第八篇 Samsung galaxy-note-7

We may finally know why Samsung's Galaxy Note 7s 'exploded'

After exploding phones, fireproof boxes, lawsuits and open letters, Samsung has reportedly finished its investigation into what went wrong.

It's been one of the most discussed technological failures of 2016, but as the dust settles around Samsung's recalled Galaxy Note 7 smartphone, one question remains: what actually went wrong with the phones?

Samsung may finally have the answer.

The company has, according to The Investor, ended its investigation as to what caused the flagship phones to explode and has submitted its findings to the regulatory bodies, inluding the Korea Testing Laboratory and UL, an American safety organisation.The findings have not been made public yet but third-party investigators have been investigating the cause of the phone's fires too.

A manufacturing engineering company, Instrumental, thinks it has found the error, or errors, affecting the flagship phone.

According to Instrumental's teardown of the device, the Note 7's battery didn't have enough physical room for error. Samsung made the battery thinner, removing thickness margins, meaning the separators between the positive and negative layers may have been too thin, increasing the chance of these elements touching and sparking.In addition, Instrumental pointed out that when batteries charge, chemical processes cause the lithium to migrate and the battery to "mechanically swell". Usually, around 10 per cent extra space is required to compensate for this, but the battery in the Note 7 entirely filled its pocket. This increased the risk of 'explosion'.

The design wasn't completely reckless, though. Instrumental noted that the battery sits within a CNC-machined pocket, which will protect it from being affected by other internal components. "Looking at the design, Samsung engineers were clearly trying to balance the risk of a super-aggressive manufacturing process to maximise capacity, while attempting to protect it internally," said Instrumnetal's engineers.

http://www.wired.co.uk/article/galaxy-note-7-issues-what-happened

Structure of the Lead：

Who-no given

What-exploding phones

How-Samsung has reportedly finished its investigation into

Where-no given

Why-no given

When-no given

Keywords:

failures  故障

flagship  旗艦

 regulatory 監管

thickness  厚度

 margins  邊距

 lithium  鋰

     

第七篇 Islamic State

Islamic State retakes parts of Syria’s historic Palmyra

Syrian activists say the Islamic State re-entered the historic city of Palmyra in central Syria on Saturday, pushing back the Russian-backed Syrian army that expelled the group only nine months ago in a highly publicized campaign.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports that the Islamic State, also known as ISIL or ISIS, "entered Palmyra on Saturday and now occupies its northwest. There is also fighting with the army in the city center," Al Jazeera reports. The observatory says the militants reached the city’s Tadmor Hospital and its strategically located wheat silos.

The activist-run Palmyra Coordination Collective also reports militants seized the city’s military warehouse and its northern and western neighborhoods after taking several government positions, oil fields, and strategic hilltops in the surrounding countryside in a rapid three-day campaign, the Associated Press reports.

When the Islamic State took control of Palmyra in July 2015, it destroyed several of the city’s famed ancient Roman monuments and executed its archaeological director.

The new advances by the group contrast sharply with its defeats in territory it held in Iraq as part of the self-proclaimed caliphate that straddles two countries. Iraqi troops, aided by a U.S.-led coalition, have pushed the militants out of key cities in Iraq and retaken much of Mosul, the group's last major stronghold in Iraq.

The fight in Palmyra comes one day after U.S.-led coalition forces announced U.S. warplanes destroyed a fleet of 168 oil tanker trucks near the ancient city in the largest such strike against the terror group's finances this year.

More than 20 aircraft were used to destroy the tanker trucks. The oil in the trucks was worth about $2 million, according to a statement.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/12/10/islamic-state-militants-re-enter-syrias-historic-palmyra/95257038/

Structure of the Lead：
who- Islamic State
what-pushing back the Russian-backed Syrian army
where- historic city of Palmyra
why-not given
How-not given 
When-only nine months ago

Keywords:
 expelled  驅逐
campaign  運動
Observatory  天文台
strategically  戰略上
executed  執行
archaeological  考古

第六篇 Barack Obama visit Cuba

Barack Obama: 'Change is going to happen in Cuba'

