2009年6月28日 星期日

try on for size, up-to-date, TO DATE, supercomputer, High Performance Computing

Woman's apparel maker Dress Barn is trying Tween Brands on for size, in a $157 million deal that has some industry watchers scratching their head.
Go to Article from Barron's»


This isn’t the first Iranian research organization to release specifications for a high performance computer system. In 2007, the Iranian High Performance Computing Research Center said it had assembled a Linux-based supercomputer using 216 Opteron processing cores. That center said it was the fastest system in Iran to date.
這不是伊朗研究機構首度發布高效能電腦系統的規格。2007年,「伊朗高效能電腦運算研究中心」稱,它利用了216個Opteron處理核心,組裝出一套Linux作業系統為基礎的超級電腦。該中心宣稱,這是伊朗歷來最快的(電腦)系統。


to date:片語,迄今為止。

Up to now, until the present time, as in To date we've received no word from them. [First half of 1900s]


try-on
1. Test the fit or look of a garment by putting it on, as in Do you want to try on this dress? This expression is also put astry on for size , which is sometimes used figuratively, as in The teacher wanted to try the new method on for size before agreeing to use it. [Late 1600s] 2. Test the effectiveness or acceptability of something, as in The actors decided to try on the new play out of town. [Late 1800s] Also see try out.

poli sci, political science, dual citizenship

QUOTATION OF THE DAY
"America is changing more quickly than the government. They are lagging behind the crowd. But if I remember my poli sci from college, isn’t that the way it always works?"
LINDA KETNER on progress in gay rights.


A campaign to reform rules on dual citizenship launches in Germany

A fresh campaign to reform dual citizenship laws has been launched in
Berlin. Currently, children who are born in Germany to foreign parents
must choose between nationalities by age 23.

The DW-WORLD Article
http://newsletter.dw-world.de/re?l=ew15xpI44va89pI2

dual citizenship 雙重國籍


poli sci
political science

n.
The study of the processes, principles, and structure of government and of political institutions; politics.
politicalscientist political scientist n.

2009年6月25日 星期四

frame story, a facade of unlimited financial means

A frame story (also frame tale, frame narrative, etc.) is a narrative technique whereby an introductory main story is composed, at least in part, for the purpose of setting the stage for a fictive narrative or organizing a set of shorter stories, each of which is a story within a story. The frame story leads readers from the first story into the smaller one within it.

Among the qualities making Leibovitz, 59, the most sought after portrait photographer in the world are legendary perfectionism and the pouring of resources into lavish sets. Yet behind a facade of unlimited financial means, Leibovitz was spending her way into nightmare.
造就現年59歲的萊波維茨成為當今全球最炙手可熱肖像攝影師地位的特質,是她出了名的完美主義和斥資投入豪華場景。然而這種毫無限制的花錢法,其實已經為她帶來惡夢。


a facade of unlimited financial means 看似資財無限的表象

recission reviews, annulment

Iran Rejects
Bid to Annul
Vote Results
Iran's top election review board ruled out an annulment of June 12 election results, a day after it admitted that voter irregularities may have affected some three million votes.



re·ci·sion (rĭ-sĭzh'ən) pronunciation
n.

The act of rescinding; annulment or cancellation.

[Obsolete French, from Old French, annulment of a judgment, from Latin recīsiō, recīsiōn-, from recīsus, past participle of recīdere, to cut back : re-, re- + caedere, to cut.]




In 2007, Patsy Bates, a California beautician, sued Health Net claiming that they wrongfully terminated her care in the middle of her chemotherapy treatments. Internal company documents made public during the law suit revealed that the company had tied bonuses to dropping coverage in order to encourage its analysts in charge of recission reviews to discover reasons (such as application fraud) to discontinue coverage to clients who the company deems will cost them money. The company pointed out that Bates had withheld critical information - that she had damaged her heart by the use of fen-phen for diet purposes and stated an inaccurate weight; Bates replied that the insurance broker had filled out the form for her and she had been busy in her salon. [1] In February of 2008 the court ruled in favor of Bates, ordering Health Net to pay 8.4 million in punitive damages and $750,000 for emotional distress. [2]


惡意取消癌患保單 判賠2.8億

美國一位中年女性罹癌治療期間,加州最大一家健康保險公司取消她的保單,法院22日裁定保險公司必須賠償她九百多萬美元(台幣2億8000萬元)。

52歲的珮西‧貝茲2004年被「健康網保險公司」(Health Net Inc.)取消保單後,積欠12萬9000美元醫療費。仲裁法官奇安契提22日喻令健康網公司為她支付那筆醫療費,另加840萬美元懲罰性賠償,以及75萬美元賠償她遭遇的情緒困擾。

