Student-friendly classrooms ‘vital for learning’ (23/02/2008)

Student-friendly classrooms ‘vital for learning’

By Bonnie James
ASPECTS such as student-friendly architecture and furniture design, overlooked often, are vital components of interactive learning, the ideal method of education, a visiting expert in innovative educational techniques has said. “Theatre-style classrooms are not suitable and they should either be circular or hexagonal so that all students could sit around the teacher for best results,” Prof Marmar Mukhopadhyay told Gulf Times in an interview.

 
The director of Educational Technology and Management Academy (India), and consultant to organisations including Unesco, Unicef, Commonwealth of Learning, World Bank, and British Council was in Doha to attend Unesco’s Regional Conference for the Arab States on Mid-Term Review for Education for All, which concluded on Thursday.
Explaining that furniture design was a key element in creating a conducive environment for learning, Prof Mukhopadhyay who has held a host of positions in India and abroad, recalled that he once cut the legs of chairs in a classroom to bring them to a comfortable height in proportion to the tables.
“A child tracking system, which we introduced in thousands of schools in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu, and learning management system are essential tools which augment effective learning,” he maintained.
The child tracking system database has exhaustive personal and background information on each student that could give insights into possible causes if he or she fails to come to school and prompt teachers to do the necessary
follow-up.
The learning management system keeps track of the strengths and weaknesses of the students and is a ready source of information for teachers to ensure remedial action whenever needed.
Prof Mukhopadhyay, a trainer, speaker, rural social activist, a former chairman of National Open School, New Delhi, and a long-time member of the Indian Planning Commission’s working committees, suggested that curriculum development should be brain compatible.
“The problem with today’s curriculum is that the child feels a foreigner as it does not fit in with the brain map that he or she has developed over five or six years of life,” he observed.
This happens because a child’s brain map is based on his or her background and upbringing about which the curriculum designers, who mostly rely on general ideas or principles rather than specific examples or real events, have no clue.
On the basis of the finding that children who attend more classes are better performers, Prof Mukhopadhyay once experimented by introducing special programmes in music and sports at a school resulting in a reduction in the dropout rate from 49% to 17% in three years.
“The extra-curricular programmes to be introduced have to be selected according to the local or regional tastes or preferences to ensure that the package is really attractive for children,” he stated.
A former vice president (Asia) of International Council of Distance Education, Oslo, Norway, Prof Mukhopadhyay, stressed that teachers should be good communicators too, apart from having a good knowledge of the subject.
“The present day teacher training is focused on cognitive competence alone whereas emotional competence is a crucial factor for better links with students,” he said.
Referring to the problems faced by the Arab region in the educational sector, Prof Mukhopadhyay was of the view that there is a lack of highly trained individuals who could guide others.
“The Arab countries also have to create and generate knowledge, and children should learn to discover knowledge and make it a habit so as to stop depending on imported knowledge,” he added.

Silicon Valley guru prescribes recipes for success (29/5/2008)

Silicon Valley guru prescribes recipes for success

By Bonnie James

ALLOW a lot of decisions to be made at the lowest management level. This was one of the key messages that Silicon Valley icon and Apple Computer co-founder Steve Wozniak gave at the QSTP TECHtalks – The 2008 Conference yesterday.
The ‘computer geek turned cult icon’, who helped shape the computing industry with his design of Apple’s first line of products, held the audience captive with a keynote address that highlighted the secrets of his success.
The inventor of the first ready-made personal computer, who collaborated with marketing genius SteveJobs in 1977 to launch Apple from a garage, also gave a fascinating narrative of his experiments combining computer circuitry with a regular typewriter keyboard and a video screen, which resulted in the Apple I.
“I had a natural talent in mathematics and loved electronics when I did it,” Wozniak, who retired from Apple in 1985, later told Gulf Times, tracing the evolution of his growth.
Earlier, he told the gathering that not having resources could make one, like in his case, think of how to do things in an inexpensive way.
“I am a strong believer in repetition,” said the recipient of America’s highest honour for leading innovators, the National Medal of Technology from President Reagan in 1985, while observing that he has redesigned his computer over and over again.
But what Wozniak, now 58, considers really important in inventors and innovators is that they should have that urge to do something new.
“You have to really believe in yourself and that your ideas are good for the world,” said the former designer of scientific calculators at Hewlett-Packard, which turned him down five times when he broached the concept of making a personal computer.
Having passion (in the work one does) is worth a lot more than money, and having the drive will lead one to find the resources, he said while recalling that he wrote the entire code for developing Apple II by hand.
Wozniak’s advice to managers was not to control everything tightly from the top.
“Make sure your employees are dedicated and have passion. Allow lot of decisions to be made at the lowest management level. Let them build. Like at Google, allow them to try their own ideas,” he said.
Inducted into the Inventors Hall of Fame in 2000, Wozniak urged all potential entrepreneurs, inventors and innovators to never try to do average work. “Always aim for excellence,” he stated.
Asked if he would consider taking up some project in Qatar Science & Technology Park, Wozniak told Gulf Times he would strongly think about it.
“I am trying to develop a start-up company to work on a couple of different projects I have in mind,” he said.
Wozniak also expressed appreciation for the vision of Qatar’s leadership to invest in education, research, and science and technology.

Souq pigeons in a flap (24/4/2008)

Souq pigeons in a flap
By Bonnie James

THE captivating sight of hundreds of pigeons soaring into the sky from their favourite feeding ground in the Souq area could soon become a fond memory as construction work is set to begin there.The dawn-to-dusk gathering of the feathered friends, to feast on an abundant supply of grains from bird lovers, has been a a major attraction for several years.
The first warning sign that the pigeons would have to move from their original haunt came some weeks ago when the parking lot of the old mosque was cordoned off in preparation for building work.
Bird lovers were quick to shift the pigeons’ feeding ground to the adjacent open area, which is larger than the parking lot.
This open area, behind a row of buildings that were demolished some months ago as part of the ongoing development plans, is barricaded from three sides now.
Though vehicle traffic across the ground has been blocked, pedestrian movement is allowed for now, allowing people to deliver grain for the pigeons.
An expatriate, who was seen emptying a bag of grain on the ground at noon yesterday, said he used to do so whenever he came to the Souq area on business.
“Before leaving this area, I would buy some grain from a shop over there and give it to the pigeons. The sight of these birds rushing to peck at the grain warms my heart,” he said.
There are many individuals, some with their families, who visit the Souq area regularly to feed the pigeons.
“It is an enchanting scene to see the birds taking off when they sense some disturbance and return after some moments,” one such person recalled.
Though no official word could be obtained as to when construction would begin in the area, Gulf Times has learnt that it could be any day.
A bird lover expressed the hope that the authorities concerned would try to attract the pigeons to open ground near Souq Waqif, only a few hundred metres away.
“A big flock of these beautiful birds flying in and out of a busy commercial area is a welcome sight any day,” he added.

Standing ovation for wheelchair wonder (6/5/2008)

Standing ovation for wheelchair wonder

By Bonnie James

 ONLY one graduate received a standing ovation yesterday at the inaugural graduation of Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar.
The student honoured was Anirban Lahiri, an Indian who fulfilled his ambition to study computer science at a Western university despite being confined to a wheelchair due to spinal muscular atrophy (Kugelberg disease) for several years.
Led by HH the Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, the entire audience stood up applauding when CMUQ dean Charles E Thorpe came down from the stage to present the Bachelor of Science diploma to Anirban.

