the world with its accomplishments. Last October, it won five games over Fan Hui, a three-time European Go winner.

On March 10, AlphaGo stunned the world again by beating Lee Sedol, a South Korean professional Go player who ranks second in international title, and the AI went on to win two more matches out of the five-game match. As the news spread and was discussed by the technological community, Aja Huang was recognized as the key promoter of the research and development team of AlphaGo. Huang has been described as the one who “instructed” AlphaGo and “designed AlphaGo’s brain.”

Born and raised in Taiwan, Aja Huang completed his PhD in information engineering at National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU). Instructed by professor Rémi Coulom and Lin Shun-sii, Huang published his research, “New Heuristics for Monte Carlo Tree Search Applied to the Game of Go,” in 2011.

Based on the research results, Huang predicted that Go programs could beat top human Go players in 10 to 20 years. However, he failed his prediction six years after he published his paper.

In 2010, “Erica,” a Go AI designed by Huang, beat “Zen,” a program that was publicly recognized as the best program at Go. In the same year, Erica even won the gold medal in the 19×19 Go tournament at the 15th Computer Olympiad.

On January 28, Huang was listed as one of the first author of the research, “Mastering the game of Go with deep neural networks and tree search,” which appeared in the prestigious scientific journal, “Nature.”

As the senior research scientist at Google DeepMind, Huang has been keeping a low profile regarding the games against Lee Sedol starting in March. He not only refused to leak any information about the matches, but also gave credit of the work to the entire team.

In “Eweiqi,” a famous Chinese software that allows players to play Go with other users online, some netizens found an account named “deepmind.” They suspected the account was used for testing the skill level of AlphaGo. On January 29, Huang clarified that he has been using the account, which was created before the AlphaGo team existed.

“Although I’m an amateur 6-dan player, AlphaGo has a significantly higher level than me,” Huang said. In this statement, he also predicted the future for Go programs saysing, “Go software of professional standards will soon be widespread in the market within the coming one to two years.”

On March 13, Lee Sedol beat AlphaGo in the fourth match of the five-game set, after losing three contests in a row to the AI computer program. This victory is considered a significant one for “human beings” and proves that the AI program still has flaws.

In the post-match press conference, Lee was welcomed by a round of applause and cheers from the media and reporters. Lee jokingly said this was the first time in his career that he received so many congratulations by winning just one game. He stated that the victory means a lot to him and he will cherish this achievement.

Lee also pointed out that AlphaGo has two drawbacks. When playing with black stones, the computer program hesitates for a longer period of time to place a piece, and it becomes susceptible to mistakes if there is an unexpected move made by its opponent.

Michael Redmond, a commentator for the online broadcast of the match, says that the watershed moment of the game came in move 78, when Lee played a “wedge” in the middle of the board. The surprising move caused AlphaGo to commit a critical error in move 79, subsequently driving the AI’s chances of winning down several moves later. When AlphaGo calculated that its chances of winning had dropped significantly, it decided to give up the game at move 180.

The match took nearly five hours and AlphaGo suffered its first loss in the nine competitions it has played against human beings.

Prior to the game, some critics claimed that the competition between AlphaGo and Lee is unfair because AlphaGo possesses statistics on Lee’s previous matches while Lee does not have the same information on AlphaGo.

Yet, Demis Hassabis, founder of DeepMind, explains that AlphaGo is not designed specifically to defeat Lee. The Al program strengthens its skills via constantly simulating Go games against itself. It has taken millions of games to train itself to its current level of competitiveness.

The last match out of the five-game match between Lee and AlphaGo is to be held on March 15.

https://international.thenewslens.com/article/38070

Structure of the Lead：

     WHO-Aja Huang

     WHEN-Mar 14, 2016

     WHAT-Aja Huang has been reported to make the most contribution to the design of the AI’s “brain.”

     WHY-not mentioned

     WHERE-not mentioned

     HOW-not mentioned

Keywords：

   1. tournament：比賽；錦標賽

   2. neural networks：神經的；神經中樞的

   3. prestigious：有名望的

   4. applause：鼓掌歡迎，喝采

   5. simulate：假裝，冒充

8_Brexit

Anger among the young on the streets of London after U.K. votes to leave the European Union

Jun 24, 2016

By Rick Noack

LONDON — A feeling of uncertainty and anguish hung over Friday's commute after Britian's historic decision to sever ties with the European Union, and many younger people seemed especially distressed.

