Pakistan Cables pledges to support the AKCS-P heritage conservation efforts

on 23/10/2023

Pakistan Cables pledged to support the Aga Khan Cultural Service – Pakistan’s upcoming project on the conservation of historical sites in Pakistan. As part of the project, internship opportunities are being offered by AKCSP to young graduates and students from the related fields of architecture, traditional engineering and construction techniques, material sciences, etc. The students will be provided onsite and hands-on learning opportunities at the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Lahore Fort and the Walled City of Lahore, where AKCS-P is currently working to restore the Mughal-era Wazir Khan Mosque.
Pakistan Cables’ support will help AKCS-P contribute effectively towards capacity building and transfer of knowledge by offering to the youth of Pakistan. The Company has a track record of successively supporting and developing activities and platforms to empower the youth through sharing knowledge.
Founded in 1953, Pakistan Cables is the premiere and most reputable cable manufacturer in Pakistan. Being the only wire and cable manufacturer listed on the PSX since 1955, it is also a member company of the Amir S. Chinoy group. The company has the largest geographical footprint in Pakistan with a presence in over 200 cities. It is ISO 9001:2015, ISO 14001:2015, and OHSAS 18001:2007 certified, and various cables type tested by KEMA, Netherlands.
AKCS-P is the cultural agency of the larger Aga Khan Development Network that is working with an aim to improve the socio-economic conditions in rural and urban communities through heritage conservation. AKCS-P has an exemplary history of working on the restoration of historical monuments employing best practice methods under the supervision of professional experts of international repute.

PARC, Chinese research institutes join hands for agriculture research

on 23/10/2023

A delegation, led by Wu Yuelang, Department of Science and Technology, Hubei Province, China visited the National Agricultural Research Centre (NARC) in Islamabad as part of their visit to Pakistan.
Prof. Dr. Iqrar Ahmed Khan, Vice Chancellor University of Agriculture Faisalabad, and Dr Muhammad Jaffar Jaskani, Director ORIC, along with other high official from University of Agriculture Faisalabad were also present at the occasion.
The delegation included Shi Hong, Director of the Social Development Technology Division, Ye Lin, an Officer from Hubei Province, Xiao Xuan, the Deputy Dean of Hubei General Hospital, and other esteemed officials from Hubei Province.
Dr Ghulam Muhammad Ali, Chairman of Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC), extended a warm welcome to the esteemed guests and presented an overview of PARC’s endeavors dedicated to fostering innovation in the agriculture sector.
Dr. Ali highlighted that PARC actively engaged in agricultural research and development across ten distinct agro-ecological regions of the country, forging collaborations with domestic as well as international institutions.
Furthermore, Dr. Ali highlighted the longstanding partnership between PARC and Chinese research institutes in the field of agriculture.
Wu Yuelang conveyed his gratitude to Chairman PARC for the warm reception and highlighted the significant expertise of the Hubei Agriculture Research Institute in areas such as hybrid rice, soybean, citrus, and animal vaccination. In addition, he stressed the institute’s exceptional competence in carrying out scientific research activities.
Yuelang expressed a keen interest in sharing their research findings and fostering collaboration with PARC, aiming to gain insights from the experiences of Pakistani agricultural researchers. Furthermore, he emphasized that fostering collaboration in agricultural research would not only enhance scientific advancements but also reinforce the brotherly ties between the two nations.
During their visit, the delegation had the opportunity to explore the research laboratories at the National Institute of Genomics and Agricultural Biotechnology (NIGAB) and the Plant Genetic Resources Institute (PGRI), where they expressed their admiration for the ongoing research activities.

