The top 10 emerging technologies for 2013

New challenges need new technologies to tackle them. Here, the World Economic Forum’s identifies the top 10 most promising technology trends that can help to deliver sustainable growth in decades to come as global population and material demands on the environment continue to grow rapidly. These are technologies that the Council considers have made development breakthroughs and are nearing large-scale deployment.

1) OnLine Electric Vehicles (OLEV)

Wireless technology can now deliver electric power to moving vehicles. In next-generation electric cars, pick-up coil sets under the vehicle floor receive power remotely via an electromagnetic field broadcast from cables installed under the road. The current also charges an onboard battery used to power the vehicle when it is out of range. As electricity is supplied externally, these vehicles need only a fifth of the battery capacity of a standard electric car, and can achieve transmission efficiencies of over 80%. Online electric vehicles are currently undergoing road tests in Seoul, South Korea.

2)  3-D printing and remote manufacturing

Three-dimensional printing allows the creation of solid structures from a digital computer file, potentially revolutionizing the economics of manufacturing if objects can be printed remotely in the home or office. The process involves layers of material being deposited on top of each other in to create free-standing structures from the bottom up. Blueprints from computer-aided design are sliced into cross-section for print templates, allowing virtually created objects to be used as models for “hard copies” made from plastics, metal alloys or other materials.

3) Self-healing materials

One of the defining characteristics of living organisms is their inherent ability to repair physical damage. A growing trend in biomimicry is the creation of non-living structural materials that also have the capacity to heal themselves when cut, torn or cracked. Self-healing materials which can repair damage without external human intervention could give manufactured goods longer lifetimes and reduce the demand for raw materials, as well as improving the inherent safety of materials used in construction or to form the bodies of aircraft.

4) Energy-efficient water purification

Water scarcity is a worsening ecological problem in many parts of the world due to competing demands from agriculture, cities and other human uses. Where freshwater systems are over-used or exhausted, desalination from the sea offers near-unlimited water but a considerable use of energy – mostly from fossil fuels – to drive evaporation or reverse-osmosis systems. Emerging technologies offer the potential for significantly higher energy efficiency in desalination or purification of wastewater, potentially reducing energy consumption by 50% or more. Techniques such as forward-osmosis can additionally improve efficiency by utilizing low-grade heat from thermal power production or renewable heat produced by solar-thermal geothermal installations.

5) Carbon dioxide (CO₂) conversion and use

Long-promised technologies for the capture and underground sequestration of carbon dioxide have yet to be proven commercially viable, even at the scale of a single large power station. New technologies that convert the unwanted CO₂ into saleable goods can potentially address both the economic and energetic shortcomings of conventional CCS strategies. One of the most promising approaches uses biologically engineered photosynthetic bacteria to turn waste CO₂ into liquid fuels or chemicals, in low-cost, modular solar converter systems. Individual systems are expected to reach hundreds of acres within two years. Being 10 to 100 times as productive per unit of land area, these systems address one of the main environmental constraints on biofuels from agricultural or algal feedstock, and could supply lower carbon fuels for automobiles, aviation or other big liquid-fuel users.

6) Enhanced nutrition to drive health at the molecular level

Even in developed countries millions of people suffer from malnutrition due to nutrient deficiencies in their diets. Now modern genomic techniques can determine at the gene sequence level the vast number of naturally consumed proteins which are important in the human diet. The proteins identified may have advantages over standard protein supplements in that they can supply a greater percentage of essential amino acids, and have improved solubility, taste, texture and nutritional characteristics. The large-scale production of pure human dietary proteins based on the application of biotechnology to molecular nutrition can deliver health benefits such as muscle development, managing diabetes or reducing obesity.

7) Remote sensing

The increasingly widespread use of sensors that allow often passive responses to external stimulae will continue to change the way we respond to the environment, particularly in the area of health. Examples include sensors that continually monitor bodily function – such as heart rate, blood oxygen and blood sugar levels – and, if necessary, trigger a medical response such as insulin provision. Advances rely on wireless communication between devices, low power-sensing technologies and, sometimes, active energy harvesting. Other examples include vehicle-to-vehicle sensing for improved safety on the road.

 8) Precise drug delivery through nanoscale engineering

Pharmaceuticals that can be precisely delivered at the molecular level within or around a diseased cell offer unprecedented opportunities for more effective treatments while reducing unwanted side effects. Targeted nanoparticles that adhere to diseased tissue allow for the micro-scale delivery of potent therapeutic compounds while minimizing their impact on healthy tissue, and are now advancing in medical trials. After almost a decade of research, these new approaches are finally showing signs of clinical utility.

