Viral messaging: ‘Text messages facilitate productive relationships’

Due to extreme penetration of mobile cellular technology in the country, a policy lab dedicated to innovation in population engagement, has done a case study on Pakistan and how text messages serve as a facilitator of productive relationships, between institutions and the people they serve.

According to the authors of the report, Alex Gilchrist and Jim Linton Williams, one of the reasons they chose Pakistan from a list of countries where SMS and mobile were common, was because there is little civil society engagement.

Viral text messaging is widespread in Pakistan, according to the report, which focuses on the use of two-way SMS communication in the country and explores how Pakistanis use SMS and mobile technology – elaborating on the possible tools available to engage the population and stakeholders of the country.

According to the report, it is common in Pakistan for text messages to be forwarded from one friend to another, without knowing the identity of who sent the message. The reason this is possible is because of the remarkably low cost of text messages in Pakistan, which allows this one-to-one viral transmission to reach a considerable scale.

Report findings also suggest that since mobile phones are approaching ubiquity in Pakistan – and allow low-cost access to all types of community members, “the mobile phone can be an effective tool to communicate with ordinary people in Pakistan, as well as to learn from them, and even collaborate with them.” According to the report, SMS enhances two-way communication among ordinary people. Citing examples of ways in which SMS can be used in Pakistan, include having a community bulletin board where users could receive adverts and announcements, vote on community development expenditures, call for help against domestic violence and also sign a petition.

Apparently, the report suggests that the use of SMS is common across phone owners of all demographics in Pakistan, and although literacy rates in Pakistan present a barrier, illiterate phone users are also SMS savvy. Interestingly so, it is common for such phone users to ask literate relatives and friends to read text messages to them, and sometimes even write text messages for them as well, the report states.

Furthermore, an equal number of men and women have access to mobile phones, through one means or another. However, while, men tend to own a phone or use the phone of a friend or of a public call office, women tend to use a phone owned by an adult male family member.

The writers are waiting to see how civil society organisations react to this report, and say that if their recommendations are looked upon positively, the authors, together with these organisations will try to collect funds to implement these recommendations. According to them, they’d like to carry out a similar report exploring the use of voice based mobile communications.

Omar Seeks Civil Society Help For Summer Calm

Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah today sought help of civil society to maintain calm during the ensuing summer saying the civil society has important role to ensure congenial atmosphere so that lakhs of people associated with tourism, trade and allied activities are not deprived of their livelihood.

People will not be allowed to suffer in the same way as they were affected adversely during last 3 summers” Chief Minister said while interacting with a group of retired bureaucrats and civil society members at SKICC today.

The meeting which started at 10 am culminated at 4:30 in the afternoon, sources said.

Omar sought suggestions from every member present in the meeting.

Omar, sources said, accepted that there was gap between the government and public which needs to be bridged.

In the backdrop of unrest during last three summers in the Valley, Omar asked civil society members as how situation can be improved on ground.

Some of the participants, sources said, told Omar categorically that there should be a check on human rights violations in future if situation has to improve.

“Any human rights violation can spark into an agitation and it has to be taken care off. Arrest spree should stop,” Omar was told.

They also urged him that political issue should be solved politically and Omar should use his influence to motivate New Delhi to involve separatists in the dialogue process to make it meaningful.

He reiterated the fact that fundamental issue of Jammu and Kashmir is of political nature and requires a political solution. He said that he conveyed the same in presence of Prime Minister when the train was inaugurated in Anantnag and also repeated the same in Assembly. He reminded civil society that Home Minister of the Country himself stood in Parliament and said that Accession of J&K with India is unique and need unique solution also. He said it is surprising that those separatists who don’t feel shy in talking to parliament members who have constitutional limitation are not ready to talk to Interlocutors who have made it clear that they are ready to listen to any body on any issue.

The Chief Minister expressed his satisfaction on renewed progress on Indo-Pak talks after Mumbai episode and said that the Renewal of dialogue process is very significant, even during cricket match two Prime Ministers meeting indicates the improvement in relationship between two countries.