Dhabeji Special Economic Zone inaugurated; project to have $2 bn impact

on 23/10/2023

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari inaugurated the Dhabeji Special Economic Zone project in Thatta this month.
As per the papers of Sindh Investment Department, the zone has an economic impact of US$2 billion.
The foreign minister along with the Sindh chief minister inaugurated the project by unveiling the plaque after he was briefed about the benefits and characteristics of the project by the officials concerned.
The project is estimated to generate US$5 billion and will create 100,000 to 150,000 jobs.
The Government of Sindh has allocated 1530 acres of land to be developed as Dhabeji Special Economic Zone (DSEZ) in Thatta, a Priority Project under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which will facilitate the potential investors of China and other countries to either start new enterprises or transfer their facilities to Pakistan, says a government paper on the project.
The location of the zone has 3 major advantages: 1. Easy access of Port Qasim enabling raw material import and finished goods export without incurring major inland transportation costs and saving time. 2. Easy access to Karachi Airport (35 Km) via national highway enabling safe travel of foreign workers and management personnel. 3. Direct access to the National Highway enabling the transportation of goods to upcountry and Central Asian nations utilizing the National Trade Corridor.
Dhabeji Special Economic Zone (DSEZ) to be transformed into an Expatriate Enclave with modern infrastructure and tax incentive package which will include exemption of Custom Duties and Taxes on the import of plant and machinery for the developer and the enterprises.
“The Dhabeji Special Economic Zone will be a public-private partnership project which ensures the economic and social development of the country,” the foreign minister said.
The objective of this project was to create a network of industries in Karachi, he added.
One of the important aspects of the project, which was a part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, is that it was given the status of a special economic zone by the Board of Investment on June 22.
The project will be developed in two phases in which hundreds of industrial units will be accommodated.
The project is being executed through a public-private partnership mode as the Sindh government has provided land to the contractor/developer Zahid Khan & Brothers while the contractor will not only develop the zone but will pay the cost of the land to the provincial government.
As per Development Guidelines, the Joint Ventures (JVs) with Pakistani Companies will be encouraged, export oriented industries will be prioritized and sectors have been chosen in consultation with Chinese and Pakistani Investors/companies and are in alignment with Pakistani Resource Base.
Infrastructure and Facilities include Steel-Foundries, Automotive and Auto parts, Chemical and Pharmaceuticals, Consumer Electronics Engineering, Textile & Garments, Warehousing, Building Material, FMCG, Technical & Vocational Training Centre, Captive Power Plant, Warehouse/Logistics Park, Waste Water Treatment Plant, 5 Star Hotel, Trauma Centre/Hospital, Restaurants, Business center, Auditorium/Expo Center, Fire Station/ Emergency Response Centre, Residential Zone, Common Machinery Pool, Railway Cargo Terminal, Mosque and Banks.

New study reveals global reservoirs are becoming emptier

on 23/10/2023

Water is an essential and indispensable component of humanity’s everyday existence. As the global population grows and the climate warms, so does the water demand.
Over the past two decades, global reservoirs have become increasingly empty despite an overall increase in total storage capacity due to the construction of new reservoirs.
Led by Dr. Huilin Gao, associate professor in the Zachry Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Texas A&M University, researchers used a new approach with satellite data to estimate the storage variations of 7,245 global reservoirs from 1999 to 2018.
The researchers published their findings in Nature Communications.
Overall, global reservoir storage increased at an annual rate of 28 cubic kilometers, attributed to the construction of new reservoirs. However, despite these efforts, the data reveals that the rate of reservoir filling is lower than anticipated.
“As the global population continues to grow in the 21st century, surface water reservoirs are increasingly being relied on to meet rising demands in the context of a changing climate,” Gao said. “However, the amount of water available in reservoirs and its trends have not been well quantified at the global scale.”
The researchers developed the Global Reservoir Storage dataset, freely available online to benefit decision-makers and the wider science community. It represents a significant advancement in tracking global reservoir storage conditions.
Given the projected decline in water runoff and the rising water demand, the observed trend of diminishing storage returns from reservoir construction is expected to continue, potentially impacting water supplies with significant implications. These findings indicate that addressing future water demands cannot rely solely on constructing new reservoirs, emphasizing the need for novel management strategies.
“Through this research, we share a new perspective for reevaluating the socio-economic benefits of new reservoir construction and the tension between growing water demand and lessening water availability in developing countries,” said Dr. Yao Li, a Texas A&M former postdoctoral researcher who is currently a professor at the School of Geographical Sciences at Southwest University.
The decline in reservoir storage is particularly prominent in the global south, including South Asia, Africa and South America. Despite efforts to construct new reservoirs, the data shows that they fall short of expected filling levels.
The most significant decline is in South America and Africa, where growing populations contribute to an escalated water demand.
In contrast, reservoirs in the global north, including regions in North America and Europe, are experiencing an upward trend in reaching their maximum capacity. Reservoirs in high-latitude regions like the Great Lakes and Siberia exhibit comparatively higher storage capacities, primarily attributed to their lower population densities and lesser impacts from human activities.
The analysis did not consider the sedimentation process, and therefore the overall storage decline presented in this study is conservative.
Other contributors to this research are Dr. Gang Zhao, a former postdoctoral fellow at the Carnegie Institute for Science in Stanford who is now a researcher at the Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, and Dr. George H. Allen, assistant professor of Hydrology and Remote Sensing at Virginia Polytechnic and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia. Both Li and Zhao are former Texas A&M students who worked in Dr. Gao’s research group, Gao Hydrology Research Group.
This research is funded by NASA and the Texas A&M President’s Excellence Fund X-Grants Program.

