If Oxford can, Then we must!!! By Muhammad Umer

Apple always loves to be a part of cutting edge innovative technologies. This time Oxford university students told the world that iPad can do a bit more than just making good music for you. Oxford University’s engineering students proved their point by carving out a very innovative idea which allows a car to drive itself with a bit of a help from the Apple’s iPad. They gave a whole new meaning to the word “automatic car” when the Nissan Leaf an electric car drove seamlessly through stretches of private roads.

This system is still in the testing phase and not yet fully ready for the general public use but the idea seems very lucrative as at least it will give drivers some soothing time with their hands of the steering wheels.

This technology is very low cost and it said to be using none of the traditional GPS technologies despite the fact that it is much of a navigation system itself.  Besides GPS this technology is very much independent as it uses a series of small cameras and lasers built into the car which are directly linked with a very intelligent computer placed in the boot space of the car. The role of iPad here is that it provides easy to use interface which allows the driver to switch to the auto drive. As we see in the cruise control function of the cars that if the brake is touched at any point, the auto drive element is abandoned, and normal driving is resumed.

As stated by the oxford University’s professor Paul Newman that the this technology is being developed so as to provide some respite to the tired drivers as the life is becoming more and more stressed with the school runs and drive homes which serves as a very obvious reasons for it. As many other he did not fantasize the idea of the cars being driven by themselves but instead, sees this as "low cost, low footprint autonomy" as "what’s needed for everyday use."

Some cars are already equipped with the automatic parking assist which mainly uses GPS / Sat Nav and becoming very popular among the people. This technology is surely taking it to a new level and can be perceived as a natural next step in the future of fully automated cars.

If the Oxford University students can do it than Pakistani students are no less than them. We need to motivate our young talented students and support them so that they can make such great innovations and make Pakistan proud.

Anum Aftab

Scrambled Notions

Let’s not loose the roots of our identity. Cling onto them before it’s too late. 

It seems like Pakistan, as a country has lost its essence. The very foundation of this country was "La Illaha Il-Allah" but with the growing cultural adversity due to outsourcing of TV channels it seems like we've lost that innocence we possessed. A country that was once just a boundary on the map is now the centre of every main headline. During the past ten years, Pakistan has become a totally different place than what I remember of it at least…

Culture is embossed in human psyche to direct individuals’ feelings and actions. Material aspects of culture are its technology, instruments of economic production, consumption and household goods. Non-material are beliefs, values, norms, laws, symbols, religion, literature, arts and folklore, and morals. We are in a state of confusion about values and ethics. A crack runs through Pakistan’s national and regional cultures, which requires us to review our unconcealed assumptions about culture and society.

Socially and culturally Pakistan is not the country that it was in 1947, 1960 or in the 1970s and 80s. It is no longer a predominantly agricultural country. Almost every rural household has one or more members working, studying, and living away in cities. Despite grinding poverty for about a third of the population, materially and economically Pakistanis are three times better off now in constant per capita income than they were in 1947. Pakistan has taken to material modernization readily.

In May 2011, Pakistan boasted 118 million mobile phone subscribers. Even videos and the TV-smashing Taliban have no hesitation in using cell phones, western medicine, FM radio stations, dollars and rockets. Similarly, motorized vehicles have transformed even in the village life where agriculture has been largely commercialized.

In Pakistan, something more is happening. Its culture is not only lagging but is actively moving towards orthodox Islamic mores. Here lies the quandary: Pakistan’s material culture is modernizing and non-material culture is Islamising. Islamisation in Pakistan has been a process of inventing traditions. Islamisation cultivates notions of right and wrong based on women’s segregation, religious observances, sexuality, personalized evidence, retributory justice and demonstrable piety. Yet, urban living requires impersonal organizations, trust of others, women’s participation, and freedom of expression, individual rights, empirical logic and transparency. The result is that the values and norms that we espouse, offer little guidance for the behaviors necessitated by our material and urban ways of living. We are in a state of moral conflict.

The divergence between our lived culture and imagined culture is turning into a gaping chasm. Islamisation of narratives has diverted the public discourse and channeled social energies into reinforcing the imagined culture. It diverts us to moral discourses that do not conform to the lived reality of our urban livelihoods.

