2016年4月1日 星期五

Artificial intelligence: Go master Lee Se-dol wins against AlphaGo program


A master player of the game Go has won his first match against a Google computer program, after losing three in a row in a best-of-five competition.
Lee Se-dol, one of the world's top players, said his win against AlphaGo was "invaluable".
The Chinese board game is considered to be a much more complex challenge for a computer than chess, and AlphaGo's wins were seen as a landmark moment for artificial intelligence.
A fifth game will be played on Tuesday.

Go is a game of two players who take turns putting black or white stones on a 19-by-19 grid. Players win by taking control of the most territory on the board.
Commentator Michael Redmond said AlphaGo had been playing well up until the middle of the game, but at move 78, Mr Lee played brilliantly.
Speaking after his victory, Mr Lee said: "I've never been congratulated so much because I've won one game."
Google representatives said the defeat was "very valuable" for AlphaGo, as it identified a problem which they could now try to fix.
In the first game of the series, AlphaGo triumphed by a very narrow margin - Mr Lee had led for most of the match, but AlphaGo managed to build up a strong lead in its closing stages.
After losing the second match to Deep Mind, Lee Se-dol said he was "speechless" adding that the AlphaGo machine played a "nearly perfect game".
In the third game commentators said that Lee Se-dol had brought his "top game" but that AlphaGo had won "in great style".
The AlphaGo system was developed by British computer company DeepMind which was bought by Google in 2014.
It has built up its expertise by studying older games and teasing out patterns of play.
DeepMind chief executive Demis Hassabis said AlphaGo "played itself, different versions of itself, millions and millions of times and each time got incrementally slightly better".
"It learns from its mistakes," he told the BBC.
Go is thought to date back to several thousand years ago in China.
Using black-and-white stones on a grid, players gain the upper hand by surrounding their opponents pieces with their own.
The rules are simpler than those of chess, but a player typically has a choice of 200 moves, compared with about 20 in chess - there are more possible positions in Go than atoms in the universe, according to DeepMind's team.
It can be very difficult to determine who is winning, and many of the top human players rely on instinct.

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-35797102

keywords:
1.commentator:解說員
2.margin:差額
3.incrementally:遞增的
4.gain the upper hand:佔上風
5.instinct:直覺

    Structure of the Lead:
    WHO-Lee Se-dol, AlphaGo
    WHEN-Not given
    WHAT-Go master Lee Se-dol wins against AlphaGo program
    WHY-AlphaGo had been playing well up until the middle of the game, but at move 78, Mr Lee played brilliantly.
    WHERE-Not given
    HOW-Not given
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2016年3月25日 星期五

Tainan reels after 6.4 quake

By Wu Chun-feng, Jason Pan and Lee I-chia  /  Staff reporters, with agencies

A magnitude 6.4 earthquake rattled the nation at 3:57am yesterday, killing at least 15 people and injuring hundreds.
Emergency personnel rushed to Tainan, which had the highest number of casualties after several buildings collapsed.
At press time, emergency workers were still trying to search for people who might be trapped inside the 17-story Weiguan Jinlong residential building in the city’s Yongkang District (永康), which was left lying on its side on Yongda Road, with twisted metal girders exposed and clouds of dust rising from the concrete debris.
Officials said there were 256 people registered as living in the complex comprising 96 apartments. However, it was not clear how many people were inside the building at the time of the quake. As of 9:30 pm, rescuers had pulled 167 people from the building, while 155 remained unaccounted for, according to family members.
At least 30 people were rescued earlier from another seven-story residential building.
Officials said that eight other buildings collapsed or were semi-collapsed, several of which were left leaning at alarming angles.
More than 400 people were injured, with over 60 hospitalized, across the city.
As of 8:30pm, the Central Emergency Operations Center said that among the 15 killed, 13 were found at the ruins of the Weiguan Jinlong apartment building, including a 10-day-old infant.
A water tower fell on a 56-year-old woman in Gueiren District (歸仁), and a man died after a cabinet fell on him.
There were also reports of people injured by falling debris. One man in Yunlin County broke his leg trying to escape by jumping out of a second-floor window.
Most people were asleep when the earthquake struck.
“[The building] first started shaking horizontally, then up and down, then a big shake right to left,” said Tainan resident Lin Bao-gui, a secondhand car salesman whose cars were smashed when the residential complex across the street from him collapsed. “I stayed in my bed, but jumped up when I heard the big bang that was the sound of the building falling.”
The quake was centered in Kaohsiung’s Meinong District (美濃), at a depth of 17km, the Central Weather Bureau said. The strongest tremors, which had an intensity of 6 on the 0-7 seismic scale, were felt in Yunlin County, the bureau said. Kaohsiung, Pingtung, Tainan and Chiayi reported intensity 5, while Taitung, Penghu, Changhua, Nantou and Taichung felt level 4.
Strong aftershocks, which were centered in Tainan, were felt hours after the initial quake.
According to the National Fire Agency, the quake left about 400,000 households without water nationwide. Power outages affected about 121,000 residences in Tainan and hundreds in Kaohsiung.
The government set up the Central Emergency Operations Center to coordinate relief efforts, sending helicopters as well as medical and rescue teams to the stricken areas.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) promised an all-out effort to rescue those trapped in collapsed buildings and to help survivors.
Ministry of National Defense officials said military units in southern Taiwan had mobilized 810 personnel, 11 medical teams, 24 teams equipped with breathing detection devices and 38 vehicles to join the search-and-rescue efforts.
Helicopters from the Army Aviation and Special Forces Command, based in Gueiren District, carried out aerial surveys, assisting ground crews in identifying priority disaster-relief zones and assessing damage, the ministry said.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2016/02/07/2003639002/1