The meeting was attended by the Minister for Rural Development, Parliamentary Affairs and Justice, Mr. Ali Mohammad Sagar, Minister for Agriculture, Mr. Ghulam Hassan Mir, Minister for PHE and Irrigation, Mr. Taj Mohi-ud-Din, Minister for Social Welfare, Ms. Sakina Ittoo, Advisor to Chief Minister, Mr. Mubarak Gul, Minister of State for H&UD and Tourism, Mr. Nasir Aslam Wani, Minister of State for Agriculture and Horticulture, Mr. Javaid Ahmad Dar, Political Advisor to Chief Minister, Mr. Devendra Rana, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Mr. B B Vyas, Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, Dr. Asgar Samoon, IGP Kashmir, Mr. S M Sahai, Director of Information and Public Relations, Khawaja Farooq Renzushah, Deputy Commissioner Srinagar, Mr. M A Kakroo and other senior officers.

Mr. Omar said sixty two years long problem cannot be solved in shortest possible time but he acknowledged that the Prime Minister, Dr MM Singh is keen and serious in his determination in improving relationship with Pakistan. He said that any solution which is acceptable to all shall be the better solution.

While referring to stoppage of passports to the kiths and kins of militants, the Chief Minister said he has issued the directions to CID department that clearance of passports shall not be stopped in case any body’s relative is involved in the militancy. Since there is huge back log of 20-years, priority will be given for Hajj pilgrimage.

The CM appreciated that civil society and volunteers of RTI movement have initiated a new debate of making certain amendments in the State Vigilance Act for making it more effective and vibrant. He said recently RTI volunteers published open letter to him and said he agrees with them whatever amendment are required in the Act shall be considered and Law Minister will be suggested to put up the same so that the fresh ordinance is issued for giving more teeth to Vigilance Commission with such amended provisions.

The CM while responding to various questions regarding power said it is endeavour of government to make state self sufficient in power sector but civil society has to play a role in extending cooperation to the Government to check power theft and pilferage.

The Chief Minister said that his Government is very keen in providing skill development to the youth and create such an atmosphere for them so that sports and cultural talent is explored in proper manner and they are able to find different openings for building up their professional career.

Mr. Omar Abdullah said that with the improvement in situation Government has removed bunkers from city and process will continue and said that he hopes no security force person is seen on the streets or roads but situation should improve fast. He said civil policing concept is being strengthened and police has been advised to establish police-people contact on large scale.

When a member raised the issue of funds diversion from Kashmir to Jammu in the meeting, the Chief Minister clarified that no diversion of funds had taken place in his tenure and his government was committed for equitable development of all the regions of the state.

On apprehensions on J&K’s agreement with Reserve Bank of India for Ways and Means and why is state government bowing before the center by leaving JK Bank in an open competition where there are apprehensions that it may not be in a position to compete,” he said the state government’s Ways and Means Advance arrangement with the RBI was a win-win situation for the State Government, J&K Bank, and people of J&K.

Source http://www.kashmirobserver.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7316:omar-seeks-civil-society-help-for-summer-calm&catid=2:local-news&Itemid=3

Nilofar asks India to free Pakistani prisoners

Senator Nilofar Bakhtiar, chairperson of Bardashat, a civil society organisation striving for peace and tolerance among individuals and societies, Monday hailed the release of an Indian prisoner, Gopal Das, after he was pardoned by President Asif Ali Zardari and called upon the Indian authorities to reciprocate the gesture by releasing Pakistani prisoners languishing in Indian jails in spite of having completed their sentences.

“We believe that peace is the only route to human development and can never happen in situations of injustice and human right violations. Forwarding the same goal for building peace, there are many Pakistani nationals who are in Indian jails and their family members are surviving merely on the hope that their breadwinners will return home some day,” Nilofar said.