9) Organic electronics and photovoltaics

Organic electronics – a type of printed electronics – is the use of organic materials such as polymers to create electronic circuits and devices. In contrast to traditional (silicon-based) semiconductors that are fabricated with expensive photolithographic techniques, organic electronics can be printed using low-cost, scalable processes such as ink jet printing, making them extremely cheap compared with traditional electronics devices, both in terms of the cost per device and the capital equipment required to produce them. While organic electronics are currently unlikely to compete with silicon in terms of speed and density, they have the potential to provide a significant edge in cost and versatility. The cost implications of printed mass-produced solar photovoltaic collectors, for example, could accelerate the transition to renewable energy.

10) Fourth-generation reactors and nuclear-waste recycling

Current once-through nuclear power reactors use only 1% of the potential energy available in uranium, leaving the rest radioactively contaminated as nuclear “waste”. While the technical challenge of geological disposal is manageable, the political challenge of nuclear waste seriously limits the appeal of this zero-carbon and highly scalable energy technology. Spent-fuel recycling and breeding uranium-238 into new fissile material – known as Nuclear 2.0 – would extend already-mined uranium resources for centuries while dramatically reducing the volume and long-term toxicity of wastes, whose radioactivity will drop below the level of the original uranium ore on a timescale of centuries rather millennia. This makes geological disposal much less of a challenge (and arguably even unnecessary) and nuclear waste a minor environmental issue compared to hazardous wastes produced by other industries. Fourth-generation technologies, including liquid metal-cooled fast reactors, are now being deployed in several countries and are offered by established nuclear engineering companies.

Maine aawaaz di tum ne suni nahin.............

"मैंने आवाज़ दी
तुम ने सुनी नहीं
तुम ने आवाज़ भेजी
मुझे मिली नहीं
दुनिया ने आवाज़ फेंकीं
हम पर गिरी नहीं

अब इक आवाज़ ढूंड रहा हूँ
खुद में उतर कर
जिस में मैं कह दूँ
और तुम सुन लो

इस एहतियात के साथ
कि दुनिया समझे न
अन्दर बहुत फिसलन है
और लौटना भी तो है
ज़रा हाथ बढ़ाना
बस कुछ ही दूर है
वो आवाज़ ........"
 

Maine aawaaz di
tum ne suni nahin
tum ne aawaaz bheji
mujhe mili nahin
duniya ne aawaaz fenki
hum par giri nahin

 
ab ik aawaaz dhoondh raha hu
khud mein utar kar
jis mein main kah dun
aur tum sun lo

 
is ehtiyaat ke sath
ki duniya samjhe na
andar bahut fislan hai
aur lautna bhi to hai
jara haath badhana
bas kuch hi door hai
vo aawaaz.......

-- Kumar Vishwas

Syrian conundrum: Beyond the pale of big powers

The recent attack on US consulate at Benghazi which resulted in death of four US personnel including the ambassador Christopher Stevens has begun a new phase of retaliatory politics in the Middle East. The destruction at the Islamic Centre of Sheikh Abdussalam Al-Asmar in Zliten,

the Mosque of Sidi Sha’ab in Tripoli, and at the Shrine of Sidi Ahmed Zaroug in Misrata has also unleashed a new trend of vengeance. The entire region has become hostile and the entire world seems to be divided into two halves. The uncalculated unilateral interventions have grossly failed to bring about normalcy in the region. The tensions between different ethnic groups have been escalated.  

The western nations under the ambit of NATO have subsequently involved into various African and Arab countries and have tried to induct democracy in a society which has long followed a political system of autocracy with limited  rights and freedom. These political powers have failed to understand the power equations in these countries. After the removing of traditional autocrat rulers in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, a power vacuum has been created in these countries.