Pakistanis urgently need alternative narratives that may compete dialogically with the orthodox Islamic thought. But it is not just the narratives that will bring the imagined culture in line with the lived culture. There has to be social movements for tolerance, rationality, freedom to think, cultural diversity, and gender equality. It is not an easy task. It will take the form of long drawn out influence and political struggles in streets, schools, the media and homes for the Pakistani mind. It has to begin by wresting the self-assumed ‘Fatwa’ authority from the Mullahs.

By: Anum Aftab

Taleem pe yaqeen - By: Alisha Sajjal

God has blessed every single individual with certain capabilities that if applied in proper direction can open the horizons of success and glory. For some people, success is all about earning fame and money but individuals like me believe in making dreams come true by exhibiting the traits of hard work and uphill struggle. My name is Alisha Sajjal, and as left wing liberate person I strongly believe in equal education opportunities for entire Pakistanis irrespective of class, gender and social segmentation.

Education is essential

As a third world nation, we are deprived from standard living and even we have failed to meet the basic necessities of living.  History reveals the fact that prosperity and growth of any nation lies in the applied and professional education. In Pakistan, we have below average education standards and the main reason lies in the stratified education. By stratification, we mean the difference between courses and curriculum between different schools, college and university.

In education sector, we have diversity and unfortunately it is leading us to nowhere. We have American school systems, British school system, and typical Islamic schools. The selection of school, college and university is not based on choice of profession rather it totally depends on affordability. How come we stand on a single point, if we are not able to access our generation using a unified schooling system?  How come a graduate from Lums, Fast, or LSE can be compared with a graduate of nominal to sub nominal university? Moreover, in case of religious education system, even Islamic education is divided into different sects like Shia, Sunni, and others.  Keeping this situation in mind, we should not expect any kind of harmony and integration between students when it comes to the solution of critical issues. What we need is a unified examination system besides a unified course and syllabus at the initial education level.

Once providing equal opportunities with the basic level of education, students must be free to select any discipline or profession of their choice.  It’s not necessarily engineering and doctor degree that must be accomplished rather humanities and arts must be given equal prestige. Quality and profession oriented education in Pakistan is very costly. Government should put their best efforts to make this education accessible and affordable for every single Pakistani. Last but not the least; professional education must be accompanied with practical experience and job placements. Research environment must be cultivated as it is indeed a back bone to the progress of any nation. The above mentioned details are critical and this is the right time to propose a definite and authentic solution to various problems faced by our educational system.

Author : Alisha Sajjal

Recycling: A Necessity or An Intelligent Move

Health is one of the rising issues in Pakistan. No one gets fresh food to eat. These days the farmers are more concerned about the quantity they are producing than the methods they are using to produce it. Using fertilizers and producing vegetables before time with artificial feed is what we are producing for the people of our country, which is in fact extremely harmful.

Did you ever think that flushing the water closet is convenient, but it can create ecological disaster due to unavailability of proper drainage and sewage systems and so it also deprives the soil from essential nutrients. As the soil fails to get the natural nutrients that will make it fertile it has to rely on fossil fuels to make food production. 

rely on fossil fuels to make food production.

For 4,000 years, human and animal excrement and urine were considered extremely valuable trade products in China, Korea and Japan. Human dung was transported over specially designed canal networks by boats. When we grow crops, we withdraw essential nutrients from the soil: potassium, nitrogen and phosphate, to name but the most important. During the greater part of human history, we recycled these nutrients through our bodies and returned them to the soil, via excreta, food trimmings and the burial of dead. Today, we flush them mostly into the sea.

We can classify these problems in three different sectors:

Firstly the sewage is dumped in the rivers, lakes and seas which kill fish and the fresh water is polluted which is contaminated and leads to water borne diseases like cholera. Secondly, we need artificial fertilizers to keep our soil fertile. In 2008, almost 160 million tons of inorganic fertilizers were used worldwide. Without these, our agricultural soils would lose their fertility in just a few years’ time, followed by an inevitable collapse of food production and human population. A third problem is that the water closet logically consumes large quantities of fresh water to flush everything "away", which is wasting the fresh water that could be used to drink.

