July 2013

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 31 jul 2013

While speaking at the UNGA (UN General Assembly) Thematic Debate on Entrepreneurship for Development, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon emphasized the importance of entrepreneurship and urged governments to build entrepreneurial ecosystem and encourage, educate and empower young entrepreneurs. He mentions that there will be 73 million unemployed in the global economy this year and an estimated 425 million youths will join the workforce between 2016 and 2030, thus creating a challenging situation of providing jobs to about half a billion people. According to him entrepreneurship can help to overcome this crisis as it will transform these young women and men to become innovators, employers and job creators. Other officials also suggested participation of private sector and civil society in addition to governments to collaboratively overcome this global human resource challenge. Read on...

Global Times: Governments urged to support young entrepreneurs to help tackle global job crisis
Author: NA

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 31 jul 2013

According to a survey, 35% of the employers worldwide find it challenging to attract and retain talent and are concerned that this staff shortage will have a substantial impact on their businesses. Research suggests that to solve this problem companies should be more 'talent-focused' rather then only 'resource-focused' in their strategic planning efforts. Talent-focused companies use workforce analytics like behavioral assessment tools to match jobs with employee skills and talent and also optimize individual development and team dynamics. Behavioral assessments provide data related to individual's needs, aspirations, motivational drives etc, thus giving organizations predictive knowledge and understanding of the individual's behavioral characteristics for better decision making to assign job roles. According to recent research 92% of high performing companies use some sort of assessment data to enhance workplace productivity and performance. Read on...

PR Newswire: Tackling the Global Talent Shortage with Behavioral Assessment Data
Author: NA

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 28 jul 2013

Accountable Care Organization (ACO) is a patient focused group of healthcare providers that uses a payment and care delivery model that is accountable for quality, cost, efficiency and overall care of the assigned community of patients. This new trend in the healthcare industry has created opportunities for innovation in some sectors and challenges for others. On one side are the payers and providers where the financial and care delivery models have initiated innovations with visibile benefits while on the other are biopharmaceutical and medical technology companies where demonstrating value of their innovations is becoming challenging. Some of the ways in which ACOs are catalyzing a shift in the healthcare innovations are - Transitions from broad-based innovations to targeted and customized patient-centric solutions; Emerging patient engagement technologies like tele-health, mobile-health, health information & coaching tools etc; Increasing use of evidence based medicine and clinical guidelines that leads to efficient and cost effective utilization of therapies and technologies and initiates collaboration and partnerships between manufacturers, providers and payers. Some challenges for healthcare innovators include - Concern that ACO might prefer a less costly therapy over an expensive innovative therapy that is new in the market where long term benefits are unclear; Expected decrease in funding for academic research as it would be difficult for academic medical centers to compete on cost with other providers; Incentivization mechanism applied by ACOs to prefer certain therapies over others and how it effects access of innovative and appropriate therapies to patients. For the long term success of ACOs and their potential benefit to consumers all the stakeholders of the healthcare industry have to overcome the various challenges with a collaborative approach to finding innovative healthcare solutions. Read on...

Health Affairs: Accountable Care Organizations And Innovation - A Changing Landscape
Author: Erin Bartolini

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 27 jul 2013

A recent Thomson-Reuters study, with 1000 participating professionals from around the world, found similar workplace behavior, attitude and habits of workers irrespective of their gender. Moreover the study also focused on comparison between the developed nations (US and UK) and emerging markets (India and Brazil) on similar parameters. According to the study 52% of professionals in emerging nations predict gender gap closing in the next 25 years with more female executives at powerful positions. While only 36% in the developed markets expect this. Another point put forward by the study was related to worker optimism which seems higher in case of emerging nations (41% & 22% for females and 44% & 33% for males). Read on...

Slate: Reuters Study Claims the Gender Gap Has Been "Muted" Around the World. Nope.
Author: Amanda Hess

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 27 jul 2013

Chris Baribeau, an architect and entrepreneur, explains how he and his firm pursues sustainable architectural concepts and projects. According to him 'nature' is the most valuable source for design inspiration and living ideas. By carefully observing and being constantly aware of the surrounding environment it is possible to achieve sustainable design that blends modern architecture with the natural elements. He suggests five aspects of sustainable and green design - (1) Balance between the natural and the built environment (2) Healthy living by giving consideration to indoor air quality, thermal comfort and efficient energy & resource conservation (3) People friendly and promoting community connectivity (4) Convergence and seamless integration of individual elements like open spaces, warm materials, natural environment etc (5) Embrace progressive change and continuously evolve ideas and concepts with focus on the present. Read on...