The recent issues involved in Syria could have serious repercussions for the entire peace of the world. The NATO powers headed by USA believe that the Bashar al-Assad’s government has lost the confidence of the people and his regime is committing atrocities against the rebels. The US based Global Security website says there are four suspected chemical weapons sites in Syria producing the nerve agents VX, sarin and tabun. On the other hand, Russia, China believes that the NATO powers are trying to intervene in the internal affairs of Syria by dislodging the legitimate government. Russia and China have vetoed three U.N. Security Council resolutions backed by Western and Arab states. Ever since the fall of Slobodan Milosevic in 2000, but especially after the 2004 “Orange Revolution” in Ukraine, Russia is out and out against US unilateral interventionism. US and its allies are accusing Russia about its involved interests in Syria. They have said that Russia wants to sell arms to Bashar al-Assad’s government and maintain its naval facility at the Syrian port of Tartus. In Tartus, Syria hosts the sole remaining Russian naval base on the Mediterranean. But at a deeper analysis, it could be said that Syria is the last reminiscence of Soviet hegemony in the region.

Russia has also argued that the Arab revolutions have completely destabilized the region and cleared the road to power for the Islamic radicalism. Russians have long suffered from terrorism and extremism at the hands of Islamists in the northern Caucasus. Rebel forces in Syria have been joined by radical fundamentalists from the Saudi sponsored ‘international jihadi brigades’ which have deployed in Chechenya, the Balkans, China, Pakistan/Afghanistan and elsewhere. To Russia, Assad is fighting, as a secular leader, with an uprising of Islamist barbarians. Besides that the active support from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey’s Islamist government for rebels in Syria only heightens suspicions in Russia about the Islamist nature of the current opposition in Syria and rebels throughout the Middle East. The external interference is hindering efforts for Syrians themselves to resolve the problem. Russia and China base their diplomatic cooperation on the need to strictly adhere to the norms of international law and the principles contained in the U.N. Charter and not to allow their violation.

It should be noted that with sudden political changes in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Libya the anti social elements spur up creating an environment of anarchy and turmoil. Similar situation is prevalent in Iraq where road side bombings, assassinations, wide spread extortions and killings are common despite the US forces being stationed to keep a balance and order. One can take a lesson from Yemen where democracy was introduced but was a disastrous failure which led to the eviction of the first leader of unified Yemen Ali Abdullah Saleh, presently the constitution is being rewritten and elections are due for 2014. A similar kind of scenario is getting build up in Syria where various factions have come up under the covert support of western nations to overthrow the rule of basher al-Assad. Even in Egypt, the political transition took massive sacrifice and pains from the common people and only then a democratic government is installed; but still the ethnic violence have started to disturb the law and order of the country. Iran, on the other hand, has supported Assad in his 18-month-long bid to hold onto power against armed Syrian rebels, accusing regional powers including Turkey and Qatar and the West of fomenting unrest in Syria because of its opposition to Israel.

In fact, Syria is strategically located in the vortex of the geopolitics of West Asia – Israel, Iraq, Hezbollah, Hamas and Iran. The big powers are neither champion of human rights nor liberalism. They should remember that it is matter of human life. Every nation has its own specificities. The ethnic composition, historical affiliations and equations, cultural tolerance, political culture, state of relative deprivation, people’s state of mind and level of faculty, their likings and disliking are all different. Therefore, only through confidence-building measures (CMBs), a better understanding of those specificities could be developed and sustained. I have always wondered about the process and the purpose of the confidence building measures but now I have started to realise constant interaction and exchange of intentions of involved parties with each other could be regarded as the basic process of CMBs. If the respective motives and intentions are not properly communicated then mistrust and mutual suspicion crops in and jeopardises the bilateral and multi-lateral relations.
The lack of clairvoyance and absence of specific roadmap and above all predominance of narcist intention of the super powers has always forced the world to pay in terms of human and material loss. The action and inaction of these so-called big powers never try to understand the peculiarities of those nations where in the intervention is being made in the name of weapons of mass destruction, humanitarian aid, global peace, restoring democratic system. These interventions only manage to fulfil certain parochial interests of the so-called big power but in this process, the basic edifice and established system of that country tends to debilitate and the historical formations are dismantled.

To understand why these nations cannot be enforced to practice and sustain democracy one needs to do a pluralistic study of various attributes including history, society, religion, ethnicity etc. A Country such as Iraq has a predominant population of Shias which constitute about 65 per cent  of population and are also heading the government are always at loggerheads with the Sunni population comprising 35 per cent of population . Moreover Iraq is a nation which is bordered by Sunni majority nations on one side and a Shia nation (Iran) on one side, due to historical and religious implications none see each other eye to eye. Hence providing democracy to such a divided nation is deleterious and detrimental to the health of its society, a strong dictatorial leader like Saddam Hussein had the abilities to keep them together and intact.