奇安契提在仲裁書中寫道:「人最難過的情況,莫過於貝茲遭遇的這種情況。她被診出罹患乳癌,乳癌名列女性前幾大死因,而在這時,她被落井下石。」

貝茲是兩個孩子的母親,聞判激動尖叫。她的律師表示,希望其他保險業者注意這項裁決,「我們要阻止這種行為」。

貝茲是美髮師,本來買另一家保險公司的保單,但健康網的業務員以可以省錢為由,說服她改投健康網。她後來罹患乳癌,為消除腫瘤而做化療,只做了兩次,醫師 就不再理她,因為她的化療帳單沒付。她說,她當時難過極了,搞不懂保險公司怎麼幹得出這種事來。她透過一個公家資助的治癌方案完成療程。

貝茲案完成仲裁前一天,洛杉磯市檢方起訴健康網,指該公司非法取消1600名病人的保單,省下3500多萬美元醫療理賠。健康網表示有志改進,以維持民眾的信任,目前已凍結取消保單的政策。

檢方並表示,健康網有一套不合法的獎勵方案,行政人員取消保單的數目如果達到目標,可以分紅。健康網承認2002和2003年實行那套方案,但後來已取消。

加州當局已著手調查健康網和其他保險公司,調查內容包括非法取消保單疑案,以及業者是否在發現投保人的健康紀錄出現差異時取消保單。

2009年6月21日 星期日

severity, malware, a social force,Tax Man, IRS

Security Fix
» A Shifting Definition of 'Severity' Brian Krebs examines a new Microsoft study on the malware threat to Windows and considers whether Microsoft will redefine its approach to security.



severity was found in the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary at the entries listed below.
severe (VERY SERIOUS)
severe (NOT KIND)
severe

高效率主動式惡意軟體蒐集系統 = An effective proactive malware collector / 李遠濤(Li, Yuan-Tao)撰(PLAIN)

A Social Force Departs Google
Kevin Marks, a social force within Google and one of the main drivers behind its recent social efforts (including OpenSocial, its Social ...

Tax Man's Target: The Mobile Phone
A move by the IRS to tax the use of company-issued mobile phones is spurring efforts by the wireless industry and others to kill the idea.


The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is ready to help Americans pay their taxes, whether they want to or not. A bureau in the Department of the Treasury, the IRS is responsible for tax collection and tax law enforcement in its numerous forms.



taxman
n.
One that is responsible for the collection of federal, state, or local taxes.


a social force

social force is anything in a society with the capability to cause change. Anything that influences people, really.

accord, of your own accord, reach accord


WASHINGTON — President Obama’s plan to overhaul the regulatory structure of the nation’s financial system faces formidable obstacles on Capitol Hill, if the reception accorded Timothy F. Geithner, the Treasury secretary, on Thursday was any indication.

Senators Reach Accord on Stimulus Plan as Jobs Vanish

By CARL HULSE and DAVID M. HERSZENHORN
Democrats succeeded, after a long day of negotiations, in winning the support of enough Republicans to move the package of roughly $780 billion.


My heart goes out to his parents; their grief is beyond imagination. Reportedly, his mother Junko, 55, when she heard the early (mistaken) news of his release, exclaimed, "I want to feed him tuna sashimi." It is true that Ito chose to go to Afghanistan of his own accord. But there was no reason for this man, who went there only to help others, should die.



accord

v., -cord·ed, -cord·ing, -cords. v.tr.
  1. To cause to conform or agree; bring into harmony.
  2. To grant, especially as being due or appropriate: accorded the President the proper deference.
  3. To bestow upon: I accord you my blessing.
v.intr.

To be in agreement, unity, or harmony. See synonyms at agree.

n.
  1. Agreement; harmony: act in accord with university policies.
  2. A settlement or compromise of conflicting opinions.
  3. A settlement of points at issue between nations.
  4. Spontaneous or voluntary desire to take a certain action: The children returned on their own accord. He confessed of his own accord.

[Middle English accorden, from Old French acorder, from Medieval Latin accordāre, to bring into agreement : Latin ad-, ad- + Latin cor, cord-, heart.]

accorder ac·cord'er n.

