Features

LOS ANGELES — Pixar is seeking to rediscover its box office fortunes with timely immigrant fable “Elemental”, the animation studio’s first totally original new film to hit theatres since the start of the pandemic.

The movie is set in the fantastical Element City — where residents made out of fire, water, earth and air must learn to live in close proximity, despite their highly combustible differences.

It follows a dangerous romance between Ember, the fiery daughter of a hard-working immigrant and Wade, the go-with-the-flow son of a wealthy water family.

Their relationship tests the divided city’s mantra that “elements don’t mix”, a not-so-subtle metaphor for racism and prejudice in real-life society.

“Oh, my goodness, it’s so forbidden! The fact that their very lives are at stake if Wade and Ember get close together — it’s like Romeo and Juliet,” said Leah Lewis, who plays Ember.

“This film talks a lot about family loyalty, cultural identity, falling in love for the first time,” she told AFP at the film’s US premiere in Los Angeles this week.

Like many involved with the film, Lewis has her own immigrant story. She was adopted as a baby from a Shanghai orphanage by Floridian parents.

Mamoudou Athie, who voices Wade, was born in Mauritania and obtained US citizenship just over a year ago, while Ronnie del Carmen — who voices Ember’s dad Bernie — emigrated from the Philippines.

Several stars noted the importance of the film’s themes, at a moment when immigration dominates political debate.

Just this week, Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, flew planeloads of immigrants across the country to California, in a bid to tout his tough stance on the issue ahead of next year’s presidential election.

“It is very timely in our world today... If everybody can watch this movie, please, we need it,” del Carmen told AFP.

The message is “a very prescient one for the times we’re in,” said co-star Wendi McLendon-Covey.

Pixar pressure

The film also comes at a critical time for Pixar, a subsidiary of entertainment behemoth Disney since 2006.

By its own high standards, the all-conquering studio behind classics like “Toy Story”, “Finding Nemo” and “Up” has had a rough few years.

Its last original, non-franchise movie to hit big screens, 2020’s “Onward”, launched and swiftly vanished as Covid shuttered theatres. Its next few titles were sent straight to the Disney+ streaming platform.

Pixar returned to cinemas last summer with “Lightyear,” but the “Toy Story” spin-off flopped, and its director was among 75 Pixar employees laid off last week amid wider Disney job cuts.

Meanwhile, rival animation studios are flourishing in the post-pandemic era. 

Sony’s “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” is currently atop the box office charts, while Universal’s Super Mario video game adaptation is this year’s biggest film to date, grossing $1.3 billion.

Even last year’s best animation Oscar, traditionally dominated by Pixar, went to Netflix and Guillermo del Toro’s dark version of Pinocchio.

So it is no surprise that the Disney-owned studio is throwing everything at “Elemental”.

“I think it’s important... if you have any reason at all, to step out of your house, to go to a theatre, and be entertained, it would be this Pixar movie,” said del Carmen, who previously co-directed “Inside Out”.

‘Sacrifices’

The film even received a glitzy world premiere in Cannes, where it closed last month’s festival.

Based on early reviews from the festival, the movie scored just 68 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes — the joint-lowest for any Pixar movie except “Cars 2”.

But Pixar executives will be hoping audiences warm to the film, which has drawn praise for its innovative rendering of water and fire characters.

And for its director Peter Sohn, “Elemental” is also a deeper, personal story about the sacrifices made by immigrants.

The son of a Korean couple who moved to New York before he was born, Sohn previously directed Pixar’s 2015 animation “The Good Dinosaur”.

When he returned to his native Bronx for a talk on that film, he welled up seeing his proud parents in the audience, and the seed for his next movie was planted.

“This whole film started off with this moment where, as an adult, I got to thank my parents for the sacrifices that they made,” he told AFP.

“They’re immigrants from another country and they came here with nothing. As an adult, I have grown to appreciate them, until anytime I think about it, I’m crying.”

“This whole movie has been about that appreciation.”

First launched in late 2015 as the latest and most technologically advanced iteration of Audi’s compact executive saloon line, the fifth generation A4 was also the most premium-oriented. Classy and confident yet understated in design, the A4 introduced a number of advanced driver assistance and infotainment systems, as well as a powerful downsized entry-level engine and improved driving dynamics. Revised in 2019, the A4 gained a sharper redesign, improved tech and fuel-efficient mild hybrid drivelines, including a bigger, more relaxed entry-level 35 TFSI model.

Subtly sporty

A front and optionally four wheel drive competitor to compact executives like the BMW 3-Series, Mercedes-Benz C-Class and Jaguar XE, the fifth generation A4 brought a clean, crisp yet somewhat conservatively sporty design with a large assertive hexagonal grille, big lower intakes, slim browed headlights, defined sills, elegantly level waistline and bigger footprint for a more grounded aesthetic. Incorporating increased lightweight aluminium content including aluminium suspension components for reduced unsprung weight, it was lighter than its predecessor and the most aerodynamic car in its class.

Generating low 0.25 aerodynamic drag coefficient, the A4 is subtly revised and re-styled to blend in among Audi’s evolving and more assertive design ethos for its mid-life face-lift. At the front, it gains a wider and hungrier grille, more aggressive lighting elements, and more angled front intakes. From side view, it features more rising and defined sills, while its level crease-line is divided into two marginally overlapping lines. At the rear, it similarly adopts updated bumper and light designs, and wide integrated twin exhaust ports.