Qatar’s coral reefs in peril, warns expert (18/5/2008)

Qatar’s coral reefs in peril, warns expert

By Bonnie JamesQATAR’S beautiful coral reefs are in grave danger of disappearing due to indiscriminate scuba diving and fishing activities, a researcher has warned.“Some scuba divers are using spear guns in the reefs and killing any fish that come their way,” Qatar University’s Environmental Studies Centre (ESC) director Mohsin al-Ansi told Gulf Times in an interview. While spear guns are banned in coral reefs all over the world, Qatar does not have specific legislation in this regard, he explained. “Some of these divers have even uploaded videos of ‘their catch’ on YouTube and this is such a shame on Qatar,” the researcher stated. During trips in the Qatari waters in the only dedicated research vessel in GCC countries, al-Ansi and his team had come across several shocking examples of rampant destruction of marine wealth. “A coral reef takes hundreds of years to grow and if the damage inflicted by human beings is coupled to the problems including high water temperature, we will see nothing later,” al-Ansi lamented. Referring to a video from Qatar on YouTube, he recalled seeing a scuba diver showing off as many as 30 grouper (a kind of fish) he caught with his spear gun. “How many would he eat, one, may be two, and the rest is discarded,” al-Ansi said while pointing out that grouper could not be found in the Bahraini and Kuwaiti waters and the same fate could befall Qatar. The researcher pointed out that coral reefs are equivalent to jungles on the land. “It is not only fish that gets life from the reefs, but thousands of different marine life forms,” he said. Asked if lack of awareness could be a reason for the use of spear guns, al-Ansi stated even educated people did that. “Some friends have told me that they would like to come along on my sea trips with their spear guns,” he maintained. Even the artificial reef balls, deployed by the ESC around Qatar, are not safe, when the ‘reckless’ scuba divers come to know about them. Some fishing boat operators also do extensive damage to the marine wealth, though Qatar stopped trawling since 1992, al-Ansi charged. “They deploy hundreds of metal traps, very long drift nets, and multi-lines with thousands of hooks, catching everything, collecting what they like and discarding the rest,” he said. Metal traps move with the current and hit against the reefs, damaging them. Drift nets, measuring up to 6km, scoop up fish indiscriminately, and the multi-lines also do the same. “Qatar and Oman are the only countries in the Gulf exporting fish, but the authorities concerned should think whether Qatar really needs the revenue from this export,” al-Ansi suggested. The researcher was of the view that the fact that Qatar has surplus catch for export is indicative of excess fishing. The anchors deployed by fishing boats are also damaging coral reefs and oyster beds. “We could substitute the traditional anchors with mooring buoys and floating anchors,” he observed. Qatar needs stringent laws, that are enforced effectively, to protect its marine environment and they should not be delayed any further, al-Ansi added.

Grieving Qatari girl’s heart-rending letter opens QU writing workshop (30/1/2008)

Grieving Qatari girl’s heart-rending letter opens QU writing workshop

By Bonnie James

“Dear Mom, This is the first time I am writing you a letter since you died. It is hard to remember that you are not with me,” the opening lines of Qatari girl Hissa al-Marri’s ‘free writing’ piece caused a sudden hush to fall over the audience.
When the youngster poured her heart out, describing how deeply she is missing her mother, who was her best friend, how lonely she felt at her graduation day, and that she is trying to be strong always like her mother, the listeners sat with rapt attention.
By the time Hissa finished reading, at the launch event of ‘Writing as Self-Discovery’ at the women’s campus of Qatar University (QU) yesterday, there were several moist eyes in the audience.
The Mass Communication graduate’s ‘letter to her mother’, who passed away in 2006, was an excellent example of the inherent talent hidden in everyone to do ‘free writing,’ described as writing spontaneously.
Hissa, who is now working for QU, and her friend Noura al-Suwaidi, a Banking and Financial Studies student of QU, are among those who have benefited from the writing workshops led by Carol Henderson, a writing coach from North Carolina, US.
“If 95% of Americans could write in a second language like these women, the world would be a better place,” remarked Henderson, an award-winning columnist who has written extensively for national magazines and newspapers in the US and Canada.
The weekly workshops, organised by QU’s Student Affairs Department and co-sponsored by the US State Department’s Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) small grant programme, run till February 14.
“The process of writing does not have to be an ordeal. If you can tell a story to someone then you can write, all you need is to put the pen to paper and let the words flow,” the coach said.
Henderson, who has conducted writing workshops at universities, church groups, prisons and other institutions, recalled that she has not found anyone who could not write.
“If you think you have nothing to write, write about nothing,” she said while pointing out that was the reply she gave to a student who told that she did not have any topic to write on.
Speaking about how the workshops are benefiting her, Noura al-Suwaidi said that now she has the ability to express her ideas better.
US embassy’s public affairs officer Joey Hood described the workshops as an example of ‘soft diplomacy’ that helps the American people to connect to people around the world.
“Projects like this stimulate people’s thinking and creativity and help build a civil society,” he said.
Hood also revealed that work is on to establish a children’s parliament, under the MEPI umbrella, in association with the Qatar Childhood Centre.
QU’s educational consultant Mohanalakshmi Rajakumar and library director Dalia Gohary also spoke.

Visiting US student revels in ‘experiencing’ Qatar (13/10/2005)

Visiting US student revels in ‘experiencing’ Qatar

By Bonnie James BRENDAN P Geary, a youngster from the US who landed in Qatar just over a month ago on a Fulbright student grant, is finding his experiences in this part of the world quite enlightening. “I have found Qataris to be very friendly and helpful, if not different from my previous interaction with Arabs, who have been primarily from Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon and Jordan,” he told Gulf Times in an interview. Affiliated with the University of Qatar (QU), where he is conducting one of the primary modes of his research, Geary is also a student of the Arabic programme for non-native speakers, offered by its College of Arts and Sciences. “I am conducting a political-economy study of the natural gas sector in Qatar in order to garner a practical as well as theoretical understanding of how natural resources have influenced current business-government relations and how these relations are affecting and will affect Qatar’s regional and global political position,” he explained. As part of his research methodology, the Fulbright Student Grantee is auditing some classes on the modern history of Qatar and on the industrial development of the country. Geary is not new to the Arabic language or the region. “I first started studying the language when I lived in Jerusalem in the spring of 2000,” he recalled. The youngster was spending a semester abroad through the University of Notre Dame, where he was an undergraduate student. During his stint at Bethlehem University, Geary took history, political science and language classes. It was from Georgetown University in the US that he graduated with an MA in Arab Studies in May 2005. “There, I gained proficiency in Arabic and focused my academic studies on the economics, politics, and security studies of the Gulf,” Geary said. Asked about his experiences at QU, the student researcher stated the institution is offering pertinent classes and relevant contacts that would provide the necessary information for his project. “The academic environment is very enthusiastic and I have found the professors supportive,” said Geary, who intends writing about his findings, as well as enrol in a US law school programme to study international and energy law. Referring to his experiences so far, the young researcher observed that the cultural differences between the Khalij (Gulf) and the Mashreq (region of Arabic-speaking countries to the east of Egypt) present themselves daily. “These provide an extremely interesting sociological vantage point for the non-Arab, who has had minimal contact with the Arab world,” he maintained. Geary clarified that he tries not to place a value system on his experiences, but rather try to look at his experiences in Qatar and the Arab world from several different perspectives, including the Western academic, the foreign expatriate, and the culturalist. For more than 57 years, the US government-sponsored Fulbright US Student Programme has provided American youngsters with an unparalleled opportunity to study and conduct research in other nations. It is the Institute of International Education (IIE), in co-operation with the US State Department and the J William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, which provides the grant. Fulbright student grants aim to increase mutual understanding among nations through educational and cultural exchanges while serving as a catalyst for long-term leadership development. The grants afford graduating seniors an opportunity to test their abilities, interests and professional plans through a research project and related study abroad or by spending a year teaching English abroad. The US Student Programme awards approximately 1,000 grants annually and currently operates in over 140 countries worldwide.

