‘Make in Pakistan’ is a must but how remains ambiguous

on 19/06/2023

Pakistan’s economic hardship has given impetus to the thought that we should vigorously go to local manufacturing so as to substitute imports and thus grow as a self-sufficient nation, but how this objective would be achieved is still unclear.
There are two opinions. Proponents of one opinion say it is the industry that has to do everything if any such effort is to be realized, while the supporters of the other believe the government has to set up an ecosystem for localization.
Amidst such a debate in Pakistan, the forthcoming HVACR Expo’s organizers also seem to sail with such streams, but both have a “Make in Pakistan” slogan attached to the event taking off in Karachi.
Engr. Farooq Mehboob, President of ASHRAE, believes the industry has to take on the process of the ‘Make in Pakistan’ dream to be realized. If our industry continues looking towards the government to get concessions then nothing will happen, Engr. Mehboob says, because he argues the government does not have resources. ‘Thus whatever effort is needed has to be made by the industry.’
He floats the example of Honda saying the owner of the company had made a motorcycle in his own garage and that provided him with the foundation to be the company that we see today. What we need is an approach under which the entrepreneur should do something at his end first rather than looking towards the government, he says. They should leave the taxes that entrepreneurs want governments to exempt.
In parallel to Engr. Mehboob’s view, HVACR Society Pakistan’s president, Ahmed Nawaz, believes the basic requirements such as electricity, etc. for ‘Make in Pakistan’ are not available in Pakistan.
The coordination between various government departments which is a requisite is almost missing, he says. We see new policies coming from the ministries every day but don’t see any implementation. Also, they don’t support the local industry either. Until you reduce the production cost, ensure the product quality, and set standards, you cannot compete in the market, he claims.
The industry which produces locally has not attained the quality of products for selling in the international market, therefore we require to create an infrastructure for that, he says.
Despite hindrances that Ahmed Nawaz himself spelled out, he believes local manufacturers will play a significant part in the expo he is organizing in Karachi in the wake of the fragile condition of Pakistan’s economy.
He said traders cannot do anything, only local manufacturers have the opportunity to get recognition in the event and improve the quality of their products.
No matter that ‘Make in Pakistan’ seems a distant dream, HVACR Society and ASHRAE have at least succeeded in shooting down the perception of division between the two entities. They have signed an MoU for the conference to be led by ASHRAE, ensuring that the international delegates will attend the event.
ASHRAE will manage the conference, decide the subjects, and market the event that will result in a very robust event, Engr. Mehboob told ER.
He said climate change is a reality in the world and we can’t escape it now. In last year’s floods, as many as 30 million people were affected and the level of water touched signboards on our highways.