President Barack Obama is in Cuba for a historic three-day visit to the island and talks with its communist leader.
He is the first sitting US president to visit since the 1959 revolution, which heralded decades of hostility between the two countries.
Mr Obama said change would happen in Cuba and that Cuban President Raul Castro understood that.
The two leaders met to talk about trade and held a joint news conference.
Mr Castro denied that there are political prisoners in Cuba, telling journalists to "give him a list" and then they would be released "tonight".
He also defended Cuba's record on human rights and pointed to problems in the US.
"We defend human rights, in our view civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights are indivisible, inter-dependent and universal," Mr Castro said.
"Actually we find it inconceivable that a government does not defend and ensure the right to healthcare, education, social security, food provision and development."
Mr Obama said the trade embargo would be fully lifted in Cuba, but he could not say exactly when.
"The reason is what we did for 50 years did not serve our interests or the interests of the Cuban people," he said.
For decades, the US and Cuba were engaged in a bitter stand-off, triggered by the overthrow of US-backed Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista by Communist leader Fidel Castro in 1959.
The US broke off diplomatic relations and imposed a trade embargo.
But President Obama undertook two years of secret talks which led to the announcement in December 2014 that the two countries would restore diplomatic relations.
Since then, there have been a series of symbolic moments, such as the first formal meeting of Presidents Obama and Castro at a regional summit in Panama and the opening of embassies in Havana and Washington DC.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-35856126
Structure of the Lead：
who-President Barack Obama
what-visit to the island and talks with its communist leader.
where-in Cuba
why-for a historic three-day visit
How-not given
When-not given
Keywords:
 communist 共產
 heralded 先驅
indivisible 不可分割
inconceivable 不可思議

diplomatic  外交

第五週 unmanned aerial vehicle

unmanned aerial vehicle

The UAV is an acronym for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, which is an aircraft with no pilot on board. UAVs can be remote controlled aircraft (e.g. flown by a pilot at a ground control station) or can fly autonomously based on pre-programmed flight plans or more complex dynamic automation systems. UAVs are currently used for a number of missions, including reconnaissance and attack roles. For the purposes of this article, and to distinguish UAVs from missiles, a UAV is defined as being capable of controlled, sustained level flight and powered by a jet or reciprocating engine. In addition, a cruise missile can be considered to be a UAV, but is treated separately on the basis that the vehicle is the weapon. The acronym UAV has been expanded in some cases to UAVS (Unmanned Aircraft Vehicle System). The FAA has adopted the acronym UAS(Unmanned Aircraft System) to reflect the fact that these complex systems include ground stations and other elements besides the actual air vehicles.

Officially, the term 'Unmanned Aerial Vehicle' was changed to 'Unmanned Aircraft System' to reflect the fact that these complex systems include ground stations and other elements besides the actual air vehicles. The term UAS, however, is not widely used as the term UAV has become part of the modern lexicon. 

The military role of UAV is growing at unprecedented rates. In 2005, tactical and theater level unmanned aircraft (UA) alone, had flown over 100,000 flight hours in support of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM (OEF) and Operation IRAQI FREEDOM (OIF). Rapid advances in technology are enabling more and more capability to be placed on smaller airframes which is spurring a large increase in the number of SUAS being deployed on the battlefield. The use of SUAS in combat is so new that no formal DoD wide reporting procedures have been established to track SUAS flight hours. 

http://www.theuav.com/

Structure of the Lead：

who-not given

what- fly autonomously 

where-not given

why-not given

How- a UAV  is treated separately on the basis that the vehicle is the weapon.

When-not given

Keywords:

aircraft 飛機
autonomously 自主地
reconnaissance 偵察
reciprocating 往復運動
Unmanned  無人

第四週 Leonardo DiCaprio

 Leonardo DiCaprio

Few actors in the world have had a career quite as diverse as Leonardo DiCaprio's. DiCaprio has gone from relatively humble beginnings, as a supporting cast member of the sitcom Growing Pains and low budget horror movies, such as Critters 3, to a major teenage heartthrob in the 1990s, as the hunky lead actor in movies such as Romeo + Juliet and Titanic, to then become a leading man in Hollywood blockbusters, made by internationally renowned directors such as Martin Scorsese and Christopher Nolan.Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio was born November 11, 1974 in Los Angeles, California, the only child of Irmelin DiCaprio (née Indenbirken) and former comic book artist George DiCaprio. His father is of Italian and German descent, and his mother, who is German-born, is of German and Russian ancestry. His middle name, "Wilhelm", was his maternal grandfather's first name. Leonardo's father had achieved minor status as an artist and distributor of cult comic book titles, and was even depicted in several issues of American Splendor, the cult semiautobiographical comic book series by the late 'Harvey Pekar', a friend of George's. Leonardo's performance skills became obvious to his parents early on, and after signing him up with a talent agent who wanted Leonardo to perform under the stage name "Lenny Williams", DiCaprio began appearing on a number of television commercials and educational programs. DiCaprio began attracting the attention of producers, who cast him in bit part roles in a number of television series, such as Roseanne and The New Lassie, but it wasn't until 1991 that DiCaprio made his film debut in Critters 3, a low-budget horror movie.While DiCaprio's stint on Growing Pains was very short, as the sitcom was axed the year after he joined, it helped bring DiCaprio into the public's attention and, after the show ended, DiCaprio began auditioning for roles in which he would get the chance to prove his acting chops.Leonardo took up a diverse range of roles in the early 1990s, including a mentally challenged youth in What's Eating Gilbert Grape, a young gunslinger in The Quick and the Dead and a drug addict in one of his most challenging roles to date, "Jim Carroll", in The Basketball Diaries, a role which the late River Phoenix originally expressed interest in.