keywords:
1.magnitude:大小；震度
2.rattle:使不安
3.hospitalize:住院
4.debris:碎屑
5.tremor:震動
6.seismic:因地震引起的

 7.all-out:竭盡全力的

    Structure of the Lead:
    WHO-Not given
    WHEN-3:57am yesterday
    WHAT-Tainan reels after 6.4 quake
    WHY-A magnitude 6.4 earthquake rattled the nation at 3:57am yesterday, killing at least 15 people and injuring hundreds.
    WHERE-Tainan
    HOW-Not given
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2016年3月11日 星期五

Oxford Dictionaries Word of the Year is the tears of joy emoji

FROM THE TOPICYOU WHAT?
17 Nov 2015
For the first time ever, Oxford Dictionaries have chosen a "pictograph" as its word of the year.
They say the "face with tears of joy emoji" best represents "the ethos, mood, and preoccupations of 2015".
"Emoji culture has become so popular that individual characters have developed their own trends and stories," says Casper Grathwohl, president of Oxford Dictionaries.
The image shows the "playfulness and intimacy" of emoji culture, he says.
Here are some of the other shortlisted words...
"Brexit", which refers to the possibility of the UK leaving the European Union.
Another selection is the pronoun "they", but used singularly (in the manner of "she" or "he") to refer to a person of unspecified sex or gender.
"Lumbersexual" was also in contention. It means a "young urban man who cultivates an appearance and style of dress, typified by a beard and checked shirt," according to Oxford Dictionaries.

As things stand, "they" currently has more than a quarter of votes.The organisation is currently asking website users to vote for which of the shortlisted words they would have chosen.
In second place is "refugee", with one in five votes. The emoji is in third place.
"Ad blocker", "dark web", "on fleek" and "sharing economy" complete the 2015 shortlist.
Last year "vape" was named the word of 2014, while other previous words of the year have included "selfie", "omnishambles" and "simples".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/34840926/oxford-dictionaries-word-of-the-year-is-the-tears-of-joy-emoji
keywords:
1.ethos:精神價值
2.preoccupation:想法；入神
3.intimacy:親密(行為)
4.Brexit:英國退歐
5.lumbersexual:喜歡戶外生活打扮的都市年輕型男
6.contention:爭論

    Structure of the Lead:
    WHO-Oxford Dictionaries
    WHEN-17 Nov 2015
    WHAT-Oxford Dictionaries have chosen a "pictograph" as its word of the year.
    WHY-Emoji culture has become so popular that individual characters have developed their own trends and stories.
    WHERE-not given
    HOW-Not given

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Shenzhen landslide disaster: 11 arrests for negligence

