Questões Militares Comentadas sobre sinônimos | synonyms em inglês

            Operation Desert Storm Was Not Won By Smart Weaponry Alone

      Technology has long been a deciding factor on the battlefield, from powerful artillery to new weaponry to innovations in the seas and the skies. Twenty-five years ago, it was no different, as the United States and its allies proved overwhelmingly successful in the Persian Gulf War. A coalition of U.S. Army Apache attack helicopters, cruise missiles from naval vessels, and Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk “stealth fighters” soundly broke through Saddam Hussein’s army defenses in Kuwait during Operation Desert Storm, which became known as the “100-hour war”.

      But for all the possibilities that this “Computer War” offered, Operation Desert Storm was not won by smart weaponry, alone. Despite the “science fiction”-like technology deployed, 90 percent of the pieces of ammunition used in Desert Storm were actually “dumb weapons”. The bombs, which weren’t guided by lasers or satellites, were lucky to get within half a kilometer of their targets after they were dumped from planes. While dumb bombs might not have been exciting enough to make the headlines during the attack, they were cheaper to produce and could be counted on to work. But frequency of use doesn’t change why history will remember Desert Storm for its smart weapons, rather than its dumb ones.

Adapted from http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/ operation-desert-storm-was-not-won-smart-weaponry-alone- 180957879/

                                How Brazil Crowdsourced a Pioneering Law

The passage of the Marco Civil da Internet, an “Internet bill of rights” commonly referred to in English as the Brazilian Civil Rights Framework for the Internet, demonstrates how the Internet can be used to rejuvenate democratic governance in the digital age. The law is important not only for its content, but for the innovative and participatory way it was written, bypassing traditional modes of legislation-making to go directly to the country’s citizens. At a moment when governments of all kinds are viewed as increasingly distant from ordinary people, Brazil’s example makes an argument that democracy offers a way forward.

      The pioneering law was signed in 2014 and has three components. First, it safeguards privacy by restricting the ability of private corporations and the government to store Internet users’ browsing histories. Second, it mandates a judicial review of requests to remove potentially offensive or illegal material, including content that infringes copyrights. And third, it prohibits Internet service providers from manipulating data transfer speeds for commercial purposes. The bill was acclaimed by activists as an example the rest of the world should follow.

      What makes this law even more interesting is that it became one of the largest-ever experiments in crowdsourcing legislation. The law’s original text was written through a website that allowed individual citizens and organizations — including NGOs, businesses, and political parties — to interact with one another and publicly debate the law’s content. This process was markedly different from the traditional method of writing bills “behind closed doors” in the halls of Congress, a process that favored well-connected families and large corporations.

      Policymakers in other countries have tried to capture citizen input using social media before, but never on this scale, in a country of roughly 200 million people. Whether it would succeed was far from certain. During the website’s public launch, in 2009, one of the government lawyers summed up the organizers’ high hopes: “This experience could transform the way we discuss not just legislation about the Internet, but also the way we discuss other bills in Brazil, and, in so doing, reconfigure our democracy.”

Adapted from http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/01/19/how-brazil-crowdsourced-a-landmark-law/

                                   This migrant crisis is different from all others

      2015 was unquestionably the year of the migrant. The news was dominated for months by pictures of vast crowds shuffling through the borders of yet another European country, being treated with brutality in some places and given a reluctant welcome in others.

      When researching a report for radio and television about the migrant phenomenon, it is possible to realize that there was nothing new about it. For many years, waves of displaced and frightened people have broken over Europe again and again and the images have been strikingly similar each time.

      In 1945, __________ (1) the ethnic Germans, forced out of their homes in Poland, Czechoslovakia and Russia and obliged to seek shelter in a shattered and divided Germany. More recently, we can see floods of Albanian refugees escaping from the ethnic cleansing of the Serbian forces in Kosovo in 1998 and 1999.

      Yet there is one major difference between these waves of migrants in the past and the one we saw in 2015. Professor Alex Betts, director of the Refugee Studies Centre at Oxford University says that it was the first time Europe faced people coming in from the outside in large numbers as refugees. He explains: “The fact that many are Muslims is perceived as challenging Europe’s identity.” European societies are changing very fast, indeed, as a result of immigration. In London, for instance, more than 300 languages are now spoken, according to a recent academic study. The influx of migrants reinforces people’s sense that their identity is under threat.