Nilofar said that the Joint Judicial Committee on India-Pakistan Prisoners, set up in January 2007, recommended release of all Pakistani and Indian fishermen in custody. The committee comprises eight retired judges of the High Court and Supreme Court of both the countries but is inactive since August 2008.

“We have to address this gross human right violation without further delay. We cannot allow indifference and apathy to the poorest of the poor of both countries and demand immediate relief for the damned and dispossessed like Mai Sakina of Thatta, whose husband is in the Indian prison for the past 20 years,” Nilofar stated. In his letter from the Central Jail, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, dated August 8, 2008, Hussain Bhayani Mullah wrote that his sentence was over and his release was overdue.

“As civil society representatives, we urge the two governments to release the prisoners and ensure the implementation of the otherwise inactive Counsellor Access Agreement signed by the two governments in 2008. This will be viewed as a goodwill gesture and will go a long way in building confidence between Pakistan and India,” Nilofar stated.

Source http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=38713&Cat=6&dt=3/29/2011

Arkansas Governor signs autism bill for children needing therapy

Tuesday morning in Little Rock, Governor Mike Beebe signed a bill into law that will change the lives of families living with autism. The legislation requires private insurers to provide coverage for autistic children.

"Families shouldn't have to wait. They should be able to get the treatment that is most research proven," said Dayna Miller.

Miller's son, Briar, was diagnosed with autism when he was three. Knowing he needed Applied Behavioral Analysis, or ABA, she and her family sacrificed to make it possible. She went back to school and opened up the "SPARC" clinic in Jonesboro, helping other children.

"You have a lot of moms and dads that want to provide the best treatment but just cannot financially do it," said Miller.

The law signed Tuesday morning by Governor Beebe will open the window that has been closed for so many families. Miller said Act 196 will require group insurance companies to cover autism treatment. Briar and his family have made a lot of trips to Little Rock to talk to legislators about the need for this law.

"Every kid with autism can get the same treatment that I had, ABA therapy, without having to pay $50,000 from their mothers," said Briar Miller.

Dayna Miller said insurance has covered things like limited speech therapy and physical therapy, but will now include the ABA therapy for children up to 18-years-old that has made a huge difference in her son.

"Only if you have a child with autism or if you work with them, will you understand how this will change a family's life," said Miller.

Seeing her son standing next to the governor as he signed the law was a day Miller never expected to see happen, not only for Briar but for children across the state.

"For a minute I feel like I was having an out of body experience and I felt like I was in a dream," said Miller.

Under this law, the cap for insurance coverage of autistic children is set $50,000.

Source http://www.kait8.com/Global/story.asp?S=14209935

Killing of student in Handwara strongly denounced

In occupied Kashmir, Hurriyet leaders and organisations have strongly denounced the custodial killing of an innocent student, Manzoor Ahmed Magray, by Indian troops in Chogal area of Handwara.

Veteran Kashmiri Hurriyet leader, Syed Ali Gilani, who is in New Delhi for medical check–up, in a statement issued in Srinagar termed the killing as an act of state terrorism. He said that India was engaged in genocide of Kashmiris through its troops. “At a time when the authorities were making tall claims of decrease in human rights violations, an innocent youth has been ruthlessly killed by Army in Chogal.”

He maintained that unless there is complete demilitarization of Jammu and Kashmir, no civilian is safe. He pointed out that on February 05, last year, the troopers killed Zahid Farooq of Nishat. “And the killing of Manzoor Ahmed Magray, in Chogal by Army has made it categorically clear that the ground situation has not changed in Kashmir as the innocent killings are still on,” he said.

The All Parties Hurriyet Conference leaders, Agha Syed Hassan Al-Moosvi, Shabbir Ahmad Shah and Nayeem Ahmad Khan in their statements condemning the killing in strong terms said that such barbaric incidents would continue to occur till the presence of Indian troops in the occupied territory. They said that murder of the youth in Handwara had exposed New Delhi’s claims of zero-tolerance to human rights violations in the territory.

The Chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front-R, Farooq Ahmad Dar and senior Vice Chairman, Javid Ahmad in a joint statement described the killing as an inhuman act. They expressed solidarity with the family of the martyred student.

The Jammu and Kashmir Mahaz-e-Azadi and the Jammu and Kashmir Salvation Movement also condemned the custodial murder of the student at Chogal in Handwara. »

Source http://www.kmsnews.org/news/killing-student-handwara-strongly-denounced

Leviathan bones land at local school

As a cattle rancher, San Gregorio resident Erik Markegard stakes his profession on his ability to move large mammals.

But last month the self-proclaimed cowboy received an odd challenge. Could he and his pickup truck move the remains of the biggest animal on Earth?

That animal, a dead blue whale, washed up on the shores of Bean Hollow State Beach in October after a watercraft is believed to have struck it. After a set of lengthy permits last month filed by science teacher Dan Sudran, the largest bones of the leviathan have been approved to be mounted at Pescadero Elementary School.

But Sudran had a problem -— how do you carefully haul a 1,500-pound mandible, a jawbone as heavy as Half Moon Bay’s heftiest pumpkin? He was considering hiring a helicopter, but then he decided to call up Markegard.

“I haul a lot of heavy stuff, but I’ve never hauled anything like a whale bone,” he said. “I went down there to look at it, I told him let’s try to cowboy up. … Let’s try it the old-fashioned way.”

That meant tying ropes around the huge bone and getting a team of helpers to move it inch by inch from the freezing ocean water. It took hours to coordinate, but the 14-person team was able to lug the bone over to Markegard’s truck and eventually lift it into the bed.

“It was pure caveman physics,” Sudran said. “It was like two and two and two came together. It was perfect.”

Sudran teaches in San Francisco through the Mission Science Workshop, a hands-on nonprofit laboratory for students that he founded in 1991.

Living in Pescadero, Sudran explained that he has amassed a small collection of bones from his regular hikes in the area, which he uses to teach children about biology. When the dead whale washed ashore near Pescadero — the first since 1979 — Sudran realized bones of the creature would be perfect for local education.

“I thought it would be amazing what the kids could learn from a skeleton like that,” Sudran said. “It dawned on me that if I could figure it out logically and get permits, I could get these bones.”

It felt appropriate, Sudran said, to have the whale bones that washed up at Pescadero stay in the local community.

The remains of sea mammals are tightly restricted under federal and state law, making it a crime to take any part of a whale that washes ashore. In Northern California, the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco typically has first dibs on any sea carcass, and more than a half dozen other agencies usually claim samples, leaving few opportunities for anyone else.

But Sudran saw his chance when he noticed that most of the usual science institutions weren’t pouncing on this whale. Most of the other organizations explained they already had plenty of whale bones.

So Sudran decided to make a go for it, and he applied for permits through a hodgepodge of agencies. He also brought up the idea to Pescadero Elementary School Principal Pat Talbot.

“I told her it’s probably crazy, but this huge whale bone could be in front of your school,” he recalled.

Talbot agreed the bones would be a powerful tool for teaching because most of the student body was already interested in the huge whale that washed up on their shores. Everyone could smell the rotting carcass, and many students had visited the beach to see the whale firsthand.

“There was a real local connection,” Talbot said. “This wasn’t just a whale bone in a museum. This was one they saw, and certainly smelled, from the beginning.”

In the end, the small South Coast school received approval to take the huge mandible — part of which was broken. Sudran took other various bones including ribs and vertebrae and has been donating them to other researchers and educators.

For now, the bones are actually in Sudran’s backyard. He lives right in the neighborhood of Pescadero Elementary. The hauling team brought the bones to Sudran’s backyard to let the largest bones dry out before bringing them out to the school, which should lighten the weight of the bones considerably.

As its largest bone, the mandible of a blue whale is crucial for drawing in huge amounts of seawater and krill to feed the gentle beast. The blue doesn’t have teeth on its jaws, but rather baleen, which are used like a sieve to expel water but retain krill.