Unstressed ability

Powered by a larger, lazier and less aggressively boosted turbocharged 2-litre mild hybrid four-cylinder engine as the entry-level petrol A4, the 35 TFSI is nevertheless very similar in output and performance to the pre-facelift 1.4-litre model. Producing 148BHP at 3,900-6,000rpm and 199lb/ft throughout 1,350-3,900rpm, the A4 35 TFSI’s smooth and under-stressed engine makes the same power, but over an earlier and broader plateau, while torque is increased somewhat by 15lb/ft over a similarly wide band, but accessed at lower engine speed for enhanced response and versatility.

Driving the front wheels through a smooth and swift shifting 7-speed automated dual-clutch S-Tronic gearbox, the A4 35 TFSI’s quick-spooling engine is responsively eager from standstill. With its driveline configuration providing excellent traction and stability under hard acceleration, the A4 is smooth and composed as it accelerates through 0-100km/h in 8.9-seconds. Capable of 225km/h, the A4 is in its element on highways, where its muscular mid-range band allows for flexibly confident overtaking manoeuvres. The 35 TFSI meanwhile returns low 6l/100km combined cycle fuel efficiency.

Composed comfort

Riding on lightweight aluminium five-link suspension with upper links integrated directly into its body in front and rear, the A4 is designed to provide supple absorption of longitudinal forces, but conversely also deliver lateral stiffness. Developed to make the A4 handle with tidy eagerness into corners the A4 drives with commitment, fluency and poise. A sportier and more tuneable set-up than its predecessor, the current A4’s agility and stability through corners is further enhanced by a brake-based torque vectoring system that selectively brakes the inside wheel.

With its suspension design mitigating its longitudinal engine ahead of the front axle and front-wheel-drive configuration and weighting, the A4 is surprisingly nimble. More crisply tucking into corners, the current A4 has a lighter and seemingly less nose-heavy feel than its predecessor. Composed, taut and agile through corners, the A4 is also superbly stable at speed and settled over dips and crests, while its electric-assisted steering is responsive, direct and sporty, if not especially textured and nuanced in feel and feedback.

Upmarket ambiance

Smooth riding and highly refined inside, the A4’s wide range of wheel options include comfort-oriented standard 16-inches to more assertively-styled and grippy 19-inches, the latter of which are best complemented by optional adaptive dampers. The A4’s quiet cabin meanwhile has a stylishly uncluttered and airy ambiance in all guises, with a horizontally-oriented design, good visibility and excellent driving position adjustability. Front seats are supportive and centred with steering wheel and pedal positions, while rear space is better than most competitors, if not outright generous.

Little altered inside, the revised A4’s upmarket cabin receives a bigger infotainment screen, improved operating system, new natural voice activation, subscription-based infotainment features, and optional configurable and digital instrument panel. Connectivity and predictive features that interact with city infrastructure — where supported — are further enhanced. Adopting a yet milder version of the 48V mild hybrid system used in the A8 luxury saloon, the A4’s 12V system is, however, mainly concerned with improving stop/start system and alternator functionality, to help reduce fuel consumption by up to 0.3l/100km.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

• Engine: 2-litre, in-line turbocharged 4-cylinders
• Bore x stroke: 82.5 x 92.8mm
• Valve-train: 16-valve, DOHC, direct injection
• Gearbox: 7-speed automated dual clutch, front-wheel-drive
• Top gear / final drive ratios: 0.43:1 / 4.23:1
• Power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 148 (150) [110] @3,900-6,000rpm
• Specific power: 74.5BHP/litre
• Power-to-weight (kerb): 97.7BHP/tonne
• Torque, lb/ft (Nm): 199 (270) @1,350-3,900rpm
• Specific torque: 136Nm/litre
• Torque-to-weight (kerb): 178.2Nm/tonne
• 0-100km/h: 8.9-seconds
• Top speed: 225km/h
• Fuel consumption, combined: 6-litres/100km
• CO2 emissions, combined: 125-136g/km
• Fuel capacity: 54-litres
• Length: 4,762mm
• Width: 1,847mm
• Height: 1,428mm
• Wheelbase: 2,820mm
• Track, F/R: 1,572/1,555mm
• Overhang, F/R: 899/1,043mm
• Aerodynamic drag co-efficient: 0.25
• Luggage volume, min/max: 460-litres
• Unladen / kerb weight: 1,440kg / 1,515kg
• Steering: Electric-assisted rack & pinion
• Turning circle: 11.6-metres
• Suspension: Five-link
• Brakes: Ventilated discs
• Tyres: 245/40R18 (optional)

By Hind Yousef
Clinical and Health Psychologist

Personality disorders can cause a variety of complex and challenging mental health conditions. These disorders can impact all aspects of an individual’s life, including their behaviour, feelings, and interaction between themselves and others.

Tobacco use is often one manifestation of these disorders and can have serious implications on the health and well being of an individual. Personality disorders and smoking are two separate entities that are strongly connected. According to research, individuals with a personality disorder are more likely to indulge in substance abuse, including smoking.