      But how can the world deal conclusively with the problem? The former UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, Sir John Holmes, blames global governance. “Other powers are rising,” he says - Syria is an example of this. “And the United States doesn’t have the influence it once did, so the problem’s not being fixed, no-one’s waving the big stick and we’re having to pick up the pieces.” We have endured an entire century of exile and homelessness and the cause is always the same - conflict and bad government. Unless these are dealt with, the flow of migrants will never be stopped.

                                                         Adapted from http://www.bbc.com/news/world-35091772

                                    Hard Lesson in Sleep for Teenagers

By Jane E. Brody         October 20, 2014 

      Few Americans these days get the hours of sleep optimal for their age, but experts agree that teenagers are more likely to fall short than anyone else.

      Researchers report that the average adolescent needs eight and a half to nine and a half hours of sleep each night. However, in a poll taken in 2006 by the National Sleep Foundation, less than 20 percent reported getting that much rest on school nights. With the profusion of personal electronics, the current percentage is believed to be even worse. A study in Fairfax, Va., found that only 6 percent of children in the 10th grade and only 3 percent in the 12th grade get the recommended amount of sleep. Two in three teens were found to be severely sleep-deprived, losing two or more hours of sleep every night. The causes can be biological, behavioral or environmental. The effect on the well-being of adolescents — on their health and academic potential — can be profound. 

      Insufficient sleep in adolescence increases the risks of high blood pressure and heart disease, Type 2 diabetes and obesity, said Dr. Owens, pediatric sleep specialist at Children's National Health System in Washington. Sleeplessness is also linked to risk-taking behavior, depression, suicidal ideation and car accidents. Insufficient sleep also impairs judgment, decision-making skills and the ability to curb impulses, which are "in a critical stage of development in adolescence," Dr. Owens said. With the current intense concern about raising academic achievement, it is worth noting that a study by Kyla Wahlstrom of 9,000 students in eight Minnesota public high schools showed that starting school a half-hour later resulted in an hour's more sleep a night and an increase in the students' grade point averages and standardized test scores.

      When children reach puberty, a shift in circadian rhythm makes it harder for them to fall asleep early enough to get the requisite number of hours and still make it to school on time. A teenager’s sleep-wake cycle can shift as much as two hours, making it difficult to fall asleep before 11 p.m. If school starts at 8 or 8:30, it is not possible to get enough sleep. Based on biological sleep needs, a teenager who goes to sleep at 11 p.m, should be getting up around 8 a.m.

      Adding to the adolescent shift in circadian rhythm are myriad electronic distractions that cut further into sleep time, like smartphones, iPods, computers and televisions. A stream of text messages, tweets, and postings on Facebook and Instagram keep many awake long into the night.

      Parents should consider instituting an electronic curfew and perhaps even forbid sleep-distracting devices in the bedroom, Dr . Owens said. Beyond the bedroom, many teenagers lead overscheduled lives that can lead to short nights.

      Also at risk are many teenagers from low-income and minority families, where overcrowding, excessive noise and safety concerns can make it difficult to get enough restful sleep, the academy statement said. Trying to compensate for sleep deprivation on weekends can further compromise an adolescent's sleep-wake cycle by inducing permanent jet lag. Sleeping late on weekends shifts their internal clock, making it even harder to get to sleep Sunday night and wake up on time for school Monday morning.

                                                          (Adapted and abridged from http://www.nytimes.com)

                                  Additional Factors That Affect Sleep Comfort

By Richard A. Staehler, MD

      The type of mattress one uses is not the only factor for patients with pain and sleep difficulty. Many other factors need to be considered that may affect sleep, including;

- medication side effects;

- irregular sleep patterns;

- caffeine/alcohol/tobacco use;

- sleep apnea;

- anxiety/stress. 

      If comfort is not the only thing making sleep difficult, it is advisable for the patient to consult his or her family physician to discuss other possible causes and treatments for sleeplessness.

      If anyone experiences significant or persistent back pain, there may be an underlying back condition that has nothing to do with the mattress. It is always advisable for people with back pain to consult with a health care provider for a thorough exam, diagnosis, and treatment program.

