Month: August 2007
Info updates
Intelligent Spoon -Sensing the Properties of the Food
Two students,Connie Cheng andLeonardo Bonanni ofMIT Media Lab are behindthis sensor-laden smart spoon,which monitors the temperature,acidity, salinity and viscosity ofwhatever it happens to be stirringand feeds the information to acomputer for processing. Thisintelligent spoon has zinc, gold, zener diode, and aluminum sensors todetect the temperature, acidity, salinity, and viscosity levels of thehuman-feed it’s currently stirring.
The project aims to introduce computing into traditional culinaryutensils. It seeks to provide information, in an integrated manner, aboutany food the spoon is in contact with, and to offer suggestions to improvethe food. The built-in sensors evaluate the different properties of thefood, and send them to the computer for further processing.
Apart from consolidating measurements that are normally done byan array of equipment into a single spoon, the information obtained canbe used to advise the users what their next step should be; for example,it tells the user if there is not enough salt in the brine prepared to makepickles.
Plastic ..plastic
In the 1950s the world made less than 5 million tonnes of plastic products, now we produce 80 million tonnes!
Car Fuel from Food Waste
Chain of fast food eateries and restaurants world over, push out billions of gallons of animal fat and waste vegetable oil which is an untapped source of transportation fuel – cleaner-burning bio-diesel. As a fuel source, bio-diesel has distinct advantages over conventional diesel based on fossil fuels. When burned in cars, it produces far less carbon dioxide in most cases and can produce fewer sulfur compounds, claims advocates of bio-diesel.
In US, most food outlets currently pay 10 to 15 cents a gallon to waste disposal companies to haul away their food waste. The new bio-diesel companies entering the field, instead, will pay fast food outlets for their oil.
All are benefited, including the environment.
Humans as Professional Noses to Sniff out Pollution
For years, dogs have been man’s best friend when it comes to sniff out drugs. Now humans themselves are being trained as ‘professional noses’ to sniff for illegal emissions while patrolling the southern city of Guangzhou, in China.
Environmental experts train the selected people in the laboratory to differentiate between hundreds of odors and gauge their threat to human health. A dozen such sniffers will be employed by an environmental monitoring station in the city to detect noxious gases released by chemical and rubber factories, as well as from rubbish dumps and sewers. The sniffers expect to receive certificates that will officially let them commence their careers as professional noses. The certificates will be valid for just three years, though, because humans’ olfactory capabilities tend to decline with aging.
Universal Cell Phone Charger-Chinese Stipulation
We are now in an era of portable gadgets, predominantly cell phones, powered by batteries to be re-charged regularly. Thus the charger has become part and parcel of people on the move, with its inconvenience.
China is now taking the lead to enforce a compulsory universal cell phone charger standard. The aim is to reduce the number of chargers that are thrown away each year because of very high cell phone upgrades in China – nearly 100 million cell phones are destroyed by the non-invasive radio waves.
Navigation Skills of Homing Birds
One of nature’s most intriguing mysteries is how some birds are able to retrace their path after the seasonal migration to places thousands of kilometres away. It has long been recognized that birds possess the ability to use the Earth’s magnetic field for their navigation. But the real scientific basis behind this navigation skill has not been clarified until very recently. The recent discovery of iron-containing structures in the beaks of homing pigeons in a new study by scientists at the University of Frankfurt offers some insight into this complex issue.
In histological and physicochemical examinations, iron-containing subcellular particles of maghemite and magnetite werefound in sensory dendrites of the skin lining the upper beak of homing pigeons.
China promotes Solar Water Heating
Nearly 80 % of China’s hot water requirements are met through solar water heaters. According to a recent plan, the Chinese government is encouraging new buildings and major users of hot water—such as hospitals, restaurants, swimming pools etc. —to install solar water heaters as the technology has become mature and cost-effective.
A typical device, consisting of a two-square-meter collector with rows of glass tubes and a 180-litre storage tank, can provide hot water for a 3 to 4 person family at a minimum cost of around US$195. In 2006, the Chinese solar water heater industry had a turnover of more than US$2.6 billion and provided nearly 600,000 jobs. The total installed capacity of solar water heaters nationwide has reached some 90 million square meters, or roughly 60 percent of the world total.
Courtesy: Executive Knowledge Lines
Drunk-driver detection system
Drunk-driver detection system
Nissan, the third largest car maker of Japan has developed a Drunk-Driver
Detection System. Before starting the car, the driver has to blow into a
breathalyzer like unit on the dash which will decide whether he is drunk or not.