Mother Nature Network: 5 reasons why you love sustainable architecture
Author: Chris Baribeau

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 26 jul 2013

According to the latest report released by UN Environment Program (UNEP), corporate and private sector will be adversely impacted by the changes in the environment and it has to work towards a shift to greener economy. The challenges of climate change may also bring opportunities for companies to develop products and services that align with environmental protection. The report analyzed possibility of risks for 10 business intensive sectors - building & construction, chemicals, power, extractives, finance, food & beverage, healthcare, IT, tourism, and transport - and provided recommendations to better adapt to the changing environment and lessen the impact on the global economy. Read on...

The Times of India: Changing environment to impact global business - UN
Author: NA

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 26 jul 2013

Globalized environment is giving rise to borderless businesses that need to technologically integrate their information systems across the whole enterprise to stay competitive and successful. Experts say that in the current business scenario enterprise integration is viewed through two important perspectives, one is integration of transaction and processes and the other is about integrating information. As more and more businesses become operationally distributed in nature, the ability to successfully integrate large amount of fractured information and analyze this large pool of data for better decision making and to effectively serve the customer, is critical for long term sustainability of the organizations. Analytics have evolved from merely reporting to predicting and infering thus making it more valuable in the decision making process. Read on...

ITBusinessEdge: The Enterprise Management Trend That's Driving Integration Work
Author: Loraine Lawson

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 25 jul 2013

As consumers become more health conscious, globalized and sophisticated in their food tastes it becomes very challenging for food designers to bring innovative food products that satisfy their palates. To identify latest trends and get ideas for future innovations designers have to participate in a global environment and avail opportunities for collaboration. 'Anuga' is one such annual global event that brings all elements of food industry at one platform to showcase and share their innovations and at the same time explore possibilities of partnerships to define the future of food industry. Read on...

Food Product Design: Designing for Global Marketplace
Author: NA

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 24 jul 2013

Healthcare IT firms from US have global opportunities but there are number of challenges and issues that have to be addressed through agreements with different nations. According to Vickie Yates Brown of University of Louisville Foundation, health information privacy is one of the main challenge that US health IT firms face while operating globally. She says that US Healthcare Insurance Portability and Accountability Act is inapplicable outside of US and that adversely affects US companies that perform medical research internationally. President Barack Obama's current administration is pursuing policy to increase exports through National Export Initiative. Read on...

Business First: Health IT firms have global opportunities
Author: David A. Mann

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 24 jul 2013

The latest architectural trend in office design is development of open and partitionless workspaces that foster creativity, collaboration and social interaction among employees. But a recent survey conducted by an architectural and design firm found that too much attention to open office design is actually hurting productivity. The survey report mentions that results show that lack of effective focus space adversely hurts efficiency of other work modes namely collaboration, learning and socializing. The firm suggests that the office design should intelligently blend collaborative open workspaces with focus areas to create what they term as 'optimal workplace design'. Read on...

Smart Planet: Is collaborative office design hurting workplace productivity?
Author: Tyler Falk

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 23 jul 2013

Experts in technology investing share their philosophy and approach to make investments in technology start-ups and innovations which they term as 'revolutionary tech investing'. Although their main focus for investment advisory is for the Australian market but they don't intend to limit their approach to specifically one market considering the globally connected financial markets. According to them their methodology for investing focuses on those technology stocks and companies that are capable of revolutionizing the marketplace with extraordinary breakthroughs and be global leader in their field. Their current sectors for investment are computational technologies and biological technologies with companies in biotechnology, robotics, molecular technology, computing etc. Their other main area of consideration is related to development in space technologies and companies that focus on commercializing the space and the subsequent creation of space industry. Read on...