      As a reminder, sleep comfort is first and foremost a matter of personal preference. No one should expect that switching mattresses or beds will cure their lower back pain, and changes in the type of bed or mattress used should be made solely for the sake of comfort,

(Adapted from http;//www.spine-health,com/wellness/sleep/additional-factors -affect -sleep-comfort ) 

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                                                 The Bookstore's Last Stand

*Barnes & Noble is the largest book retailer in the United States.

      (...) No one expects Barnes & Noble* to disappear overnight. The worry is that it might slowly wither as more readers embrace e-books. What if all those store shelves vanished, and Barnes & Noble became little more than a cafe and a digital connection point? Such fears came to the fore in eariy January, when the company projected that it would lose even more money this year than Wall Street had expected. Its share price promptly tumbled 17 percent that day.

      Lurking behind all of this is Amazon.com , the dominant force in books online and the company that sets teeth on edge in publishing. From their perches in Midtown Manhattan, many publishing executives, editors and publicists view Amazon as the enemy — an adversary that, if unchecked, could threaten their industry and their livelihoods.

      Like many struggling businesses, book publishers are cutting costs and trimming work forces. Yes, electronic books are booming, sometimes profitably, but not many publishers want e-books to dominate print books. Amazon's chief executive, Jeffrey P. Bezos, wants to cut out the middleman — that is, traditional publishers — by publishing e-books directly.

      Which is why Barnes & Noble, once viewed as the brutal capitalist of the book trade, now seems so crucial to that industry's future. Sure, you can buy bestsellers at Walmart and potboilers at the supermarket. But in many locales, Barnes & Noble is the only retailer offering a wide selection of books. If something were to happen to Barnes & Noble, if it were merely to scale back its ambitions, Amazon could become even more powerful and — well, the very thought makes publishers queasy. (...)

Disponível em:http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/29/business/barnes-noble-taking-on-amazon-in-the-fight-of-its-life.html?pagewanted=all> . Acesso em: 22 abr. 2012  

                                        ARE YOU A FACEBOOK ADDICT? 

Are you a social media enthusiast or simply a Facebook addict? Researchers from Norway have developed a new instrument to measure Facebook addiction, the Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale.

"The use of Facebook has increased rapidly. We are dealing with a subdivision of Internet addiction connected to social media," Doctor of Psychology Cecilie Schou Andreassen says about the study, which is the first of its kind worldwide.

Andreassen heads the research project “Facebook Addiction” at the University of Bergen (UiB). An article about the results has just been published in the renowned journal Psychological Reports. She has clear views as to why some people develop Facebook dependency.

"It occurs more regularly among younger than older users. We have also found that people who are anxious and socially insecure use Facebook more than those with lower scores on those traits, probably because those who are anxious find it easier to communicate via social media than face-to face," Andreassen says.

People who are organised and more ambitious tend to be less at risk from Facebook addiction. They will often use social media as an integral part of work and networking.

"Our research also indicates that women are more at risk of developing Facebook addiction, probably due to the social nature of Facebook," Andreassen says.

Six warning signs

As Facebook has become as ubiquitous as television in our everyday lives, it is becoming increasingly difficult for many people to know if they are addicted to social media. Andreassen’s study shows that the symptoms of Facebook addiction resemble those of drug addic addiction, and chemical substance addiction.

The Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale is based on six basic criteria, where all items are scored on the following scale: (1) Very rarely, (2) Rarely, (3) Sometimes, (4) Often Always. 

• You spend a lot of time thinking about Facebook or planning to use of Facebook.

• You feel an urge to use Facebook more and more.

• You use Facebook in order to forget about personal problems.

• You have tried to cut down on the use of Facebook without success.

• You become restless or troubled if you are prohibited from using Facebook.

• You use Facebook so much that it has had a negative impact on your job/studies.

Andreassen’s study shows that scoring “often” or “very often” on at least four of the six items may suggest that you are addicted to Facebook.

Disponível em: <http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120507102054.htm> Acesso em: 3 jun. 2013 (Texto adaptado)  

                                                              Text 1

             Luis Suárez joins anti-racism calls after Dani Alves banana incident

      The Barcelona defender Dani Alves has sparked a social media campaign against racism in football as support flooded in from fellow professionals for his decision to eat a banana thrown at him by an opposition fan.