    Eleven people in China have been arrested for their alleged role in the Shenzhen landslide disaster.
    Shenzhen prosecutors, late on Thursday, said a dispatcher and supervisor of the landfill, the chief and deputy manager of a company in charge of it, and seven other people were arrested.
    They said they have been charged with negligently causing a serious accident.
    The landslide happened when a hill of construction waste collapsed, leaving 74 people either missing or dead.
    The formal arrests come three days after the police took what Chinese media called "coercive measures" against 12 people. It is thought the 11 arrested today were among those.
    Officials have described the 20 December disaster as man-made, raising the possibility of severe punishments for those they consider responsible.
    One official, whose job involved regulating construction sites, apparently jumped to his death a week after the landslide. It is not clear if he was being investigated for his role in it.
    Officials have appealed for police and the public to help them find other suspects apparently on the run.
    http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-35208881
    keywords:
    1.alleged:被指控的
    2.prosecutor:檢察官
    3.negligently:疏忽的；失職的
    4.coercive:強迫的

    Structure of the Lead:
    WHO-eleven people in China
    WHEN-Thursday
    WHAT-Eleven people in China have been arrested for their alleged role in the Shenzhen landslide disaster.
    WHY-negligently causing a serious accident
    WHERE-Shenzhen
    HOW-Not given
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2016年2月25日 星期四

Volkswagen admits emissions figures are "implausible"

Local models under a cloud as manufacturer reveals it produced inaccurate data for 420,000 cars around the world.
David McCowen

Follow us: @drivecomau on Twitter | Drive.com.au on Facebook

Volkswagen's emissions scandal has spread from diesel to petrol models as the brand admits CO2 figures for more than 430,000 cars are "implausible".
The manufacturer says "irregularities" may have arisen when it determined CO2 emissions figures for 127 models sold around the world by the Volkswagen Group. The latest issue differs from hidden software used to allow diesel cars to pass nitrogen oxide limits in test labs before exceeding permitted maximums in the real world.  
Emissions data provided by the company is used to calculate registration and taxation costs in many overseas markets.
Volkswagen Australia managing director Michael Bartsch says three cars sold locally are on the manufacturer's list of model year 2016 vehicles with suspect CO2 levels.
Those include the petrol-powered Volkswagen Golf GTI and Golf R hatchbacks as well as diesel-fuelled examples of Skoda's Octavia RS wagon.
Australian fuel and emissions figures differ slightly from German numbers for the Golf GTI that the brand admits are incorrect.
Even so, Bartsch is unable to say whether the CO2 claims of Australian models are inaccurate.
"We have nothing definitive as to whether our cars are affected," he says.
"We simply don't know."
The local VW boss says he does "not even want to guess" how many Australian cars are affected by the CO2 issue, though the cars listed so far are niche enthusiast models with a focus on performance, not best-sellers.
Dr Mark Hibberd, president of the Clean Air Society of Australia and New Zealand, says the development reflects shortcomings in vehicle approval processes that allow car companies to test their own cars in a lab environment before publishing official fuel and emissions figures.
"This reflects the need to get actual real, on-road data," Dr Hibberd says.
"The bigger story is how well self-regulation works, and that you need to have more oversight.
"People can get away with it so they do get away with it."
European and US authorities are set to implement real-world emissions testing for new cars in the wake of Volkswagen's emissions scandal. Australia's Federal Government has launched a review of emissions testing and approval figures without committing to such a scheme.
While Volkswagen's German website clearly states that emissions values for many of its models are incorrect, Volkswagen Australia has left customers in the dark.
Jack Haley, senior policy adviser for the NRMA, says Volkswagen's growing emissions trouble is "a huge issue, and it's effecting us obviously in Australia".
"This issue here is that we're getting very little information from VW Australia on how its affecting local customers," he says.
"VW motorists really deserve better from the company."
Volkswagen's US arm has offered discounts, special trade-in deals and discounts to customers affected by the scandal. Bartsch plans a different approach.
"America is a particular set of conditions and environments," he says.
"I would like to go out as a one-time fix and address it in the market here.
"Clearly this is a far from ideal situation. We're going to work our way through this." 

http://www.drive.com.au/motor-news/volkswagen-admits-emissions-figures-are-implausible-20151117-gl0t6o.html
Structure of the Lead：
 WHO-Volkswagen
 WHEN-November 2015
 WHAT-Volkswagen's emissions scandal has spread from diesel to petrol models as the brand admits CO2 figures for more than 430,000 cars are "implausible".
 WHY-not given
 WHERE-not given
 HOW-not given

Keywords：
1.diesel：柴油
2.irregularity：違法行為
3.taxation：稅收
4.hatchbacks：斜背式的汽車
5.definitive：決定性的
6.implausible：難以置信的


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