Similarly in Syria western nations are trying to replicate Iraq by creating distrust among the society. This is a very unproductive policy as enforcing something without understanding the context is like lightning a fire. A thorough study of all dimensions should be done before taking any decisions while judging all the implications. It has been reported that more than 55 per cent of the Syrian still supports Assad because they believe that after him Syria would be plunged into political chaos and civil war. After Assad Syria would be a host of worrisome scenarios, including a bloody cycle of revenge and power grabs by the country’s patchwork of factions. They include the Sunni-led rebels and Assad’s minority Alawite community, “the followers of Ali”, an offshoot of Shiite Islam and part of its close bonds with Shiite power Iran. They constitute around 15 per cent of the total population. Both the minority Druze and Alawites had their own geographical territories.  Shabbiha, named after the Arabic word shabah, meaning ghost, are formed mostly from members of Alawite sect are playing an instrumental role in the war against rebels. The minorities in Syria fear ethnic cleansing after the exit of Assad.

Looking at the present situation every nation should be respected for its sovereignty and western nations should pursue an intervention policy through the United Nations in a peaceful and just manner, this will further legitimize the position of United Nations in the eyes of such nations who have long argued that UN is instrumental under the whims of western countries.

Since India is part of the United Nations Security Council ( UNSC ) it should be its duty and obligation to not to follow the policy of the NATO countries while promoting the principles of Non alignment moment (NAM) which respects the non-interference and peaceful coexistence. India must abstain from voting for sanctions against countries such as Syria and Iran; she should stand by its BRICS partners who are against such a policy pursuit. The BRICS nations of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa have called for an immediate ceasefire in Syria and start of a process of political reconciliation as they expressed concern over the worsening security and humanitarian situation in the country.

It is also a high time when India should abandon being an outright advocate of democracy and try to understand the context and situation that democracy cannot always be the option.

STANDARD RESPONSE

Most cricketers, who are not comfortable in conversing in English, go prepare for some standard questions that are asked to them when commentators chat with them during the awards ceremony. Inzamam was once asked a different question after Pakistan won the match, for which he was not prepared. He always used his standard response to the first question after winning 

 

But this time.....
After Winning the Match

Tony Greg : So Inzi, that's fantastic, your wife is pregnant for the second time and u must be happy!

Inzamam : Thanks Tony…! All credit goes to the boys. Everyone work hard for it, especially Afridi. It was tight situation when he went in. Also Bob Woolmer was keeping close watch on progress and giving instructions. It's all team effort. Insha Allah, we all will work together as a team, put in big effort and deliver good result all the time and will be able to REPEAT the same result.


Tony fainted!!!!!!

Friendship for me

Have you ever wondered what the real essence of the saying "A Friend in Need is a Friend Indeed" is? People talk about the true value of friendship actually without knowing what it stands for. True friendship is the one, in which the individuals do not have to maintain formalities with each other. Sharing true friendship is the situation, when the person you are talking about is counted as one among your family members, when the relation you share with him/her reaches a stage that even if you don't correspond for sometime, your friendship remains unscathed. Best friends need not meet up often to make sure that the friendship remains constant.

The trust between best friends is such that if one friend falls in trouble, the other will not think twice to help. If the bond between two friends is strong, true friends can endure even long distances. For them, geographical separation is just a part of life. It would not affect their friendship. They make it a point to stay in touch, even in the verge of being exhausted due to the drudgery of everyday life. True friendship never fades away. In fact, it grows better with time. True friendship thrives on trust, inspiration and comfort. Best friends come to know, when the other person is in trouble, merely by listening to their "Hello" over the phone. They can even understand each other's silence.

True friends don't desert each other when one is facing trouble. They would face it together and support each other, even if it is against the interests of the other person. Best friends don't analyze each other; they don't have to do so. They accept each other with their positive and negative qualities. Nothing is hidden between true friends. They know each other's strengths as well as weaknesses. One would not overpower the other. They would respect each other's individuality. In fact, they would understand the similarities and respect the differences. Best friends don't stand any outsider commenting or criticizing their friendship and they can put up a very firm resistance, if anyone does so.

True friends are not opportunists. They don't help, because they have something to gain out of it. True friendship is marked by selflessness. Best friends support even each other, even if the whole world opposes them. It is not easy getting true friends for the lifetime. If you have even one true friend, consider yourself blessed. Remember, all best friends are friends, but not all friends can be best friends. In this world of cynics and back stabbers, there are still some people who are worth being friends with. They have to be recognized and respected for being best friends, for the lifetime.