Borderline Personality Disorder

There are different types of personality disorders, all of which can lead to the use of tobacco. Borderline personality disorder (BPD), for instance, is characterised by intense and unstable relationships, mood instability, and a fear of abandonment. Individuals with BPD may use tobacco as a means of coping with their constant emotional instability. They may also use cigarettes to cope with their self-harm behaviours or addictions. Individuals with personality disorders are more likely to smoke than those without a personality disorder.

Narcissistic Personality Disorder

Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) is characterised by feelings of grandiosity, a lack of empathy, and an overwhelming sense of superiority. This disorder can lead individuals to engage in risky behaviour, including excessive smoking. Individuals with NPD may view their smoking habit as a way to demonstrate their superiority over others and establish their sense of individuality.

Dependent Personality

When a person has a pervasive fear of being alone or losing the support of others, then this person has a Dependent Personality Disorder. This person may use tobacco to cope with feelings of anxiety or to manage stress. The smoking habit can provide a temporary sense of comfort, calm and security.

Schizoid Personality Disorder

When a person exhibits a lack of interest in and appreciation of social relationships, then this person suffers from Schizoid Personality Disorder. An individual with this disorder may use tobacco to regulate emotional responses, escape from social stimuli, or as a means to create a sense of comfort or familiarity with one’s surroundings.

Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder

Persons with Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCBD) are less likely to smoke compared to the general population, but they are prone to other addictions.

The Link

So basically, all of these disorders indicate that there is a strong link between specific types of personality disorders and substance abuse, including smoking. Smoking has negative health effects on individuals with a personality disorder. Those with personality disorders are already vulnerable to the negative effects of smoking, such as cancer, heart disease and organ damage.

Smoking has shown to worsen symptoms of some personality disorders, such as depression and anxiety. The long-term effects of smoking, such as addiction and health issues, can further enhance the risk of developing a personality disorder or exacerbating existing symptoms.

Treatment

The treatment of personality disorders in individuals who smoke can be complicated. Quitting smoking and treating personality disorders simultaneously can often be difficult for patients. Many patients find it easier to put an end to their personality disorder treatments to continue smoking because smoking provides them with immediate gratification.

When treating patients with personality disorders and smoking, I take into account the long-term risks of smoking cessation and make them known to my patients. A balanced treatment approach that aims to address both health problems is ideal and can prevent the long-term effects of smoking on patients.

Individuals with personality disorders who smoke might not see quitting smoking as a priority. Many experience anxiety, depression and other negative emotions, which smoking relieves them of. 

A dual approach

To help smokers quit and prevent a relapse of the addiction, I often employ cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) that targets smoking addiction, particularly in tandem with other treatments for the personality disorder. I may have to adjust the course of treatment when patients are unwilling or unable to stop smoking, to prevent adverse effects.

A tailored approach integrating CBT for smoking addiction and other treatments for personality disorders can promote improved outcomes for patients. It is crucial to identify smoking disorders in personality disorder patients to help them quit and addiction treatment to prevent additional health risks.

For those in need, the Ministry of Health in Jordan has three smoking cessation clinics at Primary Healthcare centres (one clinic in each region: middle, north and south). They offer counselling and pharmacotherapy free of charge to smokers who desire to quit. These are the only available public health care centres for treatment. At King Hussein Cancer Centre, there is another smoking cessation clinic that provides counselling and pharmacotherapy mainly to cancer patients, as well as smokers from the general population, or, a person may visit private psychiatric clinics for mental health and addiction.

In the end, early intervention and appropriate treatment are necessary to help individuals manage their personality disorders and break free from tobacco addiction. Smoking has negative health implications for individuals with personality disorders and quitting smoking can pose a challenge along with personality disorder treatments.

Tobacco use can manifest itself as a symptom of various personality disorders. Individuals with these disorders may use tobacco as a coping mechanism, to manage stress, or to fill a void in their lives. As a result, addressing the root cause of each individual’s smoking habit is crucial in treating these disorders effectively.

Reprinted with permission from Family Flavours magazine

MIYAJIMA, Japan — At a hillside temple, a monk in saffron robes blows a refrain on a conch and begins chanting prayers as thousands of origami cranes donated to Hiroshima burn.

For a decade, the Daisho-in Buddhist temple on Miyajima island, facing Hiroshima, has held ritual burnings of the millions of origami cranes sent to the city each year.

The ceremony is intended to honour the sentiments folded into each of the miniature paper birds.

And since 2015, the ash from the burned cranes has been used to glaze ceramic incense burners and candleholders.

Cranes have arrived in Hiroshima for decades, inspired by Sadako Sasaki, who was just two when the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the city on August 6, 1945.

She developed leukaemia and in hospital began folding cranes in keeping with a tradition that holds folding 1,000 can make a wish come true.

She died aged 12, one of about 140,000 people killed by the bomb immediately or in the aftermath, and has become a powerful symbol of the bomb’s effects and a popular way to educate children about the attack.

For years, the cranes sent to Hiroshima were simply left at memorials, with municipal cleaners occasionally disposing of them.

It wasn’t until 2012, as the city searched for a better way to handle the cranes, that Kinya Saito of the Nagomi Project, a peace group, proposed ritually burning them.

“I thought about the idea of emotions being released with smoke and sent up to the victims of the atomic bomb,” the Hiroshima native told AFP.

