Painless Technology

Myshkin and a group of friends created a noninvasive blood-test device, which they hope will reduce the number of anaemia-related deaths.

An innovative young man and his friends have created a device that tests blood without the use of needles.

THE things that Myshkin Ingawale has worked on are as diverse as night and day. He was on the MIT team that worked to build the Copenhagen Wheel, a device that transforms ordinary bicycles into hybrid e-bikes. At the same time, he was also trying to finish his PhD, researching how people interact, and how articles are formed, on Wikipedia.
It was also at this time in 2009 that he took a break and returned home to Mumbai, India, for a vacation. He decided to take a road trip to Parol, which is about 60km from Mumbai. A friend of his, Dr Abishek Sen, was interning there, and was delivering a baby when Myshkin arrived.
Later, Dr Abishek emerged looking pale. When asked why, the doctor told his friend that the baby and its mother had both died due to post-partum haemorrhage. The severe bleeding was caused by undiagnosed anaemia. Even though there are cheap and affordable cures for anaemia, and the Indian government even subsidises iron tablets, cases like this still happen because anaemia is not diagnosed at point-of-care.
Myshkin, who has a penchant for fixing things, thought that it was time someone invented a device that was portable and easy to use, for carrying out blood tests at point-of-care in villages and such.

by,
ALLAN KOAY starhealth@thestar.com

Making ICT Work

Officials from Southeast Asian countries share best practices and progress made through the use of ICT in education.
MANY believe that Information and Communications Technology (ICT) offers poorer countries a chance to catch up with their richer counterparts and level the education playing field.

The greater use of ICT will enable more countries to provide quality education to their citizens.

Unesco views ICT as a delivery medium that enables inclusion to those who have yet to access education.
“Due to the prohibitive costs in building and maintaining new schools, it is impossible for developing countries to meet increasing demands for quality education using the traditional pattern,” said the head of the ICT unit at Unesco, Bangkok, Dr Miao Fengchun. “New media and new models are needed if education for all is to be achieved.”
ICT offers an affordable and sustainable solution for children in remote regions. As examples, Dr Miao cited the use of multi- media learning packages in schools that lack sufficiently-trained human resources, and community learning centres in China and India.
Dr Miao was speaking in Kuala Lumpur recently at an ICT conference and exhibition held in conjunction with the 43rd Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organisation’s (Seameo) council conference and the third Asean Education Ministers Meeting.
The conference featured 37 speakers.
Seameo member countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Brunei, Laos, Cambodia, the Philippines and Indonesia took part.
In his opening address, Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein said governments alone could not cope with imparting ICT knowledge and that smart partnerships should be formed.
“Teaching methods and educational goals have to be geared towards producing individuals who will work at developing their capabilities throughout their lives.
“It should equip students with the skills to seek information on their own, the ability to use technology to gain knowledge and to advance their skills,” he said.
Why ICT matters
In his plenary session paper, Dr Miao gave an overview of efforts to integrate ICT in teaching and learning at a macro level by countries in Asia Pacific.
He said the overall goal of the ICT in Education Programme at Unesco was to help member states harness the potential of ICT to achieve quality education for all in the region. Without education for all and quality learning as the goal, the adoption of ICT in education would just be “an aimless and endless digitalisation gimmick”.
He noted that mobile phone technology and US$100 (RM320) computers were lowering the barriers to digital inclusion. But, he asked: “Were these vendor-driven or education-oriented?
“Due to the prohibitive costs of building and maintaining new schools, it is impossible for developing countries to meet increasing demands for quality education using the traditional pattern.
“New media and new models are needed if education for all is to be achieved,” Dr Miao said.
Dr Tinsiri Siribodhi, deputy director with the Seameo secretariat, also spoke about the implementation of ICT in member countries.
She said that although resources were scarce in many countries, this should not be a barrier to ICT use.
“Success is not about the number or ratio of computers to students.
“Rather it is measured by what a teacher can do with limited resources to achieve maximum results.”
Making progress
Wide variations exist in the use of ICT among the Southeast Asian countries. While Thailand and the Philippines have achieved remarkable progress, poorer nations like Cambodia and Laos still lag far behind.
About 80% of all schools in Thailand have Internet access, which is delivered through dial-up, leased lines and satellite. And 55.3% of schools have a ratio of 20 students to one computer.
“Since 2005, only leased lines and satellites have been installed at institutions,” said Keartisak Sensai from the Education Ministry in Thailand.
“Besides allocating budgets to set up the network systems and computers, the ministry also provides funds for resources to support the teaching and learning environment.”
Elmer M. Guizano from the Department of Education in the Philippines spoke about initiatives taken by the department to use ICT to broaden access and improve the quality and efficiency of basic education services.
“Technology plays a major role in creating a new and improved model of teaching and learning, where education happens anytime and anywhere,” he said.
Over 100,000 ICT teachers had been trained through strategic partnerships and resource mobilisation between the public and private sectors in the Philippines.
Many obstacles
Recently, through a collaborative project with Waseda University, Japan, three public schools, local government units and a marine sanctuary in Bantayan Island, Cebu, were provided with a wireless transmission network.
“The recipient schools can now be a model of inter-island E-learning in the Philippines,” Guizano said.
In Laos, computers are used mainly for short-term courses and for the subject itself at technical and vocational institutions.
“Only computer teachers use power point to prepare overhead projector transparencies. In most cases, there is no Internet or e-mail access in these institutions,” said Soulikhamkone Sisoulath from the Education Ministry in Laos.
He acknowledged that there was a lack of ICT infrastructure, knowledge base, financial resources and awareness of ICT use in the country. However, there are plans to build a Wide Area Network between selected technical and vocational institutions.
In Cambodia, a lot of catching up is needed to bring youths into the digital age and produce a technologically literate, productive and critical-thinking workforce for the country.
“A national ICT policy, which is about to be approved by the National Assembly, espouses the need to use free and open source software,” said Sombath Eath from the Cambodian Education, Youth and Sports Ministry.
The ministry was sourcing for educational content from other countries, which could be translated into the Khmer language, she added.
Electricity is another problem – a few high schools have to use generators or solar power to run their computers.
“The country needs about 20,000 computers to reach a ratio of one computer for every 20 students in high schools. They have to be low power consumption computers, otherwise the ministry will not be able to afford the electricity cost,” Sombath said.

