2016年1月6日 星期三

Week 6 Syrian Refugees

APRIL 2015
Syrian Refugees in Turkey: The Long Road Ahead
By Ahmet İçduygu

Turkey now hosts the world’s largest community of Syrians displaced by the ongoing conflict in their country. According to United Nations estimates, Turkey’s Syrian refugee population was more than 1.7 million as of mid-March 2015, and the large unregistered refugee population may mean the true figure is even larger. Turkish reception policies at the outset were predicated on the assumption that the conflict would come to a swift conclusion, allowing the displaced Syrians to return home, but as conditions continue to deteriorate in Syria and the conflict stretches into its fifth year, it has become clear that a shift in policy to encompass longer-term solutions is needed.
The Syrian refugee crisis arose as the Turkish government was in the midst of overhauling its immigration system to meet international—and, particularly, European Union—standards. The implementation of these reforms has limited Turkish authorities' capacity to manage the Syrian inflows, and as a result, management of the crisis was left largely in the hands of national organizations working on the ground, in camps, without larger policy guidance. Meanwhile, formal immigration channels, including recognition of refugee status, remain restricted to Europeans, while non-Europeans receive temporary protection status and are expected at some point to resettle in a third country.
This report provides an overview of Turkey’s migration landscape and the position of Syrian refugees in Turkey today. It also offers an assessment of current policy approaches toward displaced Syrians in Turkey, looking at changes in Turkey’s asylum and protection regime before discussing ongoing challenges and future policy directions in this area. Finally, it discusses policy recommendations—both for Turkey and for other states—given the likelihood of long-term or permanent displacement for Syrians.

Structure of the Lead:
        WHO-not given
        WHEN-April 2015
        WHAT-Turkey provided a Syrians displaced
        WHY-not given
        WHERE-Turkey
        HOW- Turkey now hosts the world’s largest community of Syrians displaced by the ongoing conflict in their country.

Keywords:
1.      ongoing 不斷的
2.      assumption 假設
3.      swift 迅速的
4.      deteriorate 惡化
5.      encompass 環繞
6.      overhauling 檢修
7.      implementation 履行
8.      inflows 流入
9.      assessment 評定
10.  asylum 避難所


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2016年1月5日 星期二

Week 5 Water on Mars

Daily news
28 September 2015
Salty water seen flowing on Mars, not far from Curiosity rover
The dark streaks in this picture may be signs of salty water
JPL/NASA
NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has captured the strongest evidence yet that salty liquid water flows on the planet’s surface during warm seasons.
Whether or not these salty flows could sustain life depends on how salty they are, says Lujendra Ojha of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, who has reported the findings, along with his colleagues. “If the water is completely saturated with perchlorates [hydrated salts], then life as we know it on Earth wouldn’t be able to survive in that sort of concentrated water,” he says. “But if the water only has a tiny percentage of perchlorates in it, then I think we should be fine.
Recurring slope lineae – dark streaks that appear, get longer, and fade in each Martian year – have long been thought to represent signs of flowing water. Now that idea has been backed up by data from the Orbiter’s onboard spectrometer, named CRISM, which analyses reflected sunlight to detect patterns that indicate what minerals are present on the surface.
Salts can absorb water from the atmosphere and lower the freezing point of water, making it possible for liquid water to exist even in the cold Martian climate. Spectral data from four locations with recurrent slope lineae reveal the presence of hydrated salts, which are most likely to be magnesium perchlorate, magnesium chlorate and sodium perchlorate.
Although not examined in the current study, features resembling recurrent slope lineae were observed this year in Gale crater, raising the possibility that the Curiosity rover could look for more clues up close.

Help is near

The most promising location is about 50 kilometres from the Curiosity landing site. Curiosity has already found evidence of perchlorates at Gale crater, as well as organic compounds.
Confirmation of flowing water on the surface would add substantial weight to calls for NASA to commit more strongly to searching for life on Mars. In the Atacama desert, one of the most hostile environments on Earth, communities of microbes are able to survive on moisture in the ground created by salts absorbing water from the atmosphere. Some think, similar microbes could live on Mars.
More signs of water?
JPL/NASA
A number of astrobiologists criticised NASA when plans for its next rover, Mars 2020, left out DNA sequencers and other devices designed to look for living organisms.
But many scientists would not be convinced by evidence from a rover. Definitive proof of life on Mars would require samples to be brought back to Earth. Mars 2020 will store samples to be brought home in a later mission.
“The only thing we can really assert is that the places we’re finding are probably more habitable than the rest of the planet, which is bone dry,” says Ojha.
Journal reference: Nature Geoscience, DOI: 10.1038/ngeo2546


Structure of the Lead:
        WHO-NASA
        WHEN-28 September 2015
        WHAT-water on Mars
        WHY-not given
        WHERE-Mars
        HOW-Curiosity rover

Keywords:
1.  saturated 飽和的
2.  perchlorates 高氯酸鹽
3.  spectral 光譜
4.  magnesium perchlorate 高氯酸鎂
5.  sodium perchlorate 高氯酸鈉
6.  Gale crater 蓋爾隕石坑
7.  Confirmation 確認
8.  hostile 敵對的
9.  microbes 微生物
10.      organisms 生物




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