‘Message of peace 

from Hiroshima’

Yoyu Mimatsu, a monk at Daisho-in, has led the burning ceremony for the past decade.

After blowing the conch, he sits at a table in front of the fire pit and strikes a prayer bowl before beginning chants for the souls of bomb victims.

He also prays “for the emotions and prayers of people from all over the world, the prayers for peace folded into each of the paper cranes, to reach the heavens”, the 57-year-old told AFP.

While Daisho-in was willing to burn the cranes, they weren’t sure what to do with the leftover ash.

They found a solution in Taigendo, a pottery studio that for more than 100 years has produced ceramics using sacred sand from under a Miyajima shrine.

The third-generation potter running the studio — Kosai Yamane — was already using ash from an eternal flame burning on Miyajima to glaze his ceramics and was open to using the crane ash in a similar way.

It was an artistic project, but also deeply personal for Yamane, whose mother was 14 at the time of the bomb attack.

“She had burn scars on her elbows, and as a child, I never saw her wear anything except long sleeves,” Yamane told AFP.

“She never talked about it. I felt she was trying everything to avoid being noticed, to avoid talking about it.”

Yamane knew immediately the crane ash could not be used to glaze everyday items like cups or bowls.

“I wanted to make something that would convey a message of peace from Hiroshima,” he said.

‘Listen to what 

people say’

He settled first on a delicate crane-shaped incense burner, and later began producing candleholders.

They have a dome-like top modelled on the shape of the Children’s Peace Memorial and are etched with cranes.

The candle sits under the dome on a plate glazed with the ash, the glaze helping reflect the light to produce a warm orange glow.

“I felt that people’s message of peace was in the right place,” the 60-year-old said.

“This message gathers in Hiroshima, but it does not come only from Japan, it comes from all over the world, and is brought together when the cranes are burned.” 

“Hiroshima is now a synonym for peace,” said Saito.

But it is also “a place that directly illustrates how terrifying and horrifying nuclear weapons are.”

“I want the leaders to understand what happened, to listen to what people say.”

WASHINGTON — When the Beatles broke up more than 50 years ago, devastated fans were left yearning for more. Now, artificial intelligence is offering just that.

From “re-uniting” the Fab Four on songs from their solo careers, to re-imagining surviving superstar Paul McCartney’s later works with his voice restored to its youthful peak, the new creations show off how far this technology has come — and raise a host of ethical and legal questions.

“I’m sobbing! This is so beautiful!!!” wrote a listener in a typical YouTube comment for a fan-created AI cover of McCartney’s 2013 single, “New”, which features de-aged vocals and a bridge part “sung” by his great songwriting partner and friend, the late John Lennon.

Equally impressive is a version of “Grow Old With Me”, one of the last songs penned by Lennon, which was posthumously released after his 1980 murder and recently remade by an AI creator who goes by “Dae Lims”. 

With enhanced audio quality, an orchestral arrangement and harmonised backing vocals that evoke the Liverpudlian rockers’ heyday, the song’s most stirring moment comes when McCartney croons over a soaring melody with poignant lyrics about ageing.

“When I hear this, I lose it. I start crying,” said music YouTuber Steve Onotera, who goes by “SamuraiGuitarist” and has a million followers, in a recent video discussing the new works’ unforeseen sentimental resonance. 

After the most influential band in history parted ways acrimoniously, fans were deprived of a final “happy ending,” he said. “So when we do get that reunion artificially yet convincingly created by AI, well, it’s surprisingly emotional.”

AI here, there 

and everywhere

Like an earlier track called “Heart on a Sleeve” which featured AI-generated vocals of Drake and The Weeknd and racked up millions of hits on TikTok and other platforms, these covers use scraping technology that analyses and captures the nuances of a particular voice.

The creators would have probably then sung the parts themselves and then applied the cloned voice, in a manner similar to placing a filter on a photograph.

While the results can be astonishing, getting there isn’t simple and requires skilled human operators combining new AI tools with extensive knowledge of traditional music processing software, Zohaib Ahmed, the CEO of Resemble AI, a Toronto-based voice cloning company, told AFP.

“I think we’re still seeing a very small percentage of the population that can even access these tools,” he said. They need to “jump through hoops, read documentation, have the right computer, and then put it all together”.

Ahmed’s company is one of several offering a platform that can make the technology more accessible to clients in the entertainment sector — and counts a recent Netflix documentary series “narrated” by late art icon Andy Warhol using its technology as an early success.

For Patricia Alessandrini, a composer and assistant professor at Stanford’s Centre for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics, the recent spate of AI tracks represent a coming-of-age for a technology that has been advancing exponentially — yet largely out of public view over the past decade.

“This is a great example of what AI does very well, which is anything that’s resemblance: to train it on something existing,” she told AFP. 

But, she added, it flounders when it comes to new ideas. “There’s really no expectation that it’s going to replace the rich history of humans originating art and culture.”

Litigation coming

For the music industry, the ramifications are enormous. As the technology progresses, software that will easily allow people to transform their vocals into one of their favourite singers is likely not far away.

“If they’re getting paid for their vocal license, hey, everyone’s happy,” said Onotera. “But what if they’re long since passed away? Is it up to their estate?”

AI is already proving a helter-skelter impact on the copyright world.