by, SIMRIT KAUR@thestar

Malaysia has Potential in Green Technology Sector

JOHOR BARU: Malaysia has the potential to become one of the global leading suppliers in green technology parts and components for green technology-based companies worldwide.
Malaysian-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MGCC) general manager Thomas Brandt said however, not much had been done by the country to elevate itself to that position.
He said by now, there should be better coordination and concerted efforts between ministries and relevant agencies to promote Malaysia as a hub for greentech companies.
“The local small and medium-scale enterprises will benefit in terms of technology transfer from multinational corporations involved in greentech activities,'' Brandt told StarBizWeek after a briefing on the upcoming Intersolar 2012 here yesterday.
Brandt said Malaysia was the fourth largest producer of solar cells in the world although it had not been actively promoting solar power usage.
He said Malaysia's lack of commitment in this area had dampen the interest of many foreign greentech companies and investors. “If no immediate steps are taken to address the issue, Malaysia risks losing out to other countries in the region especially Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand.''
He said Singapore was ahead in the region when it comes to the greentech industry, while Indonesia and Thailand were actively attracting foreign investors to their shores.
Barndt said the greentech industry was a multi-billion dollar industry as countries all over the world were now looking at new energy sources including renewable energy.
He said Malaysia could fully exploit solar power due to its sunny conditions and produce renewable energy from oil palm-based biomass. “Large plantation companies in Malaysia can become the new Petronas of the greentech industry,” added Brandt.
Meanwhile, the upcoming Intersolar 2012, which will be held in Munich, Germany is slated to be the world's largest gathering of manufacturers, suppliers, distributors, utility and service companies in solar business as it expects the participation of 2,400 exhibitors and 80,000 visitors from 150 countries.

by, ZAZALI MUSA, zaza@thestar.com.my

Opportunities Await M’sia in Sensor Technology Sector

GEORGE TOWN: Malaysia should tap on its experience in the electronics industry to move into the growing sector of sensor technology.
Clean technology adviser for the government of China and Taiwan Dr William Kao said Malaysia currently had no presence in the sensor technology industry and should therefore tap on its electronic expertise to move into the field soon.
“Sensors to detect motion, temperature and pressure are found in all kinds of electronic devices. A smart phone, for example, has 14 sensors. This shows how big the market is,” Kao told StarBiz in an interview.
He was attending the Malaysian Investment Development Authority's (Mida) seminar on electronics industry. The event was officiated by Mida chairman Tan Sri Dr Sulaiman Mahbob.
Kao said although there was currently overcapacity in solar energy, Malaysia could position itself in the non-electronic green technology areas.
“These include the technology to provide clean water and air treatment as well as green building materials.
“Malaysia should also position itself as a long-term player in the renewable energy sector, given the long-term prospects of the business despite the oversupply of solar energy,” he said.
Kao said the capital invested for clean technology generated two to four jobs for every one job if the money was spent on fossil fuel industries.
“Many of these jobs can't be exported, as they are based heavily on local manpower in installation, operations and maintenance,” he said.
He said green jobs could pay well and span the spectrum from “green-collar” trade to Ph.D level engineers.
“Industrial leaders in countries like the United States, China, South Korea, Germany and Japan, who are responding to this opportunity, are now vying for clean-tech leadership and the jobs that come with it,” he added.
Meanwhile, Sulaiman said Malaysia was on track to achieve its targeted 12.8% growth under the 10th Malaysia Plan for private investments in the country, despite a weakening economy.
“The investment received for the first quarter of 2012 showed positive growth. A significant percentage is for the electronics industry,” he said.

by DAVID TAN @ thestar.com.my

The SoftSpace Solution to Payment Technology

Chang: ‘We are fulfilling a demand, not creating one.’