If drunk, ignition system will not work and car will not start Odour sensors on the
driver and passenger seats read alcohol levels, while a detector in the gear-shift
knob measures the perspiration of the driver’s palm when starting the car.
The car also includes a mounted camera that monitors alertness by eye
scan, ringing bells and issuing a voice message that a driver should pull over and rest.
Laser printers and health
Laser printers and health
Wednesday,22 August 2007 16:4 hrs IST/MALAYALA MANORAMA English edition
As per the air quality researcher Lidia Morawska and colleagues at the Queensland University of Technology, Australia, some home and office laser printers may spew out as much particulate matter as a cigarette smoker inhales, posing serious health problems to the users.
The study, measured particulate output of 62 laser printers, including models from all major brands. Particle emissions, believed to be toner – the finely-ground powder used to form images and characters on paper – were measured in an open office floor plan, then ranked.
They classified 17 of the 62 printers, or 27 per cent, as “high particle emitters”; one of the 17 pumped out particulates at a rate comparable with emissions from cigarette smoking, the study said.
Morawska called the emissions “a significant health threat” because of the particles’ small size, which makes them easy to inhale and easily lodged in the deepest and smallest passageways of the lungs. The effects, she said, can range from simple irritation to much more serious illnesses, including cardiovascular problems or cancer.
The research also found that office particulate levels increased fivefold during work hours because of laser printers. Generally, more particles were emitted when the printer was using a new toner cartridge, and when printing graphics or photographs that require larger amounts of toner than, say, text.
Morawska recommended that people make sure rooms at work and home with laser printers are well ventilated.
‘India of today’
‘India of today’
Watercolour by M.F.Husain, done specially for The Hindu on the occasion of 60 years of Independence
Dubai moves to calm soaring rental prices
Dubai moves to calm soaring rental prices
By Saifur Rahman, Business News Editor/GULF NEWSPublished: August 22, 2007, 00:13
Dubai: The emirate will soon facilitate lands to develop low-cost housing for Dubai’s middle class to tackle the current housing shortage and tame rent-related inflation, a top government official said on Tuesday.
Marwan Bin Galita, chief executive of the newly formed Real Estate Regulatory Agency (Rera), told Gulf News in an interview the agency was all set to finalise a three- to five-year tenancy agreement so that the tenants can tackle the rising rental costs.
“It will be a model tenancy agreement in which all the rights and privileges of the tenants will be reserved. We will ensure that everyone strictly adhere to the contracts,” he said.
“The long term contracts will be transparent and fix the rents for that period and help the tenants in coping with rising rental costs.” 
However, these contracts may not be mandatory, but to help the consumers, he said. “We do not want to police the market, rather allow the market forces to reshape in a more professional manner. We will try to enforce this,” he said.
Experts say a big part of the problem is that the demand for housing in the emirate remains significantly larger than what is available in the market.
Project delays have deprived the market of 300,000 housing units, according to Syed Ali Anwar, chief executive officer of 3D Venture Real Estate.
“These projects have been delayed by at least one year and will only be ready by December 2009. Some are facing construction delays because of rising material costs, others never got started after being announced,” he said.
“The current demand is for 100,000 apartments but we include the number of people who will be coming to Dubai by 2009, then we will require 200,000 more units.”
The continued economic growth means demand for housing units will continue to remain strong, says Bermak Besharaty, chief executive officer of Al Mas Capital, a company advising on real estate finance deals.
“There was some overbuilding in the luxury sector. There was not enough building in the middle and lower income segments. More developers are realising this.”
To counter that, Rera is developing a comprehensive Real Estate Index to assess the market and make recommendations to the government on proposed regulations, said Bin Galita. 
“We have began collecting data on the housing supplies and projected demand to complete the assessment which should be completed by the end of this year,” he said.
Based on data, he said, Rera will make a set of recommendations to the Dubai government in which facilitating the low-cost housing would figure prominently.
“Dubai definitely needs to facilitate low-cost housing to support the middle class like any other cities and we will definitely recommend measures to facilitate this,” he said.
“Already, a number of leading developers have come forward to launch low-cost housing schemes that will help tame the demand.” Bin Galita also stressed that Dubai was in need for a property arbitration centre, he said.
“Although the number of rent disputes will reduce drastically once the long-term tenancy comes into effect, the time is right for Dubai to set up a property arbitration centre,” he added. “The rent committee may not be enough to tackle everything.”