Belgian student ‘adores’ Arabic (18/10/2005)

Belgian student ‘adores’ Arabic

By Bonnie James WHEN Belgian national Katrien Vanpee left Qatar two decades ago as a six-year-old, she was too young to think life would bring her back to the country where she spent three memorable years of her childhood. The little girl has returned as a young lady fluent in Arabic and eager to learn more about the language she describes as the most beautiful she has heard so far. “Purely phonetically speaking, I adore Arabic,” Vanpee, who is currently taking four courses at the Arabic Language Department of the University of Qatar (QU) with native Arabic speakers, told Gulf Times in an interview. A self-confessed lover of languages in general, she has taken a year-off from pursuing a second Master’s in Arab Studies at Georgetown University in the US. Coming to QU last month on a scholarship it offered, Vanpee passed out of all the levels of the Arabic Programme for Non-Native Speakers and was transferred to the Arabic Language Department. “The courses I am enrolled in are Contemporary Literature in the Gulf; Modern Arabic Poetry; Linguistic Skills; and Metre and Rhyme, all focusing on the Arabic language and literature like me,” she explained. Vanpee believes her childhood years in Qatar, when her father worked here, may have been the first trigger of her interest in the Middle East, and she has a special bond with Qatar. “Apart from my fascination for Arabic, I am deeply attracted by the Middle Eastern, especially the Khaliji (Gulf) culture, I love its food and music, and the sun,” said the youngster who admits to a ‘weak spot’ for camels and deserts. “I am interested in the politics, economics, and the ‘big issues’ of the Middle East, and also its problems,” observed Vanpee who is intrigued by the region’s culture and describes it as ‘imperfect but beautiful as any culture.’ She has returned to Qatar for nine months after studying Arabic for five years; at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium, in Venice, Tunis, Cairo and at Georgetown. Vanpee, who has Qatari girls as her classmates at QU, rates them as great friends. “They are the sweetest girls; very open and intelligent, and very hospitable. Several of them have invited me over to their houses, where I have had unique ‘insider’ experiences,” she said. Since speaking Arabic is no problem at all for her, Vanpee gather lots of information and insights into Qatari culture from such house visits. “This comes in addition to the warm company they offer me,” she pointed out. Upon completion of her year at QU, she hopes to return to Georgetown, where she still needs to finish one more year in the Master’s programme. “I have already handed in my application to start a PhD in Arabic Literature and Linguistics at Georgetown and hope intensely that I will get accepted,” said Vanpee who is looking forward to be able to commence both the PhD and finish her Master’s next year. The young lady sees the Gulf as the region to focus her future research and career, which is to have Arabic, the language which she wants to study, teach and write on, at the core.

Animator ‘sees’ Mars in dunes of Qatar (11/10/2005)

Animator ‘sees’ Mars in dunes of Qatar

By Bonnie James DAN Maas, the Emmy Award nominated creator of the stunningly realistic three-dimensional (3D) animations about the current Mars Exploration Rovers (MERs), may very well be looking at images of sand dunes from Qatar’s Inland Sea area while working on any future project on Mars. “What surprised me constantly while driving around the Inland Sea was how much it looks like Mars and it almost felt like I was on another planet,” the 24-year old, who has taken visualisation in planetary exploration to unprecedented heights, told Gulf Times in an interview. Maas, who entered Cornell University in the US at 16, having skipped the last two years of high school on account of his academic brilliance, and graduated at the top of his class three years later, was in Doha over the weekend on his first ever visit to the Middle East. “The Martian dunes are in fact of the same shape of those at Inland Sea, they form into a kind of crescent shape when wind pushes them along,” observed the founder, CEO and president of Maas Digital, who captured on film several frames of sand dunes from Qatar for his collection of reference materials. Maas finds it very valuable to look at photographs related to his projects as they help him to give accurate and realistic renditions in his animation films. “I am taking some of images sent by the MER to create 3D terrain for my 12 minutes of animation in a 40 minute IMAX film on the MER mission, being produced by Disney and directed by well-known documentary maker George Butler for a January 2006 launch,” he said. It is estimated that at least 100mn people have seen Maas’s animations that gave the world an idea of how the Martian environment would look like even before the first rover, Spirit, entered the Martian atmosphere in January 3, 2004. The young achiever gave the first ever screening in Qatar of his nine-minute Mars Rover 2003 animation video, created as part of Cornell’s Athena MER Programme, on Sunday at Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar, where he accompanied his father Dr James B Maas, the noted Cornell professor of psychology. The video begins with the flame-bathed launch of a Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral and shows the spacecraft embarking on its seven-month voyage to Mars, and then dissolves to the spectacular airbag-bouncing landing, something no human eye has actually seen. Scenes of the spacecraft righting itself and opening, and the MER slowly unfolding and beginning to roll across the bleak reddish landscape, collecting rock and soil samples; all these are shown in dramatic detail with a high level of photo-realism, without even a single frame of actual photography being involved. “When the Rovers landed and sent back the first pictures of Martian terrain, I was very surprised and happy to see that my animation came very close to what it really looked like,” Maas replied when asked how similar his film proved to be to the actual footage from Mars. Maas, commissioned by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa), to make the video for its two MER launches, began creating simulations of the MER in 1998 while he was still an undergraduate. The animation expert, who had always wanted to try applying Hollywood techniques to real-life space exploration, has been producing digital animations since he was 10, some of his early work including Star Wars-style space battles. His interest in film goes back even farther, largely because his father is also a decorated documentary filmmaker. While still in high school, junior Maas started his own company to provide animations for television commercials. As an elementary student, he recalls really enjoying Math and Science classes. Maas, who likes using Math to describe and understand the world, substantiates that in fact the essence of computer graphics is simulating reality with Math and Physics. For the Mars video, Maas worked closely with Steven Squyres, a Cornell professor of astronomy and principal investigator for the Athena science package carried by the two Rovers. Maas used a wealth of material, accrued from conversations with Squyres and engineers, blueprints, images from Nasa’s Website, to create his computer-generated images. He also visited the Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) in Pasadena, California, to talk to the engineers managing the MER mission. Beginning each video by hand-sketching a storyboard, with each panel depicting a specific scene from the Mars mission, he used a computer-aided design programme and blueprints provided by JPL to construct a virtual, 3D model of the Rover. The model is actually a mathematical description from which a computer can construct an image of the machine as seen from any direction. Just as in hand-drawn animation, digitised sequences are composites of separately constructed background and moving images. The final step is rendering, the process that adds realistic lighting and shadows, to the nearly 12,000 individual frames of animation that make up the finished video. The software even simulates lens flare (the bright flash caused when a camera briefly looks toward the sun) and film grain. Maas did all his work by himself in his Ithaca office on an array of PCs. He wrote custom code to augment off-the-shelf programmes for the MER video. They included a programme that renders accurate star fields using a Nasa star database, a high-dynamic-range compositing system that provides better color resolution than any commercially available compositor and a server that automatically co-ordinates rendering on his network of computers. Besides Nasa, Maas is working with Ecliptic Enterprises, which makes the rocket cam system, used on the last couple of space shuttle launches, and provided exterior views from the side of the shuttle. “This company is making more of these systems to put on real space crafts and I am consulting with them on how to present their video to the world through effective editing,” he said. Maas has done projects for the Public Broadcasting Service Nova series and created a simulated space station and Mars colony for the BBC’s Tomorrow’s World. Discovery Channel International and The Ohio Aerospace Institute are his other clients.  Time magazine ran three two-page spreads on Maas’s Mars animations whereas the National Geographic printed a two-page spread. His image of the Rover is painted on the Delta II rockets that sent the real Rovers into space. Maas, currently planning on a long vacation to Hong Kong, Singapore and China (he has learnt Chinese in college), added he would love to return to Qatar for a more leisurely exploration of the country.