Money Morning: Why Technology is the Most Exciting Industry in the World
Author: Callum Newman

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 21 jul 2013

Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn, explores the correlation between immigration and entrepreneurship, that results in the economic progress and prosperity of the US. He mentions that the passing of the current immigration reform bill in the Senate is a positive step in further strengthening the US national identity of welcoming immigrants that subsequently participate in entrepreneurial ventures for the benefit of the country. The bill intends to secure borders, legalize illegal immigrants, increase visas for high-skilled workers (mostly in science and technology), for low-skilled workers (in construction and hospitality), guest-worker program for immigrant farmworkers etc. According to Partnership for a New American Economy, as of 2011, upto 42% of Fortune 500 companies based in US that account for 10 million jobs worldwide, were started by immigrants or their children and between 1990 and 2005, 25% of the highest-growth companies in US were founded by foreign-born entrepreneurs. The bill would now go to the Congress for consideration. Read on...

The Washington Post: Immigration promotes entrepreneurship and prosperity
Author: Reid Hoffman

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 21 jul 2013

Graduating students having insufficient skills to get employed is a global concern. Most of the time industry and educational institutions are on the opposite side of the spectrum on this issue. According to researcher Alec R. Levenson of University of Southern California, four-year liberal arts education in US doesn't prepare students to be employable. Human resource experts agree and caution that this skill gap is further widening in the present globalized and highly competitive work environment. Current report by The Chronicle of Higher Education says that 50% of 704 participating employers find it difficult to find fresh graduates fit for jobs in their company and the relevant skills they lack are oral and written communication proficiency, adaptability and multitasking, desicion making and problem solving. Most experts suggest a cooperative and collaborative approach between universities and industry to solve the problem. Internships are one way to equip students with job skills. Another way is through promoting industry-student interactions through social media and other web-based strategies. Read on...

The New York Times: What It Takes to Make New College Graduates Employable
Author: Alina Tugend

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 20 jul 2013

Smart phones and tablets loaded with numerous mobile apps related to property and real estate are driving the new phase of personalized and customized online real estate shopping. Most apps offer recommendations and suggestions based on the user's past preferences and likenesses thus making the real estate buying process smarter and more efficient. In US there are about 850 real estate search services available to consumers. Experts suggest that next wave of innovation will come by engaging majority of real estate agents in the online process and giving shoppers and buyers tools to find preferred agents online. Currently consumers find only 9% agents through this. By incorporating agent's detailed information like transaction and deal history, ratings by past customers etc the sites can further enhance the online real estate process. Read on...

Herald-Tribune: Online real estate shopping gets personal
Author: Harold Bubil

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 20 jul 2013

Due to economic recession most US and UK firms across various sectors have reduced their innovation activities during 2008-2010, say experts. UK Innovation Survey of 2011 mentions that only 31% of companies continued innovation activities during this period. But the shift towards innovation is now visible. In May 2013 Accenture report it is mentioned that of 519 companies (revenues more than US$ 100 million) from US, UK and France, 70% have innovation among their top five priority. According to research firm Battelle, in US R&D funding for 2013 is estimated to be 2.6% (almost same as 2012) while for UK it is 1.84% of GDP (also same as 2012). UK saw a rise of 8% in innovation spend in 2011 as compared to 2010. Technology and pharmaceutical industries are traditionally most R&D intensive industries. According to experts, in the post recession scenario both technology and healthcare companies have modified their concepts of how innovations are achieved. In pharma they have moved from investing in many drugs model to a more focused selective model as a result of better scientific understanding and informed decision making. While in technology the focus is on finding more innovative ways to utilize the inventions that have been achieved earlier. Moreover consumer-focused sectors are currently more innovation active and using novel concepts to rejuvenate their businesses. Online retail sector in UK is undergoing an innovative shift with threat from companies like Amazon as main driver. Read on...

fundweb: Fund managers look for fresh wave of innovation
Author: Helen Burnett-Nichols

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 17 jul 2013

RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology is finding numerous applications in the healthcare industry that have potential to improve health outcomes and assist to reduce ever increasing healthcare costs. The technology found initial applications in retail industry to track and manage products, people and assets automatically. In healthcare industry RFID is currently used - to track staff and improve efficiency; to track patients; for medication authentication and control; for medical asset management and prescription; for facilities management and document tracking; to control drug counterfeiting; for maintaining hand washing protocols; for surgical asset management particularly while performing operating procedures. Although costs to acquire and implement RFID technology are high but its overall long term benefits for healthcare providers are substantial. Moreover its encouraging that RFID in healthcare is estimated to be a US$ 2.1 industry by 2016. Read on...