Gulf between aspirations and achievements
Gulf between aspirations and achievements
– Inder Malhotra/MALAYALA MANORAMA English edition
As part of a periodic reshuffle of diplomatic postings, the ministry of external affairs in New Delhi has sent some very senior and experienced officers as ambassadors to countries of the Gulf – the latest being Talmiz Ahmad as ambassador to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) – a region of the greatest importance to India. To each the policymakers spoke at length about this country’s “enormous stakes” in the area and directed him to work for evolving a “role” for India there.
Indian stakes and interests in the Gulf region are as obvious as they are immense, but to talk of an Indian role is a tall order. Let the paradox be put in perspective.
Geographically, the Gulf is India’s extended neighbourhood and the only link with the no less vital Central Asia, with Pakistan denying this country transit rights and Afghanistan having sunk into chaos. Historically, a relationship between the subcontinent and the Gulf goes back to ancient, pre-Islamic days. Britain controlled the Gulf littoral tightly because of its overwhelming strategic importance for the defence of India, the brightest jewel in the crown.
Remarkably, however, this control was exercised not from London but from Calcutta (now Kolkata) first and then New Delhi. Even after the end of the British rule in the subcontinent, the Reserve Bank of India was the currency issuing authority in the Gulf; in the mid-1950s this arrangement was terminated at the instance of India, not of the littoral states.
The discovery of oil in the early years of the twentieth century had boosted the Gulf’s strategic and economic importance. Since the first oil shock of 1973, to say nothing of the Islamic revolution in Iran in 1979 and the first Gulf War in 1991, it has swiftly increased and is at a very high pitch today amidst the brisk competition between China, India, Japan and South Korea for securing oil and gas.
Overriding all this, in some respects, is what is sometimes called India’s “manpower bonanza” in the region. Three and a half million Indians live and work in the six states comprising the Gulf Cooperation Council. In some of these countries, the Indian workers form the majority of the population.
At first Indian manpower in the Gulf consisted almost exclusively of unskilled and semi-skilled workers. Now however the proportion of professionals has gone up to 25 percent. The Indian work force in the Gulf remits home a whopping sum of $20 billion a year, which, incidentally, is the vale of the Indo-Gulf trade also.
All this should normally be conducive to an active Indian role in the Gulf, especially because the entire region is within the operating radius of the Indian Navy, and to maintain the safe and smooth flow of oil is a crucial interest of not just India but also all energy-importing nations.
Unfortunately, however, rude ground realities often come in the way of even the most rational scenario. Until 1970, the Persian Gulf was a British lake. Now it is an American lake with the formidable presence of at least two carrier groups in the Gulf waters and the US bogged down in Vietnam-like quagmire in Iraq and apparently hell-bent on taking some kind of military action against Iran. Pakistan-specific issues also play a small but significant part in influencing attitudes in a predominantly Muslim area where the two South Asian neighbours often bicker.
More importantly this factor also affects America’s willingness to let India, its strategic partner, be active in the region, except in a subordinate position to it. It prefers Indo-US maritime cooperation to centre on the Strait of Malacca rather than the Persian Gulf. Only the other day the US secretary of state announced huge military sales and aid to Gulf and West Asian countries. India, itself dependent on imports of the main weapons systems it needs, is a non-player in this arena.
Nor is this all. Until two years ago, the Chinese navy hadn’t crossed the Malacca Strait. Now, there is a considerable presence of the Chinese navy in the Upper Arabian Sea. Moreover, China has acquired a major advantage over India by having the use of the Gwadar port at the mouth of the Strait of Hormuz that it has built on the Makran coast of Pakistan, its all-weather friend.
The crowning irony is that even in areas such as economic cooperation between the fast-growing India and the booming countries of the Gulf – in which India can make massive contributions in IT and other sectors and the oil-rich Gulf countries can meet India’s virtually insatiable needs for capital investment – little has been done.
It is not that the leaders on the two sides are lacking in imagination. Grandiose promises have been made during the visits to India of President Khatami of Iran in 2003, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, who was chief guest at last year’s Republic Day parade, and UAE Vice President and Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the Dubai ruler, who came here recently. But they all became victims of the principal Indian weakness of being long on declarations of intent and woefully short on implementing them.
And what can be more distressing than that no Indian Prime Minister has visited any Gulf country since P.V. Narasimha Rao went to Oman in 1993? Under the circumstances, it should be no surprise if there is a yawning gulf between Indian aspirations and achievements in relation to the Gulf.