"I think we made a very rash decision," said one young woman living in north London.

"My parents voted 'Leave' and I love them. But it's my future, and I'm scared now," said another young commuter who was on her way to work.

Most Londoners wanted to remain in the European Union, according to polling. With 11 million inhabitants, the capital has a significant electoral impact on British elections. More than 40 percent of all Londoners were not born in the city.

According to a survey conducted by YouGov on Thursday evening and published after polling stations had closed, 75 percent of those aged between 18 and 24 voted to remain in the European Union.

Researchers had expected such an outcome among younger Brits: A recent Pew Research Center survey had shown that only 38 percent of the British older than 50 view the E.U. favorably — compared to 57 percent of younger voters.

The generational split has become particularly defining in London. One London-based voter, who identified himself only as James, said on Friday that he had yet to find a party to celebrate the referendum outcome. "It's not that easy to celebrate this here in London," he said. "Many colleagues at work were rather depressed today."

The mood among younger British or migrants who moved to the U.K. from continental Europe was clearly visible on Friday: At Camden Market in northern London — where many younger E.U. migrants work — some people appeared to be depressed.

Recent polls had suggested that many voters had lost trust in their politicians over the course of the last months. The anger of many younger voters now targets those politicians who are believed to be responsible for leading the country out of the European Union.

When one of the leading pro-Brexit campaigners, Boris Johnson, left his house Friday, some protesters booed and shouted at the former London mayor.

Chaos as Boris Johnson is greeted by loud jeers and boos when he leaves his house—5News (@5_News) 4:54 PM - 24 Jun 2016

Chaos as Boris Johnson is greeted by loud jeers and boos when he leaves his househttps://t.co/iTiobFMTVS

Johnson can expect to play a major role in the next British government, after Prime Minister David Cameron announced his plans to step down.

Cameron — a staunch supporter of Britain remaining a member of the E.U. — had repeatedly said he would not resign in the case of a Brexit. However, his resignation had been widely expected following the "remain" campaign's loss.

One of his potential successors could be Johnson. His opponents, however, have argued that Johnson embraced the "leave" campaign mainly for his own career advantage.

That sentiment turned into aggression on Friday, as angry cyclists blocked Johnson's car.

Boris Johnson got blocked off by cyclists on the way to give his speech — Andrew Hart (@AndrewProjDent) June 24, 2016

Tensions had already risen on the streets of London ahead of the vote. Following the slaying of Labour Party politician Jo Cox last week, some Brexit-supporters in London said they had been asked to be more careful about their campaigning. Some canceled events, even after campaigning resumed last weekend.

Cox's killing forced the nation to reflect on the last months that were driven by a strong divide between Brexit supporters and opponents.

Those ideological clashes were reflected Friday morning, about six hours after polls had closed, when a group of about eight people were assembled around a TV screen at Leicester Square.

"I'm going to need a visa to visit my family in Spain," said an English-accented man in his 20s. He then turned to the others and demanded to know if they had voted "in" or "out," saying that he was going to punch the "outers."

All of those present said they had voted "in."

Karla Adam contributed to this report.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2016/06/24/anger-on-the-streets-of-london-after-u-k-votes-to-leave-the-european-union/?utm_term=.345996a2e4f9

Structure of the Lead：

     WHO-the young in the U.K.

     WHEN-Jun 24, 2016

     WHAT-They showed their anger and fear about their future by taking some activities against the politicians who contributing to the vote.

     WHY-the young wanted to stay in the EU 

     WHERE-London, the U.K.

     HOW-Some protesters booed and shouted at the former London mayor, and some angry cyclists blocked Johnson's car.

Keywords：

   1. anguish：極度的痛苦；苦惱

   2. rash：草率從事的，輕率的

   3. electoral：選舉的

   4. resignation：辭職；放棄

   5. ideological：意識形態的；思想體系的
   6. clash：砰地相碰撞；衝突

7_White Helmets

White Helmets backlash after Mannequin Challenge video

Nov 24, 2016

By Chris Bell, UGC and Social News team

It is an achingly familiar scene. An injured man lies in the rubble as two members of the Syria Civil Defence group - known as the White Helmets - come to his aid, another apparent victim of Syria's bloody civil war.
But all is not as it seems.
The man and the White Helmets appear frozen. The whole scene is in fact posed.
The men are performing their version of the Mannequin Challenge in a video released by activists from the Revolutionary Forces of Syria (RFS) "to raise awareness of the suffering of the Syrian people".
Nominated for this year's Nobel Peace Prize, the White Helmets comprise roughly 3,000 volunteer rescue workers in rebel-held areas.
Since 2013, they have searched for survivors in the aftermath of the deadly air strikes raining down on Syria's towns and cities, saving thousands of lives.
They say they are non-partisan and a regular source of video and eyewitness accounts from the thick of the fighting.
But critics, often pro-Assad or pro-Russia accounts on social media, allege links to jihadist groups and have long claimed that the organisation fabricates reports and rescues.
This latest video has seen those critical voices grow louder, while the stunt has left others bemused.