Healthcare Global: Enhancing The Healthcare Supply Chain With RFID
Author: Abigail Phillips, Pooja Thakkar

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 16 jul 2013

Team of scientists led by Dr. Takashi Imai at Japanese research institute RIKEN, have developed an innovative technique to remove the opacity of the mouse brain and make it transparent. They use a special mixture of fructose (sugar) and other harmless chemicals to achieve this. Earlier research by Dr. Kwanghun Chung of Stanford University has created a solution to make the preserved mouse brain transparent but it required highly dangerous chemical substances, had more complications in the process and took longer time to get brain invisible. The transparent brain provides better and more clear way to study and examine the brain architecture and will assist scientists in exploring the causes of various mental disorders like Alzheimer's disease and depression. Read on...

Medical Daily: Scientists Make Brains Transparent, Version 2.0: Faster and Safer For Research
Author: Nsikan Akpan

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 16 jul 2013

Scientists are working on a material termed as 'graphene', a single layer of carbon, that has a potential for use in batteries for mobile and wearable devices and gadgets. According to Dr. Richard Kraner of UCLA, graphene is a highly strong and flexible material and has the ability to be a super capacitor. This makes it possible to charge itself faster and also increase the amount of storage available. This provides graphene an extraordinary ability to become a material of choice for batteries in mobile devices considering its thinness and charging ability. This will make devices even thinner. Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov of Manchester University received Nobel Prize in 2010 for successfully isolating graphene. Read on...

PC Advisor: Graphene battery tech - charge your smartphone in 20 seconds
Author: Martyn Casserly

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 16 jul 2013

Well-known British designer, Tom Dixon, shares his design perspectives and experiences and explains how his work evolved over the years. He didn't had formal education and training as a designer but his diverse experiences have contributed substantially to his design philosophy and methods. Doing pottery at school, multi-tasking and self production while playing in a music band and starting to weld for a stage, all led to the process of ideating and creating things. This transformation resulted in designing furniture, working with big corporations and getting one of the design become a part of a permanent collection at Victoria & Albert Museum and Museum of Modern Art at New York. He summarizes his design philosophy as 'design for longevity and want somethings to be anti-fashion.' Read on...

the guardian: Tom Dixon - 'I design for longevity, and I want something to be anti-fashion'
Author: Rachel Cooke

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 16 jul 2013

Dr. Michael Woodley of Umea University in Sweden, Dr. Jan te Nijenhuis of University of Amsterdam and Dr. Raegan Murphy of University College Cork, in their study on human intelligence suggest that since the Victorian Era human IQ is on a decline and may have reduced by 14 IQ points among westerners. They used the data of visual reaction time (RT) obtained from the experiments conducted between 1800 and 2004. According to them higher RT indicates slow mental processing and therefore less intelligence (1800: RT 194 milliseconds, 2004: RT 275 milliseconds). Researchers also suggest a negative link between IQ levels and fertility in women, infering that women with less children have higher intelligence. Read on...

Digital Journal: Humans getting dumber over the years?
Author: Enozia Vakil

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 16 jul 2013

In China an architectural design firm is helping government authorities to develop and build landscape design that fulfil the needs of the collective of social entrepreneurs and the communities they serve. Few years back Chinese government started 'The Nest', a collaborative program to encourage and enable social entrepreneurship in Shanghai. As the program has been successful and has grown, it required larger facility for its functioning. The architectural firm employed to do this job works on the principle that social transformations can be achieved by laying emphasis on social environments and spaces. According to them the built environment in the current age requires - design approaches that include concerns like ecological, social, cultural, ethical etc; interdisciplinary and diverse designing team; spirit of service that promotes ecological and social sustainability. Read on...