<– Back to results

accord (AGREEMENT) Show phonetics
noun [C or U]
(a formal) agreement:
On 31 May the two leaders signed a peace accord.
Before 1987, the accord between the Labour government and the unions was a simple affair.
The project is completely in accord with government policy.

accordance Show phonetics
noun FORMAL
in accordance with a rule/law/wish/etc. following or obeying a rule/law/wish/etc:
In accordance with her wishes, she was buried in France.

accordingly Show phonetics
adverb FORMAL
in a way that is suitable or right for the situation:
When we receive your instructions we shall act accordingly.
She's an expert in her field, and is paid accordingly.


<– Back to results

of your own accord
If you do something of your own accord, you do it without being asked to do it:
She came of her own accord. No one asked her to come.

2009年6月20日 星期六

tamper with sth, tampering, pan-

The crowd "burst into laughter," the New York Times reports, when the Ayatollah insisted in his "hard-line" speech that the huge margin between President Ahmadinejad and opposition candidate Mir Hussein Mousavi was too large for foul play. "Perhaps 100,000 votes, or 500,000, but how can anyone tamper with 11 million votes?"

日本的中國進口餃子(dumplings)發現第二種農藥殘留

Safety Concerns May Upset Japan-China Trade Ties
By Hiroko Tabuchi

TOKYO -- As Japan's trade with China thrives, companies are struggling with a basic problem: how to manage Japanese brands that are made in China.

A recent health scare over poisoned dumplings imported from China have tarnished the reputation of Chinese food imports. The poisonings sickened at least 10 Japanese consumers and triggered a nationwide recall.

Wei Chuanzhong, the vice minister of China's food-safety watchdog, said yesterday he didn't rule out the possibility that "people using extreme means to destroy China-Japan ties" had tampered with the dumplings.

Yesterday, Japan Tobacco Inc., the importer's parent company, canceled a plan to expand ...
Pan Island Expressway
The goal of the partnership with MIT, called the SMART (for Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology) is to examine the "future of urban mobility" as well as other growth issues.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,2056669,00.html#ixzz1Fg9LrbOh


pan-
pref.
  1. All: panorama.
  2. also Pan- Involving all of or the union of a specified group: Pan-Hellenic.
  3. General; whole: panleukopenia.
[Greek, from pan, neuter of pās, pant-, all.]



單字
tamper
━━ vi. 干渉する ((with)); いじくる, いたずらする ((with)); (原文を)勝手に変える ((with)); 買収する ((with)).
tamper-evident ━━ a. (食料品・薬品などの包装が販売前に)いじればわかるように工夫された.
tamper-proof ━━ a. (食料品・薬品などの包装が)販売前開封防止の.

tamper with sth phrasal verb
to touch or make changes to something which you should not, usually without enough knowledge of how it works or when you are trying to damage it:
I could see at once that the lock had been tampered with.

(from Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)


Tampering W. Edwards Deming 之專門術語:指「不顧系統處於統計管制狀態而過份反應。」
tamper 又指破壞原廠包裝完整性而想注射毒物等作法。如Worker faces three charges in Schneiders tampering 個案。
tamper━━ vi. 干渉する ((with)); いじくる, いたずらする ((with)); (原文)勝手える ((with)); 買収する ((with)).
tamper-evident 
Tamper-evident describes a device or process that makes unauthorised access to the protected object easily detected. This may take the form of seals, markings or other techniques.
tamper evident coating 抗破壞證據塗層 
tamper evident packaging 抗破壞證據包裝
━━ a. (食料品・薬品などの包装が販売前に)いじればわかるように工夫された.
tamper proof 干預防護
tamper-proof ━━ a. (食料品・薬品などの包装が)販売前開封防止の.

regionalization of merchandise, midpriced items

In Recession, Strategy Shifts for Big Chains
By STEPHANIE ROSENBLOOM
Retailers’ reinvention includes regionalization of merchandise and midpriced items at high-end stores.

plasma, nerve-carrying canal, polymer matrix,biofilm

High-tech dentistry

St Elmo's frier

Jun 17th 2009
From The Economist print edition

Using a plasma torch to clean your teeth


Science Photo Library  Getting to the root of it

INFECTIONS in the roots of teeth are hell to treat. The tooth needs to be drilled into, right down to the bottom of the nerve-carrying canal根管 that runs through the root. The infected material must then be cleaned out completely and the drilled section filled in. Although the procedure is routine, it is common for some of the bacteria to survive it and therefore for infections to re-emerge shortly after treatment.