Inder Malhotra is a veteran commentator on political and strategic affairs. He can be reached at indermalhotra30@hotmail.com
Sixty years of Pakistan
Sixty years of Pakistan
Friday,17 August 2007 10:00 hrs IST/MALAYALA MANORAMA English edition
– Alok Bansal As Pakistan completes 60 years of existence, it is passing through a critical phase. The state’s writ does not run over almost half its territory. Most people consider themselves as Sindhis, Baloch, Pakhtoons, Mohajirs and Punjabis first rather than as Pakistanis. Pakistan as a nation is kept together artificially by the only institution that functions – the army.
Despite belated attempts by the judiciary to assert its independence, the fact is that for most part of Pakistan’s existence the courts have been dysfunctional and came out with the bizarre ‘Doctrine of Necessity’ to justify military coups. Pakistan’s greatest tragedy has been that barring the armed forces or army to be specific, no other credible institution has emerged. The judiciary, legislature and bureaucracy-all have crumbled during Pakistan’s six decades’ journey.
However, it was not always the case when Pakistan came into being in 1947. It was a much stronger nation vis-a-vis India, which most Western scholars of that era believed would crumble under the weight of its own inner contradictions. However, Pakistan suffered from two major flaws right from the beginning-firstly the leadership of the Muslim League came from the provinces that remained part of India and hence the party had no mass support in the region that became Pakistan.
Secondly, the early death of Mohammed Ali Jinnah eliminated the only credible leader who could draw support across Pakistan. And when Liaquat Ali Khan was assassinated in October 1951, whatever little semblance of leadership remained disappeared.
Not that Jinnah and Liaqat were without flaws. Jinnah had centralised power in his hands and was the Governor General, the party chief and a cabinet minister simultaneously. Liaquat was guilty of not expediting the process of constitution making. But still they were leaders whose appeal was not confined to a part of Pakistan or any particular group.
Pakistan experimented with half a dozen constitutions within the first 25 years of its existence. Frequent coups and military rules ensured that neither the constitution nor the other institutions of governance were allowed to evolve.
The first decade was crucial to shaping Pakistan’s destiny and was marked by drift and chaos. Seven different prime ministers and eight different cabinets took oaths of office during this tumultuous period, resulting in the ascendancy of bureaucracy in the decision making, with the tacit support of the army.
When Ayub Khan took over the administration after the first military coup in 1958, the public, fed up with anarchy, supported him. In the initial years of the regime there was all-round improvement in the administration as well as economy. It was the time visitors from China and South Korea toured Pakistan to study its phenomenal success. But like any authoritarian regime, Ayub’s rule had long-term adverse impact on Pakistan.
Suppression of people’s democratic aspirations under a military regime and attempts to amalgamate ethnic identities by the creation of one unit impacted the Pakistani nation adversely. The 1965 war, often considered the high point of Pakistani nationalism, was the turning point as far as nationalism in the two South Asian countries was concerned.
From then on India consolidated as a nation but Pakistani nationalism began to wither. Bengali nationalism got a fillip during the 1965 war, when they were led to believe that their defence lay in West Pakistan. The reaction to ‘one unit’ created a strong sense of nationalism in Balochistan.
Ayub could not last the aftermath of 1965, when his own foreign minister, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, rebelled and convinced the masses that the gains of the battlefield had been frittered away at the negotiating table in Tashkent. However, Ayub’s belief in the superiority of the military leadership resulted in General Yahya Khan succeeding him rather than any other civilian dispensation.
Yahya undid the ‘one unit’ and was sincere about return to democracy. He conducted the first and possibly the only credible elections under a military regime in Pakistan. But long years of military rule had irreparably damaged the Pakistani nation. Yahya allowed himself to be hoodwinked by Bhutto, and the result was Pakistan’s break up and creation of Bangladesh.
The creation of Bangladesh removed whatever semblance of religious pluralism existed in Pakistan; and the absence of pluralism created fissures within Islam, which was supposed to bind Pakistan together. Bhutto, who succeeded Yahya Khan, moved Ahmediyas beyond the pale of Islam.
The fissures between various sects and schools within the same sect were accentuated under the Zia ul Haq regime, which brought religion on the centre stage of state policy.
Bhutto gave Pakistan its first workable constitution but his authoritarian streak led to the dismissal of opposition-led provincial governments, resulting in a violent uprising in Balochistan. Despite being the favourite to win the 1977 elections, Bhutto rigged them. Subsequent anti-government protests followed by government repression brought military once again on the centre stage.