World Architecture News: The future landscape of social innovation
Author: NA

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 15 jul 2013

National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR, UK) in their latest report on the health of global economy mentions that the world is still struggling to come out of recession it got into five years back and there is high unemployment in many countries. The situation is unsatisfactory for Eurozone with 1% growth predicted for next year while US is a little better with 2% growth particularly boosted by improving demand from private sector. Japan is going through fiscal policy initiatives to stimulate growth, about 2% this year. Report suggests emerging and developing economies of Asia to perform better. Read on...

iExpats: Global Economy Still Bust Five Years After Credit Crunch
Author: Lisa Smith

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 15 jul 2013

A healthcare entrepreneur provides innovations and technologies that will transform the future of healthcare. He predicts - (1) Democratization of medical knowledge for both providers and consumers (2) Transparent meritocracy amongst doctors with peer assessments and ratings on various parameters (3) Consolidated and standardized patient's health information (4) Cost savings and efficiencies with system-wide implementation of technology innovations (5) Speed of advancement in medical knowledge and limitless possibilities of 'big data' (6) Technology enabled care interactions and improved doctor-patient relationships (7) Healthcare technology innovations will give rise to industry transformational business models with large monetization potential. Read on...

Venture Beat: 7 predictions for the future of health care technology
Author: Sean Mehra

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 14 jul 2013

In a globalized and connected world, there is need for nations to nurture and develop 'global human resources'. But there are challenges to have a common definition and perspective. Considering the language and cultural barriers, each nation has to evolve its own strategy to educate and provide skills to better equip their students to be successful in the global economy. In Japan various approaches are considered to provide its students with ability to compete and succeed in a global environment, both at governmental and private level. Some strategies were developed by focusing on improving the english language skills of the students since it is the language of global communication. But experts believe that it is not sufficient and there is more to being global then just having proficiency in english. In 2012, Japanese government's Council on Global Human Resources Development defined elements of 'global HR' as - language and communication expertise; spirit of freedem and enterprise; willingness to take on challenges; ability to cooperate and being flexible; sense of responsibility and duty; sensitivity and understanding toward other cultures; and retain Japanese identity. Read on...

The Mainichi: Call for 'global human resources' throws school education into confusion
Author: Ayako Oguni

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 13 jul 2013

A designer explains his philosophy and strategy while creating and developing his architectural designs and projects. According to him the concept is to weave and blend the building and structure seamlessly into the surrounding environment and location. The unique and creative vision is intertwined with the existing environment and is truly reflective of the surroundings that considers history, heritage and natural environment as important aspects. Read on...

Property Report: Be remarkable, stand out, capture and captivate your audience
Author: Clint Nagata

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 13 jul 2013

Global healthcare supply chains - that include manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors, group purchasing organizations, healthcare providers - are facing enormous challenges due to the issues like counterfeiting, ineffective product recall and medication errors. According to McKinsey report, significant benefits in patient safety and savings in healthcare costs can be achieved by using and implementing a single unified global healthcare standard (Could save 22,000 - 43,000 lives and avert 0.7 to 1.4 million patient disabilities; Can keep billions of dollars of conterfeit drugs out of the legitimate supply chain; Safety benefits resulting in reduced healthcare costs by US$ 40-100 billion). Global healthcare leaders - manufacturers, distributors and hospitals - are embracing, endorsing and advocating the GS1 System of Standards that intends to maximise patient safety, optimise supply chain efficiency and minimise costs for all supply chain stakeholders. Read on...

Ferret: More than 30 global healthcare leaders endorse GS1 Healthcare Standards
Author: NA

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 13 jul 2013

Article explores the experience of a family to search a commercial space that can be transformed into a one stop destination to sell furniture and homeware, have a boutique florist and a cafe. They didn't initiate the process with a detailed plan but their strategy was to find a location and structure and then to include elements of their likeness into it organically. It was a step by step process. But the important thing was that they have a distinctive approach and style that blended nicely in their vision for the place - a geometric wall, macrame hangers, plywood floors, letter love for displays and cable tables. Read on...