Qatar seeks a place in the sun (30/3/2008)

Qatar seeks a place in the sun
By Bonnie James
QATAR aims to be a major player in the global solar energy industry by starting with making the much sought-after raw material for solar cells and subsequently entering the downstream segment, Gulf Times has learnt.
“We have been doing a lot of scouting and have found ways to enter the market under a fast-track project and become key player in five to six years,” Qatar Science & Technology Park (QSTP) chairman Tidu Maini revealed in an interview.

The first step is to establish a chemical plant to make the feedstock for solar cells, the polycrystalline material, which is a very tightly held industry with only seven or eight major suppliers in the world.
“We have located some technology providers other than these big players, got a plan, did detailed studies and I believe we are in a position to have the plant ready by 2010,” the official explained.
Once Qatar begins to make the polycrystalline material, for which there is a shortage worldwide for the next five to seven years as of now, the next step would be to buy companies downstream.
“These are manufacturers of solar cells, batteries and system integrators, who could be here or in the Third World countries where labour is cheap, and then enter the market as a player,” he observed.
Qatar would also pursue using solar energy for desalination, on which the country is dependent for its water and electricity generation, rather than using oil and gas for the process.
“We are funding a lot of work on solar thermal (technology for harnessing solar energy for heat) as well,” Maini said while stating that the QSTP has funded a small project, ‘The Solar Furnace’, at Texas A&M University at Qatar, to build a demonstrator.
The QSTP chairman, who was most recently pro-rector of Imperial College London responsible for matters including technology transfer, pointed out that what Qatar intended to do was not too dissimilar to what the Masdar Initiative had been doing in Abu Dhabi.
“They have a solar plant and are coming from downstream by buying companies who already manufacture solar cells whereas we have decided to go to the other extreme,” he observed.
Maini, currently also holding a non-executive board position at the Imperial College Abu Dhabi Diabetes Clinic, describes himself as having the fortune of knowing Abu Dhabi, closely track the programme and know the pros and cons of it.
Though the plant to make the polycrystalline material is expensive and energy intensive, the official said it is very profitable and the entire factory could be paid off in five years.
“One of the components of the plan is to dedicate a certain proportion of the revenue to research and development,” Maini said while pointing out that money spent on research is vital for any company to continue to flourish.
The QSTP chairman added that solar was the only viable source for Qatar as alternative energy, as against bio fuels or nuclear energy.
Work is fast progressing on the QSTP facility, part of Qatar Foundation’s Education City, and is expected to open late this year or early next year.

Texas governor cautions against Ahmadinejad’s N-ambitions (20/3/2007)

Texas governor cautions against Ahmadinejad’s N-ambitions
By Bonnie JamesTEXAS Governor Rick Perry has warned that countries in the Middle East are taking a big chance if they believe Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is not a threat.
Perry, who succeeded George W Bush in December 2000, was in Doha to attend the opening celebration of Texas A&M University at Qatar’s new building in Education City.
He told Gulf Times in an exclusive interview: “I think countries in the region have to put pressure (on Iran) and have some type of agreement when you have a leader who is fomenting some of the very radical positions and threatening to destroy a country.”
Perry, elected to two full terms in 2002 and 2006, cited the possibility that “if allowed to go forward, Ahmadinejad could stack up a number of nuclear weapons attached to ballistic missiles that reach any country in the region”.
“All freedom loving people should be concerned about a country that has a leader who first and foremost wants to have nuclear capacity and use that to destroy a country,” he cautioned.
Asked what makes the US and its allies think that Iran would misuse nuclear capability when none of the countries in the nuclear club have done so, Perry maintained it is because Ahmadinejad said so.
“He said he would destroy a country (Israel) in the Middle East and I don’t know what more you need. I don’t want to see the evidence in the mushroom cloud some day,” the official stated.
Perry was of the view that ‘all diplomatic tools’ ought to be used to resolve the Iranian nuclear imbroglio. Ahmadinejad has refused to stop sensitive nuclear work (uranium enrichment).
Iran’s government spokesman Gholam-Hossein Elham said on Saturday that Ahmadinejad would travel to New York once a scheduled UN Security Council meeting over Tehran’s nuclear issue is confirmed.
The president is to deliver a speech defending Iran’s nuclear programme before the Council votes on a resolution against his country. Iran has all the while been claiming that its nuclear agenda is a peaceful one.
The five permanent members of the Council - the US, Russia, China, Britain and France - and Germany agreed Thursday on the draft resolution before forwarding it to the 10 non-permanent members of the group for further review.
The proposed new sanctions would ban Iranian arms exports and place sanctions on financial assistance or loans to the Iranian government.
The package would also freeze the assets of 28 named individuals and organisations involved in the country’s nuclear and missile programmes, and call for voluntary travel restrictions on individuals connected to Iran’s nuclear activities.
“We certainly have great concerns about whether the president of Iran is a person who can be trusted with his word or not,” Perry added.

Call for 80km speed limit in Doha for better road safety (11/7/2007)

Call for 80km speed limit in Doha for better road safety
By Bonnie James
INTRODUCTION of tolls on select roads, more red light cameras and speed radars, better road design, and limiting the maximum speed to 80km or less within Doha would help to alleviate congestion and improve safety, an expert on transportation affairs has suggested. “A national road safety strategy, comprising these and other measures would go a long way in bringing down the high accident rate in Qatar,” explained Dr Tarek Sayed, a professor and Ashghal Chair at Qatar University.
Dr Sayed, whose research interests include traffic operation and safety, and intelligent transportation systems (ITS), felt that a speed limit of 100km on some roads within Doha is ‘very high.’
The ideal speed limit for a very well-designed urban road, that does not have any inward or outward access points, is 80km, according to Dr Sayed, who came to QU from the University of British Columbia (UBC), where he is a professor.
“In Europe, some specific city roads have a limit of 30km, and in Vancouver the third largest city in Canada, the maximum speed within city limits is 60km and mobility is not suffering much at these places,” he pointed out.
Travelling at high speed results in shorter decision times and longer stopping distances, observed Dr Sayed who has instructed and organised several workshops and seminars in traffic safety and ITS for the Institute of Transportation Engineers, the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia, and the BC ministry of transportation.
“High speeds, which leave you a shorter time to react and less control over your vehicle, lead to the likelihood of an increase in the number of collisions, and if a collision occurs, the energy expended is related to the square of the speed, resulting in a fatal or serious injury collision” he maintained.
“In a major study I did in Canada, it was found that for each one km per hour change in the driving speed, injury and collisions increases by about 4%,” recalled Dr Sayed.
The expert has just finished an evaluation of the photo enforcement programme in Edmonton, Canada’s fourth most populous provincial capital.
“The finding is that collisions were reduced by 11% using red light cameras and radars,” he said.
Tolls, in Dr Sayed’s view, are the current global trend to reduce the number of vehicles on busy roads by keeping people from taking unnecessary trips.
“The toll rates could be varied depending on peak and off-peak hours, and special lanes set apart for high occupancy vehicles carrying more than two or three passengers,” he suggested.
Given the increasing number of trucks on Qatar’s roads, on account of the construction boom, the safety and maintenance of these vehicles need to be augmented and drivers ought to be trained better on obeying traffic rules and respecting other motorists, according to the expert.
Dr Sayed, also the Canadian Society of Civil Engineering Transportation Division’s chair and the Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering’s transportation editor, has mooted the concepts of forgiving and caring highways to be adopted in road design.
The forgiving highways focus on reducing the consequences of collisions by using devices that reduce the severity of collisions such as crash cushions, breakaway poles, etc.
The caring highways ‘watch’ and ‘protect’ the driver against exposure to accident situations and involve intelligent communication between vehicles and the road and a traffic centre somewhere in the city.
For instance, a forgiving highway would have rumble strips on the sides of the road or a clear zone of three to five metres of sand or gravel that would alert motorists if they stray from the road and save them from accidents.
“The caring highway concept, developed at the UBC, includes features such as sensors on the road which warn motorists about vehicles in their blind spots before they attempt lane changes, provided the vehicles are also equipped for intelligent communication,” he explained.
Dr Sayed has completed numerous consulting projects in ITS and traffic safety in North America.
Methods and techniques developed by him have received wide recognition and are being used by agencies such as the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia, US State Farm Insurance, US AAA Michigan, and the US Federal Highway Administration.