Displays more versatile, efficient than LED screens

on 23/10/2023

Flexible displays that can change color, convey information and even send veiled messages via infrared radiation are now possible, thanks to new research from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Engineers inspired by the morphing skins of animals like chameleons and octopuses have developed capillary-controlled robotic flapping fins to create switchable optical and infrared light multipixel displays that are 1,000 times more energy efficient than light-emitting devices.
The new study led by mechanical science and engineering professor Sameh Tawfick demonstrates how bendable fins and fluids can simultaneously switch between straight or bent and hot and cold by controlling the volume and temperature of tiny fluid-filled pixels. Varying the volume of fluids within the pixels can change the directions in which the flaps flip — similar to old-fashioned flip clocks — and varying the temperature allows the pixels to communicate via infrared energy.
The study findings are published in the journal Science Advances.
Tawfick’s interest in the interaction of elastic and capillary forces — or elasto-capillarity — started as a graduate student, spanned the basic science of hair wetting and led to his research in soft robotic displays at Illinois.
“An everyday example of elasto-capillarity is what happens to our hair when we get in the shower,” Tawfick said. “When our hair gets wet, it sticks together and bends or bundles as capillary forces are applied and released when it dries out.”
In the lab, the team created small boxes, or pixels, a few millimeters in size, that contain fins made of a flexible polymer that bend when the pixels are filled with fluid and drained using a system of tiny pumps. The pixels can have single or multiple fins and are arranged into arrays that form a display to convey information, Tawfick said.
“We are not limited to cubic pixel boxes, either,” Tawfick said. “The fins can be arranged in various orientations to create different images, even along curved surfaces. The control is precise enough to achieve complex motions, like simulating the opening of a flower bloom.”
The study reports that another feature of the new displays is the ability to send two simultaneous signals — one that can be seen with the human eye and another that can only be seen with an infrared camera.
“Because we can control the temperature of these individual droplets, we can display messages that can only be seen using an infrared device,” Tawfick said, “Or we can send two different messages at the same time.”
However, there are a few limitations to the new displays, Tawfick said.
While building the new devices, the team found that the tiny pumps needed to control the pixel fluids were not commercially available, and the entire device is sensitive to gravity — meaning that it only works while in a horizontal position.
“Once we turn the display by 90 degrees, the performance is greatly degraded, which is detrimental to applications like billboards and other signs intended for the public,” Tawfick said. “The good news is, we know that when liquid droplets become small enough, they become insensitive to gravity, like when you see a rain droplet sticking on your window and it doesn’t fall. We have found that if we use fluid droplets that are five times smaller, gravity will no longer be an issue.”
The team said that because the science behind gravity’s effect on droplets is well understood, it will provide the focal point for their next application of the emerging technology.
Tawfick said he is very excited to see where this technology is headed because it brings a fresh idea to a big market space of large reflective displays. “We have developed a whole new breed of displays that require minimal energy, are scaleable and even flexible enough to be placed onto curved surfaces.”