The New Zealand Herald: Organic by design
Author: Ben Crawford

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 13 jul 2013

'Development Education' and 'Global Citizenship' are becoming the important elements of the interconnected world of today. Internet and associated technologies have brought the global knowledge and concepts at the fingertips. Global and local are seamlessly intertwined into each other and one is capable of influencing the other with the speed that was unimaginable before. Considering these aspects of the environment it is essential for the education systems of the nations to adapt to these global realities and impart knowledge and skills to students to survive and succeed in the future and make positive contribution both locally and globally. To achieve global peace and prosperity, understanding and commitment to social justice and equality is important. Curriculum should be designed to sensitize students with these elements and make them better global citizens. Read on...

Jakarta Post: Development education and global citizenship
Author: Jennie S. Bev

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 12 jul 2013

China, the world's second largest economy, is showing signs of stagnation with decreasing growth, double-digit some years back, to less then 8% estimated for this year. Moreover the manufacturing sector is undergoing problems with declining investments and Chinese companies are looking elsewhere, like Hong Kong, for funds leading to rise of interest rates there and increased borrowing costs for Chinese companies. These transformations in the Chinese economy affects US, Europe and other developing nations. Fed's expected tapering of quantitative easing this year in US will strengthen the dollar and would make American market again attractive for investments and this will lead to speeding up of fund outflows from China. Materials and industrials companies of Europe will be the most affected with the Chinese slowdown as European Union is the largest exporter of machinery and transportation equipment to China. Experts advise caution for equipment manufacturers for making investments into China at this time, particularly in the mining sector. They also suggest long-term investors to stick to fundamentals and buy stocks of reliable companies. Read on...

Motley Fool: What China's Stagnating Economy Means for the World
Author: Dan Carroll

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 12 jul 2013

Professor John Rogers of Materials Science & Engineering at University of Illinois and his team is successfully exploring the possibilities in healthcare by fabricating devices from highly adaptive and sophisticated materials that could perform as electronic enhancements (with continuous and minimal intervention) to manage proper functioning of human body organs. Moreover he expects these designs and inventions to enable surgeons to use their fingertips as instruments; treat patients with implants that dissolve in human body after performing their work; electronic sutures that monitor surgical wounds for infection and healing; electronic tattoos on anywhere in the body to track blood flow and hydration and many more. Read on...

Illinois Alumni Magazine: Mind-bending electronics from the lab of UI scientist John Rogers promise to revolutionize health care in the plugged-in world of tomorrow
Author: Jim McFarlin

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 08 jul 2013

South Africa's labor market is undergoing a crisis with only 40% of its adult population gainfully employed. It has to make important policy changes to overcome this challenge and increase the workforce to global standard of 60%. Authors suggest that Brazil, India and Malaysia can provide valuable insights and lessons to South Africa for tackling these issues. Brazil has easier employee dismissal policy providing employers less risks while hiring. It provides efficiency to labor market and encourages employment. Although India has shown rapid growth in recent past but it has excessive and complex regulation in its formal sector labor market resulting in higher employment (90%) in informal sector and it has overregulated contract labor policy that discourages this type of employment. Malaysia with its low-cost, export oriented industrialization policy, puts limits on wages resulting in large employment in formal sector. Its unemployment rate is only 4%. Considering these examples of developing countries South Africa can develop a labor policy that creates an enabling environment for labor intensive small and medium-sized businesses. Read on...

BD Live: Experience shows if firing is easier, hiring is more likely
Authors: Antony Altbeker, Ann Bernstein

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 08 jul 2013

US and UK recently announced an educational collaboration and cooperation program 'UK-US Global Innovation Initiative' that intends to encourage student and faculty mobility and strengthen higher education partnerships between the two countries and other global partners. The program will focus on imparting skills to British and American students to succeed and effectively contribute in the global economy. Read on...

Relocate Magazine: UK and US higher education sectors unite to encourage global innovation and mobility
Author: NA

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 08 jul 2013

Research shows that architectural design of mental health institutions that provides less noise, more open spaces and patient freedom - calm environment with home-like space - is capable of reducing aggression among patients. According to Professor of architecture, Dr. Roger S. Ulrich of Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, reduction of trauma in healthcare facilities, in addition to improving lives of healthcare workers and patients also lowers the cost of care. Although the cost of construction of such facilities is higher but this is neutralized by savings in cost incurred in providing additional medical care or expensive lawsuits that can result from violent accidents. Read on...