The animal dung can be used not only as a fertilizer but also as a source of producing energy. Pakistan suffers because we are not using the resources efficiently and effectively. Let’s think for a while what is the most important crisis that Pakistan is facing? Yes you are right, “Energy Crisis”. Now, if we see the livestock of Pakistan and the dung that is produced we can easily use that dung to produce energy.

Cow dung gas is 55-65% methane, 30-35% carbon dioxide, with some hydrogen, nitrogen and other traces. Its heating value is around 600 B.T.U. per cubic foot. Cow dung slurry is composed of 1.8-2.4% nitrogen, 1.0-1.2% phosphorus, 0.6-0.8% potassium and 50-75% organic humus.

Dung can be turned into a fuel. When living things rot, they produce gases. One of these gases is methane. It is also found in animal waste. The waste is put in a special tank that collects the gas. Then the gas is used as a fuel for cooking and heating. As the prices of oil and compressed gas are increasing day by day these dungs could be used to produce an energy which would be a substitute. Many countries have even started working on it. Countries like Sweden collect dung from the zoo and use it as a fuel for rickshaws.

To use the cow dung we need to expose it under the heat of the sun and keep it away from water. Later add it in the crushed charcoal. If we heat it again we can use it for cooking.  It can also be put through a fermentation process which releases lots of methane gas which is what helps to produce electricity. 

The best part is we have the ideas, we know what should be done and how, but the worst part is that we are not given a platform from where we can share these ideas and uses resources to accomplish them. We are still stuck in the cage of our government where they are responsible for taking every decision for us no matter how adverse its impact is. Our exports are affecting because of the energy crisis, so is our industrial sector in fact every sector either educational or corporate. But, do we have a right to blame the local government for not working effectively as we individuals are not ready to take our responsibilities. We all talk money language either it’s the farmer who wants the least possible cost of production or the consumer who wants to buy the cheapest because of the expenses.

Now it is time for the youth to come up and take the front row. Bring in innovative and creative ideas and apply our knowledge practically.

It is our time!

http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/10327

http://gm-volt.com/2012/03/29/hybrid-rickshaw-runs-on-human-trash-animal-poo-and-electrons/

By Anum Khalid 

Technology is not what people think it is... by : Alisha Sajjal

Imagine a time where human use to live in a stone ages where messengers took a number of days to convey a message from one place to another. However, now I barely locate any single individual who is not acquainted with the use of mobile phones. Likewise, imagine a time when our social circle was restricted to family members and close friends but now a days, our world is totally changed due to extensive use of social media. Keeping these examples in mind, we can define technology as innovative implications that add convenience and standard to our living.  Technology can have both positive and negative effects on our society. In case of third world countries, like Pakistan the core problem related to technology is that we use it as a luxury of life rather it must be implemented as necessity of life. For instance, Iphone and other technology gadgets are used as a symbol of aristocracy while only 2% of the individuals are aware about the powerful applications and innovation proposed by this gadget.

It is not only the concept of innovation in technology but its utility and focus is equally important to make it beneficial for the society. In Pakistan people are using cell phones not for productive purposes but to take pictures and it is more of a symbol of class. People try to show that they are far better than others with help of latest cell phone. But is this the criteria of better living?

Even apart from pictures people usually play games. Cell phones are not only for the games or for photography purposes but it is a gadget that could be used for research, pod-casting or for other relevant research.

Internet is one of the most significant technology that has changed our approach and aptitude towards life. However, in case of Pakistan we are not using it for a valid cause and positive outcomes. In case of Pakistani students, it is indeed one of the supreme causes of time wastage. Social networks like facebook, twitter, and other platforms are only used for recreational purpose.  Connectivity of people at single platform must have raised the research and academic environment but still this trend is not achieved in our case. Likewise, we are using internet but failed to come up with proper data ware houses that can optimize our life to considerable extent. Internet can effectively enhance our business intelligence and decision making.  The managers and executives can scan through a large database for better analysis and accurate results.

Last but not the least, the technologies like Internet, Android Application, I Phone markets and all other creative applications must be brought under the access of ordinary and poor people. Technology must not be treated as a luxury; rather it is a necessity to keep a pace with the fast moving world. Still, there are billions of people in Pakistan, who never have an access to internet in their life. It is the right time for us to think out of shell and implement Internet technology in the poor and distal areas of Pakistan.

Author : Alisha Sajjal