In the case of “Heart on a Sleeve,” Universal Music Group was quick to assert copyright claims and have the track pulled down from streaming services, but that hasn’t stopped it popping back up on small accounts.

Marc Ostrow, a New York-based music copyright lawyer, told AFP AI-generated music is a “grey area”.

Copyright can be asserted both by songwriters whose material is used, as well as the holders of the master recordings. 

On the other hand AI creators can argue it falls under “fair use” citing a 2015 court ruling that said Google was permitted to archive the world’s books, because it wasn’t competing with sellers and was displaying only snippets.

Last month, however, the US Supreme Court tipped the balance back the other way in ruling a Warhol print of the late pop star Prince violated the copyright of the photographer who took the original image.

Add to the mix that celebrities can protect their likeness under the “right to publicity”, established when Bette Midler successfully sued Ford Motor Company in the late 1980s for using a singer that sounded like her in an ad.

Ultimately, “I think there may be voluntary industry standards... or it’s going to be done by litigation,” said Ostrow.

Rights holders will also need to think about the negative PR that could come with suing over works that are clearly fan-created tributes and not intended to be monetised.

ROSES, Spain — Spain’s elBulli, repeatedly voted the world’s best restaurant before it closed over a decade ago, is set to reopen as a museum dedicated to the culinary revolution it sparked.

Nestled in an isolated cove on Spain’s northeastern tip, the museum is dubbed “elBulli1846” — a reference to the 1,846 dishes ground-breaking chef Ferran Adria says were developed at the eatery.

“It’s not about coming here to eat, but to understand what happened in elBulli,” the 61-year-old told AFP near the kitchen of the restaurant he ran for over two decades.

The museum will open on June 15, nearly 12 years after the restaurant served its final dish to the public.

Visitors will be able to see hundreds of photos, notebooks, trophies and models made of plastic or wax that emulate some of the innovative dishes which were served at the eatery.

Adria pioneered the culinary trend known as molecular gastronomy, which deconstructs ingredients and recombines them in unexpected ways.

The results are foods with surprising combinations and textures, such as fruit foams, gazpacho popsicles and caramelised quails.

Under Adria’s watch elBulli achieved the coveted Michelin three-star status and was rated the world’s best restaurant a record five times by British magazine The Restaurant.

“What we did here was find the limits of what can be done in a gastronomic experience,” Adria said. 

“What are the physical, mental and even spiritual limits that humans have. And that search paved paths for others.”

‘Passion for cuisine’

Some of the world’s most famous chefs were trained by Adria at elBulli, including Denmark’s Rene Redzepi of Noma and Italy’s Massimo Bottura of Osteria Francescana.

A foundation set up to maintain elBulli’s legacy invested 11 million euros ($11.8 million) in the museum.

Plans to expand the building on the idyllic Cala Montjoi cove near the towns of Roses had to be adjusted after they ran into opposition form environmentalists.

Adria headed to the white-walled restaurant overlooking the Mediterranean in 1983 for a one month internship on the recommendation of a friend.

He was invited to join the restaurant’s staff as a line cook the following year, and became its solo head chef in 1987.

Adria bought the restaurant in 1990 with his business partner Juli Soler, who passed away in 2015.

“The most important thing that happened to me at elBulli is that I discovered for the first time passion for cuisine,” he said.

“At the table, when the staff ate together, we did not talk about football, or our weekends, we talked about cuisine.”

‘Right to close’

The restaurant opened usually just six months of the year to give Adria and his staff time to conceive new dishes.

The meal consisted of a set menu comprising dozens of small dishes which cost around 325 euros, including a drink, when the restaurant closed in 2011.

A team of 70 people prepared the meals for the 50 guests who managed to get a reservation.

Adria said he accepted that his culinary innovations did not please everyone.

“In the end they are new things and it’s a shock after the other, it is normal that it makes you reflect on what you like,” he said.

In the final years of the restaurant, demand for reservations was so high that Adria allocated seats mostly through a lottery.

When Adria decided to close the restaurant, he justified the move saying it “had become a monster”.

“I was very certain that we were right to close. We had reached what we felt was a satisfactory experience at the maximum level,” Adria told AFP.

“And once we reached it we said ‘why do we have to continue?’. The mission of elBulli was not this, it was finding the limits,” he added.

LOS ANGELES — In an industrial wasteland in Los Angeles, Kreigh Hampel is uprooting California buckwheat with a pitchfork to find out how much lead it has absorbed.

The plant’s delicate white and pink flowers belie an astonishing cleaning power, which scientists think could be harnessed to get rid of dangerous pollutants — and even recycle them.

“That’s the miracle of life,” enthuses 68-year-old Hampel, who is volunteering on the project.

“Plants really can do this work and they know how to do it, they’ve done it so many times over millions of years,” he says.

The experiment is part of a project run by University of California Riverside which has scattered carefully selected plants and fungi on this former industrial site in the hope of getting rid of the heavy metals and petrochemicals that have contaminated the area for decades. 

Danielle Stevenson, who is leading the study, says such bioremediation techniques can be much more cost-effective than traditional techniques.

“The conventional method of cleaning up sites is just to dig up all the contaminated soil and to dump it somewhere else,” she told AFP.

“That approach doesn’t actually solve the problem, right? It just moves it somewhere else.” And, she says, it costs a lot of money.