Design Build Source: Design Can Reduce Aggression in Mental Health Facilities
Author: NA

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 05 jul 2013

US economy is getting back on track although there are some global concerns and issues. Recent report from US Trust suggests 10 aspects of the US economy that will keep it at the top position for many years - (1) Largest and most productive (1/5th of the global GDP with only 4.5% of world population) (2) Largest producer of manufactured goods (manufacturing output of US$ 1.9 trillion in 2012) (3) Largest exporter of goods and services (exports of US$ 2.2 trillion in 2012) (4) High FDI inflows (15% of the global total) (5) Top global brands (8 out 10 were American) (6) Technology leader (31.6% of total global IT spending) (7) World's best educational institutions (8) US Dollar is the world's reserve currency (62% of global central bank reserves as of 4Q of 2012) (9) Most competitive economy (ranked 7th on WEF global competitiveness) (10) Surge in domestic crude oil production (exceeded imports for the first time in 16 years). Read on...

Business Insider: 10 Reasons Why America Will Continue To Dominate The Global Economy For Years
Author: Steven Perlberg

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 05 jul 2013

Professor Daphne Koller of Stanford University explains how online education can transform the way education is accessed in parts of the world that lack physical educational infrastructure. According to UNESCO, in Sub Saharan Africa only 6% students are enrolled in higher education while in North America and Western Europe it is 72%. Most developing countries have higher education enrollment between 20% to 40%. This disparity in enrollment can be reduced by providing online education that can be accessed by a computer and an internet connection. MOOCs (Massive Online Open Courses) are already providing anytime & anywhere collaborative learning environment to people from diverse backgrounds. According to Ms. Koller, language barrier is one of the biggest challenge that online education faces as most of the instruction is in english and to tap the large non-english speaking market the courses have to be translated into the local languages. Read on...

CNN: How online education can create a 'global classroom'
URL: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/06/21/business/opinion-koller-education-petersburg-forum/?hpt=hp_c5
Author: Daphne Koller

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 04 jul 2013

Nari Oxman of MIT's Mediated Matter Group is an artist and a designer and her work focuses on the principle that process of design is more important than the finished products. According to her approach, 'Material Ecology', nature can provide strategies for making multipurpose buildings and objects that have better performance and can be produced with less energy and waste. Her group intends to change the way designers build their products and advocates that designers should direct their designing abilities to develop processes and should take environment into consideration. She believes that materials are the new software in the design and manufacturing processes due to the digital fabrication technologies like 3D printing. She is working on projects where 3D printing techniques are modified to provide integrated objects and shapes printed with multiple materials giving them variable properties. In another project she is exploring the possibility of weaving through a 3D printer instead of the conventional sequential layering of materials. Ms. Oxman collaborates in her multiple projects with various researchers - Fiorenzo Omenetto of Tufts University, James Weaver of Harvard University, Craig Carter of Material Science at MIT. Read on...

MIT Technology Review: Redesigning Product Design
Author: Courtney Humphries

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 04 jul 2013

A school in US is utilizing 'Design Thinking', concepts developed at Stanford University, to create learning schedule and classes for students to prepare them to adapt to the changes happening in the world. Design thinking starts with empathy and then to brainstorming of possibilities, then to design and testing of prototypes and finally to formulating a solution. According to the principal of the school, design thinking is a teaching and learniing tool that helps students develop skills like creativity, innovation and adaptation. These skills will better equip students to meet the challenges of the future. Moreover students are provided with iPads for information and learning purposes and are taught the responsible use of technology tools and ability to differentiate between the reliable and unreliable sources of information. Read on...

The Almanac: Feature story-Envisioning a 'frontier of possibility'
Author: Renee Batti

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 04 jul 2013

Research collaboration between scientists, Dr. Tak Mak of Canada and Dr. Dennis Slamon of US, is leading to the possibility of a 'sharp shooter' cancer drug that would be capable of halting the growth of various cancers. Scientists have recently filed for obtaining permission for human trials. The drug targets the specific enzyme that is a catalyst in cancerous cell division. Scientists say that if the trials are successful the drug will be available in the market in another 10 years. Read on...