In a statement to the BBC, the White Helmets acknowledged the involvement of two of their volunteers but said the video had not been sanctioned by the group's leadership team.
"The video and the related posts were recorded by RFS media with Syria Civil Defence (White Helmets) volunteers, who hoped to create a connection between the horror of Syria and the outside world, using the viral Mannequin Challenge," the statement read.
"This was an error of judgement, and we apologise on behalf of the volunteers involved.
"The video was not shared on our official channels, and we took immediate action to discipline those involved and prevent incidents such as this from happening again.
"Our volunteers are committed to saving lives by responding to, and reporting, war crimes in Syria.
"This leaves us open to attacks, not just from the bombs but from those who seek to silence us for telling the truth."
A spokesman for the RFS told the BBC that the activist group occasionally used this kind of campaign to help shine a spotlight on the suffering of millions of ordinary Syrians.
He pointed out that in the past it had attempted to raise awareness of the conflict by leveraging the popularity of computer game Pokemon Go and comic-book heroes The Avengers.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-38066791

Structure of the Lead：

     WHO-White Helmets

     WHEN-Nov 24, 2016

     WHAT-critics had long claimed that the organisation fabricates reports and rescues

     WHY-White Helmets wanted to raise awareness of the suffering of the Syrian people, while people thought that it was not appropriate for them to do so.

     WHERE-Syria

     HOW-a video about they are performing their version of the Mannequin Challenge

Keywords：

   1. fabricate：偽造

   2. stunt：(pull a stunt) 開玩笑; 耍花招

   3. sanctione：認可；批准

   4. discipline：紀律，風紀；懲戒

   5. incident：事件；事變

6_SpaceX (rocket, landing)

SpaceX Rocket Sticks Landing on the 5th Try

Apr 8, 2016
By KENNETH CHANG

For SpaceX, the fifth time was the charm in the impressive feat of landing a rocket on a boat.

On Friday, SpaceX — more formally known as Space Exploration Technologies Corporation of Hawthorne, Calif. — launched a mission taking cargo for NASA to the International Space Station. While the capsule carrying 7,000 pounds of experiments, supplies and equipment continued to orbit, the booster stage of the Falcon 9 rocket turned around and headed back toward a floating platform off the coast of Florida.

SpaceX had attempted this maneuver four times before. Each time the booster stage reached the platform only to tip over and explode.

This time, the booster settled down on the boat, named “Of Course I Still Love You,” and remained upright, to loud cheers at SpaceX’s California headquarters and chants of “U.S.A.! U.S.A.!”

Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX, has said reusability of rockets is crucial to reducing the cost of sending payloads to space. Both SpaceX and Blue Origin, another rocket start-up from another Internet entrepreneur, Jeffrey P. Bezos of Amazon, have made successful strides in landing rocket stages in the past half year.

This is the second time SpaceX has successfully landed a booster stage. In December, it was able to fly the booster all the way back to land and set it down in one piece at Cape Canaveral.

Friday’s main mission of sending cargo to the space station was also a success, lifting off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

The Dragon capsule will arrive at the space station on Sunday. The cargo includes an inflatable module, with soft instead of metal walls, which is to test technology that could be used for future deep-space missions.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/09/science/on-fifth-try-mission-accomplished-for-spacex-booster-rocket.html?_r=0


Structure of the Lead：
     WHO-Elon Musk, SpaceX
     WHEN-Apr 8, 2016
     WHAT-SpaceX landed a rocket on a boat
     WHY-for the reusability of rockets to reducing the cost of sending payloads to space
     WHERE-the coast of Florida
     HOW-not given

Keywords：
   1. reusability：重複使用，回收再利用
   2. entrepreneur：企業家；事業創辦者
   3. stride：大步，進展，進步
   4. booster：援助者；信號放大器
   5. cargo：（船、飛機、車輛裝載的）貨物