Experience Paris -- Cheaper Than You May Think

When we think of visiting Paris, we probably think of the Eiffel Tower, the Louve, walking along the Seine -- all of the great, legendary and historic sites this wonderful city has to offer.

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World Thinks China Will Catch Up With the US -- and That's Okay

Majorities around the world believe that China will catch up with the United States economically. It's a prospect that leaves most of those polled -- even Americans --
unperturbed.

In no country do most people think that this would be mostly negative, finds a multinational poll by The Chicago Council on Global Affairs and WorldPublicOpinion.org. Majorities in every country polled believe this would be either equally positive and negative or mostly positive.

"What is particularly striking is that despite the tectonic significance of China catching up with the US, overall the world public's response is low key -- almost philosophical," says Steven Kull, editor of WorldPublicOpinion.org.

This sanguine reaction is not because China is widely trusted to act responsibly in the world. World publics do not trust China any more than they trust the United States and distinctly less than they trust Japan.

Among the 15 countries asked about China's future economic prospects in 13 the most common answer is that China will eventually catch up with the United States. This includes 60 percent of Americans and strong majorities in Peru (76%), Israel (75%), France (69%), Iran (64%), and Russia (62%).

Across all countries polled, on average 55 percent had this belief.

The Chinese themselves are somewhat skeptical about their country's economic potential. Only 50 percent of Chinese respondents say China's economy will match the US economy.

Asked how they would feel if China were to catch up with the United States, publics show little concern. In no country does even a plurality say that this would be mostly negative.

The highest level of concern is in the United States, where one in three is worried. But a majority of Americans (54%) say instead that China's economic rise would be "neither positive nor negative" while another one in ten (9%) say it would be mostly positive.

In just one country does a majority say that China catching up would be mostly positive -- Iran (60%).

The world's seemingly sanguine view of China's possible economic ascendance does not mean most publics think they can trust Chinese leaders.

Ten out of 15 publics polled say they do not trust China "to act responsibly in the world.


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Safer Air Traffic With EGNOS

Vertical guidance by means of signals from the sky: this is what EGNOS, the first European satellite navigation service, will offer pilots during approach and landing. Flight trials are regularly conducted to demonstrate the new possibilities offered by the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), which has been launched by ESA, the European Commission and Eurocontrol.

A few weeks ago, the Direction Générale de l'Aviation Civile (DGAC – French Civil Aviation Authority) test plane was specially equipped to make tests using EGNOS. At Limoges airport the ATR42 made a number of approaches and landings using the new procedures, in each case aligning itself with the runway's axis and then following a descent path to touchdown.

Inside the plane, normally used for calibration of airport systems in France, the method of analysing the quality of the EGNOS signals was by comparing the landing phases guided by satellite with landings using traditional means such as the Instrument Landing System (ILS).

The results of Limoges trials show again that EGNOS signals allow approaches and landings that meet the safety standards that govern international air traffic. One of the main advantages of EGNOS in this application is that it is available everywhere without the need for ground infrastructure and it provides vertical guidance procedures for every runway.

Furthermore, the cockpit data display is the same as for ILS, so there are no familiarization problems for the pilots and no additional training costs. Currently in pre-operational service, EGNOS will be certified in 2008 for safety-of-life applications such as air traffic control.

Systems that are equivalent to EGNOS have been set up in the United States, Japan and India, and these systems are compatible and interoperable.

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The Formation of Social Memories

Is there a specific memory for events involving people? Researchers in the Vulnerability, Adaptation and Psychopathology Laboratory (CNRS/University Paris VI France) and a Canadian team at Douglas Hospital, McGill University (Montreal), have identified the internal part of the prefrontal cortex as being the key structure for memorizing social information.

Social events such as a party with friends, a work meeting or an argument with a partner form an integral part of daily life. Our ability to remember these events, and more precisely to remember the people and the relationships we had with them, is essential to ensure satisfactory adaptation to our social existence. At a cerebral level, various regions of the brain, and particularly the hippocampus, are directly involved in learning and memory. Some of these regions are specialised in learning certain types of information, such as the amygdale and our memory for emotions.

The Canadian and French teams (the latter led by Philippe Fossati) have recently identified a precise region in the frontal cortex which may be specialised in recording and learning social information. Using a functional magnetic resonance imaging technique, the scientists measured cerebral activity in 17 volunteers while they accomplished a memory task involving pictures of social scenes (interacting individuals) and non-social scenes (landscapes with no people). They thus identified the internal part of the prefrontal cortex, called the medial prefrontal cortex, as being the key structure in memorizing social information from a picture.

Previous studies performed by the same research teams had associated this prefrontal region with thinking processes about self and others. Their work suggested that in addition to emotions, the analysis of specifically human information could facilitate learning and
memorisation, involving cerebral structures specialised in analysing mental states and empathy.
This work opens important perspectives regarding our understanding of the mechanisms of human recollections and mental disorders (schizophrenia, autism) which affect social and relational skills.


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