A woman’s triumph over disability (04/12/2006)

A woman’s triumph over disability
By Bonnie James
THE success story of Fatima Jassim Mohamed is an inspiring example of grit and determination overcoming disability.
Despite the loss of a leg to cancer, she has achieved her dream to alleviate the suffering of others.
A play therapy assistant at Hamad Medical Corporation’s Rumailah Hospital, Fatima is a successful employee, wife and mother.
Born in Bahrain in 1965, Fatima’s life took an unexpected turn when she had to have a leg amputated after she had completed secondary school. Undeterred, she continued her education.
In 1992, she landed a job in Qatar as a clerk with HMC.
"I wanted to make a difference to the lives of those who are suffering," she told Gulf Times yesterday on the sidelines of a programme marking the International Day for People with Special Needs.
After working in the admissions section, Fatima moved to the Occupational Therapy Department where she helps to co-ordinate recreational activities for in-patient children.
She has achieved success in her personal life as well, being honoured as an ideal mother by the school where her two children study.

"Fatima is the best example of how hope and challenge can overcome pain and disability, and how happiness and optimism can bring success," said occupational therapist Zvjezdana Zafa Jiji.

Negative American views about Islam ‘worrying’ (15/4/2006)

Negative American views about Islam ‘worrying’

By Bonnie James

ATTITUDES towards Arabs, Muslims and Islam in the US are troubling and have not been improving over the last few years, Arab-American academic Dr Samer S Shehata has stated, quoting results of a number of opinion polls conducted in the US. “A high percentage of Americans hold negative attitudes toward Islam, and many Americans believe that Islam - more than other religions - encourages violence,” he told Gulf Times.

An Assistant Professor of Arab Politics at the Centre for Contemporary Arab Studies in the Edmund A Walsh School of Foreign Service (SFS) at Georgetown University, Washington DC, Dr Shehata had given a presentation on Thursday at the inaugural symposium of SFS in Qatar.

“Americans are generally more willing to impose extra security measures on Arab and Muslim-Americans and limit Arab and Muslim immigration into the US,” he explained.

The academic pointed out that although survey data about American attitudes towards Arabs, Muslims and Islam before September 11, 2001, is not readily available, one could reasonably assume that there has been a significant increase in negative feelings toward these groups and religion since 9/11.

According to the Pew Research Centre for the People and the Press, attitudes toward Islam have been holding relatively stable during the last three years with about 33-36% of respondents saying they hold unfavourable attitudes towards Islam compared with 38-40% who hold favourable attitudes toward the religion. Pew is a highly respected and non-partisan research organisation that provides information on the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world.

Other polling has produced slightly more troubling findings. According to the Washington Post/ABC News polls, the percentage of Americans who hold unfavourable views of Islam has risen over the last three years.

In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, 39% of those polled stated that they held unfavourable views of Islam. This figure dropped to a low of 24% by January 2002 but has been steadily increasing ever since.

In the most recent Washington Post/ABC News poll released in March 2006, 46% of Americans said they held unfavourable views of Islam.

“Although the Pew and the Washington Post/ABC News polling data differs to some extent, we can say with confidence that around 40% of Americans have negative or unfavourable views of Islam,” Dr Shehata said.

There is less variation in the polling data regarding American opinion about Islam and violence. All of the various polling data confirm that a high percentage of Americans believe that Islam - more than other religions - encourages violence.

The Pew surveys, for example, indicate that the percentage of Americans who believe that Islam is more likely to encourage violence compared with other religions has increased from 25% in March 2002 to 36% in July 2005 (although this figure is below the high mark of 46% in July 2004).

A CBS News poll released at the end of February 2006 produced similar findings, with 39% of respondents believing that Islam encourages violence compared with other religions.

The Washington Post/ABC News polls also found that the number of Americans who believe that Islam encourages violence against non-Muslims has increased significantly over the last three years in the US from 14% in January 2002 to 32% as of March 2006.

The academic, regularly interviewed by popular TV channels and newspapers in the US and in the Arab world, recalled that the recent ABC News/Washington Post survey asked Americans about prejudice toward Muslims and Arabs.

The poll asked: “If you honestly assessed yourself, would you say that you have at least some feelings of prejudice against Muslims, or not?” The same question was asked about Arabs.

About 1/4 of the respondents admitted to feelings of prejudice. If 27% said they held prejudiced feelings against Muslims, 25% said they had prejudiced feelings against Arabs.

The poll also asked the following - possibly even more revealing — question: “Have you recently heard other people say prejudiced things against Muslims, or not?”

A total of 34% of respondents said yes, and 43% reported recently hearing prejudiced things against Arabs.

“Americans seem to have more positive attitudes toward Muslim-Americans than Muslims in general and more positive attitudes toward Muslim-Americans than toward Islam as a religion,” he stated.

According to the Pew polls, for example, 55% of Americans held favourable opinions of Muslim-Americans in July 2005, an increase from July 2004.

“An alarming number of Americans are quite willing to impose extra security measures on Muslim and Arab-Americans, such as carrying an extra form of government issued identification or increased security requirements at airports,” Dr Shehata revealed.

And many Americans also favour restricting immigration from Arab and Muslim countries. This trend began immediately after 9/11.

For example, after stating that there has been a “sharp shift towards increased wariness of Islam in post-9/11 America” and noting that “the proportion of the public calling Islamic fundamentalism a critical threat to vital US interests has jumped 23 points to 61%,” the Chicago Council on Foreign Relation’s Worldviews June 2002 report notes that “Suspicion and concern extends to Arabs and Muslim peoples.

By more than a three-to-one margin (76% to 22%), Americans say that based on the events of 9/11 US immigration laws should be tightened to restrict the number of immigrants from Arab or Muslim countries, and 77% favour restricting overall immigration into the US to combat terrorism.

A small majority, 54% to 43% also favour using racial profiling in airport security checks in order to combat international terrorism.

According to Dr Shehata, unfortunately, it is not clear that such feelings have changed considerably in the years since September 11, 2001.

A USA Today/Gallup Poll conducted last summer, for example, found that 53% of respondents favoured “requiring all Arabs, including US citizens, to undergo special, more intensive security checks before boarding airplanes in the US” and 46% favoured “requiring Arabs, including US citizens, to carry a special ID.”