Zia’s era was the darkest in Pakistan’s history. His Islamization drive, suppression of press and involvement in the Afghan conflict eroded the state structure considerably. Islamic militancy and sectarianism were the by-products of his policies, which finally led to the creation of Taliban.
Subsequent civilian interlude was not really a return to civilian rule. The army was not only looking from the sidelines, but decision making in certain key areas of state policy were kept beyond the ambit of civilian leadership. Marring this period was bickering between the two main political parties, led by Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif.
The period also saw the disenchantment of Mohajirs (the refugees from India) who were in the forefront of the Pakistan movement, leading to long bouts of violence in Karachi. The Pakistani economy slid and its foreign debt rose. An economic collapse of Pakistan looked likely.
Economic consolidation required a cut in bourgeoning military expenditure, which the army would not allow. In 1999, when Nawaz Sharif tried to break free from the army, the army decided to move in and remove the civilian façade. Like in all previous occasions, the military rule led to initial economic recovery, but it had long-term adverse impact on Pakistan.
Sub-nationalism emerged as a serious threat to the Pakistani state. Islamic fundamentalists challenge the writ of the government across the length and breadth of Pakistan. Islamabad’s frequent flip-flops on the foreign policy front and frequent incursions by American armed forces within Pakistani territory have compromised its sovereignty in the eyes of its citizens.
The author is a Research Fellow at New Delhi’s Institute of Defence Studies and Analysis.
Develop intuitive powers, tells top Tata executive
Develop intuitive powers, tells top Tata executive
Tuesday,21 August 2007 18:15 hrs IST /MALAYALA MANORAMA English edition
New Delhi: Intuition, along with traditional tools like logic and analyses, plays an equal role in the management of today’s corporations that are increasingly becoming global in outlook, a top Tata Sons executive said Tuesday.
“Logic and analysis are very important to leadership not making mistakes,” R. Gopalakrishnan, executive director of Tata Sons, who played a key role in the mega acquisitions of the group, said in a lecture here.
“But they have limitations. Intuition is a powerful outlay, after the powers of logic have been exhausted,” he said in the lecture on “The Manager’s Dilemma: Analysis vs Intuition” at the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci).
Gopalakrishnan, who has also authored a book on corporate management titled “The Case of the Bonsai Manager”, also emphasised that it is intuition that will play a key role in the success of smaller firms in a world ruled by conglomerates.
Stating that his book deals with a key leadership issue – on what the balance between logic and intuition is – Gopalakrishnan said, “The world of business is a world of practicality.”
He said that in today’s world, sticking to only analysis before taking any strategic decision would not lessen chances of mistakes on the part of the leader.
“Continuous analysis can lead to paralysis. It is here that intuition plays an important part.”
He, however, added, “Intuition is not a substitute to analysis. It is a companion to analysis.”
Elaborating, he said, “Knowledge is ‘what you know you know’. Intuition is ‘what you don’t know you know’. A combination of both is wisdom.”
So, how can a person be intuitive?
“If we cannot hear beyond our hearing range, see beyond our visual range or feel beyond our immediate environment, we cannot be intuitive,” said Gopalakrishnan.
In a lighter vein, he said that analysis and intuition are as opposite to each other as corporate governance and sex.
“Everybody practises sex but does not talk about it. Everybody talks about corporate governance but nobody practises it.”
Stating that analysis can lead one into thinking only on a linear path, he said, “It is intuition, that sudden ‘aha’ moment of life, that will help a manager reduce mistakes.”
To emphasise his point, he referred to the examples of Archimedes and his bathtub moment and the apple falling on Isaac Newton’s head.
Giving a powerpoint presentation, he said that intuition can be developed by immersion and contemplation. This should be followed by filling what he called the ‘brain’s remote implicit memory’ or BRIM with emotion-rich stories.
“Your first day in school, your first job or the day your girlfriend rejected you. It can be anything – positive or negative. But it should be emotion-rich,” he said.
And then sensing at the edge of the spectrum is the final stage of the process of developing intuitive powers.
“Management schools teach you not to be emotional. I say, ‘Be emotional’,” the Tata Sons executive director said.
Earlier, welcoming the gathering, Ficci vice-president Rajeev Chandrasekhar said that Gopalakrishnan’s views are significant in today’s world of conglomerates.
“Big conglomerates are very risk averse. This throws up huge opportunities for new entrepreneurs. But these opportunities can be successfully exploited only when approached with a good gut feeling after being properly analysed,” he said.
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