      Luis Suárez, Neymar, Hulk, Mario Balotelli and Sergio Agüero were among those who posted pictures of themselves taking bites out of bananas in tribute to Alves' actions in his side's La Liga match at Villarreal on Sunday.

      The Fifa president Joseph Blatter has branded the abuse directed at Alves an "outrage" and promised zero tolerance towards discrimination at the World Cup, while Villarreal took swift action by identifying the culprit and handing him a lifetime stadium ban.

      Alves' response to the banana being thrown on to the pitch in front of him as he prepared to take a corner was to nonchalantly pick it up, peel it and take a bite before continuing with the game. The 30-yearold, who has been the victim of racist abuse before during his time in La Liga, said: "You need to take these situations with a dose of humour."

      Players across Europe paid homage on Twitter and Instagram, including Suárez, who served an eight-match ban for racially abusing Patrice Evra.

      Alves's Barça and Brazil team-mate Neymar led the way after posting a picture on Instagram of himself holding a banana, while writing "We are all monkeys". Balotelli, Milan's former Manchester City striker, posted a picture of himself in a similar pose.

      Suárez posted a picture on Twitter of himself and Liverpool team-mate Philippe Coutinho taking bites out of bananas, along with the words: "#SayNoToRacism #WeAreAllMonkeys."

      (...)

      Barça gave their player their "complete support and solidarity" and thanked Villarreal for their "immediate condemnation" of the incident. Villarreal later revealed they had, with the help of fans, found out who the culprit was, had withdrawn his season ticket and banned him from the El Madrigal stadium for life.

Disponível em:<http://www.theguardian.com/football/2014/apr/29/luis-suarez-anti-racism-dani-alvesbanana> . Acesso em 29 abr.2014 (texto adaptado)  

Billions of dollars spent on defeating improvised explosive devices (IED) are beginning to show what technology can and cannot do for the evolving struggle.

Two platoons of U.S. Army scouts are in a field deep in the notorious “Triangle of Death” south of Baghdad, a region of countless clashes between Sunni insurgents and Shia militias. The platoons are guided by a local man who’s warned them of pressure-plate improvised explosive devices, designed to explode when stepped on. He has assured them that he knows where the IED’s are, which means he is almost certainly a former Sunni insurgent.

The platoons come under harassing fire. It stops, but later the tension mounts again as they maneuver near an abandoned house known to shelter al-Qaeda fighters. A shot rings out; the scouts take cover. They don’t realize it’s just their local guide, with an itchy trigger finger, taking the potshot at the house. The lieutenant leading the patrol summons three riflemen to cover the abandoned house.

Then all hell breaks loose. One of the riflemen, a sergeant, steps on a pressure-plate IED. The blast badly injures him, the two other riflemen, and the lieutenant. A Navy explosives specialist along on the mission immediately springs into action, using classified gear to comb the area for more bombs. Until he gives the all clear, no one can move, not even to tend the bleeding men. Meanwhile, one of the frozen-inspace scouts notices another IED right next to him and gives a shout, provoking more combing in his area. Then a big area has to be cleared so that the medevac helicopter already on the way can land.

That incident, which took place on 7 November 2007, exhibits many of the hallmarks of the missions in Iraq and Afghanistan – a small patrol; a local man of dubious background; Navy specialists working with soldiers on dry land; and costly technologies pressed into service against cheap and crude weapons. And, most of all, death by IED.  

Leia a passagem seguinte e responda à pergunta que a segue.

Modern buildings incorporate exciting forms with glittering façades and compelling interior spaces. Surveying for these projects requires sophisticated computation, aggressive quality control and close interaction with construction teams. 

                                                        Text 3

                                   Xerox and the Icarus Paradox

                                                                                                             Schilling, Melissa A.

Strategic Management of Technological Innovation, Mc Graw-Hill International Edition, Fourth Edition

      According to Greek mythology, when King Minos imprisoned the crafstman Daedalus and his son Icarus, Daedalus built wings of wax and feathers so that he and his son could fly to their escape. Icarus was so enthralled by his wings and drawn to the light of the sun that despite his father's warning, he flew too high. The sun melted his wings, crashing Icarus to death in the sea. This was the inspiration for the now well-known Icarus Paradox – that which you excel at can ultimately be your undoing. Success can engender overconfidence, carelessness, and an unquestioning adherence to one's way of doing things.