However, 53% were opposed to the idea of requiring Arabs to carry special IDs. All of the polling data confirms that Americans, by self admission, do not know very much about Islam, its teachings or principles despite the fact that there has been a tremendous amount of Middle East and Islam-related coverage in the US media during the last several years.

According to the Pew surveys, for example, only 51% of those polled were able to identify the Qur’an as the holy book of Muslims and only 48% “correctly identified Allah as the name Muslims use to refer to God.”

An absolute majority of Americans (66%), the poll found, said they know “nothing at all” or “not very much” about Islam.

The Washington Post/ABC News poll asked Americans: “Do you feel you do or do not have a good basic understanding of the teachings and beliefs of Islam, the Muslim religion?” 59% of respondents answered “no.”

“What is possibly most fascinating in all of the polling data is the correlation between American’s views toward Islam and a number of other factors,” Dr Shehata observed.

Both the Pew and the Washington Post/ABC News polls establish a relationship between four variables and Americans’ attitudes toward Islam.

These factors are knowledge of the religion, one’s own religion, political views, and age. The existing polling data establishes a positive relationship between both knowledge of Islam and educational attainment, and attitudes toward the religion.

Those who are more knowledgeable about Islam are more likely to view the religion favourably. Similarly, educational attainment is positively correlated with favourable opinions of Islam.

A total of 53% of those with a four-year college degree had a favourable opinion of Islam compared with only 28% of those who had only obtained a high school education or less.

Both polls established a relationship between the religion of those polled and their views toward Islam with white evangelical Protestants more likely to have unfavourable views of Islam (including prejudiced thoughts) than other religious groups or “secularist.”

According to the Washington Post/ABC News poll, “While 46% of all Americans have an unfavourable opinion of Islam overall, among evangelical white Protestants it’s 61%.

And 36% of evangelical white Protestants admit to some feelings of prejudice against Muslims” (compared to 27% of the general population).

The Pew poll produced similar findings and added that, “Among religious groups, favourable attitudes toward Muslim-Americans are most prevalent among white Catholics (61%).

According to Dr Shehata, both polls also established that Republicans are more likely to hold negative views of Islam than Democrats.

The Pew poll determined that only 33% of conservative Republicans held favourable views of Islam compared with 56% of liberal Democrats, a 25% difference.

Both polls also determined a relationship between age (or generation) and views towards Islam with younger Americans tending to have more positive views of Islam and those 65 years or older more likely to hold negative views. The academic was of the view that it was partly because of ignorance that many Americans hold negative views of Islam, believe that Islam, more than other religions, is likely to encourage violence and hold prejudicial feelings against Arabs and Muslims.

“Americans know very little about Islam and the more they know about the religion along with increased familiarity with Muslims and Arabs (as neighbours, work colleagues or classmates), in addition to higher levels of educational attainment, the less likely they are to hold negative views of Islam or of Muslims and Arabs,” he maintained.

The speaker cites television news and popular culture as surely among the primary sources of “information” and exposure to Islam, Muslims and Arabs for many Americans.

“News, and particularly TV news, one could argue, is inherently biased against all good news, including news that would depict Arabs, Islam and Muslims in a generally more positive light,” he observed. The coverage of the Middle East and the Muslim World in the US is dominated by the Iraq war, Osama bin Laden, Abu Musab al Zarqawi, terrorism and beheadings.

“This type of bad or negative news dominates coverage and Islam, in the process, becomes synonymous with jihad; jihad, of course, understood in a particular way: as irrational, unjustified, religiously based violence, usually against non-Muslims.”

There are far fewer stories in the US news about Ramadan, for example, or Islam and ethical values, the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, or ordinary Muslim-Americans.

Dr Shehata quotes from his own experiences with the media to substantiate this point.

“Out of hundreds of times I have been called for interviews I can only recall two stories that were positive: a CNN story about the Iranian lawyer and human rights activist Shirin Ibadi receiving the Nobel Prize and an article about tourism in Libya for an obscure travel magazine,” he said.

The point is that when the Middle East, Arabs and Muslims make it into the news, it is usually in the context of negative (or unfavourable) events.

“When discussing representations of Arabs and Muslims in the US, we cannot neglect or underestimate the importance of popular culture,” Dr Shehata stated.

Popular culture’s portrayal of Arabs and Muslims exhibits even worse tendencies than those found in the ‘news media.’

More Americans spend more time watching TV serials than news, serious documentaries or educational television. “Well before 9/11, Arabs and Muslims were frequently depicted as terrorists and religious fanatics in American popular culture,” he recalled.

The situation has worsened considerably in the last few years, especially post 9/11. There has been a tremendous increase in television serials about terrorism, counter-terrorism, the CIA and similar agencies - on all of the networks.

Although a small number of these programmes deal with some of these issues more intelligently than others and from a number of perspectives the majority reproduce the standard stereotypes of Arabs and Muslims as terrorists, fanatically committed to killing innocents.

Understandably, the last few years have been a difficult time for Arabs and Muslims in the US.

“For even if one has not been subject to discrimination, prejudice, or hate crimes after 9/11, the general environment has become less welcoming and more threatening,” Dr Shehata pointed out.

Organisations also play an important role in shaping American public opinion about Arabs and Muslims and influencing US policy in the Middle East.

The most important Arab and Muslim American organisations in the US currently are the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, the American-Arab Institute, and the Council on American Islamic Relations, although there are a number of other groups who also work in these fields.

“Although these organisations have a come a long way in the last 20 years, and play a role in discussions of Arabs and Muslims in the US, they - and groups like them - have been less effective at influencing US foreign policy toward the Middle East,” the speaker said.

Dr Shehata asserts that it would be safe to say that pro-Israeli think tanks and lobbying organisations are very influential and play a major role in shaping American Middle East policy.

The academic infers that this is a particularly low point in US-Arab and US-Muslim relations, and multiple factors account for the rise of anti-Islamic and anti-Arab feelings in the US.

“Public opinion, however, is not static, fixed and permanent but changes over time depending on world events, politics, education and our own actions in the world,” he said.

Dr Shehata added that Education City, Georgetown University, SFS-Q and the Centre for Contemporary Arab Studies play an essential role in promoting increased understanding, breaking down stereotypes, and promoting real exchange and genuine understanding among peoples.

No ulterior motives, says Scheffer (03/12/2005)