The surviving bacteria are often gathered in the form of what is known as a biofilm. Bacteria in such a film are embedded in a polymer matrix, which makes them harder to kill than isolated individuals. High temperatures can destroy biofilms, as can some chemicals, but neither approach is safe to use inside the delicate interior of a human tooth. However Chunqi Jiang, a physicist at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, and her colleagues have come up with a possible alternative: a dental plasma torch.

Plasmas are gases in which the molecules have been stripped of some or all of their electrons, to create positive ions. One way to do this is to heat the gas up. Conventional plasma torches employ such hot plasma to cut metal. But cold plasmas can be made using high electrical voltages. St Elmo’s fire—violet and blue “flames” that appear around ships’ masts during thunderstorms—is a good example. Dr Jiang reckoned that a cold plasma, particularly one rich in oxygen ions (which are notoriously destructive of organic materials), would be enough to do the job of breaking up a biofilm without harming the patient.

To test this idea, she and her colleagues designed a device that uses short pulses of electricity to ionise the surrounding air, creating a purple plume of plasma rich in oxygen ions. And it worked. The team report in Plasma Processes and Polymers that when the plume was directed into the infected interiors of teeth, it succeeded in clearing up well-established infections completely.

That may just be the beginning. Bacteria in biofilms are also more resistant to antibiotics than their isolated confreres, so the new device could have other medical applications. Wound infections, for example, often form biofilms. If they cannot be treated successfully, the result may be gangrene. And if Dr Jiang’s version of St Elmo’s fire can deal with that problem, the saint may become patron of a lot more people than just sailors.

****


St. Elmo's fire (also St. Elmo's light[1]) is an electrical weather phenomenon in which luminous plasma is created by a coronal discharge originating from a grounded object in an atmospheric electric field (such as those generated by thunderstorms or thunderstorms created by a volcanic explosion).

St. Elmo's fire is named after St. Erasmus of Formiae (also called St. Elmo), the patron saint of sailors. The phenomenon sometimes appeared on ships at sea during thunderstorms, and was regarded by sailors with religious awe, accounting for the name.

Ball lightning is often erroneously identified as St. Elmo's fire. They are separate and distinct meteorological phenomena.[2]



2009年6月18日 星期四

flashpoint, finger-pointing, sub-terminal

Not Everyone Is Cheering Fed's New Role
The financial-regulation plan envisions the Fed as the most powerful overseer of the U.S. financial system. But that approach is becoming one of the plan's biggest flashpoints.
Fuel Choices, Food Crises and Finger-Pointing By ANDREW MARTIN
Biofuels are fast becoming a new flash point in global diplomacy, putting pressure on Western politicians.



A NEW SCHEDULE OF RATES.; THE PASSENGER AGENTS VIRTUALLY ...'l be committee will meet swain to say to decide upon rates between intermediate or sub-terminal points. Two sub- were appointed to 13x these rates. ...August 26, 1882




sub·ter·mi·nal (sŭb-tûr'mə-nəl)

adj.

Located or occurring near an end.

point the finger at sb
to accuse someone of being responsible for something bad that has happened:
Unhappy tourists have pointed the finger at unhelpful travel agents.

flashpoint (VIOLENCE), US ALSO flash point Show phonetics
noun [C]
a place or stage at which violence might be expected to begin:
Because of the army's presence, the city is seen to be the flashpoint of the area.

2009年6月17日 星期三

metabolic syndrome, obesity

Kid Goes Into a Fast-Food Restaurant and Orders ... Yogurt?

By TARA PARKER-POPE

Fast-food giants begin to get the message on childhood obesity.






metabolism
pronunciation 新陳代謝

IN BRIEF: The process in all plants and animals by which food is changed into energy, new cells, and waste products.

pronunciation Of all the unexpected qualities of an unexpected universe, the sheer organizing power of animal and plant metabolism is one of the most remarkable. — Loren Eiseley (1907-1977)

metabolic

(mĕt'ə-bŏl'ĭk) pronunciationadj.

Of, relating to, or resulting from metabolism.

[Greek metabolikos, changeable, from metabolē, change. See metabolism.]


m. syndrome — characterized by hypertension, insulin resistance, an abnormal plasma lipid profile, and obesity.


メタボリックシンドローム(内臓脂肪症候群):「メタボの罠」(大櫛陽一著)










2009年6月16日 星期二

Signs of Fraud Abound, But Not Hard Evidence

Signs of Fraud Abound, But Not Hard Evidence
Millions of handwritten paper ballots were counted within hours. The challenger riding a surge of momentum and popular enthusiasm lost in a landslide. Other opposition candidates did poorly even in their home provinces.