The jawbone will be mounted at the school by the start of the next academic year. Talbot has suggested that the school could develop some teaching curriculum around it. Off the cuff, she proposed students could learn math by calculating the krill a whale would need to eat, or learn writing by composing stories about the whale journeying across the sea.

Sudran proposed the jawbone could also make an excellent addition to the school playground — it’s large, sturdy, easily climbable and not sharp at all.

Markegard, the cowboy hauler, says he was happy to use his pickup truck to help the kids at Pescadero Elementary, and he’s reminded of it every time he gets behind the steering wheel.

“My truck, my clothes, everything still reeks of dead whale,” he said. “I’m lucky I’m married, otherwise I’d never get a date.”

Smart Skin for Land, Sea and Air Vehicles

Dumb skin is inadequate

Today, the shell of a vehicle is dumb: it is no more than packaging made of bent metal, glass and shaped plastic that protects and streamlines the clever stuff inside. However, the space inside is needed for passengers and cargo. Bulky batteries and motors inside vehicles overheat, needing expensive and unreliable cooling - often water cooling. And we need many more functions such as solar power and external sensing and lighting that cannot be performed efficiently from within the vehicle. For example, the US Department of Defense has a program to develop real time monitoring of the structural integrity of the whole of the outside of its aircraft using smart skin. It envisages doing the same with aircrew.

Many inventions become appropriate

A large number of appropriate technologies are being adopted that can later become smart skin - multilayer, conformal electrics and electronics over wide areas. Flat electric motors and localised suspension and controls in the wheels have been rendered more practicable using thin film and printed technology. Mechanical linkages and drive trains are eliminated, saving cost and space and improving reliability.

The same can be said of the multilayer printing replacing heavy, expensive copper wire electrics in vehicles and making the bulky, heavy ceiling and dashboard clusters in a car into multilayered laminate, where T-Ink is a leader. Schreiner already makes printed decals for BMW cars that light when the door is opened and BMW is preparing laminar Automotive Thermoelectric Generators ATEGs that will harvest heat from the engine and exhaust. Light emitting diodes in car lights have improved lifetime tenfold: now we have laminar conformal LED arrays that use light guides or large numbers of very thin LEDs. Indeed, LEDs only 20 microns thick have been made and the thinnest LCD TVs are LED backlit. The lifetime limitations of printed large area ac electroluminescent and OLED (organic light emitting display) lighting and display are gradually being overcome.

Smart skin performs better than conventional components

Thin film batteries used in electronics can support faster charge and discharge, last longer and work even when a nail is driven through them. Solicore and others have demonstrated this: it contrasts with some bulk lithium-ion traction batteries exploding when penetrated. Some thin batteries are printed and conformal, with solid state electrolytes and therefore no possibility of leakage. Wider area versions are now being prepared by Planar Energy, The Paper Battery Company and others. Indeed, thin large area batteries have recently been a great success in several pure electric aircraft that have employed conformal thin film photovoltaics to provide the power. Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, AeroVironment and Aurora Flight Sciences each have contracts up to $530 million to make various dirigibles and aircraft based on a laminar coating of photovoltaics for power.

Alternatively, the "molecular switch" printed layer of the University of Texas at Austin potentially mimics the ability of plants to harvest light and convert it to energy. Laminar power could be produced directly from the sun, rather than inefficient power through a plant mediator, such as corn used for biofuels.

New magic

Take all this together and we clearly have a route to smart skin on land, sea and air vehicles saving huge amounts of space, cost, weight and energy but also adding many new functions. For example, if the whole truck or aircraft glowed in the dark it would be much easier to identify and avoid. If the whole of the outside of the car generated electricity, it would be at ten times the power generated by the small rigid solar panel on the top of some cars today.