No ulterior motives, says Scheffer

By Bonnie James THE Nato (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) is not coming to the Gulf region to have a heavy political footprint and it does not have any ulterior political motives, Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer has said. “But the challenges and the threats we face are so common and what happens here in this pivotal region is also relevant for the security of other regions as well,” he explained in an interview on the sidelines of the conference on ‘Nato’s Role in Gulf Security’, held on Thursday. On the first official visit by a Nato Secretary General to the Gulf region, Scheffer was of the view that Nato, which has a membership of 26 nations, and the Gulf countries can jointly fight threats including terrorism and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Referring to the Istanbul Co-operation Initiative (ICI) that Nato launched in June last year, the official had said in his keynote address earlier that it was an invitation to countries in the region to help promote security and regional stability through bilateral co-operation with Nato in areas where the Alliance has particular skills and expertise. “I am very happy with the way the nations in the Gulf have responded (to the ICI),” remarked Scheffer. Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, and the UAE have joined the ICI. “We have made good progress in developing individual work programmes with each of them,” recalled the official while pointing out that there have been expressions of interest in the ICI from Saudi Arabia and Oman. The relationship between Nato and ICI member-countries can be developed on the basis of a menu which is focused on the individual nations. “We should recognise the specificity of each and every nation (in the Gulf) and what the nation wants. We want to build trust and confidence and work together in the practical domain, do that on a bilateral basis,” he maintained. The co-operation between Nato and ICI member-countries can relate to training, and working for more inter-operability between armed forces. “It can involve having Qatari or Bahraini observers at Nato exercises or Nato coming to this region to observe exercises,” the Secretary General suggested. This rapport can be used to combat terrorism also. “If you want to be effective in the fight against terrorism we need to exchange information. I see a lot of possibilities in this form of co-operation,” said Scheffer while stating that he discussed the topic with HH the Heir Apparent Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani and the First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister HE Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor al-Thani. However, the Nato Secretary General stressed that ICI is a two-way street based on the value added for both parties. “It should never be a one-way street,” he said. Asked about Nato’s stand in the Iranian nuclear issue, the top official said the Alliance is not seeking a direct role in the discussions between the EU-3 (Britain, France, Germany) on the matter of uranium enrichment. “The Nato allies of course follow with great interest what is happening because it is a very relevant problem we are facing and I sincerely hope that they can find a solution in these consultations, discussions and negotiations,” he said. Nato is not seeking a role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict either. In Iraq, Nato is running a training mission in Baghdad, which opened two months ago, and 1,000 officers are being trained. Another 500 are being trained in Nato’s schools outside Iraq. “We are equipping the Iraqi army with tanks, rifles and ammunition so that the country has a decent army, and can stand on its own feet as soon as possible,” he added.

On the Quest for fairness, honesty and accuracy (19/11/2005)

On the Quest for fairness, honesty and accuracy

By Bonnie James A GOVERNMENT is shooting itself in the foot when it tries to cover up facts, as it won’t be able to keep the lid on truth for very long, noted television journalist Richard Quest has said. “There are many governments that believe these days that they can keep the lid on. They may be able to do it for a while, but it won’t last very long,” he stated in an interview with Gulf Times. Quest, one of CNN’s most high profile news and business anchors and correspondents, on his first visit to Qatar, was the master of ceremonies at the ‘Reach Out To Asia’ fund-raising drive’s inaugural charity gala dinner on Wednesday night. “The US and British governments would have us believe one particular point of view on weapons of mass destruction. But the truth came out,” he recalled while substantiating his point. As another example, Quest, who began his career as a BBC news trainee in 1985, pointed out that the British government has hated at times the coverage of the BBC. Referring to the ‘battle’ the BBC had with the British government over the Hutton inquiry into the death of Dr David Kelly, Quest observed that it doesn’t get much bloodier than that. “But the truth came out,” he maintained. The popular television personality urged the media in the region to find good stories and tell them honestly. “You have seen something that is interesting, somebody behaving badly, and you just tell the story. That is what people want,” he said. Quest stated he can say pretty much anything he likes on CNN as long as it is truthful, honest and fair, and the best stories he loves doing are that those concern Time Warner, which owns CNN. “When there is a bad story about Time Warner that is great fun, because you can put the boot in to your own company. “There is nothing they can do about it, because we have absolute journalistic separation between the company and the journalists,” he explained, while observing this may be a problem in this part of the world. Quest was of the view that television journalism is thriving in the Arab world. “There is opportunity, there is competition, and Al Jazeera and all these Arabic networks have gone a long way towards developing their own style of journalism.” Anybody can say the things that please the bosses or the governments. “But, the achievement is to report something that is fair, honest and accurate. And if it upsets somebody, so be it,” he said. Asked about the accusation that CNN is a pro-American channel, Quest rejected it totally and declared that ‘those who are saying so don’t like what they hear us saying, and because we have not put their point of view alone’. “In the US, we were criticised for not being American enough, and in the Arab world we are criticised for being too American. And what both the people are really saying is we were not on their side and went down the middle,” he remarked. Quest pointed out that there is a difference between being biased and being ‘americentric’ or as the BBC would be, ‘Britcentric.’ A US network with its headquarters in Atlanta, CNN has excellent access to the US government officials. “It is natural that we will use our strength there to report what is happening in the US. The BBC does the same thing with the British government,” he said. Quest recalled that CNN was excoriated in the US because of its coverage of the Monica Levinsky issue. “The US government constantly berates us for not being American enough. In the Iraq war we were being criticised because we were too even handed. People who accuse us usually want us to be on their side only,” he maintained. Quest, who joined CNN in 2001, wondered his network should be biased. “What is in it for us? We are a world-wide, world-class network. What is the point of upsetting our viewers in different parts of the world? It doesn’t make sense.” Though there are new networks to share CNN’s ‘cake’, Quest says ‘the cake has grown’, there are more viewers and everybody is getting more viewers. He has no doubt that the same phenomena will happen with Al Jazeera International when it is launched. It will increase the number of viewers, if history is any guide. “And we have always noticed that when big stories happen, we see people coming back to us again and again and again,” he said. Quest claimed that CNN is still the number one, among a total of 65, 24-hour networks around the world. “We were the first and we will be the first. We will compete for every viewer, in every market, in every country, every hour.” Asked if there were any stories he would love to do, Quest said he has always wanted to do the Rio Carnival and the Paris-Dakar motor rally, stories that may seem odd. “I am also desperate to be on the first flight of the (Airbus) A-380 when it first carries passengers,” said Quest, who reported live on the launch of the super jumbo from Toulouse in France earlier this year. The popular TV personality is doing two features on Qatar for CNN. One is on the Aspire Academy for Sports Excellence and the 15th Asian Games, and the other on the changing role of women, focusing on how women are now playing a larger role in the business world. “It is very important that they will not be adverts for Qatar. I am not here to do the work of the Qatari Tourism Authority, but to do a solid piece of journalism that looks at these two events,” he added.

73% of crash drivers in Qatar use mobiles in car (15/10/2005)

