Topic Reading-Vol.3071-9/7/2020

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

Rohingya crisis: Growing up in the world's largest refugee camp

In Cox’s Bazar district in Bangladesh, there are a few large-scale refugee camps for Rohingya people who fled from ethnic and religious persecution in Myanmar. Nearly a million inhabitants live in those camps with little to eat and live on. The camps are so overpopulated that social distancing is hardly possible to prevent coronavirus from spreading. Also, the camps are so vulnerable to cyclone season. Even if they can manage to live today, they see little or no hope for the future. Despite such despairing situations, 20,000 children are born there every year. What are their lives like? What hope do those young lives have?

Watch the video to learn about the children in the most desperate situations.

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-asia-53941980

Topic Reading-Vol.3070-9/6/2020

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

JEE: India holds crucial college exam amid Covid-19 fears

The Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) is an engineering entrance examination conducted for admission to various engineering colleges in India. Since the vast majority of India’s college students major in science/engineering fields, this national exam seems to be the equivalent of China’s National College Entrance Examination (NCEE), commonly known as Gaokao. This life-determining event took place between Sep.1 and 6 despite the protest by exam takers who worried about being infected by coronavirus on the way to or at the exam sites. Of course. Once they are infected, they could carry the infection home and pass the virus to their loved ones who are more vulnerable than them. The appeal was taken to even the supreme court but was declined. How many infections could have made during the 6-day exam period?

To your surprise, another highly competitive national entrance exams for medical schools, the NEET (The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test), is also going to take place on the 13^th.

Will the National Testing Agency have enough time and encouragement to assess how effective the elaborate safety measures they took at JEE?

It indeed sounds like a life-time event.

Read the article and learn what brings India’s scientific ingenuity to the world-leading level.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-53974724

Topic Reading-Vol.3069-9/5/2020

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

China's war against Japanese aggression in numbers

On September 3^rd, China marked the 75^th Victory of War of Resistance against Japan Day. Wait a minute. The Pacific Theater of World War II ended indeed 75 years ago in 1945, but wasn’t it at noon on August 15 when Japan’s emperor radio-broadcasted an announcement of the acceptance of the terms of the Potsdam Declaration? In Japan, yes. They commemorate Memorial Day for the end of War on August 15. On the other hand, most of the allied nations set September 2 as Victory over Japan Day, or V-J Day, when the Instrument of Surrender was signed on the deck of USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. However, China decided to celebrate the victory and set three-day holidays starting on September 3, which became V-J day. Since China was then represented by Kuomintang, which later fled from the mainland and established the Republic of China in Taiwan, the same day is commemorated as V-J day in Taiwan.

Now, how the war against Japanese aggression, which put hold the Civil War, is figured in China?

Read the facts and figures about China’s version of their war against Japan’s aggression

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202009/01/WS5f4d79e9a310675eafc569b3.html

Topic Reading-Vol.3068-9/4/2020

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

This map lets you see where your hometown was on the Earth millions of years ago

Are you interested in how the surface of our planet looked like hundreds of million years ago? Even if you aren’t keen on geology, you might have heard about the movement of tectonic plates and the existence of supercontinents. About 750 million years ago, the earliest-known supercontinent began to break apart. The continents later recombined to form Pannotia roughly 600 to 540 million years ago, then finally created Pangaea, which broke apart 200 million years ago.

An American paleontologist recently created an interactive map that shows what Earth looked like in those eras and where a present location used to be then. You can also search it by the time when the first land animals appeared or when dinosaurs became extinct.  

You don’t have to study geology to enjoy seeing what happened and when on Earth with this interactive map.    https://dinosaurpictures.org/ancient-earth#400

Enjoy reading the article and enjoy this amazing interactive map of our mother earth.

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/08/30/us/map-hometown-earth-continental-drift-scn-trnd/index.html

Topic Reading-Vol.3067-9/3/2020

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

In pictures: Mexico school classes resume on TV

The population of Mexico is just about 130 million, the 10^th populous country in the world. While the nation’s number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 is just around 600,000, the death tolls are over 60,000, the third largest only after the US and Brazil, or just about as many as India whose population is 10 times more than Mexico.

So, they decided not to bring 30 million school children back to classrooms for the new school year. Instead, they are now teaching children through distance learning. Sounds like pretty normal in today’s digitalized education communities, doesn’t it? However, many of the Mexican families neither have access to the internet nor own a PC. So, they are now broadcasting school classes on TV! Though it is not interactive, students can at least take classes from home and do assignments.

Education doesn’t have to be done by digital or online. This old-fashioned way helps millions of school children study even though they cannot go to school. After all, children like watching TV, provided that they don’t have a smartphone.

Enjoy reading the article and learn about this desperate attempt to keep children educated even under the pandemic in Mexico.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-53917882

Topic Reading-Vol.3066-9/2/2020

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

How algorithms keep workers in the dark

The management team is supposed to provide answers to the questions by their employees as to how they made certain decisions or instructions. However, as the use of AI algorithms become more popular among all businesses, from financial investment to delivery routes, there is an increasing number of unanswered questions among front-line workers. For example, pickers at a shipping facility are set their walk pace and food delivery drivers are allocated and evaluated their jobs. Algorithms are even used in the employment process, where no one knows why someone was rated higher or lower than other candidates.

So, while algorithms become more powerful and influential, are they flawless or dependable? Fundamentally, they could be biased depending on the inputs and learning. Also, they could create a power imbalance between algorithm management and workers. Indeed, algorithms are like a black box as no one knows what’s inside and it is nearly impenetrable.

As algorithms become smarter by machine learning, humans may need to learn about machines.

Enjoy reading the article and think about what could make humans outsmart AI algorithms.

https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200826-how-algorithms-keep-workers-in-the-dark

Topic Reading-Vol.3065-9/1/2020

Dear MEL Topic Readers,

The new residency schemes inviting workers abroad

Work-from-home is becoming popular among businesses of all kinds, even those that were reluctant to lose in-person control or contact. While some employees are enjoying more private time having been relieved from the commute and office hours, others are feeling stressed working on the kitchen table. The question is, does it have to be work-from-HOME? Actually, the home could be anywhere as long as a decent internet connection and private working space are available. So, why do you need to stay at home where you live now? How about staying in a dream resort or a foreign country where you usually don’t have the chance to stay for an extended time. Surprisingly, there are invitations from some of the coronavirus-free places that want you to stay and work for a while, such as Bermuda, Barbados, and Estonia. They issue a so-called digital nomad visa to those who want to stay and work for half a year, a full year, or even longer, provided that those applicants have health insurance and stable income.

Enjoy reading the article and think if you want to try working from a remote home, at least for some time.

https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200824-the-new-residency-schemes-inviting-workers-abroad