Invisible vehicle skin

We can generate electricity from printed laminate over the windows and lights of a car if the layer is transparent. Laboratories in Taiwan, Japan and elsewhere have demonstrated both inorganic and organic printed photovoltaics that is transparent and others have translucent versions. This is also important for smart skin on, say the wings and body of an aircraft. We are no longer limited to one optically active layer - the one on the outside.

Already some printed photovoltaics has transparent transistors on the outside for controlling spectral response. Transparent photovoltaics can be layered over transparent light emitting surfaces which are over transparent wide area sensors - all have been demonstrated. NEC in Japan is developing transparent rechargeable battery layers and many OLED displays are transparent and conveniently work at or near the low DC voltages generated by transparent photovoltaics.

All that makes us think of invisible smart skin that does not detract from the conventional livery and signage on a vehicle, product or package. Some will even be capable of sound - spoken warnings, information and so on. On the other hand, printed and thin film electronics is giving us stretchable electronics, as with an OLED film stretched over a raw egg without breaking it, and costs low enough for some smart skin to be disposable.

Avoiding vulnerability

Although, at first sight, it may seem bad practice to put the brains and the power of a vehicle on the outside facing any impact, this is not as bad as it sounds. With wet electrolytes being eliminated, the danger from wet chemicals is removed. That applies to some printed Dye Sensitised Solar Cells DSSC, supercapacitors and hybrid supercapacitor-battery constructions called supercabatteries plus laminar batteries themselves. The use of toxic materials is also becoming a thing of the past.

Biomimetics is being brought to bear - just as the human brain has redundancy - duplication for security of service - so we shall have more of the redundancy of power and circuitry typically seen in a military ship or civil aircraft today. Most of these laminar components are much more damage tolerant anyway, just as a bird can still fly with a few feathers missing and a human hand can still have a sense of touch if part of it is out of action.

Missile destroying skin

So what about vehicle skin that disables incoming missiles? A recent European study has shown that "electric armor" can be a cost-effective way of protecting a vehicle against penetrating explosive devices. It follows earlier work in Russia and the USA with a skin of explosive that destroys incoming ordnance. Traditional thick steel armor plates are replaced by a capacitor layer - two conducting layers separated by an insulating one. When a shaped charge penetrates the smart skin it closes the circuit to discharge the capacitor to diffuse the attack. The work was carried out by BMT Defence Services in the UK for the European Defence Agency. This recent study looked at relevant work across Europe and its application to the new electric military vehicles which have little or no heat or sound signature for missiles to home in on but must be lightweight to provide adequate range. A generic electric armor system for a 30 tonne vehicle was developed and a roadmap for key technologies. New armored vehicles for the British Army are likely to include electric armor from the national Defence Science and Technology Laboratory DSTL to address the threat from rocket-propelled grenades. DSTL has already developed a system weighing only two tonnes but with the protective effect of carrying an extra 10-20 tonnes of steel armor, yet reducing the effect of impacts by rocket propelled grenades to almost zero. Clearly we shall hear of more magic made possible by various forms of smart skin on land, sea and air vehicles.

Leading event on the subject

Printed and potentially printed thin film electronics and electrics are now a subject in their own right. The world's leading event on the subject is Printed Electronics & Photovoltaics Europe where those providing and using the key enabling technologies for smart skin and other breakthrough applications will be exhibiting, presenting and demonstrating. That includes NanoMas Technologies, intrinsiq, HC Starck and others making printable nano metal and conductive polymer inks that can be annealed without damaging low temperature, low cost substrates. They also use less material. Global leader in appropriate polymer film, DuPont Teijin, ink jet printing experts Fuji Dimatix and the leaders in test equipment, materials and other aspects will also be exhibiting or sponsoring including Beneq, Innovation Laboratory, ImageExpert, Pall Corp., Chisso and InCore Systems. A large number of first announcements will be made. This event will be taking place 5-6 April in Dusseldorf, Germany.

For full event details, visit www.IDTechEx.com/peEUROPE. 

Source  http://www.nanotech-now.com/news.cgi?story_id=41351