Stevenson’s project, which is being carried out on three sites in and around Los Angeles, has a price tag of around $200,000 and so far is showing very promising results.

Solar-powered 

vacuum cleaners

“In three months, we had a 50 per cent reduction of the petrochemicals and then in six months, we were getting pretty close [to that level] with some of the metals,” she said.

Stevenson, a mycologist by training, has chosen her anti-pollution weapons with care.

Oyster mushrooms have been incorporated into the soil because of their natural role in decomposition: Their underground part, called the mycelium, is sucking up diesel.

“Those same fungi that in nature would eat a dead tree will also recognise diesel oil, for example, as a food source. 

“The reason is, it’s basically the same thing. A lot of our fossil fuels are just dead stuff that got compressed over long periods of time.”

Several California native plants, including the telegraph weed and the California bush sunflower, are particularly good at absorbing heavy metals.

Stevenson thinks of the plants essentially as “solar powered vacuum cleaners: They basically suck up the metals, like lead, into their bodies”.

“When we pull out the plants, we’ve removed the lead from the soil.”

The lead and other metals can then be recovered from those plants — and even reused.

Throughout the United States and the industrialised world, commercial sites that outlive their useful life to the companies that pollute them are often just abandoned, says Stevenson.

The responsibility to put them right falls on poorly funded or ill-equipped local authorities, who struggle to find the money or the expertise.

Historically the problem is worse in working class or ethnic minority neighbourhoods, where politicians feel more able to ignore complaints.

In the United States, where the Environmental Protection Agency lists nearly 1,900 problem sites, only a small number of clean-up projects are carried out each year, Stevenson says.

She hopes that a cheaper method will see more sites being cleaned up.

Advocates say bioremediation’s uses are not limited to fixing former industrial sites. The process can also be used to help clean up the toxic ash left by some wildfires — an annual problem in fire-prone California.

So why is this technique still so underdeveloped? 

“Bioremediation is still considered risky,” explains Bill Mohn, professor of microbiology at the University of British Columbia in Canada. 

Unlike soil excavation, “it’s hard to guarantee that you will systematically reach the level of pollutants that are required”. 

“Whereas, we know that if you dig up the soil and send it to somebody who will take it if you pay them, then you’ve solved your problem.”

Stevenson, meanwhile, points to unhealthy prejudices about mushrooms — think of the terrifying fungi that infect the zombies of the HBO smash series “The Last of Us”.

“I get asked all the time: ‘If you introduce a fungus to clean up a site, is it going to take over, eat our house and take over the world?’” she says.

It won’t, she is quick to add.

But that is why it is important to be conducting this kind of experiment in a real-world setting, not just in a laboratory.

“I think once we get more field tests of these methods, people will feel more confident choosing some of these approaches,” she says.

Making it global debut in 2021 and introduced to regional markets in recent weeks as part of a multimodel hybrid electric vehicle launch, the Kia K8 HEV is the Korean manufacturer’s electrified answer to large, luxurious and sportily flavoured front-drive saloons like the Nissan Maxima.

Only second to the full-size luxury K9 among Kia’s saloon model range, the K8 brings a decidedly more dramatic design, more up-market experience and a host of new or improved technologies and features over its Kia Cadenza predecessor.

Aggressive aesthetic

Longer, lower and with a pronounced and predatory style, the Karim Habib-designed K8 builds on and reinterprets the modern Kia aesthetic and signature “tiger nose” grille, as first fashioned by Peter Schreyer in the late 2000s, and includes the outgoing Cadenza. With a more aggressive aesthetic, the K8 has a somewhat marine-inspired flavour. Shark-like with its slim scowling headlights, high waistline, sculpted surfacing, low-slung flowing roofline and fin-like bonnet ridges, the K8’s vast, hungry and upright grille, however, takes centre stage with a stylised diamond-like pattern.

Extending beyond the grille’s functional airflow aperture, the diamond pattern is meanwhile echoed for the K8’s angled lower running lights and side indicators. With grille, lower intake and low roof emphasising the horizontal dimension, the K8’s slim full-width rear lights meanwhile sit below a curt fastback-like boot with built-in spoiler, and draw attention to width, and — with a boomerang-like side profile — create a sense of momentum. The K8 HEV’s design meanwhile does not detract from that of regular petrol-powered versions with any unnecessary colours or elements, and is only identifiable by discrete badges.

Complementary combination

Powered by a combination of turbocharged 1.6-litre direct injection four-cylinder combustion engine developing 177BHP at 5,500rpm and 195lb/ft torque throughout 1,500-4,500rpm, the K8 HEV’s output is complemented with an electric synchronous motor producing 59BHP at 1,600-2,000rpm and 194lb/ft torque as early as 0-1,600rpm. Totaling at 227BHP at 5,500rpm and as a 258lb/ft at 1,500-4,400rpm as a combined system output, the K8 HEV is a confidently muscular performer, loosely estimated to be capable of 0-100km/h in around 8-seconds, while also returning frugal 5.9l/100km combined cycle fuel consumption. 

Driven briskly on mostly flat roads with brief but intense short bursts of acceleration, the K8 was in its element is being able direct its combined output to the task at hand, with its regenerative brakes having sufficient opportunity to recoup charge for its batteries. Impressively immediate with its punchy low and mid-range torque that underlays its power accumulation, such conditions play to the K8 HEV’s strengths and do not deplete its electric motor’s batteries, as often occurs when hybrids are driven at high power and heavy load on sustained and steep inclines.