Concepts of Multiprocessing through Microarchitecture

on 16/02/2023

Engr. Dr. Muhammad Nawaz Iqbal

Occasionally, this fad is referred to as throughput computing. This concept first appeared in the mainframe industry, where online transaction processing placed an emphasis on handling large numbers of transactions rather than just the speed at which one transaction could be executed. The last ten years have seen a significant increase in transaction-based applications like network routing and website serving, which has caused the computer industry to emphasis capacity and throughput issues once again. The specific microarchitecture is typically represented by the system designer as a type of data flow diagram. The microarchitecture diagram, like a block diagram, uses a single schematic symbol to represent each microarchitectural component, such as the arithmetic and logic unit and the register file. To distinguish between three-state buses (which need a three-state buffer for each device that drives the bus), unidirectional buses always driven by a single source, such as the way the address bus on simpler computers is always driven by the memory address register, and individual control lines, the diagram typically connects those elements with arrows, thick lines, and thin lines.A schematic outlining the links between the logic gates needed to build each microarchitectural component is used to illustrate each one in turn. Each logic gate in a given logic family is represented by a circuit diagram that shows the connections between the transistors that were utilized to create it.
Microarchitecture also requires execution units. Arithmetic logic units, floating point units, load/store units, branch prediction, and SIMD are examples of execution units. These components carry out the processor’s actions or calculations. A key microarchitectural design challenge is selecting the number of execution units, their delay, and their throughput. Microarchitectural choices also affect the size, latency, throughput, and connection of the system’s memories.
What each component of the computer should be performing is determined by the control logic’s cycle clock, cycle state either high or low, and instruction decode register bits. A table of bits defining the control signals to each component of the computer in each cycle of each instruction can be created in order to construct the control logic. This logic table can then be examined in a computer simulation that is executing test code. A logic table that is stored in memory and utilized to power a genuine computer is referred to as a microprogram.
Multiprocessing is a term used in operating systems to describe the execution of numerous concurrent processes in a system, each executing on a different CPU or core as opposed to just one process running at a time. Multitasking, which may only employ a single processor but switches it between tasks in time slices, is commonly contrasted with multiprocessing when used with this meaning example a time-sharing system). However, multiprocessing refers to the actual concurrent execution of numerous programmes on multiple processors.
All CPUs in a multiprocessing system might be equal, or some might be set aside for specific tasks. The symmetry (or lack thereof) in a given system is determined by a mix of hardware and operating system software design concerns. The execution of kernel-mode code may be limited to only one specific CPU, whereas user-mode code may be executed in any combination of processors, depending on hardware or software considerations. For instance, only one specific CPU may be required to respond to all hardware interrupts, whereas all other work in the system may be equally distributed among CPUs.
In multiprocessing, the processors can be utilized to execute numerous sequences of instructions in a single context, or a single sequence of instructions in multiple contexts single instruction, multiple data, or SIMD, which is frequently used in vector processing. n

Robotic Process Automation (RPA)

on 16/02/2023

Imtiaz Ahmed Khan

Robotic Process Automation (RPA) uses multiple software and applications to automate business processes such as data collection and analysis, customer service and other repetitive tasks managed previously through manual processes.
Like AI and Machine Learning, RPA is a rapidly advancing technology that automates many jobs across different industries. McKinsey has analysed that fewer than 5% of jobs today can be entirely automated, but nearly 60% can be automated at least partially.
RPA offers several new career options and trajectories such as a programmer, project manager, business analyst or consultant. It also opens doors to high-paying jobs with a moderate learning curve in leading organisations. Choosing this emerging technology as a career move can profit you immensely

Former CEO EDB believes today’s PEC is capable to reform engineering sector

on 16/02/2023

If PEC had entered the current mode earlier, Engineering Development Board (EDB) would not have needed to be set up, says former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Imtiaz Rastgar referring to the current active mode of the council whose Academia-Industry Liaison Committee (AILC) hosted a splendid show in which academia and industry people sat face to face to hammer out issues hampering the collaboration between the two sides.
Recalling the establishment of PEC in the wake of a hunt for jobs for civil engineers he says the council is more powerful than EDB and has the power to enforce decisions as regards universities or the courses. Even HEC does not match such powers.
Touching the national economy, he said it’s the product being sold in the international market that matters. We have to see what our industry produces for the international market. There is a tiny number of products that we sell in the international market. Unless we produce a large number of exportable products and earn foreign exchange, we cannot address the issue of the balance of payment in Pakistan. Thus, he said we have to see what role our universities play in the creation of national wealth.
Speaking about the quality of faculty in the universities, he recalled he knew many names tagged with the engineer before their names but did they know physics? It shows that our school level fails to produce efficient students as there is no proper lab work at lower levels. It becomes evident when they enter a higher level. Therefore, we have to see where the feed is coming from.
We have five levels of education from primary to doctorate. Similarly, there are five levels in the industry. We cannot ignore any level, if we focus on bachelor’s or master’s only, it means we have not properly prepared people for the industry. We must not ignore the rest of the levels. We need to look at it holistically.
Rastgar said we have no people for the manufacturing sector, we have only degree holders, and don’t have the capacity to work practically. PEC should rectify these aspects of the engineering sector. We need to link theory with its application, it’s a must for the industry.
He was of the view that there should be a 2 to 3 years gap for pursuing a master’s degree after graduation. PEC can enforce it and let the graduate have some experience in the industry. Also, PhDs should not be out into teaching directly.
Speaking from his experience, he said faculty’s connection with knowledge and field stood at zero thus the universities should not be forced to work with PhDs only. He did not support the HEC’s line that only PhDs could be employed in the universities.
Imtiaz Rastagar appreciated PEC’s decision to introduce professors by practice in the universities. — ER