73% of crash drivers in Qatar use mobiles in car

By Bonnie James A NEW study featuring 822 Qataris, who were involved in motor vehicle collisions resulting in personal injury and substantial property damage, has revealed that 73.2% (602) of them were using a mobile phone while driving, and 87% of those had hand-held phones. The finding assumes special significance given that the new traffic regulations, which include a QR200 fine for using a hand-held mobile phone while driving, are expected to be enforced shortly. The study by a four-member international team was led by Hamad Medical Corporation’s Medical Statistics and Epidemiology Department head Prof Abdulbari Bener, and based on data collected between December 2004 and June 2005. Another finding was that 222 (36.9%) of drivers who came under the mobile phone user category, admitted to never using the seatbelt. While 80 subjects (13.3%) used the seatbelt for less than half of their journeys, 275 (45.7%) put on their belt for more than half of their trips and only 25 (4.2%) always used the seatbelt. “The majority of the drivers, 71.8% (590), were men. The rate of mobile phone use was higher in the morning (31.6%) than in the evening (28.6%), and most had head injuries (33.2%), followed by injuries of upper limbs (16.6%) and face (12.1%),” the report said. The participants in the study were selected from among patients registered and attending 12 Primary Health Care centres, including three from semi-urban areas, which represent over 75% of total visits per year. Data compilation was done by qualified nurses and health educators through interviews with the 822 subjects, aged between 18 and 65 years, of whom the under 24 years category constituted the single largest group (53.2%). Though a total of 1,139 Qatari drivers, involved in road traffic accidents, were approached, 317 had to be excluded from the study on account of being under 18 years and not holding a driving licence, refusal to participate or for unstable medical or social problems. Queried about the reasons for the accidents, 48.2% of the mobile users cited speeding, 45.3% admitted jumping a red traffic signal, 20.7% named smoking and 17.3% stated the cause as keeping a child in the front seat. On an average, these individuals received or made 4.28 calls per trip. “Drivers also sent and received text messages while on the road, and generally this was often a subject from the younger age group,” it was explained in the report. While 30.2% of those who admitted to using mobile phone while driving came under sedentary/professional category, 28.6% were manual workers and army and police officers (17.9%). “A worrying demographic statistic is the number of people who use mobile phones while driving four-wheel drive vehicles,” it was observed in the report which pointed out that it was possible that the raised driving position and the robustness of these vehicles might increase a driver’s sense of safety and make them less concerned over the implications of their action. Alternatively, the four-wheel drive vehicle may represent a style choice that may correlate with risk-taking behaviour. There was also a greater propensity for mobile telephone use among drivers who were less likely to wear seatbelts. Several international studies have indicated that the use of mobile phones while driving is associated with a quadrupling of the risk of a collision during the brief period of a call. It has been reported that using a mobile phone was associated with a risk of having a crash that was about four times as high as that among the same drivers when they were not using a mobile phone. Some studies indicate that the risk of collision while driving using a mobile phone increases five-fold, though a nine-fold increase was noted in one case-control study. Experimental research has identified several specific driving behaviours that are degraded by the use of the mobile phone while driving, such as gap judgement and headway maintenance. "The greatest concern is reserved however for studies which have demonstrated that conversations over a mobile phone can lead participants to completely fail to respond to certain events that might occur when driving," the report said. At the very least it has been proved that using a mobile phone while driving results in considerably delayed response times such as making an appropriate response to the onset of a lead car’s brake lights or responding to a traffic light that turns red. "While the risks of contributing to collisions is more apparent for cases involving hand-held phones, there is also evidence that hands-free mobile phones can interfere with driving tasks," it was pointed out. In the present study, older drivers (45 years and above) constituted the minimum number of 28 (4.7%) to be involved in accidents, with those in the 35-44 age group accounted for 90 (15%) and those in the 25-34 years category amounted to 164 (27.2%). If 504 (83.7%) of mobile users said they never put a child in the front seat, as many as 91 subjects (41.4%) coming under the mobile non-user category admitted they often did this. The other members of the study team were David Crundall (Accident Research Unit, School of Psychology, University of Nottingham, UK), Turker Ozkan (Department of Psychology, Traffic Research Unit, University of Helsinki, Finland) and Timo Lajunen (Safety Research Unit, Department of Psychology, Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey). Prof Bener, an adviser to the World Health Organisation, is also a faculty member at Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar.

Qatar to be hub of technology initiative for development (17/9/2005)

Qatar to be hub of technology initiative for development

By Bonnie James Qatar is poised to become a regional hub for a unique programme focused on designing and implementing creative technological solutions that will benefit development, thanks to Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar (CMU-Q). The TechBridgeWorld (TBW) initiative, which aims to facilitate collaborations between CMU, based in Pittsburgh, US, and developing communities around the world, has been brought to Qatar with its founder and director Dr M Bernardine Dias joining CMU-Q recently. “My biggest excitement about coming here with TBW is that this is our first real foray into the Middle East and the Arab world, which I felt was something really missing from the programme,” Dr Dias, a member of the robotics research faculty, told Gulf Times in an interview. It was about 18 months ago that Dr Dias, a native of Sri Lanka, launched TBW at CMU, her alma mater. The fact that most developing communities have not benefited from technological advancements to date was one of the key reasons that spurred her into action. “This has led to a substantial digital divide between developed and developing communities that further impedes the development process in these communities,” she said while pointing out that technology can help combat poverty and aid development in many ways. For example, telemedicine can provide medical support to communities without healthcare, robots can rid post-war communities of leftover land mines while minimising risk to human lives, and innovative sensing and computing technology can help improve safety and quality in industry. “It is always about going to different communities, meeting people and asking them about their most important problems, things they would change if they could, and then trying to find a local partner like an NGO or voluntary organisation from the same community,” Dr Dias explained. Getting a partner from the targeted community is very important as ground reality matters a lot, she said, “Because I grew up in Sri Lanka I know about experts who have flown in and stayed at five-star hotels for a month, used all the money and came up with solutions that had no relevance at all.” The direction in which TBW is heading can be perceived from the Kane Project in Accra, Ghana, that has helped a number of children improve their English language skills, such as spelling and fluency, through LISTEN (Literacy Innovation that Speech Technology Enables), an automated reading tutor, also developed by CMU. “We had a research student from Ghana who got a local Internet cafÈ to allow their computers to be used by school children from a poor neighbourhood for an hour a week or so and tried if they could understand the tutor,” she recalled. Though the children had never seen computers before, the experiment worked really well with the inclusion of some Ghanaian stories. “The students were excited, they did not want to leave the computer when their turn was up and in a month there was a slight improvement in their language skills. Dr Dias feels LISTEN, which has also been used with good results in some places in the US, can be put to good use in Qatar and several other countries in the region as English literacy is an issue. “That is exactly another project I can bring here and I can see getting students very easily involved in the research aspect of it as well as the application of it in society,” she said. An advantage of being at Carnegie Mellon, Dr Dias says, is that one has some of the world’s most brilliant people all around building exciting technology, like LISTEN. “My biggest role in creating TBW was to pitch up to them saying there are really interesting technology problems that are relevant to developing communities. It is not a charity thing, but about sharing knowledge,” she said. This approach is going to make technology better for everybody. “At the same time you can feel good about what you do. It is not like you are going to build a robot that goes and kills people in a war. You learn so much more,” she remarked. Designing and implementing technology that can enhance suitable and sustainable development in developing communities provides unique challenges in creativity and resourcefulness. “While many organisations continue to focus on different means of assisting developing communities in their quest for suitable and sustainable development, very few have studied different ways in which technology can aid this process,” observed Dr Dias, who went to the US in 1994. The vision of TBW is to create and foster an environment where members of the Carnegie Mellon community, together with partners from around the world, can share their expertise with developing communities to co-operatively enable and realise each community’s vision of development. “One of the newest projects we are working on is about building an e-community for health and involves three small hospitals in Haiti, Congo and India,” she said. These hospitals have the same problems, very different from hospitals in Pittsburgh or Doha because of lack of resources. “But, if we can get them talk to each other, they can learn a lot,” she said. TBW is also working with a group of women in Chennai, India, who have brought the Internet to their village and would like to get more information on health and how they can feed their families better. “We can get groups like this from different developing communities, create an e-community so that they can talk to each other and we can provide answers for their queries,” she said. Through a variety of programmes, TBW-Q (Qatar) is to provide the Qatar campus community with numerous opportunities to apply their talents and resources to make a difference in developing communities and learn from these communities. Initial programmes will focus on information dissemination through appropriate courses and a seminar series. Follow-on programmes will include building partnerships with developing communities throughout the Arab world. Through TBW-Q, CMU-Q students are to get opportunities to participate in programmes such as STEP (Student Technology Exchange Programme), that is done in partnership with universities in various parts of the world and TCinGC (Technology Consulting in the Global Community), a collaborative venture with NGOs throughout the world. “The first thing is to get to know the community and find out what do people here want to do for Qatar, for the rest of the Arab world and the world in general,” Dr Dias said. She is keen to bring two courses from CMU, Pittsburgh to CMU-Q. They are Technology Consulting in the Community, a programme to train undergraduate students as consultants, and Technology for Developing Communities, a slightly more advanced course at graduate level, and for the first time to be offered to senior undergraduates from this semester.