Consummate cruiser

Thrusting forward with a sense of indefatigability at speed, the K8 HEV’s is smooth and refined as it builds momentum with disdainful ease and overtakes with effortless versatility. More impressive for a turbocharged hybrid, the K8 HEV’s engine and driveline were more responsive to throttle lift-off in winding down. Driving the front wheels with a brief chirp of the tires under full throttle from standstill and low speed, the K8 HEV’s 6-speed automatic gearbox meanwhile proved smooth and reasonably quick through ratios when using its steering wheel-mounted manual mode paddle shifters.

A consummate highway cruiser that confidently and comfortably crunches the kilometres away, the K8 HEV is smooth, stable and refined at speed. Dispatching highway imperfections with a forgiving ride quality, the K8 HEV meanwhile similarly absorbed lower speed bumps and potholes encountered during test drive on Riyadh roads in its stride, even with its large wheels and low profile 245/40R19 tyres. A seemingly better settled car in vertical movement than its smaller K5 sister, the K8 has an almost wafting quality to its ride characteristics.

Smooth and spacious

A better handling car than expected of large front-drive saloons, the K8 HEV turns in with comparative tidiness and quick, direct and light steering. Pushed too hard into or out of corners, its natural inclination is for slight understeer as expected, but this can be averted by electronic stability interventions, or by easing off the throttle. Stable through fast sweeping corners, the K8 settles into body lean in a progressive and confidently predictable manner. Gripping hard at the rear, it meanwhile remains little perturbed by mid-corner road cracks and imperfections.

Classy and comfortable, the K8 HEV’s quiet cabin is a premium affair with open pore wood and diamond pattern door trim and leather, while its big, well-adjustable front seats feature plush leather upholstery. Interior design is horizontally-oriented with a large side-by-side tablet style digital instrument panel and infotainment screens. Front space, boot space and rear shoulder and legroom are terrific, but a low roofline does mean that rear headroom is not as generous as ideal for tall passengers. Thoroughly well equipped, the K8 HEV meanwhile features numerous comfort, convenience, safety and driver assistance systems.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: 1.6-litre, turbocharged transverse 4-cylinders, & synchronous electric motor

Bore x stroke: 72 x 97mm

Valve-train: DOHC, 16-valve, continuously variable valve timing

Gearbox: 6-speed automatic, front-wheel-drive

Petrol engine power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 177 (180) [132] @5,500 rpm

Electric motor power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 59 (60) [44.2] @1,600-2,000rpm

Combined power, BHP (PS) [kW]: 227 (230) [169] @5,500rpm (estimated)

Petrol engine torque, lb/ft (Nm): 195 (265) @1,500-4,500rpm

Electric motor torque, lb/ft (Nm): 194 (264) @0-1,600rpm

Combined torque, lb/ft (Nm): 258 (350) @1,500-4,400rpm (estimated)

0-100km/h: approximately 8-seconds (estimate)

Fuel consumption, combined: 5.9l-litres/100km

CO2 emissions: 96g/km

Length: 5,015mm

Width: 1,875mm

Height: 1,455mm

Wheelbase: 2,895mm

Overhang, F/R: 950/1,170

Track, F/R: 1,621/1,627mm

Minimum ground clearance: 145mm

Headroom, F/R: 978/955mm (with panoramic sunroof)

Leg room, F/R: 1,170/930mm

Luggage volume: 510-liters

Doors/seats: 4/5

Unladen weight: 1,650kg

Steering: Electric-assisted rack and pinion

Suspension, F/R: MacPherson struts/multilink

Brakes F/R: Ventilated discs/discs, regenerative braking

Tyres: 245/40R19

By Sara Mahdawi
Clinical Psychologist

Stress may result from happy occasions like getting married or beginning a new profession, as well as unhappy ones like losing a loved one or running into tough financial issues.

Whether you’re a hard-working CEO, a stay-at-home parent, or an athlete, prolonged chronic stress can have a substantial impact on your day-to-day activities.

While a small amount of stress might help us stay motivated to reach our goals, excessive stress can be bad for our physical and mental health. Our body’s intricate system of physiological and psychological changes in response to stress helps us in managing a stressful situation. As a clinical psychologist, I worked with a lot of people experiencing chronic stress. In this article, I’ll equip you with some constructive strategies to deal with stress as well as situations in which getting professional assistance may be necessary. 

Coping mechanisms

There are many healthy ways to cope with stress. Here are a few strategies that have been shown to be effective:

• Exercise: A a great way to relieve stress. It releases endorphins, which are natural chemicals in the body that help reduce pain and improve mood. Moreover, exercise helps enhance sleep, which is crucial for stress management

• Mindfulness: Improves alertness and being present in the moment. It entails giving your thoughts, feelings and bodily experiences undivided concentration. By encouraging you to keep your attention in the here and now rather than worrying about the future or reflecting on the past, mindfulness can help you feel less stressed and anxious

• Social Support: Having a network of friends and family to lean on might assist to decrease stress. You may feel less alone and more supported if you speak with someone who can relate to what you are going through

• Time management: Stress can result from ineffective time management. Learning to manage your time properly might help you feel less stressed by enabling you to prioritise your activities and responsibilities

• Relaxation Techniques: Deep breathing, progressive muscle relaxation and visualisation can help to reduce stress by calming the body and mind 

When does stress become chronic?