Dredging of Navigation Channel of Gwadar Port among seven projects approved

on 16/02/2023

The Central Development Working Party (CDWP) has approved the Dredging of the Navigation Channel of Gwadar Port with the cost of Rs. Rs 4.670 billion.
CDWP which met in Islamabad last week approved a total of seven development projects worth Rs 22.16 billion.
Projects relating to Planning, Development & Special Initiatives, Maritime Affairs, and National Health Services Regulations & Coordination, and HEC were on the table in the moot.
The meeting approved Balochistan Urgent Response for Food Security Project costing Rs 1,100.000 million. The project envisages the revival of agriculture production in the severe flood-affected districts of the Nasirabad Division. It aims to the provision of rice seeds for increased productivity to 60,000 farm households in the target districts.
Maritime Affairs’ scheme Maintenance, Dredging of the Navigational Channel of Gwadar Port project costing Rs 4,669.762 million was the next scheme to be approved in the meeting. The project envisages maintenance dredging of a 4.70-kilometer long navigational channel, basin, and berthing area of Gwadar Port.
The Internal Navigational Channel and Turning Basin design depth is 13.8 meters for safe navigation of deep draft vessels and the Berthing Area and Outer channel are dredged to 14.5 meters to permit safe berthing and sufficient clearance from the bottom in low tides. The channel is designed for the navigation of 50,000 DWT ships during all weather.
The CDWP approved Social Sector Accelerator SSA for Health, Nutrition, Education, Youth and Gender (HNEYG), National Priority Initiatives (2nd Revision) at the cost of Rs 4,828.05 million.
The project was moved by the Ministry of Planning, Development & Special Initiatives.
The Ministry of Planning and Development proposed a one-year “Prime Minister Youth Internship Program” for fresh graduates in Pakistan. Under the program, the Ministry will award paid internships to all eligible applicants that qualify for the program through the proposed selection criterion for a duration of six months. Following their selection, the Ministry will facilitate the placement of interns in positions relevant to their skills and job function in host organizations spanning across the public, private and development sectors.
Furthermore, the interns will receive a stipend of Rs 25,000/month. A total of 30,000 internships will be awarded through the one-year program. Upon the successful completion of their internship, interns will be awarded an internship certificate by their host organization and by the Ministry of Planning, Development, and Special Initiatives.
The six-month internship program will include three online mentorship sessions culminating in an individual career development plan, one online training course on soft skills, one online training course on industry-relevant technical skills, one two-day voluntary activity, recurring monthly work plans and monthly progress reports, and one final internship report along with internship outputs.
The forum also approved the Provision of Academic & Research Facilities & Girls’ Hostel at Quaid-e-Azam University, at the cost of Rs3,860.355m. The HEC is the sponsoring agency of the project. The prime objective of the project is to strengthen Ph.D./MPhil programs and to strengthen newly started BS programs. This requires expansion in basic infrastructural facilities within the university. It will include expansion in physical infrastructure (Academic Block, Examination/Services Block, Students Hostels, Centralized Laboratory, Boundary Wall, Cafeteria, and Laboratory Equipment) for graduate students.
The forum approved the Establishment of a Partnership between the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the GOP to address grand challenges in the health sector at the cost of Rs 220.000 million. The Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations, and Coordination is the sponsoring agency of the project. It is a new project with the purpose to provide grants for improving the health sector (management and delivery) in ICT, AJK, and GB using innovative approaches and technologies from researchers, entrepreneurs, scholars, and practitioners in Pakistan, in alignment with the goals of global grand challenges program. Accordingly, all the projects to be taken up will be developmental interventions that have seldom been tried before warranting. During the first round, the projects will function over 5 years, which is the most critical period from the perspective of attaining the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by the year 2030.
The forum approved a project of King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud Hospital at Tarlai, Islamabad, at the cost of Rs 2,499.993m. The Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations, and Coordination is the sponsoring agency hospital. The hospital will be established in ICT and it will accommodate a 200 beds facility for the specialties of Medicine, Surgery, Gynecology, OPD, and Emergency Services including residential accommodation for doctors and nurses and a mosque.