http://www.tmz.com/person/leonardo-dicaprio/

Structure of the Lead：
who- Leonardo DiCaprio

what- a career quite as diverse

how-  not given
When- in the 1990s
Where- not given
why- not given

Keywords:

humble 謙卑

diverse 多樣化

 distributor 分銷商

depicted 描述

 debut 亮相

第三週 AlphaGo

Google's AI wins final Go challenge

Google's DeepMind artificial intelligence has secured its fourth win over a master player, in the final of a five match challenge.

Lee Se-dol, one of the world's top Go players, won just one of the matches against the AlphaGo program, missing out on the $1m prize up for grabs.

Demis Hassabis, founder of DeepMind, said the match had been the "most exciting and stressful" for his team.

Lee Se-dol said he felt "regrettable" about the result of the contest.

In Go, players take turn placing stones on a 19-by-19 grid, competing to take control of the most territory.

The game is considered to be much more challenging for computers than chess.

At a press conference held after the final match, Mr Lee said he did not necessarily think AlphaGo was superior to humans.

But he said he had more studying to do, and admitted the matches had challenged some of his ideas about the game Go.

In some countries the people watch football on big screens in public squares, but in South Korea it's been the mighty challenge of machine against humanity.

And the victory of the computer has led to some introspection.

One South Korean newspaper complained that the contest was "lopsided" with the single Korean pitted against the corporate might of Google and its "army of super-smart people armed with unfathomable computing power".

In a spirit of magnanimity, however, the Korea Baduk Association - which governs the game of Go - has decided to give an honorary ninth-dan ranking to AlphaGo.

The 4-1 mechanical victory has also made some Go players doubt themselves.

The European champion who lost last year to AlphaGo said it had really knocked his self-confidence, even as it enabled him to climb up the world rankings.

Go was invented about 2,500 years or so ago in China. Until now, it has always had a human best player. Not any more.

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-35810133

Structure of the Lead：
who-Google's DeepMind artificial intelligence

what- win over a master player

how- players take turn placing stones on a 19-by-19 grid, competing to take control of the most territory.
Where- not given
When- not given
How- not given

Keywords:

intelligence  情報

 founder  創辦人

challenging  具有挑戰性的

lopsided  片面

admitted  錄取

第二週 The European refugee

The Syrian refugee crisis and its repercussions for the EU

An estimated 11 million Syrians have fled their homes since the outbreak of the civil war in March 2011. Now, in the sixth year of war, 13.5 million are in need of humanitarian assistance within the country. Among those escaping the conflict, the majority have sought refuge in neighbouring countries or within Syria itself. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 4.8 million have fled to Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and Iraq, and 6.6 million are internally displaced within Syria. Meanwhile about one million have requested asylum to Europe. Germany, with more than 300,000 cumulated applications, and Sweden with 100,000, are EU’s top receiving countries. 

This website offers a snapshot of the repercussions of this refugee crisis for the European Union. It is a project of the Migration Policy Centre at the European University Institute in Florence. The website offers key data on the conflict, combined with a series of studies conducted by local researchers on behalf of the MPC. This project started in January 2013 as a result of a close collaboration between a team of journalists and these local researchers under the auspices of the MPC. Its main aim is to paint a broad picture of the worst refugee crisis to affect the region in years. 

This website examines the role played by the European Union, both as a provider of humanitarian aid, and as a hosting region. While it is true that the EU is a leading contributor to the humanitarian aid to the region, the amount donated by each of its 28 member states varies greatly. At the moment, 70% of the funding is still missing according to the estimates of the UNHCR. To date, the EU has accepted the vast majority of Syrians who have requested asylum, having processed however relatively few applications. Despite the exponential increase in 2015, these have accounted for less than 10% of the total number of displaced Syrians. In contrast, absorbing the influx of refugees has been an enormous challenge for Syria’s neighbours, with strong implications for the stability of the entire region. We hope this website is an accessible way to better understand this migration crisis.

from: http://syrianrefugees.eu/

Structure of the Lead：
who-The Syrian refugee
what-the repercussions of this refugee crisis for the European Union
where- in neighbouring countries or within Syria
why-the outbreak of the civil war 
How-escaping the conflict
WHEN- not given
Keywords:

refugee 難民

repercussion影響

Union聯盟

European歐洲的

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