While stress is a natural part of life, long-term stress can seriously harm both our physical and mental health. Chronic stress is stress that lasts for a long timeoften months or years. Many things such as work, family, money troubles and health issues, can lead to chronic stress. Chronic stress can have detrimental repercussions. Many health issues, including diabetes, depression and heart disease, have been linked to chronic stress. Moreover, long-term stress can cause issues with focus, memory and sleep.

When to seek professional help?

It’s crucial to receive professional help if you are experiencing chronic stress. You can enhance your mental health and build good coping mechanisms with the assistance of a clinical psychologist. Here are a few indications that it might be time to consult a professional:

• Stress is interfering with your daily routine: if your stress is causing you to have difficulty functioning at work or in your personal life

• Stress is causing physical symptoms: Chronic stress can cause a variety of physical symptoms, including headaches, muscle tension and stomach problems

• You are experiencing symptoms of depression or anxiety: Chronic stress can lead to depression and anxiety

• You are using unhealthy coping strategies: If you are using drugs or alcohol to cope with stress, it is important to seek professional help. These coping strategies can lead to addiction and other negative consequences

Navigating our way with healthy coping mechanisms is essential to maintaining a psychological resiliency that can help us to face the challenges that life throws at us.

Reprinted with permission from Family Flavours magazine

ADDIS ABABA — Armed with a bamboo ink pen and a steady hand, Ethiopian Orthodox priest Zelalem Mola carefully copies text in the ancient Ge’ez language from a religious book onto a goatskin parchment.

This painstaking task is preserving an ancient tradition, all the while bringing him closer to God, says the 42-year-old.

At the Hamere Berhan Institute in Addis Ababa, priests and lay worshippers work by hand to replicate sometimes centuries-old religious manuscripts and sacred artwork.

The parchments, pens and inks are all prepared at the institute, which lies in the Piasa district in the historic heart of the Ethiopian capital.

Yeshiemebet Sisay, 29, who is in charge of communications at Hamere Berhan, says the work began four years ago.

“Ancient parchment manuscripts are disappearing from our culture, which motivated us to start this project,” she says.

The precious works are kept mainly in monasteries, where prayers or religious chants are conducted using only parchment rather than paper manuscripts.

“However, this custom is rapidly fading... We thought if we could learn skills from our priests, we could work on it ourselves, so that is how we began,” adds Yeshiemebet.

In the institute’s courtyard, workers stretch the goatskins tightly over metal frames to dry under a weak sun which barely pierces the milky sky.

“After the goatskin is immersed in the water for three to four days, we make holes on the edge of the skin and tie it to the metal so that it can stretch,” says Tinsaye Chere Ayele.

“After that, we remove the extra layer of fat on the skin’s inside to make it clean.”

Alongside two other colleagues, the 20-year-old carries out his task using a makeshift scraper, seemingly oblivious to the stench emanating from the animal hide.

Once clean and dry, the skins are stripped of the goat hair and then cut to the desired size for use as pages of a book or for painting.

Yeshiemebet says most of the manuscripts are commissioned by individuals who then donate them to churches or monasteries.

Some customers order for themselves small collections of prayers or paintings to have “reproductions of ancient Ethiopian works”, she adds.

“Small books can take one or two months. If it is a collective work, large books can take one to two years.” 

“If it’s an individual task, it can take even longer,” she says, leafing through books clad in red leather, their texts adorned with brightly coloured illuminations and religious images. 

Sitting in one of the institute’s rooms, with parchment pages placed on his knees, Zelalem patiently copies a book entitled “Zena Selassie” (“History of the Trinity”).

“It is going to take a lot of time. It’s hard work, starting with the preparation of the parchment and the inks. This one could take up to six months to complete,” the priest says. 

“We make a stylus from bamboo, sharpening the tip with a razor blade.”

The scribes use different pens for each colour used in the text — black or red — and either a fine or broad tip, with the inks made from various local plants.

Like most other religious works, “Zena Selassie” is written in Ge’ez. 

This dead language remains the liturgical language of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and its alpha syllabic system — where the characters represent syllables — is still used to write Ethiopia’s national language Amharic as well as Tigrinya, which is spoken in Tigray and neighbouring Eritrea. 

“We copy from paper to parchment to preserve [the writings] as the paper book can be easily damaged, while this one will last a long time if we protect it from water and fire,” says Zelalem.

Replicating the manuscripts “needs patience and focus. It begins with a prayer in the morning, at lunchtime, and ends with prayer”. 

“It is difficult for an individual to write and finish a book, just to sit the whole day, but thanks to our devotion, a light shines brightly within us,” Zelalem adds.

“It takes so much effort that it makes us worthy in the eyes of God.” 

This spiritual dimension also guides Lidetu Tasew, who is in charge of education and training at the institute, where he teaches painting and illuminations.

“Spending time here painting saints is like talking to saints and to God,” says the 26-year-old, who was brought up in a church. 

“We have been taught that wherever we paint saints, there is the spirit of God.”