PETALING JAYA: Financial transactions in Malaysia may just be revolutionalised as SoftSpace Sdn Bhd's smart device payment technology begins to attract corporates, small medium enterprises, freelancers and foreign partners.
Founder Chang Chew Soon has received enquiries, funding and even an acquisition offer since SoftSpace was incorporated to market its brainchild technology.
The technology, also called SoftSpace allows payments to be made on smart phones and tablets through a card reader.
The company is funded through angel investments and has turned down funding offers from local investment banks. SoftSpace began operations with a start-up capital of RM2mil and is looking to privately raise RM8mil this year.
“The reason we have resisted funding support from any banks is that we want to remain neutral so that we can work with any institutions,” he said, adding that there was also interest from a technology company to acquire but SoftSpace's valuation was higher than expected.
SoftSpace is currently exploring to roll out the payment system with Maybank, AmBank and Malaysian Electronic Clearing Corp.
Aside from banks, the company is also talking to Maxis, Celcom and DiGi as Chang “believes they are the ones in the position to help realise the implementation”.
It has teamed up with Malaysia Airline's insurance partner Mondial Assistance and other local partners include online payment service providers iPay88 and MOLPay.
It has engaged Taiwanese company ID Tech to manufacture the card readers.
On whether small businesses will warm up to this mode of payment, Chang said that the change towards cashless transactions would likely happen in one to two years. “We are fulfilling a demand, not creating one,” he said.
SoftSpace was also in talks with North American mobile payment service provider P'Eh Phone.
P'Eh stumbled upon SoftSpace just six weeks ago when co-founder Landon Letendre was looking through his Google Alerts on credit card and smart phone payments.
“We came across them on my Google Alerts and they were on the headline. We move fast when we see a product that is secure,” he said.
With SoftSpace, P'Eh would be the first to bring a chip-based card payment platform to North America.

by LIZ LEE @ thestar.com.my

Philippine Official Sacked Over Facebook Photos

MANILA: A Philippine local official has been sacked after bunking off work for a school reunion on a tropical island and posting photos of the trip on Facebook, the government said today.

Provincial information officer Maynardo Valdez shut his office for four  days in July last year to join former classmates on the holiday island of  Boracay, said his employers, the Philippine Information Agency.

 

Official efforts at the time to locate Valdez proved futile, but his bosses  soon caught on after seeing photos of the jaunt online.

 

The “secret escapade to Boracay was exposed when his pictures were seen in  the social networking site”, read the dismissal order issued last month. “These  pictures were later printed out as part of the evidence in this case.”    The government agency, which only made the dismissal public this week, said  Valdez was sacked for “neglect of duty, gross misconduct and dishonesty”.    Valdez could not be reached on Thursday for comment.

 

The Philippines, a nation of 95 million people, is among the world’s  leading countries in terms of Facebook use. -- AFP

New Technology to Net Drug Mules

Melbourne: The Australian Customs and Border Protection Service has begun a trial of body scanning technology to detect internal drug concealment.

"This is a smarter, faster, way to catch drug mules," Minister for Home Affairs Jason Clare said on Thursday.
"Instead of taking people suspected of concealing drugs to the hospital, this technology can confirm this on the spot. "It saves the time and resources of Australian Federal Police and local hospitals.
"About half of the heroin and cocaine detected at our airports is internally concealed," Clare said in a statement.

Travellers will only be asked to undertake a body scan where there is reasonable suspicion that they are carrying drugs internally and have given consent.
The Customs and Border Protection Service is using the internal body scanner at an Australian airport as part of a 12-month pilot programme. For operational reasons the location of the body scanner will not be publicly disclosed.
The body scanner will produce images of a person's internal cavities similar to a medical X-ray image but with significantly lower radiation exposure.
The images produced by the scanner focus on internal body tissue, the skeleton, and where present, internal drug concealments within body cavities.
On June 29, a pregnant Malaysian woman, who swallowed 34 pellets of heroin in Kuala Lumpur before her arrest at Melbourne airport, was jailed for a minimum 14 months after pleading guilty to importing heroin. County Court Judge Gabriele Cannon criticised Norazlinda Ramli, 35, from Puchong for putting her unborn baby's life at risk. -Bernama-