Global News: A cancer breakthrough - Canada-U.S. team develop 'sharp-shooter' drug targeting several cancers
Author: Carmen Chai, Beatrice Politi

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 04 jul 2013

Researchers at FPInnovations (University of British Columbia, Canada) suggest the importance of engineered wooden products for construction industry in the future. They are experimenting with cross-laminated timber (CLT) and its possible use in the construction of 10 story buildings by 2020. Wooden structures upto 6 story are already gaining acceptance in North America. Researchers have utilized their engineering knowledge to build prototypes that scientifically prove that large wooden structures are safe and reliable to withstand snow loads, strong winds and earthquakes. Further improvement in manufacturing technologies of CLT may even lead to the construction of 30 story buildings in the future. Read on...

The Globe And Mail: Could high-rises be built of wood?
Author: Brent Jang

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 03 jul 2013

Pharmaceutical industry has made heavy investments in the manufacture of biologic drugs like monoclonal antibodies, therapeutic proteins, immunotherapies and vaccines. The use of these drugs in treatment of many diseases will continue to increase and biologics sales are expected to reach US$ 166 billion by 2014. Moreover it is predicted that by 2023 biosimilar monoclonal antibodies and insulin products will account for 57% of the global biosimilars market. The technologies that are prevalent for manufacture of biopharmaceuticals traditionally include large fixed set-up with huge stainless steel bioreactors and tanks that are inflexible and require large capital expenditures. This is leading to their diminished utility in response to volume demand and changing market conditions. Now the production of personalized protein therapies will require changes in manufacturing technologies that would be more flexibile, low cost and can be produced in small batches. The need for multiproduct facilities will reduce use of larger equipments, large investments and facility installation times. Biopharma manufacturers are thus shifting to incorporate disposable or single use process technologies that result in smaller footprint, flexibility, scalability, and mobility without affecting product quality. Moreover single use bioreactors have other advantages like reduced cleaning and sterilization demands, cost savings of upto 60% as compared to fixed stainless steel bioreactors and are suitable for any type of biopharmaceutical product. Large therapeutic contract manufacturers are adopting this technology to produce biologics. The use of disposable technologies will further increase across the biopharmaceutical process and will globally improve healthcare options. Read on...

GEN: Flexibility in Biopharmaceutical Manufacturing Capacity
Author: Patricia Fitzpatrick Dimond

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 03 jul 2013

Experts say that considering use of technology in every aspect of learning and education, teachers have to continuously update their skills to deliver their services and remain relevant in this technology enabled environment. Mobile devices are great learning tools and their use in education to enhance creativity is important. MOOCS (Massive Open Online Courses) and other freely available learning resources online are changing the educational landscape and the learning is becoming more self-directed. But there is also a concern regarding the high drop-out rates of individuals who register for MOOCS. Moreover learning through social media is finding relevance. To sustain social learning individuals have to learn to manage and filter large amount of content that comes from varius sources. Read on...

IT Web: 'Disruptive' tech for better education
Author: Christine Greyvenstein

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 03 jul 2013

According to Professor N. Gregory Mankiw of Harvard University, the rising inequality in US is a result of the earnings gap between the skilled and unskilled workers. He says that rising demand of technology skilled and highly educated labor has given rise to high income group of individuals in the society that was not possible in the past. Therefore rise in income inequality is not merely a result of inefficiency and inequality of opportunity. Read on...

Forbes: In Defense Of The One-Percenters
Author: Robert Lenzner

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 03 jul 2013

Creative professionals are highly individual people that have unique things to motivate them to create new ideas and concepts. It is important to understand and respect their sensibilities to bring the best out of them. To nurture and manage creative talent and get the best output on an efficient and continuous basis, experts suggest - Set the bar and prioritize focus areas; Identify and leverage traits of individuals; Cater to strengths and empower them; Keep your hands dirty and involve yourself in the work at hand; Suggest but don't necessarily impose a process; Create healthy confusion by keeping them busy with multiple projects at a time; Encourage switching off to switch on to overcome burning out of creative talent; Keep them producing and avoid giving long gaps of inactivity and idleness; Make retention a conscious choice and create a culture that encourages it; Know when to, and able to, speak the tough truth to avoid keeping the talent in rut. Its an essential element of mentoring. Read on...

Fast Company: 10 Tips for Managing Creative People
Author: Rae Ann Fera