      For example, in the 1960s and 1970s, Xerox had such a stranglehold on the photocopier market that it did not pay much attention when new Japanese competition began to infiltrate the market for smaller, inexpensive copiers. Xerox management did not believe competitors would ever be able to produce machines comparable to Xerox's quality and cost. However, Xerox was dangerously wrong. By the mid-1970s, Xerox was losing market share to the Japanese at an alarming rate. When Canon introduced a copier that sold for less than Xerox's manufacturing costs, Xerox knew it was in trouble and had to engage in a major benchmarking and restructuring effort to turn the company around.

                                       The Bookstore’s Last Stand

*Barnes & Noble is the largest book retailer in the United States.

   (…) No one expects Barnes & Noble* to disappear overnight. The worry is that it might slowly wither as more readers embrace e-books. What if all those store shelves vanished, and Barnes & Noble became little more than a cafe and a digital connection point? Such fears came to the fore in early January, when the company projected that it would lose even more money this year than Wall Street had expected. Its share price promptly tumbled 17 percent that day.

  Lurking behind all of this is Amazon.com, the dominant force in books online and the company that sets teeth on edge in publishing. From their perches in Midtown Manhattan, many publishing executives, editors and publicists view Amazon as the enemy — an adversary that, if unchecked, could threaten their industry and their livelihoods.

Like many struggling businesses, book publishers are cutting costs and trimming work forces. Yes, electronic books are booming, sometimes profitably, but not many publishers want e-books to dominate print books. Amazon’s chief executive, Jeffrey P. Bezos, wants to cut out the middleman — that is, traditional publishers — by publishing e-books directly.

   Which is why Barnes & Noble, once viewed as the brutal capitalist of the book trade, now seems so crucial to that industry’s future. Sure, you can buy bestsellers at Walmart and potboilers at the supermarket. But in many locales, Barnes & Noble is the only retailer offering a wide selection of books. If something were to happen to Barnes & Noble, if it were merely to scale back its ambitions, Amazon could become even more powerful and — well, the very thought makes publishers queasy. (…)

Disponível em:<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/29/business/barnes-noble-taking-on-amazon-inthe-fight-of-its-life.html?pagewanted=all>.

Acesso em: 22 abr. 2012

Dependency on the Internet can affect our emotional, personal and professional lives. Many specialists say this kind of addiction should be treated as if it were a psychological _________.

                                                                                             ( Maganews # 42)

GLOSSARY

addiction – vício 

The following dialogue takes place between two native speakers of English in the lower airspace in the vicinity of a major airport. Two aircraft __________ towards the airfield:

Pilot – Fox Charlie speaking.

            Who’s ahead ... us or Golf Yankee?

Controller – Well... you’re neck and neck.

Pilot – We can keep a high speed in the descent if you want us to.

Controller – I don’t know how the TMA are going to plan

                     this. You can if you wish.

Pilot – You’re the boss.

Controller – Well they’ll be the boss when you get down

                     there. I’m just sort of keeping you apart for the

                     moment.

Pilot – Understood.

GLOSSARY:

vicinity = proximidade

Fox Charlie = nome da aeronave

Golf Yankee = nome da aeronave

TMA = refere-se ao órgão de controle de tráfego aéreo 

                                  A Bunch of Butterflies

Priests don’t like confetti, it makes a mess.

The bride and groom rarely like rice, because it hurts. So the latest thing at weddings, at least in America, is butterflies.

What could be nicer than having a bunch of butterflies released into the air around the marriage couple? Companies are now springing up in the US to meet the new demand, but animal rights groups are concerned. How are the butterflies caught, how are they transported to the wedding and what happens to them afterwards?

The wedding party thinks the butterflies fly away, but often the insect cannot survive in their new environment and die.

GLOSSARY:

spring up – surgir 

He had felt terrible for three days, so Bob finally called his doctor’s office.

“The doctor can see you in three weeks”, he was told. An outraged Bob bellowed, “Three weeks? The doctor can’t see me for three weeks? I could be dead by then!”

Calmly the voice at the other end of the line replied, “If so, be sure to have someone call to cancel the appointment.”

GLOSSARY:

outraged – ofendido, injuriado

bellow – gritar, berrar 

Child: Mom, uncle Tom looks so sleepy and tired.

Mom: He may have stayed up all night.