2009年6月15日 星期一

Type families, Information Typing Architecture

JS、文書制作の国際標準規格DITAに対応した文書編集環境を発売
キーマンズネット (プレスリリース) (会員登録)
株式会社ジャストシステムは、国際的な技術標準化団体“OASIS”が策定した文書制作の国際規格“DITA”(Darwin Information Typing Architecture)仕様に対応した文書編集環境「xfy DITAエディタ」を、6月30日より発売する。 “DITA”では、文章の部品化と構成管理の仕組みをXML ...


Type families

A family of type may be likened to the shades of a color in that it includes variations of a given type face or design. Weights are varied, from light to medium, bold, and extra bold; letters are condensed and expanded, as well as outlined, inlined, and shadowed (see illustration).

A family of type.

2009年6月13日 星期六

precursor, alliteration, yellow books, predate, antedatings

Back when being the chief executive of General Motors meant something, one of G.M.’s leaders, Charles Erwin Wilson, became the secretary of defense and was widely known by a nickname, Engine Charlie. Decades later, a marketer is centering a campaign on an alliterative alternative, Engine Eddie.

Precursors

Many of the concepts did not originate within the original UK Government's Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency (CCTA) project to develop ITIL. According to IBM:

In the early 1980s, IBM documented the original Systems Management concepts in a four-volume series called A Management System for Information Systems. These widely accepted “yellow books,” ... were key inputs to the original set of ITIL books."[2][3]
precursor PhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhonetic Phonetic PhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhonetic Hide phonetics
noun [C] SLIGHTLY FORMAL
something which happened or existed before another thing, especially if it either developed into it or had an influence on it:
Sulphur dioxide is the main precursor of acid rain.
Biological research has often been a precursor to medical breakthroughs which benefit patients.

比喻 Yellow Book USA is a phone and address directory listing service and publisher of independent telephone directories, based in Rockville Centre (Long Island), New York.

al・lit・er・a・tion


━━ n. 頭韻(法).
al・lit・er・ate ━━ v. 頭韻を踏む[踏ます].

Alliteration, the audible repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words or within words, is part of the sound stratum of poetry.


Alliteration was the organizing device of Anglo-Saxon poetry, predating rhyme, but it was dying out by the 14th century until a group of poets established what has been called an “alliterative revival.” “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” inevitably evokes its precursor, “Beowulf,” which has been powerfully translated by Seamus Heaney, who provides the model for Armitage’s enterprise. Alliteration didn’t predominate in later metrical verse, but it is a rough current in Sir Thomas Wyatt, if you listen, and thereafter becomes a subterranean stream in English-language poetry. It comes bubbling to the surface in 19th-century English poets, like Swinburne and Hopkins, who use it with startling boldness, and 20th-century Welsh poets, like David Jones and Dylan Thomas.




Bernard Shaw (1856–1950). Pygmalion. 1916.
HIGGINS [indignantly] I swear! [Most emphatically] I never swear. I detest the habit. What the devil do you mean?

MRS. PEARCE [stolidly] Thats what I mean, sir. You swear a great deal too much. I dont mind your damning and blasting, and what the devil and where the devil and who the devil—

HIGGINS. Mrs. Pearce: this language from your lips! Really!

MRS. PEARCE [not to be put off]—but there is a certain word I must ask you not to use. The girl has just used it herself because the bath was too hot. It begins with the same letter as bath. She knows no better: she learnt it at her mother's knee. But she must not hear it from your lips. 165

HIGGINS [loftily] I cannot charge myself with having ever uttered it, Mrs. Pearce. [She looks at him steadfastly. He adds, hiding an uneasy conscience with a judicial air] Except perhaps in a moment of extreme and justifiable excitement.

MRS. PEARCE. Only this morning, sir, you applied it to your boots, to the butter, and to the brown bread.

HIGGINS. Oh, that! Mere alliteration, Mrs. Pearce, natural to a poet.

MRS. PEARCE. Well, sir, whatever you choose to call it, I beg you not to let the girl hear you repeat it.

******

The new edition, with a new introductory essay by language expert David Crystal on the History of English, includes 2,500 new words and senses, plus thousands of antedatings of existing words, drawing on the huge ongoing research project for the Oxford English Dictionary and the wealth of information on language in use provided by the Oxford English Corpus.


Definition

antedate Show phonetics
verb [T]
FORMAL FOR predate
predate PhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhoneticPhonetic Hide phonetics
verb [T] SLIGHTLY FORMAL
to have existed or happened before another thing:
These cave paintings predate any others which are known.
Compare backdate; postdate.